Four Years and Change

My goodness.  Where does that time go?  It appears that I have been pecking away at the keyboard now for four years of blogging.

I understand that "blogging is dead".  I know this because I recently read it on the internet.  On somebody's blog.

The argument in favor of this being true is that other modes of communication, generically lumped together as "social media", have supplanted the old school method of blogging.  Blogging after all is simply a matter of writing things down and appending a few pictures when useful.

It has gotten me to wondering just what people are doing with their time, if not creating and perusing blogs.  For a while the answer was Facebook!, but that has apparently also had its moment.  Now that has become a place for old people to post pictures of their cute pets and grandchildren.  I have tried to comprehend Twitter, but if short, banal tweets have become the default method of communication I proclaim our civilization to be officially Doomed.  I am aware of other "stuff" out there, Instagram, Pinterest and so forth, but none of them seem like places where one could sit down and think for a minute on anything specific.

So I intend to keep plugging away.

It has been an interesting year at Detritus of Empire.  Visits roughly double in the spring and summer month, correlating I imagine with travels and archeology postings.  Or maybe that is just the time of year when the various eastern European spambots emerge from winter hibernation.

Barring obstacles not yet visible, this year's jaunt to visit the actual detritus of Empire should be great.

A certain amount of upkeep is needed on any venture so I am trimming and adding a bit.  On the "blogroll" I am dropping a couple of links.  I am very much a fan of Roadside America and of Gravely Speaking, but each is a niche site, of the sort that a periodic visit will suffice.

We are heading into a year of intense politics, and since it can't be avoided altogether I like to have sites that can counterbalance each other.  In addition to the Conservative viewpoints of Borepatch and the enigmatic Gormogons I am linking to Contrary Brin.  David Brin is a sci fi writer and Progressive thinker, and we have had many cordial if energetic discussions down in his comments area.

If blogging is in a reputed decline, web based comics are doing great.  Girl Genius is rollicking good fun but has been running long enough to have some inertia.  I am freshening up by adding Stand Still, Stay Silent, a newer creation that is following a fascinating narrative involving a post apocalyptic Scandinavia. It does not have a functional RSS feed so you can't see the latest updates, but the author posts great looking stuff five days a week.  Worth the visit.

A few links make it on in probationary form.  The Vindolanda excavations have been running a sporadic blog that, when updated, is very good indeed.  If they don't keep it current I will, as we say in archaeology, back fill it.

I have come very close on several occasions to adding a link to Red Letter Media.  This is a collection of brilliant crazy people who are both independent film makers and film critics.  Film philosophers might actually be closer to the mark.  Their work is often the stuff of true genius, but alas has a little too much profanity to be recommended to a general audience.

Ah, what the heck.  I'll probably get embarrassed by their juvenile antics and delete them after a while, but they are very entertaining.

A few other touch ups and Detritus of Empire is ready for another year.