Do you remember the show "Connections" with James Burke? It used to be on TLC at some point (according to the linked Wikipedia article, 1997). It was a show about seemingly unrelated things that were all connected. For example, how a Polish dirt farmer in 1743 stubbed his toe on a sharp rock, which led to a nasty infection, which led to someone creating the Pierogi, which led to the German's bombing Pearl Harbor*, which led to the Ironman Triathlon. Or something like that. Anyway, I really thought it was a cool show and it seems software development (and I.T. in general) follow the same sorts of patterns.

Take this blog for example. A set of seemingly disconnected events** led me to it. People have been blogging for years now. I'm a Johnny-come-lately to the game. Why? And why now? For me, it started with e-mail sites like Hotmail being blocked at work...

(for those that don't get the historical set of connections example, take web surfing as another example. How many times have you started searching for some Javascript code only to find yourself 3 hours later at some Japanese midget porn site. That happens at least once a week for me).

* Yes, I know the German's didn't bomb Pearl Harbor. Everyone knows it was the Swedes.

** I reserve the right to jump around a lot. And I'll try to eventually get around to tying everything together. Either that or get bored with the whole thing and stop. Definitely one or the other.