there is no funny bull

I feel obliged to admit to you that there is in fact no funny bull and thus no horns to grab. I’m afraid that I’ve been so busy with work and then at home, falling asleep on the couch while watching Uncle Buck, that I haven’t busted anything out, contemporary or old-fashioned.

You see, I’ve discovered that writing funny things takes time. It only takes a few minutes to read something funny, so it is easy to assume that it took about the same time to write it. This is of course false. Revising is the process that turns attempts at humor into successful humor columns. As of late, I haven’t had much time to devote toward writing and I didn’t want to ruin my reputation (already slightly tarnished by mentioning the funny bull) so I didn’t write anything. I think I’ll write something funny once a week so that I can plan for it and put a few ideas together beforehand. The idea is that given some time to write it, I’ll hopefully be able to create something that will evoke some good old-fashioned laughter.

By the way, NPR is being rather foolish in regards to people linking to them. Cory Doctorow of boingboing.net was informed of their policy and wrote two posts about it and has continued to discuss the issue and post updates about it.

Wired has even picked up the story (and linked without permission, although they did ask first). It’s empowering to realize that a few bloggers can gather together and make a difference. NPR is now working on a solution that will better match the expectations of the Web community (that’s us). I’m glad they are willing to listen.

Comments

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  1. So am I and well,they should !

    Comment by Tammie on June 22, 2002 @ 9:25 am
  2. Hi Dan,
    Just letting you know that I’m still checking out your blog.
    I think I’m in the minority about this NPR linking business, but check out my take at
    http://www.illway.com/2002_06_16_archives#78004365.

    illway

    Comment by illway on June 24, 2002 @ 7:35 pm
  3. Illway,

    Nice to hear from you. I read your comments about NPR and I was surprised to learn that you know the ombudsman. It’s much easier to be understanding when you know someone personally instead of online.

    I still heartily disagree with NPR’s decision though. I liken it to an encyclopedia restricting people from using page numbers in their bibliographies. Linking is an essential part of the web and by putting their pages on a server they are making them available to link.

    Comment by dan on June 25, 2002 @ 10:53 am

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