Long ago in a not-too-distant land...

Two young women ran a gay newsletter named The Dish Rag out of a basement. Coming out was not yet in vogue, so the two labored in near secrecy; only a handful of people (or two) knew the real identities of Phyllis and Sophie.

One of the more popular features in The Dish Rag was the Ranting & Raving column, in which Phyllis and Sophie would explore a topic, tongue in cheek (most of the time), until they'd arrived at a conclusion, or not. Here's how it worked: one would start typing into the keyboard while the other stood behind, staring over the typing-one's shoulder, at the monitor, chomping at the bit, until she could stand no more. Then she would literally push the other off the seat and continue typing where the other left off. This volleying would continue until the topic had either reached a conclusion, been exhausted, used up its allocated space for that issue, or some combination thereof.

So, two decades later, the real people behind Phyllis and Sophie are out and still only that same handful (or two) know who they are and someone invented Blog technology (but I don't know who).

So, we're back. And given the plethora of topics available today, not a moment too soon.