October 31, 2006
Of Martial Law, Porn $$ and Six-Word Novels
From one end of the spectrum to the other...it's the only way to sum up some of the blog discoveries today. First is BoingBoing's focus (in today's fifth-most-cited blog post) on a bill apparently signed within the last two weeks by President George Bush that gives him power to declare martial law. That shares space with today's second-most-cited blog post about porn-industry donations to the Republican Party. Honest.
If that's not earth-shattering enough, perhaps the news delivered by Sir Nicholas Stern (today's burstiest person) will be: his global warming report, delivered in Britain, forecasts dire economic consequences if the nations of the world don't start addressing carbon/greenhouse gases.
Brevity indeed
But short novels. Makes total sense. (today's most-cited news story).
One week from today
Next Tuesday, voters will head to the polls to decide which party will lead for the next several years. A BlogPulse trend graph provides few clues except a lot of overlap:
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 12:35 PM |
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October 30, 2006
Popularity...So Fleeting in the Blog-Eat-Blog World
Fame and fortune can be so fleeting in the blogosphere, and the evidence is in today's most-cited blog links. First from BoingBoing is to news that video clips from Comedy Central's popular "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart and "The Colbert Report" with Stephen Colbert are being yanked from video site YouTube.com because of rights issues. The end of YouTube as we know it? ask blogger Mark Evans.
"So last year..."
And another hot blog property - MySpace - is "so last year," according to today's No. 3 most-cited news story from the Washington Post. Ask the blogger at Deep Jive Interests, should all social networking sites have expiration dates?
He's so popular because...
Ever heard of David M. Walker? He's today's burstiest person for a reason: an all-out warning that the U.S. is headed for financial ruin. (You mean, it's the economy, stupid, after all?)
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:31 AM |
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October 27, 2006
And the Series Goes To....?
Amidst all the talk of gay marriage and stem cell ads and what will no doubt be an abundance of Halloween parties this weekend, there's this bit of knowledge: this could also be the weekend that the World Series is decided, and BlogPulse isn't making any predictions...yet. Although the Tigers obviously aren't meeting earlier expectations:
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 03:59 PM |
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October 26, 2006
Methinks He's Taking Internets Lessons from Ted Stevens
Are they trying too hard or not really trying at all? That's what you've got to ask yourself about these politicians (you know, the ones deciding Network Neutrality issues and all) who claim to know all there is to know about the Internet.
First, Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens embarrased himself to no end a few months ago (watch it here on "The Daily Show" via YouTube) with his description of the "tubes" that either make the Internet work great or clog it up real good. Now, thanks to a top blog post from Think Progress, we have footage of President George W. Bush saying he's uses "the Google" occasionally to check out satellite photos of his Texas ranch. And apparently not using "the Google" very well, according to LeisureGuy blogger's reaction to Bush's CNBC appearance. Not surprisingly, his "descriptive" retort came on the same day that Google itself wowed real online users with a customizable search engine. That's "the Google" everyone else knows.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 12:50 PM |
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October 23, 2006
Very Different Interpretations of "Stay the Course"
The blogosphere serves up two vastly divergent opinions today on President George Bush's "stay the course" policy in Iraq (nearly 9,900 search results), which, according to video of Bush available at today's top blog post, he never really said. Really?
The Tillman angle
The brother of the late Pat Tillman, the NFL player who left sports to volunteer for the military and was killed in Iraq, has a vastly different take on "stay the course." Kevin Tillman's essay, titled "After Pat's Birthday," was all over the blogosphere this weekend at Truthdig and made him among the burstiest people in the blogosphere. Strong sentiments, strong follow-on comments.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 01:19 PM |
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October 20, 2006
Eyes on Ohio Again? Or Play Ball?
Oh, there's pre-election consternation galore, what with a Daily Kos alert (today's No. 12 most-cited blog post) about more voting irregularities and voter-purging here in the Buckeye State (I'm voting absentee next week, just because). And MSNBC's Keith Olberman is working his way up the most-blogged-about personality list for his blistering attacks of late (today's No. 2 top blog post) on the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Let the Series begin
But it's the Tigers vs. the Cards in the 2006 World Series starting this weekend, and a BlogPulse trend graph...well, it's got as many clues as anyone else.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 04:15 PM |
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October 19, 2006
Color, Light, Fun...and No Fun
Sometimes you just find really cool stuff in the blogoshere, like today's No. 2 most-cited link to commercial for Sony's Bravia TV technology. Shooting gooey colors, clowns and paint rainfalls on the playground....what's not to like?
Lighting up Google
On the brighter side, Google's official blog checks in at No 2. among all blog posts today for announcing a plan to run its Mountain View campus on solar energy....a Solar Googleplex, as one blogger calls it.
You're NOT it!
Principle Gaylene Heppe is today's burstiest person (and perhaps grinchiest) for banning tag and other recess-time "chase" games at her suburban Boston school for fear of someone getting hurt (today's No. 9 most-cited news story). What's next ask bloggers....plastic-bubbles? Foam padding?
Playoff buzz...
One more game determines who takes on the Detroit Tigers in this year's World Series:
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:09 AM |
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October 17, 2006
Cute Little Things That Change Culture
Happy (pending) Birthday, iPod! Steve Jobs' interview in Newsweek, (today's No. 2 most-cited news story) on the heels of the iPod's upcoming fifth anniversary, indicates not only how ga-ga bloggers can be over technology but how one little device changed the way people listen to music. This BlogPulse Trend graph illustrates how discussion about the iPod remains steady....at least until Apple announces new features/lineups/products (note the Sept. 13 announcement spike):
And the next wave...
Among at No. 19 among today's top blog posts, for technophiles who just can't get enough, is Nick Gonzalez' review of the online movie download services.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 04:13 PM |
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October 12, 2006
Buzz About a Lot of Stuff
There's plenty of buzz - positive and not-so - about Google and all of its recent purchases/offerings. There's definitely buzz about Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle, (today's burstiest person) who was killed after crashing a small plane into a New York condo on Wednesday.
World Series buzz
And with all of the other news in the world...scandals and "nucular" tests and such...it's nice to know that America's pasttime still goes on. World Series contender buzz show....
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:17 AM |
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October 09, 2006
Bummed, Bummer, Bumming
Bummed: In New York, at least one team's baseball fans are bummed because the Yankees lost (today's second-most-cited blog phrase) and worse for them, the Mets are still alive.
Bummer: Politicos who thought this Foley thing might just fade away are realizing it did not and will not, fueled by further reports of the Florida Republican Congressman's sexual escapades with former pages (as an adult) and the resulting GOP meltdown and fallout that are being predicted and chronicled in today's most-cited news stories.
Bumming: But one of the day's poignant finds comes from a letter, veriified by Time magazine, from a Marine stationed in Iraq and written to his family, a lfrank letter now making the rounds of military officials and others, apparently, and in fairly stark contrast to the "stay the course" message being trumped in D.C. While strategists suggest dividing Iraq to make it a whole country, right-leaning bloggers are making hay of a Democratic National Committee Web-site "support our troops" photo of the wrong troop (today's most-cited blog post and since fixed).
Graphically speaking
In the run-up to next month's elections, Republicans thought they could manage the message with an emphasis on morals/values and the war on terror. Both, in strange ways, are certainly at the top of many agendas, but perhaps not with the message originally intended?...
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:03 AM |
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October 05, 2006
Good Advice Bubbles to the Top
Amidst the political consternation of who knew what and when they knew it about you-know-who (hint: recently resigned Congressman), some sound business advice rises to the top of the blogosphere in the form of today's most-cited blog post, "Top Ten Geek Business Myths" from a scientist-turned-venture-capitalist blogger at Rondam Ramblings. "Outstanding," is one blogger's review. "Particularly useful" for those of us who still think having an idea is the essence of business success," writes Open Business. "It actually isn’t."
Election buzz
A BlogPulse trend graph examines references to voting Democratic or voting Republican in conjunction with the mid-term elections on Nov. 7. Do you suppose it's the Foley effect?
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 02:12 PM |
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October 04, 2006
Big Winners, Big Losers
Not surprisingly, resigned Congressman Mark Foley, the Florida Republican who stepped down last week for sending "suggestive and wholly inappropriate emails to underage pages," (today's second most-cited blog phrase) is today's most-blogged-about personality, grabbing more attention this week than either Harry Potter or President George Bush, who usually share that honor. And conversation is hot and heavy, including today's most-cited news story from the conservative Washington Times, an editorial calling for the resignation of House Speaker Dennis Hastert. MSNBC pointed out this morning that during Bill O'Reilly's discussion of "Foleygate" Tuesday evening, the on-screen type listed Foley as a D (Democrat) instead of an R (Republican). Fair and balanced? You decide.
Big bucks for Big Bang
On the winning side are Nobel Prize winners for physics, John C. Mather and George Smoot (today's No 1-2 burstiest people) for their studies into the origins of the Big Bang Theory, described as "one of the greatest discoveries of the century," according to the Nobel Committee.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:18 AM |
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October 02, 2006
Paging Mr. Starr (No Pun Intended)...Paging Mr. Kenneth Starr?
Now that the Republicans have a sexual scandal of their own (involving homosexual undertones and the stalking of underage teen boys at that), do you suppose anyone will ask independent counsel Kenneth Starr to come back and dig the dirt all over again? Friday's abrupt resignation of Florida Congressman Mark Foley came as the result of the discovery of inappropriate instant messages and e-mails sent by Foley to 16- and 17-year-old high school boys who were part of the House Page Program. (Starr was the attorney who investigated the affair of former President Bill Clinton and intern Monica Lewinsky).
Foley chaired a caucus on missing and exploited children and helped write federal law that govern the kind of behavior he's now alleged to have taken part in. Off the Cuff blogger has some biting insights into the so-called political party of "morals and values." Then there's this no-big-deal defense from the GOP-leaning PowerLine blog. Other GOP leaders, some of whom knew of Foley's behavior a full year ago, are now being scrutinized too, including speaker Rep. Dennis Hastert and Rep. John Shimkus, head of the page program.
Maybe the runup-to-the-election question isn't which party can best protect Americans from terrorists...but which party can best protect Americans from its own Congress?
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:42 AM |
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