Planet Utah

Taking a little break

It's been a couple of years since I've taken a blogging sabbatical, and now seems a good time. So, Planet Utah will not be updated during the next couple of weeks. I'll look forward to seeing you again in mid-September.

The eagle has landed; repeat, the eagle has landed

Just arrived at my destination in Austin. I was thinking about you the whole way -- coming up with classic blog posts in my head, but having no way of recording them without risking life, limb, and dozens of healthy armadillos.

First impressions: Austin is overcast, cool, and very, very humid. Everything I own that's made out of paper is getting moist and curly. My hair looks terrible. I was issued a handgun at the state border. The highway patrol is EVERYWHERE. (When you don't have a state income tax, you have to raise revenue somehow.) I'm glad to be here safe and sound.

And that's it for now. I'll keep you posted.

Drink! Drink! Drink! Drink! Drink! Drink!

Ah, the power of peer pressure. Great to have you back, Mike!

Posthumous Mike?

The last time Zonitics went dark for this long, I started throwing out alternate names for the one-time group blog's sole remaining author, Anonymous Mike. As always, loyal reader Lehigh Decorum out-did all of my suggestions, coming up with "AWOL on us Mike." (My best effort was "He's gone from us Mike.") This time, though, Mike's REALLY been gone a while, leading to the macabre headline up above. Vox has noticed too, albeit in a manner much more charming than mine. (Big surprise; everything she does is more charming than everything I do.)

Now, Zonitics may not be the most widely read Arizona blog, but it does claim, plausibly, to be Arizona's first political blog. This alone is reason enough for it to survive.

A while back, Jonah Goldberg asked readers to name the most Burkean line from the movie "Animal House." (Stick with me here; there's a payoff.) A lot of people, including me, made some pretty lame guesses. But here was the correct answer: "Delta Tau Chi has a long tradition of existence both to its members and the community at large."

What makes this funny is that the Delta Tau Chi president said it to Dean Wormer in an effort to save the house from being kicked off campus. But  mere long-term existence is hardly an argument for clemency. UNLESS, of course, you're Edmund Burke, whose Reflections on the Revolution in France is pretty much built on the premise that if something's been around for a while, it can't be all bad, right?

That, of course, brings us back to Zonitics. It has a long tradition of existence, both to its contributors (a group that used to include me) and the community at large. Furthermore, Zonitics is at the center of the most intriguing and closely-held secret in all of Arizona blogdom: the identity of Edward Boyd, the blog's founder.

There used to be only two people who knew that: Edward and I. Now I believe there are four, mainly because I drank too much at a blogger gathering and revealed the secret to a couple of girls I was trying to impress. Neither of them is dating me these days, so I don't think they were very impressed. Also, though, I'd be surprised if they can even remember the name I gave them. (But if they can and if they are reading, spilling the beans would have implications and repercussions the likes of which they cannot begin to fathom. It would make the Aldrich Ames affair look like the "Press Your Luck" scandal. No Whammies indeed.)

So, Zonitics, tell us what you need. A temporary guest worker program? More collaborators? A B-12 shot in the butt? A spa weekend? An intervention over micro-brews? We're here for you, Zonitics. We're here for you.

Welcome back!

To me, that is. More coming soon.

Where is Mike?

Anonymous Mike over at Zonitics hasn't posted since September 11, 2007. You still with us, Mike?

Footnote: I tried desperately to come up with a word that I could put in front of "Mike," a word that had four syllables and sounded something like "Anonymous," a word that would suggest that Mike had gone missing or had been the victim of foul play or was otherwise caught up in mysterious events. Couldn't pull it off. Here are a few of my mis-fires:

• Catatonic Mike
• Androgynous Mike
• Diaphanous Mike
• Deminimis Mike
• Oblivious Mike
• He's-gone-from-us Mike

You see the problem? None of it quite works, and some of it is downright insulting, which wasn't my intent. I'm just throwing it out there in case anyone can come up with a word that fits my criteria. If so, I'll use your word in the headline (and give you credit, of course).