From today’s Tidbits.

Canned Spam Can Can Spam with CAN-SPAM — Hormel is expected to announce today their campaign to can spam using their canned Spam with the aid of the CAN-SPAM legislation. Starting today, Hormel will print the phone number, email addresses, and other information about unsolicited email senders on cans of Spam along the lines of the “Have you seen me?” photographs published on milk cartons. Canned Spam buyers who help to can spam by canning spammers can receive cans of Spam as a reward.”

Tidbits may well have been one of the very first blogs. Of course that was a long time ago. Now we know you can’t really call your self a blog if you have any readers. As soon as you have readers your a media outlet. Tidbits has a long tradition of particularly fine April fools editions.

Speaking of which I discover via Technorati that a) there are now two million blogs in their database, and b) I’m in the top .5% of all blogs. OMG – I’m a member of the oligarcy! Now that’s a joke!

I recall reading many years ago about the history of books on manners and etiquette. These may have been among the first “X for Idiot” books, the first of the torrent of self-help books that now have an entire section in the books store.

It appears that the early etiquette books came in two flavors. One flavor explained how good behavior was a matter of not behaving like the animals. These books sound like fun with a chapter for each kind of animal and how somepeople behave like a fox, pig, cow, dog, etc.

The second kind of etiquette book would explain how to act like the lords and ladies. I guess these survive to this day in celeb. magizines. I gather that the rising middle class would buy these and then mimic the current fashions of the court. That in turn would force the court to change their behavior so they didn’t appear to be so middleclass.

So now I’m torn. Should I strive to avoid behaving like all the little insect blogs or should I reach upward and mimic the behavior of the alpha bloggers. There must be a book I can read to guide my behavior.

I wonder if my status can be converted into wealth or power? Maybe I should get some peasants? Raise an army. Build a moat. Support stronger property rights. Sound science – support the meritocracy!