Why I will never be a trendy blogger
Bookworm on Dec 09 2011 at 7:38 pm | Filed under: Silly Stuff
It’s been a long day, so I thought I’d go for something frivolous in this post. What, I asked myself, are the top google searches, most of which I assume are frivolous. So I went to Google Trends. A glance at the list of the twenty top Google search terms confirmed something I’ve long suspected: I’m really out of it when it comes to pop culture.
The most searched term is David Stern. Who the heck is David Stern?
Okay, I’ve checked it out. David Stern has something to do with the Los Angeles Lakers. Clearly, both he and they are hot tonight, since “Lakers News,” at hot item #20, neatly bookend the list that Stern tops.
Having mentioned his name, I should now tell you why David Stern matters, shouldn’t I? Here goes: As best as I can tell, David Stern is the commissioner for the NBA (that’s “National Basketball Association” for those of you as out of it as I am). He’s big in the news now because he used his power to block a trade that would have seen a guard named Chris Paul, currently of the New Orleans Hornets, join Kobe Bryant on the Lakers team. (Ah! This explains why Chris Paul falls precisely in the middle of the Google Trends list, at #12.)
Fans have been outraged (although one person thinks it wasn’t such a stupid idea after all). The outrage stems from the fact that, unlike the other teams in the NBA which are owned by independent entities, the NBA itself apparently owns the Hornets. That means Stern (NBA commissioner) has a stake in not losing a valuable player. Even if there’s nothing wrong with what he did, it doesn’t pass the smell test.
I’ve now exhausted the sum total of knowledge I’m willing to acquire in order to understand why so many people are looking up David Stern, Chris Paul and the Lakers. If you’d care to learn more on the subject, the links I gave should help.
At this point, I have to admit that Google Trends is not inspiring me.
What else? Oooh, how about “Lindsay Lohan Playboy photos” (#9 on the list). I know who Lindsay Lohan is, and I know what Playboy is. The only problem is that Lindsay Lohan just makes me sad. She started out as a lovely young woman with a genuine acting talent, and devolved into a pathetic drug addict. It’s wrong to see her naked, not because I have a principled opposition to naked photos of pretty girls (as a heterosexual gal myself, those fall into the “who cares?” category), but because watching Lohan is precisely like rubbernecking a bad car accident in the hope of seeing bloodied bodies. Staring at her feels like the worst kind of voyeurism. So I’m not going to write about her anymore. ‘Nuff said.
This foray into Google Trends is not shaping up as the frivolous experience I was seeking. Oooh! Number two on the list is a good one: Lunar eclipse. Tonight there’s going to be a full lunar eclipse. It’s supposed to be spectacular even by lunar eclipse standards, although not everyone will be lucky enough to see it. (I could probably see it but, pathetically, I’d rather sleep.):
This year’s second total lunar eclipse on Saturday, Dec. 10, will offer a rare chance to see a strange celestial sight traditionally thought impossible.
Ringside seats for the lunar eclipse can be found in Alaska, Hawaii, northwestern Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and central and eastern Asia. Over the contiguous United States and Canada, the eastern zones will see either only the initial penumbral stages before moonset, or nothing at all.
Over the central regions of the United States, the moon will set as it becomes progressively immersed in the Earth’s umbral shadow. The Rocky Mountain states and the prairie provinces will see the moon set in total eclipse, while out west the moon will start to emerge from the shadow as it sets.
The moon passes through the southern part of the Earth’s shadow, with totality beginning at 6:06 a.m. PST and lasting 51 minutes. [Total Eclipse of the Moon (Infographic)]
For most places in the United States and Canada, there will be a chance to observe an unusual effect, one that celestial geometry seems to dictate can’t happen. The little-used name for this effect is a “selenelion” (or “selenehelion”) and occurs when both the sun and the eclipsed moon can be seen at the same time.
More than a decade ago, I was fortunate enough to see Halley’s Comet Hale Bopp. It was an exquisitely clear night, I was at Pier 39 in San Francisco and the comet was perfectly balanced between the two towers of the Golden Gate Bridge. So if you’re awake and in the right place, try to see the eclipse. You’ll remember it later.
I’m sorry, but aside from my minor excitement about the lunar eclipse, which I’ll miss in any event, I can’t seem to get that excited about the Trends. I’m not a trendy person. I don’t care about people whose names I have to look up. Who are James Harrison at #3 or Brandon Roy at #10? If I look these people up, will my life improve? I doubt it.
Related posts:
- Another Blogger defection
- Obama’s shopping cart — by guest blogger Sadie
- Why I will never become a top blogger *UPDATED*
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9 Responses to “Why I will never be a trendy blogger”
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Book, I think you are thinking of Hale Bopp, the “unexpected comet” in 1997 that astronomers thought was going to be pretty mousey but turned out to be a classic, melodramatic, long-tailed harbinger in the night sky.
After Haley’s Comet punked out in 1986, the result of having its mojo depleted by too many previous trips around the sun, I despaired of ever seeing a rootin’ tootin’ kickass ball o’ flaming ice. Hale Bopp came through, and I’ve been the better man-boy for it.
This is why I love reading your blog. You accurately (and humorously) express my complete lack of interest in “trendiness” and share my interest in what matters in the U.S. today. This is why I love the internet–connecting with such cohorts makes me realize I am not as much of a dinosaur alone as I previously erroneously suspected.
Drudge has links today to stories about a Russian blogger who appears to be responsible for the current demonstrations over there. He sounds very brave and has evidently been arrested. I wonder if there is a way we could all do something to make sure his name trends so they will be less likely to do him harm. His name is Aleksei Navalny. NY Times article (hopefully it will let you in) http://tinyurl.com/7noz5t6 BBC article http://tinyurl.com/ch5zy6l
Zabrina…
Agreed! Before blogs, I was a regular on some of the newsgroups that served a somewhat similar purpose. I live almost in a town of about 100,000 population. What are the probabilities of finding like-minded folks to discuss with even in a town that size? And it’s a relatively small town. At least, not a city(although it calls itself a city). Actually, I live about 6 miles from the town center, and about 4 miles from the town limits.
I really appreciate the fact that the internet provides a “meeting place” for people who may be some 3000 miles apart, or if less distant, still relatively impossible to meet to share thoughts with. As you say – it can be lonely when you have only your self to share thoughts and discussions with…! (and especially so if you feel like you’re out of step with the bodies that make up your local population)
On the plus side, as I’ve mentioned, we have a light bulb store. With the new restrictions on what people can buy, what is being produced (did you know that after Jan. 2012, no more 100w A shaped – that’s the regular shaped bulbs you’re familiar with – can be sold? When we explain why they can’t find them in the places they usually found them before, they tend to express limited government feelings they may not have even been aware they had!
And oh yes…all the t12** fluorescents are going away too…middle of next year. Those are the standard bulbs for most office buildings and in most garage/workshop areas. That’s not as big a deal – except it means you better stock up, or you’ll have to buy new fixtures. Or re-ballast your present fixtures, if you feel reasonably handy. Unless we have a change in administration, 75w bulbs go out in 2013 (I think), and 60w bulbs go in 2014 or 2015. The problem is that we are being limited from building new electric plants by the environmentalists (Under Obama, the EPA is planning on shutting down coal burning plants, which means nationwide, about 10% of electrical production will be eliminated). That means that we all have to “share”. We’re all entitled to less of the electrical supply, which means we have to minimize our use by using fluorescents. I don’t even want to talk about LEDs. They’re coming.
** Bulbs are measured in eighths of an inch. A t12 bulb (tube) is 12/8 of an inch, or 1.5 inches in diameter. A t8 is one inch in diameter. The standard household bulb (or what _was_ the standard household bulb) is an A19…19/8 inches in diameter at the widest point – just under 2.5 inches. I know..more than you needed to know.
Given that the government can’t – with any competence – do the jobs that the Constitution actually allots to it, why do we tolerate this kind of BS with the light-bulbs?
We really are sheep. We really are sheep just as badly as any other non-pig wandering around Orwell’s barnyard. The crap that we tolerate from this government “of us” is just astounding. We are beyond dumb, and when we’ve pissed it all away we can sit in the corner and suck our thumbs and wonder what the hell happened. What happened? We happened – the “F***ing Idiot Generation.”
I have seriuosly though about hording 60 and 75 Watt incandescent bulbs. Those curly tailed bulbs are expensive and do not give as much light. I guess Sadie would say Obama is really taking us back to the “dark ages”.
Although I read a lot of blogs and news websites this is the only one I actually participate in. It is interesting to share with people from all over the world. i believe there is someone in who checks in from Africa from time to time. Maybe Austrailia. I just know they are living in a very remote part of the world but are able to check in.
When I was in the radio business my first program director explained that we kept the door locked at all times because the first thing an enemy does is come in a shut down radio and TV communication. Reading about the recent unreast in the middle east it is the interent they shut down now. I am sure they are making lists and Sadie I too saw the story about the government archiving every twitter tweet. Big Brother is watching.
You are absolutely right, Charles. The experience was memorable — the name, not so much.
And that’s why, Book, I visit this blog for thoughtful contemplation of all the great posts and commentary rather than being titillated by trendiness.
Like I told other people, all the federal government has to do to know what you are doing, is nationalize Facebook. They will then confiscate the servers and have all the info, you put in for them. In China, they may need to shut down internet access. In a free system like the US, simply coopting and nationalizing it, will give them much more control over people.
I’m not part of the mass trends, because mass trends are ridiculously easy to manipulate. I focus more on looking up the tools of manipulation, then on what the cogs are doing.