It is hard to believe, but Connecting the Dots is 1 year old today. Taking a moment to reflect, has left us in a state of saying what ever did we start here.
In the weeks leading up to deciding to open this website, we have to reflect on what was our motivation. We most certainly were fed up with political correctness. Friends of Richard most certainly were encouraging Richard to sit down and blast out posts. As you can see the writing style Richard has is of it’s own flavor. His ability to make accurate predictions was one of the reason we liked him to write.
So once Richard committed to devoting time we set up and launched the domain. With people working behind the scenes at Connecting the Dots, Richard simply became more or less our anchor man. We have given him full authority to select whatever content he wants.
As you can see, Richard has found that the unusual nature of Thai politics makes for a good running topic. We did not set out to be a political site, but as it is, we seem to be drawn into the Thai political arena.
We also look to point out things that make us unique and not just another blog. Most blogs talk about present and past tense things. We have decided thanks to Richard’s ability, we want to make calls on what is about to happen. Some of Richard’s friends have given him the nickname of fortune teller. With his very high percentage of accurate calls, he has brought many readers here from around the world. With the addition of language translation software powered by Google, we have seen a lot of readers from far corners of the globe come and visit.
Because Richard writes about things that are about to happen, there is zero chance of legal action being brought against us. However we do know it does manage to piss some of the players off when we write what they are going to do before they do it, especially when we are right.
Looking ahead to the next year, Connecting the Dots is looking to grow to be more than just a blog, we want to set a new standard of writing. There are plenty of journalists out there who have recently become unemployed for whatever reason. We are looking to have writers who wish to explore the future and grow with us. We did not see this when we started, but now there are some signs of potential on the prediction department. We know that not everyone has the same talents as Richard, but there are people out there who do.
Lend us your imagination for a moment to see what we see. As we started off to be politically incorrect and to say whatever, we have seen what has brought readers. When we talk about the future, it actually causes two things. It allows people to see ahead, and it tends to change the behavior of the people we make predictions on. In sort it magnifies the embarrassment factor. When that happens we become a sort of moral compass and that has the ability to bring about change.
This makes us unique and a reason to read. So with more writers focusing on different places and topics particularly in politics, think about what we can achieve. When that happens it will open the door to advertisers and guess who gets a part of that. People love gossip, and people also love to know what is going to happen next. So what Richard sees is if we can get more writers with Richard’s ability, Connecting the Dots will soon become a major source of media information. It gives the power back to the people not only on election day, it makes it almost everyday by making people in power think twice about doing the wrong thing. So how odd is that in that we can set out to be politically incorrect, but end up being a moral compass for people in power who may stray.
If you have journalist abilities and can make good calls on what is going to happen, this very well could be that next new business that started off like Microsoft on Bill Gate’s kitchen table. Send us an email.
First and foremost, congratulations on your 1 year anniversary. Certainly that is a worthwhile achievement and shows your dedication to the site.
However, I have to admit, after picking myself up off the floor from laughing so hard, I was able to submit a response. Your team is certainly very well versed in “patting themselves on the back” and trying to create a perception of credibility. As I have said before, one of the reasons I read this site is for the comic relief. I really have not seen a single prediction in the past year that can be credited to any innate ability to “Connect the Dots”.
Case in point, Richards latest prediction, and I quote: “Thaksin is taking the chance at pissing off a whole bunch of Prime Ministers at the same time at the Asean Summit, and that could clip his wings significantly in his global hopping as countries turn him away.” This quote was made on April 10th. Not really much of a prediction as anyone without a lobotomy knew this the day before the summit. In addition, not even written as a prediction of what would happen; really just a statement of common sense knowledge.
Yet, on April 12th, Richard states, “Connecting the Dots prediction has unfortunately come true in Pattaya Thailand. The convicted fugitive Thaksin Shinawatra has succeed in pissing off the leaders of several countries all at the same time.”
Nice pat on the back to yourself for really accomplishing nothing. Sort of like me saying, hmmm, I’m thinking the sun will rise on the next day and then patting myself on the back for predicting the obvious.
I’m really not trying to be an ass here, but please. A much better prediction would have been predicting that there would be no resistance to the red shirt surge due to all of the conflicting politics that take place in Thailand. That really would have been a much more educated prediction and shown a deeper understanding of Thai politics.
Again, I will continue to read because it is hilarious to see some of the crap that you come up with, but an uncanny ability to see what others don’t? Please………
Happy Anniversary, guys!
In the future it would be nice if you respond to comments. Open dialogue is a good thing, one that sets blogs apart from broadcast media.
I hope you guys make it a goal to be humble as well. Nobody likes a braggart.
On another note, I’m surprised you haven’t done a post on the Swine Flu virus. Thought you’d be all over that.
-Mike
Hi Mike,
I will take the opportunity to respond to you. As for responding to comments, there are a few reasons I stay out. First is most of the topics are about showing connections between seemingly unrelated events. Not everyone has time to sit down and figure things out. So in a way it is more of a service in that respect. The people that do have time can offer differing views as to how the dots may be connected or argue it was obvious. The demographics of our readers is mostly from the US and then Thailand. After that it changes depending on the story. I know few people in America except for the unemployed have time to connect the dots themselves. We also know the media reads what we post and many times that spawns a commentary or two.
As for making calls on what will happen next, this is simply how my brain is wired. I can see things that others may not. Some are easy and some are harder so one again can argue on that if it is a talent, gift or bullshit. So to debate what may or will happen, I just prefer to read about it when it does and keep score. Last check 79% correct, and that counts things I do not have time to write about too.
Another reason I don’t comment is I spend on average between 1 and 4 hours per story with research and composing it. For example the “Thailand Thaksin Nicaragua” story is not just off the cuff. For that story I contacted the Ambassador from another Central America country to get his third party perspective as well as look for case history in similar events. So there is a lot of research that goes into what I write about. So to avoid turning this into an argue with Richard forum, I let things go where they want.
As for the swine flu virus, in reality I had considered it but the mainstream media is on it because it is a present tense story. Also whether it was the swine flu or H5N1 bird flu, it all does the same thing. It is simply nature’s pruning of the population and survival of the fittest. I am looking at North Korea and other people driven stories at the moment to write about. Global warming, global economy and other issues will be high on the list.
I do enjoy reading your comments so please continue to post. Perhaps you can get some of your friends to argue differing views and not get it from me.
Richard.
Richard, congratulations and looking forward to many more years of reading your great articles!
Richard,
Thanks for taking the time to respond to my note. I’ve got a better insight on how you do your posts. I figured you did some research but didn’t have an idea the amount of time it takes. Your efforts are appreciated!
I spend too many hours working for a company each day but I do get insights on future events from time to time. Although I haven’t statistically tracked this, at times these flashes prove to be uncannily accurate. Part of the gifts of being human and right brain processing, I guess.
Keep writing from the heart or whatever drives you.
Best,
Mike
Hi Mike,
Thanks for the reply. FYI, I caved in on the swine flu story and decided to write it today. It will run next but with a slightly different twist.
Richard