It is with no small amount of pride that I note today’s second anniversary of this Blarg. When I started writing, I kept it a secret because I was unsure how long I would keep at it, for there are few things sadder than a failed blogger. To a certain extent, I still keep this blarg a secret. I don’t publicize it much. I’ve even stopped pressuring my friends to read it. Perhaps my only readers are the eager salesmen of “herbal Viagra” who post so many comments, and misguided fans of Natalie Portman’s butt.
I recently overhauled this website, with completely new software that requires registration in order to post comments. I used to get an occasional comment from a friend or a colleague or a complete stranger, in the midst of the tens of thousands of spam messages that ultimately crashed the site and necessitated the switch. I don’t know if it’s an aversion to registration that’s keeping people from posting comments, but I’d sure like to hear from you, dear readers. All eight of you.
Hi Shaun. I read your blog. I don’t know anything about Barbara Garson, but I really like Barbara Ehrenreich. You’d be surprised how many people don’t know about the lives of low paid workers. That book was a modest hit among the well paid union members at my job. I haven’t read Bait and Switch, but I just finished Dancing In The Streets, and I thought it was a great, great book. Oh, what else, I disagree with you about Pan’s Labyrinth too. The possibility that the fairy tale world is real, was extended as a hope in a hopeless situation. Not all antifascists are materialists. Not all materialists would draw a line between inner and outer worlds.
Blogging, and the reading of blogs, has gone out of fashion. I might have four occasional readers. I can’t help but wonder if blogging wasn’t deliberately sabotaged by the kind of spam attacks that shut you down for a while. Every blogger that I know has had similar problems. Even Google’s blogspot crashes pretty often.
(Warning Black Helicopters ahead) I can think of several national governments that would like to sabotage specific blogs, and blogging in general. A few weeks ago the New York Times suggested that spammers were a threat to the continued existence of the internet as we know it. We all know about the above ground, legal threat to net equality. Why wouldn’t those same people be capable of setting up an offshore server and attacking net equality with DOS attacks by spamming? Right now, my voice on the net is just as loud as anyone else’s. That’s a little too democratic for institutions that are used to being able to buy their way into highly visible opinion forming positions. Alright, I warned you about the Black Helicopters, and at least I didn’t drag extraterrestials into it.
Shaun,
May the road rise to meet you, brother.
Best of luck in Year Three.
Solidarity,
Paul
Make that nine readers and I did not use your name+sex so not to worry. It is a little hidden and a bit of a secret to many in the party. I have to say my blog is more spicier than this and I am working on some later surprises. I hope you don’t mind all the emails, but I have to tell someone now and then.