Two Years, 184 Posts, and Many Thoughts: My Second Blog-iversary

I made my first post on this blog, "Philosophy as Science Fiction; Science Fiction as Philosophy," on December 23, 2014.  About two years, 184 posts, and many, many thoughts later, I'm somehow still doing this and celebrating my second blog-iversary!  This calls for a celebration.  In blog post form, of course.

(I will be traveling to visit family on the hallowed day of my second blog-iversary itself, so I'm jumping the gun a bit in assuming this blog will still exist in four days.)

Here are a few reflections to celebrate this auspicious occasion...

• As part of the celebration I have also changed the blog template and layout for the first time since its inception.  I liked the old bookshelf motif, but it was a little cheesy and I never really liked the color.  I thought I'd try something new, something a bit less busy.  I've also widened the text area.  Let me know what you think!
• As I've meta-blogged about a few times (including on my 42nd post spectacular and my one year blog-iversary post), I have a lot of fun doing this.  It's a great way to collect my thoughts on a wide variety of topics.  
• I started this blog primarily as a place to post philosophically-enriched reviews of all the science fiction books I was reading.  I figured I spent so much time reviewing books on Goodreads (check out my Goodreads profile!) that I might as well make a blog out of them.  While I primarily blog on science fiction and philosophy, I have strayed into other territories, especially politics both within and without science fiction fandom and academia.  See My Favorite Posts for some of the posts I've found particularly enjoying or fulfilling to write.
• I have no idea how accurate the Blogger analytics are, but as of the time of writing it says my blog has been visited 80, 878 times.  I suspect many of those may be internet bots, but it's still nice to know that someone out there is reading.  Most of the hits are from my home country of the United States, but it's particularly exciting to see so many hits from around the world.
• It's fun to interact with all the strange and wonderful people of the internet.  Surprisingly most of the comments on this blog have been friendly even when they disagree.  Being a white guy with my white guy picture clearly presented probably does a lot to deflect standard internet dudebro vitriol.  Also, I just don't get the kind of traffic that attracts the trolls.  Still, I'd like to think a minuscule part of it is my own commitment to trying really hard not to be a jerk on the internet (although I suspect the incoming Trump administration and all it represents will harshly test my resolve in this blog's third year).  Probably the most contentious comments so far were on a post on "political correctness" last March, which I found most odd as the post itself consisted entirely of questions about the alleged concept of "political correctness."  The internet is a strange place indeed, but I hope this blog shows that it doesn't have to be unfriendly.
• Thank you again, dear readers (and bots, too).  I am humbled by the time you've taken or are taking for the first time to read Examined Worlds.  It's a strange internet in a strange universe, and I'm honored that you've chosen to share a bit of it with me. 

Stay tuned for my third blog-iversary post in December 2017!