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