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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, July 07, 2005
London Bombings: My £0.02
My hope is that London and the UK, drawing on harsh lessons learned during the IRA campaign of the 70s and 80s, will respond to this tragedy in a calm and measured way that shows America how it's done.
1. You don't freak out.
2. You carry on exactly as before, because that's precisely what the terrorists don't want you to do.
3. You don't pass hugely restrictive anti-terror laws that few legislators have actually read.
4. You don't set up a ridiculous color-coded and ultimately useless terror alert system that is conducive to political manipulation.
5. You don't set up an offshore prison designed to have dubious legal status, then dump people there for years without charge.
6. You don't put protesters in a "free speech zone" cage, miles from where the event or person they're protesting is.
7. You don't swagger half-cocked about the Middle East, using inflammatory words like "crusade", threatening like a dockside bully. When you threaten, you threaten like a statesman, with justice.
8. You don't foreclose debate by calling your opponent unpatriotic or claiming that they want to coddle terrorists. You have a long and comprehensive debate that touches on everyone's opinion, preferably over a good pint.
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