Gotta go back in time...
According to the Wikipedia entry on the subject, the term "weblog" was first coined in December 1997, with the shortened form "blog" first used in 1999.
Yet, even before anyone knew what a "blog" was, some of us recognized the web as a cheap and easy medium to express our self-important opinions. That's right, yours truly had a quasi-blog six years before this current blog came into existence.
My first two poorly-designed and copyright-infringing websites (screenshots below) included a section called "Rants." From April 1997 to October 1998, I managed to post six whole entries on topics ranging from gun control to homophobia to the laziness of today's college students.
I read through these old entries today, a little wary of what I might find. After all, a person can change a lot in nine years. But what I found is that I agreed with what I'd written. These six mini-essays are relatively cogent, and express opinions that I still hold today. Sure, the language is a bit crude -- but this should come as no surprise to anyone who has read this blog or listened to our podcast!!
So, I decided to fold those six old entries into this blog, in an effort to make this a somewhat complete record of my insane scribblings over the years. Of course, this means that this blog now has a five year gap between October 1998 and March 2003, but oh well.
(Actually, I wrote several pieces for a column called "There Are Jews in Alabama?" for a now-defunct website called "SecularSouth" in 2000 and 2001. If I can find some of those, it will fill in that gap a bit.)
In any case, you can read these early blog posts (that didn't know they were blog posts) here:
This blog is now using a new template design, and I'm pretty amused by the random quote generator which fills in the pithy comment at the top of the page. I spent a good deal of time yesterday selecting good quotes. Some funny, some serious and political, but I like them all. I also used this quote generator, with some different quotes, for minor redesign to the Jews in Alabama page I did yesterday.
As promised above, here are screenshots from the first two versions of my website. I wrote both of these completely in raw HTML, and was so proud of myself!! I even had an "online resume," which I'm sure was never looked at by any potential employers!!!
Yet, even before anyone knew what a "blog" was, some of us recognized the web as a cheap and easy medium to express our self-important opinions. That's right, yours truly had a quasi-blog six years before this current blog came into existence.
My first two poorly-designed and copyright-infringing websites (screenshots below) included a section called "Rants." From April 1997 to October 1998, I managed to post six whole entries on topics ranging from gun control to homophobia to the laziness of today's college students.
I read through these old entries today, a little wary of what I might find. After all, a person can change a lot in nine years. But what I found is that I agreed with what I'd written. These six mini-essays are relatively cogent, and express opinions that I still hold today. Sure, the language is a bit crude -- but this should come as no surprise to anyone who has read this blog or listened to our podcast!!
So, I decided to fold those six old entries into this blog, in an effort to make this a somewhat complete record of my insane scribblings over the years. Of course, this means that this blog now has a five year gap between October 1998 and March 2003, but oh well.
(Actually, I wrote several pieces for a column called "There Are Jews in Alabama?" for a now-defunct website called "SecularSouth" in 2000 and 2001. If I can find some of those, it will fill in that gap a bit.)
In any case, you can read these early blog posts (that didn't know they were blog posts) here:
- "What the hell is wrong with people?", 4/26/97
- "What the hell is wrong with the government?", 5/27/97
- "What the hell is wrong with people?", 8/10/97
- "What the hell is wrong with the world?", 12/20/97
- "What the hell is wrong with the world?", 3/29/98
- "What the hell is wrong with students?", 10/15/98
This blog is now using a new template design, and I'm pretty amused by the random quote generator which fills in the pithy comment at the top of the page. I spent a good deal of time yesterday selecting good quotes. Some funny, some serious and political, but I like them all. I also used this quote generator, with some different quotes, for minor redesign to the Jews in Alabama page I did yesterday.
As promised above, here are screenshots from the first two versions of my website. I wrote both of these completely in raw HTML, and was so proud of myself!! I even had an "online resume," which I'm sure was never looked at by any potential employers!!!
 | Version 1.0 of my website, hosted at AOL.com and dpo.uab.edu, 1997-1999. |
 | Version 2.0 of my website, the first iteration of rzeszut.com, 1999-2001. |
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