I’d like your help. That makes this a bleg.
I only recently learned what “bleg” means. From its use and based on my favorite characterization of Yiddish–as a combination of German and phlegm (h/t Billy Crystal)–I thought for a time that “bleg” was Yiddish for “beg.” It isn’t. “Betn” is. A “bleg” is a request for feedback via a blog, as in “blog” + “beg“.
My bleg is about this: If I’m going to do a 2010 summer blog project I will have to select a topic in the next few months, and I need ideas. A summer blog project (for me) is a multi-post tutorial series on a topic. It is a way for me and you to learn a lot about something we may only know a little about. The topic of last year’s summer project was investment planning.
Is there a topic you’d like to know more about? Let me know either in a comment to this post or by sending me a message through the contact form. Nothing is off limits as a suggestion, though I’m more likely to select something that is consistent with some theme of this blog (e.g. economics, health policy, personal finance, politics, government, law). Think of this as an opportunity to have someone else do the research into something you’ve always wanted to know more about.
If you can’t think of something right now, just write yourself a little sticky note that says, “Ask Austin.” Put it on the edge of your monitor. The next time you are curious about something and don’t have time to do the work to learn about it, perhaps the sticky note will remind you to send me the idea.
