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October 31, 2005
A Time for Reflection: Indictments, Blogging and Halloween-Style Buttered Brains
It's Halloween today, and for those who want to have a little fun, today's No. 5 top blog post offers us a cornucopia of recipes for Halloween-themed dishes, such as Buttered Brains (using spaetzle) and roasted pumpkins seeds (for anyone who saves the pumpkin guts). Speaking of pumpkin guts, if you prefer a virtual pumpkin, carve one digitally at today's No. 13 top link. And speaking of OTHER guts, who knew "Saw II" would have such a great weekend at the box office? Halloween enthusiasts, obviously:
Indictment fallout
The Booman Tribune, (appropriately named as today's top blog post), offers one of many assessments of last Friday's indictment of Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Joining the discussion is former ambassador Joseph Wilson, whose Los Angeles Times column "Our 27 Months of Hell" (today's No. 10 blog post) discusses what's ahead for his now-outed wife. Other reaction ranges from calls for Karl Rove to be fired or resign while the investigation continues, to Don Surber's analysis of what he calls a "dumb case."
Curiosities in blogging
Bloggers did a curious thing over the weekend: attacked (No. 2. top blog post for Saturday) and chewed up (No. 4) a Forbes magazine article titled "Attack of the Bloggers" (Saturday's No. 19 top news story; registration required). From here, seems like PR pro Jeremy Pepper took the high-road perspective at WebProNews.
Blogosophere here and there
Prince Charles will try to talk some sense into President George Bush about Islam, the TaxProfBlog takes a look at oil company profits and their effect on taxation, battle lines already are being drawn over President Bush's latest nomination for the Supreme Court and Trekkies are absorbing last week's announcement that George "Mr. Sulu" Takei is gay.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:19 AM | Permalink
October 28, 2005
The Big Picture on a Red-Letter Day
For the big picture today, we turn to former White House speechwriter Peggy Noonan, whose WSJ opinion column (today's No. 33 top link) about America's current state of afffairs seem to put just about everything -- from Supreme Court nominess to White House staff indictment predictions (updated here with Scooter Libby's indictment) to stem cells to intelligent design theories -- in context. And on a day like today, perhaps that's what the country needs the most: the view from a distance. "Peggy Noonan bought a clue" is one blogger's review, while Justice For All thinks her views are "fundamentally wrong."
Now that Harriet's gone...
Reaction to Harriet Miers' Thursday withdrawal from the Supreme Court pool was voluminous and varied. By volume: 14 of today's top 20 most-shared links , 12 of the top 20 news stories and at least seven of the top 20 blog posts mentioned the move. Miers is today's most-discussed BlogPulse personality, and the day's two most-discussed phrases are in context of the Miers move. Commentary ranges from Outside the Beltway's relief to Hugh Hewitt's concern to PoliPundit's observation that things will be far different for future nominees, now that conservatives clearly have made political ideology a litmus test for any judge.
Legal coincidence?
Todays list of the most-discussed personalities in the blogosphere contains an awkwad combination of folks, including most of the major players in the CIA/Fitzgerald investigation, (Rove, Fitzgerald, Libby, Plame, Cheney, etc.). Next door atop the Bursty People list is Tom Noe, an Ohio Republican fund-raiser and rare coin dealer at the center of a scandal over the state's workers' compensation fund's investments in...yes, rare coins and other underpeforming funds. He's just been...yes, indicted for money laundering and donating above-limit funds to President Bush's campaign.
Jokes for news junkies
Today's BlogPulse Spotlight blog zeroes in on another top link today: a look at how Fox News might have covered major historical events.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:12 AM | Permalink
October 27, 2005
A Day for Winners and Losers
Like Boston fans a year earlier, the Sox fans in Chicago are celebrating a long-awaited World Series Championship in a four-game sweep that included today's burstiest phrase: the longest World Series game ever. Go Sox!
Conservatives are also claiming victory, undoubtedly, with today's news that Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers has withdrawn her name from the judge pool. Given what many claimed was a lack of a paper trail for Miers, critics and reporters nonetheless uncovered one in the past few weeks (today's 9th most-shared link among bloggers). BlogPulse's trend graph capabilities captured the chatter about confirmation vs. withdrawal since the day Miers' name was first announced:
A new Google thing?
For a brief time Thursday, a project called Google Base (today's No. 3 link, although the site's not actually working now) was live on the Internet, and a number of bloggers, including ars technica, got a sneak peak at this one-stop content collection shop, or whatever it's going to be. Citations linked to the site included plenty of foreign commentary.
Reporting under fire
Conservative blogger Michelle Malkin has taken on USA Today for altering a photo of Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. And in reporting of another kind, the blogger at The Fourth Rail is asking for donations so he can be embedded with the Marines to cover operations in Iraq's Anbar Province. To circle back to the content of that aforementioned USA Today article, will the Fourth Rail be invited back in 10 years?
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:03 AM | Permalink
October 26, 2005
Rosa Parks Remembered...and 2,000 Soldiers, Too
Bloggers worldwide continue to mourn civil rights activist Rosa Parks, who appears at the No. 2 and No. 5 spots among today's burstiest people. The Alabama seamstress who refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery Alabama bus to a white man in 1955 is considered by some to be the mother of the civil rights movement (today's No. 3 key phrase). Parks' death is noted in 13 of today's most-cited news stories and 10 of today's 40 most-shared links. "May she rest in peace" from Ratcliffe blog summarizes many of the heartfelt comments expressed by bloggers.
In case you missed yesterday's late-afternoon post, the BlogPulse tech team captured real-time blog activity and posts about Parks' death shortly after the news was announced. Find the short movie here.
Milestones of another kind
The death of the 2,000th U.S. solider involved in combat in Iraq (today's' No. 7 top news story) also is being noted (as is the 2,001st death, as of Wednesday morning). The Blog From Another Dimension calls it "another grim milestone"; Michelle Malkin, on the other hand, has created her own strange pooh-pooh spin zone about the issue.
Double-espresso shot of validity, anyone?
Down at No. 34 among today's top blost posts is green LA girl's Starbucks Challenge: go into any Starbucks, ask for a cup of fair-trade coffee, and log the experience to see if the company lives up to its 23-country promise. Bloggers are already signing up...and drinking up, obviously.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:28 AM | Permalink
October 25, 2005
Blog Activity in Real Time: A Rosa Parks Memorial
As soon as news spread of the late Monday death of civil rights pioneer Rosa L. Parks, bloggers began sharing their memories, condolences and tributes to the meek but strong woman from Alabama who single-handedly, some say, mobilized an entire human rights movement. BlogPulse began capturing the tributes immediately, and the BlogPulse tech team compiled a short movie that visualizes Parks-related activity and posts in real time.
"Deeply sad" to "God Bless You" to "Lugar Reservado" ("a place is reserved") are only a handful of the thousands of blog posts that mentioned Parks soon after her death was announced. A BlogPulse trend graph also captures the huge spike in discussion about Parks:
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 04:55 PM | Permalink
Attack! (On Science, Religion and Politics)
Ben Benarnke, the man who will replace Alan Greenspan as head of the Federal Reserve Board (today's top key phrase), emerges as the burstiest blogosphere person on a day when major institutions, scientific findings and 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue all seem to be under attack.
New Fed Head
The college bloggers at Mankind Minus One note that president Bush's nomination of Bernanke had none of the ickiness associated with the ongoing flap over Harriet Miers' trip to the Supreme Court, a journey that now has an entire conservative-led Withdraw Miers web site (No. 21 top link) attached to it. Even the GOP Bloggers site notes: "this is the oddest and most unanticipated turn of events that could have been imagined." Reaction to Bernanke is much more insightful and more enlightened (perhaps because Bernanke is, too?).
Next up: Major Religions
If sacred cows don't scare you (no pun intended), today's No. 5 blog post from Cenk Uygur (of "The Young Turks" radio fame) at the Huffington Post won't either. It's a scathing attack on the Muslim, Jewish and Christian religions. "And you thought I was inflammatory" deadpans a like-minded Brilliant at Breakfast, while All Encompassingly classifies it among other random moonbat ramblings.
Science, not forgotten
As long as major institutions are under assault, might as well throw science in the mix, too. Bloggers can't help but notice the results of the latest CBS News Poll (today's No. 16 top news story), in which only 15% support evolution while the rest believe that God was directly responsible for (or had a hand in) human development. Reactions range from "Time to Leave the Country" to Smart Christian's have-it-both-ways approach.
Indictments yet?
Speculation (and tension?) continue and heighten as the investigation continues into the Valerie Plame CIA leak, with indictments possible this week. The Democrats, through Howard Dean, (today's No. 32 top link) seem to be figuring out a response.
Today's Entertainment Spotlight
What's up with novelist Anne Rice? Today's BlogPulse Spotlight has the lowdown.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:47 AM | Permalink
October 24, 2005
Speculation Galore: Politics, Nominations and Hot Cars
I was going to digress briefly today from all the speculation about who will (or will not) be indicted this week (today's No. 9 top news story) by Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald (now with his own web site, today's No. 24 top link), and who will (or will not) fill the ninth chair on the U.S. Supreme Court (today's No. 19 top blog post)....
Forget Barbie. This is MY dream car
...but my eye was caught by this Ford Mustang "Pony" photo instead (today's No. 31 top blog post), which unfortunately turned out to be a spam blog (note the lack of additional content, author profiles, archived entries and other common blog features). But as someone who drools, cranes and sighs with jealousy every time a 1965 Ford Mustang drives past, I had to share. If I win the lotto, I'm gettin' one of these babies AND the '65 version. Red. Convertible. Manual transmission.
Bill Clinton will be interested in this...
With indictments expected this week from Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald's investigation into who leaked CIA Agent Valerie Plame's name to the press, some conservatives are planting the theory that perjury and obstruction of justice indictments are meaningless "technicalities" if the true crime can't be tracked. Hmmm....does that mean Clinton's impeachment should be reversed? Wampum notes the double talk; Slapnose describes it as pure spin. Is Fox News single-handedly playing a role in this recent (dare we say it? spin-zone) version of Newsspeak?
Honestly? Bring back Ashley and Kate
Today's BlogPulse Spotlight blog takes a look at the weekend success of the Doom movie and the distrurbing popularity of these two singing sisters.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:04 AM | Permalink
October 21, 2005
Blog of the Week: Tom Burka
Like many political bloggers, Tom Burka got tired of yelling at television commentators during the buildup to the 2004 political election, so the 45-year-old New York City lawyer started blogging to throw his opinions into the fray. His blog tagline, in fact, captures the sentiment quite nicely: "Opinions You Should Have."
His tone is decidedly liberal and honed by very tongue-in-cheek satire. (BlogPulse Profile here.) Headlines such as the post-FEMA "Bush to Investigate Self: Will Ask 'Where Was I' and 'What Was I Doing?' " or "Bush Nominates Actual Blank Slates to Supreme Court" set the tone for the prose that follows. (An August post is my personal favorite: "Bush to Extend August Vacation to Clear 'Especially Pernicious' Brush"). Burka's blog ranks No. 234 on BlogPulse's list of top blogs.
Q. What got you inspired to blog?
A. "I was very worked up about politics. Cable TV was driving me insane, as my wife will testify. I would watch these so-called experts say completely untrue things, which everybody would accept as fact, and I would go completely bonkers. My wife finally said, 'You've got to get off your soapbox, or if you're going to stay on it, find a different audience, and I'm NOT your audience.' "
Q. How would you describe your blog?
A. "My niche is news parody. It's entirely gratifying that people laugh out loud, and that's one of the reasons I keep doing it. I rein myself in a bit because I want to make sure that there's a certain level of quality to the humor...that I'm not writing something every day just to say something. I post 3-4 times a week."
Q. And your day job?
A. "I'm an appeals lawyer, which involves writing a lot of legal briefs. It doesn't give you a lot of room for creativity. Occasionlly, there are some legally funny things you can write about, and I do occasionally write them, but it's not really an outlet for my sense of humor, and certainly there's no place for my political positions."
A. Is there anything you won't write about?
A." There are certain things I just won't make fun of...like big tragedies."
Q. Most of your posts take on the red-state right. How do you decide what to write about?
A. "I'm probably going to spend a little more time aiming at the Democrats themselves. I think that it's not just one particular party...in many ways, it's the political system itself that is to blame, and a good satirist keeps his sights on all the targets." (He considered a post about the Democrats' reaction to Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts along the line of "Democrats Divided On How to Sink Party"..."there hasn't been any progress in the Democrats' drive to define themselves," he says.)
Q. Have you cut back on your writing since the election?
A. Every blogger who writes about politics was going crazy right up to the election. People were eating, sleeping, drinking politics. After the election, there was enormous fatigue....I'm actually writing a book, and that takes a lot of the creative energy and time away from being able to update the blog constantly. And I've noticed that a lot of the blogs that started out as single-author blogs have in the past six months become multiple-author blogs. It's impossible for someone to keep authoring at that level unless it's your job. I certainly have considered doing that as well (enlist contributors), but I really don't know anybody who can write this kind of humor at the level which I'd be happy with."
Q. What's next?
A. "I've got an agent, and this whole book project is the result of blogging. The stuff that's happened to me because of blogging is amazing. I've been on CNN. My stories have been read on MSNBC. I've had an op-ed piece in the New York Times. The book is going to be a satirical novel about Washington D.C. HR 327 is the working title...it's going to focus on a guy who's been sentenced to do time in Congress."
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:57 AM | Permalink
October 19, 2005
Meet the Sploggers
Just yesterday, BlogPulse reported on The Assault on Blog Spam, and Intelliseek CMO Pete Blackshaw wrote about the splog menace for ClickZ and at his Consumer-Generated Media blog. Today, we are pleased to present a guest post from Intelliseek/BlogPulse's esteemed Software Architect, Robert Stockton, who describes common splogger behaviors and exposes their spammy methods.
By Robert Stockton
Software Architect
Intelliseek Applied Research Center
There's been a lot of discussion recently about the "new" flood of spam blogs (aka splogs). It appears that some folks have just come to notice the problem recently, usually when their vanity searches got hit by a particular wave of splog posts.
However, some of us in the trade have been monitoring the splogosphere for a while and consider the newest wave to be just business as usual. Intelliseek and the BlogPulse team have been working on spam blog identification and filtering techniques for quite a while. In fact, the player who got everyone's ire recently (and who I shall, for the purposes of this post, call "Hexadecimal Dan") had been playing the same game for weeks without significant complaint.
To help the rest of the 'sphere feel more comfortable with your less-than-popular neighbors, I'd like to introduce you to some of the other colorful players on the block and their wily splogging ways. I do want to assure all the sploggers out there, however, that this list is by no means complete. If you don't see your name on the list, don't despair: we know about you, and we are watching you.
Hexadecimal Dan: This guy is just a run-of-the mill splogger, though he does produce more volume than most. Until he caught everybody's attention, he pretty regularly named all his blogs with a common word followed by a six digit hexadeximal number. Thus, it was really easy for the folks at Google to filter out those blogs, but you know that he'll change his spots and be back at full volume soon enough. Most of his accounts were caught in the grand purge, but you can check this splog as an example. Note the inclusion of keyword-based clippings from Moreover and the direct hyperlink to "info" site at the bottom of each post. This is a heartwarming example of good ol' down-home link farming.
Max-Volume Pete: Be it football, baseball, or the Breeder's Cup, this guy's schtick is sports, and with site names like Gambling Handicappers, you aren't likely to forget it. He has just one purpose in life, and that is to get you to mvpsportsbook.com (or, if you are too smart for that, one of the 40 other betting sites referenced at the same time). For all I know, he actually writes his own original material, but he's so proud of it that he'll simultanously post dozens of copies of each article. Then he'll come back later and do it again in case the first few dozen didn't get your attention.
Affiliate Fraud Fred: Fred is a lot like Pete, except that he's into sex. (Again, with site names like (warning!) Nude Amateur Wife, he's not terribly subtle about it, though some of the names get pretty creative.) He really wants to get you into the Adult Friend Finder network. The nifty thing about Fred is that you'll probably never even see one of his blogs. He's set them up with some javascript frame-busters so that you end up directly at adultfriendfinder (or "shaggle") without ever seeing the intermediate blog, and he'll make sure that any enclosing frames are taken out in the process. (As a side note, in case you think that spam blogs are typically caught and cleaned out quickly, the above-mentioned blog was populated on July 26th and is still happily sitting where it was established).
Search Term Sally: You know that Sally is all about search engine optimization, because she builds her posts by pasting popular search terms into pre-built templates. You might mistake the result (such as the text at BSNN) for human-written text if English is your third language, or you are a computerized grammar-checker, but probably not. The links on the page take you to a maze of cross-linked pages without a bit of content, but that's all right. The only entity who was supposed to read it was the Google spider.
Pen-Pal Patty: You probably don't think that any of Patty's creations (such as Samantha Arthur Diary) are splogs at all. They look fairly normal. There are no ads; no hyperlinks; no common themes being pushed. But there are hundreds of them, all sporting 100% stolen content, and when they de-cloak sometime in the future they are going to be firmly entrenched inside Google's sandbox. Patty is hoping that this sneak attack is going to make her very rich.
And there's more...
As I mentioned, this is just a small sampling of the players. There are a lot more out there. However, the list should give you a bit of a feel for what the common tricks are, and why sploggers are bothering to play this game at all.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 01:56 PM | Permalink
Dust-Ups In the Blogosphere: Video Games and VEEPS
Plenty of consternation in the blogosphere today, and one of the reasons is a video game blog called Penny Arcade, which is today's top blog and appears as the day's fourth most-popular key phrase. Let's just say there's controversy among critics (namely Jack Thompson, today's No. 8 on the bursty people list) and video game enthusiasts about violence and cop-killing. The gamepolitics blog has a summary of the brou-ha-ha...and plenty of follow-on commentary from gamers. JoyStiq is reporting that it's just a big joke?
Cheney resign?
Speculation is rampant today about the possibility of indicments in Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation of who leaked the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame to the press after her hubsand openly criticized the Bush Administration for its pre-Iraq War intelligence. In fact, three of the four top news stories shared most among bloggers today hint at a possible Dick Cheney resignation, now that one of his aides, John Hannah, (today's burstiest person) may be cooperating with Fitzgerald's investigation. Today's No. 6 blog post, from NoQuarter, hints that up to 22 Bush staffers may be targeted for indictment.
"Rumors and Speculation?" wonders Shakespeare's Sister, or the end of an administration? asks salto mortale.
Internet longevity
Just for grins, today's No. 3 top blog post comes from Jottings.com, a list of 100 of the oldest dotcom domains. The earliest (symbolics.com) dates to March 15, 1985. Many are web site domains for current (and former) high-tech, computer, electronics, aviation and industrial firms...in a pre-Google, pre-Yahoo, pre-MSN, pre-AOL kind of world. Liz Was Here's observation: "The list is interesting, but reading it made me feel old in Internet years." Join the crowd, Liz...from someone who still remembers manual typewriters and carbon paper.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:40 AM | Permalink
October 18, 2005
The Assault on Blog Spam
If you've spent any time in the blogosphere, you've run across blog spam -- the millions of fake blogs (an example here) rich with links to other sites and created solely for one purpose: to get better search engine exposure. Their nickname: splogs. As Intelliseek's CMO Pete Blackshaw wrote this week for ClickZ, they're the blogging world's version of Spamalot. And bloggers are starting to speak up and demand action.
For the past two days, Chris Pirillo's Google-directed posted titled "Kill BlogSpot Already!!!!" has been one of the most-shared pieces of opinion and conversation among bloggers, and Google's one-day response is getting some traction as well. Tecnorati's Dave Sifry noted the spam problem in his equally popular State of the Blogosphere post this week, as did Robert Scoble and The Newest Industry. A BlogPulse trend graph shows awareness of the problem growing:
Perhaps it's only coincidence that today's No. 20 top news story is the FBI arrest of a Michigan man known as the king of spam.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:31 AM | Permalink
October 17, 2005
Judy Miller's Recollections, Iraqi Voters, Blog Worth, Halloween Alternatives...and BlogPulse Teams with AOL
Before we get into the meat of today's blog buzz, an announcement: Intelliseek's BlogPulse.com data and analysis is being made available to AOL users under an agreement announced today by the two companies. Welcome, AOL, to the world of BlogPulse.com.
Judy Miller: The Scrutiny Continues
Now that New York Times reporter Judy Miller (today's No. 3 top personality) has written a personal account (today's second most-shared link) of what she remembers of the Valerie Plame case, and the Times has written its own piece of the coverage (today's top link), bloggers are chiming in with their own media reviews.
Jay Rosen at PressThink (today's No. 6 top blog post) isn't the only person to be a little put out that Miller's answer to the key quesiton of who identified Valerie Plame as a CIA agent is "I don't remember." Jeff Jarvis at BuzzMachine thinks the key (underplayed) news is that Miller's taking time off from the Times newsroom, and wonders if she'll ever return. The PowerLine bloggers think the whole investigation's much ado about nothing, Mark Kleiman has some theories of his own about why a name was leaked at all, Arianna Huffington thinks Miller's just a bad reporter and Editor & Publisher takes the strongest stance by asking the Times to apologize and fire Miller for "crimes against journalism."
BlogPulse's graphical feature shows buzz about Miller and special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. The June spike coincides with Miller's jailing for initially refusing to testify and her eventual late September release from jail to testify.
The elections in Iraq
Iraqis braved 100-degree-plus heat over the weekend to vote on a new constitution, and bloggers at Iraq the Model and Hammorabi feature updates, photos and analysis from the polling places.
A Halloween Alternative?
An enterprising young blogger named copinggoggles has come up with a Halloween alternative called The Puca Project (today's top blog post). Instead of demanding candy or vandalizing, trick-or-treaters are encouraged to be nice-and-greeters by doing unconventionally sweet and unexpected acts on Halloween. "Awesome idea" says a blogger who lives near Park Avenue. "Go forth and spread the magic," entreats another LiveJournaler.
What's your blog worth?
If you've ever wondered what your blog is worth, Business Opportunities Blog provides the applet that comes up with a fair-market value. Delftsman and Liberalismo have already crunched the numbers.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 08:12 AM | Permalink
October 13, 2005
Hot Stuff: Video iPods, Tax Deductions (and White House Feet?)
You gotta hand it to Apple's Steve Jobs. When he speaks, people listen, and when he announced the new video iPod on Wednesday (today's top link), Engadget buzz (and Gizmodo speculation) took off like the latest Chinese space rocket.
The ability to download day-old TV episodes into an iPod for $1.99 certainly captured the attention of bloggers, who wrote about the development in nine of today's top 40 blog posts and three of the day's top 5 links. In fact, spikes in iPod buzz closely mirror recent product announcements about color screens (June), iTunes update (July) and the iPod nano (September). The early June spike for Jobs reflects Apple's switch to Intel chips.
Forget your dedutions?
Today's most-shared news story is a New York Times article about tax cuts...and not the ones for rich people. Seems a tax panel thinks that a flat tax is a bad idea and so are the popular (and middle-class) deductions for mortgage interest and health insurance. "Bad policy and bad politics," says American Prospect blog. Wampum figures it'll be as popular as Social Security reform. "Who's crazy now"? asks Suburban Guerilla.
Feet to the fire?
As special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald seems to wind down his investigation of who leaked CIA Agent Valerie Plame's name to the press, speculation heats up about who's being targeted. Is it Vice President Dick Cheney, wonders the Huffington Post (today's No. 2 top blog post). Insiders Karl Rove or Andy Card? wonders Talking Points Memo? Cheney staffer Lewis Libby? asks the National Journal. Is the investigation widening? wonders Raw Story. Is all this speculation making the President nervous? asks the Washington Post (today's third most popular news story).
Passings...
The title of today's No. 16 top link caught my eye: "the best obituary ever." Guess it depends on one's political persuasion.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:47 AM | Permalink
October 12, 2005
The Internet: Tenure Killer, Quasi-Media, Soul-Less Presence?
Curious ponderings today in the blogosphere, from rusings on the creative underpinnings of the World Wide Web to its ability to intefere with academic tenure.
Tenure off track
Today's No. 35 top link tells the tale of Daniel Drezner, a political science blogger of some renown who nonetheless isn't being offered a professorship at the University of Chicago, and some are speculating that his blog might be to blame. Blogger John Bruce has a lengthy analysis of academics and blogging.
Web de-volution?
Today's No. 4 top blog post from Nicholas Carr argues that the (d)evolutionary World Wide Web, with its initial possibilities for endless opportunity and global creativity, is instead "changing the economics of creative work - or, to put it more broadly, the economics of culture - and it's doing it in a way that may well restrict rather than expand our choices." Interesting theories...and equally interesting comments. (Or, as Pat Robertson figures things, is the world just coming to an end? (today's No. 32 top news story).
You, the Media* (*Bloggers Excluded?)
When tech writer Dan Gillmor published We the Media in August 2004, he probably had in mind something like Yahoo's News search function, which now serves up blog data and Flickr photos in results. (today's No. 2 blog post). Reactions range from "a little disappointing" to "sweet." But don't get all excited, bloggers, about any federal shield law protecting your behinds. Bloggers "probably" wouldn't be included in the definition of journalist (today's No. 26 link). Tech Law Prof Blog offers some perspective, as does the blogger at Middle Earth Journal.
Random Veep stuff
Today's 34th top link asks: are George and Dick on the outs? Are Dick's Halliburton stock options really worth that much? (today's No. 28 news story).
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:27 AM | Permalink
October 11, 2005
Overindulgence Over Miers
The Harriet Miers nomination to the Supreme Court seems to have curious staying power, particularly among conservatives who remain unconvinced that she's court-worthy. BlogPulse, in fact, was interviewed over the weekend on NPR about conservative reaction to Miers.
Why have conservatives (today's No. 3 top blog post) mobilized so strongly (No. 5) against Miers? Why so much emphasis on her and comparatively so much less on now-Chief Justice John G. Roberts? BlogPulse trend graph shows the disparity:
New from Yahoo!...podcasting
Now in testing phases is Yahoo! podcasting. Cool and plentiful, says Bobnar Blog, but with this caveat common to many Internet users: "Ever seen that Far Side cartoon where the kid asks his teacher if he can be excused from class because his brain is full? My brain's gonna pop if I keep trying to cram everything that happens on the Internet into it." Speaking of full brains, blogger Bill Hobbs is taking a blog break from a "rather time-consuming and uncompensated hobby" (today's 19th top post).
Indictment roulette, anyone?
Some bloggers are speculating about possible Bush administration indictments over the leaking of CIA agent Valerie Plame's name to the press. They're also speculating about the speculation.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:35 AM | Permalink
October 10, 2005
Events of Biblical Proportion: Earthquakes, Obscenity and...Smurfs
The weekend earthquake that devastated parts of Pakistan, India and Afghanistan dominates blog activity today, but the natural disaster shares the spotlight with news of the Bible and, believe it or not, the bombing of a Smurf village.
Earthquake relief
Joe Gandelman at The Moderate Voice, today's top blog post, provides some of the most comprehensive coverage of the earthquake devastation with roundups from various news agencies. "Mother Nature just isn't quitting this year," a comment from Loaded Mouth, sums up many peoples' reactions to this latest natural disaster. Quake-related news comprises more than 25% of today's most-shared news links. The same bloggers who mobilized to provide tsunami relief in late 2004 have banded together again for South Asia Quake Help (today's No. 2 top blog).
Biblically stated
Want to tuck a condensed version of the Bible into your virtual pocket? No problem. The BBC reports that a SMS (short message service) version of the Bible has been released in Asia (today's 21st-ranked news story), with the spelling "condensed" (ahem, mangled) into text-message format so that it fits. "Lordy Lord" says one LiveJournal blogger. Just don't believe everything you read it in: that's the essence of a Times Online article (today's third most popular news link) about Catholic Bishops in the UK issuing an "accuracy" warning about the Bible. Has anyone told the Pope? asks Lam(b).
Smurf annihilation..for a cause
People of Belgium: the trouble is not in your set. Those really were Smurfs being targeted by bombs on the first adult verison of The Smurfs (today's No. 16, 17 and 19 top news stories). The short ad is a fund-raiser by the Belgian UNICEF arm for the rehabilitation of children recruited as soldiers in the African nation of Burundi. Smurf creator Peyo approved of the film but insisted it not be shown before 9 p.m. Reactions range from "just seems odd" to "Smurf-tastic!"
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:43 AM | Permalink
October 07, 2005
Frankly, Everyone Seems More Concerned About Threats of Other Kinds
If President Bush hoped to build support for the invasion of Iraq with more fear and loathing on the global terrorism trail (today's 22nd most-shared link), it didn't seem to work so well. In fact, based on blog discussions, folks are much more concerned about threats of other kinds, to wit:
The threat of government exerting even more control over women's bodies
For the past two days, the top blog post has come from Booman Tribune, about a proposed Indiana law that would make marriage a requirement for motherhood in the Hoosier state. Would the Virgin Mary and Holy Spirit be criminals, asks BoingBoing? "What the hell is Indiana thinking?" asks Rightly So. This Is Not Over is even more succint. Apparently, the scrutiny worked, as the bill's sponsor announced Thursday she's dropping it (today's 15th most-shared link)
Internal threats at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Today's No. 3 blog post and No. 4 news story discuss the espionage arrest of Leandro Aragoncilla, (today's 11th burstiest person) a Marine who worked in Vice President Dick Cheney's and Al Gore's office and is accused of handing sensitive information to parties interesting in overthrowing the Filipino president. "Do we laugh or cry?" asks Spontaneous Solutions. "The digital fortress ain't!" says Paxalles.
The threat of continued military abuse of detainees
Led by Sen. John McCain, a Vietnam War prisoner of war who knows a thing or two about torture, the Senate Dems and Republicans agreed soundly on one thing this week: to set firm limits on the interrogation rules for detainees held in U.S. military custody. Bring on the veto threat -- that's the hidden message in the 90-0 vote.
The threat to democracy
Like him or not, Gore is back in the news (today's 16th most blogged-about personality) for a speech he gave on his worries about the future of democracy (today's 2nd most-mentioned blog post). "The Road Not Taken" sums up Ratiocination's review of the speech. All About E is all about Al.
In the Blogosphere
Bloggers are abuzz about AOL's acquision of Weblogs Inc. Founders Jascon Calcanis and Brian Alvey make it into today's Top 10 burstiest people list. Jeff Jarvis has some commentary about the (inevitable?) marriage of MSM and blogs.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:52 AM | Permalink
October 06, 2005
Noses to the Academic Grindstone
Some days, it's just plain fun to play with the BlogPulse Trend Tool. And since blogging tends to be a behavior that's more popular among the younger members of the population curve, we typed in some very common phrases associated with school, studying and college.
Notice how blog-related buzz about classes, homework and school/college tends to ease near Memorial Day, stays somewhat low during the summer and perks back up as the fall academic year begins -- with predictable weekend dips:
Give it a try...and check out how Supreme Court chatter has replaced any notion of Social Security reform as a major issue of the day. Another interesting one: an obsession with gasoline as a fuel source.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 08:59 AM | Permalink
October 05, 2005
Battles Brewing: Red vs. Blue Judge, Google vs. Microsoft?
Battle lines are being drawn today on several fronts: continued conservative hand-wringing vs. liberal confusion over President's Bush's nomination of his lawyer friend Harriet Miers to the U.S. Supreme Court (still today's most blogged-about personality), and Google's decision to take on Microsoft's Office suite. That's right, let's get ready to rumble!
But before we get into the meat of the issues, let's take a time out for this Internet first (today's No. 24 top blog post): the first Internet marriage proposal via search engine. Will Ask Jeeves will put its now-unemployed butler to work at the wedding reception?
In this corner, Google...
So is Google really putting together the services and brains to offer its own version of Microsoft Office? Navel Contemplation is just one blogger looking forward to the possibility. Microsoft blogger Robert Scoble describes the move as "interesting times" and offers a video link to the new MS Office 12. "Huge news," says The Stalwart. How do the two computer/search giants compare in blog buzz?
Technical briefs
Other techie news today: the introduction of a social-networking tool called Ning, (today's No. 2 top link) and Jakob Nielsen's Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2005. (Granted, usability is his forte, but perhaps he should consider this Design 101: "too much text and no graphics makes for a dull page.")
The Miers thing
There's plenty of teeth-gnashing and head-scratching over the Miers Supreme Court nomination, and we'll just assume it'll go on for a loooooooong time. Reactions today range from Patrick Ruffini's "Coalition of the Chillin' (Supreme Court division)" campaign to David Sirota's Huffington Post essay on cronyism gone amok, from George Will's reasons for Congress to say no to Miers' nomination to plenty of blog citations of Alexander Hamilton No. 76.
Passings...
Heaven must be turning into a funny place, what with Get Smart's Don Adams, who died Sept. 25, now joined by comedian Nipsey Russell, who died this week at 82 from cancer, and British comedian Ronnie Barker, who died Monday at age 76.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:57 AM | Permalink
October 04, 2005
Harriet Miers: From "Harriet Who?" To Conservative Disappointment
It didn't take someone long to put up a fake Harriet Miers blog (today's 24th most-shared web link) once President Bush's former personal lawyer and White House Counsel was nominated for the U.S. Supreme Court, ranking as BlogPulse's top personality and burstiest person as well. And it didn't take long for a whole bunch of conservative bloggers to check in with a near-unanimous sigh of disappointment.
"Utterly underwhelmed," groaned Michelle Malkin. "A disappointment," said the Power Line guys. "Where's my Scalia? Where's my Thomas?" demanded Confirm Them. SCOTUS blog offers some middle-of-the-road analysis, while William Kristol at the National Standard is "disappointed, demoralized and depressed." Professor Bainbridge has a common reaction: Harriet Who?
Outside of the "Bush sold us out" conservative mindset are a range of other reactions, including a gay perspective from Balloon Juice, a possible take on her union views from Confined Space, her views on gun control and other issues. AnonymousLefty speculates on Miers' likelihood to avoid answers to tough questions.
In just 24 hours since her nomination, Miers is the subject of more than 2,500 search results on BlogPulse entries.
How does the Supreme Court news compare to other hot topics of the day?
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 12:12 PM | Permalink
October 03, 2005
Blog of the Week: Pink Dome
By day, he's the early-30s senior veep of marketing/business development for a national company whose name shall remain nameless. But when he has a thought or two about the state of politics in Texas, he's just Charlie, author of the Pink Dome blog ("politics written with our tongue planted firmly in our cheek"), which is this week's Blog of the Week (view the Pink Dome profile here). Yes, Texas, home to recently-indicted Sen. Tom DeLay and the place where recently nominated Supreme Court Justice Harriet Miers started her non-judicial law career. So what is it about politics in Texas? Let's find out...
Q. How and why did you start Pink Dome?
A. "I've been using the blog medium for several years as a personal tool, so I knew about blogging. I wasn't completely fresh out of the gate when I launched it Jan. 31, 2005, a few days after the legislative session in Texas started. I knew that I could have a unique voice because there weren't a lot of political blogs dedicated to Texas when I started. Now there's a bunch... But I knew I could have a voice and stand out from the rest of those by using a sort of irrevent tone toward politics and politicians. The 2005 session was the first time that all blogs jumped on the state legislature. It gave us a wealth of material. Texas politics is more entertaining than anything you'll see on TV."
Q. Is your background in politics?
A. "I used to work in politics, as a staffer for the GOP, so I knew how things work. But I'm not a Texas native...I knew nothing about these politicians and I have no history with them, so it really frees me to write about them. I'm not invested in these people. I'm not a native (grew up in Charleston, S.C., and has lived in Austin for two years). I don't have Texas state pride...I just call 'em as I see 'em."
Q. What's so 'entertaining' about Texas politics?
A. "South Carolina is whacky, but they don't have the chutzpah that Texas politicians have. They have a swagger about them here in Texas, and it's really entertaining. They're much more willing to go for the throat. In South Carolina, they'll go for the throat, but they're much more polite and genteel about it."
Q. For example?
A. "Texas passed a constitutional amendment to define marriage as one man/one woman...and I always add to that, 'one donkey.' They focus on social issues like sexy cheerleaders, and despite two special sessions couldn't pass anything on school finance but they were passing bills to help out businesses, so it was a great source of fodder for political bloggers..."
Q. Why don't you use your real name on your blog?
A. "I use Charlie only. For a long time, I was completely anonymous, but we started getting some media attention so I had to use my first name."
Q. How do you view the role of blogs in politics?
A. " 'I am the most important person in Texas...a voter with a voice, just like you.' That's the whole message for me of blogs when it relates to politics: being a voter with a voice. I don't think blogs will replace mainstream media, but I do think they're influential among their key readers. I know that legislators in Texas were reading Pink Dome as they were on the floor during debates."
Q. Pink Dome? Where'd that name come from?
A. "Some people though it was a gay web site, but the Texas capitol is made of pink granite. 'Pink Dome' is the insider's reference to the capitol building.
Q. You've got a governor's race coming up soon. Care to comment?
A. "The mud slinging is already going on. Kinky Friedman is running, and I wouldn't rule him out. People are so disgusted with the current leadership, that if the moon is aligned with Venus, there's a possibility he could sneak in with some votes. What Texans still love about Kinky is that he just says it. He doesn't have that political filter, and that's one of the things that makes Pink Dome great, too. We try not to have any filters as well."
Q. Any advice for other bloggers?
A. "Be interesting. Content is king. People know that if they come to Pink Dome in the morning, they're going to see something, and if they come in the afternoon, they're going to see something different. (Pink Dome's contributors also include an anonymous liberal feminist and an anonymous politician). Lots of Pink Dome's readers don't know if I'm male or female...I try to write as a sassy, drunk, political junkie. I don't think people want to come and read things that are always so negative or hate-filled and anger-filled, so I try to keep it edgy, because quite frankly, in Texas, you have to laugh to keep from crying."
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:43 AM | Permalink
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