Last year was the lowest number of entries in the Time Machine since the beginning, with two entries. Two! The previous record holder was the inaugural year of 1998, with 4 entries. Of course, I didn't start in 1998 until the 20th of December. Yow.

It seems strange that what was once my primary form of, uh, creative what-have-you has been basically abandoned. Part of that is, certainly, that the audience for such things has changed. I think the interactions that people seek online are now part of a standard set of protocols, and that basically anything that wants an audience needs to conform to these protocols. Even now I am wondering, "Hmm, should I announce on Twitter or Facebook that I just posted my first Time Machine entry in 9 months?". I probably won't.

Another part is simply my time. I have two kids (two! We had another little boy, Elliott, this past November, and I never told you, Dirtdirt.com!) and time is short, always. And my job is busy busy busy, always, so where I used to have some time to fart around with Dirtdirt.com pretty regularly, that time is more rare and, what tere is, is taken up with interacting with people on Flickr or Facebook, or Twitter, or Tumblr, Or MLKSHK, or MetaFilter, or Pinterest. I think the world was more interesting whene there were more weirdo websites out there, but I also think it is excellent that there are nopw so many ways that people can do the things they want to do online. Mixed bag. Everything is.

And I use those services myself. When I have a dumb thought I tweet it, instead of posting it on Dirtdirt. If I make some funny cartoon, I put it on Flickr. If I take a picture I put it on Flickr, or instagram, or Facebook. Some of those things have gizmos that allow them to be on the main page of dirtdirt.com, but it isn't a perfect system, and dirtdirt gets the fuzzy end of the popsicle.

Man this is the most pointless, curmudegeonly Time Machine entry of all time.