Today's task is from the August 21st entry. I have to MAKE A READER FAMOUS.

Do you want to be famous? asks ProBlogger. Do you want to be noticed? Do you want people to know who you are? Do you want to have more influence?

Oh yes. Not recognisable in the street, you understand. But famous on the Internet. Famous like Belle de Jour. Well, not quite. Actually, that would be great, a voluptuous, sleazy fame, the kind that calls for no less a figure than Billie Piper to get involved, but age, girth and gender rule it out for me in our narrow, image-obsessed world.

But the kind of famous where I post a comment somewhere and thousands of people think 'oh yes, I like his stuff'. That would be nice. What do I mean, nice? I dunno about arms, but I'd give a finger or two. The little finger on my right hand, you can have that one. How often do you need to type a semi-colon? Not the left one, or I wouldn't be able to say I was compiling an aardvark quiz, but the right one is Satan's whenever he wants it. So just the one finger then. And a thumb. Justonethumb,oritwouldallbelikethis. You get the idea. As if to emphasise my point, Wondermark has just dropped into my RSS with this.

So ProBlogger knows my soul, and lays bare my secret need. Then he suggests I fulfil it - for somebody else. Is this some kind of Zen training or what?

Still, he's right. Just this once, I must rise above my sordid cravings and do the noble thing, with no thought of reward, just because I can. Marcus Aurelius would be proud.

So who to pick? I pick sallyontour. She clearly misses Bristol, and ought to think about moving back if you ask me. She describes herself as having moved to 'a new city', and elsewhere as being in the 'West Midlands'. I deduce that she lives in Coventry or Birmingham. I grew up near Coventry, and for the first time in my life, Sally, I'd like to say that I hope you live in Birmingham. And that's not something you'd normally wish on any human being.

As many of you know it's just been International Talk Like a Pirate Day, and she writes very interestingly on the subject of piracy in Bristol. The Llandoger Trow, a Bristol pub, is often said to be the source of the Black Dog in Treasure Island. Apparently Llandoger is a Welsh town just over the Severn bridge, and a trow is a ferry. You learn something every day. She comes down in favour of the Hole in the Wall as a more likely source though.

So, there you go. Yes, there you go. I want to make her famous, and I'm depending on you. It's a modest kind of fame I offer, frankly, but it's the best I can do. Give her the old VCS. Visit, comment, subscribe.

And me. VCS me harder, do it until your batteries are flat. And mine are full.