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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
Friends, Bloggers, Countrymen ... lend your ears to these people. I come not to bury them, but praise them.
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My TIME articles
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Daily Blah for... Friday, August 19, 2005
Fogtown
Outside my office window right now is the first patch of blue sky I think I've seen since Sunday -- and I only saw that because I went to Oakland.
It's a dismal, grey time, the worst San Francisco summer I've yet seen. The fog descended on us like a suffocating blanket -- so thick and so close that on many days this week, even in the normally sunny Financial district, the condensation looks and feels like rain. Rain in August. Many people I know are sick, or sickening, or just plain depressed, and it's not hard to see why. Fog and depression are not just metaphorically intertwined. For me, the worst of it is that my lovely new house is in what is affectionately known as the fog belt. Is this what it's going to be like all the time for me now? I've solicited opinions from residents and former residents, and received wildly varying answers. Some say we'll get up to 200 days of blue sky a year. Some say none. None whatsoever. I've no idea who to believe, but the thought of a year of unrelenting greyness -- of the sun never, ever gazing munificently on my home -- has got me pretty damn down.
A line from a book review I read last week keeps coming back to me. The opposite of depression, it said, is not happiness. The opposite of depression is resilience. The quiet assurance that you have what it takes to climb out of this hole, however dismal it may seem at this moment. I'm feeling pretty resilient, and I hope you are too. Yea, though I walk in the valley of the shadow of Fogtown ...
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