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December 30, 2004
As 2005 Approaches, the Disaster Looms Large
It's hard to think about the wishes and optimism typically associated with the New Year's holiday when the news from Southern Asia continues to worsen, darken and sink in. The Southeast-Asia Tsunami & Earthquake blog, providing constant updates from that part of the world, remains in the No. 1 spot among today's top 40 links, 22 of which are about the disaster or relief efforts.
Many amazing stories and tales continue to emerge from Asia and the affected countries/islands, where the death toll has topped 100,000, including this scientific finding that the quake was so powerful that it may actually have affected the earth's rotation.
Today's 9th-burstiest phrase is the simple but powerful help tsunami victims.
And while it seems rather petty, relatively speaking, to talk about favorite television shows, the death of actor Jerry Orbach is discussed heavily in the blogosphere, especially among fans of "Law and Order." Orbach, 69, who died of prostate cancer, played tought-talking, joke-cracking detective Lenny Briscoe on that program.
Several weeks ago, Time magazine bestowed "Blog of the Year" designation on the PowerLine blog, a conservative blog published in Minnesota. Columnist Nick Coleman, with the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, does his best to expose the behind-the-scenes Republican/conservative/think-tank connections that power the PowerLine (free newspaper registration requied to read his column).
And what's this about a bare-bones Macintosh G4 for under $500? Think Secret's Nick dePlume provides the scoop.
BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: Mother Nature makes her presence felt in this blog comparison of tsunamis vs. earthquakes vs. blizzards.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:24 AM | Permalink
December 29, 2004
Bloggers' Tsunami Attention Turns to Relief Efforts, Aid
As the devastation and death toll in Southern Asia mount, so does blogger coverage of the hard-to-fathom event and of growing relief efforts to help the countries, families and aid organizations that were affected by last weekend's earthquake and tidal wave/tsunami -- now considered one of the worst natural disasters in modern history.
In fact, today's top link is to a Southeast Asian blog called TsunamiHelp, which includes updated news, alerts, names of some of the dead, and links to organization providing relief and aid.
In a short amount of time, Wikipedia has compiled an amazing fact-filled earthquake/tsunami section. Another interesting find (No. 35 on today's top links) is an animation of what the tsunami looked like as it spread and traveled throughout Southern Asia and on to the African Coast.
But what's notable about today's blog traffic is the emphasis on helping the countries in need and the organizations that provide relief. In fact, 15 of today's top links and 10 of today's top 40 phrases mention either ongoing relief efforts or news coverage of the disaster. The links refer readers to a broad list of agencies and organizations that are handling relief programs, ranging from the American Red Cross to Doctors Without Borders, from World Vision United States to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. (Many of the links, it should be noted, respond slowly because of heavy traffic and interest).
Elsewhere in the blogosphere, the death of writer Susan Sontag is mentioned frequently, and a Fortune magazine article tittled "Why There's No Escaping the Blog" has jumped into the forefront.
A phrase that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfled uttered on his Christmas Eve surprise visit to Iraq also is being scrutinized, not only by bloggers but by media organizations and others who never have quite accepted the official version of what happened on Sept. 11, 2001. When Rummy used the words "shot down the plane over Pennsylvania" to describe the fate of Flight 93 that day, just what did he mean?
BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: While the world focuses on the devastation in Southern Asia, casualties continue to mount in Iraq...civilian and military.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:39 AM | Permalink
December 27, 2004
Bloggers Cover the Tsunami Devastation in Asia
The slowed-down nature of the holiday season was abruptly shattered by news of the devastation of the earthquake and resulting tidal waves/tsunamis that slammed into Southern Asia over the weekend, killing thousands without warning.
In fact, 13 of Sunday's top 40 links directly address the tidal wave disaster and resulting news coverage. Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunga appeared in Sunday's list of burstiest people, along with geophysicists and earthquake specialists, because of her appeal for international assistance.
And for evidence that bloggers truly have become on-the-scene "reporters" in many cases, the Instanpundit blog includes links to a number of international bloggers covering the devastation "live" from the countries directly affected. More blog coverage of the disaster is found at a blog called Screenshots.
While the world community reacts and responds to the news from Asia, NFL fans today are mourning the death of "The Minister of Defense" Reggie White, a former defensive end for the Philadephia Eagles and Green Bay Packers. White, 43, died Sunday. He was BlogPulse's burstiest person on Sunday.
Over the holiday weekend, many of the key phrases that appeared in blog postings dealt with gifts, shopping, movies watched, DVDs rented/received, holiday wishes, and usual holiday fare. On Christmas Day itself, BlogPulse's "burstiest person" was the enigmatic Mele Kalikimaka, which isn't a person at all but the name of a song and a Hawaiian Christmas greeting. Joining "Mele" on the list is Ferrero Rocher, which is, in fact, the name of a brand of chocolate.
Did you notice how political blog postings dropped off pretty drastically in BlogPulse's daily findings after the Nov. 2 election? They're starting to return, evidenced by speculation by Talking Points memo blog that the Bush White House will use the same sort of truth-smudging tactics to drum up support for Social Security reform, the same way it did to build its "case" for the corporate takeo....er, invasion of Iraq. Time (and experience) will tell....
BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: What does the 2005 political/issue agenda look like from the 2004 side of the calendar? And don't forget to check out BlogPulse's intruiguing 2004 review of the blogosphere.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:48 AM | Permalink
December 21, 2004
2004: A Year's Worth of BlogPulse Findings In Review!
BlogPulse's 2004 Year in Review section is now live, clickable and chockful of interesting trends, tidbits, curiosities and pearls about the blogosphere.
Methodology: BlogPulse scoured 2004's blog postings. Top web sites, blogs, blog posts, media sources, media stories, books, movies, and products were found by counting the number of times bloggers linked to them during 2004. Top people, actors, and actresses were found by counting the number of times the names (including common variations thereof) appeared in posts.
The first batch of data, which includes top blogs, web sites, media sources, news stories, personalities and more, is available in the BlogPulse archive and presented graphically as well at the full Year in Review section.
Today's data includes entertainment-related blog finds, including:
Most blogged-about actors/actresses: Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom, Hilary Duff, Angelina Jolie, Tom Cruise, Lindsay Lohan, Jude Law, Mandy Moore and Tom Hanks.
Top audio files cited: Comedian Eric Idle’s "FCC Song;" Bush’s description of "tribal sovereignty;" music by the band Hard ‘n Phirm; a Nickelback mix; and William Shatner’s version of "Common People."
Top video files cited: Bush’s "one-fingered victory salute" during his Texas gubernatorial campaign; the "GOP convention in 60 seconds" montage; JibJab.com’s "This Land Is Your Land" animation; a film clip proposing a 9/11 Pentagon conspiracy; and a TV ad for a Transformer-dancing Citroen car.
Top movies: "Fahrenheit 9/11," "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," "Ying Xiong (Hero)," "The Day After Tomorrow," "Shaun of the Dead," "Garden State," "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," "The Incredibles," "Spider-Man 2," and "Team America: World Police."
Top products at Amazon.com: "Star Wars: Trilogy" (DVD), "Garden State" soundtrack (CD), U2’s "How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" (CD), "Fahrenheit 9/11" (DVD), "Firefly -- The Complete Series" (DVD), and Philips HeartStart Home Automated External Defibrillator.
Top books at amazon.com/bn.com: Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry; The Da Vinci Code; The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction; My Life; Eats Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation.
Cruise around at the Year in Review section. Click on the links. See what bloggers were discussing, creating, sharing and recommending.
Anyone making predictions about the blogosphere in 2005?
BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: Happy Holidays everyone! Here's hoping you don't put on too many calories (or blog too many words) this season.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:15 AM | Permalink
December 20, 2004
Blog of the Year....and More
A round of applause, please, for Power Line, which was named "Blog of the Year" by Time magazine in the same issue that named President George Bush "Person of the Year" again (a repeat from 2000; only FDR has made it three times).
Speaking of the power of blogs, editorial writer Michael Kinsley is somewhat ooverwhelmed by the responses he's gotten from bloggers about his stance on privatization plans for Social Security. No one ever accused bloggers of being the silent majority, eh?
Silent isn't the word that comes to mind, either, when parents realize that their little ones are scared out of their wits by a big fat guy with a fuzzy white beard and a loud "ho! ho! ho!" laugh. (My Uncle Jim used to play Santa Claus every year, and when Santa knows your name by HEART as a little kid, there's no better reason to believe than that! Thanks, Uncle Jim....I miss those days!). But back to the story. The Scared of Santa web site by SouthFlorida.com features photos of small fry in various stages of fright over Santa Claus. Too funny.
Remember when playing "air guitar" was all the rage. Now there's "air blogging," a service that supports blog posting from mobile devices. What'll they think of next?
Also in the blogospere, writer Jeffrey Rosen discusses the issue of sex in blogs in Sunday's New York Times magazine. Should you or shouldn't you in a blog? Discuss it, share it, rate it, divulge it? That is the question.
Didn't see last weekend's top box-office draw, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events? Find out what bloggers who've seen it are saying.
BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: What's happening elsewhere in the world this holiday season? Check out how the world's hot spots are faring in the blogosphere.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 02:00 PM | Permalink
December 15, 2004
BlogPulse's 2004 Year in Review: Jon Stewart to Yahoo! News to Boing Boing
You know how everyone does a "year in review" piece about this time of year? Here's ours, made possible by an analysis of all BlogPulse data by the geniuses who make this web site happen every single day. A drum roll, please...
The transcript of comedian Jon Stewart's not-so-funny October debate with CNN "Crossfire" hosts Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala was the No. 1 "blogged" news item of 2004 at BlogPulse.com, based on links provided by bloggers to the transcript.
Bloggers linked to the "Crossfire" transcript in their online commentaries 1,880 times in 2004, followed by 1,415 references to Slate.com’s "Unfairenheit 9/11: The Lies of Michael Moore" and 1,174 citations for the BBC’s obituary of radio DJ John Peel.
Background on the Stewart transcript: Stewart hosts Comedy Central’s "The Daily Show." During his pre-election appearance on "Crossfire," Stewart lambasted his hosts for reducing the level of public discourse on serious political issues to shouting matches and sound bites.
Other top news stories, in order, were Common Dreams’ "Evidence Mounts That Vote May Have Been Hacked" (Nov. 6; 966 citations), CBS News’ "CBS Names Probe Panel" (Sept. 22; 953) and The Nation’s "100 Facts and 1 Opinion: The Non-Arguable Case Against the Bush Administration" (Oct. 30; 783).
Other key findings from the BlogPulse.com 2004 review of millions of postings, links and citations from the blogosphere:
Top people/personalities: (3.9 million total among the top 100) President George Bush (637,646 citations); Sen. John Kerry (411,977); movie character Harry Potter (333,418); singer Britney Spears (119,661) and film maker Michael Moore (111,876). Others of note: No. 6 Saddam Hussein (85,311); No. 12 Osama Bin Laden (63,003), No. 39 former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean (23,649 hits) and No. 91 radio DJ Howard Stern (13, 236 hits).
Top News Sources: (2.2 million total among the top 100) Yahoo! News (205,093 citations); The New York Times (188,596); BBC (161,805), CNN (144,560) and The Washington Post (113,417). Others of note: No. 14 Fox News (34,915), No. 24 CBS News (19,865), and at No. 85, the English-version web site of Aljazeera.net (6,834).
Top Blogs: (527,881 among the top 100) BoingBoing: A Directory of Wonderful Things (23,836 citations); DailyKos political blog (21,530); Instapundit political blog (21,391), The Drudge Report news/political blog (19,220); and Slashdot: News for Nerds, Stuff That Matters (18,901).
Top Web Sites: (3.9 million among the top 100) Hello.com (571,569 citations), Quizilla.com (440,364), Memegen.net (286,362), Amazon.com (255,152) and Go-Quiz.com (217,443).
Keep checking back...a more complete and graphical summary of all of the 2004 year-end BlogPulse data (Yes, there's more! Top cited movies! Audio links! Video downloads! Images! Actors/Actresses!) will be featured here soon.
BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: Here's one category where men dominate: blog discussion of "sexual enhancement drugs."
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 12:43 PM | Permalink
December 14, 2004
Best Blogs, Leading Bloggers of 2004
Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the most powerful group of bloggers of all? Why, they're contained in Tuesday's No. 31 top BlogPulselink: the Alpha Bloggers profiled by Newsweek and featured at MSNBC's web site.
In a related vein, the Weblog 2004 Awards winners have been anounced, and among the leading blogs (tallied from 366,187 votes) are Powerline (best blog), KerrySpot (best new blog), Engadget (best tech blog) and many others.
On the political agenda, the guy who was going to give the President the opportunity to use the phrase "9/11" another 4 billion times in the next four years -- now-withdrawn Homeland Security Nominee Bernard Kerik -- apparently had more than an under-the-table immigrant nanny in his past. Today's BlogPulse includes links to news of his alleged extramarial affairs, unreported cash gifts and ties to a Taser gun company, among others. At least one blogger, Tom Burka, can find humor in the entire un-investigated nomination.
Out in the land of "let's search the Internet," Google is attracting attention again for its new Google Suggest function, which offers a drop-down box of suggestions as soon as you begin typing phrases into its search box. Very cool. MSN's Toolbar Beta is also getting traction among bloggers.
And for anyone with a holiday artsy-craftsy streak, don't miss the Make a Flake web site, where virtual scissors interact with prefolded virtual paper to help you create a one-of-a-kind virtual snowflake to post, download or e-mail to friends.
TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: Is anyone in the sports world still discussing steroid use among pro athletes?
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 04:13 PM | Permalink
December 13, 2004
End-of-Year Movies, Next-Year's Resolutions
From the looks of it, everyone is interested in the upcoming Willy Wonka movie and planning for 2005.
Actor Johnny Depp sits in the No. 2 spot among Sunday's burst people for his upcoming role as Willy Wonka in a sort-of remake of the Roald Dahl classic, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," which ranked No. 2 among Sunday's top links. The trailer's out, but the movie doesn't hit the big screen until July 2005.
Meanwhile, in meme land, bloggers are getting nostalgic with blog quizzes that ask users, for example, to identify their biggest achievement from 2004 or relate a valuable life lesson learned as 2005 nears.
Several names come from obscurity among key BlogPulse people as well, including that of Dr. John Caulfield of Marion, Ohio. He's a70-year-old Army doctor who's been called up to serve in Afghanistan as part of the military's increasing reliance on older soldiers to fill the ranks. Guess the military's definition of "old" is pretty liberal, eh? Among young soldiers, 19-year-old David Battle also received blog attention over the weekend because of a hand injury that forced him to choose between his finger and his wedding ring -- and he sacrified the finger, only to find out later that doctors lost the ring, too.
TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: What's the buzz on the stock market? Bull or Bear?
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 04:04 PM | Permalink
December 10, 2004
Enough Security Issues To Go Around
Security -- or the lack of it -- dominates BlogPulse on several fronts today.
From the world of heavy metal, fans are discussing the shooting death of former Pantera guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott at a Columbus, Ohio, night club during a Wednesday night performance. Coverage of the shooting encompasses four of Thursday's top five blog links and four of the five top phrases. Twenty-five-year-old Nathan Gale has been arrested for jumping onto the stage and shooting to death Abbot and three others.
The Guardian takes a deeper look at Alabama politician's efforts to shield American's sensibilities from what he calls an attack on traditional moral values. In the interview with Rep. Gerald Allen, we find out that even though Allen doesn't have any personal experience with what he calls literature that mentions/promotes homosexualty, he thinks it's really important to protect Alabama (and everyone else) from it.
On the Iraqi security front, coverage of the pointed questions asked of Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld about armor for military vehicles in Iraq continue to be replayed. And from this Washington Times articles comes the after-effects of the war on terror: increasing numbers of U.S. veterans of the Iraq war showing up at homeless shelters.
In the "issues and people that keep recurring" department, the Canadian Supreme Court has issued a ruling that opens the door for legal same-sex marriages. In the U.S., former presidential candidate and Vermontn governor Howard Dean is back in action, although no one's sure why or what for.
TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: IBM's recent sale of its PC business to a Chinese computer maker is definitely causing some spikes in interest and discussion.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 01:34 PM | Permalink
December 09, 2004
When Soldiers Speak Up...It's News
Question the wisdom of a platoon sergeant, and a solider is likely to get...a very unhappy platoon sergeant. But question the wisdom of the Secretary of Defense, and a solider's likely to get national attention.
Such is the status of Army Spec. Thomas Wilson, Wednesday's burstiest person on BlogPulse, because of the pointed question he asked of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld during Rummy's troop visit and question-answer session with U.S. soldiers awaiting deployment to Iraq from Kuwait. Not only did the soliders ask hard questions about stop-loss orders, equipment armor and resource allocation, they applauded each other's questions. Sort of an amazing phenomenon in an organization where not questioning authority is the rule of the day.
Speaking of amazing phenomena, here are a few: a rat brain that flies an airpline, the touching ritual among gorillas at Illinois' Brookfield Zoo when one of their own died, and a recent finding that 99.8% of the TV-related complaints filed with the Federal Communications Communication originate from a single activist group: The Parents Television Council.
From the "how do people get these jobs?" department comes this intruging study from a Pittsburgh linguist: the dude report. Who knew? In a similar not-so-intellectual vein comes the tale of Corporate Americans who haven't learned the simple skill of writing. Mybe its frm 2 much instmsging?
Over in old London town, some people aren't so happy with the Nativity display at Madame Tussauds in London. A waxen soccer player David Beckham plays Joseph to Posh Spice's Mary, with "wise men" Tony Blair, George Bush and the Duke of Edinburgh gathering 'round.
Seasonal personalities also bubbled up on BlogPulse this week, including the late John Lennon (this week marks the anniversary of his death at the hands of Mark Chapman), and good ol' Charlie Brown and his annual Christmas TV special. (The marketing cube at Intelliseek is graced by a scraggly little Charlie Brown-type tree in a clay pot. Very cute).
TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: New trend graphs went up on BlogPulse this week, so be sure to check them out. Particularly the key issues expected to take center stage during a second Bush presidency.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 01:43 PM | Permalink
December 07, 2004
The Election Conspiracy Theories That Won't Go Away
Ohio's Secretary of State certified its votes this week with the Bush-Kerry percentage still at 51%-49% (remember that), and just when everyone thought election-related conspiracy theories would die down, here comes the Blue Lemur blog and several other blogs with information about Clinton Curtis.
Curtis is a former NASA programmer who, according to several blogs, has signed an affidavit in Florida saying that he developed/wrote a computer program in early 2000 that would rig electronic votes without being detectable. He says he wrote the code at the request of Rep. Tom Feeney, now a member of the House of Representatives. Back then, Feeney was a Florida state representative and lobbyist. Guess how the code worked? Each touch-screen had a series of hidden buttons which, when touched in the proper order, would be untraceable but would keep voting percentages at a constant 51%-49% margin (remember that?), no matter how the actual vote tally counted up. His former NASA employer, according to the blog, is being investigated by the FBI. Curtis tells bloggers he's taking heat.
Also getting blog traction: this week's attacks on the U.S. embassy in Saudi Arabia, the departure of yet another top Bush administration official at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and for those who enjoy bizarre news, the tale of European soccer player Paulo Diogo, who was so overjoyed at winning a match that he lost a digit or two.
And here's a question: Have you ever wondered what cartoon characters looked like skeletally? Artist Michael Paulus did (today's burtiest BlogPerson person), and he created a web site of, yes, cartoon skeletons.
Today's blast from the past: Remember when "Hullabaloo" was a TV music/dance show? My how times have changed, as this posting at the Hullabaloo blog indicates.
BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: With voting irregularities as a backdrop, check out the discussion of the principal parties in the recently overturned Ukraine elections.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 01:37 PM | Permalink
December 06, 2004
Banned Books...Not So Outmoded as It Seems
Suddenly, I feel as if I'm back in college, spending time in the library while bonding with the authors whose words filled my hours and met all my requirements for American and British literature classes. But today, they're dominating the list of the burstiest people on BlogPulse.
In fact, every single name on Sunday's BlogPulse Bursty people list is an author -- from children's book author William Steig to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, from Daniel Defoe to Ralph Ellison.
The reason? It's all because of a web site, The Forbidden Library, which lists books (by title or by author) that at one point or another in their existence have been recommended for "must-be-banned" lists for various and sundry (and mostly ill-informed) reasons.
In the land of politics, can you name the holdout Cabinet member of the Bush Administration? That would be Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who -- according to the Bull Moose blog -- wouldn't pass even basic standards to survive the rigors of Texas high school football. According to Scotland's Sunday Herald, Rumsfeld already has been told by advisors that the U.S. already has lost the hearts/minds of the Iraqis.
Meanwhile, we've also lost Osama bin Laden, too. (Remember him?) Bloggers continue to examine the war on terror. One of Sunday's top links is a Washington Post, an investigative piece which finds that former pro footballer-turned-Marine Pat Tillman was actually killed by friendly fire. In another war of sorts, they're dropping "Peace Bombs" in Thailand. Meanwhile, the U.S. "war" in Iraq continues to rack up huge costs on numerous fronts, according to the Cost of War web site.
Anyone interested in buying a ghost for the holidays? An Indiana woman is selling her father's ghost on eBay to help her son overcome his fear of the spirits.
The Big Bad Wolf might not like this: cardboard houses for futuristic living. What if it rains? Or the recyclers go a little bit overboard?
TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY" If you plan on flying anywhere for the holidays, guess which airline might go bankrupt first? If that's too taxing, see how the airlines fare (no pun intended) in blog discussions>
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 02:17 PM | Permalink
December 03, 2004
No Child Left....Fully Educated? Unrecruited?
Seems two of President Bush's major policy initiatives -- No Child Left Behind and abstinence-only sex "education" for teens -- are under attack in the blogosphere and elsewhere today.
On the former, a Mother Jones article titled "No Child Unrecruited" recounts the experience of a Vermont high school principal who balked at releasing personal information about her students to military recruiters. Then she discovered that Bush's No Child Left Behind bill features a tiny clause requiring public high schools to release contact information about all students to military recruiters.
On the latter, Rep. Henry Waxman has stirred the proverbial sex pot with a report that finds troublesome misinformation is being doled out as part of the Bush administration's emphasis on absintence-only sex education programs for teens. Download the full report. (Suppose we taught kids to drive the way we teach sex ed..."Don't drive! It's too dangerous! Don't LEARN about driving! It's wrong! Don't THINK about driving! It's scary!").
Jeopardy! loser Ken Jennings continues to receive traction because of the possible role a blogger may have played in predicting/leaking his loss.
Also in the blogging world, Microsoft is entering the marketplace with MSN Spaces, which topped out as Thursday's second most popular link.
On the sports front, baseballer Jason Giambi seems to have opened the door to what most certainly will be broader investigations into steroid use among pro athletes.
On the lighter side, someone has done an amazing (and probably illegal) job of posting a fake CNN web-site news story about the arrest of President Bush in Canada for war crimes. One blogger asks: how long till CNN lawyers demand its removal?
Are you in the mood today for a good deed? How about adopting a cute little horse named after a character from the TV show "Firefly"?
TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: Outside of that Vermont high school, what's the buzz about military recruitment, deployment and enlistment?
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:33 AM | Permalink
December 02, 2004
Striking, Unique Elitist Seeking....
I'm a striking, unique elitist. Just found that out from Blogthings, one of those sites/links that gets passed around freely in the blogosphere with quizzes and tests and Barbara Walters-like "what tree are you?" questions. Blogthings is today's top BlogPulse link.
So I tried it, and when I typed in S-U-E, it returned Striking, Unique, Elitist (which may explain my blue-stater-trapped-in-a-red-state status right now). Then I typed in my hubby's name and found I'm married to a Relaxing, Innocent, Cheesy, Hyper, Arty, Dreamy guy. Which is pretty darned accurate.
But on to REAL blog news, much of it today dealing with this country's seeming obsession (manufactured or real?) with homosexuality and gayness.
Perhaps it was only coincidence, or perhaps not, that two major issues emerged on World AIDS Day, traditionally recognized on Dec. 1 to promote AIDS education, treatment and research worldwide. First, BlogPulse is filled with several mentions of Alabama's Rep. Gerald Allen and his proposal to save the rest of us, we suppose, from the use of any federal funds for all books (in libraries, schools, universities) that mention or promote homosexuality. As the Carpetbagger blog notes, Allen's book-burying proposal would include the lesbian romance novel written Lynn Cheney. As in Mrs. Dick Cheney, wife of the vice president of the United States of America.
Also on World AIDS Day comes word that two major TV networks have turned down tolerance-preaching ads by the United Church of Christ. CBS and NBC claimed its references to gay couples and other "icky" issues (confession: I stole that from The Daily Show's Lewis Black) were too controversial, according to the press release from UCC officials. The ad shows bouncers turning away various folks from the front steps of a church, and counters with a "you're welcome here" message from the UCC. View the ad here. And do what adults do: decide for yourself.
Other quick blog finds:
Passings: Canadians mourn the death of writer/historican/TV host Pierre Berton.
Investigations: a Los Angeles Times analyzes the Bush administration's policy of planting/leveraging news for the sake of the war on terrorism.
And a San Francisco Gate article examines the weakening of the teaching of evolution, and the rise of "intelligent design," in school science programs.
BLOGPULSE'S CONVERSATION TRACKER is up and running, in case you haven't tried it out yet. Give it a few moments to do its stuff, and it'll serve up a graphical presentation that tracks links to seed postings in blogs.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 01:12 PM | Permalink
December 01, 2004
Blogs ROCK the Word World
It's official: blogs are happenin', blogs are hip, blogs are where it's at! According to Merriam-Webster, a company that knows a thing or two about words, "blog" was the most searched-for word on the Internet in 2004. Exact counts aren't available, but M-W guesses at least tens of thousands of hits a month for the word in search engines. Bloggers rule!
What doesn't rule, at least one month later, are the U.S. Presidential elections. Where election-related personalities or government officials used to occupy most of the key people in BlogPulse's daily findings through October and November, today's key people list includes only three of the players from the Nov. 2 vote: President Bush, Sen. John Kerry, and filmmaker Michael Moore. Instead, celebrities, movie stars and a Jeopardy! winner/loser are taking over.
From the bizarre news department comes word of the untimely death of 24-year-old Paul Peterson, who apparently died when a lava lamp he'd left on a stove exploded and sent a piece of glass through his heart. Which leaves me speechless.
Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak wonders why Hollywood seems speechless, too, over the murder of an Amsterdam filmmaker who attempted to expose the poor treatment of women in the Muslim community. His "Hush Over Hollywood" opinion piece in Human Events Online is Tuesday's fourth popular link in BlogPulse.
So you say you want to get involved in a project of some sort? So did students at Yale, who pulled a prank on Harvard and put up a web site to memorialize it. Or if it's looking-ahead projects you're keen on, how about folding together a 12-sided calendar?
For the day's most non-sensical BlogPulse link, try singing along to the Llama Song. Not musically inclined? Then view the film clip How to Kill a Mockingbird. (Is it me, or do some people have waaay too much time on their hands???)
TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: Now that blogging is the top word of the year, how are the various blog portals faring? BlogPulse, I'm proud to announce, is moving up in the world.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 12:11 PM | Permalink
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