Archive for March, 2009
What’s the first book that made you laugh?
Posted by: admin in Blog Ideas on March 22nd, 2009
I read a lot when I was younger. In elementary school, I think I managed to read every science and science-fiction book in our library. But I also occasionally read fiction. One of my favorites as a kid was Judy Blume’s “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
Anyway… how about you? What was the first book you ever read that made you laugh out loud? What was so funny about it? If you go back and read it today, do you still get a chuckle out of it?
What’s the economy doing to your area?
Posted by: admin in Blog Ideas on March 21st, 2009
The current economic climate is touching us all in one way or another. Maybe you’re seeing layoffs where you work (or maybe you’re the victim of one). Maybe it’s making people in the field more competitive. Maybe it’s making them decide to leave the business and go into something else. Maybe it’s actually helping you. Regardless, how is the economy affecting the subject matter area of your blog?
What can you learn from other fields?
Posted by: admin in Blog Ideas on March 20th, 2009
Perhaps your occupation is different, but I often find that my job as a Windows computer administrator has a lot in common with doctors and mechanics.
For example, most people expect their doctors to be able to examine them, maybe run a test or two, and identify the exact cause of their illness. As the television series “House” illustrates, sometimes finding the answer isn’t that easy. It’s the same with PCs (and Macs). Often, as with a medical doctor, I can diagnose the exact problem from the description I’m given and come up with a course of treatment that heals my patient. Other times, I have to perform test after test to narrow down the source of the trouble. Once in a great while, the problem simply can’t be fixed and the patient can’t be saved.
(Before I go on, I don’t mean to imply that I’m as important as a medical doctor, or that my job is “better” in any way. I’m just saying that there is a similarity that I find interesting.)
If you compare your blog subject area to something vaguely similar, does it teach you something about how to approach your own subject matter area.
Is there something interesting in your email?
Posted by: admin in Blog Ideas on March 19th, 2009
One of the blogs I run is a news site for tabletop games and PC strategy games. I also cover “massively multiplayer online games” like World of Warcraft, which I happen to play occasionally. My younger brother Matt, who lost his job back in November, is playing a lot of Lord of the Rings Online while he waits for the next job interview or phone call. As a result, he’s learning a lot about the game. He also tries to recruit others, like me, into the game by sharing stories and strategies about the game.
Recently, I began to realize that all this information would be of use to a new Lord of the Rings Online player, so (with his permission) I began editing those emails and posting them on my game news site.
If you scan through your email conversations, you may find that there are some interesting discussions in there that could benefit others. Maybe a friend helped you troubleshoot a computer problem, or shared a good recipe with you, etc. As long as those involved in the email communication are OK with it, you might just want to post it on your blog.
When you do this, I would strongly encourage you to delete out anyone’s name who is mentioned in it, any email addresses in it, or any other potentially offensive, private, or otherwise problematic information. You might also want to run it past the others involved in the email traffic before posting the article, so that there aren’t any ruffled feathers or lost friendships.
Is there humor in flipping a situation around?
Posted by: admin in Blog Ideas on March 18th, 2009
On one of my blogs, there has been a kind of ongoing theme where a company is doing something that is frustrating its customers and third parties who are working with it by invoking a kind of censorship. Rather than write yet-another blog article explaining why the company’s censorship is counter-productive, I decided to turn things on their head. I wrote a humorous post (at least I intended for it to be humorous) that included fictitious examples of things the company was right to have censored… things that were dangerous, disgusting, or just stupid.
If you are writing on a specific subject area or set of areas, you’re probably aware of a similar situation among people in your circle of acquaintences… something that everyone complains about. Use that situation to write a blog post taking the opposite viewpoint, that there’s something good in this thing that’s making people angry.
Can you write a song parody?
Posted by: admin in Blog Ideas on March 17th, 2009
OK, maybe you’re not a rock star. Maybe you can’t even play an instrument or sing. But if you’re a blogger, then you can write. Pick out a popular song, one most people will recognize (like Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA”). Find the lyrics online using a search engine like Google. If it’s not already part of your music collection, (legally) download a copy (such as from iTunes or Zune Marketplace). Listen to it a few times.
If you have a blog that focuses on a specific topic, brainstorm all the words you can think of that relate to your topic and write a parody of the popular song using terminology from your blog’s content area. If your blog isn’t focused on a specific topic, your task could be simpler, since you can write about anything you like.
For example, if your blog was about nursing, you might parody the Beatles’ “I Want To Hold Your Hand” with the phrase “I Want to Take Your Pulse”.
Is it possible to be too open-minded?
Posted by: admin in Blog Ideas on March 16th, 2009
Comedian Tim Minchin has a song entitled “If you open your mind too much, your brains will fall out (take my wife)” in which he conveys the point that it’s possible to be so open-minded that you’re believing things that simply don’t make sense. (See the link for a YouTube video of Tim singing that song.)
Recently I read a similar quote:
If you keep your mind sufficiently open, people will throw a lot of rubbish into it.
William Ornton
At first, I thought those seemed rather silly viewpoints. However, the more I think about it, the more I think there could be something to it. I know several very intelligent, open-minded people who seem to have picked up (somewhere along the way) very firm beliefs that just don’t stand up to a logical, scientific examination.
How about you? Do you think it’s possible to be so open-minded that you start believing things that have absolutely no basis in fact? Have you seen examples of this in your own life?
What will America be known for 1,000 years from now?
Posted by: admin in Blog Ideas on March 15th, 2009
When I read the following quote recently:
I think there are only three things America will be known for 2,000 years from now when they study this civilization: the Constitution, jazz music, and baseball.
Gerald Early, writer, baseball documentary, 1994
It made me wonder. Just what WILL America be kn0wn for in 1,000 or 2,000 years? What do you think?
How would your best friend describe you?
Posted by: admin in Blog Ideas on March 14th, 2009
This idea is an exercise in self-examination. How do you think your best friend would describe you to someone who has never met you? Would they describe you as open-minded or rigid? Logical or emotional? Sensitive or not? Practical? Intelligent? Sensible? Hard-working?
Have you ever seen “cool” graffiti?
Posted by: admin in Blog Ideas on March 13th, 2009
Personally, I have never cared for graffiti. I think it’s extremely disrespectful and rude to paint anything on someone else’s property without their permission, so I suggest this topic with a certain amount of concern that it could encourage something I disagree with. But, have you ever seen an example of graffiti that you thought was especially artistic or cool? Can you snap a digital photo of it? What’s cool about it? What’s your opinion of graffiti in general?