Nobody Knows Anything

• #10yearsago I was hugely pregnant and watching the really great Millennium celebrations that were happening everywhere…exc. LA. #
• Happy New Year! I'm gonna go party like I do every year: in bed by 9! #

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• I DID IT!!! 1001.5 miles for the year. I am sleeping in tomorrow. http://yfrog.com/4ekn9p #1000milesin2009 #
• Wishes she didn't associate "doing the bills" with "eating all of the chocolate in the house," but that's the way it is. #
• @chrisguillebeau I want the Happiness book! #

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• Realized that the only place we've seen commercials for the past several years is at the movie theatre. #
• @wonkybutt I'm always too busy drinking. Or trying to talk to someone. Or looking at the snacks. Okay, mainly it's the whole snack thing. in reply to wonkybutt #
• True facts: baby names we actually considered were Irene for the girl and Mycroft for the boy. We then reconsidered. #
• @Euroky It's funnier if you know their last name is Adler. in reply to Euroky #
• @MonkeySmash We are really, really going to enjoy those drinks. A lot. in reply to MonkeySmash #
• @kymmz I think the question is, Why have you never noticed that? in reply to kymmz #
• @kymmz Oh. Heh. I never saw many music videos. I didn't start getting MTV until they'd stopped showing the damn things. in reply to kymmz #

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In case you’re looking for interesting things around the Web this New Year’s (and who, of course, is not?).

• The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, who also has a new book by that name (which I haven’t read but sounds very interesting and very much the sort of thing I’ve started doing on my own anyhow right now). A regular gal—albeit one who clerked for a Supreme Court justice—decides to investigate the various bits of advice she’s found hither and yon on what makes for happiness and actually does them to see how well they work.

• Tiny Buddha by assorted authors. Yes, we’re back onto the happiness/zen/meditation track here, but hey: that’s what I’m interested in these days! Nice articles about the little things you can do in your every day life to improve your experience and the experiences of those around you.

• The Great Fitness Experiment by Charlotte Hilton Andersen. Ever read some fitness magazine’s recommended workout and thought, I wonder if that really works? Well, Charlotte doesn’t just wonder; she goes ahead and does it. One experiment per month, undertaken with hilarious and awe-inspiring intensity. She’s a witty, fun writer whose explorations into all things health and fitness will knock you upside the head. Also: she just had a baby. Ever wonder how to get your groove back after having a baby? Imagine you’re on the newest of four young tots. Yeah. It’s good stuff.

• Cookie Madness by Anna. Seriously, do I need to explain this one? Pictures + recipes + descriptions of COOKIES (and other tasty baked treats) = love. It’s Cookies. It’s Madness. Go.

• Bakerella by Bakerella (who’s probably a baker named Ella, natch). Usually when I think “crafty,” I think “manipulative and evil, and can you teach me how to do that?” When Bakerella does crafty, I think “gorgeous, amazing, and tasty, and can you teach me how to do that?” Oh, I want to be able to create the sorts of treasures you find here.

• Copenhagenize by Mikael. Mikael would like us to Copenhagenize the planet—that is, put everyone on a bicycle and get us out of our cars. They did it in Copenhagen (a city once devoted to its cars), so let’s get out there, folks! Since I feel this is an admirable goal (even as I still drive around in my 8 year old, 100k mile Honda Odyssey), I think everyone should read the inspiring tales of moving to better transportation.

• The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs by Fake Steve (or Real Dan Lyons). I know, Fake Steve’s been around for years, with a prolonged hiatus during Real Steve’s medical issues. Now he’s back and when Fake Steve is on, he’s on. The whole crusade against AT&T’s annoyingly sucky service? Excellent, Smithers. His series of slams on Tiger Woods? Evil but hilarious. Whenever I see terrible retail layout (I’m looking at you, Borders) or seriously tacky bling (that would be you, teenagers), I hear Fake Steve’s snarky voice in my head.

  Darin, surprisingly, does not find Fake Steve as hilarious I do. I can’t imagine why.

• @adrienneknits @monkeysmash Dang, it's already gone, whatever it was! in reply to adrienneknits #
• And you wonder why I don't want to live in places like North Carolina: http://bit.ly/8ZonUd #
• Dude, Santa has 1 hour and 14 minutes to order presents from the elves at Amazon, if you know what I'm saying. #

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• Got my ass kicked by @monkeysmash this morning! 8 miles in the cold and clear. #1000milesin2009 #
• @terpcj That is why you need a bakery like http://www.fleurdecocoa.com/ to get the real thing. Also: yum. in reply to terpcj #
• Moff's Law: When we analyze art, when we look for deeper meaning in it, we ARE enjoying it for what it is, dammit. http://bit.ly/604DHz #
• @moffs Well, someone had to do it. Feel free to re-post/submit to Wikipedia. in reply to moffs #
• @wonkybutt Strangely, I just saw a link to that via the Moffs Law stuff. But I hadn't been there myself, no. Except now I HAVE. in reply to wonkybutt #
• Why Web Journals Suck returns to my site! Enjoy. http://www.nobody-knows-anything.com/ #
• Ah, endless military recruitment ads before the movie: it's like living in the Soviet Union! #
• "Up In The Air" was not a movie that needed to be seen in a movie theater. Charming and deeply overrated. #

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A million and a half years ago—or THIRTEEN, to be precise—I wrote “Why Web Journals Suck,” which was about the explosion of what we then called Online Journals and we now call Blogs. Several people have asked me what happened to this essay, and I finally got my butt in gear and found it. I’ve edited it a little (very little…the bare minimum, in fact) and have posted it here.

A couple of things I learned from refinding the essay and editing it a bit before posting:

• Wow, does this current theme I’m using suck for quoting other people. I need a new theme on this site, and I need it NOW. And I need to be able to edit themes.
• The references… hahaha. If you don’t understand some of the references, I’m sorry about that. Yes, there was a time you had to design your own journal and handcode the HTML—there was no WordPress, no Movable Type, no Livejournal. Srsly. None of that. You did it yourself, or you went home. Also, you had to somehow get your own URL out there, because there was NO GOOGLE. We did have electricity and grocery stores though, so not all was lost.
• Wow, has so little changed in the intervening 13 years, despite the explosion of blogs, the commercialization of blogging, and the acceptance that blogs are just a way of life. Well, what can I say: good advice is still good advice.

I may or may not attempt to update the essay with more recent quotes. It seems pretty goshdarn perfect as it is, dangit. (And now I’m all nostalgic for the halcyon days where there were, like, 100 journals out there.)

Go. Read. Enjoy. Comment.