American Digest became nine-years-old back in May. At least that’s far back as the Wayback Machine tracks it in the year of Our Lord 2002: The New America – Dispatches. It is a bit older than that but I no longer remember exactly how much. Early 2002 in post 9/11 New York City was, as they say, “a life in interesting times.”
The first incarnation of the page (shown above) was in another space and another time.
To date my counters show 6,311 posts in the main column and 5,768 posts in “Thinking Right.” That’s 12,000 items and change. I’ve really got to tidy that up someday and move this whole endeavor to a newer and spiffier platform. Tasks I keep putting off until tomorrow.
Maybe I’ll get to it someday. For now, thanks for stopping by and putting up with me. God knows I wouldn’t.
Congratulations from a long time lurker, probably from the beginning too but, memory becomes hazy that far back. Does that mean it is old enough to buy a drink now?
VanderleunMay 10, 2022, 8:59 AM
It is. Remind me to tell you all about the time I drove 9,000 miles in 9 days in a Volkswagen just to be able to buy a beer at a bar.
gwbnycMay 10, 2022, 11:58 AM
three tanks (you’re welcome) a day, then (+/-) if my memory serves.
I’m going to buy another, a Super Beetle or a Karmann Ghia, a ’73. we raced them through Kirtland, Ohio. High school.
I have been here since the days of Scipio. I stop by every day, even when riding a bicycle in some lonely forest. If I don’t stop by for more than a week, do a welfare check.
VanderleunMay 10, 2022, 8:56 AM
If you’re off for a week and in a forest… you’ve already had your welfare check. Cash it.
Jim in OxfordMay 10, 2022, 2:26 AM
Perhaps I can speak for all who enjoy AD: Thank you, thank you, Gerard, for all the work you do putting together what is, for me, my favorite website. There is ALWAYS something fascinating, entertaining, eclectic, thought-provoking, sometimes-controversial, and always opinion-generating. I have learned much, every day, from your postings and from all the varied comments.
Hands down this is the finest site on the internet. Our lives have been richer for your work.
I’ll stop short of gushing, but thank you for what you do.
JWM
timMay 10, 2022, 5:01 AM
Since @ 2004 myself. Congrats.
Don’t know WTF it’d be like without AD and I don’t want to find out.
VanderleunMay 10, 2022, 9:01 AM
Me neither.
HossMay 10, 2022, 5:19 AM
A daily stop for me also, Gerard. Thank you.
David SpenceMay 10, 2022, 5:22 AM
So glad to know that I share a birthday with Bono, Fred Astaire, Donovan, Sid Vicious, Rick Santorum, John Wilkes Booth AND American Digest! This blog is one that has been at the top of my bookmarks for at least twenty years and amazingly keeps getting better and better. Between the uber-talented host and the commenters, a person could receive a fine education here! I know that I have.
JackMay 10, 2022, 6:32 AM
AD is probably the most sane and informative on the WWW and I love it here. I’ve contributed, been scolded or reprimanded and I am always being introduced to new ideas and things I did not know or exposed something that I needed. Anyone who pays attention in this class will greatly benefit.
AD is an oasis and my first stop, every day. Thanks GVL and Happy Birthday to AD.
TerryMay 10, 2022, 7:15 AM
Happy Birthday to AD
My day would be a total jungle without the daily start I get from American Digest.
SplankyMay 10, 2022, 7:21 AM
Happy Birthday and Congratulations, your site makes my day brighter.
Seems like I found your site just yesterday. I can’t believe it was just 9 years ago. So much has happened. I check your site every day.. You are number one on my top 10 list………Happy Happy birthday.
WarrenMay 10, 2022, 7:44 AM
Happy birthday from a lurker and huge fan and may you enjoy many, many more. One of my favorite blogs on the interwebs. Your stuff is always on point and thought provoking and a must read. I can’t imagine my mornings without a perusal of American Digest and Ka-Ching. I don’t know that I was here at the beginning but I have been here since I found your blog. Keep on keeping on and I’ll keep reading. Thanks!
rabbit tobaccoMay 10, 2022, 7:46 AM
Thanks for sharing all these many years,
and have a Happy Birthday!
Perhaps my memory is too fuzzy, but I have a vague recollection of stumbling across American Digest way back around 2005 or so, and leaving a comment, and you asked how I found your place. At the time I was reading things like the Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler (is that even still a thing?), and a bunch of other people who have either vanished into the ether or fallen off my internet radar. Somebody linked something, and I’m still here every day.
The internet is a funny thing. Since that time, I’ve moved back and forth across the country, gone through major life changes and serious upheavals, started a family, etc. For all that the internet is full of ephemera, there are people and places which are a constant, a community, and an intellectual home without which I might (at this point) be far more lost than if I lost everything tangible. For me, this site is definitely a part of that. Thanks.
gwbnycMay 10, 2022, 8:57 AM
I arrived much later via “never yet melted”.
jdMay 10, 2022, 8:48 AM
Many congratulations, Gerard. If ever you are feeling down, your
second stop should be on these comments. I too, am grateful for your
blog and its community which I discovered almost 4 years ago and now
visit every day.
Gerard, Many thanks from my wife and I. The quality of your articles and the eclectic bent shows that you spend a great deal of work and time in preparation. Happy Birthday and may many more be in store. Sincerely,
Joe & Sheila Krill
John FisherMay 10, 2022, 10:51 AM
Happy Blog Birthday Gerald! One of my favorite daily stops in my retirement.
Rob De WittMay 10, 2022, 12:56 PM
End of 2001, my so-called life spectacularly imploded. After several desperate last-ditch survival attempts – including SF Opera and Symphony auditions – came to naught, I retreated from my Sausalito apartment with my tail between my legs, to a 50-year-old trailer out in the country South of Santa Rosa and lived on Social Security and memories for a few years.
Finally in 2004 or so I got into an old-folks place with good phone connections and an old laptop, and got back online for the first time in several years. In the interim Web 2.0 had taken place, and from teaching thousands to browse the web and build sites, etc, I found myself a newbie all over again.
American Digest was found in the first few weeks via an argument I got into with GVdL concerning, as I recall, grammar usage – wherein G accused me of being a “schoolmarm.”
Anyhow, got it back to singing big-league classical music in SF until a series of uglies put me back to trying to start over again.
Still here, every day.
Thanks for all of it.
PA CatMay 10, 2022, 1:15 PM
Happy blogversary to an accomplished catdad (among other sterling attributes)– even though Olive is a relatively recent addition to your household. As for age– I’m probably your only regular reader with a car older than your blog (’93 Mercury–now that it’s over 25, the DMV doesn’t require emissions testing for it, and the annual city property tax for it would buy the mayor two large pizzas from Little Caesar’s; I’m good with that).
I expect to keep reading AD until the car is eligible for Social Security; long may you and Olive thrive together.
ghostsniperMay 11, 2022, 10:43 AM
Not so. My 91 S10 was purchased new in Oct 90 and sits out here in the driveway ready to roll. Almost 32 years old. The first and probably last brand new vehicle I’ll ever own. Bought for $8,888.88, no bells and whistles, and has been mostly problem free the whole time. The best purchase I have ever made. I still buy tags for it and that will happen against next month. It has a stick and my wife doesn’t do stick so when I go my son will get it. Unless she gets someone to move it closer to the house and she turns it into a Cathouse.
ArtyMay 10, 2022, 3:05 PM
I can’t remember the first time I discovered American Digest but I do remember the format was completely different. I’m thinking it was sometime in the early to mid oughts. Anyway I was immediately hooked. Thanks for all the hard work you put into this project Gerard.
John BMay 10, 2022, 3:06 PM
You do good work. If I ever venture into NYC again, one stop will be to Battery Park to pay my respects. That story brings me to tears… as do several others.
ThisIsNotNutellaMay 10, 2022, 3:45 PM
Started reading American Digest around Gulf War 2. Then never stopped. It’s seen me from the prime of life into looming decrepitude and taught me a few things I needed to learn but wasn’t wise enough to cotton onto unassisted. Thank you, Gerard.
Sid VMay 10, 2022, 3:53 PM
“ I’ve really got to tidy that up someday and move this whole endeavor to a newer and spiffier platform”
Don’t bother. The best blogs are the ones that keep it simple. Think Instapundit, Small Dead Animals, and this joint of course.
Love this place. Can’t remember when I first visited, but I was hooked on Day One.
AnonymousMay 10, 2022, 4:46 PM
I seem to remember turning onto this and NeoNeo, (now NewNeo) around the same time. Neo is my go to place for in depth analysis, but for cultural stimulation, AD is the place. A place where kindred spirits, tastes, and similar life experiences abound. Like so many here I check in daily for a dose of sanity and hope. Keep it going Gerard. God bless you.
SteveSMay 10, 2022, 4:57 PM
Sorry, I posted that unintentionally anonymous.
KCKMay 10, 2022, 6:30 PM
Twenty! 20??
Two, in blog years, is equal to twenty in human years.
Let’s see…carry to tens/ wait? Twenty years of a blog is freaky long, bro!
AD contains the news, in the old meaning of that now-corrupted word. In the good meaning: what is happening contemporaneously with one’s lifetime. The happenings. AD provides me with a bit of sanity, a lot of friendships, and some damn fine eye candy. Political humor. Commentary both dire and amusing, but also with gravity.
Please accept my congratulations, Gerard.
Hale AdamsMay 10, 2022, 8:20 PM
I’m with “jwm” — Happy Blogiversary, and thanks for being here, Gerard.
Hale Adams
Pikesville, People’s still-mostly-Democratic Republic of Maryland
TmjUtahMay 11, 2022, 6:34 PM
Happy anniversary, sir.
Standing offer for coffee, range time, and nickel tour is always open.
Blink of an eye. Filled with Love, Truth, and Beauty in galactic amounts, independent of boundary or limit.
Real World Address for Donations, Mash Notes and Hate Mail
Gerard Van der Leun
1692 MANGROVE AVE
APT 379
Chico, Ca 95926
Green Pants Interior by Klahn
Who Am I? by Carl Sandburg
My head knocks against the stars.
My feet are on the hilltops.
My finger-tips are in the valleys and shores of universal life.
Down in the sounding foam of primal things I reach my hands and play with pebbles of destiny.
I have been to hell and back many times.
I know all about heaven, for I have talked with God.
I dabble in the blood and guts of the terrible.
I know the passionate seizure of beauty
And the marvelous rebellion of man at all signs reading “Keep Off.”
My name is Truth and I am the most elusive captive in the universe.
Duty, Beauty, Liberty, Country, Honor, Family, Faith — Plus a few simple easy to follow rules for guys
Men saw the stars at the edge of the sea
They thought great thoughts about liberty
Poets wrote down words that did fit
Writers wrote books
Thinkers thought about it
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
Many’s the road I have walked upon
Many’s the hour between dusk and dawn
Many’s the time
Many’s the mile
I see it all now
Through the eyes of a child
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
And close your eyes
Leave it all for a while
Leave the world
And your worries behind
You will build on whatever is real
And wake up each day
To a new waking dream
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Change, change come over
Change come over
Talkin’ about a change
Change, change
Change come over, now
Change, change, change come over
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
From eleven years back:
Gerard Van der Leun
Comments on this entry are closed.
Congratulations from a long time lurker, probably from the beginning too but, memory becomes hazy that far back. Does that mean it is old enough to buy a drink now?
It is. Remind me to tell you all about the time I drove 9,000 miles in 9 days in a Volkswagen just to be able to buy a beer at a bar.
three tanks (you’re welcome) a day, then (+/-) if my memory serves.
I’m going to buy another, a Super Beetle or a Karmann Ghia, a ’73. we raced them through Kirtland, Ohio. High school.
I have been here since the days of Scipio. I stop by every day, even when riding a bicycle in some lonely forest. If I don’t stop by for more than a week, do a welfare check.
If you’re off for a week and in a forest… you’ve already had your welfare check. Cash it.
Perhaps I can speak for all who enjoy AD: Thank you, thank you, Gerard, for all the work you do putting together what is, for me, my favorite website. There is ALWAYS something fascinating, entertaining, eclectic, thought-provoking, sometimes-controversial, and always opinion-generating. I have learned much, every day, from your postings and from all the varied comments.
Happy Birthday, American Digest!
Happy birthday (blogday?)!!!
YAY!
And many more…..
I hope so but I find I’m going to have to make serious changes to how this all works in my life to carry it on.
Diligently, thank you for your efforts. This has been a daily stop for a number of years now.
Hands down this is the finest site on the internet. Our lives have been richer for your work.
I’ll stop short of gushing, but thank you for what you do.
JWM
Since @ 2004 myself. Congrats.
Don’t know WTF it’d be like without AD and I don’t want to find out.
Me neither.
A daily stop for me also, Gerard. Thank you.
So glad to know that I share a birthday with Bono, Fred Astaire, Donovan, Sid Vicious, Rick Santorum, John Wilkes Booth AND American Digest! This blog is one that has been at the top of my bookmarks for at least twenty years and amazingly keeps getting better and better. Between the uber-talented host and the commenters, a person could receive a fine education here! I know that I have.
AD is probably the most sane and informative on the WWW and I love it here. I’ve contributed, been scolded or reprimanded and I am always being introduced to new ideas and things I did not know or exposed something that I needed. Anyone who pays attention in this class will greatly benefit.
AD is an oasis and my first stop, every day. Thanks GVL and Happy Birthday to AD.
Happy Birthday to AD
My day would be a total jungle without the daily start I get from American Digest.
Happy Birthday and Congratulations, your site makes my day brighter.
Seems like I found your site just yesterday. I can’t believe it was just 9 years ago. So much has happened. I check your site every day.. You are number one on my top 10 list………Happy Happy birthday.
Happy birthday from a lurker and huge fan and may you enjoy many, many more. One of my favorite blogs on the interwebs. Your stuff is always on point and thought provoking and a must read. I can’t imagine my mornings without a perusal of American Digest and Ka-Ching. I don’t know that I was here at the beginning but I have been here since I found your blog. Keep on keeping on and I’ll keep reading. Thanks!
Thanks for sharing all these many years,
and have a Happy Birthday!
YAY-zahhhhhhhh!!
Happy Blogiversary!
Perhaps my memory is too fuzzy, but I have a vague recollection of stumbling across American Digest way back around 2005 or so, and leaving a comment, and you asked how I found your place. At the time I was reading things like the Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler (is that even still a thing?), and a bunch of other people who have either vanished into the ether or fallen off my internet radar. Somebody linked something, and I’m still here every day.
The internet is a funny thing. Since that time, I’ve moved back and forth across the country, gone through major life changes and serious upheavals, started a family, etc. For all that the internet is full of ephemera, there are people and places which are a constant, a community, and an intellectual home without which I might (at this point) be far more lost than if I lost everything tangible. For me, this site is definitely a part of that. Thanks.
I arrived much later via “never yet melted”.
Many congratulations, Gerard. If ever you are feeling down, your
second stop should be on these comments. I too, am grateful for your
blog and its community which I discovered almost 4 years ago and now
visit every day.
Gerard, Many thanks from my wife and I. The quality of your articles and the eclectic bent shows that you spend a great deal of work and time in preparation. Happy Birthday and may many more be in store. Sincerely,
Joe & Sheila Krill
Happy Blog Birthday Gerald! One of my favorite daily stops in my retirement.
End of 2001, my so-called life spectacularly imploded. After several desperate last-ditch survival attempts – including SF Opera and Symphony auditions – came to naught, I retreated from my Sausalito apartment with my tail between my legs, to a 50-year-old trailer out in the country South of Santa Rosa and lived on Social Security and memories for a few years.
Finally in 2004 or so I got into an old-folks place with good phone connections and an old laptop, and got back online for the first time in several years. In the interim Web 2.0 had taken place, and from teaching thousands to browse the web and build sites, etc, I found myself a newbie all over again.
American Digest was found in the first few weeks via an argument I got into with GVdL concerning, as I recall, grammar usage – wherein G accused me of being a “schoolmarm.”
Anyhow, got it back to singing big-league classical music in SF until a series of uglies put me back to trying to start over again.
Still here, every day.
Thanks for all of it.
Happy blogversary to an accomplished catdad (among other sterling attributes)– even though Olive is a relatively recent addition to your household. As for age– I’m probably your only regular reader with a car older than your blog (’93 Mercury–now that it’s over 25, the DMV doesn’t require emissions testing for it, and the annual city property tax for it would buy the mayor two large pizzas from Little Caesar’s; I’m good with that).
I expect to keep reading AD until the car is eligible for Social Security; long may you and Olive thrive together.
Not so. My 91 S10 was purchased new in Oct 90 and sits out here in the driveway ready to roll. Almost 32 years old. The first and probably last brand new vehicle I’ll ever own. Bought for $8,888.88, no bells and whistles, and has been mostly problem free the whole time. The best purchase I have ever made. I still buy tags for it and that will happen against next month. It has a stick and my wife doesn’t do stick so when I go my son will get it. Unless she gets someone to move it closer to the house and she turns it into a Cathouse.
I can’t remember the first time I discovered American Digest but I do remember the format was completely different. I’m thinking it was sometime in the early to mid oughts. Anyway I was immediately hooked. Thanks for all the hard work you put into this project Gerard.
You do good work. If I ever venture into NYC again, one stop will be to Battery Park to pay my respects. That story brings me to tears… as do several others.
Started reading American Digest around Gulf War 2. Then never stopped. It’s seen me from the prime of life into looming decrepitude and taught me a few things I needed to learn but wasn’t wise enough to cotton onto unassisted. Thank you, Gerard.
“ I’ve really got to tidy that up someday and move this whole endeavor to a newer and spiffier platform”
Don’t bother. The best blogs are the ones that keep it simple. Think Instapundit, Small Dead Animals, and this joint of course.
Love this place. Can’t remember when I first visited, but I was hooked on Day One.
I seem to remember turning onto this and NeoNeo, (now NewNeo) around the same time. Neo is my go to place for in depth analysis, but for cultural stimulation, AD is the place. A place where kindred spirits, tastes, and similar life experiences abound. Like so many here I check in daily for a dose of sanity and hope. Keep it going Gerard. God bless you.
Sorry, I posted that unintentionally anonymous.
Twenty! 20??
Two, in blog years, is equal to twenty in human years.
Let’s see…carry to tens/ wait? Twenty years of a blog is freaky long, bro!
AD contains the news, in the old meaning of that now-corrupted word. In the good meaning: what is happening contemporaneously with one’s lifetime. The happenings. AD provides me with a bit of sanity, a lot of friendships, and some damn fine eye candy. Political humor. Commentary both dire and amusing, but also with gravity.
Please accept my congratulations, Gerard.
I’m with “jwm” — Happy Blogiversary, and thanks for being here, Gerard.
Hale Adams
Pikesville, People’s still-mostly-Democratic Republic of Maryland
Happy anniversary, sir.
Standing offer for coffee, range time, and nickel tour is always open.
Blink of an eye. Filled with Love, Truth, and Beauty in galactic amounts, independent of boundary or limit.
Thank you.