This post takes up the #7Link Challenge issued by proBlogger’s Darren Rowse.

Photo by whatmegsaid
The rules are simple and fun!

The idea is to publish a post that is a list of 7 links to posts that you and others have written that respond to the following 7 categories. Your links should be to:

• Your first post
• A post you enjoyed writing the most
• A post which had a great discussion
• A post on someone else’s blog that you wish you’d written
• Your most helpful post
• A post with a title that you are proud of
• A post that you wish more people had read

You might like to add a few explanations to different links – for example to talk a little about why you enjoyed writing a post or what you like about the post on another blog that you link to . . .

Visit Darren’s post to get more details, if you wish to participate!
So, here goes:

My First Post

Hello World
If you look at the permalink, I tried to make a point, here. Since this is a links post, I can only refer to the first post on my self-hosted blog. My real first post was uploaded to the now defunct WritingUp.com, titled I Wonder If I am an Artist or an Engineer:

I wonder if I am an artist or an engineer. I am not trained in either field, yet there are moments of Athenian inspiration during which ideas spring forth full-blown from the right side of my head. Afterwards, the sinister side takes control and attempts to systematically mold the nascent creation into an elegant framework.
I see the result of this one-two punch in everything that I do – be it designing a game, writing software, teaching abstract concepts to my children, teaching abstract concepts to adults, supervising co-workers, brain-storming with colleagues, writing poetry or posting in forums. I think it’s called style. If so, then I’ve finally developed my own synaptic fingerprint.
The need to create is visceral. There is a parallel between the arousal of neural pathways and my constant association of disparate things to one another. At the biological level, new connections between nerve cells enable my brain to store and recall information more efficiently. At the conscious level, new associations between objects and concepts enable my idea pipeline to flow. Often, when I’m reading an issue of Science News, I’ll get an idea for a game. Maybe a clever commercial will ignite a marketing plan for real estate. When admonishing one of my younger children, I may create a parable to explain why he should consider changing his behavior. Each of these mental activities is deliberate and leads to copious note writing or manipulation of words and gestures calculated to give concrete form to my thoughts.
Successful instances of this whole-brain thinking leave me feeling warm and fuzzy; however, evoking mental monstrosities, half-baked hypotheses and idiotic ideas cause me to wonder if I am merely a conceit and a Doppelgänger, rejoicing overmuch at my own introspection, while sowing confusion and misguided information.

This has been the overarching thread, thesis and essence of my blog.

A Post I Most Enjoyed Writing

Grave Error
Wordplay is my reason for living. My dad influenced me in this pastime. While it was a response to another meme, I wrote it with Pop in mind. Naturally, I cherish his comment on the post:

By Hillard Allen on Jan 27, 2008

Some say it’s heredity and some say it’s environment. But why should I try to embrace this subject with my parent theses?

Papa

A Conversation Starter

Social Media Manifesto
All my friends came out to chat

A Post I Wish I Had Written

From Visitor to Downloader to Purchaser
I loved the tone, the style and the content. On top of that, Patrick McKenzie is a kindred spirit:

My mother has a talent for being totally unembarassed to ask businesses, bureacrats, service workers, & etc to do something which is strongly out of the ordinary and deterimental to them. My mother is also the only person I have ever met in my life like this. For the vast majority of people, asking for “special treatment” is unsettling. You want to do a psychology experiment to prove this? Next time you go out to dinner with friends, tell one you’ll pay him $10 if he asks the waitress about Windows vs. Mac when she comes to order and can keep the conversation going for more than 60 seconds. Most people recoil at the thought of doing this — it’s very meiwaku* to the waitress, and people feel a deep sense of shame in causing meiwaku for other people. (* meiwaku is a Japanese term for which there is no handy English equivalent. It’s a type of imposition or nuisance which is not socially appropriate. Not shaving before you come to work is meiwaku with regards to everyone you have to deal with. Coming late to a meeting and holding everyone up is meiwaku. That sort of thing. What can I say, I’m still a teacher at heart and love words.)

My Most Helpful Post

PayPal at the Pump – Don’t Get Burned
For a while, this was the top-searched post on my blog. Thanks to all the love being spread on BloggerLuv.com, this is no longer the case. However, the PayPal post is still informative, compared to the recent links with more hits.

A Post With a Great Title

Smoking the Information Pipe
Although it evokes a negative image, it captures attention without being clever – an affliction affecting many of my titles.

A Post Needing More Eyeballs

Marxist Internet Propaganda
It’s nice to have a chance to plug what should have been a post, had I not been too chicken to “put it out there” as an essay. I didn’t want to come off like I knew what I was talking about … cluck-cluck. The few times I’ve linked to this fictionalized essay in serious discussions, it was well-received.