the blog dance 7.08.2005

One of the problems with maintaining a blog is posting interesting content on a regular basis. There are many things that interest me, which I'd like to write about--the problem is, well, finding the time and finding interesting content to post.

For example, take the recent terrorist attacks in London. I would have loved to blog about them, but frankly, there was little I could add to the rest of the consensus developing out there that if this was Al Qaeda at their best, while as terrible as the blasts were, this was no 9/11, or even a Madrid 3/11 bombing. Hell, our own home-grown nutcases like Timothy McVay and England's IRA managed to cause more damage. And those who claim that this was a small act prestaging a bigger act are foolish; the reality is that if the folks in London could have bombed 30 trains instead of trying to bomb five trains and a bus and having two of their bombs fail, they would have. So if this is the biggest Terrorist act that Al Qaeda could pull off, our troops are doing a great job in Iraq.

Nor was there much for me to add to the growing consensus that Britain would be no Spain, and rather than be cowed to vote out conservatives in favor of liberal socialists (who are now alienating the relatively independent provences in Spain by voting for homosexual marriage), would instead reaffirm their dedication to bringing Democracy and political freedom to the middle east, as well as bringing to justice the people who did this--or delivering to them a bullet in the head.

Of course one could combine the commentary that has been floating out there about the Live8 efforts to get more money sent to Africa--and those in Africa who are starting to say all this massive aid is the problem, and not the solution--and apply it to the Palestine, where massive aid was promised by the G8 right after the bombing. Aid, by the way, which only goes to destort the local economy, drive local producers of goods out of business, and at the same time getting siphoned off to the pockets of some of the most corrupt autocrats in the middle east. (Remember: you cannot eat money nor can you watch or wear money. Instead, these things get exchanged in the global market place for goods. So in essence, we're not sending billions of dollars--we're giving free goods and services and products to people who then have no incentive to produce those same goods or services or products locally.)


But I'm finding that keeping up the commentary is rather hard, only because the din of voices causes more of a "me-too" echo syndrome.

I've thought of blogging on technology as well; as a software developer who is making the transition from C++ to Java on the desktop (since the current transition from the PowerPC based Macintosh to the Intel-based Macintosh has made Java the logical choice for developing cross-platform desktop applications; fewer targets to test), I've got a lot to say. But I don't know how my audience would react if suddenly I started talking about software designs for automatic software discovery mechanisms built using multi-cast IP technology.

And I don't know if my employer would have problems with my discussing stuff like that.


It's a puzzle, made worse only by the fact that I don't know if anyone is actually reading this. At least on LiveJournal, I had a built-in audience of friends who knew me there--but the mechanism of building friendship communities on LiveJournal was ultimately the reason why I left: people who knew someone who knew me socially would find themselves reading my journal and glowing red-hot in anger as they disagreed with my politics. They were reading my journal for the wrong reason: as friends they thought they had to read my stuff, so they could be "friendly"--when in reality they should have choosen to read my stuff because they enjoyed my writing.

I mean, if you don't like hitting yourself with a hammer I designed, then for God's sake, why continue?

Perhaps this is a standard blogger's "midnight of the soul", where they need to decide why they continue writing stuff, even if it may be preaching to an empty room.

But I know I'm having trouble keeping up with the dance.

posted by William Woody at 2:43 PM

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A moderate conservative living in the left coast, surrounded by the sureal, wonders if there is a sane life living amongst those who have lost touch with reality.

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