What the heck is a blog?

Well, this is it.  My first blog post.  Ever.  Before I started I got to thinking: what is a blog?  I mean I know what a blog is but where did they come from?  Never one to let a question go unanswered, I hopped on Wikipedia.  I know it's not always the be all and end all of knowledge but they at least give me a good place to start.  According to Wikipedia: "A blog (a portmanteau of web log) is a personal journal published on the World Wide Web" (who calls it the any more?).  The actual term blog was apparently coined by a guy named Peter Merholz who jokingly broke the word weblog into we blog and published it on his site in 1999.  Interesting, huh?  Since their inception in the 90's blogs have become more and more popular with over 156 million in existence today.  Apparently there is also a "Blogger's Code of Conduct".  Since you're enthralled (I can tell, who wouldn't be) I'll continue.  There are seven rules in the Blogger's Code that all good little bloggers should consider:

1. Take responsibility not just for your own words, but for the comments you allow on your blog.
2. Label your tolerance level for abusive comments.
3. Consider eliminating anonymous comments.
4. Ignore the trolls.
5. Take the conversation offline, and talk directly, or find an intermediary who can do so.
6. If you know someone who is behaving badly, tell them so.
7. Don't say anything online that you wouldn't say in person.

So, where does my POV come into play?  Well I figure that blogging is kind of like twitter only it requires more effort and therefore, is slightly less narcissistic.  Why do people care what we think or have to say?  We write about politics, religion, food, family, travel, sex and who knows what else.  I don't know what I want to write about yet.  I like to cook so maybe there will be recipes.  I like to travel so maybe there'll be pictures.  Someday I want to write and maybe this is just a good way to hone those skills.  I can't say why other people do it.  Maybe they want fame or want everyone to know who they partied with last night.  The passionate ones do it because they feel so strongly about what they believe that they have to share it and hopefully others will feel the same way and that is who I hope to be.