|
|
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.
Oh My God, the RSS Feed Actually Works!
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
Helena
Jee
Jewelz
Kaila
Kathryn
Mac
Robin
Slim
Souris
Mr. West
My TIME articles
All magazine articles (subscription required for older stories)
Online column index
|
|
|
|
|
Daily Blah for... Sunday, April 09, 2006
Golden Sausage
Setting my clock radio alarm to NPR has had mixed results. Too often during the week, the news has infected my dreams, and given the nature of the news over the past five years, turned them into nightmares. I've lost count of the number of times I've been in some beautiful dream vacation spot that abruptly became flooded by Hurricane Katrina. Even when not in REM, I hardly relish the thought of being woken by the wit and wisdom of George W Bush. Nor, in the interests of balance, do I enjoy Jim Hightower's sneering commentaries, the well-worn sarcasm of which seems to encapsulate everything that's wrong about the way the left campaigns.
But life is much better on the weekends, when NPR turns wonderfully random. For instance, I was roused this morning by a discussion on golden sausages. To the befuddlement of my sleeping brain, a food writer was explaining how you can bake sausages in 24-karat gold leaf wrapping, which will cling to the fatty skin of the sausage and give your dinner guests something to remember for the rest of their lives. I was just starting to get into this fascinating discussion when my right hand went rogue and slapped the snooze button without authorization.
Later, I was sure I must have dreamt it. Surely eating gold is not only highly poisonous but prohibitively expensive? But no, as a minute of Googling revealed, the show and the writer were for real. (The show was To the Best of Our Knowledge, which you can listen to here, and the writer was Stefan Gates, author of The Gastronaut.) Gold is inert, it turns out, neither poisonous nor nutritious, while proper gold leaf (it must always be pure 24-karat if you want it to stick) is surprisingly cheap at around $30 a sheet.
It doesn't taste of anything, thus continuing gold's reputation as the supermodel of metals -- useless at everything except looking pretty. But for sheer anecdotal value, such a meal would be hard to top. And since all you have to do is wrap a sausage and bung it in the oven, it's perfect for lazy chefs like me. Take that, dinner party hosts who slave over a hot stove all day! Nothing says "stylish dilletante" like a golden sausage.
|
|
|
|
