Gabbro B-Sides

Wow. I went to my first paleontology lecture this afternoon; the first half of the lecture was in English, and the second half in Danish. It was actually rather exciting: based on important key words like “Hubble” “banded iron formations” and “stromatolites,” and also the fact that I already knew much of what was covered today, I was able to keep abreast of most of the lecture and even learn a few new Danish words along the way. Useful everyday words, like silicon, carbon dioxide, foraminifera, oxygen, Archaean… my head is still reeling.

Meanwhile, I’ve been half-following the recent spate of blog-related articles in the popular press, mostly via the links on Blogger’s main page. I followed it here, to another blogger’s populist rant, and a couple of the comments put me in rant mode. It seems to me that there’s this sense of expectation in blogland, that popularity and critical acclaim ought to be doled out according to some high-minded standard of Blog Quality. Whenever someone’s choice of top blogs deviates from this standard, whatever it might be, they are accused of being cliquish, elitist, and general rotten bastards. Thing is, blogland is cliquish in the exact same way that realityland is cliquish, and furthermore it ought to be. I don’t know about you, but the ultimate reason I follow a blog is because I think the person behind it is interesting, not because it’s full of literary devices or far-out wacky stories. And I think people are interesting for a variety of reasons, most of which are completely arbitrary. It’s the same principle which leads me to a group of friends in realityland - birds of a feather and all that. Cliques happen, even among adults - it’s only when they become exclusive and nasty that they turn into Bad Things.

Ouch. I’m going to be late for Danish class tonight, and miss supper on top of it, if I continue. More later, maybe.

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