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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... Monday, January 13, 2003
God Bless TiVo?
I fled last week's Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas so fast that my dust trail still hangs in the Nevada sky. I have no regrets about missing the Saturday portion of that nightmare. But here's one thing I wish I'd seen: FCC Chairman Michael Powell rhapsodizing about the TiVo he got for Christmas. "TiVo," he said, "is God's machine."
Excuse me? I mean, sure, I love my TiVo too. And I'm sure the company will be glad of divine protection, not to mention FCC support. Hollywood and the major networks are out for the blood of any machine that can record TV shows digitally and spread them freely over the Internet, sans commercials. But God's machine? What's with this administration? First we had faith-based programs, now we have faith-based programming? John Ashcroft starts each day at the DOJ with a prayer; now will Powell start each day at the FCC with a TiVo'd version of the 700 Club?
What really worries me, when it slips out in revealing little soundbites like this, is the superstition of the super-religious Bushies. That born-again zeal. It tends to go hand-in-hand with a conviction that the Second Coming is nigh, which is not the best attitude to take when dealing with, say, Iraq (home of the former city of Babylon, whose apocalyptic significance was much touted by that master of hallucination, St. John the Divine) or the U.N. (where the fundamentalist "Left Behind" novels tells us the Anti-Christ resides).
Not to worry, though. If Armageddon arrives, you can be sure we won't miss a thing. The Almighty will TiVo it for us.
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