SIAO: As unofficial as you can get without a prescription

by Michael S. Kaplan, published on 2007/09/03 03:01 -04:00, original URI: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/michkap/archive/2007/09/03/4717474.aspx


Way back in the end of 2005, in the post ISO 8601 is asinine, I talked briefly about Aimee Mann and I quoted an interview from her talking about her song Long Shot, which started with the line "You fucked it up."

I also mentioned Julian Coryell, whose album Rock Star also has a single like that -- the title of the song is Asshole.

(by the way, Julian is going to be at Chateau Ste. Michelle on the 17th opening for Madeleine Peyroux; I'd go except the last time I took someone to see an opener for Madeleine they fell asleep, and this has made me skittish about inviting others to witness some of my musical fetishes!)

I was thinking about that the other day when someone suggested that this blog had managed to clearly position itself as a personal blog....

Somehow Michael Kaplan managed to pull this off. I envy him for it.

It made me wonder how I managed it.

There are several theories, and I will present them here in the form of a Letterman-esque "top ten" list:

#10: Irregular posting hours even when content appears regularly.

#9: Content that often differs from official MS strategy and that points out what I believe are some of the flaws in said strategy

#8: Masthead that claims that the blog is my "...random stuff of dubious value".

#7: Titles that are anything but professional.

#6: [Nod to Aimee and Julian] Curse words in the posts.

#5: [Nod to Aimee and Julian] Curse words in the titles.

#4: Complete and utter lack of formal style of any kind/totally random subject matter.

#3: Regularly apologizes for bugs and explicitly takes responsibility in a way that would send anyone in LCA into convulsions if it was an official blog.

#2 Openly insulting anyone who would quote the blog as an official source (aka "the Wingnut effect")

 And the #1 reason that people assume this blog is not a formal source of information:

#1 It's the typos, man. How many official sources have so many regular and consistent typos/speechos?


While I have your attention, I thought I'd do a bit if track maintenance and take care of some questions people have been asking about the blog:

From Jon Reskind in the Suggestion Box: Do you have a podcast? And if not then why not?

Hi Jon. I do not. I have no problem listening to podcasts, but I just don't think it's my kind of format. It would be more involved and formal and plus I think I lack the raw charisma to pull it off....

From a regular reader in a comment I can't remember where: Why do your blog posts use numbers rather than names?

I like the smaller titles, remembering that "feature" I pointed out in Shrinking URLs down, which would not work with those long, huge URLs based on the title of the post rather than just a number....

From a reader named Sheila via the Contact link: Are you in a relationship? Sometimes you talk like someone who is and sometimes you don't.

This one actually baffled me when I first read it. I mean I do joke about ex-girlfriends and occasionally the ex-fiancé, but I don't know that I have ever overtly acted like someone in a relationship....

Plus I could not tell about the time-line -- was the question assuming I have been in one relationship continuously since the end of 2004? In the dory I could have been in an out of several of them during that time!

For the record (if anyone is keeping track), I am not in any kind of real, actual relationship right now. There are several reasons for this that are probably worth a blog post some day (by my criteria for posts that amounts to "stuff that interests me"), but I'll hold off and not do that today.Stay tuned....

Hal asks:

Out of all the Kaplans in the world, I know only two Michaels. And that begs the question of whether you are one of them. Probably not but you never know. So here goes ...
#1 is about 60 years old and was born and lived in Brooklyn for many years.
#2 is about 55 years old and studied at SUNY Albany and was an Air Force officer.
Would you like to be #3? I am really curious if you are truly a Kaplan (i.e. of Polish descent and a Kohainim) and if you have a clue as to what I am referring to. I mean no offense, Michael.

Hope you respond.
Hal
 

Hi Hal, I am neither Kohain nor Levi, so I guess I am not #3. Sorry!

Kaplan is kind of an Ellis Island name for my family -- the original name is an interesting blog post on its own that I'll do some day...

Sandy asks: HI, I used to have a friend, Sheila Kaplan, and lost contact with her. Sheila has a son named Michael who used to work at UNI and I'm wondering if that's you. Please answer. Thanks. Sandy :)

Hi Sandy, I am not that Michael, sorry. Though if Sheila Kaplan is reading this she can feel free to use the Contact link and I'll get her in touch with Sandy. :-)

I also do not have a birth name of Mitchell, a sister named Tracy, a sister named Charlotte, or a father named Francis (to summarize four other "are you ____?" posts).


Okay, that's all I had on tap, there is more somewhere but I'll do it another day....

 

All characters, in an effort to prove that their sponsorship does not imply endorsement by The Unicode Consortium for the contents of this blog, have declined to sponsor this post


Dean Harding on 4 Sep 2007 1:56 AM:

Heh, it's amazing how many people do google searches to find long-lost relatives or friends :-)


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referenced by

2008/03/09 When in doubt, blame it on the @#%&*! SMILERS

2008/02/20 Officially unofficial? Or Unofficially official?

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