Yesterday I got a note from Troy over at 100bloggers asking me about a link for a contribution. That made me really sit back and take notice, because most of my posting here for quite some time, has been quick passing on of news and such. I haven’t written anything substantial that anyone could really sink their teeth into in quite some time. That’s not counting the more technically oriented issues like Skype Security and such. I didn’t feel I had anything worth offering Troy for inclusion.
I’ve become irrelevant, even to me. Yes, me, the one who harps on relevance being the key to blogging and winning the hearts and minds of readers everywhere. Why? In network terms, bandwidth. I’ve got limited carrying capacity, and it’s pretty well consumed at this point, but I had to step back and consider what’s taking up the bandwidth.
First, it’s summer. That malaise toward work in general and important things like BBQs and long weekends take a higher priority this time of year than any other.
This is the busiest time of year for me in one regard. Every June-August I’m pretty heavliy involved in reviewing, rewriting, certifying and facilitating some pretty expansive security policy issues. It’s a big project and every year it kills millions of brain cells.
I’m editing the book mentioned in the post just prior to this one. I confess, that’s not a huge task. Jim’s a great writer and that’s going to be a great book. But there are times when I need to focus on that work.
I’m in the process of finishing the outline for another book I’ll be writing. Contract is signed, but we’re comign to agreement on subject flow and content still. That is consuming quite a bit of brainpower at the moment. It’s a book on voice and data network management (no, not the great American novel. That comes later). That project will last several months and there will be times it’s very central to my efforts.
I’m still working on the Realtime VoIP Community efforts. And the VoIP ThinkTank podcasts. That’s something I’ll be involved in for a long time. And the focus is shifting a bit because VoIP is really just one slim aspect of unified communications. That effort is broadening beyond VoIP. Far beyond in some ways.
I’ll be in San Antonio in August. (Yes, I realize that’s not the ideal time of year to visit). More cybersecurity sorts of things. I’m involved in a lot of cybersecurity work that’s beneath the radar in most quarters. And that will stay that way in large part. If there’s something worth sharing that can be shared, I will.
I’m reading a lot, and it’s very brain intensive reading. Atlas Shrugged. Cryptinomicon. Promethus Unwired. And the Collected Works of Claude Shannon. All at the same time now. Don’t ask.
The legacy blogosphere? We’ll, it’s become somewhat tedious and irrelevant to me. I can’t really invest in battles over net neutrality. Sorry, but I think that’s a fight so we can have a fight. The real issues aren’t at the center of that whole debate. The real issues are buried away not being addressed at all. That’s an open forum for fighting…for the sake of fighting. I’m not interested.
What about all the ongoing blog buzz? The usual blog memes? I’m not sure what they are, but they haven’t been very interesting. Tagging? Blech. Trivial nonsense. Identity? Still a baby concept and more emotional than real. Conferences? Ick. Who gives a rabbit’s fart for all the silly conferences on nothing. I don’t care if it’s a conference or an unconference, a waste to time by any other name smells just as bad.
How that about Web 2.0? Get over it and move on to something real that matters. It’s a marketing buzzphrase that has no redeeming social value at this point. Don’t tell me about Web 2.0. If you do, my smoke alarm goes off indicating you’re trying to blow smoke up my ass. Tell me you’re doing something exciting and new that people will use in new and exciting ways. If you’re working on things like iotum, SightSpeed, and Telco 2.0 are, you’ve got cool things to talk about. If you’re in the middle of shaking up fixed mobile convergence, awesome. If you’re Microsoft selling me smoke and mirrors built on a wing and a prayer - - <yawn>. New YASNs (Yet Another Social Network) like PeopleAggregator interest me for about 10 minutes, but they have no holding power. None.
I think about writing about some burning, important things here all the time. I just haven’t taken a lot of time to write about them. The artificial glass ceiling women face bothers me, but quickly degenerates into boring conversation. Good old boys suck. Period. The declining literacy of our youth troubles me greatly. But the general dumbing down of America is moving forward like a freight train.
We’re following leaders who are leading us into the dark ages. Politics inflames me, but that becomes a personal, in your face, rant. I don’t to that here often and never had. I’ll be thrilled to see the present administration leave office. They are an abomination to the history of democracy and this country.
And I’m figuring out what I want to be when I grow up.
Filed by Ken at 10:21 pm under General
