Talk about Twitter has doubled over the last two months with nearly 1.2% of all blog posts mentioning the micro-blogging site. According to Nielsen Online, Unique visitors to Twitter increased 1382 percent year-over-year, reaching 7 million in February 2009. This makes it the fastest growing member community site on the Web.

Posted by Jeffrey Akavan at 01:19 PM

Republicans John McCain and Sarah Palin are leaders in the blogosphere today based on overall citations, according to the Key People ranking on blogpulse.com, holding the first and second slots, respectively. Britney Spears, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Paul Newman round out the top five, while Democrats Joe Biden and Barack Obama are ranked 12 and 14, respectively.

Posted by Sandra Parrelli at 12:46 PM

After a short break, (its been a year but who is counting) we are back to highlight some of BlogPulse’s favorite stories, videos and people from last year. If you are a new or a returning visitor to BlogPulse, it is a great free tool offered by Nielsen Online for exploring social media trends. And without further delay, here are some brief trends from last year that we missed.

As the calendar turned to 2007, much of the online news was focused on the trends for the New Year, Iraq and French protests. That soon ended and turned to one of the year’s biggest stories for BlogPulse, as all eyes were on the iPhone and Steven Jobs announcement of it at MacWorld in late January. On January 31 this video was uploaded to YouTube and 5 days later it began a long stint in BlogPulse’s Top Videos category.

Twitter emerged last year with several news stories, blogs and videos (here, here, here and here) chronicling its rise to Web 2.0 fame. There was also plenty of branded content (here (Toyota World of Warcraft) and here (Sony Bravia) on BlogPulse’s charts including the famous Dove Onslaught video.

A major theme of 2007 was politics, which were heavily represented throughout the year, from the famous "I Got a Crush...On Obama" By Obama Girl to Mike Huckabee – Chuck Norris video. Other big news stories included the Benazir Bhutto Assasination, Virginia Tech shootings and Writer’s Strike in Hollywood.

2007 was a great year for BlogPulse and we look forward to keeping you informed about all the great site improvements, happenings and stories in 2008 and beyond. Come back often to see what’s new with BlogPulse and across the blogosphere.

Posted by Stephen Tompkins at 05:16 PM

Recent dust-ups in the blogosphere have led to a call for a Blogger's Code of Conduct, and those pushing it have even set aside a domain for it.

Will it work? Will bloggers pay attention? Note that the women at BlogHer have had one in place for some time. About time...

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 04:38 PM

We've come a long way, baby, and one of the most-cited Internet videos explains. It's "The Machine is Us/ing Us" and it's a fascinating history of the evolution of everything Internet....where it's been, where it's going. Credit goes to Dr. Michael Wesch, assistant professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University. Discuss, which the blogger at EverythingMiscellaneous did, describing the video as "the Web in 5 minutes." Not even 5, actually. It's worth checking out.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 03:47 PM

Time has been short lately, have you noticed....between family responsibilities and new job responsibilities, but I'm back just in time to congratule...YOU, Time's "Person of the Year" for creating, posting, blogging, videotaping, sharing, link and citing all those tidbits of wisdom that have combined to create all this Internet buzz.. That news makes up six of Monday's top 10 most-cited news stories and Monday's most-cited phrase in the blogosphere. Reason to celebrate and prepare an acceptance speech? Or to diss the entire "award"? Congrats, regardless.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 08:28 PM

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

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

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

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

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

The blogosphere takes on definite international tones today, including blogger observatioons of the Thailand coup (today's third most-used blog phrase) that overthrew Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra (today's second-burstiest person). Also on that list is the coup leader, Gen. Sondhi Boonyaratkalin.

Religious fervor, of various stripes
Pope Benedict XVI continues to make news (and waves) among Muslims who have not accepted his apology, for statements construed as anti-Muselim, as very apologetic. Speaking of religious fervor, today's most-cited news stories contain this coverage (No. 9) of "Jesus Camp" by ABC. (Thanks, Mom, for signing me up for Girl Scout day camp instead).

Mistaken identity?
Canadian Muslim Maher Arar also appears among today's most-discussed personalities, for reports that he was wrongly identified by Canadian and U.S. authorities as a potential terrorist and sent to Syria, where he was held for 10 months and tortured...before being released and exonerated by the Canadian government, according to news reports. Although bloggers have differing opinions about the issue.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 01:08 PM

Today, it's all about the details, such as who first uncovered the "made-over" photo of Katie Couric. The TVNewswer blogger at MediaBistro.com is today's No. 2 most-cited blog post for the initial find, even though mainstream media are now publicizing the photos without attributing the blogosphere, apparently.

Catching people in the actThe insightful-as-ever blogger Bruce Schneier offers more details on why publicly announced crackdowns on things that might be used to catch terrorists don't actually catch terrorists, while good intelligence and sound police work usually do. Elsewhere, Virginia Gov. George Allen apparently has more than the word "macaca" to worry about.

Tech details
Interested in chatting up your ebay purchases with Google advertisers via Skye? It could happen.

Hot times in Singapore
And if you though Utopia would be a land where wi-fi access is available to every citizen, it's time to visit Singapore, according to CNET.com.

Sing, sing a song
Couldn't help but notice that "Celebrity Duets" (a new TV show from Fox) is today's most-discussed blog phrase. I'd be interested, but only if they'd pair me with James Taylor.

Labor Day a time for...
Here in Cincinnati, we celebrate Labor Day by joining a half million or more of our closest friends on the shores of the Ohio River for one big hellacious fireworks display and party. Looks like lots of other folks associate Labor Day with...well, actual labor:

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 01:40 PM

Bloggers are known to question just about everything, and some seriously hard questions are being posed today. Among them:

• Security expert Bruce Schneier's questions about the point at which public paranoia and publicity of questionable "terror" plots actually makes everyone less safe (today's No. 2 most-cited blog post) and mis-directs the mission.

• Maine war widow Hildi Halley's questions to President George Bush about policies that she feels are misguided, dangerous and un-Christian, featured at TPM Cafe (No. 11).

• Newsweek writer (and today's burstiest person) Michael Isikoff's questions into the won't-go-away investigation into who leaked CIA operative Valerie Plame's name to the press (today's No. 2 most-cited link); the State Department's Richard Armitage is mentioned frequently.

• And this post from BlogsforBush (sigh) that somewhat not surprisingly (sigh) questions the validity of science.

Back to school, everyone
No question about this: it's time to head back to school, and a BlogPulse trend graph shows the way:

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:30 AM

The blogosphere presents a cornucopia of oddities today, including actor Tom Cruise (today's second most-blogged personality), whose release from Paramount Pictures by honcho Sumner Redstone has pushed him back into the public eye (just when we were accustomed to his several-month absence). Common blogger reaction here.

Paper art, virtual music
If you're looking for an artistic journey today, don't download this Weird Al song but do check out some cool paper-cut art and library smut art (not what you think at ALL), both of which are among today's most-cited links. If you just wanna feel old, check out Beloit College's look at the world of today's college freshman.

A Tribute to women in the military
Kudos to The Daily Kos for a simple but touching tribute, "Beautiful Dead Girls," to women in the U.S. military who have died in Iraq.

Whither the mid-term elections?
A BlogPulse trend graph shows just how difficult it is for pundits to predict who or what will emerge as victorious from the upcoming mid-term elections, at least based on various references to the respective politcal parties.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:21 AM

Does the ongoing conflict in Israel and Lebanon detract from a national focus on the conflict in Iraq? Did bloggers and Internet buzz truly fuel challenger Ned Lamont to a victory over Sen. Joe Lieberman in Connecticut on Tuesday?

Sometimes, the best way to track "buzz" in the blogosphere is to plot it on a chart, and BlogPulse Trend Graphs do that for those two issues. On the former, buzz about Iraq remains as high on recently emergent but continuing discussion of Israel and Lebanon:




And even though defeated Sen. Lieberman likes to "blame" the blogosphere for rallying behind Lamont and pushing him into the winner's column, a BlogPulse chart shows that Lieberman captured more buzz among bloggers in the month leading up to the Aug. 8 election than did Lamont.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 02:12 PM

It's a data kind of day, based on what's creating buzz in thh blogosphere, as in: AOL's release of users' data (today's top blog post) and competitor Technorati's udpate on blog data (fourth most-cited post).

Leopard vs. Vista?
But what's really got lots of computer users excited, given that today's two most-cited links are from Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, where Apple's new Leopard operating system is being teased. The blogger at Born to do Dishes calls is "insane" (in a good way). Many are debating how Leopard will steal the thunder from Microsoft's still-delayed Vista operating system update for Windows. A BlogPulse trend graph indicates a definite spike in Leopard buzz.....



Whither Joe?
Defeated Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman is today's second most-blogged person (and curiously, defeater Ned Lamont doesn't appear on the day's lists, even though pundits "blame" his victory on those darned bloggers. Electoral reactions rangefrom "poor Joe" to "don't go away mad, Joe, just go away."

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:56 AM

Certain questions pop into mind each day while cruising through the daily activity in the blogosphere. Today's cover the spectrum, and the first is: is blogging a force in Cuba, and will Fidel Castro's temporary handoff of power to his brother be blogged internally?

War photos and blogging
Today's No. 2 most-cited blog post from the EU Referendum includes some graphic photos shot from the ground in Lebanon, as do photos from today No. 4 most-cited news story. Curious that bloggers and journalists can freely shoot and publish these photos, but not photos of American soldiers' caskets as they return home from Iraq. A BlogPulse trend graph indicates the interesting and changing mix of geopolitical attention in the past few weeks and months:



Coming and going, electronically speaking
Some gadget lovers are mourning the announced end of E3, (today's most-cited blog post) the annual video game extravaganza, while others are drooling over the possibility of an iPod phone.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:39 AM

If anyone ever doubted the impact of infusing religion with politics and foreign policy, look no farther than today's hottest blog topics.

The Middle East, exploding
The New York Times' article about increasing support among the Arab world for Hezbollah is the day's most-cited news story, while some of today's most-cited blog commentaries discuss the weekend shooting of employees at a Jewish Federation office in downtown Seattle. Conservative blogger Michelle Malkin calls it "Muslim revenge." Asks on MySpace blogger, "What is this world coming to?" And this commentary, no doubt on lots of other people's minds: "I can't imagine what it would be like to live in Israel, Palestine, or Iraq and have to live in constant fear every moment of every day. What will it take to end this needless violence? I wish the world would figure it out, but something tells me it will be present for many years to come."

Breaking religious ranks
Religion plays out in another big way in today's most-cited link, also to a New York Times piece about a Christian evangelical pastor in Minnesota who's taking a stand against the politicization of religious thought. It's already drawing plenty of analysis.

Mel Gibson's mouth...
Also getting some ink is Mel Gibson's mouth, in those hours after it was arrested over the weekend for suspicious of drunken driving in Malibu. The alleged anti-Semitic references have elicited blog commentaries such as "So much for Saint Mel" and "Passion of the Drunk."

Women who blog
Fervor of another kind was obviously event at the weekend event known as Blogher (today's No. 7 most-cited link)....a convention organized for women bloggers, where topics involved building audiences and income and blogging in spirit (for those who didn't attend).

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:04 AM

News that the Indian government is blocking some Web sites and blog providers is today's top blog post at BoingBoing, and BlogPulse's Conversation Tracker is following the buzz so far.

"Communication" of another variety
Bloggers aren't the only ones asking if the FCC crackdown on vulgar airwave language will apply to one of its first offenders: President George W. Bush, whose G8 discussion about the Middle East conflict with British Prime Minister Tony Blair (today's most-cited news story) happened to be aired when Bush didn't realize the microphone was on (Think Progress catches it in today's No. 3 most-cited blog post). The leader of the Free World let the "s-word" fly. At least he could have swallowed the bread first?

How's about that weather, huh?
Yeah, we know. It's hot. It's a heat wave (today's No. 4 key phrase). Ok, it's REALLY hot (No. 6, and language warning). A BlogPulse Trend Graph agrees:

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 01:45 PM

First, pirates definitely dominate today, with seven of today's 10 most-cited people in the blogosphere including either the actors or characters in the weekend blockbuster "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," which is today's No. 4 most-cited blog phrase. And that feat happens amid a sea of poor to so-so revivews, like this LiveJournaler's assessment and another LiveJournaler's hope that the third Pirates movie, due summer 2007, will be better.

Hanging up and quitting

More dust-ups in teh blogosphere: Comedian Adam Carolla is today's burstiest blog person for hanging on up conversative author Ann Coulter during a phone call to his radio show. And elsewhere, an adjunct psychology professor at the University of Arizona has resigned (her "white flag" post is today's most popular blog entry) amid publicity over comments she left on Jeff Goldstein's popular blog, Protein Wisdom. One more reason to control who comments...and who doesn't..on your blog.

Viva Italia!
Could it have been any more nail-bitingly climactic? Italy's penalty kicks after a tie World Cup game gave it the trophy and soccer's worldwide bragging rights on Sunday.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:18 AM

For sheer entertainment, the upcoming "Superman Returns" movie (today's No. 15 top link) is generating its share of buzz, based on the fact that today's key people list contains the names of Lex Luthor (played by actor Kevin Spacey), Clark Kent (played by Brandon Routh) and Lois Lane (played by actress Kate Bosworth).

Truth, justice...and the media
But liberal-leaning political bloggers are paying attention to another battle being played out for real: what they perceive as an outright attack on the press by the Bush Administration, captured in today's top blog post by Glenn Greenwald, and fueled by White House Press Spokesman Tony Snow's video from Think Progress (No. 6 top blog post). In all of the hubbub, PressThink's Jay Rosen reminds bloggers why the definitions of "media" and "audience" are changing. And as some observers note, the whole debate boils down to an issue of truth vs. lies: whom do you trust to tell the truth, the media or the current administration? A BlogPulse graph plots the words "mainstream media/media" and "President Bush/Bush Administration" against words dealing with telling the truth or telling lies. And here's the result:

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 12:13 PM

Never let it be said that bloggers are empty in the ego department. News that blogger Robert Scoble (today's sixth most-blogged personality) is leaving Microsoft (for Podtech Network Inc) is by far the biggest blog news of the day. So much so that over the weekend, Scoble himself had to set the record straight about why he's leaving, and that piece of writing is today's No. 2 most-cited blog post. The blogger at Publishing 2.0 likens it to the Pope leaving Catholicism, while another simply wishes him well.

And that's not all...
And what's the most-cited news story? Bloggers meeting with other bloggers: the recently completed DailyKos convention of progressive/liberal bloggers held over the weekend in Las Vegas. "Cogito, ergo blog," writes the Mahablogger ("I think, therefore I blog").

World Cup fun and games
Before the FIFA World Cup soccer championship began last Friday, Mighty Optical Illusions deocrated soccer balls representing each country and asked readers to explain the themes. And check out the varied topics discovered by searching the posts in today's No. 13 most-blogged phrase, "watching the World Cup." They encompass everything from watching the games on a rainy weekend to small-screen viewing (why?) to riots in Mogadishu, where residents protested when Islamic leaders prevented them from watching the games on "evil" television. And the knitters are back at it with the Knitting World Cup, whereby knitters (who did the same during the summer Olympics) create knitting projects from opening game (June 9) to final match (July 9).

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:25 AM

Is a constitutional amendment that bans gay marriage -- BlogPulse's 7th-most common phrase today and the subject of seven of today's top 40 news stories -- what's REALLY on people's minds? Only in the context of other issues, and only because it's now on the agenda, apparently. Other issues seem to generate more discussion and concern, including the simple mention of "divorce" (which at a 50% rate among first marriages seems a much better target for something that undercuts the institution, wouldn't you think?). A BlogPulse trend graph plots discussion about divorce, gay marriage (with December spikes associated with a Massachusetts' legal ruling allowing gay marraige), the war in Iraq and gas prices:

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 02:02 PM

What keeps us entertained? What keeps us engaged? TV and sports, that's what, and a BlogPulse Trend graph today compares buzz about three major events: one past, one recently past and one future: The Super Bowl, the "American Idol" season (hence the weekly peaks) and the FIFA World Cup soccer championship games, which kick off on Friday:

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 12:13 PM

It's apparent the blogosphere has a very serious side when, in addition to popular citations today for the Blue Collar Comedy Tour v3.0 (today's third most-popular phrase), the season finale of "The Sopranos" (No. 2) and 98,657 search results for "Britney Spears," the words "human rights standards" pop to the top of the list of the most popular keywords typed in the last 24 hours by bloggers. And it's fueled by a Los Angeles Times piece about attempts to remove the prohbition of such standards from newly revised military rules governing the treatment of military detainees. Coulnd't help but notice this blog entry from a soldier's wife and other commentary from bloggers.

Speaking of serious...
Also showing up on the serious meter is former Veep and former Presidential candidate Al Gore, (today's third-burstiest person) whose "Inconvenient Truth" documentary (fourth most-cited link) about global warming keeps creeping up in popularity, fueled primarily by word-of-mouth recommendations, many of them from folks who went in skeptical and came out impressed, and others who are reviewing the reviews:

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 05:55 PM

Blogs have changed the way news is written and delivered, and the evidence is clear among today's blog discoveries. First, today's No. 29 top blog post comes from PR expert Todd Defren in San Francisco, who debuts the "Social Media Press Release," which is more than a written release sent out over news wires. In the emerging PR world, he says, press releases will contain tons of info: the news and headlines, RSS feeds, MP3 files for podcasts, video links, embedded graphics and photos, tags and other syndicated feeds, and contact information that includes name, email, Skye and phone numbers, instant message IDs, blogs and relevant blog posts. Blogger Neville hobson endorses the format...but asks the big question: Is the media ready for it?
Kevin Dugan joins the discussion, noting that Defren is likely to get praise and criticism.

Who owns 2.0?
Another curious discussion takes places today about the term "Web 2.0," often used to describe the evolution of the Internet from its rudimentary early stages into, well, whatever it's becoming. The folks at O'Reilly/CMP claim they own it, a claim that draws plenty of comments. Does it need a name at all, asks Ben Ramsey? Discuss.

New news anchors
Now that the three traditional news networks have firmed up their plans for evening new anchors, who's getting the buzz? Time will tell in the long run, but in the hypothetical short run, it's all about Katie:

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:46 AM

Sometimes, you just gotta love technology. Like today, when BlogPulse's list of the most-discussed personalities in the blogosphere includes the name of "Yay Taylor," who isn't a person at all but rather a very common utterance among bloggers who typed a congratulatory "Yay, Taylor!" (or "yay! Taylor won...") on their blogs after singer Taylor Hicks (today's most-blogged personality) was crowned winner of "American Idol" Wednesday night. Yay, Taylor, indeed.

Hangin' with Harry
Harry Potter fans are in attendance today as well, as actress Helen McCrory appears as the day's burstiest person now that she's being replaced in the Potter movies (because of pregnancy) by Helena Bonham Carter. Carter will now play the role of Bellatrix Lestrange in the upcoming "Order of the Phoenix" flick. Teen frenzy ensues.

A piece of their minds
Offering opinions freely in the blogosphere is CNN's Lou Dobbs, whose editorial about working folks is today's fourth most-cited news story (and causes LiveJournaler punkiejeannien to have a Stephen Stills flashback). Internet inventor Timothy Berners-Lee, speaking at an Ediburgh conference on the Weblogging Ecosystem (where key member sof the BlogPulse team are organizers/presenters), also speaks up to warn against a "dark Web" of tiered access. Discuss.

Happy Memorial Day!
BlogPulse will continue to spit out data over the holiday weekend, and the Newswire blog will return next Tuesday. In the meantime, enjoy the holiday and whatever it brings...

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:23 AM

There's consternation in the blogosophere today, with everyone wondering what those two Saudi guys were doing getting on a high school bus in Florida (the subject of today's No. 2 top blog post) and WiredNews printing documents it's not supposed to about NSA wiretaps (subject of today's most-cited link). Both items, of course, get at the question of how prepared the U.S. for what some are convinced could be the next terrorist attack...and others are conviced is another reason for government intrusion into private lives.

Privacy, indeed
The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Jim Nicholson, is today's third burstiest person for the simple fact that one of his employees took home some files with personally identifiable information on millionos of U.s. military vets...and the file was stolen from his house by burglars. "Thanks for serving" in this instance just seems pretty hollow.

Read it here
Speaking of Saudi Arabia, a Washington Post piece about Saudi textbooks whose religiously intolerant tone has supposedly been softened, is the subject of today's most-shared news story. Says Restless Mania in a sort of understated way, "we need some new friends."

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:16 AM

It took the weekend election of incumbent New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin (today's burstiest blog personality) and the opening of "The Da Vinci Code" movie (today's sixth most-blogged phrase) to push President George Bush into fourth place today among the blogosphere's most blogged-about people. "Da Vinci" star Tom Hanks and author Dan Brown share the No. 1-3 spots with staying-power Harry Potter. And what do fans think of the movie? "Better than I thought it would be" (but not as good as "Over the Hedge"), writes a LiveJournaler, while an M&M blogger liked the movie better than Hanks' mullet.

Buzz about the movie continued to build over the weekend to nearly 1.3% of all blog buzz, and is only now beginnng to drop off.



Visual blogging
How popular is a 24-hour Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in New York City? Popular enough that its grand opening this weekend, captured on the Apple web site, makes up today's eighth most-cited link with timed video of the loooooooong line. Really? A Louvre in Manhattan? Another time-lapsed video of late in the blogosphere is this animated map of FedEx planes arriving in Memphis in anticipation of a storm. (Click the "play" arrow; glad I wasn't a package in one of those).

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 03:13 PM

The time-space contiuum is all over the place in the blogosphere today, with a new interface for the photo-sharing site Flickr capturing attention as today's top blog post, followed by Google's latest new tool, Google Notebook (No.8). What's old, at least to some hard-core conservative bloggers, is President George Bush's "same old, same old" message on immigration reform.

Nine Months...Ad Nauseum (and no pun intended)
But what's risen to the top of today's most-trafficked news stories, amidst tales of NSA spying and Mexican fences, is a Washington Post piece "Forever Pregnant," on a new initiative to encourage women to be always at the ready to be pregnantly healthy. The Suburban Guerilla describes it as the "Department of Pre-Pregnancy," while Pacific Views can't help but notice that the health of potential fathers isn't even whispered. No need to ask for discussion: it already exists.

More New Stuff
Also popping today: the trailer for Oliver Stone's pending "World Trade Center" movie (No. 9 top link), announcement of free Skype phone calls (No. 6) and attacks on Al Gore before he's even taken his global warming message all that far.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 01:48 PM

Talk about seismic shifts? A few seem to be taking place today in the blogosphere. To wit:

PowerLiners' advice for Bush
Blogger John Hinderaker of the right-leaning PowerLine blog has strong (free) words for President George Bush about immigration, today's No. 5 most-cited blog post. Which suggest that the president's low poll numbers aren't because of bipartisan frustration with his performance but that some Republicans think he isn't acting Republican enough. There's a difference. Gateway Pundit is just one of many who picks up the free advice theme, and Mahablog offers some different insights about what's happening to the red-state frame of mind. "My jaw will drop if this comes true," the assessment of Hinderaker's advice from Scylla & Charybdis, is echoed by Michelle Malkin's "when pigs fly" metaphor. Which might apply to this news, too.

Congressional minimum wage?
Another item that's catching traction in the blogosphere (but fairly absent from mainstream media sources) is Sen. Hillary Clinton's recently introduced bill that would tie the nation's minimum wage to Congressional pay raises. Did Hillary just do something awesome? asks Daily Kos in today's No. 8 most-cited blog post. It's a short bill, and reaction so far ranges from "brilliant" to "jujitsu."

Cultural notoriety
Today's list of most-blogged personalities contains a strange combination...burstiest of which is USA Today reporter Leslie Cauley, whose Thursday article about the NSA's huge database of personal/business phone calls is causing consternation on Capitol Hill (and today's No. 35 most-cited news story). Then there's Chris Daughtry, whose boot off of "American Idol" this week ranks him second in blog buzz only to President Bush.

Have a laugh on Mother's Day
This YouTube video (one of today's most-cited links) provides a hilarious behind-the-scenes look at snapping the perfect photo for Mom on Mother's Day. A BlogPulse trend graph agrees.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 12:20 PM

When a New York ad agency sued a lone Maine blogger last week, everyone said it was a bad idea because it just gave the lone Maine blogger free PR. Which it did.

Apparently, the hierarchy of the Catholic Church didn't read BlogPulse, because continued threats to sue or boycott Dan Brown, author of the "The Da Vinci Code" novel, seem to be giving the upcoming flick (you guessed it) free PR. As if a movie based on a best-selling novel and starring Tom Hanks needed free PR. The lawlsuit/boycott talk is captured in today's No. 9 most-cited news story, with bloggers describing it as the "free speech" smackdown and the "Jesus copyright" issue. Andrew Sullivan notes that the movie is already selling out in some countries...in advance of its May 19 release.

Buzz is buildling
And what does a BlogPulse trend graph show when plotting the author of fiction against the Catholic Church....hmmmm:

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:39 AM

If you pay attention, you get the idea that powerful forces out there are trying to undermine the Internet as most everyone who knows and loves it has come to, well, know and love it.

Among today's evidence:
• Content control? The No. 29 top link from BoingBoing is a piece about a United Nations movement to undo content-sharing by extending copyright protections to the Web. The blogger at Generalized Nonsense sums up many bloggers'/Internet user's feelings: any attempt to regulate Internet content "will harm innovation and free speech on the Internet." It's an issue generating international concern as well, because such a move would affect everything from podcasting to YouTube to Google images and videos. And it might mean that watching my all-time favorite Sesame Street bit (the Martians!) wouldn't be possible over the Internet. (For whatever reason, it's today's 36th most-cited link).

• Net Neutrality And at Nos. 26 and 27 among today's most-cited news stories comes word that Democrat Ed Markey of Massachusetts has introduced the Network Neutrality Act, a bill intended to protect the Internet's open nature and prevent large communications companies from creating a two-tier Internet system - higher-priced broadband width for those who pay and less-functional access for everyone else. Tim Wu's analysis at Slate intones "the future of the Internet depends on it!" A BlogPulse search for the keywords "net neutrality" produces 4,100 results, meaning someone's paying attention. The issue has also produced a Save the Internet movement. Even Tim Berners Lee, one of the inventors of the Internet, is chiming in in support of Net Neutrality. And a BlogPulse trend graph shows interest on the rise:



Passings...or the power of one-liners?
"Luuuu-cy....you've got some 'splainin' to do!" Why does the late Desi Arnaz show up at No. 25 among today's burstiest people when he died in 1986? Here's why...a testament to the Internet power of one-liners. During Stephen Colbert's highly-blogged speech at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner last Saturday, he made a one-line reference to former Ambassador Joseph Wilson as the most famous U.S. husband since Desi Arnaz (context: Wilson is married to outed CIA operative Valerie Plame; Arnaz was the hubby of comedienne Lucille Ball).

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 12:26 PM

Two issues today provide great examples of how to duke it out in the blogosphere...and how to avoid the kind of duking that has the potential to backfire.

First is today's most-cited blog post from Juan Cole at Informed Comment, one of the blogosphere's most popular blogs (ranked No. 54 among BlogPulse profiles). The University of Michigan history professor consistently provides reasoned, contextual commentary on politics, current events, foreign policy and other issues. and yes, he's liberal. But he has a beef, because information that he posted in a private email discussion group has been made public by a conservative critic of his, so he does what people who have beefs with blog behavior do: he writes about it, exposes the critic, gives his side of the story and lets the readers decide. Rather eloquently, in fact.

Winds of Change calls the exchange "mouth-frothingly good." The blogger at Pacific Views takes a longer view the kind of slams that take place in the blogosphere, and does does Crooks and Liars. The result: open discussion on all sides of the issue.

Then there's this tactic...
The opposite side of the coin is provided by today's 16th-most-cited URL from Advertising Age magazine, the story of a New York ad agency that's suing a Maine blogger over his opinions, with which the agency doesn't agree. The agency is a contractor for Maine's tourism office; the blogger thinks the taxpayer money paid to the agency was ill-spent and he said so.

The blogger in question, Lance Dutson of the MaineWebReport, is already blogging about the various media outlets that have mentioned the big fish vs. little fish lawsuit.

Which is exactly why NOT to sue bloggers, points out Randy Charles Morin....because every Internet search for the New York ad agency for the coming months will turn up hits (already there) on the poor guy in Maine who got sued by the big overbearing Madison Avenue agency. Adds blogger KDPaine: "By suing the blogger, the New York ad agency guaranteed that the war would escalate out of the blogosphere and into the MSM (mainstream media)." And it has. Can anyone say, we could have told you so?

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:06 AM

It's not often that someone nudges into the No. 1-2 spots of the most-blogged-about personalities...spots usually reserved for President George Bush and the fictitious teenthrob Harry Potter. But comedian Steven Colbert has done it in a big way today, capturing No. 2 spot among BlogPulse's key people list for his "truthiness-inspired" speech at the White House Correspondent Dinner Saturday night.

In fact, 18 of today's top 40 most-cited URLs/links embedded in blog entries refer directly to either footage of his roasting peformance or transcripts and news coverage of his biting commentary in front of the big whigs he lampoons nightly on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report." Including the Prez himself, who apparently was not amused. Some of the one-liners from Colbert's talk make up four of the top five most-used phrases by bloggers.

When hackers attack
Elsewhere, some of the nation's right-leaning bloggers are recovering from a weekend denial-of-service attack that they claim was launched from computers somewhere in Saudi Arabia. The blogger at Urban Grounds has some pithy commentary on what's being called Internet Jihad.

Really?
Other curious discoveries in the blogosphere today...Daily Kos is hinting at a lobbyist-inspired sex ring in D.C.? MSNBC has some emerging scuttlebutt on the same issue. The Boston Globe's piece about hundreds of law that President Bush has tried to ignore/skirt is among the day's most-shared links, and Rush Limbaugh's guilty plea in a drug possession case in order to avoid prison is among today's top news stories.

Passings
Economics John Kenneth Galbraith, who died over the weekend at age 97, is today's burstiest person and is being remembered worldwide for his contributions to the study and knowledge of economics.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:28 AM

The burstiest people in the blogosphere represent the vastly different realms of reality (as re-created by the movie industry) and fantasy (as spun off by the movie industry).

The reality: Flight 93
David Beamer, the father of one of the passengers killed aboard Flight 93 in Pennsylvania on 9/11, ranks atop the list of burstiest people today for his thumbs-up review of the movie in the Opinion Journal. "It is not too soon for this story to be told, seen and heard," he writes. "But it is too soon for us to become complacent." Adds blogger Joe, at Joe's Dartblog: "There's something to be said for being made to remember."

The fantasy: Battlestar Galactica spinoff
Sci-fi fans are agog at plans for a Battlestar Galactica spinoff titled Caprica, and that's why producer David Eick is today's second-burstiest person with fellow producer William Adama at No. 3. The announcement is the subject of today's fourth most-shared link. The blogger at Raging Kraut, well, rages, while Poliblog is willing to give the effort the benefit of a doubt.

Google goes 3-D
Less than two months after acquiring Boulder-based @Last Software, Google has gone public with its free Sketchup 3-D download and a warehouse of 3-D images (todays No. 2 and 6 most-cited URLs, respectively). Random bloggers provide examples of the software's capabilities, including the Google logo itself.

Yahoo, too
Not to be outdone, Yahoo has released GoTV (today's No. 33 most-shared link) and Babelfish translation this week as well.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 02:05 PM

Lots of employer-employee relations issues crop up in the blogosphere today, now that Fox News' Tony Snow (today's 2nd-most-discussed and 7th-burstiest person in the blogosphere) has taken over for Scott McClellan in front of the White House microphone, an issue among today's top news stories. Of course, also making news is Snow's own assessments of the Bush White House and presidency of late, as captured by today's top blog post from Think Progress. A fox in the White House, quips one blogger. And no more was the appointment hinted at than commentators starting throwing around the "Snow job" term (they had to see if coming?)

Scoble, staying where I am
Also talking employment issues if Microsoft's blogger Robert Scoble, who takes a hard look at his employer, his job and his mission at the world's largest software maker in today's 5th-most-cited blog post. Will he un-do the anonymous blogger know as Mini-Microsoft?

Save the Internet...
A campaign to save the Internet from what some people view as a Congressional sell-out is picking up steam at TPM Cafe (today's No. 7 top blog post), with support now coming from Daily Kos as well.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 01:48 PM

Oh, the blogosphere can be filled with helpful advice, if you're an author who wants inside advice on how publishers determine a book's potential to hit the big time (subject of today's top blog post), or if you want to know how IT geeks can creatively take down less-than-ethical executives (No. 16 top blog post). A potential author comments, and some IT folks suggest IT Appreciation Day (just in case).

Up..and down
Today's two most-cited news stories tell a tale of up and down. As gasoline prices keep going up, former oilman President George Bush is watching his ratings continue to drop to a new low, with only 32% of Americans approving of his performance. Which no doubt leads to today's third most-cited news story, a New York Times piece about airlines considering standing-room-only seats as a way to get more from each gallon by cramming even more passengers into a giant airborne, metal tube. Like THAT will make getting to the restroom and around the snack cart a whole lot easier, eh?

Names in the news
Name-dropping is big today, too as recently fired CIA analyst Mary McCarthy (today's sixth most-cited personality) insists she wasn't the source of classified intelligence about secret prisons, and Fox correspondent Tony Snow's name is bandied about as the next White House press secretary. One blogger wonders if the Fox News execs will ask him to quit? And urban planners everywhere are mourning the death of Jane Jacobs, today's burstiest person, credited with modern-day thinking about the future and designs of modern cities. My hero!, exclaims one LiveJournaler.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 12:22 PM

If you want fun in the blogosphere, take advantage of the Da Vinci Code Quest code-cracking challenge issued today at the Official Google Blog. A lot of challenges, in fact, as the online contest featuring thousands of puzzlers is a partnership between Sony Pictures and Google in a buildup to release of the Da Vinci Code movie.

Blogosphere reading list
The LAist blog has a plug for an upcoming book The Lost Blogs: From Jesus to Jim Morrison by author Paul Davidson. And over at competitor Technorati, CEO Dave Sifry's "State of the blogosphere" is today's most-cited blog post, with a claim of 35 million blogs. That compares with about 26.4 million in the BlogPulse index. There's general enthusiasm among some bloggers for the continued growth, although Gaping Void does the math and estimates that if these growth rates continue, nearly one-third of the entire population will have a blog in just three short years. Other commentary examines the numbers while the Daily Nugget veteran blogger thanks readers ("all 23 of them") for keeping the art alive.

Michael Totten trots on...
World traveller/blogger Michael J. Totten has made it back to Iraq - something he set out to do by driving in from Turkey. "Awesome...required reading" is the review from GZ Expat, Part II blogger.

Blogging and crime?
Did suspected killer Kevin Ray Underwood (today's No. 6 burstiest person) hint at his cannibilistic tendencies in his blog? That's the subject of today's fifth most-cited news story. Also making crime-related news: recently indicted former Illinois Gov. George Ryan (burstiest person) and a certain President whose iPod selections just might not be legal.

Red state? Blue state? Pink state
For those contemplating the upcoming primary and general elections, today's No. 15 top link from the Washington Post examines the evolution of the red-blue-state phenomenon...and how the colors seem to be fading.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:16 AM

The blog universe can be such a fickle place -- early in the week, liberal-leaning blogs were all over Seymour Hersh's New Yorker article about U.S. military plans for attacking Iran (since Sunday, it remains the blogosphere's top new story and most-cited link), while here at mid-week, conservative-leaning bloggers are all over the immigration rallies taking place throughout the U.S. But some of the best language on the debate comes from Hispanic blogger La Queen Sucia (today's No. 18 top blog post), who addresses point by point some of the issues raised in recently snarky e-mails she's received.

Which raises the issue: just what are the issues du jour over the past six months?A BlogPulse Trend Graph takes a look at some of them:




More language...about a boy's hat?
Gawker Media today recounts an e-mail exchange (today's No. 9 top blog post) among a group of New York parents over a lost-and-found post about a boy's hat. Garfield Ridge renames it the Park Slope Hat Spat, while a LiveJournaler might just prefer Amityville.

Phone jamming and other discoveries
The name of James Tobin appears among today's burstiest (No. 3) amid charges that some of the phone-jamming (for which Bush campaign operative Tobin has already been convicted) of Democratic call centers during the 2002 elections might have been directed from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue? Still speculation at this point.

Meanwhile, another country is looking at building another fence, the Engadget crowd reports that Microsoft's Vista has been successfully installed on a Mac (and Daring Fireball has more thoughts on Apple's Boot Camp Mac-to-Windows download), world traveler Michael J. Totten is trying to drive back into Iraq, and for beer lovers who also love ice cream, Ben & Jerry's is rolling out Black and Tan ice cream (today's No. 17 most-cited link). Fer real. Sold by the pint, one blogger points out.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:59 AM

Eyewitness accounts are on tap today in the blogosphere, including the answer to this question: What's it like to live in New Orleans, seven months after Katrina blew threw? It's Not OK, says docBrite blogger (today's No. 5 most-cited blog post), a Crescent City resident who offers a list of problems with basic services - police patrols, electricity, water, transportation infrastructure, garbage pickup, medical care and debris removal. Not to mention the continuing discovery of more dead bodies. Kadymae blogger, who's driven close to the devastation, won't go any closer....ever. Witchofthedogs notes the importance New Orleans was given in the President's recent State of the Union speech.

Inside the immigration rallies
Bloggers have differing reactions to the immigration rallies being held throughout the U.S. in recent weeks, including PowerLine's focus on fringe groups who are getting involved to Wizbang's wonder that Democrats are recruiting votes at the rallies to columnist Mark Steyn's examination of the legal, political, economic and moral issues involved in the debate (today's No. 20 most-cited link). ThinkProgress documents a radio DJ's plan to just kill whomever crosses the border (he later claimed it was satire), while Echidne of the Snakes wonders when one issue (Congressional integrity, lobby reform, campaign finance reform, an exit strategy, Social Security) will stick, at least for longer than yelling TV pundits/slipper legislators can harangue about it before moving to the next topic.

You're in the Army now...or not
Another key issue today involves the New York Times' examination of retention rates among current U.S. Army officers, (today's No. 4 top link). Some bloggers are dissecting the Times' analysis of the numbers, while others look at the human toll of the Army's incentive plans to keep soldiers in uniform.

Blog funnies
Today's grins come from today's No. 2 top blog post, which features the top 100 best April Fool's jokes of all time, and BoingBoing's recipe (No. 33) for the Rapid Carbonic Geyser (you've been warned: read all the way through for cautions and hazards).

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:33 AM

For those who were wondering what happened to the Valerie Plame investigation, all of the key players are baaaack....and their presence is felt in today's blog rankings. With news reports indicating that President Bush himself authorized the leaks of classified information by indicted VP aide "Scooter" Libby (today's most-blogged phrase), the old familiar names are back among today's bursty people -- Libby, former New York Times report Judith Miller, special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald and Plame, the CIA agent who was outed, apparently in retaliation for her husband's criticsm of the intelligence that led to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Fine art, asks Political Bloviation? Leaker in Chief, asks the Accidental Blogger?

Like Mack, in Yertle the Turtle
One of my favorite Dr. Seuss stories is Yertle the Turtle, and when the name of Harry Taylor appeared as today's burstiest person in the blogosphere, I scratched my head. Harry who? I wondered. At a gathering with President Bush in North Carolina, he stood up and gave a small but eloquent piece of his mind to the Lea...er, Commander in Chief, as captured by Shakespeare's Sister blogger and Think Progress. (Mack, the lone turtle at the bottom of a thousand-turtle stack, finally spoke up shook the throne of Yertle, the turtle king, for those who don't know...).

Neither here nor there
Odds and ends from the blogosphere: Meredith Viera is moving from "The View" into Katie Couric's seat at "The Today Show," Powazek blogger wants an end to the term "user-generated content," the Department of Homeland Security has more than one accused sex offender and TPM Cafe blogger hopes the U.S. will listen to Israel about how to deal with Iran.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:56 AM

Bad behavior seems to be today's running theme, what with U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney the subject of an arrest warrant for her run-in with Capitol police and Homeland Security official Brian J. Doyle (today's No. 2 burstiest person) under arrest for soliciting a teen for sex over the Internet (today's No. 21 most-cited news story).

As for the former, Georgia blogger Dignan, self-described "idealist and dreamer wandreing in a desert of cynicism," is so embarrassed by his elected representative that he's announcing his candidacy for her seat in Congress (today's No. 29 top blog post). The Palm Tree Pundit calls it "good news for embarrassed Georgians."

As to the latter, Captain's Quarters blog calls Doyle's arrest the result of "the gang that couldn't vet straight" and questions the appointee screening process at federal levels. Under a "Shadenfreude" headline, Mahablog examines a variety of troubling issues that arise when a top-ranking Homeland Security official gives out personal information so freely on his headlong visit to a sting operation.

"The Awesome Deferred"
A piece at Something Awful is today's 17th most-cited link for doing a little math about the cost so far of the Iraq War...and what $250 billion (with a b) could have otherwise purchased...such as 45 skyscrapers, full four-year scholarships for 7.2 million students, and $16,000 and a plane ticket to the U.S. for every adult in Iraq. Discuss. And remember this?

Springy stuff
What do a person's thoughts turn to as spring approaches? A BlogPulse trend graph has a few hints...

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:07 AM

There's a little something for everyone today, and that includes the weekend re-design of the New York Times Web site, the topic of today's second most-cited news story and primary source of today's news for bloggers. Gawker Media likes the eventuality of some of the new features; Apartment Therapy wonders whether readability has been sacrificed for design.

No more 4 a.m. alarms for Katie
NBC's Katie Couric, the belle of the "Today Show," is today's ninth most-blogged-about personality for announcing she'll jump ship to anchor the CBS evening news. Who will take Katie's place?

Apple in 30
Today's No. 9 top blog post from Engadget details 30 years in Apple products, from the original Apple 1 to today's MacBook Pro. You've come a long way. So have keyboards, the top 10 weirdest of which are featured today at fosfor gadgets.

The GOP: In flux
Now that Rep. Tom DeLay has resigned from Congress, he's not only today's most-blogged-about person, he's also the subject of six of today's most-cited news stories and his party is under examination for its emerging role as a religious party, at least according to commentator Kevin Phillips. And maybe even . Sen. John McCain is joining the bandwagon?

Feminism's many challenges
Among today's top blog posts is Dr. Sanity's re-purposing of an interview about the custom of female circumcision, and one blogger's reaction honestly questions just which culture is obsessed with what kind of thinking.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 04:46 PM

So spending 12 days in Alaska, I've discovered, makes you think about things other than blogging and politics and technology and the burstiest stuff in the blogosophere. Like how to stay warm while touring the Fairbanks World Ice Art Championship sculpture park when it's 15 degrees outside. Or how to avoid the moose that wander across highways and side streets at will. Or how to keep one's hair from freezing while soaking in 104-degree hot springs water.

Activity flurries
But the past few days have been busy nonetheless, what with the start of the 2006 baseball season ("happy opening day" is today's most-blogged phrase), the not-so-welcome advent of Daylight Savings Time and the furious arrival of the 2006 tornado season.

Best blogs
Over at Wampum, the best 2005 Koufax Blog Awards have finally been announced (today's No. 3 top blog post) for the best liberal-leaning blogs. Among the winners: Crooks-'n-'Liars, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, Unclaimed Territory and Shakespeare's Sister, among others.

Probably not what they expected
Today's fifth most-cited blog post from the Auto Blog provides links to make-it-yourself commercials that GM probably never intended for the Chevy Tahoe. A LiveJournaler joins the anti-gas-guzzler fun.

Blog bizarre-ities
Couldn't help but note these distrurbing blog discoveries, either. One of the day's most popular links provides tongue-in-cheek (but creepy, just the same) tips on how to avoid snakes on airplanes, while two other popular links, from Citizen Scientist and Prison Planet describe Dr. Erik Pianka's chilling plan (today's No. 2-3 burstiest person) for keeping worldwide population in check. "You first, fella," offers e-Claire blogger.

Gators? Really?
Bloggers apparently were caught off guard as much as other sports pundits by the Florida Gators' NCAA win over UCLA. A BlogPulse trend graph shows the Gators never gained the traction, even though they still took home the trophy...

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 12:44 PM

Who's a legitimate journalist and who's not? That's the issue being asked today, not only in today's top blog post from Crooks and Liars, where conservatives are discussing the issue of plagiarism, and from Microsoft's Robert Scoble at Scobleizer, where the discussion addresses the question: who's a credible journalist and who's not? THAT discussion, of course, triggered Nicholas Carr's post that outlines the seven rules of corporate blogging.

Speaking of Microsoft
Since we're on the topic, Microsoft fans are not happy that the long-awaited Vista upgrade has been delayed. Again. And won't be ready for prime time by the prime holiday shopping season. Reactions range from usual Windows complaints to Mini-Microsoft blogger's call for an outright firing of the company leadership. Today's No. 3 top-cited link also looks at the Windows phenom. Other bloggers join the discussion.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 03:21 PM

Good vs. bad, good vs. evil. They're concepts that arise in the blogosphere on topics ranging from the state of the economy to the state of U.S. foreign policies.

One of today's top blog posts, from Caterina, raises the issue of starting a company in this economy....good or bad? Even though the discussion emanated in California, it's resonating in Germany and and elsewhere.

Over there
No. 4 among today's top blog posts comes from former UN Ambassador Madeline Albright, who puts forth the theory that "good vs. evil" may make sense in general thinking but not as foreign policy by a major superpower. The Art of War blogger, obviously, disagrees. The Letter from Here blogger gets nostalgic.

Passings...
Country music's Buck Owens is among today's most-blogged people. He died at age 76 over the weekend from heart failutre.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 02:14 PM

Blogger support for Abdul Rahman (today's No. 3 most-blogged-about person), an Afghan man who is facing a death sentence (today's top phrase) for converting to Christianity 15 years ago. Reactions range from all-out support to cautionary explanations of what happens when theocratic governments take hold. Blogger Michelle Malkin (today's No. 3 top blog) is leading the charge to save Rahman's life.

Feet (and mouth) to the fire
Also hot today is the subject of "truthiness," particularly that of the President of the United States, including examinations at Crooks & Liars (today's No. 2 top blog post) and Talking Points Memo. Slipping and spinning, asks David Corn?

Vista? Keep waiting
Maybe it comes as a surprise, maybe it doesn't, but Windows Vista is being put on the back burner again. A good day for Apple, wonders Photoshop News?

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:39 AM

The three-year anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq provides the perfect setting for a mixed bag of blogger analysis today, from Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld's op-ed in the Washington Post piece about what's been gained in three years (today's second most-cited news story) vs. retired Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton's call for Rumsfeld's resignation in a New York Times op-ed. Think Progress posts a three-year timeline of the Iraq invasion (today's No. 26 top blog post).

While former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi (today's burstiest person) says a civil war had already begun (No. 7 top news story), Gateway Pundit notes the lack of active protest against the war (today's No. 5 top blog post) and blames the Democrats.

A BlogPulse trend graph shows opinions are still mixed:



More political punditry
Kevin Phillips, the man who predicted the emergence of the conservative/Republican right, is getting lots of ink today for his new book on "American Theocracy," (another top new story being cited today by bloggers). Is he a conservative turning against the right, asks Daily Kos? Is theocratic thinking part and parcel of the Bush Administration, asks Jesus Politics?

Entertaining thoughts
The film "V for Vendetta," the weekend box-office leader, manages to land among today's most-cited links (No. 5). AMySpace blogger places it among his most-anticipated movies of 2006. And Futurama fans are excited that another batch of episodes isin the works. "Long live the hyno-toad," gushes a LiveJournaler.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:35 AM

Everyone who's Irish today (or claims to be) is taking time to recognize St. Patrick's Day. How do we know? Among today's key blog phrases are St. Patrick's Day itself (No. 14 key phrase) and one of the holiday's most notable foods, corned beef and cabbage (what? no green beer?). The Art of Getting By blogger has a thoughtful essay on all things Irish. That other March pasttime is also there, evidenced by the phrases "March Madness", followed by "office pools" and "NCAA tournament." Which gets more buzz? You might be surprised:




Stirring rants
The blogosphere this week contains some gems, too...essays, videos and a "quote of the week" worth pointing out, including AmericaBlog.com's plea for an end to sloppy journalism (today's No. 9 top blog post), a video of actor James Spader's "Boston Legal" rant about the deteriorating of legal rights (and outrage) in America (featured at No. 6 blog post from Crooks & Liars blog), and this "quote of the week" from Wayne Besen's blog.

Maj. Mosquito?
And couldn't help but notice this "huh?" story from the BBC, about Pentagon plans for an insect army? (today's' No. 20 most-cited link). "Creepy," comments Adam's Life blogger. Indeed.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:23 AM

Sometimes, it's worth the price of admission to just sit back and let the bloggers spout off on whatever's on their minds, because it's some of the best entertainment in town. Today's offerings:

Evil twin theory?
Today's top blog post, from Talking Points Memo, poses the theory of the evil-twin brother to explain the resignation of Claude Allen, President Bush's former domestic policy advisor, after he was arrested for a shoplifting spree. I had one, too! says American Princess blogger. TMP Cafe blogger just has some fun with the whole scenario.

Security tricks...in basketball
You wouldn't really expect a technology/security expert to discuss basketball, but Bruce Schneier does just that at Schneier on Security (today's No. 4 top blog post), as he details a clever prank by UC/Berkeley's student basketball fans against a star USC player. "Cleverer than the feds," comments The American Scene blogger.

Head-scratching time
Blogger Seth Godin takes a moment to examine blogging in general, and Search Engine Watch's Danny Sullivan takes a hard look at constantly-expanding Google (today's No. 24 top link).

Political commentary? Yeah, got that, too
Among today's discussions: Did the President sign the wrong budget bill into law? What is Molly Ivins' latest message for the Democrats? Salon.com puts the Abu Ghraib file in context, and online. And Jerry Falwell opens his mouth, which is about all it takes these days for him to make waves.

Occupational buzz: tax time
Federal taxes are due in less than a month. Are you ready? Cheating? A BlogPulse trend graph plots the buzz. For the curious, the unusual spike is the result of tax-related blog spam.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 12:06 PM

Buzz is starting to filter through the blogging universe, now that the 2006 Bloggies have been awarded to the best blogs of the year. Bostonist (not a winner) has some of the awards. Among the winners: Boing Boing (a consistent top-ranked blog at BlogPulse.com) and PostSecret, Frank Warren's postcard blog of anonymous secrets, which was profiled today in USA Today.

No more Chef?
Singer Isaac Hayes, the voice of Chef on Comedy Central's "South Park," is today's 13th most-blogged-about personality for quitting the show because of its spoof about Scientology (today's top and No. 19 news story). "Hypocrisy piled on top of hypocrisy" is one blogger's reaction; Delusions of Grandeur notes other discrepancies in the singer's sudden attack of conscience.

Google on a tear
Google's managed to create more buzz in the past week, first by snapping up Writely/Upstart (today's No. 12 top blog post), then by launching Google Mars (today's top link) and then by acquiring 3-D software firm @Last Software this week (today's No. 16-17 most-cited links). Google's also being asked to turn over search data to the federal government, and the judge overseeing the case is today's fifth-burstiest person.

Passings
Today's burstiest personalities make the list for tragedies this week: former game show host Peter Tomarken was killed in a plane crash in California, and Tara Rose McAvoy, Miss Deaf Texas, was killed by a train.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:19 AM

It's a day for big shifts in thinking, starting with Sen. Russ Feingold, a possible 2008 Democratic presidential nominee and today's No. 2 burstiest person for proposing a vote today that would censure President George Bush (today's top top news story and No. 3 top blog post) for exceeding executive powers and ignoring judicial oversight for the NSA domestic spying program. Brilliant at Breakfast is obviously thrilled to see a Democrat with a backbone; blogger Don Surber calls it more adolescent politics. What does a BlogPulse trend graph say about the "i-word" vs. the "c-word"?



Chile Breaks the Gender Barrier
From the stage of world leaders comes Chile's gender-shifting decision to elect Michelle Bachelet (today's No. 16 most-blogged-about personality) as its first woman president (today's No. 3 most-cited news story). "Wouldn't it be something?..." says a wisftul U.S.-based Magpie blogger. Former Yugoslav presidetn Slobodan Milosevic is today's No. 3 top person after being found dead in his cell at The Hague over the weekend, and former Iraq President Saddam Hussein is in the news because apparently thought about what might happen in post-war Iraq...perhaps more than his country's "liberators" did?

Speaking out
Two people are capturing attention for speaking out, including former British soldier Ben Griffin, today's burstiest person because of an interview in which he describes his moral decision to leave the British military rather than continue fighting what he calls an immoral "mess" in Iraq. And at No. 15 among today's burstiest people is Dr. Wafa Sultan, a Syrian-born woman whose criticism of Muslim extremists (today's No. 6 most-cited news story) is bringing her praise...and death threats. "Meet the voice of reason," says one blogger; the blogger at Sisu offers perspective and background.

BlogPulse News
The Olympics are over, Josh Mankiewicz is back from vacation, and his Mank Blog is back on MSNBC's Dateline, which receives weekly blog data from BlogPulse.com and Technorati in a blogosphere roundup.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:46 AM

"Crash" crashed the Oscars Sunday night, and buzz about who won (and who didn't) captured 8 of today's top 10 key phrases, while movie celebs dominated the most-discussed people list as well. Celeb-discussion included nods to host Jon Stewart (at No. 2, mixed reviews), best supporting actor George Clooney (No. 3), best actress Reese Witherspoon (No. 5), supporting actress Rachel Weisz (No. 7), best actor Philip Seymour Hoffman (No. 8), and actress nominee Felicity Huffman (No. 9). Not to be outdone, Tom Cruise, Jenny McCarty, Rob Schneider and Paris Hilton took home Razzy Awards in today's 33rd-most-cited news story.

Creativity in Legos, on film
As someone who has wrestled with more than her share of Lego creations in the endeavor known as motherhood, let me congratulate the winners featured in Tech Blog's Top 10 Strangest Lego Creations, today's ninth-most-cited link (and I thought the helicopter thing was hard). Equally creative is today's No. 2, 4 and 7 most-cited links, the opening credits to "The Simpson's" acted by real people with real nuclear plant smokestacks and scaneed grocery-store babies. D'oh! says MorgansMinstrel at LiveJournal. Too much time on someone's hands? asks an otherwise impressed Laist blogger.

Leakbusters?
When the news leaks out, and it's rarely good, who's the White House gonna call? The FBI and CIA, apparently, according to today's most-cited news story from The Washington Post, which is threatening news reporters with espionage laws for "leaks." Conversation is already fairly hefty.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:34 AM

Today's one of those days when you skim the topics, issues, people and sources that bloggers are opining about and you realize what an increasingly huge, diverse place the blogosphere is...

Live, from Iraq
As Americans continue to lose confidence in President George Bush's ability to deal with the war in Iraq, the continuing Katrina aftermath and other issues, bloggers in Iraq, especially today's No. 3 top blog post from Iraq the Model, give a disturbingly real sense of what it's like to live in that country. "Prepare for going back to your hole Saddam," writes Omar, on a day when bombings prevented him from going to work so he watched Hussein's televised trial instead, "but this time, nobody is going to pull you out.

Technology...both ends of the spectrum
Now that Apple's Steve Jobs has announced his company's newest products, a multi-media Mac mini (today's most-shared link) and a Hi-Fi iPod stereo box (today's No. 2 and No. 4 top blog posts), let's just say some Apple fanatics will be happy for more months to come (while some are underwhelmed). But all is not well in the land of technology, as today's top blog post from Think Progress reveals. Seems the GOP in Minnesota is using a CD to track and log its members' opinions...without their knowledge. Mike the Mad Biologist notes that NIH researchers, if they engaged in the same violations of privacy, would face fines and jail time.

Women take control
Now that South Dakota is in line to take the hardest line on abortion, women are taking control, as evidenced by today's No. 5 top blog post from "Molly," who notes that women historically take health issues into their owns when the medical, legal and legislative professions abandon them. Her abortion manual is one such attempt. "Click. Print. Save," advises one LiveJournaler, while not endorsing do-it-your-self procedures. Important information, says Gramina, for those who consider South Dakota "the canary in our national coal mine." But a commenter on Bubba's blog finds the information irresponsible.

The new itnernational threat: Islamism?
Today's most-shared news story comes from a fairly new source: the Danish Internavisen Jyllands-Posten, where a group of authors/scholars have signed the Manifesto: Together Facing the New Totalitarianism. BlogPulse's Conversation Tracker finds an intension discussion around the manifesto in just a few day's time.

Oscar hunk buzz...
How is "The Daily Show's" Jon Stewart faring in discussion about other leading men for this year's Oscars? Quite well, thanks, according to today's BlogPulse Spotlight.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:38 AM

While Monday's bloggers mourned the deaths of well-known actors, today's blogosphere includes numerous tributes to another actors, Dennis Weaver, star of "Gunsmoke" and "McCloud", and science-fiction writer Octavia Butler, 58, who fell outside her home near Seattle on Saturday. Both are among today's burstiest blog personalities.

Standing tall
Butler, in particular, is being singled out for her writing achievements, not only as one of the few African-American women who wrote science ficition but also because she was the only sci-fi writer to win a MacArthur Foundatoin "genius grant." Writer Steven Barnes' personalized tribute at Dar Kush is today's most-cited blog post.

Censored, Boing Boing fights back
Without fail, BoingBoing is consistently one of the most popular blogs in BlogPulse's rankings, so it's understandable why the BB staff is miffed at BoingBoing being blocked/censored in several Middle Eastern countries (today's fourth-most-cited blog post). So it's fighting back...against the U.S. makers of Smart Filter, whose technology labels web sites as offensive or not, such that posting a photo of Michaelangelo's "David" classifies as "nudity." BoingBoing's team is not making any compromising deals, and bloggers are applauding them for it.

Oscar Buzz Builds
Check out today's BlogPulse Spotlight for a look at which nominess for best director are capturing the most traction.

Olympic look-back
Bodie crashed and burned, but the Flying Tomato flew to new fame during the recently completed 2006 Winter Olympics. BlogPulse trend graph captures some of the buzz...

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:31 AM

When mean-spirited, anti-gay protesters show up at the military funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq, who you gonna call? The Patriot Guard Riders, that's who, and they're the subject of today's second-most-shared link among bloggers. As one of the group's cycle-ridin' leaders (and burstiest blog person) Don Woodrick explains eloquently: “The most important thing we can do is let families know that the nation cares. When a total stranger gets on a motorcycle in the middle of winter and drives 300 miles to hold a flag, that makes a powerful statement."

The bikers are showing up, sometimes thousands strong, to drown out protesters and shield families from protesters organized by Fred Phelps, a so-called minister at a Kansas church who organizes tasteless protests at military funerals. Good for them! says one blogger of the bikers' efforts. Another LiveJournaler calls the guys on wheels "patriotism at its finest."

Re-classifying once-public documents
When does a public document become secret again? And who decides? That's the discussion taking place, based on a New York Times story detailing a massive re-classification of once-public documents at the National Archives by government intelligence agencies (today's top news story). ChangeLog puts the effort in the same category as 1984. "This is not how democracy works," insists Shakespeare's Sister. Norwegianity chalks it up to more scary tactics from "Republican Bizarro World." It took a few pages of blog comments to find one (Discarded Lies) that called the move much ado about nothing.

Dead parrot, anyone?
Find out why I can't contain my excitement at the BlogPulse Spotlight blog.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:35 AM

Just goes to show you that a little media exposure goes a long way, which explains why singer Kelly Clarkson, the "American Idol" winner who snapped up a few Grammy Awards this week, is today's second most-blogged personality and why a real-estate evaluation web site called Zillow.com is among today's most-shared links after being featured this week on NPR.

Apple/iPod speculation abounds
Two other popular blog posts today discuss Apple and its iPod/iTunes domination, which will either expand if the company acquires Palm (today's No. 3 top blog post) or diminish if open-source Songbird takes off (the No. 2 top post) as an iTunes competitor, depending on whom you believe. Jake's Blog isn't all that impressed with Songbird; neither is the blogger at Insignificant Thoughts, pointing out that as an open-source application, "there will be 30,000,000,000,000,000,000 point releases fixing one bug at a time 30 times a week."

The cartoons...debuted in Egypt?
Today's top blog post, from Rantings of a Sandmonkey, notes that the editorial cartoons of the prophet Muhammed, the ones causing riots in the Middle East, also appeared without comment last fall in Egyptian newspapers. The Freedom for Egyptians blog (No. 10 blog post) seconds the motion. Operating on the notion that humor might perhaps work some magic, Iowahawk blogger offers satire on a similar cartoon brou-ha-ha brewing in the Midwest, as in Wisconsin.

Valentine's Day is for...eating?
If you wanna know what your sweetie has in mind for Valentine's Day this year, get ready to chow down:

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:49 AM

Families intent on harmonious get-togethers often agree NOT to discuss topics of religion, politics or science....but family harmony is NOT apparent in the blogosphere today. All three of those topics, however, are:

Religion
Tensions remain high and violence has erupted over Muslim protests against the publication of Western cartoons that feature the prophet Muhammed (today's No. 13 top phrase). The Boston Globe's "We Are All Danes Now" essay (today's No. 2 news story), Mark Steyn's "Sensitivity Can Have Brutal Consequences" (No. 4 news story) and Slate's Christopher Hitchens' "The Case for Mocking Religion" (No. 9 news story) all examine the various short- and long-term implications of multiculturalism, respect and extremism in the modern world. Talking Points Memo does the same with historical context thrown in.

Politics
Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez was on the hot seat this week, as Senators grilled him on the Bush Administration's rationale for a FISA run-around that they say allows them to spy on U.S. citizens without legal warrants or oversight. Blogger Glenn Greenwald live-blogged the hearings.

Science
When NASA's global warming guru, Dr. James Hansen, went public about government attempt to squelch science last week, he started something. Astronomers who were worried that their niche would be next (the subject of today's No. 4 blog post)...are more worried now. Because of this (No. 5 blog post). And these reactions.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 01:19 PM

Let the politicos debate the nuances of tonight's State of the Union address (today's seventh most-cited phrase) by President Bush. The blogosphere is filled with so much more, such as:

Censorship in China
More than a few bloggers, including Google's own official rep (today's No. 3 top blog post), are discussing Google's presence in China and the built-in censorhip (or is it filtering?) the company has pursued in order to do business in the government-run country. For example, search for images of "tiananmen" in Chinese and then search in English...notice the difference? It's those pesky tanks. Search Views offers a slogan: We Shall Undercome.

Grins for the day
Get a few giggles at today's most-cited link, a video called "Fear of Girls," (could be subtitled, "What Really Goes on in Gamers' Minds") and the aptly named Chewy blog (No. 5 ranking today), featuring the eloquence of Star Wars' Chewbacca.

Truthiness, indeed
Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert is the subject of today's No. 24 most-cited link in an interview at The AV Club, and some bloggers traveling in Manila review the cuisine at Jollibee's, a fast-food Filpino restaurant featuring the Yumburger, among other delicacies.

Warrants, whistleblowers
No. 22 among today's top blog posts (from the American Library Association shows that getting search warrants doesn't have to be such a big deal after all, and the fifth most-cited link details Newsweek's investigation of Bush Administration lawyers who tried to curtail Presidential powers in the war on terror. It's already generating commentary and conversation.

Passings
Author and playwright Wendy Wasserstein, who died of cancer on Monday, is the day's burstiest person.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:53 AM

Just when you think you can guesstimate what bloggers will be talking about from day to day, they throw you a loop. Such that today's two burstiest people are boxers Manny Pacquiao and Erik Morales, in which the former beat the latter at a match in Las Vegas. Filipino bloggers are crazy for their newfound hero.

Vote's in: "West Wing's out
TV fans are mourning the pending loss of NBC's "West Wing," which is why actors Jimmy Smits amd Alan Alda, and NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly are among today's most-discussed personalities as well. So is the late actor John Spencer, whose untimely real-life death several weeks ago apparently sealed the show's fate. (Smits and Alda are running against each other for president in the show, a well-timed theme given the contents of today's third most-cited news story about election fraud...and how easy it would be (was?) to execute. The govtv blog calls it "vapor voting." The story's starting to generate conversation.

What are TV fans watching?




So long, whale
The BBC continues to rank among the most-cited new sources by bloggers, this week no doubt because of the whale tale (the day's second most-cited news story). The GlasgowGal blogger happened to hear the news while reading The Whale Rider. Coincidence? You decide.

PostSecret...more revealing
PostSecret continues to be one of the most popular blogs (No. 5 today) for the anonymous postcards that carry people's innermost secrets. Site owner Frank Warren has started adding email commentary from viewers (and senders), to give it an even more personal touch.

BlogPulse update: LiveJournal
If you encounter "Page Not Found" errors while clicking on LiveJournal entries today, manually remove the "www" from the URL to get the link to work. Over the weekend, LiveJournal changed its standard URL format and removed the www from links, which now start directly with "username.livejournal.com" instead of www.livejournal.com/username. BlogPulse is working on a fix that will soon make the LiveJournal links work properly.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 01:29 PM

Couldn't help but notice some of the head-scratching, thought-jarring ideas that floated across the blogosphere over the weekend. To wit:

A radical Jesus
So much for what my friends and I often refer to as the "Dan Fogelberg" Jesus of our youths...the brown-haired, blue-eyed, smiling, white-robed guy who looked like the 70s folk singer. He'll soon be replaced by a Jesus of color in "Son of Man," a film that debuted over the weekend at Sundance Film Festival and portrays Jesus involved in modern-day struggles in Palestine and South Africa. That, on the same weekend that religion professor Charles' Marsh's op-ed essay, "Wayward Christian Soldiers", was the 24th-most-cited news story.

Forrest Gump was right about stupid?
Saturday's second most-cited news story discloses that today's U.S. college grads may not be as bright as everyone hopes, even for mundane tasks like understanding credit card offers or analyzing news stories. The blogger at PTWSTSTS: News for People Who Hate News offers the perfect headline.

Democrats, take heed
And editorialist Molly Ivins, never one to mince words, made it to No. 21 among Saturday's most-cited links for her column titled "Not. Backing. Hillary.", which has some pointed advice for Democrats looking to unseat Republicans in 2006 and 2008. Says Brilliant at Breakfast: "Molly joins the put up or shut up club."

Bloggers arrest a terrorist?
That's what the Jawa Report is claiming (Saturday's second-most-cited blog post)...that subtle and not-so-subtle links and posts in a blog led to the arrest of a would-be terrorist in Ohio.

BlogPulse on MSNBC Dateline:
Each week, BlogPulse helps the folks at MSNBC Dateline get a handle on blog activity and buzz, and correspondent Josh Mankiewicz features the blogosphere on his Mank Blog and in his short weekly segment.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:24 AM

The networks were popping yesterday with news that an audtiotape purportedly from Osama bin Laden was played on Al Jazeera TV (today's second-most-cited link)...offering another attack or a truce, depending. (Sorry, dude). But not everyone's convinced the very bad man that President George Bush promised to capture a loooooong time ago is even still alive. "Dead man offers phony truce," is how Little Green Footballs interpreted the news (today's No. 29 top blog post). Maybe he's running on the Democratic ticket, wonders American Digest? "The end of the world is nearer to this," says Drink This blogger of the truce offer.

Files, please, asks DOJ? Google says "no"
BoingBoing has an update (No. 17 top blog post) on the Department of Justice's request for a million random Google search records (today's No. 2 top news story) so that the government can defend the legality of its Child Online Protection Act (AOL, Yahoo! and MSN apparently complied). "Big Brother Wants Your Clickstream" is the analysis from the Business 2.0 blog. John Battelle's Search Blog look at the big-picture phenomenon as more and more personal data goes online. (Here's a blog-initiated tool: Try Outer Court's Patriot Search instead!)

And you thought driving while dialing was risky?
Imagine driving while zapping killer aliens or maneuvering treacherous battlefields? A new Nissan concept car, (the subject of today's No. 13 top blog post) has an Xbox 360 built in, reports 999 Today. It'll project Gotham Racing 3 and allow players to use the car's steering wheel and pedals (while parked, of course) to manipulate the game.

Passings...
Singer Wilson Pickett, today's sixth-burstiest person, is being remembered as a soulful crooner on news that he died this week at age 64 of a heart attack. The singer was famous for "Mustang Sally" and "In the Midnight Hour," (an hour that's now dark, eulogizes The Moderate Voice).

A Brief History...
The blogger at Defective Yetti is No. 2 among all posts today for a brief history of the Iraq War if it were written in text-message format from the perspective at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Attention, sports fans
The Super Bowl takes place on Feb. 5, the winter Olympics begin Feb. 10 in Italy. How much excitement is building? A BlogPulse trend graph shows the way:

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:12 AM

Today's unexpected closing of the Tokyo Stock Exchange gets some commentary from Joi Ito's blog, which chronicled the raid on the Internet company Live Door (Skype's Japanese partner) and the resulting stock-selling rush that led to todays' early shutdown. Yet another example of blogging from the scene.

Cities with "flavor"
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin is today's 15th burstiest person for his expressed desire that the new New Orleans become a "chocolate city," words he quickly backtracked. While most bloggers approach his remarks with a PC attitude one way or another, ScrappleFace at least tries to find some humor by suggesting a likely corporate sponsor.

BYO doesn't apply to body armor?
At the Soldiers for the Truth web site (today's No. 5 top link), word is that soldiers and/or their families are being told that military death benefits will not be available to soldiers who bring their own Dragon Skin body armor to the battlefield...the same kind of body armor that the Secret Service, FBI, CIA, private Iraq contractors, journalists and even the President's protective forces wear, according to Daily Kos. Bloggers wonder why the issue isn't getting more media attention...and outrage. Did someone say, "support the troops"?

Golden Globe Buzz
"Brokeback Mountain" was a clear winner at Sunday's Golden Globe awards ceremony, a recognition verified by a BlogPulse trend graph:

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 12:32 PM

We've pointed it out in the past, but blogging is definitely taking on an international flavor, and it's becoming more and more obvious in daily results. Today's top blog posts, for example, include entries in Catalan (No. 2-3) and Russian (No.s 21-23) . Today's top links also include entries in Russian (No. 2, 12, 16 and 21). And today's leading news story is in Japanese, while the third most-cited news story emanates in English from The Baltic Times. It's a small world, indeed.

Bat Girl on the drawing boards
Holy art-gum eraser, Batman! One LiveJournaler's attempt to inspire drawings of Bat Girl is today's most popular blog post (and most-cited link), and it contains plenty of links to artistic renderings of Batman's estrogenic counterpart.

The Dateline feed
Check out Josh Mankiewicz' "Mank Blog" at NBC's Dateline home page, and watch Sunday night's segment. BlogPulse is a weekly data contributor to Dateline's Sunday night's blog analysis (see Josh? You're an "analyst" in our book, too!).

Define "disruptive"?
Today's No. 37 top blog post contains a link to DailyKos' insight on this tidbit of ifnormation: the upgraded Patriot Act that President George Bush is promoting allows the Secret Service to arrest people for "disrupting" things like political conventions and Olympic events.

Super Bowl Buildup
Now that the NFL has been narrowed to four Super Bowl contenders, which teams are creating the most buzz? A BlogPulse trend graph shows the way:

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:36 AM

When Steve Jobs announces new stuff from Apple Computers, people listen, which is why Apple's newly announced MacBook Pro laptop and the revamped iMac are the stuff of today's most-cited link in the blogosphere. Moreoever, the laptop's innards represent today's most-blogged phrase. The bloggers are Makezine predict Apple TV by the end of the MacWorld event.

First, will someone please define "annoying"?
You can nominate a blog now for the Sixth Annual Best Weblogs Award program (the "Bloggies,") but don't say anything annoying on your blog, or if you do, at least sign your John Henry. Maybe because it's such a surprising find, but a CNETNew.com article about a hidden provision in a recently passed bill takes positions 1, 2 and 3 among today's most-cited news stories by bloggers. Writes CNET's Declan McCullagh: "Last Thursday, President Bush signed into law a prohibition on posting annoying Web messages or sending annoying e-mail messages without disclosing your true identity. In other words, it's OK to flame someone on a mailing list or in a blog as long as you do it under your real name. Thank Congress for small favors, I guess." The penalty? Up to two years in prison. Hmmm....

Reaction? Plenty. "Hey, there's a whole bunch of people who annoy me online and live in America. Finally I can do something about them," says the PeanutsComment blogger. But Boing Boing digs deeper and finds an (anonymous!) legal analyst who says the new wording simply updates legislation that's been on the books from the telephone era: "In other words, the latest amendment, which supposedly adds Internet communications devices to the scope of the law, is meaningless surplusage."

News of the weird
Here in Cincinnati, we've been following the bizarre news of today's burstiest person, the late Johannas Pope. She died more than 2 years ago at age 61, but told her caregiver she didn't want to be buried, so her body was left in an upstairs air-conditioned room, where it mummfied. Police and coroner officials discovered it over the weekend. "This is just disturbing," one LiveJournaler's reaction, sums up sentiments quite nicely.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:50 AM

According to California-based Spirit of America, a non-profit group, at least 30 people worldwide have been arrested, tortured or imprisoned for writing material on blogs that is critical of their respective governments.

To encourage anonymous blogging that carries the lowest risk of detection, Spirit of America has launched a wiki called BlogSafer that hosts a series of targeted guides for anonymous blogging in hopes of avoiding identification and arrest. Five guides are available for bloggers in Iran (Persian), China (in Chinese), Saudi Arabia (in Arabic), Malaysia and Zimbabwe (both in English).

Says the Spirit of America press release: "These countries were chosen because they are representative of the kinds of repressive tactics that have ben used in the past several years against bloggers...filtering, interrogation, torture and imprisonment." The BlogSafe wiki provides a workspace for international bloggers. Spirit of America also sponsors the Anoniblog.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 12:30 PM

Grief and anger continue to rock the West Virginia town where 12 coal miners died this week in an explosion (today's top-ranked news stories). Randal McCloy, the lone survivor, is today's burstiest person, and in fact, eight of the day's burstiest people include the victims' family members and other key players in the mine tragedy. What went wrong? -- both in the mine and in the communication foul-up that followed -- is a common refrain among bloggers.

Longhorns No. 1
Could blog buzz have predicted the outcome of Wednesday's Rose Bowl? A BlogPulse trend graph shows that the Longhorns, leading up to the game, consistently created more traction that the USC Trojans, who lost 41-38:



Angry at Ralph
Scattered among today's strange news, including a dolphin wedding (No. 6 news story) and legalized mooning in Maryland (today's 12th-burstiest person), there's unusual animosity toward consumer advocate Ralph Nader and the Public Citizen group with which he's affiliated. PC's successful effort to remove the drug Cylert from the U.S. market because of liver problems has a Cylert user and the blogger at Making Light angry, hoisting her rant to the No. 10 and No. 19 positions among today's top blog posts. BlogPulse's Conversation Tracker follows the discussion.

Dave vs. Bill
Late-night host David Letterman is the sixth-most-blogged-about person today for taking on Fox News' Bill O'Reilly earlier this week. NewsBusters has a link to the video.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:12 AM

It's pretty well known that the Chinese government often censors bloggers or blocks the URLs to blog sites it doesn't like. But is MSN Spaces is on the act, too? That's the question raised in today's most popular blog post, by Rebecca McKinnon, founder of Global Voices Online, at RConversation, "Microsoft Takes Down Chinese Blogger." She provides plenty of details about how certain phrases, words are blocked by servers, linking the take-down to MSN Spaces.

Blogger reaction? "Microsoft serves the great red firewall," observes blogger San Bei Ji. "Is globalization exporting censorship?" asks a MetaFilter discussion (and the conclusion: yes). Microsoft blogger Robert Scoble's not happy either and has offered the Chinese blogger space on his own blog, risk-free.

Nervous nellies in D.C.
Lobbyist Jack Abramoff is the blogosphere's third most-discussed person today after pleading guilty on Monday (today's No. 2 top news story) to fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy -- and agreed to cooperate with investigators by spilling the beans, apparently, on leglislators who succumbed to his donations and influence. ThinkProgress outlines the issue in a post called "The House That Jack Built" (today's No. 8 blog post). So far, former Speaker Tom DeLay and Ohio Congressman Bob Ney have been linked to Abramoff:



Read the comments at WizBang!'s recap, and you'll discover that many folks hope BOTH parties learn a lesson, clean house and adopt federal term limits for Congress.

A Soldier's Father Speaks: A Life Wasted?
Today's 20th most-cited news story is a touching essay by the father of a soldier who died in Iraq. "Though it hurts, I believe that his death -- and that of the other Americans who have died in Iraq -- was a waste. They were wasted in a belief that democracy would grow simply by removing a dictator -- a careless misunderstanding of what democracy requires. They were wasted by not sending enough troops to do the job needed in the resulting occupation -- a careless disregard for professional military counsel.

"But their deaths will not be in vain if Americans stop hiding behind flag-draped hero masks and stop whispering their opposition to this war. Until then, the lives of other sons, daughters, husbands, wives, fathers and mothers may be wasted as well."

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:10 AM

Those year-end lists, like the BlogPulse 2005 Year in Review, usually appear at, well, the end of the year. But 2006 is already sprouting its first crop of lists, including a few among today's top blog posts, such as Google Blogoscoped's 10 Web Trends That Should Die in 2006 (No. 4), Quick Online Tips' 50 Extensions for Firefox use in 2006 (No. 5) and at the RSS Blog, Randy Charles Martin's Web 2.0 predictions for 2006 (No. 37).

But wait! That's not all! Among the day's top links are the BBC's "100 Things We Didn't Know This Time Last Year" (No. 8) and Lake Superior State University's List of 2006 Banned Words (No. 24, and you've been warned. You can also submit your own for 2007). The Washington Post offers what's out/in for 2006 (today's No. 27 top news story).

Intelligent...energy?
Today's No. 20 top link from Quantum Biocommunication Technology blog, outlines what may be 2006's version of intelligent design -- a cool form of energy, part of what scientists are calling the supernatural universe (and comparing it to the "force" in Star Wars). They write: "The human mind and body are not distinct and separate from their environment, but a packet of pulsating energy constantly interacting with this vast energy sea."

Here's what's new, Pussycat
Not sure whether his skin-tight pants follow him, but singer Tom Jones (today's 38th burstiest person) is now Sir Tom, now that he's been knighted. "It isn't a sign of the end of the world, but it should be..." observes blogger Mark Daniels

International rumors
And can't help but notice today's international speculation, from Der Spiegel and the Jerusalem Post.. Does the U.S. have sights on an attack on Iran?

BlogPulse Spotlight
The Spotlight blog kicks off 2006 with a look at the new Coldplay CD and its embedded DRM "protection," which makes it unplayable to some of its owners.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:32 AM

Without a presidential campaign to fuel blog discussion in 2004, the blogosphere in 2005 took on a decidedly different feel and tone. The political wrangling didn't abate, but it was forced to share the stage with entertainment news, hurricane fallout and other natural disasters, technology discussion and blogs' own evolution as emerging media sources.

As it did last year, the BlogPulse team crunched a lot of data, counted links and tallied references to various topics and issues to develop a 2005 BlogPulse Year in Review. It includes lists of top media sources, media stories, audio and video downloads, movies and trend graphs. Among the findings:

Top Blogs: Boing Boing, Engadget, Michelle Malkin, Albino Blacksheep, Instapundit, PowerLine, Gizmodo, Think Progress, Political Animal, and Slashdot. The Huffington Post, which launched mid-year, ranked No. 24, just behind Jeff Jarvis' BuzzMachine.

Top Wikipedia References: Podcasting, Hurricane Katrina, Flying Spaghetti Monster, AJAX, Wiki/Wikipedia, London bombongs, Folksonomy, meme, Web 2.0 and United States.

Top Entertainers: Michael Jackson and Britney Spears were the most-discussed entertainers in 2005, joined by Johnny Depp, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Kelly Clarkson, Angelina Jolie and Jessica Simpson.

Top Personalities: As they have all year, ficitional Harry Potter slugged it out with George Bush for capturing buzz, and Harry won. Other blogged-out personalities included the late Pope John Paul II, the late Terri Schiavo and Karl Rove.

Top-Cited News Sources: Yahoo! News, BBC, New York Times, CNN, Washington Post, MSNBC, Guardian Unlimited, San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today and Yahoo! Finance.

Top-Cited News Stories: In a newsy year marked by the war in Iraq, hurricanes, the death of a Pope and more, columnist Jon Carroll of the San Francisco Chronicle managed to generate more citations than any other news story with his April column titled "Unitarian Jihad," a call for a return to moderation in issues of politics and faith.Other top news stories touched on the London bombings, Zombie dogs, George Bush, and an assortment of political, religious and satirical stories.

Top Movies (based on IMDB.com citations): Sin City, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Serenity, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Batman Begins, Sideways, Napoleon Dynamite, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and War of the Worlds.

Multi-Media Blogging: New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin's post-Katrina interview with WWL-AM radio was the most-cited audio link among bloggers in 2005, and the VW Golf commercial that was a breakdancing takeoff of Gene Kelly's "Singin' in the Rain" dance was the most-cited video link.

And because no BlogPulse Newswire entry would be complete without a Trend Graph, here's one tha tracks "blogs: vs. "blogosphere":

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 01:35 PM

It's apparent that blogging has matured quickly now that Dan Gillmor, former technology writer for the San Jose Mercury News, has now established the Center for Citizen Media (the content of today's No. 2 most-cited blog post). The center will have ties to both UC/Berkeley and Harvard and will promote the "emergent grassroots media" movement, says Gillmor.

Judicial smackdown on ID
In its first official legal test, the theory of Intelligent Design took a big hit from today's 25th burstiest person, U. S. District Court Judge John Jones, who ruled yesterday that teaching intelligent design in science classes violates the separation of church and state (today's No. 6 top news story)...and he did so with some harsh words for its proponents. "Breathtaking inanity," in fact, was his description of the former Dover, Pa., school board's decision to offer intelligent design as science. And it resonated:



The "I" Word
We're not making this up. In today's No. 12 top blog post from Think Progress, conservative scholars who appeared this week on Diane Rehm's NPR talk show hinted that President Bush is a candidate for impeachment (there it is...the "I" word) if he continues his presidential power-grabbing ways and wiretaps his own citizens. BlogsforBush uses the "but Democrats did it too!" excuse. But Think Progress is also today's top blog post, for pointing out that former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter kept judicial oversight in the mix and specifically ruled out domestic spying during their administrations.

In a similar vein, U.S. District Court Judge James Robertson is today's burstiest person for resigning yesterday from the court that's supposed to oversee/approve domestic spying requests, and he did so in protest of the President's executive order that OKs domestic spying by the NSA (today's top news story).

From the Spotlight Blog...
Today's BlogPulse Spotlight examines the reasons why Johnny Damon is today's third most-cited personality in the blogosphere, now that he's jumped the Red Sox ship and joined the Yankees. Also jumping off, but this time for good: Firefly-Serenity.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:30 AM

Big Brother? Are you there?

Recent revelations that President Bush used executive powers to approve domestic spying on U.S. citizens by the National Security Agency (NSA) dominates blog buzz. In fact, eight of today's top 10 blog posts discuss the issue -- with far-ranging reactions. And today's most-cited news story, from Newsweek, gives the entire affair a not-so-original name: "Snoopgate."

In today's top blog post, for example, Kevin Drum at Washington Monthly asks bluntly: "What kind of program is so intrusive that even Republicans, even with 9/11 still freshly in mind, wouldn't have supported it? At Defense Tech (No. 4 blog post), reactions from current/former intelligence workers range from "mildly creeped out" to "completely p'd off" (caution: offensive language). The Wall Street Journal's Opinion Journal Online raves about the presidential powers (No. 5). Talking Points Memo (No. 6) provides evidence of Congressional concern in July 2003. Atrios/Eschaton (No. 7) quotes from a 2004 President Bush speech that contradicts (imagine that!) the President's current explanations. PowerLine bloggers (No. 8) trust the President. The Volokh Conspiracy (No. 9) provides legal background and tenatively thinks Bush's order "probably violated" federal law. Ameriblog (No. 10) wonders who's defining "terrorist" when gay/lesbian meetings are being monitored.

Put on the Big Apple walking shoes
Also in today's top blog posts is an entry from GOP and the City, which details some of the financial ramifications associated with the transit strike in New York City. The union behind the strike, TWU Local 100, has its own blog, and it's today's No. 7 most-cited blog.

Spying or striking?
A BlogPulse trend graph shows nearly equal concern for both issues:

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:32 AM

It hasn't even popped up in the blogosphere yet, but dontcha wanna bet that JibJab's Year-End Round-Up 205 mini-movie (and its companion (pardon our language, but the title really IS Farting Elves)), will soon be among the most popular pass-around videos on the Internet? Buzz is already starting...

All things cute...
Sure, there's plenty of discussion about what Iraq's parliamentary elections will mean to the future of everything (Iraq the Model is today's No. 3 top blog). And course, there's continued consternation about the U.S. government spying on its own citizens. But today's most-shared web link is about cuteness, from Cute Overload.com, where folks scour the 'net for "only the finest in cute imagery." Like little squirrels and puppies and kitties and baby deer. If you like stuff with fur and feathers, you'll love this. Your typical reaction can be an understated "cute!" or a more dramatic "someone pass me the sick bowl."

Seismic shifts
President Bush finally admitted that pre-war intelligence was less-than-solid (today's No. 4 top news story). Reactions? "It's about damn time," says Brian Mathes. Or as The All Spine Zone sees it, "accepting responsiblity means never having to say you're sorry."

Holiday buzz
If you're wondering who's winning when it comes to holiday buzz buildup...only BlogPulse knows....and the findings are pretty surprising.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:17 AM

The midnight Monday execution of former gang member and convicted murder Stanley "Tookie" Williams (today's second most-discussed blog personality) forced a focused but short-lived discussion about the death penalty (which was today's No. 28 key phrase). Law School Unconfidential agrees that clemency should not have been granted; the Christian Prophet blogger finds hope and forgiveness for Williams and others elsewhere.

A BlogPulse trend graph looks at blogger references in past months to two difficult social issues: "torture" and "capital punishment":




The Bush Bubble?
Politics takes some weird turns today, with Newsweek's look the boy-in-the-bubble phenomenon applied to President Bush (today's 13th most-shared link). The blogger at Studio Dave calls it "an excellent study of the president's insularity"; Professor Bainbridge offers insight into groupthink mentality and how it plays out in protective environments like the bunkered White House.

Wikipedia under scrutiny
And remember John Siegenthaler, a former USA Today editorialist who discovered a fake biography about himself on Wikipedia? The writer of that fictitious biography has been discovered...and fired (today's 16th most-shared link). He's Brian Chase, no longer an employee for a delivery company in Tennessee. In a letter to Siegenthaler, he said he thought Wikipedia was a "gag" site and that he'd written the fake biography as a joke. Guess who the joke's on?

And attention turns to Iraq
A blog called Iraq the Model shows up among today's blog posts (No. 4) as Iraqi voters again go to the polls to elect legislators. Today's second most-shared link discusses an ABC poll of Iraqi citizens which shows a desire for unity but deep divisions still within the war-torn country. And speaking of tensions, another hot story today involves Israel's intentions toward Iran.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:43 AM

It's the time of year for retrospective roundups, and bloggers have already started with annual "best of" blog awards programs.

What the righties read
For a sense of what the conservative wing of the blogosophere reads, check out today's top blog post, which features the winners of The Fourth Annual Warblogger Awards for 2005. Best overall blog winners are, in order, Michelle Malkin, Glenn Reynolds' Instapundit and Captain's Quarters.

Weblog Awards...start voting!
An awards program with less of a political agenda (sponsored by Wizbang) is the Best Weblogs Awards program, today's ninth-most-cited link. Voting stretches through next Thursday. Among the 38 categories are several new ones for 2005, including best podcasting, video blog and best blogs in the fields of parenting, religion, law and business. Let the voting begin! announces the Causes of Interest blog. And speaking of podcasting, Odeo (today's 13th-most-cited blog post) is making it even easier.

Poor New Orleans
All of that "Let's Rebuild New Orleans" fervor seems to have died quite rapidly in the past few weeks, evidenced by today's top news story: BellSouth's withdrawal of an offer to donate a building for the New Orleans Police Department headquarters after the city announced it would install free WiFi citywide to spur development. WiFiNetNews covers the issue; the blogger at Saschameinrath calls it "BellSouth's shame." References to New Orleans are chronicled in this telling BlogPulse Trend Graph:

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:23 AM

Some the law works in your favor, sometimes it doesn't. Two cases from the legal annals make BlogPulse news today.

At least three of today's top 10 blog posts (American Street, Shakespeare's Sister, and Pandagon) describe their outrage at the case of a 17-year-old Oregon teen who claimed three men gang-raped her but was found guilty herself (of filing a false claim) when the three were found innocent because she didn't act "traumatized enough" in the days after the alleged assault. In fact, traffic to American Street is so heavy that the site won't load easily; Shakespeare's Sister has a rundown. Kevin Drum at Washington Monthly questions the prosecution's decisions; "this goes way beyond blaming the victim," says Bamapachyderm.

More bad-guy intrigue
Today's most-cited news story tells another tale of legal woe: what happens when the CIA thinks it put the wrong guy in a foreign prison. "Oops, our bad," says Obsidian Wings.

The XBox ad you WON'T see
Maybe it's a guy cops-and-robbers thing, but today's 15th top blog post features is XBox TV "air confrontation" ad (for lack of a better term) that never made it to the airwaves. A Xanga blogger calls it the "best commercial ever."

Saturday Night Live Rebound?
Didn't think it could happen, but comedian Dane Cook is today's second most discussed personality (outpacing President George Bush), no doubt because of his appearance as host on Saturday Night Light last weekend. Or as one LiveJournaler intones, "not even Dane Cook can save SNL...sad state of affairs."

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 01:07 PM

Bloggers are increasing feeling their oats, but not everyone's happy with the cash-crop yield. Cases in point:

The Wikipedia discussion: good or bad?
On the same day that PR blogger Steve Rubel says Wikipedia will be the next Google (today's third most-cited blog post), USA Today's former editorial page editor John Siegenthaler details his so-far-unsuccessful attempts to find out who posted a scurrilous biography about him on Wikipedia (it remained there for months; it's today's fourth most-cited news story) . Says Rubel: "Like its predecessors, Wikipedia is powerful because it provides access to largely accurate information that can be hard to find." His post produces 12 search results. Counters Siegenthaler: "And, I am interested in letting many people know that Wikipedia is a flawed and irresponsible research tool." His rant generates 49 search results.

Activists at large
Yesterday's BlogPulse Newswire discussion of Thomas Hawk's problems with priceritephoto.com continues, with Hawk's post (written under a pseudonym) emerging as today's most-cited blog post. The exchange is being covered by news media and other bloggers as well.

And Activism, Part II
When no one else launched a Sony-directed anti-shopping campaign, BoingBoing jumped in (today's sixth most-cited blog post). In reaction to anti-piracy rootkits recently discovered in Sony BMG compact discs, some bloggers are launching a boycott of Sony CD's this holiday season. The ThinkLemon blogger agrees and joins the campaign...and then requests an XBox, please?

One day's difference: the Iraq strategy
Couldn't help but notice the one-day difference in "buzz" about President Bush's "plan for victory" in Iraq. Today's buzz (with complete reaction to his speech at the U.S. Naval Academy)....

vs. buzz from a day earlier, without the post-speech analysis:

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:20 AM

Want to bet that the short video of President George Bush pulling on locked doors while trying to leave a Beijing press conference will be one of the most passed-around videos of the month? Oops, it already is, judging by today's BlogPulse results. Today's No. 4 and No. 9 top links and top two news stories (all from the BBC) feature that "What, Me Worry?" look on the face of the President and a link to the video. Is this the President's long-awaited exit strategy, asks J-Walk Blog? A Finnish blogger titles it simply, "Photo of the Day."

"There Is No God"
Comedian/illusionist Penn Jillette offered up a commentary for NPR's popular "This I Believe" segment, and it's today's second most-cited link. Except it's about a topic of non-belief, one sure to touch some nerves and titled simply "There Is No God." Metafilter calls it "a hell of a brave stand." Says Ratcliffe blog: it's provocative and convincing.

The list no one wants to make
Poor Camden, N.J. For the second year in a row, it's been named the country's most dangerous city, (today's 31st most-cited link), and it's not happy. The Trenchcoat Chronicles pokes fun, and "J's notes" is happy to be ranked No. 5.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:17 AM

People, issues, scandals and controversies...they come and go in the blog world like relatives at Thanksgiving. Except for child-turned-teen wizard Harry Potter, whose $100 million Goblets of Fire opening weekend (chronicled at BlogPulse Spotlight) keeps him where he's been for most of BlogPulse's lifepsan: as the most-discussed personality in the blogosphere, a position made possible by teen-age gushes like this and this.

George Carlin was right
One of George Carlin's early-career comedy bits was about oxymorons....figures of speech that are contradictory in nature, such as "jumbo shrimp" and "military intelligence." Obviously the military intelligence reference needs to be expanded today, what with confusing military/governmental/news/international reports about whether Abu Masab al-Zarqawi, the head of Al Quaeda in Iraq, was killed (today's most-cited news story) or was not killed in a weekend raid in Mosul. As blogger Don Surber writes, "I will believe it when I see his mom walking alongside Cindy Sheehan demanding to see the president," and Wizbang blog can't help but deadpan, "Is al-Zarqawi dead again?"

And that's not all. Today's sixth most-shared web link is a Los Angeles Times story about "Curveball," one of the international intelligence sources who allegedly convinced Bush administration officials that Iraq had WMDs. Did they know, or is this piece an example of liberal media bias (isn't that phrase an oxymoron?). Former Sen. Bob Graham questions the intelligence he was fed in an op-ed in the Washington Post (today's No. 13 top link).

What does a BlogPulse trend graph find when comparing sound/reliable/verifiable intelligence with its faulty/questionable counterpart?



Murtha speaks
Ever since Rep. John Murtha let loose last week with an emotional appeal to begin a scheduled withdrawl of U.S. troops from Iraq, the decorated Marine, Vietnam War veteran and long-time Congressional military expert has been a promiment source of blog discussion, ranking as last Thursday's burstiest person and today's No. 3 and No. 18 most-discussed personality. Ohio Rep. Jean Schmidt, a Congressional newcomer who paraphrased the term "coward" when discussing Murtha's position last week (last Friday's sixth-cited link), also got her share of publicity, not much of it positive. She later asked that her remarks on the floor of the House be removed from the record.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:14 AM

Sure, the HIV virus and Internet Explorer have nothing in common with each other, except this: today's blog discussions that challenge the long-term staying power of both.

Today's top news stories, for example, encompass BBC coverage of a UK man, Andrew Simpson (today's No. 2 burstiest person), whose body apparently has successfully (although questionably) fought off the HIV virus (No. 2 top news story) and another BBC piece (No. 13) about research efforts to use genetically modified bacteria to interfere with HIV reproduction. Only one hitch: Simpson apparently doesn't want to participate in more tests.

$1 to switch?
Today's ninth most-shared link outlines a campaign called Kill Bill's Browser, with Google offering $1 for each referral/person who switches from Internet Explorer to Firefox. BoingBoing (today's No. 30 top blog post) describes the campaign. Comments at the Uneasy Silence blog span common reactions.

Patriotism and such
A good portion of today's top blog posts pit right-wing views on the intelligence that led the U.S. into war (and resulting opinions of President George Bush, the concept of patriotism, and who voted for what) against left-wing grapplings with the bad intelligence they were subjected to, such as this "I Was Wrong on Iraq" column from former Sen. John Edwards. And while pundits debate, the name of Ali Hussein Ali is No. 3 among today's burstiest people. He was on one of the suicide bombers responsible for the hotel bombings last week in Jordan, and his widow has been arrested as a fourth bomber whose belt didn't explode.

Your face in the blogosphere
Blogger Philipp Lenssen from Germany wrote to inform BlogPulse of his new site, Forty Faces, which updates every half hour and features the photos of bloggers who just posted new entries. Details on how to include your face are at the site.

Passings...
Wrestlers today are mourning the weekend death of 38-year-old Eddie Guerrero, today's burstiest person. The World Wrestling Entertainment beefcake was found dead in a Minneapolis hotel on Sunday.

Tin-Foil Hats May Not Work!
If the guys at MIT with too much time on their hands are to believed, those tin-foil hats may not deflect brain-sucking radio waves as proficiently as some folks think.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:19 AM

If Tuesday's election results prove anything, it's that kids in Kansas and kids in Dover, Pa., may soon be taking very different science tests...or that intelligent design supporters may fleeting one-termers when it comes to their 15 minutes of fame. Discussion about the divergent votes in two states dominates the blogosphere today, capturing 12 of today's top links, two of the day's today's two top key phrases and throwing at least five school board members into the limelight among the day's 10 burstiest people.

Here's what happened: on Tuesday, the Kansas Board of Education adopted new science standards (today's top three news stories) that approve intelligent design -- the thinking that life evolved with the help of a higher power -- as part of a curriculum that sheds doubt on Charles Darwin's (scientifically accepted) theory of evolution. Also on Tuesday, voters in Dover, Pa., tossed off the school board an entire slate of candidates who had supported intelligent design. Foreign news sources seem as interested in the news as did U.S. media.

And here's the reaction: Panda's Thumb, today's top blog post, notes that incoming members of the Dover school board support intelligent design...but in comparative religion classes, not the science lab. As for the state from which Dorothy Gale hails, "What's the matter with Kansas?" asks blogger Joe Gandelman, who notes that the board's decision also redefines science "so that it is no longer limited to the search for natural explanations of phenomena." Pharnygula, in fact, says Kansas offspring will be taught the equivalent of "slippery twaddle." The Ratcliffe blog guessed correctly -- that the vote would just fuel the fires of the Flying Spaghetti Monster believers, who are back at No. 5 among today's top links (with more T-shirts! Halloween FSM costumes! Car magnets!). A BlogPulse trend graph also tracks the discussion:



Flip flops?
More than a few bloggers are pointing out that the text of the Texas' Tuesday-passed man-woman-only marriage amendment, if read literally, bans marriage altogether. Mother Jones raises the question. Also raising questions are reporters who want to know why the White House changed change the transcript of a White House press briefing from Scott McClellan saying "that's accurate" to Scot McClellan saying "I don't think that's accurate." Frankly, I don't think that's right.

And a little something for the brain
Don't forget to waste time checking out the Blue Ball Machine.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:18 AM

Perhaps it's an issue you never seriously thought about, but blogger Garr Reynolds did: Does Apple's Steve Jobs or Microsoft's Bill Gates possess more Zen-like qualities during public appearances? Jobs obviously wins in the "simple is more" department. "Wow," says Lee of Australia, while author/marketer/blogger Seth Godin points out that the contrasting images in Reynolds' comparison are a "vital and essential warning sign to anyone who has ever considered giving a presentation." Just for curiosity's sake, which computer mogul captures more blog buzz? (Jobs' June spike coincides with Apple's Intel chip announcement).



Feminist voice, and T-shirts
Never let it be said that women's voices aren't represented in the blogosophere. Today's most popular blog post (and 10th most-shared link) is a LiveJournal Cereta's essay on male privilege. The blogger at Alchemy Without Moles applauds with a two-word review: "oooh, thinky." And for women upset with the slogans on Abercrombie & Fitch's new T-shirts, the Countess is holding a contest for alternative feminist T-shirt slogans. Protein Wisdom calls it what it is: a girlcott.

VOD, and the Ping of Death
First came Apple's deal to load ABC's TV shows into the video iPod for $1.99 a show, and now NBC and CBS are getting into the video on demand (VOD) biz as well (today's No. 19 top link). Or as Good Morning Silcon Valley describes the agreement: "New from Comcast: Pay $.99 to watch an episode of a show you could record for free on DVR."

And what's the ping of death, you ask? It's among the top 10 worst software bugs, as chronicled by Wired News (today's No. 5 top link). Others include the Mariner 1 space probe (wrong computer code), Therac-25 medical accelerator (which delivered a bit too much radiation to hospital patients), and the Ping of Death, the code responsible for the ever-popular "blue screen of death."

Chemical weapons...found?
And todays' disturbing blog discovery is a claim made in the most-shared news story from The Independent Online -- that U.S. troops used "white phosphorus" for more than illumination purposes during the 2004 assault on Fallujah? Juan Cole at Informed Comment offers an analysis; "hope like hell this isn't true," says John Cole at Balloon Juice.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:46 AM

The nomination of another middle-aged white guy to the U.S. Supreme Court has shifted blog discussion toward women's issues, intended or not.

Maureen Dowd's examination of the women's movement, What's a Modern Girl to Do?, excerpted from an upcoming book, is today's 10th most-shared link, with reactions ranging from Nichelle Newsletter's "get thee to a nursing home!" rallying cry to Bamber's less-than-flattering reaction.

And if the issue of abortion weren't enough to divide religious reds from coastal blues, today's most linked-to news story, about a vaccine for cervical cancer, will add to the gap. Conservatives are questioning the vaccine on the grounds that it might encourage teen-age girls to have sex. Pharyngula wonders about the wisdom of questioning a cancer-preventing vaccine; PatridiotWatch wonders how that line of un-healthy thinking might play out intimately. (If it were a vaccine for prostate cancer, would the fears be the same? Hmmm...)

Worried about winter?
Speaking of fears, can't help but notice increasing attention to bird flu and other potential threats for the Winter of 2005:




Let the showdown begin?
Tensions are ratching up in the nation's capital, and not solely because of Appeals Court Judge Samuel Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court. Adding to the fray are Tuesday's hastily called closed Senate session (today's No. 9 top news story) by Sen. Minority Leader Harry Reid (today's fourth most-discussed blog personality) to hash out the Bush Administration's prewar intelligence, with plenty of bloggers posting Reid's statement in its entirety. That pushed former Office of Management and Budget Directory Larry Lindsay into the burstiest person spotlight because he's cited in the memo as another administration official who was "let go" for, supposedly for stating the facts about the war.

The next chapter
And while no one's able to predict what'll happen to recently indicted Vice Presidential Chief of Staff Lewis Scooter Libby, Tuesday's BlogPulse Spotlight blog found this little gem about Libby's juicy extra-curricular writing endeavors, a fitting beginning to National Novel Writing Month.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:02 AM

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Internet opened communications and commerce in ways that its founders (Al excluded) never intended, and now it's taking on the features of a self-help movement. Evidence, please?

Roll your own....
First, there's a new web site called Rollyo (today's 10th most-shared URL), in which users create customized search engines, based on Yahoo! Search. Blogger Susan Mernit likes the idea and speculates about its ability to catch on; Rollyo's already being noticed in Germany and Korea.

Pixels for sale
Secondly, the Million Dollar Home Page (40th top link) is the invention of an entrepreneurial 21-year-old college student who's selling real estate on his web site for $1 a pixel; he's already sold 205,000 and covered his college costs. AdJab offers some insight on the idea that's catching on.

News in context
Bloggers are still lit up over the indictment of Sen. Majority Leader Tom DeLay (more blogged-about than Harry Potter!), the lightning-swift swearing-in of Chief Justice John G. Roberts, the Middle East tour by Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes, the political motivations of Texas DA Ronnie Earle, and the did-he-REALLY-say-that comments of former drug/education Czar William Bennett, but a tempered look at hot issues puts things in perspective, doesn't it?...

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:48 AM

Virality. To most folks, it means a contagious disease, but in Internet/marketing circles, it means the propensity of an idea to spread (like viruses are wont to do) from person to person until they gain credibility and traction and create "buzz." Author and marketer Seth Godin is today's No. 4 most popular blog post today for his description of what makes an idea viral. It's being discussed by a variety of bloggers. Virality's also evident in other ways today, too.

Serenity takes flight
There's buzz adrift about the movie Serenity, for example, a movie based on the niche-popular-but-cancelled "Firefly" TV series (today's No. 7 most-shared link).

Freebies, too
And for bloggers who love to read those New York Times columnists but can't cough up the $49.95 for the new Times Select pay-to-read program, bloggers are already cutting-pasting columns found elsewhere (for free) for others to share, spurring a discussion led by (Never Pay Retail, today's 37th top link). As the blog's author John Tabin is says: ""The right to run your business into the ground is inalienable... I created Never Pay Retail to mock the Times's cluelessness, not to correct for it." (As a longtime print subscriber, am I old-fashioned for paying for what I consume?)

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 01:58 PM

As some observers are suggesting, maybe this summer's hurricanes have jolted the public and media out of a political-spin stupor, because there's evidence that serious questioning is on the rise and blind playing-along isn't.

Today's No. 5 news story suggests that the Grand Old Party, once known for tight-fisted fiscalism, isn't buying President Bush's "let the feds pay for it" approach to a $200 billion war and a $200 billion Gulf cleanup. Promethus 6 calls it "Reconstruction III."

What will Bush's second-term legacy be? A simple BlogPulse graph comparing references to Sept. 11, 2001 and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita show interesting trends: a definite spike on the four-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks but more consistent staying power for the hurricane fallout:




The Mrs. Rejection
First Lady Laura Bush is experiencing a brush-off of her own, this one from award-winning poet Sharon Olds (today's fifth-burstiest blog personality). Her letter to Mrs. Bush (today's No. 23 top news story) spells out why, on philosophical and conscientious grounds, she's declining an invitation to speak at the National Book Festival.

Authors not happy with Google
In the realm of publishing and copyrights, the Authors Guild has sued Google over its plans to make library content available (and searchable) digitally. Google's response is today's No. 2 blog post. The blog discussions are wide-ranging, including Corante's analysis of Google's reliance on its corporate blog to respond to the lawsuit.

A cell-phone milestone
I have to ask: how did they know which phone put them over the top?

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:33 AM

A BlogPulse analysis finds that Wikipedia, the user-created, collaborative online encyclopedia, is one of the hottest applications on the Internet. In fact, consumer references and blog links to Wikipedia have increased steadily and dramatically in the past few months, fueled by increased blog traffic and a need for real-time updates about breaking news stories.

More than twice as many bloggers now refer to Wikipedia as they do to the more traditional term "encyclopedia," and a half-percent of all blog posts typically cite Wikipeda as a source of information. Bloggers, in fact, mention Wikipedia six times more frequently than they mention Encyclopedia Britannica's web site.



The breaking news fuel
According to the BlogPulse analysis:
• July's subway bombings in London and the August-September coverage of Hurricane Katrina have contributed greatly to noticeable spikes in the use of Wikipedia as a source of immediate and thorough news, background and context.
• Wikipedia's trust level is obviously on the rise, fueled by an increase in consumer-generated media across the Internet and the thoughtful, passionate and mediated postings that appear on Wikipedia.
• Of the foreign-langue Wikipedia versions (French, Germany, Italian, Spanish, Japanes, Polish, Portuguese, Dutch and Swedish), blog citations to the German-language Wikipedia increased the most, nearly doubling in the past six months.

"Wikipedia is filling users' needs for a comprehensive and current directory of resources and facts on a wide range of subjects, and it does so as a potent cross between an Encyclopedia Britannica and a Yahoo! Directory with continuous updates," said Sundar Kadayam, Chief Technology Officer of Intelliseek and product manager of BlogPulse.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:49 AM

Google's entry into the blog-search universe has certainly caught the attention of the Internet community. At least 12 of today's top 40 blog posts and five of today's top 10 links discuss Google's beta blog-search interface. John Battelle leaked the story; "a big milestone," says Six Apart's blog, and Robert Scoble aches for a comprehensive blog search engine comparison. The Blog Herald's review rings with disappointment.

The TiVo "upgrade"
The other technical development getting blogosphere traction is TiVo, the latest upgrade for which doesn't allow users to save certain shows or move them to other formats. BoingBoing uses the change to provide a new definition of TiVo ("like a VCR, but it it's evil enough to screw you over if some rightsholder demands it"). The PVR Blog (today's top blog post) provides more details about what's on the red-flag list.

The official Katrina response
More fallout from the response to Katrina today includes a New Orleans Congressman's use of National Guard troops to visit his storm-damaged home and remove his stuff (today's No. 2 most-shared news story) while thousands of other waited for evacuation. And although Michael Brown has taken the fall at FEMA, attention is now turning to Homeland Security czar Michael Chertoff and his response -- or lack of it -- to the hurricane. In the Washington Post, E.J. Dionne Jr. uses the hurricane story to proclaim the end of the Bush era. Really? BlogPulse Trend Graph looks at which key federal player is generating the most Katrina-related buzz:



To pledge, or not to pledge...
Lawyer Michael Newdow (today's second burstiest person) is back, this time again trying to get the words "under God" removed from the Pledge of Allegiance, something U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton (today's burstiest person) has already ruled. It now goes to the Supreme Court again, where Newdow lost last time on a technicality because he didn't have custody of the daughter on whose behalf he filed the motion; this time, he represents families with kids.

I feel economically recovered, don't you?
Who knew it was that simple? All Majority Leader Tom DeLay had to do was declare the federal budget (and the largest deficit in history) in great shape, and that was that. Today's No. 2 most-shared link provides the amazing details.

And yes, the baby...
Today's BlogPulse Spotlight blog has news of Britney's new baby boy.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:42 AM

The blogosphere is still rife with chatter over Hurricane Katrina, the cleanup, and the political torrent it created, but if you looked at what sorts of things BlogPulse returned today, you might be a bit encouraged. Our top link isn't about a political gaffe or a Gulf Coast horror story — no, it's about Apple's new iPod. Rather than a jeremiad against the laggardly Federal Emergency Managment Agency, our no. 2 blog post is a jeremiad against Al Franken. And our key phrase? It's about the iTunes-compatible phone. (Some prodigious drooling is done on our Entertainment Blog today about Apple's new toys.) So you see that even with the monumental work still to be done down south, the blogosphere, at least, is getting back to its old self again. If only lives and cities could so quickly and easily recover.

Still, The Outrage Continues
Bloggers may be excited over new gadgets and the enteral war between the left and right, but they're continuing to castigate the Bush Administration for its disaster preparedness, or lack thereof. Our no. 15 link is a column by Thomas Friedman of The New York Times that bloggers are noting is uncharacteristically strident: "Friedman is furious," writes EdCone. "His studiously even tone breaks in today's column." Right below it remains the link to former First Lady Barbara Bush's remark that the Astro- and Superdome evacuees of New Orleans were poor anyway, which continues to turn some bloggers red: "Barbara Bush's Marie Antoinette impression yesterday made me feel pretty queasy." Readers should be warned there are a lot of impolite epithets directed towards Mrs. Bush on the citations page.

Not That It Needed Anything Else To Be Known As 'The Left Coast'
Bloggers also are talking today about the passage in California of the nation's first law legalizing same-sex marriages — up until now, such rules have come from judges. The story appears several times in our top links and top news stories today, and has generated the predictable range of opinions. Referring to a 2000 referendum that would've banned exactly what the legislature has enacted, this blogger writes: "Quite bluntly, if this is allowed to stand, the very notion of government of the people, by the people, for the people will have perished in California." Pandagon responds to anti-gay marriage critics: "I've simply decided that anti-homosexuality is an illegitimate irrationality. Their right to 'not be offended' trumps all other rights in society." This would further seem to indicate the blogosphere is returning to normal, because, as before, bloggers don't seem even close to resolving this issue to everyone's satisfaction. Have polemics ever sound so sweet?

Posted by Philip Ewing at 03:01 PM

Several key questions are being asked about the dangerously slow response to the country's first major and most pressing challenge in this post-9/11 homeland security environment. Where's the leadership? posed by TMP Cafe (today's No. 11 blog post) and a New York Times editorial (today's No. 7 news story) are among the most common. It's one of several themes running through the blogosphere today.

The leadership question
Bloggers are increasingly incensed in their posts, not only about the Bush-led privatization/dismantling of FEMA (today's No. 8 blog post from Washington Monthly) to criticism of Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice's New York shopping spree while the Gulf Coast, literally, lay in rubble (today's No. 2 blog post). As as the discussions intertwine relief efforts and politics, criticism also turns to the Bush Administration's squandering of U.S. troops and resources on a war in Iraq at the expense of the homeland (today's No. 24 blog post). New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin is the No. 3 blogged-about personality for his "desperate S.O.S." call for help on Thursday, and White House spokesman Scott McClellan is taking heat for dodging questions about the speed of response.

A socioeconomic disaster as well
Some bloggers are looking at the economic and racial issues emerging in the aftermath milieu, with blogger Scott Lynch using some choice words for people who've never been poor and caught in a natural disaster; the Point of Law blog looks at legal issues related to looting, and Interdictor points out problems with New Orleans police involved in looting as well.

Mobilizing the blogger community
Despite the angst and difficulties of the hurricane cleanup and relief, bloggers are pouring money and effort into helping. Instapundit continues to publish a comprehensive list of relief agencies. Skippy the Bush Kangaroo suggests blogger donations independent of politics, Liberal Blogosphere for Hurricane Relief offers its services, and one blogger is auctioning design services to help the cause. The Truth Laid Bear keeps a running tab of Thursday's Blog For Relief Day (No. 6 top link; $250,000 and counting). Moveon.org is linking hurricane refugees with available housing provided by Moveon members across the U.S.

Holiday news:
The BlogPulse team will be taking a four-day holiday over the Labor Day weekend, returning to work on Wednesday, Sept. 7. See you then...

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:54 AM

The blogosphere continues to report news of Hurricane Katrina's aftermath today, and bloggers are mobilizing to help fill the information gap and help the massive cleanup that will be required. It's reminiscent of the blogger involvement in the 2004 tsunami coverage and relief effort. Instanpundit provides a list of relief/charity organizations. The Truth Laid Bear is helping coordinate the designation of Thursday (9/1) as Blog for Relief Day, "a day of blogging focused on raising awareness of and funds for relief efforts to aid those affected by Hurricane Katrina."

Blogging as close to the scene as possible
Where reporters can't get to, where electricity has failed, or where cell phones have died, bloggers have taken up reins. Among today's top blogs are a handful of newcomers who are providing as much information about Katrina's devastation as possible. They include The Irish Trojan's blog by Brendan Loy, who's blogging from South Bend, Ind., of all places. Others include Metroblogging New Orleans, a blog from the Biloxi Sun Herald and California Yankee blogger.

Top hurricane news sources
A separate BlogPulse analysis of the news sources cited most frequently by bloggers shows that CNN.com leads the list, followed by Yahoo! News, MSNBC, the Washington Post, BBC News, the New York Times, Fox News, USATODAY.com, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and The Nation. Other news sources breaking into the national spotlight include the Everything New Orleans web site of the New Orleans Times Picayune and the previously mentioned Biloxi Sun Herald.

The entire disaster is producing what A Small Victory calls tireless blogging work."

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:03 AM

One of the interesting things about the blogoshere is how quickly certain bloggers, blogs or issues can rise to the top of the consciousness heap, where they either gain traction or fade away. The Flying Spaghetti Monster letter, (today's No. 3 top link) for example, appeared several months ago and refuses to die...so much so that it now has its own Wikipedia entry (today's No. 6 top link).

Today's top blog post comes from newcomer Michael Yon's Online Magazine: Gates of Fire blog, an independent soul offering lengthy on-the-scene reporting and photos from the ground war in Iraq. "Every sentence is packed with life...and death," says Black Five; "must-read...won't see this kind of reporting anywhere else" is how Instapundit describes it.

Let's change things a lot...
The Bush administration wants to at the United Nations, where newly anointed ambassador John Bolton seems ready to unleash his tact with a few hundred suggestions for change (today's No. 8 top news story). Running Scared blog has a new monkier for Mr. Ambassador "Mouth of Sauron" Bolton (a reference to the bad guy in Lord of the Rings); Captain Ed calls Bolton's mission "a giant step" for reform.

Paradigm No. 2: Got an opinion? Just be quiet about it, OK?
The members of the American Legion has a novel new (and 1984-ishly scary) suggestion for people who feel inclined to air their opinions about the war in Iraq: shut up and be declared illegal? (today's No. 12 top link). "American Legion Goes Berserk" declares Shakespeare's Sister; "Defending Your Rights By Denying Them" points out Bark Bark Woof Woof, who also happens to provide live coverage of Hurricane Katrina...at least until the power goes out.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 08:43 AM

"In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes," said the late artist Andy Warhol, and in the blogosphere, seems like that fame-osity is happening now.

Make yourself famous
For those who like their fame on a magazine cover, go head, knock yourself out and design one yourself at Flickr's Magazine Cover interface, today's top blog post. A "handy-dandy utility"is the folks at NetworkWorld call it.

Time-travel fame
If fame for you arrived in 1985, travel back in time with Engadget, for a look at new technology then. Ah, for the days of gigantic cell phones and the Amiga 1000....

Musical fame
Robert Moog, the man for whom the Moog synthesizer was named, is today's burstiest person for his contribution to the musical world. He died Sunday, and BlogPulse Spotlight has more details.... Also making one last "appearance" is the late Hunter S. Thompson, whose ashes were sent into the atmosphere via cannonfire over the weekend. "There goes Hunter!" indeed...

Political fame...rising and falling
Anti-war protester/mother Cindy Sheehan remains more rank-worthy today among bloggers than President George Bush. And today's No. 5 most-shared link shows his poll numbers dropping, dropping, dropping.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 12:52 PM

Thank goodness for people with senses of humor, because in times of heightened questions about U.S. pre-9/11 intelligence (today's No. 4 blog post) and rising anti-war sentiment (Cindy Sheehan remains the most blogged-about personality today), creeping computer worms and smarmy state politics (thanks to Republican Ohio Gov. Bob Taft, today's 10th burstiest person), some people can still laugh.

Help! I've fallen...and I was pushed!
Like the folks at the satire-heavy Onion, whose theory of Intelligent Falling (as an alternative to intelligent design) is today's No 2. most-shared link among bloggers. "Heh, heh, heh" chuckles Dave Does The Blog.

Its proper place in "history"
Over at BoingBoing, an underground effort to reshelve copies of George Orwell's 1984 (out of fiction and into history/current events) is under way, an effort being noticed domestically and internationally.

Jeff Jarvis, the non-chuckling exception
But the one guy in the blogosphere not laughing today is BuzzMachine's Jeff Jarvis, whose ongoing troubles with a Dell computer and equally poor follow-up service have gained immense traction. His latest "Dear Mr. Dell" commentary on the continuing saga ranks No. 3 among all blog posts today and has created quite a conversation in less than a day. Do You Hear Us Now?" asks Whatsnextblog; "More Dell Hell" comments CommonSenseDesk. Great points are made about the impact and influence of active online consumers with a penchant to speak their personal truths...

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:14 AM

There's plenty of news about blogging today, what with Blogger now available for download into Word (today's top blog post and No. 2 top link) and an upgrade to WordPress (No. 11 top link, No. 18 top blog post). The integration of Blogger into Word, jokes (?) Cowboy Caleb, means that "all your blogs belong to Bill" (referring to Mr. Gates); Audio Activism suggests switching to the new WordPress for the features, sure, but mostly for the security.

(In your best Carl Sagan voice:) Millions and millions of blogs...
Everybody's counting blogs (see Feedster's 500 top-rated blogs), but exactly what are they counting? And what's a splog? It's a spam blog, and it's the subject of today's No. 2 blog post, "A splog here, a splog there, pretty soon it adds up..." by blog maverick. Incremental Blogger offers a few solutions, while threadwatch calls the splog post a trumped-up charge by a "knobhead." Here at BlogPulse, we've agreed that a contagious, flesh-eating-bacteria pox on all blog spammers would be a fitting fix, but haven't quite yet figured out how to make that happen. It's been referred to the BlogPulse Infectious Diseases Cubicle. BlogPulse's Trend Graphs, meanwhile, find discussion about spam blogs on the rise:



Cindy's vigil continues
Cindy Sheehan, the subject of more than 8,600 BlogPulse search results today, continues her anti-war protest outside of President Bush's Crawford, TX, ranch, and even managed today kick Harry Potter AND Bush out of No. 1-2 places as the blogosphere's most-discussed personalities. That, as Hermoine will tell you, is akin to magic. Maybe it helps to have an on-the-scene blog.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:25 AM

The blogosphere seems to skitter hither and yon today, so here goes with some hither-and-yon observations...

Far side of the earth (from here)
There's something to be said when the day's top blog post is written by an Aussie about Afghanistan's math-student whizzes. "Good news from Afghanistan" echoes Right Pundit, and "a dose of democracy at work," says the Hill Observer.

Searching for...
Coming in at No. 2 among blog posts is Yahoo!'s announcement that it's reached the 20-billion milestone in its search index. Kicking sand in Google's face, asks SearchViews blog?...or Art of the Blog's version of Yahoo-ey? Google, meanwhile, is creating buzz with news of its news feeds (today's No. 2 top link).

A mom's vigil continues
Can't help but notice that Cindy Sheehan, mother of 24-year-old son killed last year in Iraq, is not only maintaining her vigil outside of President Bush's ranch in Texas, she's also (for the second day in a row) nudging upwards from just below him among BlogPulse's key people (she's No. 4 to his No. 3). Michelle Malkin stoops low enough to call Sheehan's supporters "grief pimps."

More attention on lung cancer
Just two days after ABC newsman Peter Jennings' death from lung cancer, the widow of the late actor Christopher Reeve is in the news: non-smoker Dana Reeve announced Tuesday she also is being treated for lung cancer. "So sad," says Pam's House Blend.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:42 AM

Blogs have proved themselves worthy fund-raising tools during recent and ongoing political campaigns, and Blogathon 2005 (Saturday's top blog) has expanded the concept further. Now in its fifth year, Blogathon (held on Saturday) linked bloggers internationally and virtually. Their mission: post something on their blogs every 30 minutes for 24 hours to raise money for various charities and causes. Its theme: "Stay up late. Make a difference!"

Blogathon 2005 updates ranked No. 7 among Saturday's top BlogPulse links and No. 30 among Saturday's top blog posts.

Even though the event blogging has finished, pledges will continue to be collected through Tuesday for a variety of causes and charities. According to the latest update, Blogathan 2005 had 219 participants, 1,851 sponsors and $56,942 in pledges. The Blogathon web site also featured hot spots, links to participating bloggers who were doing something a little bit special to mark the occasion.

And who are the Blogathon organizers? Sheana in New England to Heather in Las Vegas to Chris in San Francisco, with some foreign-language translators helping out.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:55 AM

It's a question often asked about blogging: where are all the female bloggers? Bunches of them were at Blogher, last Saturday's all-day conference in Santa Clara for women who blog. Coverage of and blogging from the event pushed the Blogher web site into No. 3 position today among top blogs and today's sixth most-shared link. It was all about connecting with people, says the socialsoftwareweblog. "Herstory in the making," muses arse poetica. Quite possibly a world-changing event, says The Corner blogger.

What does a BlogPulse trend graph say? Women rule the roost in the blogging world...



Blogging got you down?
Are your obsessing about your posting behavior? Suffering from content anxiety? Plagued by equal amounts of self-doubt and self-importance? Is that's what's got you down, Bunky? The Nonist offers a possible diagnosis for this current mental health phemonenon: blog depression. Borrowing on the format of what The Divine Miss Em describes as a school-nurse-pamphlet design, the tongue-in-cheek brochure details a condition that's obviously international in scope, judging by blog comments in German, French, Korean and whatever language this is. (Hungarian? Turkish? Class? Anyone?)

Gotta go. I feel my post-post mood sinking...

But before I go, check out today's 37th top link, a very cool series of optical illusions. "Most incredible," says Shabooty's Madness.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:00 AM

It must feel like bipolar disorder in London today, with Monday's euphoria at being chosen for the 2012 Summer Olympics replaced by shock and anger at news of today's terrorist bombings throughout the city. IOC president Jacques Rogge is today's burstiest person.

Listening in...
In the eavesdropping department: today's No. 20 top link is a blog called The Fifth Nail, and it details the life and thoughts of allleged kidnapper Joseph Duncan, arrested Saturday for kidnapping an 8-year-old girl after murdering her Idaho family in May. The blog covers January 2004-May 2005. "Sick rantings," says Badger Blogger, while Jay Caruso examines the "mind of a predator." Also eavesdropping, apparently, is Matt Drudge, (today's No. 5 link) who reports on an overheard phone conversation by Sen. Charles Schumer about the pending brouhaha over whomever is nominated to replace retiring Sandra Day O'Connor. GOP Bloggers call it the symptom of a "declining party," while Residual Forces says it's evidence the Dems will go "nuclear," no matter what. The President has called on actor and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson to shepherd the nomination process.

Listening of another kind...
In Florida, they've got another word for eavesdropping: "wireless mooching." It's what cops caught a man doing with a laptop in a van outside a home with wireless Internet connection, as in "drive-by surfing." Martin McKeay's Network Security Blog describes the phenom as a "new kind of intruder," while Lethal Librarian has deeper questions about legal ramifications, especially since the alleged victim had no security measures in place.

Jailed Journalist
New York Times reporter Judith Miller (No. 6 among key people) went to jail Monday rather than divulge her sources for an article she never printed, curiously, about the identify of Valerie Plame, a CIA operative. Blogs of War says she "stood firm," while Anal Philosopher asks, "why is this even news?" Tongue in cheek (we think), Mossback Culture blogger wonders if Miller will share a cell with rapper Li'l Kim?

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:27 AM

Two reactions to the news that .xxx will become the newest Internet domain, thanks to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. Does this mean the spammers will follow (please?), and does the Internet really need MORE porn? The Uneasy Silence blog calls it the Internet's red-light district, and AfterWords blog offers commentary...and a poem!

More on Deep Throat
Seems everyone has an opinion about the motives of "Deep Throat," now revealed as former FBI director Mark Felt. Ben Stein's "Nixon wasn't such a bad guy" American Specatator Essay omits the tiny detail that 40 Nixon appointees/government officials were indicted and/or jailed because of Watergate. BlueBus blog says Stein is "off his rocker," while Grouchy Old Cripple says Nixon was more liberal/less at fault than President Bill Clinton. Talking Points Memo asks the question: had Felt reported wrongdoing to higher-ups, as critics suggest a good FBI man should do, just which higher-ups was he supposed to trust?

How has Deep Throat discussion affected bloggers' references to the Washington Post? Here's a look at buzz for three leading news sources among bloggers -- with the Post showing a definite spike since last weekend's revelation:



Interesting finds in the blogosphere
Today's top links uncover a host of fun things: Carmen Sandiego has been found, if you just know where to look (Google), blogger Pork Tornado posts the 10 worst album covers of all time (is that Tootsie on cover No. 9?), and a San Francisco 49ers "training video" is making the rounds on the Internet (and cost PR man Kirk Reynolds his job because of the adult content and stereotype-driven jokes).

The Life Cycle of Bloggers
If you haven't read it yet, catch Min Jung's tongue-in-cheek essay on blogging.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:25 AM

What a difference a day makes. Tuesday's BlogPulse buzz focused heavily on Newsweek magazine and the shake-out of its Koran-flushing retraction, while today's buzz-makers encompass totally different issues and topics.

Australian pop star Kylie Minogue, who announced this week she has breast cancer, is receiving plenty of support from her fans.

In gamerland, announcement of the spring 2006 launch of Sony's PlayStation 3 dominates the field, is covered live by the aficianados at Engadget and recives plenty of ink from Gamespot.

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan jumps from No. 20 to No. 8 among today's key people, no doubt, because in blaming Newsweek for anti-American sentiment abroad, he also drew the wrath of MSNBC's Keith Olberman, who on his blog has called for McClellan's resignation over officially questionable media practices and spin.

And today's No. 2 link details Canadian politics, in which once-Conservative Belinda Stronach has jumped to the Liberal party to take a position in Prime Minister Paul Martin's cabinet.

For today's conservative-liberal viewpoints, there's veteran newsman Bill Moyers, who gave a recent speech about the role of the free press ("a democracy can die of too many lies") and former White House aide Pat Buchanan's thoughts on the demise of conservatism ("a lot of people who call themselves conservative....are big-government people.")

BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: In the last few weeks, discussion about cancer has spiked.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:45 AM

The folks at Google just don't seem to quit.

The company's web accelerator download ranks first among today's top links, and one blogger thinks it might help bloggers in countries where the Internet is tightly ruled by governments.

Microsoft's Bill Gates makes it to the No. 3 spot among today's top personalities, mostly for a Fortune article in which he discusses Google as "more like us than anyone we have ever competed with." Another top BlogPulse link today features Google-Yahoo city traffic maps.

Eyes are also focused overseas, as well, where re-elected British Prime Minister Tony Blair ranks No. 2 behind President George Bush among today's most blogged-about personalities. Observers also specualte about an exposion (by novelty devices) in front of the British consulate in New York City, with descriptions ranging from "major bomb blast" to "party favor in a flower pot."

BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY:Britain's Tony Blair won the buzz contest among bloggers, too.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 07:40 AM

Now here's some news you can really sink your teeth into. Literally.

Today's fourth most-shared link takes blog readers to the tale of the burger arms race, wherein Denny's Beer Barrel Pub in Clearfield, Pa., is now offering a 15-pound hamburger that feeds a family of 10. Once-obscure 100-pound Kate Stelnick is today's burstiest person for eating a 5-pound version of the burger in record time recently. (Tums, anyone?) Bloggers share their culinary excitement.

If beef's not what's for dinner, how's about a bacon bandage? The Ultimate Insult blog describes it as a great way to "disgust the vegetarian in your life," (although I'm pretty sure it would disgust carnivores as well).

Apple continues to beef up its product line with the newly announced iMac G5, which comes installed with the new Tiger operating system. Mac bloggers are taking note.

BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: The haggling continues over who will be the next owner of MCI...Qwest or Verizon?

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 06:36 AM

Today's lesson from academia comes from UC Berkeley's Professor Jasper Rine (today's third-burstiest BlogPulse personality). When someone walked out of class with his laptop, he offered a lecture about consequences, which was picked up (and transcripted) at Flashman's Blast Radius web site (BlogPulse's No. 2 link for the day) and at BoingBoing.

Fallout from the Adobe-Macromedia marriage is hitting the blogosphere, and blogger John Gruber ranks as today's burstiest person because of the "translation" he offers of Adobe's press-release marketingspeak at his Daring Fireball blog (today's top link).

Another big-tech company taking heat is Microsoft and, at least according to media reports, its last-minute withdrawal of support for a gay rights bill in Washington because a conservative minister threated a boycott. Reaction ranges from an Ameriblog rant to opposite-coast news of Gov. M Jodi Rell's signature on a bill allowing civil unions for gays in Connecticut.

More stuff from Google and Apple
Google now offers the ability to do search histories (today's No. 2 top phrase) and a peek inside Google Labs, while other developers are specualting the future of Apple's OS X and Spotlight functionality. Also, early reviews are trickling in of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: Battle lines are being drawn in Washington D.C. over the issue of "activism".

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:43 AM

It's a papal kind of day now that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany has been elected pope and has taken the name Benedict XVI. Did BlogPulse know something ahead of time? (Or as the blogger at Personal Democracy Forum asked, "Did Ratzinger have a blog strategy for the election?"

Check out how "buzz" among bloggers over the past month has tracked the various leading candidates to head the Catholic Church. The top graph tracks buzz on Monday; the graph below it tracks buzz on Tuesday, the day of Ratzinger's election as pope:



News of the new pope encompassed 13 of today's top 40 links, boosted Ratzinger as the most talked-about person in the Blogosphere and captured 10 of today's top 16 key phrases.

Reactions to the pope's election ranged from an observation about the frequently mentioned "Nazi youth" connection at Daily Kos to a different perspective on the issue from The Republic of T. blog.

Elsewhere around the globe
Google has launched a UK version of Google Maps, Americans have a new food pyramid that advises eating a balanced diet and exercising (imagine!), and the nation took time this week to mark the 10th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombings at the Murrah Federal Building in 1995.

BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: When you receive messages from the outside world, in which format are they delivered to you?

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:06 AM

An odd collection of personalities are getting traction this week among BlogPulse's key people. Among them:

• Sen. Mel Martinez (up from No. 37 to No. 8 on today's key people list) and his recently resigned legal counsel, Brian Darling, (today's burstiest person). Darling resigned this week after admitting that he wrote a "talking points memo" outlining how Republicans could make hay from the Terri Schiavo case.

• Conservative and liberal bloggers are chiming in on the issue. Conservative bloggers who thought they would "out" the memo as a Democratic party fake are now eating their words, and liberal bloggers are making sure it's a tasty treat.

• First daughter Jenna Bush has jumped to No. 4 among Bursty people, too, mostly for New York Post gossip about a video of her, shall we say, "animated" dancing at a New York night club last weekend.

• Activist legislators are at it again, including Reps. Ed Markey and Fred Upton, who want to extend daylight savings from March to November to save on energy costs (those pesky energy-guzzling light bulbs!), and Florida lawmakers, who obviously like guns a whole lot more than anyone thought.

• And there's the tale of Everyconsumer Mike Bolesta, who got arrested by paying Best Buy in $2 bills. Honest.

BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: Remember all those issues that voters were debating last November? The hunt for Osama? Gay marriage? WMDs? Post-election threats to move to Canada? Where are those issues now?

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 04:33 PM

The same week that the Supreme Court took up the legality of downloading songs and file-sharing software that makes it possible, former Talking Heads singer David Byrne launched his own Internet radio station to feature music he likes.

BlogPulse is celebrating this week, too, as its extra-cool Conversation Tracker capability emerged at the No. 16 spot among Tuesday's top links. It's a great tool for discovering the threads that emerge and branch from a single blog post. Speaking of tracking, Bloglines now allows users to track FedEx, UPS and USPS packages in transit.

Terri Schiavo's death today will certainly continue to be discussed by bloggers. In the last week, the Rev. Jesse Jackson began appearing among BlogPulse's key people as he nudged his way in front of the cameras at the last minute (something he excels at, according to those who know him), and Schiavo's parents (even before her death) agreed to sell the names of donors to their daughter's cause to conservative advocacy groups for fund-raising. Bloggers also are starting to pay attention to Pope John Paul II, who this week began receiving nourishment through a nasal feeding tube.

Meanwhile, former U.N. ambassador John Danforth, an ordained minister and former Missouri senator, feels that the Republican party is letting itself be hijacked by conservative Christians He writes in a New York Times opinion piece: "At its best, religion can be a uniting influence, but in practice, nothing is more divisive. For politicians to advance the cause of one religious group is often to oppose the cause of another."

BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: How and where do you find our news? BlogPulse compared blogs vs. mainstream media vs. cable news and found some interesting trends.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:48 AM

A quick count shows that Terry Schiavo has remained in the No. 1 spot among BlogPulse's daily "key people" list since Friday, March 18, the day that her feeding tube was removed. Links to news stories about her situtation, and key phrases that refer to her condition, however, have begun dissipating in the past few days as bloggers turn to other subjects.

One of those topics is House Majority Leader Tom Delay, who took a public role in Congressional efforts to intervene in Schiavo's case. Now bloggers are discussing this week's Los Angeles Times revelations that DeLay's family in 1988 removed life support from his father, who was seriously injured in an accident at his home.

The entire Terry Schiavo episode is emotional for all people, which raises the question: When bloggers talk about emotions, which ones do they talk about most? Seems love wins handily:




Use BlogPulse 2.0 for link search:
BlogPulse announced new features this week, including the daily stats page (upper left corner) and improved search and graphing capabilities. Remember that BlogPulse's search function allows users to search not only for key words but also entire links or URLS to track blog posts. Type in the entire link for BlogPulse, for example, and you'll get all blog posts that mention this site. Type in your own blog, web site or favorite URL...and see what you find!

Big food
Today's top link is the best example of why the country's obesity problem isn't likely to melt away soon: a 730-calorie breakfast omelette from Burger King. Fries with that?

And bloggers already have been actively following the latest earthquake to hit Southern Asia. The South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog, which played a key role in covering the December 2004 quake/tsunami, jumped into action again just minutes after Monday's quake hit.

BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: Speaking of tsunamis and earthquakes, here's a graph that tracks natural disasters.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:38 AM

Is the TV turned on where you work? Is the NCAA tournament distracting coworkers? Are company meetings being scheduled between games?

One of BlogPulse's most intriguing capabilities is its ability to plot trends or issues graphically, so we put spring sports to the test. And March Madness, it seems, isn't as front-and-center as it might seem.



I never know which names will burst into consciousness in the blogosphere each day that I check BlogPulse, and today's bursty people" list includes the names of several folks who passed away this week (and several far earlier in time, in fact).

Burstiest person is the late Andre Norton, whose real name was Alice Mary Norton, author of the "Witch World sci-fi series. She died at age 93 this week in Tennessee. Also on the list, at No. 3, is former Red Sox pitcher Dick Radatz, who died from head injuries after falling down the steps at his Massachusetts home.

And then there's this oddity: a tribute to the late Jesus Christ, in a strange, aromatic sort of way. Out in South Dakota, Bob Tosterud and wife Karen are selling candles that they claim smell like Jesus. (How do they know???)

And of course, partiers are still talking about St. Patrick's Day and all its associated nectars, traditions and history. The truly warped will enjoy The Onion's Irish Heritage Timeline.

Here's a question that's puzzling scientists: is religious behvaior genetically influenced?

BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: Spring arrives officially on Sunday, and not a second too late for anyone who's endured the incessantly gray weather of the Midwest or the torrential rains out West. Bring on the daffodils!

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:15 AM

BlogPulse is full of curious and interesting techie discoveries today, most of them interspered with news of MCI WorldCom head Bernard Ebbers' guilty verdict for fraud charges on Tuesday (burstiest person) and continued discussion of Judge Richard Kramer's decision this week that found California's ban on gay marriage unconstitutional.

First cool discovery is Amaztype (today's No. 5 top link), which lets you search through the Amazon.com database in a very graphical, beeping and techno way. Give it a whirl.

Second cool discovery probably isn't all that new, but Skype is getting more and more attention as a Free Internet phone service.

Third cool discovery isn't highly recommended, but Command Tab (specializing in Macs and geekery) offers instructions for adding a 40G Toshiba hard drive to an iPod that was dropped on the floor and went kaput.

Having trouble solving Rubik's cube? Let Legos do it. (That's the No. 4 cool discovery).

And the final cool discovery comes from a Wired story about the "building in a bag" created by London engineers. Click on the image on the left to see what it looks like.

But wait! There's more....such as A9's new open search feature and step-by-step instructions on colorizing your own images/movies.

In a little bit of blogger trickery, bloggers are trying to push Wikipedia to the top search term for "online poker" as their way of fighting spam.

And for those who need some news to make their tax-paying stomachs churn yet again, the Houston Chronicle reports that Haliburton subsidiary KBR charged the Pentagon $27.5 million (with an M) to rush-deliver $82,100 of cooking and heating fuel to Iraq. Their version of "overnight shipping" charges, we presume?

BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: Enough talk about today's President. How do the country's living ex-Presidents stack up?

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:14 AM

A service called Friendditto got tons of traffic and blog buzz over the weekend, so much so that it's now been put on hold temporarily while certain user/legal issues are being ironed out, apparently. Not associated with LiveJournal, Friendditto archives/archived LiveJournal posts based on certain keywords it found, and some users are now issuing warnings about privacy concerns.

In other parts of the world, mourners are discussing the death of a respected British rock DJ Tommy Vance, today's burstiest person and credited with interviewing more than 10,000 guests during his on-air tenure.

The death of an Italian intelligence officer, shot by U.S. troops as recently freed Italian journalist-hostage Guiliana Sgrena was being driven to the Bagdhad airport, is again raising calls for Italy to withdraw its troops from Iraq. Italian officials are demanding a full U.S. investigation into officer Nicola Calipari's death.

If you're squeamish about the "f" word, DON'T read today's top link, a LiveJournal posting from a woman sounding off about today's state of affairs for women's reproductive rights. In a bizarre kind of way, it's a modern-day version of Aristophanes' Lysistrata.

BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: Martha Stewart's stock (and buzz) are both rising now that she's been sprung from prison. See how Martha stacks up against other headline-grabbing women.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:31 AM

Really? Federal Elections Commission fines for bloggers who forward campaign addresses or provide links to candiates' web sites? Is that what's ahead for politics and blogs?

The biggest buzz in the Blogosphere today involves this CNET interview with FEC Commissioner Bradley Smith, who argues that elections rules eventually must be applied to the Internet, and that means more scrutiny of (and fines for?) bloggers and their ubiquitous links to campaign sites, information, fund-raising sites and more. Says Smith: "One thing the commission has argued over, debated, wrestled with, is how to value assistance to a campaign...The commission has usually taken the view that we value it by the amount raised. It's still going to be difficult to value the link, but the value of the link will go up very quickly."

Blogger Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit chimes in, as does Redstate.org and a lot of other bloggers.

Speaking of red states, the Elko Daily Free Press has coverage of a red-state speech given recently Rep. Jim Gibbons (R-Nev).

On the party front, the Internet's marking Yahoo!'s 10th anniversary, with a 10by10 retrospective and a link to the original 1995 Yahoo! home page. A long way, indeed....

Speaking of long ways, Virgin Atlantic has an entire web site devoted to Steve Fosset's Global Flyer and the around-the-world solo flight that finished Thursday afternoon in Salina, Kansas.

Other interesting finds, access to the New York Public Library's digital image archive and (just what the Internet needs more of) sleeping cat pictures. And oh yeah, a Tawney Peaks breast implant for sale on eBay.

BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: What's happening in the world of Internet browsers?

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:47 AM

Today's Blogosphere theme revolves around unique and interesting graphic design, including an kitchen knife block, a playful window display and a new hard drive that summons visions of a luau and beating drums.

The knife block: one of the most popular links among bloggers this week is to an intruguing device for storing kitchen knives. (For voodoo purposes, I suppose it would be possible to glue a photo of someone on the red guy's face?). A complete list of similarly designed products is available from Vice Versa's online catalog, which appeared among Wednesday's top links.

The window treatment: In California, engineering students paid homage to National Engineering Week by creating a Post-It note collage of Super Mario video game scenes on the windows of the engineering building at the University of California/Santa Cruz.

If you were a fan of the movie "Office Space" more than a fan of Mario Brothers, Idiot Works animators have given super heroes the dialogue parts of some of their favorite scenes from the flick. TPS cover sheets, the jammed copier...they're all there.

The hard drive: And for a new take on computer peripherals, check out the TikiMac unit hard drive that looks like it belongs atop a flaming torch around a Hawaiian beach bonfire/luau.

At Talon News, design (and everything, for that matter) is on hold while the "news agency" figures out what it wants to be.

BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: For some graphics of our own, we present the curious spikes surrounding women of power and fame.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 12:26 PM

First, the problem is not in your set. BlogPulse today features top links, but the results for key phrases and key people won't be available till later in the day.

But there's plenty of fodder within today's most shared links to keep BlogPulse readers interested. The top link, in fact, is a piece by political observer Peggy Noonan titled "The Blogs Must Be Crazy," one of the most insightful looks at the gap between mainstream media and bloggers. Personally, I've done both, and frankly, she's right.

So is The Daily Show's Jon Stewart, who had a little fun with bloggers this week. Catch the video.

How do mentions of "mainstream media" compare with mentions of blog-related journalism? BlogPulse's trend-graphing capabilities show that discussion of the former closely mirrors discussion of the later.



If you've wondered what cryptic instant-message verbiage and computer lingo means, Microsoft also provides a guide to "leetspeak". Pretty kewl.

The day's other technology lesson comes in the form of a creative computer guy who rigged his home camera to catch a burglar in action, even when the burglar stole the computer.

Speaking of computer guys and Microsoft, ABC has some quiet time with Bill Gates, head of one of the world's largest companies, whiel the BCC reports that China is now the world's largest consumer of stuff.

And on Capitol Hill, intelligence officials are delivering a message that opponents of the Iraq invasion has been harping for nearly two years now: that the war itself is a recruiting tool for terrorists. (Hmm...if CIA Chief Porter Goss says it, it's patriotic and informative. If the war's critics say it (for two years), they're catering to terrorists? How does that work?). Meanwhile, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, apparently, doesn't want to talk about it. He just wants Congress to cough up $82 billion more to pay for it.

TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: Yesterday, we looked at the top-actor Oscar nominees, and today, we check in on the top actress nominees.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 12:06 PM

Today's top blog links aren't particularly juicy, and key phrases are a ho-hum collection of various and sundry topics. But the list of key people has more than enough fodder for a big fat issue of People magazine (or its blog equivalent).

First, there's news of Michael Jackson's hospitalization for flu-like symptoms, and Microsoft's announcement from Bill Gates of the early release of a supposedly more secure Internet Explorer 7.0.

From the world of bizarre hook-ups comes news of the pending marriage of 22-year-old Vili Fualaau and his one-time junior high teacher, 43-year-old Mary Kay Letourneau, who did jail time twice for child rape (and got pregnant twice by the boy). Some relationships are just too bizarre for words.

Today's burstiest person is David Kuo, one-time head of President Bush's faith-based initiative initiative, and now one of its biggest critics. Democrats, he says, are too wishy-washy on the faith issue, and Republicans, he charges, simply don't care enough about poor people to put compassionately conservative words into action (or dollars).

And what's a good gossip magazine without a crop circle story? How about a Hello Kitty crop circle story?

Legal briefs: The Tulsa World is trying to crack down on a blogger, news of a a tsunami-related lawsuit has been filed by Austrian and German victims of the natural disaster, and a Los Angeles Times reports on former U.S. prisoners of war from the first Gulf War who are being told by the Bush Administration to quit asking for the money they were awarded for their torture because the Iraqis need the money now. (Does this administration not understand the word "torture" in any context?)

BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: Batter up! Baseball's annual spring training season kicks into the gear this week. Allegations of steroid use by some of baseball's biggest stars are bound to have an impact on this year's coverage of the great American pasttime.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:24 AM

Before we get to the heavy topics of the day, here's a shout-out to the folks at The Onion, (today's Top Link #28)) who always manage to bring a satire-heavy grin, and today's Happy Valentine's Day greeting is no exception. Still, some folks believe in Cupid's arrow, apparently, as "one true love" appears among today's key phrases, too.

Now for the nitty-gritty, in which bloggers, journalists and observers are squaring off on the emerging roles that political bloggers are taking. Are they fair? Dangerous? People who believe in the First Amendment but only if it fits their political agenda? More interested in speed than facts?

The discussion is wide-ranging among today's top links, from a Michael Barone column at U.S.News.com about the political influence of bloggers (is it mostly right-leaning?), to Howard Kurtz' Washington Post's column about bloggers' increasing willingness to attack mainstream journalists. The reason? CNN news executive Eason Jordan resigned over the weekend in the wake of blogger flak he received because of comments made last week at an international forum, where he suggested that journalists in Iraq were being targeted by the military. Did bloggers not like the person, the message...or the possibility of some truth in the discussion he started? Blogger Michelle Malkin offers a far different assessment than Bertrand Pecquerie at Editors Weblog.

Among today's key people are Howard Dean, the newly elected chairman of the National Democratic Party, and music executive Jordan Bratman, is getting lots of buzz for getting engaged to singer Christina Aguilera.

For a little beauty in the world, you gotta give artist Christo credit for turning New York's Central Park into an orange-flagged bonanza.

BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: It's obvious that the season of awards shows is upon us, and Oscar remains one of the favorites.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:05 AM

It looks like one of those days when stuff just falls apart or good intentions go awry.

Topping the list of key phrases is the term "additional paid time," which is what LiveJournal users are getting for a two-day blog outage that occured over the weekend. LiveJournalers are calling it the "Great Outage of 2005," and the blog service provider is offering two weeks' free memberhsip to paid users.

Among today's top links from Yahoo! News in India is this piece about Christian missionaries who allegedly abandoned their mission when the Hindu believers they were trying to help refused to convert. WWJD? Cry, probably.

And in Ohio, the same constitutional amendment that's supposed to protect citizens from gays who happen to like each other is in actuality being used as a defense against boyfriends charged with beating up their girlfriends. The boyfriends' argument: since theirs is not a legally sanctioned, state-recognized male-female union, domestic violence charges don't count.

And in the "help, save us from ourselves department!" comes this bit of news: Fox TV blurred out the rear end of a cartoon character in "Family Guy" for fear that the bare-butt animation (on an episode that aired five years ago), might offend the FCC or censors. Does that mean Donald Duck has to start wearing pants?

Australian politics are grabbing some attention, too, as speculation begins about who will replace Labor Party leader Mark Latham, who quit earlier this week for health reasons. In the U.S., red-state bloggers are foaming at the mouth over Nov. 2 election results from Wisconsin, although it's curious how so few of them say to themselves what they've been saying to blue-staters who have the same concerns all along about registration numbers and voting patterns Ohio and Florida: the election's over, get over it. (Besides, your candidate won).

And for today's weather report, we'll let bloggers chime in descriptively and leave it at that.

BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: The second Bush Jr. presidency starts soon, with some old faces and some new.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:11 AM

Bloggers are speculating about it, but LiveJournal confirms that Six Apart has indeed purchased LiveJournal. Here's the official announcement from Six Apart. Will it be a good thing? Opinions already are being offered about whether the marriage will work.

San Bernadino County must have an incredible presence in the Blogosphere, because today's top 6 burstiest people are involved in some way with the county's decision not to allow an annual Renaissance Pleasure Faire to continue on grounds it's been using for 10 years. Bloggers who are into 16th-Century England obviously are not happy.

The presidential election that won't go away returns, with references to Congressional Rep. John Conyers among today's bursty people as well for his ongoing challenge of Ohio's election results. It's an issue as Congress returns to action this week and must certify electoral college votes.

For the truly heady among us, check out today's third top link, Edge, the World Question Center. Today's deep-think question: What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it? Hmmm....

BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: The world remains focused on disaster relief efforts in Southern Asia. The blog discussion shows up in several ways, including specific references to the tsunami-devasted countries and a huge spike in Asia-related discussion.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:33 AM

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

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

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

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

What the U.S. Supreme Court did -- and didn't do -- this week is catching the attention of bloggers.

What it didn't do is take up the case of the Massachusetts law that allows gay marraige. But it did listen to lawyers debate the lingering issue of the medical use of marijuana, which voters in 11 states have approved by ballot initiatives. California's is being scrutinized by the current sitting court.

Speaking of medical interventions, one of Monday's key phrases involves the South Korean woman who is now able to walk thanks to stem-cell treatment.

Topping today's list of bursty people is someone with a rags-to-riches story: namely, Carlos Gutierrez, a Cuban-born executive who rose from Kellogg cereal truck driver to Chief Operating Officer. He's been nominated by President Bush to become the Secretary of Commerce.

And while we're dropping names, catch these: Hazel and Phinnaeus. Those are the names that actress Julia Roberts and husband Danny Moder gave to their newborn twins. Asks one blogger: "What is it with celebrities and weird names?" Indeed. Whaddya bet Phinnaeus asks to change his name to Ed or Bo when he gets to kindergarten and has to start printing that Latin-spelling monstrosity on every paper?

Newshound alert: Wikipedia has launched Wikinews, a free content news source. In case you don't get enough from the Internet, 24-hour cable, email, text messaging, nightly news, radio, RSS feeds, cell phone alerts and your mother.

And look who's coming to the defense of Dan Rather. None other than Bill O'Reilly himself. That calls for an Arsenio Hall "hmmmmm....." moment.

TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: Military talk comes in all kinds, but the most personal revolves around military recruitment, deployment and retirement. Guess which is is talked about more?

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 04:15 PM

Yeah, sure, the history of the future of the world rests on Tuesday's decisions at the polls. But what are bloggers REALLY talking about? Halloween left-overs and more sports curses/traditions, for one. And that extra hour of sleep provided by the weekend switch to Daylight Savings Time.

I guess the retailing experts are right: People DO get into Halloween bigger and better every year. Evidence? Among Sunday's bursty phrases, at least 24 of them refer to parties, candy treats, parties, scary movies, monster songs, haunted houses and other Halloween-related stuff.

On the costume front, the term French maid showed up among bursty phrases as did some sample winners of costume contests. Over at the Stranger.com web site, some biting-humor kiddie costumes have been getting plenty of blog traffic among top links since late last week. And just to prove that small rodents can have fun, too, check out Heather Sullivan's Hamsters in Hats. Honest.

Over at the sports desk, history buffs at Snopes.com are all abuzz over the latest sports curse/legend, to wit: in every year since 1936 that the Washington Redskins lost their last game before the Presidential election, the incumbent president has also lost.

And since we can't entirely ignore the election, two new political finds emerged in weekend BlogPusle results. First is the web site of the Internet Vets for Truth, and second is a Zogby International/Rock the Vote poll of all those young voters who are cell-phone-only citizens.

Today's Campaign Radar 2004 also uncovered a few interesting sites, including the top link in Iraq-related discussion. It's the Iraq Body Count web site, hosted by a group of European researchers, statisticians, students and others interested in keeping track of civilian casualities in Iraq.

BlogPulse News....BlogPulse is on the radio! The web site Blogosphere Radio, an effort by two Canadian guys who are fascinated by blogs, now features BlogPulse data and the occasional sound clip. Check it out!

TREND OF THE DAY: When it comes to paying the price, consumers are obviously watching the numbers at the gas pump roll faster and faster each day.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:48 AM

Seems everybody else is talking about it: just what WAS that square thing under President Bush's suit jacket during the first debate in Miami? A seam wrinkle? A shadow? Or a wireless device from which someone off-stage was feeding him answers to debate questions?

Salon.com posted an article hypothesizing its purpose, then bloggers started buzzing about the photos and the phenom late last week, and the issue is all over the mainstream media by now, including a Saturday shortie in the New York Times and Monday-morning mentions in Technology Review's online newsletter and Online Media News' online newsletter. An entire web site, Is Bush Wired? has been set up to examine the issue (although high traffic to its servers might make it temporarily unavailable at times). Which raises the next question: if it WAS a wireless device, whose voice was prompting the president? And how often does this sort of "prompting" happen? (And what does that say about our leader's ability to think on his feet? With his own brain?)

That's the heavy part of politics today. But who said politics had to be serious business all the time? Those guys at JibJab are back at it again, and while the novelty factor might not be the same, you gotta give 'em credit for creativity. "Good to be in DC" is a satire-heavy equal opportunity animated clip that pokes fun at everything election-related and most things D.C.-related. By comparison, the You Forgot Poland web site, No. 35 among Saturday's burstiest phrases, pokes direct fun at the current resident of 1600 Pennylsvania Avenue. Making it to the fifth spot among Sunday's key phrases is Trey Parker and Matt Stone's (the South Park guys) new movie, "Team America: World Police," a puppet version of the war on terror and apparently a big poke in the eye with a sharp stick for politicians, governments and just about everything held sacred, according to sneak previews.

For Boston baseball fans, the words Red Sox won" are as full of hope and another chance at a World Series are they weighted down by a sense of foreboding and a fear of longstanding curses.

BLOGPULSE NEWS: Thanks to everyone for the feedback and suggestions that continue to filter our way. Campaign Radar 2004, the politics-only showcase of our blog-tracking technology, was featured Oct. 8 in the Cincinnati Business Courier. We certainly appreciate the traffic, and we we apologize for any disruption of service or slow results at BlogPulse and Campaign Radar 2004 because of some glitches we've encountered the past few days. Our tech gurus are hard at work tweaking and fixing, and things should be running smoothly very soon.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 02:06 PM

First, a tip of our "Caddyshack" golf hats to the late comedian Rodney Dangerfield, whose death this week generated numerous mentions and remembrances among bloggers. I saw him only once in person, when he christened Cincinnati's Riverbend Music Center, and my stomach muscles literally ached for days afterwards. He might not have gotten any respect, but he sure got the laughs

In a similar vein, what some people don't get, apparently, are the correct domain names of certain web sites. When Veep Dick Cheney told debate listeners Thursday night to indepently verify Sen. John Edwards' charges about Halliburton, he told them to visit FactCheck.com, which defaulted for some reason to George Soros' anti-Bush site. In actuality, Cheney meant to direct listeners to FactCheck.org. Traffic at both sites has been, let's just say, heavy the past few days. (In fact, FactCheck.org might not load because of the volume of traffic it's been receiving).

Other debate tidbits? Remember when Cheney said he'd never met Edwards before? They'd met, on several occasions. The Kerry-Edwards blog quickly posted at least one photo. In post-debate days, Cheney moved into the top position of BlogPulse's key people, while Edwards is second.

He's baaaaaack, in more ways that one. Whether you love him or detest him, filmmaker/loudmouth Michael Moore is one presence who won't go away. This week's release of "Fahrenheit 9/11" on DVD is one reason for his continued presence in the blogosphere. So are excerpts from an upcoming book, published recently in The Guardian. These excerpts include letters written to Moore by soldiers who are serving or have served in Iraq/Afghanistan. He's also being lambasted by Michigan newspapers for bribing voters...with free underwear, Tostitos and Ramen noodles. Moore's on a nationwide "Slacker Tour" to drum up new voters.

Out of nowhere appears arms inspector Charles Duelfer, whose report to Congressional officials this week said Saddam Hussein had the "intent" to build weapons of mass destruction but none of the materials that the Bush Administration claimed existed as their excuse for the corporate takeov..., excuse me, the invasion of Iraq.

TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: They found him in a spidey hole. He's still in prison. He was interrogated for information included in the most recent arms inspector's report. He won't go away. Deposed bad-guy Saddam Hussein continues to get talked about more than his active Iraqi replacements.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 03:48 PM

Here we are, still hashing out last Thursday's presidential debate, wondering what the Cheney-Edwards encounter in Cleveland will bring on Tuesday, and trying to guess how this Friday's town-hall-style re-match between Sen. Kerry and President Bush will shake out.

But what are people REALLY talking about? Mount St. Helens, for one, the Washington volcano that's waking up again. A "volcano cam" is now available online with images that refresh about every five minutes. References to the camera appear in the No. 10 spot on today's list of burstiest phrases.

Taking the top spot on that list is the latest Newsweek Poll that gives Sen. Kerry a two-point edge in its first post-debate poll of registered voters. Also high on the list are references to "aluminum tubes" and "nuclear weapons programs," the result of a New York Times weekend article about the Bush Administration's apparent decision to downplay Energy Department officials who disputed intelligence about the purpose of aluminum tubes found in Iraq before the U.S. invasion. The Bush Administration claimed the tubes were evidence of Iraq's re-entry into a nuclear weapons program, while doubters said the tubes were for launching small arterillery rockets, not nuclear weapons. It's obvious now who won that debate.

Speaking of debates, Sen. Kerry's reference to a "global test" for pre-emptive strikes brought about this tonque-in-cheek Global Test. Take it today!

On another matter, a few bloggers are claiming that Sen. Kerry broke the voluminous debate rules by pulling something -- notes, they say -- out of his pocket just before the debate started. But as the InDC blog explains, he removes "what look like note cards or papers from his right jacket pocket" at the podium. Or was it a handkerchief? A pocket pack of tissues? We'll never know.

Fox News' political reporter, Carl Cameron, is surfacing for several reasons: a fake news story that poked fun at Kerry's debate performance was posted (erroneously and "without malice," Fox later claimed) on the Fox web site after the debate. References to it and other Cameron tactics are available at the Talking Points memo blog (10/2 entries). In the Dan Rather spirit of political coverage, will Fox demand the resignation of one of its own? Hmmm....

Does any remember Abu Ghraib? Guantanamo Bay? Lieut. Col. Anthony Christino and David Rose are Nos. 2 and 4, respectively, among Sunday's burstiest people because of an upcoming report on intelligence failures at the Cuban detention prison. Christino retired last year after 20 years in the military, and British journalist Rose authored the upcoming report, to be published this week.

GET THE FULL POLITICAL PICTURE of ongoing discussions on the key issues in this year's Presidential campaign at BLogPulse's Campaign Radar 2004.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:12 AM

Already taking credit for debunking CBS' sources about the President's National Guard service, some bloggers are inviting the blogosphere into what they hope could be the next topic not being covered by mainstream news outlets: legalized torture, or as the Obsidian Wings blog describes the phenomenon, "extraordinary rendition." Obsidian Wings is Wednesday's top-ranked link in BlogPulse.

Seems there's a movement afoot in Congress, and it's a movement attached to the bill implementing the 9/11 Commission report, that makes it OK to practice "extraordinary rendition," defined as the ability to send prisoners out of the U.S. to countries where torture for interrogation purposes is OK. The folks who author Obsidian Wings are asking bloggers to include links to the information, send emails to Congressman Edward Markey and write other representatives and ask for their opposition to the bill. "The press coverage of the CBS memos showed that blogs can break a story and have an effect -- and this story is about 100 times more important than Bill Burkett's shenanigans and CBS News' negligence," write the bloggers.

Whether it's pre-debate frenzy or just politics as usual, endorsements are the buzzword of the day. Wednesday's second-burstiest personality is John Eisenhower, son of former President Ike. John has endorsed Sen. John Kerry for president in this year's election, and his piece appears in the Union Leader and New Hampshire Sunday News, Wednesday's fourth-ranked link. Also endorsing Kerry? President Bush's hometown newspaper, the Crawford (TX) Iconoclast, Wednesday's 18th-ranked link.

Seems everyone has advice for the Prez and Senator on how to debate, which explains Al Gore's rise in rankings and "how to debate George Bush" references as Wednesday's top key phrase.

On the non-political front, there's good news for fans of Star Wars spoofs. Seems Mel Brooks is working on a script for Spaceballs II. Prison-bound Martha Stewart is getting some attention, and so is pilot Mike Melvill, who took SpaceShipOne into an acrobatic ride into space Wednesday as part of Scaled Composites' efforts to win the Ansari Prize for privately-funded space flight.

TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: Where are your TV priorities during debate AND football season? Check it out.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:54 AM

Bloggers gave Howard Dean's campaign early, unexpected momentum. They fanned the flames of the Iraqi prison crisis with rapid distribution of photos, especially the most controversial ones. They catapulted into the mainstream Burger King's "Viral Chicken" campaign, as well as the controversial "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" anti-Kerry video into the mainstream.

Bloggers are now serving as fact-checking, credibility screening, gap-filling counterweights to traditional media. We saw this in vivid Technicolor after CBS Evening News released documents alleging preferential treatment toward President Bush during the Vietnam War. Bloggers threw the "memo" story back in CBS's face with a flurry of investigatory rebuttals, counterclaims, and alleged testimonials from real and self-proclaimed handwriting or typewriter experts. Within a day of CBS airing its "scoop", bloggers effectively shifted the story from one about presidential perks to one about network credibility. CBS executives were not only caught by surprise, but will probably never think the same way about story "due diligence." Power Line, which broke the story rose rapidly to the top of BlogPulse's Top Links for September 10, 2004. This festering issue keeps CBS news anchor Dan Rather in the 4th place on BlogPulse's Key People for September 16, 2004, eclipsed only by President Bush and John Kerry who have been in the top spots all along, and guitarist Johnny Ramone who passed away on Thursday.

Take a look at the impact of this controversy through BlogPulse's very own trend graph: Buzz trends in the blogosphere on CBS and Dan Rather.

Also, check out Campaign Radar 2004, BlogPulse's analysis of blogger opinion pertaining to the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election and let us know what you think.

We are grateful to those of you who have blogged about BlogPulse as well as the new Campaign Radar 2004 or shared your thoughts with us directly.
Thank you!

Posted by at 03:36 PM

Judging by three of today's top four key phrases, you'd think the country was undergoing some sort of national spiritual revival. But the sudden prevalence of religion-related discussions can be tracked to a meme -- an online list of questions or an online game shared among bloggers -- about topics that range from original sin to reincarnation, definitions of heaven and hell to free will, and the religion-science debates.

Speaking of debates, the increasingly loud/questionable/is-it-over-yet? debate about the Kerry-Bush Vietnam years brings out some bizarre combinations among today's burstiest people: namely, mud-slinging Matt Drudge, of the Drudge Report and the late Sen. Joe McCarthy, whose accuse-and-make-them-defend tactics are mentioned in a LA Times editorial (registration required) calling for an end to the whole tiring affair. Hear, hear!

Sen. John Kerry's Tuesday night appearance on Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show" picked up a few hits as well, as did Stewart's always irreverent sidekick Rob Corddry.

Speaking of hot Olympians, you probably thought that bloggers would be drooling over those bikini-clad, American beach volleyball women, right? Well, you'd be wrong. Also among today's burstiest people are "hot gymnast" Alexei Nemov and Canadian springboard diver Alexandre Despatie. As one teen blogger comments: "hubba hubba."

BlogPulse also receives a plug in a blog by Jupiterresearch Analyst Gary Stein. Increasingly, researchers and analysts are toying with and finding value in BlogPulse's ability to create trend graphs based on key words, phrases and issues appearing in blog links and postings. Try it out!

TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: How are those politically motivated movies and downloads faring into the fall?

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:40 AM

In the opinions of more than a few bloggers, Time magazine got it right with Lev Grossman's June 13 article "Meet Joe Blog." Grossman does a respectable job describing what blogs are, why they're suddenly so hot...and why everyone else should care. The Time article checks in at No. 8 among top links for June 15.

But enough seriousness for a while. In the frivolity department, there's plenty of near-mindless "stuff" in the blogosphere to keep everyone's minds off politics, prison abuse, terrorism and the Supreme Court for a while. Such as this No. 4-ranked ditty among BlogPulse's key phrases: frozen french fries now count as fresh vegetables. So does that mean fries dipped in ketchup -- another Department of Agriculture "veggie" -- count as a two-fer?

From reality-TV land, "Survivor" creator Mark Burnet is planning to use a show called "Rock Star" to find a new lead singer for a band. (The music world awaits with equal parts bated breath and low expectation).

Have you ever wondered who will show up at your funeral? The Random Obituary Generator of Doom at least lets bloggers toys with the idea. The generator is a tool for creating one's own obituary -- creatively, of course. Just in case it's, you know, one of those days. The fake obits are showing up as memes in numerous blogs.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 04:11 PM

If you ever wondered whether blog content really does mirror what's going on the world, June 6 results make the perfect case. In a weekend dominated by the release of the box-office-leading third Harry Potter movie, the death of former President Ronald Reagan and the surprise marriage of wasn't-she-just-jilted J-Lo, guess whose names showed up as key people? Yup. Harry, Ron and J-Lo. Among Key Phrases, the 60th anniversary of the D-Day invasion at Normandy also drew its share of newsy buzz.

On another illustrative front, trend graphs created by BlogPulse have begun appearing with more regularity in other blogs. Some useful examples include Ethan Zuckerman's blog, which uses the trend graphs to compare blog buzz about foreign countries/trends. And the Schee.info blog duplicates an original BlogPulse graph comparing money, sex and chocolate and adds a new graph that compares Taipei vs. Shanghai vs. Tokyo.

BlogPulse users can view current trend graphs or create you own graphs in the Showcase section, under "BlogPulse Trend Tool." Be sure to re-read the tips on refining your search to get the best possible results. Blog on!

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 03:38 PM

Pity poor Jay McCarthy. He thought the fire alarms he heard at his house were from lightning strikes, but the blogger-author of Makeoutcity.com ended up watching his house burn down right before his eyes. The last line of his account of the incineration explains why he may be out of commission for a while: "...right now, I could hold everything I own on my person. So blogging may be light and I may not get back to emails quickly." It's OK, Jay, we understand.

Moving up the blogging popularity scale is Morgan Spurlock's film Super Size Me, which is just now hitting theaters. Spurlock spent one month eating nothing but McDonald's food...and he details the results in a documentary. Read Spurlock's blog for more details.

In Fayetteville, Arkansas, the Duggar family is making room for one more Duggar offpsring. That brings the total to 15 children in the family, after Michelle Duggar (ranked third on today's bursty people list) gave birth to Jackson Duggar. All the kids have first names starting with "J." Joy!

And finally in today's "you think you've got troubles?" department, Peggy Noonan offers some insights on why writer E.L. Doctorow might have been booed off the stage while delivering Hofstra University's commencement address. Are graduation ceremonies appropriate venues for political speeches...or not? (Quick trivia quiz: do you remember who spoke at YOUR college commencement?)

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 02:25 PM

The personalities and topics that dominate the blogging world seemed to get heavier and more disturbing throughout the week, from court martials and more soldiers killed to journalistic exposes and Washington wranglings. But then along comes pitcher Randy "The Unit" Johnson, who threw a perfect game for the Diamondbacks and re-instilled hope in every middle-ager starting to question his or her stamina. Johnson's 40 and became only the 15th pitcher in history to pitch a perfect game.

On the entertainment front, the death of actor Tony Randall also touched a lot of folks, not only because of his legendary performances as Felix Unger but also because of his dedication to theater and performance in general. Others in the arts world were equally saddened by the death of jazz drummer Elvin Jones. His name appeared at the top of the BlogPulse's burstiest people list for 5/19. Still, it's hard to ignore the continued news that emanates from the Iraq prison scandal, including this Sacramento Bee interview with a recently returned Marine and Village Voice writer Rick Perlstein's piece, "The Jesus Landing Pad," which examines the influence of Christian fundamentalists on the Bush White House and its policies...

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 02:37 PM