I launched This Just In! in August 2007. My first viewers showed up in December, and the readership curve in 2008 is a positive upward trend. Many thanks to you for that!
I would like take the occasion to mention a few of my favorite posts from the first year. As always, I welcome your comments since your opinions matter a lot more than mine.
My most favorite post is about Jill Bolte-Taylor, the brain scientist who had a stroke and discovered nirvana. The story contains a link to an 18 minute video posted on the New York Times web site.
In the humor category, I enjoyed The Front Fell Off, a short video spoof on oil tanker safety that is posted on YouTube. I had fun writing Spitting–It’s not just for baseball anymore. I don’t follow baseball, so when I do see a game the peripheral things are more noticeable to me than the fine points of play.
One of the most viewed posts was my announcement of Bruce Bowditch’s book, the Yoga Practice guide, Dynamic sequencing for home practice and teachers. We have scheduled an interview, so look for that to be publish soon.
I’ve written several posts on the decline and fall of the print journalism industry, a trend that saddens me. However my sorrow is mitigated by the wonderful growth in the blogosphere. I think journalism is just changing shape, and in the long run it is definitely for the better. If you want to track these down just search on ‘journalism’.
I received a couple of nice comments on No tea with the neighbors–why is that? Thanks for those.
I also wrote about a couple very low profile videos that are quite charming. One is about a homeless artist who gets to redeem his life through the help of a kind stranger. See The Cats of Mirikitani. Another is King Corn, a study of the economics of raising corn, that amazingly is interesting and fun to watch. Then there is The Real Dirt on Farmer John, a charming and touching profile of an eccentric farmer who finally makes good after much personal hardship.
Finally, I began my plan for world peace written in serial fashion. I’ve discovered a great wealth of books on that and closely related subjects.
To return to my theme, thank you for taking time to visit!
–Dan Wilson