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My birthday isn’t until tomorrow, but seeing as I have the best friends a geek could ever want or hope for, I already have to plenty to show for it. I got some great gifts, including a pair of ‘keyboard’ cuff-links, beautiful journals with covers made out of a floppy disk and a Commodore 64 motherboard, and so much else! I also got these wonderful t-shirts:

Certified Data Care Specialist

Certified Data Care Specialist (back)

And, of course, the Official Whatever Button T-shirt!

And since the best presents are those you can share, it is likely that these shirts and other great geek gifts will be available soon from our collaborative blog, Masters of Media. Thanks again guys and girls, I don’t know what to say, other than that you’re more lovable, adorable and well-spoken than a bunch of ridiculously cute penguins.

(photos: Anne Helmond)

This is just a quick note on last month’s Chicago Tribune interview with Technorati vice-president Derek Gordon, which is worth reading if you missed it. In about 600 words, the piece is perhaps the clearest, most honest appraisal of blogging that there is (and that from a source whose livelihood probably depends on upholding an image of blogs as revolutionary and enlightening!).

Q Do you have any idea how soon there will be one blog for every person on Earth with Internet access?

A I don’t. Remember that most blogs are only marginally active (that is, about one blog post a month), and most are used for personal journaling purposes.

[...]

Q Any idea how many of the 109.2 million blogs you track get no hits in the course of a year?

A Just over 99 percent. The vast majority of blogs exist in a state of total or near-total obscurity.

That’s right, blogs have an obvious advantage over the large centers of consumer surveillance that we call social networking sites: nobody is watching.