Blogging By Email

Suppose you're at school or work or somewhere away from your computer, perhaps staggering around the streets of Dublin around two or three in the morning when suddenly, out of the blue, a great idea for your blog pops into your head. You want to post it right away. Before you know it, you look across the street and see a sign that reads, "Finegan's Internet Cafe: Awake 24 hours."

You make your way, slowly, jay-walking across the street, dodging late-night Irish motorists driving worse than you're walking.

Finally, you enter Finegan's. There must be about 50 computers, each with a super-fast T1 connection. Most are taken. After paying a $15 per hour fee to the cashier, you walk over and sit by your designated computer, admiring the large black-and-white photos of James Joyce (left), Sean O'Casey, Dylan Thomas, William Butler Yeats, Brendan Behan, and Oscar Wilde on the wall across the room. Would they have liked writing on computers? Would they have blogged?

Finegan's is my kind of place. Too bad they only serve coffee and soft drinks. A couple of bottles of Guinness and a few shots of Irish whiskey would make this a perfect setting—or fantasy....