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The increasingly inaccurately-named blog of journalist and futurist Chris Taylor. Either the most sporadically brilliant amateur blog, the most brilliantly amateur sporadic blog, or the most amateur sporadic brilliance on the Web since 2001.
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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.
Do you write any other blogs, by chance? Could that have something to do with the fact that Daily Blah isn't always Daily?
Yes -- the Future Boy blog for Business 2.0. And yes. If you want true, editorially-mandated daily coverage from me, that's probably the best place to look.
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.
Praise for Daily Blah:
"It is fun to watch the author's navel-gazing joy." - Sunday Times (UK)
"It's really funny and informative." - Dave Eggers, author
"The Blah is becoming a daily destination for me." - Richard Marsh, Playwright
"I like it, and I don't." - Fiona Hogg, Teacher
"Better than Xanax." - Lessley Andersen, journalist
"Dude, lay off the crack pipe." - Souris Hong-Porretta, gamesmith
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Daily Blah for... Thursday, September 25, 2003
One Unweird Day
We’re in the McDonalds opposite the Space Needle and the Wifi isn’t working. We’re getting a signal, but there’s nothing behind it. Apparently it’s a problem with the WAAS – the Wireless Account Access Server, (pron. “Woz”, as in the Apple co-founder). My Cometa handlers are in calm crisis mode, dialing their cellphones to see if we can fix it. Then, all of a sudden, in walk the Intel Spotters. There are five of them wandering around the city, tasked to give prizes to anyone they find happily surfing in one of the hotspots. They’re wearing these horrifyingly bright pink zip-up shirts – pink, we discovered today, is the appointed color of Intel Centrino. There were pink balloons at many of the One Unwired access points, for what would look to the untrained eye like no reason whatsoever. The effect of five of these pink-shirted spotters walking into this sad little McDonalds together is to make you feel like you’re about to be assaulted by some religious cult. And, indeed, you are. “Hi!” says one brightly. “Are you having a happy One Unwired Day?”
My laptop is fast running out of juice, so I look around the McDonalds in vain for an outlet. Meanwhile one of my handlers explains to the spotter that the access point has gone down. “Yeah,” says the spotter. “We were having the same problem in Tullys.” The handler tries to shush him and points subtly at me. I pretend not to have heard anything and keep my attention focused on the non-existent outlets.
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