HAPPY BLOGDAY TO DEANLAND
Yes, one year ago today the doctor came out of the weblivery room and announced that it was, indeed, a Blog. And I am the proud parent.
Amazing as it seems, there are a few hundred people regularly checking this page out, seeing what I have to say, and some of those people even send me their comments.
Then there are all those strange humanoids who come here because I once wrote "Fuck Bill Gates" and something about the horse he came in on. That gets me oodles of visitors in search of horse fuck and those who apparently fantasize about having relations with Mr. Bill.
This was odd enough to post on Disturbing Search Requests [1], and sometimes the referrer page shows that searchers and seekers of "horse fuck" end up there [2], and then click over to this blog.
Who woulda thunk that having relations with either Bill Gates or a horse (is there a difference?) would cause such traffic? Stopping traffic I could see, but causing it? Obviously, in the free world, odd thoughts such as these are not only permitted, but evidenced via search engine reports.
Of course, also in this country in these peculiar times is an Attorney General who seeks to dismiss personal freedoms, privacies, and the rights of the individual. Supposedly this will ward off terrorism. Actually, it will enhance his agenda, and Americans will lose certain freedoms and what were once considered inalienable rights.
A strange world, indeed, it seems to be. Possibly made more sane by the advent of Weblogs. Fortunately, Ashcroft and his types have not yet (to my knowledge, anyway) put the kabosh on our freedom of speech or expression on Weblogs. Not yet, I hasten to add. That's another thing to be thankful for in this birthday blog.
And that brings us to some THANK YOUs to various Blogsters and such. None of this would be here if not for the grandaddy, father figure, padrone, godfather, great spirit of these things. If you haven't already figured out that reference, then you must be new to the whole blog thing. BIG THANKS to Dave Winer [3], who is the original blogger and the person who furthers the blogging mission every single day.
Dave is incredibly prolific, with what seems to be 24/7/365 updates of his main blog [4]. Wow, that's some output!
This birthday blog of mine came into being as a result of much suggestion, prodding, goading, coercing, discussion over excellent deli food at Katz's, and just plain demanding that it come to life, by my good friend Doc Searls [5]. So when you read this blog, blame him.
Doc's blog [6] is a great read. THANK YOU to Doc for the prodding, and for the ongoing, inspired bloggitudinality on your site.
Early on when I had technical problems and made all sorts of newbie errors, Doc consulted with the developer of the Grid Paper 1.0 [7] theme. There was an issue in how to flip the home page and get the content over here, instead of in another section.
Via Doc's assistance I was fortunate enough to benefit from a redesign which makes the visual representation of this blog's theme a unique and custom dealie. The theme design is by Bryan Bell [8], a designer of great talent and ability. THANKS to Bryan for the nice little customizing of DeanLand at the top of this blog. Bryan does incredible work, which you can check out in a number of spots, including right here [9], where Bryan also does his part to improve the whole blog shebang. And, of course, Bryan has a blog [10], which you should put in your favorites and never miss!
Tech support and a great deal of encouragement and enlightenment came from Ken Dow (of course, he, too, has a blog [11]). Ken teaches courses on Manilla, Frontier, and other such good stuff. He is one of the forces behind the Manilla Newbies List [12], an invaluable resource for beginners, slow-to-tech-stuff types like yours truly, and anyone with a question about the process.
Diabetic or those watching their caloric intake.">
Yes, is it really one year since this blog began!
Thanks go out to the many who have DeanLand on their blogrolling lists, and the ones who have been kind enough to recommend this place or to link to it from their sites.
There are a good many more people deserving of thanks, but it is late and the father of the blog must get some sleep. Blogging, like a newborn, keeps the guardian up at odd hours very often.
Of course, much of the content you see here is done either in lieu of sleep, or as a result of insomnia.
Now you know the story behind the story.