About

Authored by Michael Pate on April 15th, 2003 at 5:43 PM

Just what is this site about, anyway?

The basic idea for the site came from a Register article by Andrew Orlowski. In the article, Andrew complains how the term “Second Superpower” had been “googlewashed,” a term he continues to try to popularize. Specfically, he directs his ire at an essay, The Second Superpower Rears its Beautiful Head, by James F. Moore of Harvard. Since then, others such as Kevin Jones and Brian Fit have offered opinions on both sides of the debate.

In a moment of introspection, I thought I might register the domain secondsuperpower.com only to find that it had already been claimed by Syed Hussain. Similarly, firstsuperpower.com had been registered by Julio Rodriguez. Not willing to give up on my quest, I chose thirdsuperpower.com. But now that I had it, what am I to do with it?

The catchphrase for this site is “ui custodiet ipsos custodes?” which translates into English as “Who watches the watchmen?” Since those of the “Second Superpower” consider themselves self-styled watchmen of the “First Superpower,” I think it is only fair that there is someone to watch for and chronicle the excesses of the Second. How well this will work out, who knows? But it should be interesting.

But I don’t intend it to be limited to just that. I have a tendency to get off-topic sometimes and this will be a good place to do that. So, without further ado, away we go!

Oh, and if you should decide you wish to contact me for some reason, just write michael @ the url for this site.