Blogs I have seen afar
Sharon is away on business for the week so I have a lot of free time. This actually combined with the fact that really I have no work to do this week until Thursday afternoon and Friday, which is my last day at the current job.
So I have been reading a lot of blogs. I love that little button at the top of the blog page that says "next blog". Every click is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get. (The honest truth is that I wasn't sure what type of stuff I should write in a blog and so I was peaking at other blogs for ideas.)
Having said that I have noticed a few themes as far as the types of blogs that are out there. I have found some really intersecting information, some hilarious links and a lot of garbage as well.
Here is are some of the types of blogs I found:
1. Political blogs. Now I'm Canadian, but as a most Canadians I follow US politics about as much as Canadian politics (not that I follow either a lot). So I know that currently the US political scene is about as divided as possible. C'mon, I watch the Daily Show, I know what is going on.
So Republicans Unite, democrats for Peace, my Political blog, and on and on. The only thing I think of when I see these sites is "why the heck would anyone want to read this boring crap". I have yet to find a single Canadian Political blog - I'm sure there may be one or two out there - but they will not be as numerous as the US political blogs. I would not want to read the Canadian ones either.
Politics boring me...
2. Religious. Yup, the top number of sites I have found have been the two things you are not suppose to talk about: Politics and Religion. It is just good manners, I was brought up that you don't talk about these things with people you don't know to well as it is possible to offend. So why is it then that these bloggers feel the need to talk about these things in the most public forum of all? Well, after thinking about this for a while I figured it is because as public as a blog is, it feels somewhat private as no one is "here" so to speak. No one can immediately start arguing with me right now, and even if they do I can just delete their comments.
Jesus, Buddha, Athiest, Satan, and I'm sure some of those languages I could not understand spelled out the bloggers feelings on their own God who is unknown to me.
Some of the religious sites were preaching on behalf of their god, some ranting at their god, some mocking their religion or the religion of others. One spoke of a missionary who met someone who would be stoned by their own family if their family found out they had converted to Catholism. Freaky.
As a point of mention, I have no specific Religous sect that I belong to, take part in etc. My wife is Catholic and so I have spent a few Christmas eves in Church with her while she sings in the Choir. I always feel out of place there, but that is another post. I have not studied any religion to the point of being able to tell if I would take part fully in one. I know that I see things in the most public of Religions that we see in the news everyday that I do not understand and do not agree with, and things that make sense.
Huh, I guess I have answered my own question on this one, the reason I think people blog about religion and politics is because people feel so passionately about both of these topics. It is always easy to speak convincingly about something you know and you are passionate about.
3. Link Farms. Yup, blogs are a huge repository of link farms.
Example: http://headache-relief.blogspot.com/
This is a blog that has the sole purpose of having search engines place the site they are promoting higher in search results. This is a tricky but most likely somewhat effective to increase your visibility on the internet.
4. Poetry.
Things like this:
self-imposed
dot my I's
cross my t's
the burdens of
being me
This was not from me, but from someone who's blog claims they have a fondness of big words. I have never been into poetry, and most likely couldn't write a poem to save my life... Or could I :0)
Adams TV Haiku:
Survivor and Lost
Law and order CSI
My week on TV
5. Vacations
Well this seems obvious. I have friends who have traveled Europe, Asia and other areas of our beautiful planet, and have sent us emails every few days. That is great, but it is better on a blog. Why? It is permanent and maintains context. You can post pictures and links. Vacation blogging should be mandatory for any trip over a week.
6. Family. This is always interesting. Peoples lives are generally interesting as they are different from our own.
Family posts come in many sorts. New Baby. Sick Sibling. Rambling about family members.
One blog I was reading a frustrated mother was writing about her son who seems to have what would most likely be described as ADD, but is most lilkely due to being bored. She takes him to gimberee, he is not interested and seems to be in his own world. She mentions that all the other kids do all the moves, and do them well, but her some will not, and just seems to do his own thing and not pay attention. She takes him to a class where he is not interested, until the teacher starts talking about food, and then he is interested and asking questions and participating, once this topic is done, he is no longer interested and goes back to his own world. She finds this quite frustrating and then remembers and incident that she had when she was 17 and attending some classes for gifted children. She realizes that he is a lot like her. She is frustrated, but obviously loves her son.
Another mans blog with a title something like "living with a bipolar child" describes living with his two children, one bipolar and one with ADHD. The description of the site mentions all the drugs his son is on.
7. Single Posts.
Some people start a blog, post one thing, and never return.
8. School, boys and icky stuff like that.
Teenage life is so complicated.
9. Work.
Not to much on the specifics, or you can get fired. www.dooce.com.
10. Random other strange items and inner thoughts.
These are the most interesting as far as I can see. Duncan wrote 13 paragraphs on The Lost Art of The High Five. Common! That is good writing! Who would of thought such a thing could be done? The NewYorkIntern did an experiment with google adsense (the ads from google you see on the right of the page). He put a bunch of really strange phrases in a post to see if it would affect the type of ads that come up. The results were that google is not funny.
11. Misc.
Everything else.
All in all there is some pretty strange stuff out there. What does it all mean? As Napolean Dynamite might say "How the HECK should I know!?"
So I have been reading a lot of blogs. I love that little button at the top of the blog page that says "next blog". Every click is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get. (The honest truth is that I wasn't sure what type of stuff I should write in a blog and so I was peaking at other blogs for ideas.)
Having said that I have noticed a few themes as far as the types of blogs that are out there. I have found some really intersecting information, some hilarious links and a lot of garbage as well.
Here is are some of the types of blogs I found:
1. Political blogs. Now I'm Canadian, but as a most Canadians I follow US politics about as much as Canadian politics (not that I follow either a lot). So I know that currently the US political scene is about as divided as possible. C'mon, I watch the Daily Show, I know what is going on.
So Republicans Unite, democrats for Peace, my Political blog, and on and on. The only thing I think of when I see these sites is "why the heck would anyone want to read this boring crap". I have yet to find a single Canadian Political blog - I'm sure there may be one or two out there - but they will not be as numerous as the US political blogs. I would not want to read the Canadian ones either.
Politics boring me...
2. Religious. Yup, the top number of sites I have found have been the two things you are not suppose to talk about: Politics and Religion. It is just good manners, I was brought up that you don't talk about these things with people you don't know to well as it is possible to offend. So why is it then that these bloggers feel the need to talk about these things in the most public forum of all? Well, after thinking about this for a while I figured it is because as public as a blog is, it feels somewhat private as no one is "here" so to speak. No one can immediately start arguing with me right now, and even if they do I can just delete their comments.
Jesus, Buddha, Athiest, Satan, and I'm sure some of those languages I could not understand spelled out the bloggers feelings on their own God who is unknown to me.
Some of the religious sites were preaching on behalf of their god, some ranting at their god, some mocking their religion or the religion of others. One spoke of a missionary who met someone who would be stoned by their own family if their family found out they had converted to Catholism. Freaky.
As a point of mention, I have no specific Religous sect that I belong to, take part in etc. My wife is Catholic and so I have spent a few Christmas eves in Church with her while she sings in the Choir. I always feel out of place there, but that is another post. I have not studied any religion to the point of being able to tell if I would take part fully in one. I know that I see things in the most public of Religions that we see in the news everyday that I do not understand and do not agree with, and things that make sense.
Huh, I guess I have answered my own question on this one, the reason I think people blog about religion and politics is because people feel so passionately about both of these topics. It is always easy to speak convincingly about something you know and you are passionate about.
3. Link Farms. Yup, blogs are a huge repository of link farms.
Example: http://headache-relief.blogspot.com/
This is a blog that has the sole purpose of having search engines place the site they are promoting higher in search results. This is a tricky but most likely somewhat effective to increase your visibility on the internet.
4. Poetry.
Things like this:
self-imposed
dot my I's
cross my t's
the burdens of
being me
This was not from me, but from someone who's blog claims they have a fondness of big words. I have never been into poetry, and most likely couldn't write a poem to save my life... Or could I :0)
Adams TV Haiku:
Survivor and Lost
Law and order CSI
My week on TV
5. Vacations
Well this seems obvious. I have friends who have traveled Europe, Asia and other areas of our beautiful planet, and have sent us emails every few days. That is great, but it is better on a blog. Why? It is permanent and maintains context. You can post pictures and links. Vacation blogging should be mandatory for any trip over a week.
6. Family. This is always interesting. Peoples lives are generally interesting as they are different from our own.
Family posts come in many sorts. New Baby. Sick Sibling. Rambling about family members.
One blog I was reading a frustrated mother was writing about her son who seems to have what would most likely be described as ADD, but is most lilkely due to being bored. She takes him to gimberee, he is not interested and seems to be in his own world. She mentions that all the other kids do all the moves, and do them well, but her some will not, and just seems to do his own thing and not pay attention. She takes him to a class where he is not interested, until the teacher starts talking about food, and then he is interested and asking questions and participating, once this topic is done, he is no longer interested and goes back to his own world. She finds this quite frustrating and then remembers and incident that she had when she was 17 and attending some classes for gifted children. She realizes that he is a lot like her. She is frustrated, but obviously loves her son.
Another mans blog with a title something like "living with a bipolar child" describes living with his two children, one bipolar and one with ADHD. The description of the site mentions all the drugs his son is on.
7. Single Posts.
Some people start a blog, post one thing, and never return.
8. School, boys and icky stuff like that.
Teenage life is so complicated.
9. Work.
Not to much on the specifics, or you can get fired. www.dooce.com.
10. Random other strange items and inner thoughts.
These are the most interesting as far as I can see. Duncan wrote 13 paragraphs on The Lost Art of The High Five. Common! That is good writing! Who would of thought such a thing could be done? The NewYorkIntern did an experiment with google adsense (the ads from google you see on the right of the page). He put a bunch of really strange phrases in a post to see if it would affect the type of ads that come up. The results were that google is not funny.
11. Misc.
Everything else.
All in all there is some pretty strange stuff out there. What does it all mean? As Napolean Dynamite might say "How the HECK should I know!?"
posted by Adam C at
10:48 PM
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