FAQ
Q: What is “Bethejustin: The Blog”?
A: This blog was born of a desire to participate in the conversation. What conversation? Perhaps the one that Al Gore proposes in lacking in America today. The conversation here will most likely focus on two main topics: Politics and Technology. Which also happen to be my two primary interests. Hopefully my contribution to either conversation will from time to time prove insightful to someone other than me out there on the interwebs.
Q: Where did the bethejustin thing come from?
A: Well as you might have deduced my name is Justin. One day my friends were talking about how you I needed to “be the justin”, “embrace the justin”, etc. and I, whether wisely or not, thought hey bethejustin that would make a cool domain name. Perhaps this blog is among other things an attempt at me trying to bethejustin and be who I am.
I think what “being the justin” is about is really about being myself. That’s what my friends were saying in the first place when they kept telling me to “be the justin.” So when I say “be the justin” it isn’t some kind of weird ego trip in an attempt to create legions of me but rather it is about doing what any geek should do and just be themselves and embrace the things their passionate about and interested in. So “be the justin, be yourself.”
Q: Who is bethejustin?
A: I am male, late 20s, have always been very interested in technology, tend to be politically and socially liberal, recently switched to the Mac after 15 years of a PC user. As I mentioned my interests include politics and technology, and just about anything web 2.0 or social network related (read: I spend a good deal of time on Twitter and Facebook). I was raised in New Hampshire so from time to time you’ll see some commentary on the state of affairs their and in the fall of 2007 I transplanted to the San Francisco Bay Area. As of April 2009 I've since returned home to my roots in New England and Southern New Hampshire.
Q: Why do you cite Wikipedia?
A: I cite Wikipedia because I believe it is a great resource. In my experience it is typically pretty accurate and the breadth of information you can find there simply can’t be surpassed. In addition there was a study conducted that found Wikipedia was about as accurate as the Encyclopedia Britannica. Bottom line it is just a darn handy. I like to think that it is kind of like the Hitch Hiker’s Guide of our universe.
Q: I noticed that in posts X on date X you made the following typos and grammatical errors…
A: Well I know in an ideal world we would never make typos or spelling mistakes or have any reason to ever need to edit. Unfortunately that isn’t reality and I will make typos and grammatical errors from time to time. Since I don’t have a staff or the money to hire an editor we’re just going to have to live with them and chalk it up to the folksy and raw unedited spirit of the Internet. In general I try to read over my posts at least once before I hit the publish button and run a spell check somewhere along the line as well. I humbly ask you to judge me on the content of my posts and not my ability to be a grammar fanatic (or not).