We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.

Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]

Samizdata quote of the day


My name is Salam Pax and I am addicted to blogs. Some people watch daytime soaps, I follow blogs. I follow the hyperlinks on the blogs I read. I travel through the web guided by bloggers. I get wrapped up in the plots narrated by them. I was reading so many blogs I had to assign weekdays for each bunch, plus the ones I was reading daily. It is slightly voyeuristic, especially those really personal blogs: day-to-day, mundane stuff which is actually fascinating; glimpses of lives so different, and so much amazing writing. No politics, just people’s lives. How they deal with pain or grief, how they share their happy moments with anybody who cares to read.

— Salam Pax, summarising how quite a lot of us actually feel, writing in the Guardian. Actually, go read the whole thing. The descriptions of how the Ba’athists attempted to censor the internet and how people got around it that follow are quite interesting.

3 comments to Samizdata quote of the day

  • yep, i’m pretty well addicted to blogsurfing too – i just wish there was a few more hours in the day…

  • bob mologna

    There are plenty of hours in the day if you work with computers. I often find myself waiting several hours for a router to be delivered while I’m on double time. What can I do but read blogs / the news…? I love getting paid very good money to read Samizdata.

  • Kevin

    May I make a suggestion for tomorrow’s quote of the day.

    “Our best chance is to fight these people, rather than accept it.”

    Jeremy Glick speaking to his wife from flight 93 on Sept 11, 2001.