Blog of the Week: Protein Wisdom

Oh, the blogging world is full of fun stuff today, including The National Enquirer, of all things, earning a rank for the most-shared link (is he?) and Phil Donahue rising from to TV-host obscurity to the day's burstiest person for his tete-a-tete with Fox's Bill O'Reilly.

But it's Friday, and time for another Blog of the Week profile, and today, we find out about the blogger at Protein Wisdom, BlogPulse's 46th top-ranked blog (BlogPulse profile). Protein Wisdom's tagline: "because not just anybody can summarize the news."

Q. Basic biographical info:
A. Jeff Goldstein, Denver, CO. Fiction writer/teacher.

Q. When and how did you get interested in blogging?
A. Shortly after 9/11, I started looking around on the net for supplementary information on al-Qaeda, Islamism, "blowback," Afghanistan, etc. It was then I stumbled upon blogs - Instapundit, Matt Welch, Andrew Sullivan, a few others - and immediately got drawn in. I guess when you're hungry for information, sites that update frequently are a powerful draw.

Anyway, after reading blogs for a couple months - and tired of shouting at the pundits on TV - I decided I'd join the online conversations I'd been reading. Plus, I have an almost compulsive urge to type the words "Kos" and "Atrios." So I figured, why not?

Q. In 25 words or less, describe the philosophy or tone of Protein Wisdom.
A. Imagine Sean Hannity on acid. Now replace Sean Hannity with a dolphin in a
pea coat. And there you are.

Q. Where did the name Protein Wisdom come from?
A. "Protein wisdom" comes from a line I wrote in a piece of fiction. In its original context, it had to do with a very vivid drug trip. Not sure how accurate the description is, though. I shy away from that kinda stuff.

Q. What other blogs do you read regularly and why?
A. Who has time to read blogs? I sure don't. It's all I can do to get one written. Although I do end up reading many in a given day thanks to reader tips and links that fill up my inbox.

Q. Five years from now, where you do see the blogging phenomenon headed?
A. Insofar as blogging has democratized "publishing" and the dissemination of information, I think it's a good thing - though it has, to a certain inarguable degree, coarsened political discourse. Which, I'm not so sure that's a bad thing, necessarily. But none of that matters, really, because five years from now, I expect the world will be run by our nanobot overlords - with information beamed directly into our heads by the evil little bastards. And if I know nanobots, we'll all be thinking about nanochicks. Like, constantly.

Q. What do you like to do in your spare time? (hobbies/interests/quirks, etc.).
A. I don't have much spare time - I take care of my son pretty much full time these days - but at the end of the day, I tend to watch a movie and drink a glass of Guinness. I'm a big movie buff - particularly 70s cinema. I'm also a big reader, though again, since my son was born, I haven't had time to read much fiction. I have a stack of books sitting on my nightstand collecting dust that I hope to get to soon. As far as quirks go, well, I like to talk to apples and my pants. Does that count?

Q. Fill in the blank: The last new CD that I purchased was:
A. Johnny Cash: American IV: The Man Comes Around; Kris Kristofferson: Greatest Hits Box Set.

Q. Is Protein Wisdom your only blog, or do you have others that you'd care to talk about?
A. This is it for now, though there are plans in the works to open up a protein wisdom "community site" as soon as I can figure out how to do it from a software and hosting perspective. Mostly it will a discussion space and a portal for a few other bloggers to cross-post material and, when they have time, put up original material.

It's tentatively called "The PW Pub" - which is where classical liberals and conservatives hang out; Internet progressives hang out in places called "Cafes."

Q. Is there anything I didn't ask that I should have?
A. I've always wanted someone to ask ME how many licks it takes to get to center of a Tootsie Pop. Because the answer is 19.
19.
And people have the right to know the TRUTH.