That’s right: protein wisdom turns 10-years-old this month (Dec 17) — though it started as creatical.com, wore a pea-green backdrop, was comprised of “several” co-writers (all of them me, though I gave them loaded, tongue-in-cheek names like Dr. Ann D. Kaufmann; recall, at the time I had no readers and there was no such thing, as of yet, as a “blogosphere,” so the format for what a “respectable” political blog had to look like and operate as had not yet been set), and, believe it or not, got its first ever “Instalanche” not for some clever, pointed piece on the supposed racial overtones in the remake King Kong, say, but rather for a cartoon suggestive of breadstick masturbation.
The very first widely-linked pw post was what would later come to be called, based on its formatting, a “fisking” (mine, written by Dr. Ann D. Kaufman, savaged a Ted Rall column. Numerous platform changes later, only the opening lines remain). Other early highlights included discourses on race and racialism — including a very heated battle between myself and the late Aaron Hawkins of Uppity Negro. Early commenters included then Harvard student Matthew Yglesias, Andrew Northrup from Poorman, Jim Treacher, the crew of what is now BlogCritics, John Cole of Balloon Juice, Ezra Klein, Atrios, and a number of others who have since gone on to despise me with every fiber of their being for following a trajectory different from theirs.
In the middle stages, pw grew in popularity: the site combined serious postings (I’m still very proud of the work I did on the NSA/FISA wiretapping debates; language and intentionalism; multicuturalism and identity politics; the cant of racial and feminist theorists; Hurrican Katrina — I was against it, especially Shep Smith’s reporting on it!; Harriet Miers — against her, too; and so on) with the kinds of off-beat postings for which the site gained most of its notoriety: fake convention coverage; The Martha Stewart Chronicles; Anna Nicole Smith greeting cards; Scenes from my driveway; ; talking back to 80s music; various lists; the Friday armadillo; Billy Jack’s frequent counsel; Fallujah bunker philosophical discoursing; parodies of Robert Anton Wilson, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Richard Brautigan; guest posts from Judd Nelson and Janeane Garafalo; and interviews — both with celebrities and newsmakers and with Kleagle hoods or jeans or a gay porn cock of lies, etc.
Of late (and it’s been much longer than it’s seemed to me since I’ve been living it day-to-day) the site has lost much of its erstwhile playfulness. Were I to analyze why, I’d arrive at several historical points: legal battles with Deb Frisch and her various attorneys; the fending off of aggressive trolls who’d post under my name or come after my family in particularly vile or pernicious ways (which led to my instituting comment registration, itself a blow to site traffic and participation); a falling out with early sponsors; high-pitched, high-profile red-on-red blogfights with textualists and lawyers that divided previous blog alliances and, as I later learned, by design left me quite marginalized on my own “side.”
But probably the biggest reason for the change was the election of Barack Obama and the seriousness with which I’ve taken him to mean he fully intends to “fundamentally transform” this country. Which, to be honest, has me routinely pissed — and routinely pissed at those on the right who have either denied what he’s been up to, or who don’t share my sense of urgency for defeating him, not only with a Republican, but with a classical liberal or a conservative who will help break-up the ruling class status quo that, over the past 10 years, I’ve watched and commented on daily as they’ve led us directly to this very tenuous historical moment.
My sense of humor and whimsy haven’t left me. It’s just that, well, it was easier to find the humor in things before I came to the realization that what we have here in this country, a unique and exceptional opportunity to live as free people with individual autonomy, can be taken from us — and that the vast majority of Americans would never see it coming, or understand how and why it happened, not because they are stupid (necessarily; some clearly are dumber than a bag full of Oliver Willises), but rather because they are going about their lives, disengaged from the day to day of politics, not aware of the rapacious, cynical growth of the Leviathan threatening to turn them into subjects.
And that’s, like, a total a buzz kill.
My hope is that enough of us have been awakened to the existential threat facing this country — a threat that is now more from within than from without, at least as it pertains to our way of life — that, come November, we’ll remove the Marxist in the White House and replace him with someone, anyone, who both appreciates and defends our founding principles.
At which point, it’ll be all Shannon Elizabeth and Leif Garrett, talking dolphins and Corey Haim musings, conceptual series posts and speculative haikus. And probably bunnies.
Until then, though, we press on.
— and you? Well, you pony up some cash. For the children.
By which I of course mean me.
****
update: Out of curiosity, when did those of you reading this start visiting pw? If you’re inclined, share your remembrances. It strokes my ego, which is exactly what my ego craves.
That, and subtle smiles from supermodels / pop divas.
Thanks to David M. and zoyclem!
What’s a coin?
You should sell 10th Anniversary Commemorative mugs.
Slogan Pitch:
You’re still here?
Ten years. It seems like ten minutes. Under water.
That line is a lot funnier when you use it to describe someone’s marriage.
Thanks, geoff B!
Your posts make me wistful. First, Terriers. Now, whimsical pw.
But, since you linked to everything, Imma kill the afternoon laughing my ass off at your archives.
THWAP! dingdingding!
Thanks, Patrick S!
The Pinball post.
Ah, yes. The old Jeff.
HE SHALL ONE DAY RETURN!
Good stuff.
But datadave got nothing.
Did you know you had 2 pinball posts? And they’re both still funny enough to make me laugh until I cry?
And, I know the old Jeff is still here. He’s probably just with the dolphin in the pea coat or trying to find Billy Jack after his latest mescaline binge.
Thanks, Terry H!
Congrats, Jeff. Thanks for the all the fun and edumacation.
Thanks, Darth!
Chchchave a Chchchappy Chchchannukhkhkhah.
Thanks, Bill S!
As long as we’re getting all nostalgic here’s my first guest post in which I try to emulate that whimsical tone. Tough with all those dead bodies around. It’s hard not to improve from that and I really appreciate the opportunity Jeff you’ve given me to develop. When I’m
gazing adoringly at myself in the mirrorcritically evaluating my writing development, I use this list.And if you Google “another shallow dish of fetid word salad that’s light on the lettuce and heavy on the crumbled cheese.” You get the top two results from Protein Wisdom and then 38 from Balloon Juice though those words never show up on their page. Only that he linked to the post back in 2002 before going over to the dark side as so many of the readily gulled have.
Thanks, sdferr!
Thanks, John H!
Some of the more recent conceptual series stuff — I’d completely forgotten about the “My Dinner With Andre (The Giant)” series — is actually quite good. I think I may still have it in me to return one day to my roots!
Thanks to John B!
Thanks, JHo!
I always liked the Schrödinger’s cat posts. Been lurking ever since.
Forgot about those, Kira. Yeah. Liked them myself.
Jeff,
congrats on the milestone. I’ve been lurking at this place for a few years now and I’ve definitely learned a thing or two. I wish I could kick in a few more bones than I did but I hope even this little bit helps. I hope you keep this going.
Thanks, FastFreeFall!
Congratulations on ten years Jeff! What a long strange trip it’s been…and I’ve only been here for half of it!
I think we’ve all pretty much lost our playfulness, the last ten years have been brutal for classic liberals.
I’ll send you a Christmas card.
I got started here back in the Fallujah bunker days.
Congrats on the anniversary.
Thanks, Blake!
Thanks, cranky-d!
Thanks, Barbara!
Thanks, It’s My Profile!
Congratulations, Jeff.. Hey, are the Fallujah fighters going to make an appearance to commemorate the US pulling out of Iraq ? Seems fitting that they should wave bye-bye..
Thanks, RSM!
.. and maybe get shot by a lingering Blackwater contractor..
Thanks, dicentra!
I remember that Rall post! Boy, this post was really fun, I enjoyed reading about the history of the blogosphere through your eyes. I’ve been thinking about an essay along those lines, how this wonderful new arena for discussion emerged right when we needed it.
motionview, great list, amusing [hmm, we need a word for humor created by juxtaposing two versions of a clause, one with a line drawn through it; kin to sarcasm…] The vanity Google is a time-honored custom.
Happy First Decade Bloggiversary, Jeff!
The donate button is broken at the moment. No, really…
Thanks, SDN!
Thanks, Jay G!
Thanks, Diana!
Keep on, keeping on …
sometime in 2004/5
I’ve been lurking here for at least seven years. Never commented. Commenting this time because you included a link to my all time favorite blog post ever. The Shepard Smith Apocalypse Now Katrina post was brilliant. I don’t know how many times I’ve sent that link.
Lots of other blogs have come and gone. You I still check every day. I will hit the tip jar now ;)
Thanks, Mark B!
I’ve been reading here for 4-5 years. Smartest blog on the web.
Been here since 2004 or so; I was here for thor’s first appearance.
Holy moly.
I have no idea but a quick google pops up some 2004 comments. I think I’ve been here since near the beginning.
I never knew that my missing muscle relaxers would be such a powerful influence on your shelled rat.
My bad.
2004 here, pretty sure it was the convention coverage that sucked me in. and this is the only blog I still read daily.
thank you, Jeff.
Thanks, Maggie K!
Thanks, Toni R!
I was commenting here under another name back in the middle of 2002, if not earlier
The loss of “let’s Rall” is a major tragedy
I think it was early 2005 for me. After Allah Is In The House went defunct, and I heard he was hanging out here, I started stopping in.
Damn, time flies.
Them’s were the days when each thought and gesture were caught on celluloid.
I’m gonna go back and look for my first comment and I don’t know when I started lurking, but I do know that by the time of the Great Hiatus I was so addicted that I still checked, by hand, every day.
Thank you for being here, Jeff.
I am grateful for having had the privilege of literally years of enlightenment on freedom, communication, and ethics and how they all intersect, and how they are all threatened. And what can and must be done if freedom is to survive.
It is a rare sight these days, to see a man doing the right thing. Good on you.
I started reading back in the celluloid wisdom days, probably early 2002.
I believe I started reading when the site was re-launched as protein wisdom, since it was celluloid wisdom before. That’s how I remember it, anyway. I forget how I got here. It could have been a mention at Cold Fury that you were blogging again. I don’t remember how I got there, either.
I started reading blogs at Andrew Sullivan’s place, back when he at least seemed sane.
I could very well have been here the entire time. I didn’t comment much at first, but when I did it was under my real name. I switched to my made-up name a few years later.
My memory is not that good for stuff like this. I don’t know why.
Chances are if I wasn’t here at the beginning, I went back and read everything anyway. I’m compulsive like that.
I started lurking in late 2005 when I moved out to Colorado. I think my first comment was in early 2006 but most times I kept my mouth shut and watched while you guys said everything I was thinking before I had the chance to say it. In that time there have been other sites that have come and gone on my reading list, but this is the only one that I’ve never given up on or gotten exasperated with. I imagine it can be strange for popular writers when their readers comment with an air of such familiarity even when they (the writer) probably has no clue who they are. But you and the commenters here have always been very welcoming, and that’s pretty cool.
I always used to be ridiculously cynical and I think I’ve swung in the opposite direction the last couple years as a strategy for achieving balance. Whatever the cause, I can’t help but think better times are ahead.
Thanks, Bacon Ninja!
Thanks, Evan C!
Thanks, Ryan S!
First started reading here sometime in 2006. I think I posted my first comment about a year later. As for how I found Protein Wisdom, I think it was via Steve Graham’s long-defunct Hog On Ice blog. You’re still a daily read for me, Jeff, even though I’m not commenting as often as I did in 2009-2010. Congrats on your tenth anniversary!
Oh, now I remember specifically. I found Protein Wisdom through the short-lived Huffington’s Toast group blog.
I’m pretty much a newcomer – first came across the blog in 2010. I was home sick from work and annoyed with multiple construction projects at the building where I worked, caused by some very nit-picky ADA regulations. I was reading some other blogs that dealt with similar problems, and somehow I ended up following a link over here.
I lurk a lot more than I comment, sort of feeling like the kid that just started sitting at the grownups table. It’s been a learning experience.
I was posting before the 04 elections, different handle, though. Have no idea how I got here. Probably from Ace’s or Malkin or some other blog I’ve long since stopped visiting much. I’ve been blog addicted since sometime early in the GWB first term and actually had a blog for a while. Blew my wad on the Atlanta Courthouse Murders (happened the week I started my blog) and after pounding that dead horse after the furor subsided and all those awesome hits fizzled, found other bloggers (Jeff and a very few others) had already said all that I wanted to say about most everything which left me without a hook for any new posts and realized that I was better suited as a commenter than a poster and hung it up.
I prolly found P-dub through LGF, which I found through my very short sojourn at Free Republic, which I heard about on Hannity, which I started listening to at the beginning of ought-four because I was embroidering some dishtowels for my mom’s new place and I wanted to listen to something besides music, and Hannity was the only talk-radio program I knew how to find.
Of that chain, only my presence at P-dub and the dishtowels remain. I don’t remember specifically when I made this place my bloghome, but it was definitely because of the pie.
Thanks, Steph!
All you guys are awesome, by the way, and I really do appreciate your being here, many of you for years.
That it’s because I’m awesome goes without saying. So.
This appears to be my first comment, but I’m not sure, because Google hits my handle in the “Recent Comments” section of the page, like the idiot thing it is.
I think I started reading this place on a regular basis in 2005 or 2006. At the time, it was probably my fourth “read of the day”, behind LGF, Ace, and Taranto’s BOTW. Somewhere along the line, probably during the 2008 campaign, I stopped reading LGF (obviously), got annoyed for the first of many times with Ace’s anti-Palin, pro-establishment stance, and lost interest in BOTW-style humor. (Used to read Scrappleface, too. Shit’s been too serious ever since Obama appeared on the scene for me to enjoy frivolity.)
Anyway, these days PW is the first and only site I read, and I read every single comment of every post… ‘cept for the annoying comments that I skip over. Sometimes I’ll peek in at RSM and Ace — but it’s pretty much just PW 24-7 around these parts.
Looking back though my bookmarks, there’s at least 10-20 ‘conservative’ sites that I used to read. They’ve all been written-off; they don’t “get it” in the way Jeff does. Sure, they may say they want to take the country back from the Ruling Class, but their actions indicate they just want to be the Ruling Class. To hell with them; I’ve no further patience with status-quo/moderate/establishment types. The only rational response to the current situation is OUTRAGE!
I think it was 2004. Finding Protein Wisdom was like walking into a bar and finding Flannery O’Connor and Bob Dylan circa 1966 sitting in the corner, along with this other guy named “Jeff.” They let me sit down with them and listen. Amazing.
Oh, and the rest of you kept me coming back, too.
2006 was the first time I visited. Hell, I knew what blogs were but barely knew any of ’em. What a long journey it’s been since then. At the time was an Arabic-speaking Army vet working as a contractor in the DC area with a few Iraq trips under my belt. From there I went home to Kansas City for a while and worked as an insurance claims adjuster, then on to Texas and now Hawaii as an Air Force historian (and another trip to Iraq to boot.) I lurked most of the time, and still do, though I had my share of comment arguments with alpoo, thor, and cynn the drunk. Lurker or not, Jeff and everyone else here are great, and you’ve all been a part of my life and assorted comfort zones for nearly six years now. Thanks, y’all.
Andrew Sullivan is the first blog I read, too, cranky. It’s weird to think about that now. He was so gung-ho about the Bush Doctrine (something I still believe in, which of course breaks my heart since it seems to me subsequent events have only shown how correct that strategy was, or would have been had it been implemented in time). And so gung-ho about Rummy. Boy, does that seem like a long time ago. Remember those great press conferences with Rumsfeld? I got on the list for DoD press releases so I could find out when the press events were and watch the whole thing on TV during the daytime–it became an amusing sport to watch the reporters attempt to trap Rummy into a damaging soundbite; sometimes I would watch the news later just to see how they edited the clip.
I wonder if Sullivan linked here. It could have been Malkin or LGF that sent me, I read both of those back then once I started branching out. Or Instapundit, which has been my home page since I stopped reading Sullivan in maybe 03? It has been so long I can’t remember.
Shrinkwrapped and Dr. Sanity were my favorite blogs for a really long time. Shrink is MIA now but it looks like Dr. Sanity will be back next year! Shrinkwrapped is the first place I commented (as such; Sullivan once used a few paragraphs of mine, which was exciting at the time–published on the web, wow!). I got into a couple of major flame wars at Shrink’s place which felt like a big deal at the time which now seems kind of funny. I started getting pretty interested in the sociology of commenting (if you will). At Shrink’s place we were so tight that we made friends with one of the trolls and got to like him once we learned he was a young person trying to figure stuff out. (ed_the_lefty–say hi sometime if you’re out there, okay?) We also had a fascinating case where a troll left a comment that was so outrageously inappropriate for the context that when he read our reactions he actually came back and apologized!
There are only a few blogs where there is an actual community of commenters and this of course is one of them. Took me a really, really long time to comment here and I am still a bit wary at times–this is a tough crowd! But worth it!
I still like Taranto a lot–yes, his humor can be biting, but he writes so well that it’s a pleasure.
At the end of the day, that’s what drives my blog reading–great writing. I think the best writers in the blogosphere are Mark Steyn, Richard Fernandez (Belmont Club), Pat Santy (Dr. Sanity), and Our Jeff.
Jeff,
I can recall reading since likely the very early days of pw (as pw) and though I miss the armadillo, the red pills posts, etc., I do appreciate the reasons behind the change in tone. What’s gotten me more focused here than on other blogs is the fact that your message, focused on the element of language, how it’s been used and twisted, has remained the constant. As I’ve aged (and hopefully wisened to some degree) I’ve seen just how crucial that singular element is to the equation, as well as why even the most basic skills of reading comprehension, logic, and reason are no longer taught in public schools.
You’ve been nearly the only voice who has chosen to attack this issue at its true root, and for that I sincerely appreciate your dedication and perseverence.
Nostalgically, my favorite post is the Emminem rapping post in the park. I just thought it was so silly and funny.
I don’t remember when I started reading or HOW the heck I got here. I’m guessing 2004 sometime. It may have been 2003.
Time flies.
And, here and the Hostages are really the only two places I hang out.
Obviously not 2003, since that was “the missing years” – I was just trying to remember when I started reading blogs. I’m looking for my first read …
I think JHo must have found pw from one of those Insty links. Can’t remember but I’ve been making an ass of myself here for quite awhile, initially under a moniker I thought would be inflammatory to the left.
Probably there’s a law now. No: Probably there’s a law now.
Initially found the content impenetrable, but once I subscribed and got the equipment connected, now I grasp a good thirty, thirty-four percent.
At any rate, more think pieces, jg, please sir. The big stuff, I think, is what really draws folks. Plus its the thing you do that none of the self-styled competition and general bearers of the Republican torch can even think seriously about imitating.
Very true…
I’m remembering this particular interview as one of my first stops here, probably from a g00gle link. I wasn’t much a political blog reader whatsoever; but definitely a constant reader of Mike Florio’s original (and remarkably funny and edgy, but he’s since lost that, after hitting it big time) ProFootballTalk dot com since, oh, 1999. I blame dialup speeds (read: ADD) for not reading political blogs earlier. Never did I see Allah’s original site, nor do I recall John Cole before he became a LeftLibProgg asshole. And Andrew Sullivan has always been freakin’ strange AFAIC.
I enjoy the hell out of this here site. I’ve written many times in many places that I believe JeffG is the best writer on the intratubes, and I’m sticking with that.
I’ve got creatical and celluloid-wisdom in my IE favorites, if that helps. I’ve had a million aliases; maddad, Hagbard Celine, Frontier Psychiatrist, Terry, etc… as well as a ton of sock puppets. Spent a lot of time here, Insty, Moxie, Misha and at Acidman’s when I had a desk job. Started my own in 2004, had my own run-in with a fucking loon, which is why I stay semi-anonymous. This is the last real blog I read every day, every once in a while I’ll follow a link to Althouse or somewhere’s else, maybe drop a comment, usually not. Other than Rob Smith, you and the Major are the only fake internet friends I’ve ever met in meatspace… as far as the rest of them know anyway… (heavy breathing, panting and sweating)
Also, my youngest is the same age as your oldest. And when I started working from home it was nice to find another guy who knew what Lazytown was.
I came vai an Insty link, mentioning that you were back from haitus (early 2005?)… I have since, not left. It was a bit hard following PW with the small satellite antenna and Toshiba Toughbook, whilst outside Basra in 2008, but by God I did. I still remember the support I got from everyone here (hf even sent me tons of highly caffeinated beverage mix, which I gave to Scottish soldiers, to hilarious effect).
I have appreciated getting to met Jeff, LMC, geoffb, et al., oh and being well taken care of by a very hospitable JD.
I seem to have lost my own blog voice – so Jeff’s place seems to be where I hang – even if I do not comment as much anymore. I learn, I enjoy, and I appreciate the work.
Thanks, Michael!
Thanks, Donald and Sarah R!
Thanks, Mueller!
Thanks, serr8d!
First time I heard about PW was out of Brit Hume’s mouth on his nightly broadcast, regarding the Deb Frisch affair. Of course I was curious and googled it, and then I never left. I don’t remember what year that was.
During the 2008 election, though, I was so freaked out by what happened to Palin and her family that it finally dawned on me what a very BAD place we are in. As Obama’s presidency has unfolded, I’ve been having the same premonitions that we’re on the edge of something. I have been mobilized to buy property, grow vegetables, build a liquor still, stock up on toilet paper, and contemplate gun ownership for the first time.
I think I stuck around here for all the scenes from my driveway and Billy Jack posts, too.
I started reading this site just as you were starting the Martha Stewart Chronicles and stayed for the red pills, Billy Jack and the Friday night armadillo promises …
I’ve been around forever. I think it was a link from VodkaPundit once upon a time that led me here. As far as I can tell, this was the first time I crept out of the shadows and left a comment. As you can see, I was a sycophant and a little ray of sunshine from the beginning. Wouldn’t dream of a cross word or contradictory opinion. Nope, just another echo in the chamber…
The juxtaposition of sesquipedalian missives on meaning and narrative with Martha Stewart’s Diary, Scenes from my driveway, and the dolphin in a peacoat was something that appealed to my twisted brain in a fundamental way. It’s been an eye-opening experience, to say the least.
Thanks, Darleen!
Thanks, Kathryn!
Thanks, Tom W!
Can’t remember how, or why. When? Started lurking when pw was celluloid. 2002/2003 perhaps? Commented rarely under different handle. Yours is the only blog I read daily. Occasionally read Althouse because I live in the (hopefully former) People’s Republic of Wisconsin. Time will tell.
I really miss the armored rat.
And it is a privilege to contribute.
Thanks Jeff.
Thanks, Squid.
Migration to PW.
Early 90s got on BBS with my Amiga and long distance dial-ups at .25 per min to download games and programs. Local library starts a “freenet” and now can get email and usenet. Buy a WebTV to access the WWW and all of usenet. Find Free Republic and am amazed that there are others that notice the slant in most every news article. Prodigy becomes available as a local dial-up for a monthly fee so I buy a PC and really get online. Free Republic is now my morning paper. Was online there when 9/11 happened.
After that discovered NRO, Belmont Club, Insty, LGF, Dr. Sanity, and through a link from one of them PW which I liked for the writing Jeff did, maybe 2004 or so. Kept coming back for it and then started reading the more serious stuff where I got to see the nuts and bolts of how the manipulations were accomplished and how deep the rabbit hole went. Jeff G. is the best teacher I’ve ever encountered and one hell of a writer too. Great combination that keeps me coming back.
I’d never commented at any political site, paranoia from the Clinton years, until I did here, IIRC. Not sure but think this is my first one. The next comment by happyfeet has kept me, through all our disagreements, from having hard feeling toward him.
This is the first place I’ve ever tried writing anything longer than a few sentences since leaving college in the early 70s. I can’t thank Jeff enough for having the pub. Another uniqueness of PW. Thank you Jeff for all the hard work you have done to make this place so special. Happy 10th.
I came here via John Cole, when he was still somewhat sane. He mentioned your blog disappearing and I wondered what would have been so great that he would’ve blog-stalked you. Like JC, I waited for your blog to reappear and am glad I did.
Been here ever since.
Amazing how many former daily reads I wouldn’t even consider going back to (Cole, LGF, QandO; though the last isn’t related to content).
Add National Review to my former daily reads I can’t stand any more, though Jonah, Steyn, and Rob Long are still funny.
I can’t remember exactly when I first found your site, but I believe it was 2001?
I made a donation. I am sorry that it isn’t very much. The quality of your ideas are worth a lot more than I can afford right now, but I hope it helps.
I am glad that you are back actively managing your blog.
Best Wishes,
BW
Thanks, Brian W!
[…] For A Whole Damned Decade, Though…. Posted on December 2, 2011 8:20 am by Bill Quick December fundraiser now open: help protein wisdom celebrate a DECADE OF FO-SHIZZLE by throwing it so… That’s right: protein wisdom turns 10-years-old this month (Dec 17) — though it started […]
I probably started surfing in shortly after 9/11, but might have come by once or twice prior. You became a daily read sometime around 2003-2004, although the time investment required (due to the density of material on comment threads) often precluded any active participation.
Looking back it is interesting to see how the various personages made their ‘turn’ to where they are now. Although not always apparent, or apparently rational, it does seem the outcomes were often already baked into the cake.
I tend to remember less specifics from the more serious discussions, perhaps because of the way I’ve incorporated the chosen concepts into my sense of understanding – to the point they become nature. Often what mentally stands out is the more silly stuff. I simply cannot hear the words phone, technician, or roaming without smiling, if at least on the inside.
Thanks, Thomas D!
It was that clock thing that really pissed me off. You’re lucky to be getting anything at all.
Fucking clocks.
It was the fall of 2004, and, I fell for it. Intentionally.
Here‘s a look inside the mind of Ted Rall.
Seriously, Jeff, some of your posts should be preserved in the Smithsonian. Even if after a very short period of time people will be asking “who the fuck was Ted Rall?” If there’s any justice, I mean.
For the Smithsonian, I second the Ted Rall post & its companion piece (Instant Leftist Boilerplate).
I really don’t remember clearly. Late 2001? Early 2002? Think I came here first after you linked my crappy blog and then I just started reading all your older posts. I remember being confused that you weren’t on blogspot somehow.
You’ve written all kinds of great stuff but I’m still partial to the interview with Teddy Kennedy. “This is the head I was born with, sir!” That still cracks me up when I think of it.
I know that the first PW post I ever read was forwarded to me by Maggie during my first deployment in 2003. Would have to have been election related, but I can’t pinpoint the exact one.
This is absolutely my favorite Jeff comment of all time, chiefly because even I could understand it. And that it made me bust out laughing without so many of those pesky words.
I still read “Overheard in a Fallujah Bunker” posts to people, out loud, by way of introducing them to PW.
I don’t remember what year that was.
L’affaire Frisch began over the 4th of July weekend of 2006. That’s when “southwestpaw” began commenting, roughly.
I like haikus, too. My attempt at haiku way back in high school:
A frog in a pond
an a quiet summer day
sitting very still.
Not as witty as yours have been, but this was for an art class.
I discovered PW back in the days of Frisch. But I’ve hung around since then. Keep up the good work.
Thanks, Lillian!
Little brown sparrow,
The heavens are his playground,
Plaster’d to a jet.
I believe I started lurking in 04 and really have never posted. You people are too damn smart and I’m not intellectually quick enough to keep up. Jeff, I still owe you a bottle of scotch.
I wrote a haiku once in high school. For an advanced composition class.
My gym shoes are green
So are the grass and the trees
I think about them
It’s really no wonder I don’t comment much.
Thanks, LMC!
Thanks, Crawford!
I am a centrist squish from the Great White North who has long lurked on this site after having discovered it during a battle you had with a wankstain academic who called himself Thersites back in, what, 2007? 2008? Your politics now are both close and very far away from mine, depending on what is under discussion. Your Intentionalism posts were fascinating to me and your humor was wicked, plus there were (are) some very good commeters – but it didn’t seem long before you left on hiatus. A long hiatus. And now you are back, for which I am pleased, although I don’t come here as often as before.
I was looking for a flaming armadillo sex doll and have been here ever since. I donated for the WHISKEY!!!!
I followed a link from Malkin back in 2004? You know, back when she would link just anyone. Now she just links the important bloggers. : )
I’ve enjoyed the site ever since, mostly as a lurker. I appologize for not being able to contribute $. Its been a tough decade. Keep up the good work Jeff.
Jeff, it was fall of 2005. I was lonely you see and having feelings of gross inadequacy. I think I followed a link from the hobo fucking moron of all places. I think the first post I read was about something called “intentionalism”. I was hooked right in. You are my goto guy for all things language. You and some guy named Tolkien. Pretty fucking good company you keep, though JRR could never rip a phone book in half. I’m still waiting to spend good money on a book of yours, so chop chop :)
And Tyrone, what the hell are you doing with my other nom de blogs? Anyhow, that book right there was a gift to me from our esteemed host. Thanks for that Jeff. You introduced me to literature I may have never come across if not for you. That goes beyond words of thanks.
Oh and before I was a defiant infidel, I was a polish nizel. At least that was my street name :)
Around 2006-2007. It was just smarter and less fanboyish than so many right-leaning blogs. The title of it caught my eye too: Protein Wisdom. The first thing I thought, like that other guy, was that it was a Tangerine Dream song.
I came. I saw. I …
…
…
so much depends
upon
spiffy green
gym shoes
scuffed with grass
stains
beside the tall
fir trees
…
Thanks, OI!
Thanks, Roddy!
Thanks, Tim C!
Thanks, Michael Y!
Thanks, Bill M!
https://proteinwisdom.com/?p=15531#comment-816012
“Liveblogging the Pajamas Media launch festivities from the W Hotel in New York, 1
My cab pulled up outside the W a little before 9 PM New York time, and after checking in and dropping my suitcase on the bed, I immediately made my way to the hotel bar, where I found Tim Blair, Roger Simon, and Ed Driscoll bunched around a small table near the restrooms. Ed and Roger were nursing Gibsons, while Tim (who at 5’1? is much shorter than I thought he’d be) was drinking what looked to be IPA out of a pilsner glass inscribed with the legend, “Bloggers Do It In Their Pajamas.”
“Heh, cool,” I said, motioning to Tim’s glass. “You have those made up for the launch?”
“What do you think, genius?” Blair asked, not looking up. “I maybe had it printed up special for myself?”
Ed, who I’d met once before at a Rocky Mountain Blogger bash, threw me a glance that said, “skip it, he’s Australian,” before sliding me a chair. “Take a seat. How was your flight?”
“Fine, nice,” I said, sitting down and looking around for the waitress. I hadn’t had anything to drink on the plane and was really craving a Guinness.
“So”, this from my left, where Roger Simon, sans his trademark fedora, sat smiling and bleary-eyed, holding aloft a half-empty Gibson glass as if threatening to make a toast. “Protein wisdom is in the hizzouse, as the kids say! Welcome! Or‚ as my friend Bill Bixby once said to a French prostitute (god rest his soul), ‘bonjour, you plump little tart!’”
“Bullshit,” Blair hissed. “The Hulk never said any such thing. Any such thing. You fibbing wizened bastard.”
“Absolutely he did,” Simon plucked a cocktail onion from his drink with his fingers. “Paris, 1979. Had her eating out of the palm of his hand, too. Literally. Cake and a little salted herring, I think. Christ, do I ever miss him.”
“We all do,” I said, looking around again for the waitress. Then, “So, you fellas been here long, or…?”
“Fellas?” Blair shot me a look like he’d just found me buggering a wallaby. “Jesus. Tell me you’re not bloody serious, man.”
“Shut up, Tim,”– Simon, waving his hand dismissively. “Jeff’s from flyover country. Colorado, isn’t it? Or Kansas?,someplace like that? Say, why aren’t you drinking? Waitress –!”
“– ‘Fellas.’ Christ. You don’t happen to play banjo by any chance, do you? You bloody mountain hick.”
“You know, come to think of it, I’m a little beat from the trip. I think I’m gonna have to take a raincheck on that drink –”
“– You’re sure?” Ed asked, rising alongside me and shaking my hand.
“Yeah. Air travel is not my friend, as it happens. My legs are really sore.”
“Oh boo flippin’ hoo, mate,” Blair spit, taking the final swig of his beer before slamming the empty glass on the table. “Try flying in from bleedin’ New Zealand,then come bitch to me. After 23 hours, your ass starts to feel like a diabetic’s feet.”
“I’ll bet,” I said, not really sure what he meant. “So. I’ll see you guys tomorrow, then…?”
Blair: “Feh. Whatever.”
“Sounds good, Jeff. Thanks. And sorry about this,” Ed seemed genuinely apologetic. “Things should be a little more…relaxed by tomorrow, I should think.”
“Sure,” I said. “I totally understand.”
“Protein wisdom!” Simon raised his glass one last time, sloshing a bit of gin into his shirt cuff. “P-Dub is in the hizzy!”,At which point I smiled and nodded and turned to take my leave. Quickly.”
“THURSDAY MORNING: One day after the launch, Jeff Goldstein’s fake-live-blogging is still the only blog post quoted on the home page, under the heading “BEST OF THE BLOGS.” In all this time, that’s all they’ve found? The highlighted post ends with this line: “Or as my friend Bill Bixby once said to a French prostitute (god rest his soul), ‘bonjour, you plump little tart!'” How they can think it’s a good idea to open the site with such writing? Who does that appeal to? And if it didn’t appeal to you yesterday morning, but you kept going back to give them another chance, what would you think? The site is stupefyingly inactive and as yet devoid of sharp commentary. There is only this obscure insider humor about the founders of the site getting drunk and talking about a prostitute.”
http://althouse.blogspot.com/2005/11/taking-off-pajamas-now-what-do-you-see.html
Were I to find it easier to both giggle and type, I would type more.
But the giggles just never quit.
Apparently Paypal is suddenly against my sending my money. No idea.
I’ll try again tomorrow.
Ditto. PayPal kind of dodgy.
For me, it was the great “Phoenician in a Time of Romans” comment war of 2005, wherein everyone adopted a new version of that poor outnumbered moonbat’s handle.
Epic.
I can’t really remember when I first got here. I started reading poor, damned Little Green Footballs sometime in college, found pw from a link there, and began following on and off. I think I got into reading most every day or every other day around the time election time ’08 came up because one of my favorite authors was responding to Obama’s use of censor squads on the internet to control what people were saying about him in chat rooms and elsewhere.
…Yup.
…
Ri-i-i-i-de, ride my chain saw…
Congrats on the not-so-grim milestone!
I think I discovered PW around the 2004 election cycle, possibly earlier. At the time I was a big fan of Allahpundit and the Commissar (who went full Progressive soon afterwards, which was a far stranger transformation than even Charles Johnson’s, IMO), and your combination of humor and intellectual heft drew me in immediately. Here’s to another decade of breaking shit down for the masses.
Yeah, that was awfully weird, losing the Commissar. A bit Invasion of the Body Snatchers, if you ask me…
Thanks, RTO!
I’m pretty sure that I started reading PW about the time it was a subset of Celluloid Wisdom. That was when, 2002, 2003? I any event, I’m glad that you’re still plugging away. It’s nice to see someone-anyone-interested in the actual truth these days, instead of meekly bending over for our “betters”.
Money’s tight over here, but I dropped what I could into the till. Hopefully it helps.
The first PW post I recall? Hmm. It was on …a geekie discourse on semantics. Tearing some misanthrope with a decided lack of rational debating skills a new hole, tho’ I can’t recall the particulars, nor where I saw the linkie (it might have just been in a side-bar, and my liking the name “Protein Wisdom” enough to click on it: did a lot of that way back when, in the time blogs were young). Years ago though. Recall thinking this guy – you, Jeff; and you were the only one writing those days – was uber smart AND knew what the hell he was talking about.
And the quality of the commenting was superb.
I’ve been inconstant over the years (sometimes months between visits, intersperced with multi-visit days following some topic or other) …but whenever I want to know what the smart kids are focusing on, this is still the place.
Congrats on a decade: may it be several more.
Crap. I just dropped the Delete key of my laptop in my morning cuppa. I sincerely hope this isn’t a portent of the weekend. Sigh.
wow. That “Phoenician in a time of Romans” thing was here?
I thought that was someplace else. Massive stuff.
I still think of that. I think someone was “Farting in a time of crowded elevators,” If I recall correctly.
The ‘sphere is settled and much more structured. You really don’t get many trolls anymore. That’s ok I suppose. You don’t get informed skeptcs either, and that’s a shame.
Even here, pixel for pixel one of the smartest sites there is, debate is pretty much calcified, though at least there is the expectation of evidence and facts, unlike fanboy sites like Red State, Ace and PowerlIne. Still, there’s about a 5 minute limit before the gauleiters start accusing you of being insufficiently this or too much of that.
Human nature and all that.
Glad you stuck with it. I hope all of our somethings on PayPal add up to a good thing. JG deserves it and his vision of America deserves to be enacted or at least fought for.
Some of the “in a time of” threads. Here, here, here. Set the browser search for “in a time”.
I started reading in probably about ’04. It would have been just a little before Hugh Hewitt talked you up on his radio show as one of the five conservative bloggers who was far funnier than anyone the liberal blogosphere had to offer (despite your being FILTHY), and in response to which, You Defended Yourself With SCIENCE! against Hewitt’s aspersions.
My favorite take on the name was “Phone technician in a time of roaming.”
Thanks, Roger H!
Thanks, Matthew B!
Thanks, Joe S!
Thanks, Anthony V!
Thanks, Matt S!
Hello?
I added PW to my bookmarks three computers ago, on March 5, 2002. Description: “…a loose alliance of writers, poets, educators, and wannabe pundits.”
Have commented infrequently (the erudition scares me). My debut was, I think, here, in which I promptly fell afoul of the site’s (then) lack of preview. (Interesting collection of nicks in that thread, BTW… brings back memories!) Have been around off and on since, was registered but somehow that disappeared, now back again to offer my congratulations. Keep up the good fight!
Ah, “Warblogger™”. Another in a long line of leftist linguistic inventions which had it’s short day in the sun before drying up and leaving only a slightly rancid smell to some vintage corners of the intertubes.
That was a fun link, thanks Old Grouch!
Congrats on 10 years though I have no idea when I started coming here. Probably some link from some other site though I couldn’t say who. I don’t post very often but this is always a favorite of mine to visit.
I don’t remember exactly, but it was as a result of another blogger’s mentioning you were “back again.” I was around for the Martha Stewart prison diaries and the Anna Nicole Smith monologues.
As an aside, if you Google “starlet golddigger drug overdose” Anna’s Wikipedia entry is the top result.
Found PW sometime in 2004 in the run up to the election, about the same time I found Ace’s blog. Can’t remember the exact post, but when I found the Chomsky interview, PW became a regular visit. Stopped reading in late 2008/2009 when Jeff took some time off and Collins was posting. Would look in every few weeks, and came back regularly when Collins left and Jeff started posting once again. Through the years, for whatever reason, Jeff has attracted some seriously effed up trolls, and some seriously weird feedback from the right side of the blogosphere. All I can say is I stopped reading those other blogs and kept reading this one. Now off to see if PayPal is still messed up…..
Thanks, Kevin B!
Thanks, Patrick C!
Thanks, Chris M!
Thanks, Jeanne!
I came. I ate. I ate.
Almost everything.
Happy Tin One, dad!
Thanks, guins!
I know I started blogging before Bush/Gore, so I guess I’ve been wandering around here pretty much from the beginning. Lord knows I a had a drawer-full of sock-puppets back when that was possible (Gen. George S. “Butch” Patton (Mrs.) and the Tu Do Street Civic Association say ‘hi,’ by the way).
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view/2011_1204how_brainy_frank_got_barney-mandered_redistricting_diss_took_pompous_rep_by_surprise/
Worth reading for pure schadenfreud.
Thanks, Gary M!
Hm. Probably late 2002 or early 2003. I definitely remember your articles regarding Iraq and such, plus some of the attempts to deliberately misquote you by various prog blogs.
IIRC in one of them, you recommended firing on “safe” places our enemies were using to fire on our forces from (like mosques) so they would no longer abuse the protections on those sort of places. That got twisted into “ZOMG! He wants to carpet-bomb entire villages” and they never provided a direct quote of you writing or saying that. Just kept repeating it and hoped that would work.
Made good examples of what you’ve been talking about in your essays.
wow. That “Phoenician in a time of Romans” thing was here?
I thought that was someplace else. Massive stuff.
It was here, all right. But I can’t find the thread I was talking about, that went into the hundreds of posts. I remember it because I chimed in — all too trendily — as “Creed in a Time of White Stripes.”
There were several of them. One is here.
I’ve been following this site for about 5 years. I’ve almost made that number of posts too…
[…] ..And that is why Mr. Goldstein is holding another fundraiser. […]
As I haven’t received any contributions since Sunday, I think I’ma cut bait and end this thing early.
Thanks again to all who contributed!
Thanks, Scott D!
Thanks, Cameron R!
Thanks, bh!
Glad it went through. Paypal was hinky with me for a couple days for some reason.
Congrats again on ten years.
If anybody reading this wants to buy me a Xmas or anniversary present, or even a birthday present, this is an option.
So freakin’ 70s. Man.
[…] have been sadly remiss in not mentioning the December installment of Jeff’s monthly fundraiser til now, for which lapse I am duly mortified. This time around, it also happens to be his tenth […]