Andrei Codrescu, Spiders, Blogs...

an interesting observation on Doc Searls Weblog He was listening to an Andrei Codrescu essay on NPR and it went in a bit of a different direction than he was expecting... bq. I mention my front yard architect for several reasons. bq. One, she seems a lot more interested in her creation than her prey, though I do not doubt she eats well in such a cleverly designed trap. bq. Second, she conducts her operations unbothered by humans who mow very carefully around her and admire her work. bq. Thirdly, she was very smart to build in a place that was sheltered enough from the elements, and open enough to elicit admiration instead of disgust. bq. And fourthly, she was lucky. She squatted on a liberals' lawn. Now I should be so lucky. Or you. bq. The only analogy in the human world is an Internet habitat called a blog. bq. The blog is the grapho-egomaniac's perfect outlet. It's a daily, hourly or perpetual diary belonging souley to a writer and her thoughts. bq. These thoughts are made public to the world every time a writer is at a keyboard. Which is, in some cases, twenty-four seven. bq. Some people cruising by will read the postings and respond to them with thoughts of their own. Or even better, some admiration. bq. And some move into the blog, reacting to the writer's every entry with one of their own. Like a family member. And all in real time. bq. Eventualy a small community is born, with the blogger in the center of the web, entertaining or devouring the haphazard relatives or any number of guests. bq. Today there are literally millions of blogmasters on the Web, each of them spiderlike at the center of their own world. bq. Most of them believe doubtlessly that this is all the world they need and that they're the center, not just of their private world, but that of the world itself. bq. In the real world Winter comes and even the greatest spider dies eventually. bq. The blog will likewise go on, until the blogger runs out of room on the server and can't pay the bill. bq. Then it's clear not only that there is a bigger world, but students of webs and blogs who watch and wonder about all the work.