Funny how one topic can keep coming up over and over all of the sudden, eh?

A former employee of mine is currently in Guatemala and had shared his blog with me. In checking it today for something else, I noticed that his April 8 post is about language, and though you all might be interested, so here is the link!

Clearly I am as old as the hills and not of the computer age but why on earth is it called a blog?

"blog" seems to be an abbreviation for "weblog."

Here's a definition of a blog.

... and here's an exmple of a ... sort of a ... blog.

Here's mine.

I've already posted mine, I think, but here it is again. On it are (or will be) many of the things I'd like to say / discuss with you guys here (mainly because I like your company and value your opinions), but don't as they're not word related - and although we do go off topic here, out of respect to Wordcraft I wouldn't want to flood the board with non-word-related threads.

Jerry, can I add you to my LJ friends? Too late! *runs off and does it anyway*

Yes of course you may add my friend-ship to your fleet, etoile_violet. I'm honored... honoured, too.

Obviously I still have a lot to learn about how to manipulate "livejournal."

I'm an eager learner, if anyone wants to meet the challenge of teaching me.

~~~ jerry

Thanks to everyone for helping me in my extreme ignorance. It appears that I am the only person on the planet not to know why they are referred to as 'blogs'.

~~ lightly pats Doad on the head ~~
That's ok, Dearie. You'll catch up to this century eventually.

In view of his sustained devoted and dedicated effort you should give him at least two merits and a sweet, CW.

Hey, Jerry, Cat and CW, I hadn't read your blogs before, but they are great! We should start a blog forum, or something.

Reviving a thread...

I just read of a clever way that universities are using blogs. Students are being approached by university administrators to blog about their student experiences. They are hoping to attract students and alumni connections this way. For example, in response to a student blog at Colgate University, a prospective student from India wrote, "I realize this is more than a little odd, but I am interested in applying to Colgate and I was hoping you might help me out a bit." The student answered her questions, encouraging her to apply. She did.

Nice uses of blogs, though I suppose they could also be used to discourage students from applying.

8am: Alarm rings, decide to skip biology, set alarm to 9am

9am: Alarm rings, decide to skip communications, set alarm to 11am

11am: Alarm rings, wake up, take a shower, browse the internet until lunchtime.

Noon: Go downstairs and meet friends for lunch.

1pm: Get notes from girl on the 2nd floor who actually went to class this morning

2pm: Go to math class, because there is a quiz today

3pm: Decide to stop by library. Wait, does the cute librarian work on Tuesday or Wednesday? Can't remember, so I go there, use the computers marked "Library Reference Use Only" to check your email a few times, decide she must work Wednesdays, and head back to the dorm.

4pm: Watch a couple of episodes of Family Guy with my roommate

5:30pm: Head down to dinner, see that the menu looks gross, and grab my roommate. We go to Jimmy John's instead.

7pm: Watch tv for a couple hours while my roommate tries to study.

9pm: I hear loud noises from the hall. What? 9 o'clock already? Time for some shots, and I walk to the room of the kid with the fake id and drink for a while.

10pm: Kind of hazy what happened here

11pm: Walking around the dorm, completely drunk, flirting with all the girls that pass by, and dodging my RA whenever I see him down the hall.

Midnight: Somebody decides that drunken video games is a good idea, so I play XBox for a couple hours until I sober up a little.

2am: My head hurts, my eyes are sore, and my right thumb is in agony from pressing the A button too many times, so I head to bed, trying not to wake my roommate up as I enter. I check my email again, browse wikipedia, and check out the class websites to make sure I don't have any assignments due the next morning.

2:30am: Set alarm to 8am, thinking, I will go to all of my classes tomorrow, I'll just need some coffee.

Disclaimer: Some of this was based on fact.

Good blog, sean! LOL

I now have 2 blogs. Yahoo wants me to make one, too, but i'm going to ignore it.

quote:

8am

Funny! The problem that many people have with blogs seems to be the problem that many people have with diaries in general (and sometimes memoirs): their eye to a public exposure some time in the future. But, then, not all blogs or diaries are equal. Some diaries have even crossed the line into literature (e.g., Pepys' diary). I read some pretty good blogs regularly: Languagehat and Language Log (linguistics), Crooked Timber (philosophy and politics), arayn in moyl / straight in the mouth and Fivepints (foodie), Filmbrain and Chutry (film), etc. None of them is the daily existential journal of angst or sub-angst that sean rightly pokes fun at. The company I work at has instituted a company-wide blogging initiative. Many of the employees (mainly engineers) have ben told that 20% of their job to to generate content for the customer-facing website, and that includes blogs, whitepapers, answering questions on customer forums, etc. I started blogging right before the hype hit the fan, but I kept on blogging until I ran out of steam. It was fun and a good daily exercise of writing about things I liked.

Zmj, is your blog still going? I loved that blog! Also, for some reason I thought LanguageHat and Language Log were the same, but I see they aren't. Are they related at all?

I read about a new phenomenon today..."flogs." That is, fake blogs are being launched for commercial purposes. Web marketers are offering secret payments for bloggers who are willing to tout certain companies. In fact, one Internet consultant openly advertises ghostwriter services for companies that are too busy to write their own blogs. Besides, when you make up the content, the customers can be so much more happy with the product.

is your blog still going?

Nope. It has wound down entirely.

I haven't ever kept a blog, but I imagine it takes a lot of work. I know that yours was quite erudite, and not just someone talking about what he did during the day. The latter ones are deadly!

Someone sent me a link to Slipping Glimpser. Very interesting. A new word for me: spat. Well, at least a new meaning.