Carnac the Magnificent

I always enjoyed the "Gonzo Journalism" of the late Hunter S. Thompson, and I once tried explaining the gestalt-of-gonzo to a non-believer as "getting so close to what you're writing about that you become part of the story."

I like blogging (the concept) for the same reason -- you get to bundle opinion with facts in the the stories you write in a way that, at its best, tells a bigger story. The best blogs are a whole new writing form - open, epistolary nonfiction.

As so it was with great expectations that I first took a look at the Insurance Tech Guru blog. The promise is great -- much-needed context for the IT side of the Insurance industry.

If the Guru's early work is any indication, the truth is still "out there." In the first batch of postings we have:

• a factually-incorrect entry on MSFT XP product lifecycle - the real story is here.

• a shallow post on stolen laptops - well-intended but unaware of the halt and catch fire instruction - apocryphal but legendary in military systems

• a bunch of postings on climate change that substitute weak science (for better science look here) analysis for the fascinating story that P&C insurers will be betting real money on each side of the climate change equation.

It seems pretty clear that "guru" is new to both blogging and technology; maybe it's too soon to expect Carnac-like magnificence from his bloggy fingertips.

I think there's a real opportunity to put a better tech message out to the Insurance community -- I like "guru" but so far the bar hasn't been set very high.