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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.
Arik
Bill
Dan
Cole
Emily B
Emily G
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Jee
Jewelz
Kaila
Kathryn
Mac
Robin
Slim
Souris
Mr. West
My TIME articles
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Online column index
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Daily Blah for... Tuesday, September 06, 2005
The Obligatory Katrina Entry
There are already gigabytes of blogs written about the horror of Katrina, the tragedy of New Orleans and the tone-deaf, mollasses-slow official response; at this stage, there's little I can add. But I do have to wonder: why do these major natural disasters happen when I go incommunicado? (See Blahs passim about the tsunami). It's enough to make me not want to leave civilization again.
It was Wednesday at Burning Man when I found out. My friend Lessley arrived and announced "guys, bad news: New Orleans is pretty much destroyed." The fact that the first words that came to mind when she said that were "suitcase nuke" should tell you everything you need to know about the direction this country has taken in the last four years. Even a good liberal like me, who's been railing against terror hype since September 12 2001 and pointing out that the powerful are taking us for another ride on the fear rollercoaster, couldn't help but assume it was a terrorist act. No wonder FEMA has been reduced to a forgotten appendix inside the Homeland Security giant. We've forgotten that our planet has devoted more resources to trying to kill us than any lunatic Saudi could ever muster.
My second response was a pang of worry for my three dear friends in the Big Easy: Stephanie (who was about to get married), Ashley and Cole. Thankfully, all three are alive, though at least one has lost her house completely. It is, she says, a good time to practice Buddhist non-attachment. She's absolutely right, of course. I can only hope that if a thirty-foot wave were to come and pulverize all my stuff, my response would be that mature.
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