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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... Tuesday, June 08, 2004
My Criminal Moments
The Stones fan came through for me, and I got my passport back the same day. The only thing that would have stood in the way, it turned out, was the criminal background check -- and he did that while I was standing there. "There are six criminals in the UK with your name," he said. "Luckily, none of them have your birthday. That could have held you up for a month." What a terrifying thought -- held virtual prisoner in Toronto, passport-less, because some evildoer with my name had the temerity to be born on the same day as me. We are all hostages to fate.
There was one more criminal check moment, and that was when I entered the country. Once again I stuck both index fingers in the biometric fingerprint scanner and posed for the digital eyeball camera. That was horrifyingly invasive enough, but I was too jet-lagged at that stage to care (as is the case, I imagine, with most travelers -- that's part of the reason why they get away with it). Then the passport-checker, who sounded as if she'd just learned English that morning, asked ominously if I'd ever been in trouble with the UK police. No, I said. Then she asked me to name all the places I had lived in the UK; luckily it's a short list, and I did so. She screwed up her face and looked at the computer. "You've never lived in ... Heart ... land?" she said. Where? I wanted to say. Do you perhaps mean Hertford? But I had no intention of spending one second longer with her than I needed to, so I just shook my head.
Then she became distracted by her computer, which was threatening to crash (not surprising, since Homeland Security's principle software contractor is Microsoft). The criminal moment had passed, for now. Time is currently applying for a green card on my behalf, and apparently one of the things the INS requires is a letter from a UK police department certifying I've never been in trouble with the law. Would the immigration service just get over itself? When will they stop treating all foreigners like potential lawbreakers? What do they want me to do, tattoo the words I AM NOT A CRIMINAL on my forehead?
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