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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... Saturday, August 14, 2004
Beating Republicans for Fun and Profit
Good thing my editors accepted my suggestion to write a review of The Political Machine, otherwise most of my in-depth research this week would have been nothing more than goofing off. I haven't been this utterly engrossed in a computer game since Civilization. I started with a Kerry vs. Bush contest --playing as Kerry, naturally -- and got roundly trounced after accidentally leaving Kerry stranded in North Dakota without enough money to fly out. Bush was flying around all the high-population states, launching ads, giving speeches, winning endorsements. I was holding fundraiser after fundraiser in Fargo, none of them sufficient to cover the candidate's sizeable plane fare. Flying economy, apparently, is not an option.
After that, the gloves were off. I started the campaign game, in which I faced a variety of Republican opponents, each one tougher than the last. I annihilated Condi Rice by painting her as soft on terror. I beat Schwarzenegger everywhere -- including California -- with a blizzard of negative ads. I spent most of my time collecting checks, and practically no time making speeches. William Howard Taft and Gerald Ford were mincemeat. Only when I ran up against Nixon did I find an opponent impossible to beat, even on repeated tries. Tricky Dick has California locked down from the start, and he wins so many endorsements and raises so much money so fast, it's hard not to suspect him of cheating. Did the virtual Nixon hire computerized plumbers to hack into the game somehow? Where's the Woodward & Bernstein button on this thing?
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