Information Technology Dark Side

Jurgen Appelo, a nice guy in the Netherlands and author of noop.nl , recently sent me an email about a list he compiled: the top 100 blogs for development managers. He compiled the list based on lots of factors, including page rank, nominations, activity, and technorati rank, which he explains as part of the post.

Reading his email made me feel like that time in college when the very beautiful girl I’d become friends with asked me if I would marry her if she didn’t find someone by the time she turned thirty, or that time I just barely didn’t make the cut for the junior high basketball team, or when I got picked next to last for kickball in grade school.

I couldn’t help thinking of a cold war joke that my dad used to tell. Here it is:

A Cold War Joke from my Dad
Russia challenged the United States to a foot race. Each country sent their fastest athlete to a neutral track for the race. Naturally, the American athlete won (that’s how cold war jokes go – America is always better). The next day, the Moscow Daily Herald published the following headline:

Russia takes second in international track event. United States comes in next to last.

I’m #(10)1! I’m #(10)1!
In the top 100 blogs for development managers, Tech Dark Side is number 101. That’s right. I’m the very first blog that didn’t make the cut. You see, Jurgen looked at his ranked list and noticed there were quite a few blogs he liked that weren’t in the top 100. So he published the next 25 for good measure.

There are an awful lot of development blogs out there, and being listed as one of the 101 most important is nothing to sneeze at. And I’m not sneezing at it. I think it’s great that I’m listed at all. I also think it’s flippin’ hilarious. I laugh at the irony every time I look at my site stats and see how many people have looked at my blog because of Jurgen’s piece. I wonder if I get more hits than the guy at 100?

Stumble it!