House of Eratosthenes

Privacy Concerns Nobody ever reads this blog, of course, but the cartoon at right has been doing something rather significant to change that since we posted it Friday. This is due in no small part to the efforts of blogger friend Good Lieutenant at Mein Blogovault, who evidently appreciated what he saw that he decided it merited reflection not only there, but over at Jawa Report as well.

Which is cool, very cool…after all, this is how we come to be aware of other individuals in the blogosphere. Some of whom appreciate The Blog That Nobody Reads, like this guy and this guy; others of whom, do not (check out post by locomotivebreath1901 on October 09, 2006 at 06:30pm). I always get a big kick out of people who criticize me for the length of what I write. I see it as a confession…and I don’t understand how it can be seen any other way. Here you are, bellyaching about “blah blah blah,” meaning, this guy who writes for a blog nobody ever reads — he says so! — can’t wrap up his stuff in a paragraph or two. So you’re not going to finish reading it…but it’s very important to let the world know you won’t read all of it, and the reason you won’t, is because it’s soooooooo long. Like fuckin’ Goldilocks, bitching about the bed being too big or the chair being too hard. Which means, there’s some maximum length, over which, you can be guaranteed not to bother yourself with something.

So you don’t read anything over a certain quantity. All of which goes to support the idea that what you know is, precisely, jack-shit. Well you know…that, plus a bunch of bite-sized stuff.

I understand there are people like this. Why would they advertise it? Why tell the entire world about your Vienna-sausage-sized attention span?

[See update below.]

Anyway. So people like this cartoon that I didn’t draw…which I didn’t find on my own…and as more and more people come to read The Blog That Nobody Reads, this starts to bug me. Credit must be given where it is due, and I came by it over at the Rottweiler’s site, under a post by user juandos (post #14).

Anyway, new visitors, we’re plumb-pleased to have you here. Now my conscience is clean. I mean, uh, somewhat.

Update 10/11/06: It appears I have misjudged someone and I might even owe someone an apology. I’m checking out “Locomotive Breath” and his blog, and not only does he seem to have some very common-sense ideas, to say nothing of peers o his blogroll, but he’s been kind enough to blogroll me as well. D’Oh! Not sure what to make of his original comments…although I must say in my own defense, I’ve seen other things in the blogosphere that were easier to interpret. I mean, here we go, verbatim: “Blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah & blah. Blah, blah. Blah?” How would you take that? In hindsight, I see I should have lapsed back to the first rule of any Information Technology professional: When in doubt, do nothing. Should’ve kept my silence.

This guy’s blog is actually pretty cool. Actually has some stuff that’s worth reading.

A pity, really. I’ve bellyached a lot about some of the folks who bellyache about me and my lengthy posts — that was some of my best snarking yet. If only it were directed more wisely. Ah, well. Live and learn.

Update 10/14/06: Hey, on the subject of not being in it for the attention, mind you, wouldja look at this. The Blog That Nobody Reads just got an award, by snarking and bellyaching away, about people who do a lot of whining about reading long things. Quote of the Week.

The author posted an update later, “taking back” these words but I still had to make this my quote of the week because I always feel exactly that way when I read someone complaining that some other blogger’s posts are “too long.” (I’ve never had the honor of being on the receiving end of such a complaint.) It’s not just that they don’t want to take the time to read long articles – some people really don’t have the time – it’s the tone of the complaints, as if length alone is an actual fault. This does give the impression that the complainer lacks a normal adult attention span. If it really is a matter of having limited time why not just move on?

“Lynn S.,” I think, said it better than I did. Although hey — I’m the guy with the award, and let me assure anyone who pays attention to such things that I have been on the receiving end of such complaints. Many times.

It would make some sense, mind you, if there was an undertone to the effect of: “I get the feeling there’s something important you have to say here, something it would benefit me to explore, but it’s out of the question for me to digest it in the format you have presented it because your shit is way too long.” That would make a lot of sense. Who hasn’t been there?

But let me assure anyone who cares, I am a complete virgin to that kind of constructive criticism. What I see, directed at myself and others, is more along the lines of “get a load of that guy.”

As in — “Saddam Hussein was not a threat” — and The Blog That Nobody Reads comes along, and says, not true. Saddam was a threat here, he was a threat there, he did this thing he did that thing…blah blah blah…and the criticism comes back, “get aload of that guy and how long his shit is.” Yeah, RIGHT Einstein. We’re only talking about who’s dangerous and who isn’t dangerous. In a world chock full of venomous vipers who are so dangerous, that the word “dangerous” really has no meaning that these assholes can’t completely re-define six times everyday before breakfast. The evidence proving them as such — nobody with half a brain, who’s been paying attention to such things, is going to say we can come to know about one-tenth or one-twentieth of it without clearance and need-to-know.

YEAH. And we’re supposed to have a knock-down drag-out about whether the guy is a complete fuckin’ teddy-bear or not and keep everything down to twenty words or less…or else some anonymous nameless faceless blog-commenter guy is going to point out how long my stuff is and make fun-o-me.

Hee hee! I’m doing it again. Oh well, funny things happen when a guy gets poked in the same spot for the hundredth time, and he’s writing about it at five in the morning. Anyway. Cool award…appreciate the mention…”Lynn S.” has a blog worth reading, and it’s headed to the sidebar.

You’re welcome!

Keep on truckin’
- Good Lieutenant | 10/10/2006 @ 10:48

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Not In It For The Attention, Mind You… IVTuesday, October 10th, 2006

Not In It For The Attention, Mind You… IV
Tuesday, October 10th, 2006