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Add one part satire to two parts sincerity. Sprinkle on a couple of rants. Stir liberally.
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Daily Blah FAQ
Who are you?
I'm the newly-appointed Future editor at Business 2.0 and the former San Francisco correspondent for Time Magazine.
Wow, so does this mean everything you write reflects Time Inc's opinion? Or do you perhaps have some sort of standard disclaimer to the effect that it doesn't?
Naturally, the opinions contained in this blog are not those of my employers. In fact, some opinions may be the polar opposite of my employers. Some may be the same, for all I know. Hey, it's not like I ask my employers their opinions about everything in the news, okay? Let's just say that if this were a Venn diagram with one circle marked "my opinions" and the other one marked "my employers' opinions", there would doubtless be some overlap. But neither I nor my employers are able to pinpoint exactly where that overlap is.
What is this Daily Blah thing?
An experiment for a column I wrote about blogging back in December 2001. All these years later, I haven't been able to kick the habit.
If it's called Daily Blah, how come you don't ... hey, wait, you're writing every day!
See? Told you I'd try harder.
Mister, you talk funny. Are you one of them furrners?
Why yes I am, as it happens. I was born, raised and educated in Great Britain. I've been living in the U.S. since 1996 and identify as British.
I say, old chap, you forgot the "u" in "colour."
No I didn't. I may identify as British, but I am also an American journalist writing for an American audience about mostly American issues. These two different sides of me are a constant source of tension. Nevertheless, Daily Blah will adhere to American English grammar and spelling.
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Daily Blah for... Sunday, June 09, 2002
Use Your Addiction
One of the requisites for these Personal Technology columns I keep writing is that my e-mail address be published at the end of it. Usually I don't mind; sometimes I'm grateful for the chance to correspond with readers one-on-one (at least, the ones that choose to write coherently in English; how do I reply, for example, to a French-speaking correspondent who began her e-mail thus: "Morney Mrs Kicked Chris TAYLOR"?) But for last week's column on 12 steps to combat e-mail addiction, printing my address just seemed like a bad idea. Not only would this give the very addicts I'd just been trying to reach an excuse to feed their addiction, but I just knew it would open the floodgates. Every reader who felt affected by e-mail addiction was going to want to share the fascinating details of their own condition. I was right. Never have I had so many mails on a single topic. Herewith, a selection of the responses:
"I was in history class the other day, when I heard my teacher say what I thought was 'You've got mail.' of course i was just being crazy, but my right hand automatically reached, as if for a mouse.. the whole class just refosed [sic] to stop laughing at me... I think I may need help..."
"I just wanted to let you know that your informative article has motivated me to quit this obsessive e-mailing. I'll be back in about ten minutes to see if you've answered...."
"If I get up in the middle of the night to get a glass of water sometimes I come downstairs to check my email. My husband is stationed aboard a submarine and when he is on patrol it is even worse; the rare emails I get from him cause me to check almost 20 times a day."
"who has a habit? not me. i just checked mine 5 times today."
"I think it is offensive to categorize individuals who spend even an inordinate time on e-mail this way in print. My son jokes about my spending so much time on this computer, but that is off-the-record. To print such a label is to unfairly stigmatize such individuals ... perhaps some years ago, articles were written about the '12 Steps for Telephone Addicts.' "
"I was just about to go on a self-imposed two week moratorium when I read your article in Time. I enjoyed the article so much, I felt compelled to break the moratorium on the first day, and write you this email. So I'd like to suggest Step 13: When you're trying to cut down on email..DON'T..I repeat DON'T..read any email-related articles."
"that idea is soooooooooooo stupid," writes Musiclvr90@aol.com. "Who would want to stop checking there emails because some freaks try to make us stop??" After a few minutes of contemplation, the same correspondent composes a second missive: "By the way, you people suck!!"
Finally, a short and sweetly paradoxical note from Starpal44@aol.com:"i don't like e-mail of any kind."
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