PhotoDude.com

Mon. Dec 30, 2002

Best of 2002

Best of 2002 – It’s the time for those dreaded Year End Reviews, which often seem to serve someone other than the intended reader. This would be one of those times.

However, it does give me a chance to thank each of the over 486,000 visitors PhotoDude.com had this year (Sitemeter claims 210,000 just for the web log), who generated nearly 2 million page views. Those are humbling figures for someone who well remembers launching this site 6 years ago this January, and who was agog over each and every international visitor, or any day more than a dozen people hit my site. The oldest stats I’ve saved are from September, 1998, and they show 2,415 visitors in that month. In September, 2002, I had 50,500 visitors, a twenty fold increase in four years. What “Dot Com Bust”?

And though it might seem somewhat narcissistic, I do like to look back on what I’ve written in the past year (best I can figure, almost 1500 entries), perhaps with a bit of the perspective of distance, and select the writings that still stand out, for one reason or another (you can also read the Best of 2001, and the Best of 2000 is on an outdated archives page). Making the list that follows might help me understand why you people keep coming back.

· The Last Mile – The since confirmed lament over the military failing to “lock the back door” at Tora Bora. Jan. 3

· Separated at Birth, Part Two – Jan. 4

· Underground Photoshop Tennis vs. Melanie – Jan. 14

· “Giant Misbegotten Organism” – “That’s the description of where I live, according to the new book by James Howard Kunstler.” Jan. 20

· Modern War Myths and the Return of Anti-Americanism – “Now that everyone seems to be getting back to normal, shock is being expressed that innocents died, and (gasp!) prisoners are being held captive. In cells! Naivete has re-entered the fold. Anti-Americanism is back out of the closet (although it was a bit too big to fully hide in there). And this American is sick of naive critics with no sense of history who either seem unable to recognize what has happened, or deliberately portray it as the opposite.” Jan. 27

· Olympic Backlash – “Yes, the Olympics are infested with various problems. If you want to compete in the Olympics, there will be various compromises you will have to make, potential bad choices to be avoided, and seemingly unrelated BS you will have to endure. Name me a worthy endeavor on this planet where those things are not true.” Feb. 7

· Olympic Whining, Bronze Medal – “Each of these complaints we hear about the Olympics, from the Opening Ceremonies spat to the simplistic TV coverage to business complaints, they all have one thing in common: they’re not about the athletes. That’s what the Olympics are about.” Feb. 14

· Olympic Whining, Gold Medal – “Oh, my, are the IOC’s panties in a wad? Again? [...] On top of their standard issue IOC arrogance, they’re angry at us because they did something stupid, and got caught. By greed. So now they want to take their ball and go home.” Feb. 15

· Hurdles CSS Must Overcome – A rebuttal of Dave Winer’s article. Feb. 18

· Presumed Guilt – “Fritz Hollings, along with five Senators co-sponsoring this bill, and every corporation that wants to take your money for music, film or video, are acting on the apparent fact that all Americans are copyright criminals. We can no longer even be trusted with rights previous Congressional law gave us.” Mar. 23

· Another Useability Spanking – “Call me a masochist. But I wanted to see if Jakob came through for me again. In these interviews, he almost always manages to say something that makes it clear my site is a waste of good server space.” Mar. 27

· blogosphere – “There’s now this new … entity … that is apparently roundish and made of blog, and I’m somehow caught up in it.” Mar. 28

· Separated at Birth, Part Three – Apr. 17

· A Blue Morning – “I walked into the kitchen in time to watch my poor Grind n’ Brew die an ugly and smoke filled death. I’d rather not remember it in detail right now. All I can say is, that poor little red light stayed on a long time after I unplugged it. Then, it slowly faded out.” May 9

· Gonzo Marketing: Evolution, Not Revolution – “Often times good ideas are presented with such fervency they strike the very people they most need to influence as primarily anti-authoritarian thought. And that perception colors the underlying idea. But if it comes from bottom-up within their own organization, or is couched in familiar and non-threatening terminology, it will have greatly increased mileage.” May 12

· Is This Really Europe? – A long and interesting conversation with a European. Jun. 1

· In Memory: Cora Lee Hinton Stott, 1908-2002 – Jun. 2

· Home Folks and the Family Tree – ““Once again seeing the roots of my family tree and the home folks that live around it filled my heart in unexpected ways.” Jun. 6

· The Changing of the Strategies – A look at the global changes of the past fifty years, the resulting strategy in the War on Terror (and friction with allies), as well as the concept of preemption. Jun. 18

· Engaging Youth – “I’d just like to make sure there is a nice rest home left to put me in, when you young whippersnappers are ready to put us away. I’m hoping you’ll be able to do just that, instead of being busy dodging suicide bombers and avoiding anthrax in your mail. ’Sorry, gramps, gotta go refill my Cipro prescription! I’ll be back soon if I can avoid the afternoon rush hour bomber.’ I’d like for you to avoid that future. And the only way I see that happening is by waging a harsh war, near term.” Jun. 24

· Why Do They Hate Us? From The Horse’s Mouth – “9 months ago, the question vexed us [...] now we have a ’treatise’ on the subject from Al Qaeda’s spokesman, and though it’s been spread about in other weblogs, I had to dissect it to see what makes it tick for myself.” Jun. 24

· Dead or Alive, Part One: Elvis Bin Laden – An assessment of the State of Osama, that stands pretty well even 6 months down the line. Jun. 28

· Dead or Alive, Part Two: Al Qaeda – “If you were truly a Big Player with skills and capabilities, these are the plays you might have made. Instead, we get shoe bombers and gang bangers who hardly even make it into the country before getting handcuffs slapped on them.” Jun. 28

· I’ll Bite Your Knees Off! – “Yes, Al Qaeda spokesman Sulaiman ’Chicken Little’ Ghaith is back to say ’boo’ yet again.” Jul. 9

· Why Don’t We Listen Anymore? – “As for people feeling a ’deep foreboding’ regarding what the US might do, frankly, it’s been too long since people have felt that way. If there are a few collars out there that are damp with worry about what those Crazy Cowboy Americans will do next, currently, I’m quite fine with that.” Jul. 10

· Digital Shoeboxes – On the dilemma of storing mass quantities of digital images: “There has never been a truly permanent storage medium … not even canvas or paper. Maybe stone, but then again, have you ever seen the original Ten Commandments?” Jul. 24

· Copy Fighting – “A long and detailed look at copyrights and patents starts off by simply doing away with the basis for copyright in this country, the U.S. Constitution [...] Like experts in a jury trial, the Founding Fathers have been disqualified from judgment due to a lack of understanding and/or experience. Heaven knows how such unqualified men did so well with the rest of that document.” Aug. 5

· Iraq and the Strategy of Preemption – “Does Saddam still have weapons of mass destruction, is he making more, and will he actually use them? I think all those questions have been answered, just not in a manner we like, or maybe even properly perceive.” Aug. 12

· Swinging the Big Pendulum – “We’re Crazy Cowboy Americans, and there’s no telling what the hell we’ll do next, except everyone is saying ’we’re going to go to war with just about everyone.’ Sure we are. Spread the word.” Aug. 14

· Record Companies Sue Internet – “The ’Gang of Five,’ the Al Qaeda of the music industry, has made another heinous attack upon innocent civilians.” Aug. 17

· McKinney vs. Majette – You might want to read Sweeping Up The Pieces, Part One and Part Two, or Primary Results … As They Come In, or “That ain’t nothin’. Jews have bought everybody. Jews. J-E-W-S,” or McKinney’s Fake Endorsements & The Truth, or any of the dozens of entries I made in the Politics section in July and August (or this summary). I’ve never been such a political activist, but I tried to wield this weblog as my own little sledgehammer to help Denise Majette get elected.

· Saudi Arabia and America: United in Dysfunction – “We have a government that made some … questionable … choices a long time ago that now have them at disadvantage, and have perhaps gotten beyond the control they presumed they maintained. Yet they cling to those old policies in a stubborn attempt to will away the obvious. These traits (if little else) are shared by the governments of Saudi Arabia … and the United States.” Aug. 27

· Black Septembers and Stolen Innocence – A reminiscence on the 30th anniversary of the Munich Massacre: “Evil. With a capital ’E’. I met it 30 years ago today. And again, a year ago next Wednesday. I’m not so innocent anymore, but I’m stronger because of it. And it all goes back to September 5, 1972, when a boy saw what men can do.” Sep. 5

· Underground Photoshop Tennis: PhotoDude vs. Phineas – Sep. 5

· Tragedy versus Mass Homicide – “However, famine in Africa is a tragedy. Hurricane Andrew was a tragedy. AIDS is a tragedy. Deliberately crashing three civilian airliners into massive buildings with the sole intent to kill as many innocents as possible is not a tragedy. It’s a heinous and premeditated criminal sin against civilization.” Sep. 6

· compASSion HOLES – Just before Sept. 11, I got really mad: “Please feel free to move on with your life as you see fit, and hey, maybe you can let me do the same without feeling a need to publicly bare the gaping cold hole where your heart once was, a long long time ago.” Sep. 8

· Scott Ritter, Ugly American Overseas – A relatively short entry that sparked an odd comments row, and a later debate. Sep. 9

· “I’m OK, I’m with the firemen” – “The photographer was Bill Biggart, who was killed at the age of 54 when the North Tower collapsed. This long convoluted essay is meant to honor him, and to tell how his story powerfully affected me, in detail. Because only by telling it in detail can I get out the demon: that he made choices that I would have made had I been in his place, he did things I would have done because they seemed the safe thing to do. And he died, doing what he had to do, as I know I would have died.” This entry was the hardest writing I’ve ever done, but I’ve never gotten more out of one simple comment in response. Sep. 10

· McKinney Blames D-E-M-S – “To sum up, Ms. McKinney and her father blame their defeats on Republicans, Democrats, J-E-W-S, black folks, Klansmen, and the Governor of Georgia.” Sep. 13

· The Hunt of the Reasons – “Jay Bookman (”The president’s real goal in Iraq”)says this is about a decade old plan for American Empire Building. And Cynthia Tucker says, well, she says a lot of things. Neither of them spends much time explaining why the reasons the President gives for a showdown with Iraq are wrong, or even simply bad. They are given a brief and cursory brushoff in the hunt for The Real Reason.” Sep. 30

· The False Binary of Copyright – “I often feel completely left out of the ongoing copyright debate. This, despite the fact that I represent an entity that creates the majority of intellectual property; The Individuals.” Oct. 3

· The Digital Sweet Spot – “...we seem to have reached a sort of ”sweet spot” in the development of digital cameras with the latest releases, expensive though they may be…” Oct. 5

· Gone Honeymoonin’ – Announces our marriage, and unmasks the prank I played on my readers. You might also enjoy Pre-Wedding Vignettes: “A wise groom-to-be quickly realizes the best thing he can do is keep his hands and fingers clear of the wedding machinery, lest he draw back a bloody nub. Only women are properly qualifed to operate The Machine, and the wise choice is to let them.” Oct. 26

· Praising Charleston – This is the first of a six part series on the city where Susan and I honeymooned. Nov. 4

· Radio Deregulation No Hit for Listeners – “Instead of one Behemoth and a lot of independents nipping at their heels, providing a varied and evolving radio marketplace, now you have a few Behemoths, stagnating within their well defined turf, while they rake in the dough. You hear the result on your radio today. It didn’t have to be that way.” Nov. 22

· Just One Thing – “For today, that’s all. And that’s plenty.” Nov. 28

· Our Pen Pal Osama – “I recall some people saying they guiltily watched the Daniel Pearl video because they felt they had to see just what kind of evil we are up against. OK, here’s a less grisly opportunity to do the same, in simple text, but I bet you’ll leave just as convinced.” Nov. 25

· Dissecting Anti-Americanism – Another lengthy and interesting discussion with a European visitor. Dec. 1

· Clear Intentions, Part Two – “A lot of people in a lot of places have been talking about Islam, and specifically, how to define our enemy in relation to the religion. In my opinion, this is both a moral question and an important strategic question, and I think they both have the same answer.” Dec. 8

· The Real Threat from Iraq – “Willing minions and plausible deniability; what more could an aspiring Caliph desire? Whether this particular incident proves true or not, this type of threat is the reason I support regime change in Iraq. It has nothing to do with nukes.” Dec. 12