Scott, Valerie, George, Matt and Judy. And, of course, Karl.

Whatever your politics, most people can agree that the job of White House spokesperson is not easy, and, indeed, Scott McClellan had sort of a rough day at the office yesterday when reporters grilled him on the ongoing investigation of who leaked to reporters the name of an undercover CIA agent. Bloggers haven't let go of the story since it broke -- at least ten of today's links are about it. Waveflux read the McClellan transcript and says he's impressed the White House press corps was "actually doing its job." So many other bloggers used the term "White House press corps" (many of them in conjunction with "growing a spine") that it's today's no. 20 bursty phrase. And Rove is today's no. 2 key person. Where ever this story leads, it's a sure bet it will stay front and center for bloggers.

Bloggers Beware The Halls of Academe
For the many bloggers who also are college professors or grad students, this column (no. 4 link) from the Chronicle of Higher Education may prove enlightening -- and disturbing. Using the pseudnym "Ivan Tribble" and not revealing his own institution, the writer says it's foolish for professorial applicants to have blogs and even more foolish to mention them to potential employers, because what may seem like harmless off-duty nattering can be that last thing a hiring committee needs to slam the door. Perhaps you're not surprised bloggers disagree: "...[T]here are certainly other places (like the department in which I work) where blogging is seen as a valuable activity, for students and faculty members alike," writes one professor, while another almost-was scholar welcomes the column: "Thank you, 'Ivan Tribble,' whoever you are, for reminding me why choosing not to pursue an academic career was one of the best decisions I ever made."

A New Battle In An Old War
It's not all jailed reporters and getting fired on BlogPulse today, though. Bloggers are buzzing about the very tools that let them do what they do -- computers -- and the future of important products for archnemeses Apple and Microsoft. Today's no. 6 link is to a piece about the real rationale behind Steve Jobs' switch from IBM to Intel chips for his computers ("a must read" writes Sexy Jihad) and no. 19 reveals some screenshots from Microsoft's new Longhorn operating system ("Doesn’t seem all that different aside from a color change and lots of different opacity settings. Then again, these screenshots only reveal aesthetics, and don’t tell much else," writes Brandon.) Generally everybody on both sides seems unhappy with the innovations... who knew computer types were so difficult to please? Oh, right.

The Greatest Human Achievement of All Time?
Since the dawn of time, man has seen the boundaries created by nature and his own hand, and longed, with an impulse for the ages, to jump over them. Sometimes with motorcycles, sometimes with steam-powered sky-cycles, and sometimes, as our no. 17 link reveals, on a skateboard. (A precarious vehicle, to be sure; we all remember what happened when Homer tried to jump Springfield gorge.) "OMG -- absolutely crazy," writes grossy. At Creative Procrastination they want to try it themselves. That's fine, but does man dare to recreate the MegaRamp?