No doubt the Labor Day news had very little to do with labor and everything to do with Australia's famed "Crococile Hunter" Steve Irwin, whose weekend death from a stingray bite dominates the blogosphere today.

Irwin is today's most-discussed and burstiest personality, and news of his death is captured in today's top 15 most-cited links and the top 12 most-cited news stories today. In addition, many of today's most-used phrases involve descriptions of various aspects of Irwin's life, the documentary he was filming when he was killed and news of his death.

Common reactions include those that are short and to the point to those that take time to honor Irwin's contributions to wildlife education and conservation. Says one: "I hope his legacy to be a wildlife warrior, a passionate conservationist will carried on by his family and friends at Australia Zoo and his colleagues from around the world."

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 12:09 PM

Who knows whether this weekend's "Snakes on a Plane" movie will turn out to be so good it's bad, or so bad it's good, but it's certainly earning a hefty share of blog buzz. Star Samuel L. Jackson (who hawked the flick in true Samuel L. Jackson style Tuesday on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show") is today's fourth most-discussed person in the blogosphere as a result, and the film's pre-buzz graphical line is certainly on the rise, no doubt fueled by the online ability to send a phone message to friends from SamJack himself:



Candidate says what?
Virginia Sen. (and GOP Presidential hopeful?) George Allen might not be so hopeful anymore, now that he's opened his mouth a little too widely (today's top news story). Discuss.

So long, "Fish Face"
It probably wasn't his best acting performance, but Actor Bruno Kirby's "baby fish face!" utterance during a game of charades in "When Harry Met Sally" certainly is memorable. Kirby (today's burstiest person) died this week of leukemia, and fans are mourning his status as an all-time supporting actor.

Tables turned?
One of today's most-cited blog posts, in the wake of momentus political/historical events, again comes from Glenn Greenwald, who looks at the impact of questioning the Commander-in-Chief, depending on which way one leans, politically speaking.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:58 AM

You gotta hand it to Will Farrell, a comedian/actor who's made a career out of making a fool of himself. He's today's second most-blogged personality because of the weekend release of "Talladega Nights," a NASCAR movie in which Farrell plays the two-named Ricky Bobby. Bloggers seem to like it because it's funny...or not-so-funny, depending.

Trail-blazing Butcher
Today's burstiest blog person is Alaskan Susan Butcher, the first woman to win the Iditarod sled-dog race (and who won it four times during her life). She died at age 51 of cancer. "She was an icon, and the state (mourns) her passing," writes one fellow Alaskan. Another blogger praises Butcher's inspiration: "When I'm struggling along in a long run or ride, my heart pounding, and my mind considers quitting, I think of other things to clear my head and limbs of the discomfort. One of the things I think of is Susan Butcher and her dogs racing in the winter darkness with miles yet to go before they rest. I think I can keep going a bit further...Thank you Susan for your inspiration." The blogger at Dances with Leaves offer another touching tribute.

Ok, white guys CAN dance
Today's third most-cited link from YouTube.com is living proof that yes, men of Caucasian ancestry...even on treadmills...CAN dance.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:09 AM

The war in the Middle East continues to shake up the blogosphere today, and "live blogging" is the buzzword of the day. In fact, today's No. 5 most-cited blog post includes a roundup of Israelie bloggers who are covering the bombings, raids and news from the heart of the conflict and lists of rallies. The Daily Tidbit blog, for example, has a Mideast On Target newsletter with updated material, and This Ongoing Warprovides updates as well. Because of the volatility of the sitatuion, Middle East traveler and blogger Michael J. Totten has closed comments on his blog for safety reasons.

The "other" war
There's another conflict brewing in the blogosphere as well, this one a conservative-led smackdowon on the media in general, and their current target is New York Times photojournalist Joao Silva, whose coverage of insurgent movement is again producing catcalls of "treason" (by people who sit at computers and type, instead of people who don bullet-proof vests and risk their lives to bring us coverage of what's really happening in the world?...I'll never get that part). Glenn Greenwald has a response about the gang mentality that's suddenly targeting the media instead of the policies and practices that lead to such events and behaviors.

Passings...
Mickey Spillane is today's burstiest person and the tributes are pouring in for the veteran mystery/detective writer and creator of the Mike Hammer series. "I don't know the cause," writes a LiveJournaler blogger, "but I hope it was two slugs from a .45 while he was in the arms of a beautiful but deadly blonde."

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:23 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

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

Author Michael Crichton's "This Essay Breaks the Law," an op-ed piece from Sunday's New York Times, continues to break the law and generate blog traction as today's third most-cited link and second most-cited news story. Crichton discusses who owns what in the context of U.S. patent law. "Patent Nonsense?" puns the blogger at Reason Hit & Run, while the future lawyer at Intellectual Quicksand ponders the state of laws such as these.

Really? It's that obvious?
Also maintaining traction is psychologist Jack Block, whose longitudinal study of 95 Berkeley children (here come the "moonbat" comments) came to a startling conclusion (today's most-cited news story) about the seeds of political leanings: that whiny, tattletale children tend to grow up to be politically conservative, while confident, free-wheeling children tend to evolve into political liberals. Suburban Guerilla offers commentary with a headline as pointy-tongued as the commentary, while the Brainster dubs it the "silliest article of the day" for its statistical meaninglessness.

So long, Humphrey
But some bloggers are even more worked up at the death of Humphrey, the stray cat adopted by former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1989 (today's No. 9 most-cited link). Was he really, as one LiveJournaler proposes, "the last honest occupant of No. 10 Downing Street"? Elsewhere, tributes pour in like milk into the cat dish.

BlogPulse notes
For the next two weeks, I'll be vacationing/traveling in Alaska (yes, in winter) with only intermittent Internet connections. I'll do my best to keep bloggily informed, but if I miss a few days here and there, it's because I'm surrounded by snow and engrossed in, well, vacation. And who knows, maybe an oil spill or two.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 02:51 PM

At age 44, they were both too young and, until only recently, too seemingly healthy, but baseball great Kirby Puckett, who died Monday from a stroke, and actress Dana Reeve, who died Tuesday of lung cancer, are among today's most-discussed personalities in the blogosphere for their early deaths.

"Still the best thing in decades in baseball," was the tribute to Puckett, 45, by the blogger at Chewie World Order, while the Minneapolis Star-Tribune offered a simple "Goodbye, Kirby." Many of the references to Reeve's death, coming as it does soon after the death of her husband actor Christopher Reeve, note that the research center the two set up to study severe spinal cord injuries/paralysis would be obliterated by recently proposed health-budget cuts by the Bush Administration. Asks the CarpetBagger blogger: "Hard choices?" That's the best rationalization they've got?

A BlogPulse Trend Graph keeps things in persepctive about the leading causes of death: the spike for HIV/AIDS occurs on Dec. 1, designated at World AIDS Day:




Blogging as Cultural Education
Today's No. 2 top blog post from His Master's Toys blog proves that blogs can help close the cultural divide through something as simple as a video and an explanation of how to turn 82 feet of colorful cloth into an Indian turban. Although the video takes longer than usual to load, it's fascinating and worth the wait.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:29 AM

It's bad enough that the Gulf Coast is still trying to rebuild from Hurricane Katrina, yet the storm is brewing anew thanks to videos (today's top blog post) of pre-storm meetings between weather experts, response officials and President George Bush, who promised an all-out response to the storm. Perhaps coincidentally, the buzz is emerging almost six months to the day after the storm slammed ashore...including nearly one-fourth of today's most-cited news stories. "Heckuva Job" Michael Brown, formerly of FEMA, and Homeland Security czar Michael Chertoff are again among today's most-discussed personalities because of the retrospective analysis of the federal response. The "i" word (combined with equal levels of amazement and disgust) emerges again in blogger reactions.

Even though "buzz" will never reach the levels immediately during/after the storm, it's starting a slow rise, according to BlogPulse Trend Graphs:



Passings...
Actor Jack Wild, who died of cancer this week, is today's burstiest person and being remembered for his child-actor appearances as Oliver! and in the children's show "HR Puf'n'Stuff." The Teacher blogger offers a tribute.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:51 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

There's plenty of international unrest today among BlogPulse's top weekend news stories, from riots in Dublin and at an Afghanistan jail and the "bubbling cauldron" in Egypt, but what's really on the minds of bloggers are the deaths of two of TV's most memorable faces: actors Don Knotts and Darren McGavin, both of whom are among today's most-discussed personalities.

Knotts is the subject of eight of today's top news stories, McGavin is mentioned twice in the top 12.

Oh, Barn....
Most TV fans knew Knotts as the bumbling Barney Fife on the Andy Griffith Show, the guy who carried his sole bullet in his pocket so he wouldn't shoot himself in the foot again. "Mayberry will never be the same," laments BoozySmurf at LiveJournal. "He will be missed," points out SilntBobs journal, noting Knotts' portrayals of the landlord on "Three's Company" and Mr. Limpet from an animated movie. JiggsBlog even provides links to favorite Barney Fife quotes.

"Christmas Story" father
Eulogies for McGavin are equally nostalgic, and Scared Monkeys provides some one-liners from "The Christmas Story." The Daimnation blogger, noting the additional death of Bruce Hart, composer of the "Sesame Street" theme song, sums up the collective loss quite eloquently: "the planet's level of Awesome just went down three points."

One week, and we'll knowOne week from today, we'll know the winners of this years Oscar awards. Check out today's BlogPulse Spotlight for the latest buzz....

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 12:15 PM

I turned off the TV and went to the grocery last night during President Bush's State of the Union speech, and apparently I wasn't the only person who didn't put the annual event at the top of my agenda. The President himself fell to No. 3 among today's most-discussed people in the blogosphere, while news of Coretta Scott King's death on Monday captured far more buzz. Mrs. King was the most-discussed and the burstiest person in the blogosphere, with condolences ranging from simple thanks to poet Aria Nicole's heartfelt observation that "the King legacy has forever changed."

Random observations
Newly sworn-in Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is today's fourth-most-discussed person, and despite all the D.C. wrangling, A Snitch in Haste offers some tempered reality-checking. But if you can't stop your liberal-conservative, red-blue bashing, blame your genes, the subject of today's most-cited news story, in which scientists examine genetic underpinnings for political biases.

Couldn't help but wonder which senatorial persona will be the target of today's No. 2 most-cited blog post?

More Wikipedia "edits"
A piece in the Lowell (MA) Sun has remained highly visible this week for revealing that certain Congressional staffers are changing the Wikipedia biographies of their bosses...and their enemies. Seems we've heard this one before.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:30 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

From the "people/stuff you've probably not heard about before" department comes a few tidbits from today's blog discoveries.

Unknown hardware:
From the time it was hinted at in 2005, the Optimus keyboard has drawn plenty of curious interest, and as the source of today's most-shared link, it may soon be a commercial reality. Starting Feb. 1. Engadget has the scoop on this multi-task keyboard development from Russia-based Art Lebedev Studio. ShaolinTiger calls in the "best keyboard in the world." The BlogPulse Spotlight provides more analysis.

Unknown general:
Identifying himself only as "General Wager," a Vietnam vet has a few choice words for Sen. John Murtha at a town hall meeting...and then walks out when Murtha responds. Michelle Malkin provides a link to the C-Span video (today's No. top blog post). Discussion leans mostly right.

Unknown privacy invasions?
Did you know that cell phone records are for sale? That's the top of today's most-shared news story, from the crime reporter of the Chicago Sun-Times. MediaGirl.org calls it "Big Brother: Free-market style."

Unknown men
Also among today's blog disucssions are the names of two men, recognized for vastly different reasons. First is Hugh Thompson, a Vietnam vet (and today's No. 26 burstiest person) who died of cancer last week. He's best known as being a 24-year-old helicopter pilot who intervened and helped put an end to the slaughter of the residents of the village of My Lai. MarineCorpsMoms offers a tribute. Also on the list is 100-year-old Albert Hoffman, the Swiss inventor of LSD, and the subject of a New York Times article that's today's No. 4 top link.

The joke's on you?
For topical grins, check out today's No. 18 top link titled "Dean's Song," appropriate with the start of today's confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito. But if you're looking for the best blonde joke ever (the subject of today's top blog post), I get the feeling the joke's on you. You can keep clicking, and clicking, and clicking, and....

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:42 AM

No doubt heaven is a funnier and more honest place, now that comedian Richard Pryor, a man who dismantled barriers of race and raised the bar for comedic performance, died Saturday of a heart attack after years of struggling with multiple sclerosis. He's today's second most-discussed personality in the blogosophere (as well as its fourth-burstiest), and three of the day's top news stories discuss Pryor's life and death as well. "Take Care," eulogizes A Mockingbird's Medley blogger. "Goodbye, Mudbone," says another.

Eulogy No. 2: "Clean Gene" McCarthy
Former Minnesota Sen. Eugene McCarthy, a politician who definitely kept alive Minnesota's reputation as a state of free-thinkers not afraid to take on established policies, also died over the weekend at the age of 89. The blogger (and comment) at Coldheartedtruth laud McCarthy's contribution to public opinion about the Vietnam War in the early 1970s. NA Confidential has similar thoughts about McCarthy's contributions to the anti-war movement during that era. McCarthy's today's fourth most-discussed personality.

A different way of looking at Earth
Every school kid has to study a map of the earth, but how about a map based on population? BoingBoing this weekend featured a population-based map, which gives a sense of planetary perspective.

And a different Constitutional view...
The blogger at Capitol Hill Blue reports that President Bush, during a meeting about the renewal of the Patriot Act, had this to say about the nation's Constitution. (Unfortunately), that explains a lot....

The Lion, the Witch and the Box Office
The BlogPulse Spotlight has all the news from the weekend flick report.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:17 AM

Perhaps everyone's still on a tryptophan high from eating all those turkey leftovers? How else to explain the strange collection of bedbugs, English fairies and space aliens in today's blog discussions?

In case you didn't read Sunday's New York Times, you missed coverage of the return of the bedbugs (complete with photos, it's today's most-cited news story). Surprisingly (and kind of creepily, don't you think?), BlogPulse detected more than 1,000 search results for "bedbugs."

Don't disturb them, please
And in England, locals near Perthshire are upset at construction for a new housing development that's disturbing, yes, the fairies who inhabit it, according to the Times online. "Neat!" comes the endorsement from Here Be Bears blogger. "California," writes the Primis blogger, "you have been weighed and measured and found wanting. You have a loottt of catching up to do."

More tin-foil hats?
Maybe those guys at MIT were ahead of their time? Former Canadian defense minister Paul Hellyer is making space waves by calling for public hearings about extraterrestrials, and he even uses the " R word" (Roswell, NM). The Random Numbers blogger already has an aluminum-foil maple leaf ready to go. Little Green Footballs notes that the speech ended....not with harrumphing and a walkout, but with a standing ovation. Asks Daimnation: "When Canadians say they wish the American media would pay more attention to them, is this what they had in mind?" Don't think so.

Passings...Bloggers are mourning the weekend death of actor Pat Morita, whose Mr. Miyagi character in the "Karate Kid" movies is legendary. "Rest in peace, sir," offers Patchwork Earth in tribute.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:25 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

Bloggers worldwide continue to mourn civil rights activist Rosa Parks, who appears at the No. 2 and No. 5 spots among today's burstiest people. The Alabama seamstress who refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery Alabama bus to a white man in 1955 is considered by some to be the mother of the civil rights movement (today's No. 3 key phrase). Parks' death is noted in 13 of today's most-cited news stories and 10 of today's 40 most-shared links. "May she rest in peace" from Ratcliffe blog summarizes many of the heartfelt comments expressed by bloggers.

In case you missed yesterday's late-afternoon post, the BlogPulse tech team captured real-time blog activity and posts about Parks' death shortly after the news was announced. Find the short movie here.

Milestones of another kind
The death of the 2,000th U.S. solider involved in combat in Iraq (today's' No. 7 top news story) also is being noted (as is the 2,001st death, as of Wednesday morning). The Blog From Another Dimension calls it "another grim milestone"; Michelle Malkin, on the other hand, has created her own strange pooh-pooh spin zone about the issue.

Double-espresso shot of validity, anyone?
Down at No. 34 among today's top blost posts is green LA girl's Starbucks Challenge: go into any Starbucks, ask for a cup of fair-trade coffee, and log the experience to see if the company lives up to its 23-country promise. Bloggers are already signing up...and drinking up, obviously.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:28 AM

You gotta hand it to Apple's Steve Jobs. When he speaks, people listen, and when he announced the new video iPod on Wednesday (today's top link), Engadget buzz (and Gizmodo speculation) took off like the latest Chinese space rocket.

The ability to download day-old TV episodes into an iPod for $1.99 certainly captured the attention of bloggers, who wrote about the development in nine of today's top 40 blog posts and three of the day's top 5 links. In fact, spikes in iPod buzz closely mirror recent product announcements about color screens (June), iTunes update (July) and the iPod nano (September). The early June spike for Jobs reflects Apple's switch to Intel chips.



Forget your dedutions?
Today's most-shared news story is a New York Times article about tax cuts...and not the ones for rich people. Seems a tax panel thinks that a flat tax is a bad idea and so are the popular (and middle-class) deductions for mortgage interest and health insurance. "Bad policy and bad politics," says American Prospect blog. Wampum figures it'll be as popular as Social Security reform. "Who's crazy now"? asks Suburban Guerilla.

Feet to the fire?
As special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald seems to wind down his investigation of who leaked CIA Agent Valerie Plame's name to the press, speculation heats up about who's being targeted. Is it Vice President Dick Cheney, wonders the Huffington Post (today's No. 2 top blog post). Insiders Karl Rove or Andy Card? wonders Talking Points Memo? Cheney staffer Lewis Libby? asks the National Journal. Is the investigation widening? wonders Raw Story. Is all this speculation making the President nervous? asks the Washington Post (today's third most popular news story).

Passings...
The title of today's No. 16 top link caught my eye: "the best obituary ever." Guess it depends on one's political persuasion.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:47 AM

Battle lines are being drawn today on several fronts: continued conservative hand-wringing vs. liberal confusion over President's Bush's nomination of his lawyer friend Harriet Miers to the U.S. Supreme Court (still today's most blogged-about personality), and Google's decision to take on Microsoft's Office suite. That's right, let's get ready to rumble!

But before we get into the meat of the issues, let's take a time out for this Internet first (today's No. 24 top blog post): the first Internet marriage proposal via search engine. Will Ask Jeeves will put its now-unemployed butler to work at the wedding reception?

In this corner, Google...
So is Google really putting together the services and brains to offer its own version of Microsoft Office? Navel Contemplation is just one blogger looking forward to the possibility. Microsoft blogger Robert Scoble describes the move as "interesting times" and offers a video link to the new MS Office 12. "Huge news," says The Stalwart. How do the two computer/search giants compare in blog buzz?



Technical briefs
Other techie news today: the introduction of a social-networking tool called Ning, (today's No. 2 top link) and Jakob Nielsen's Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2005. (Granted, usability is his forte, but perhaps he should consider this Design 101: "too much text and no graphics makes for a dull page.")

The Miers thing
There's plenty of teeth-gnashing and head-scratching over the Miers Supreme Court nomination, and we'll just assume it'll go on for a loooooooong time. Reactions today range from Patrick Ruffini's "Coalition of the Chillin' (Supreme Court division)" campaign to David Sirota's Huffington Post essay on cronyism gone amok, from George Will's reasons for Congress to say no to Miers' nomination to plenty of blog citations of Alexander Hamilton No. 76.

Passings...
Heaven must be turning into a funny place, what with Get Smart's Don Adams, who died Sept. 25, now joined by comedian Nipsey Russell, who died this week at 82 from cancer, and British comedian Ronnie Barker, who died Monday at age 76.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:57 AM

The vastness of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina is more than geographical in nature, stretching as it does across three states and affecting dozens more as refugees resettle. And that vastness is well represented in the blogosphere discussions as well.

The socioeconomic fallout
Trapping as it did mostly poor Americans, Hurricane Katrina has jump-started numerous discussions about race, poverty and fragile domestic safety nets, as evidenced by today's top blog post titled "Whatever: Being Poor" by writer John Scalzi. It ought to be mandatory reading, says PSOTD blogger.

The political fallout
Today's second blog post, "War and Piece," by Laura Rozen points out that events were staged and then rapidly dismantled for one visit by President Bush to the disaster area; disgust and outright anger (language warning) from bloggers abound toward the White House and its dangerously weak response, even as the Bush Administration tries to smooth over the political damage (today's most-shared link).

The personnel fallout?
Even conservative blogger Michelle Malkin is calling for the head of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) director Michael Brown, today's third most-blogged-about personality, for incompetence. Something, apparently, Brown's former employer did, according to the Boston Herald.Yet the party-line guys at PowerLine find a new source of blame for the slow official response: the media? As if the on-the-scene, 24-hour-coverage media didn't know what was going on?

Where is Katrina-related buzz falling toward the various responses by agencies? FEMA is definitely leading the pack:

New sources of help
The Internet continues to play a role in recovery and relief efforts. More than 50,000 entries have already been logged into the PeopleFinderVolunteer web site to coordinate data about misplaced victims trying to locate family members and friends.

Passings...
So intense is the coverage of Katrina that the weekend death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist, and the subsequent nomination of yet-to-be-confirmed John G. Roberts to replace him, seem to be afterthoughts in the grand scheme of things.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 12:22 PM

Does anyone need proof that the rising price of gas isn't having an effect? Creating buzz? Look into the BlogPulse Trend Graph tool and see for yourself. Discussion certainly has risen in direct relation to the speed at which the numbers whirl around at the pump ($2.59 a gallon this week for me), and coverage of worldwide gas prices is today's No. 3 news story:



The citations leading from the link to that CNN story truly illustrate the worldwide phemoneon, encompassing blog discussions in a variety of languages. BridgerUS reminds Americans that they're actually among the last to get on the bandwagon.

Passings...
Fans of the movies and animation are mourning the accidental death of Pixar Studio and former Disney writer Joe Ranft (today's burstiest person). Blogger Aaron Luk notes a loss that will be felt around the world; fan Casira J. captures Ranft's behind-the-scenes but profound impact on a generation.

Lions and Tigers and Bears...in the Heartland?
Scientists (not from the wide-open plains of America) are serious about this: turning loose wild animals in the wide-open plains of America. And by that, they mean camels and lions and elephants -- animals under threat of extinction in Africa and Asia. "Really dumb," offers Gene Expression with a small lesson about rabbits introduced to Australia, while Belligerati wonders how long till such a geniune venture becomes usurped by Corporate America and commercialism.

Check out today's BlogPulse Spotlight blog for news of Sean Puffy Combs/P. Diddy's lastest name change...and other juicy tidbits from the world of entertainment and board games for girls.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:57 AM

Let the politicking begin? It already has, judging by blog activity today. Leading all blog posts is Patricl Ruffini's 2008 Straw Poll for the GOP nominee best suited to replace the current resident of the White House. The results show Virginia Sen. George Allen leading the way.

And just to remind us she's not disappeared completely, actress/activist/author Jane Fonda jumps to No. 19 among today's bursty people for announcing an upcoming cross-country bus tour to protest U.S. military involvement in Iraq. "Bagdhad Jane" is the (oh-so-70s) nickname already resurrected by conservative blogger Michelle Malkin (today's No. 2 blog post) and others, while one LiveJournal blogger notes simply: "Jane Fonda is my hero: Clinton/Obama '08." Let the campaigning begin...

Passings....
Today's burstiest person is, well, dead. Vardin Kushnir was found murdered in his Moscow apartment. His claim to fame: he was one of Russia's most prolific and seemingly unapologetic spammers. In not-so-reverent postings, bloggers react, including Nick Lewis, who describes the tactic as a "spam control method" the rest of the world should consider. "Momma told you not to spam," chastises Sandhill Trek.

Fun-lovin' ancestors...
Don't' read this if you're a prude (today's No. 16 link).

Konfabulous?
There's excitement in the air over Yahoo!'s purchase of Konfabulator as reported (curiously) in today's 7th top news story at Macworld News. Desktop widgets are now free and available to computer users not running OSX Tiger. Those who purchased the Konfabulator software in the last two months will receive a refund.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:45 AM

At the very least, the Brits apologized at the same moment they announced that they shot an innocent man last week in a London subway station. That's why the victim -- Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes is today's burstiest BlogPulse person.

But judging by the reaction, U.S. officials/politicians haven't quite learned etiquette (nor heartfelt sympathy) when it comes to death. Today's third most-shared news story discusses Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Catherin Baker Knoll's uninvited appearance -- and business-card-handing-out behavior -- at the funeral for a Marine killed in Iraq. "Selfish, tactless and in poor taste," says BlackFive, whose post leads all blog posts for today. "This lady has just got to go" says John Cole at Balloon Juice, while Pennywit asks for a little decency from politicians.

Meanwhile, today's No. 39 link has soldiers asking "why?"

Where in the world?...
MSN's Virtual Earth, (No. 2 top link) the competitor to Google Maps, (No. 29 link) is getting noticed by bloggers, (although here in the nation's seventh most-populous state, couldn't help but notice that on the main U.S. map interface for Virtual Earth, we Buckeyes apparently have virtually no name for our state of residence and no cities?). At least give the Google folks an A for "sense of humor" for its Google Moon maps. Drill in as close as possible on any of the sites to find the hidden surprise! "Very cool" says Gay Orbit blogger.

In this corner...
And check out today's BlogPulse Spotlight entry on the ongoing battle in Microsoft-vs.-Mac-land.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:15 AM

The term "persistent vegetative state" returned to the lexicon with the release of Terri Schiavo's autopsy on Wednesday. The news that Mrs. Schiavo's brain was half its normal size and that she was blind vindicated her husband , Michael Schiavo, who jumped to the No. 2 spot among BlogPulse's bursty people, while Terri jumped to No. 5 among key people. Medical Examiner Jon Thogmartin tops the bursty people list. The Thought Mechanics blog hopes it puts "she was abused" conspiracy theories to rest, the My Brain in 10 Words or Less blog hopes the finding brings some solace to her parents, while the Jaws Blog continues to debate the issue...without having read the report. Sigh....

The issue that's mobilizing the online community is a Moveon.org petition to save the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which operates Public Broadcasting System and National Public Radio, from Congressional budget cuts and political influence. Blogger Adam Fields, for one, would rather seen money spent on good programming than more bombs, while the Volokh Conspiracy blog takes issue with MoveOn's campaign. According to the BlogPulse graphing capabilities, the last time PBS got a big spike in attention (late January) was when the Education Secretary issued PBS a slapdown for airing of a program featuring lesbian parents.



Celebrity sightings
Steve Jobs' commencement speech to Stanford's graduates is today's No. 8 link. The Eight Face blogger's four-word review borrows from Jobs' mention of the Whole Earth Catalog: Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish.

And if you consider various politicians celebrities, today's No. 2 link is curious: a short, Republican-sponsored House Resolution offering to repeal the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution -- the one that limits sitting presidents to two terms. Damn the Man blogger says it's not a sign that the sky is falling...just a sign that the sky is worth watching.

Batman is back. So is Teddy Ruxpin. So is LA Lakers Coach Phil Jackson.

Today's laugh comes from The Onion.

BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: What's your poison? Bloggers have definite "spirited" choices.

VOTE FOR BLOGPULSE! BlogPulse has been nominated by ClickZ Marketing Excellence Awards for "marketing innovation of the year." If you agree, click and vote now!

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:18 AM

The weekend death of Pope John Paul II dominates much of BlogPulse discussion today, as variations of his name capture the three of the top 5 slots among Key People and 10 of the 24 Bursty People rankings. In fact, for the first time since Feb. 3, President George Bush has dropped out of the top 10 rankings of key people because of heightened disucssion about the deaths of the Pope, Terri Schiavo, comedian Mitch Hedberg and other celebrity news.

Did you spring forward over the weekend? Some bloggers obviously think less of Daylight Savings than those of us here in the Midwest, who've been subjected to so much gray, rainy, gray, snowy, gray, blustery, gray and dismal (did I mention gray?) weather this winter that we'll take anything for a few extra hours of sunshine...or its potential.

In the world of sports, March Madness is sharing the spotlight with the opening of the 2005 baseball season (the Yankees beat the Red Sox, by the way).

Belated April Fool's
Did you happen to catch Google's April Fool's joke last week? A one-day promotion for a new "smart drink" to maximize surfing called "Google Gulp." Clever.

Entertainment of various sorts
Blogger Darren Barefoot doesn't think podcasting will catch on the way most eveyrone's predicting it will, while blog fans of "Sin City" have pushed its web site to No. 4 among today's top links.

BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: The two teams to square off in the NCAA finals have been chosen: University of North Carolina vs. the University of Illinois. And what are baseball fans buzzing about during a week of Opening Day games?

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:34 AM

If there's one theme just about everyone's been discussing lately, it's dying or moving on.

The Thursday death of Terri Schiavo was mentioned in seven of Thursday's' top 40 key phrases and seven of the day's top links. The references ranged from news stories to blogger Michelle Malkin's poetry corner to, believe it or not, references to this week's "South Park" episode, which managed to tackle the good vs. evil themes of "Lord of the Rings" and the moral/ethical issues of feeding tubes in a single 30-minute episode.

Bloggers also reacted to the death of 37-year-old comedian Mitch Hedberg, who was found dead of an apparent heart attack in a New Jersey hotel.

Meanwhile, the world literally waits on word of the deteriorating health of Pope John Paul II.

More passages
After 40-plus years, ABC newsman Ted Koppel will leave his job when his contract ends later this year, and those pesky weapons of mass destruction (remember WMD?) were apparently passed over in a federal sea of incompetent and poorly coordinated intelligence, according to a report delivered to President George Bush yesterday by bipartisan commission. (Maybe he needs to focus on a "culture of integrity" for a change?) .

And bloggers are passing judgment on WordPress for the content tactics it's been using to improve its search-engine rankings (today's top link).

BBC fans have moved actor David Tennant into the No. 3 position among Bursty People because he's being mentioned as a possible replacement on the popular BBC series "Doctor Who."

Shhh.....(secrets!)
Is there something you'd like to get off your chest? Go ahead and join other bloggers who are sharing their deepest (sometimes darkest) secrets at the PostSecret blog. (OK, some are sick...you've been warned).

BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: "Culture of life" entered the national lexicon in the last two weeks, so let's take a look at some pressing "culture of life" issues.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:56 AM

If there were ever a case for every American to have a living will and a durable power of attorney for health care document his or her possesion, the story of Terry Schiavo is the ultimate example. Caught between a husband who wants to allow her to die with dignity and parents who want to keep her alive at all costs, she's now become a judicial and political pawn, and her case is one of the leading topics of discussion among bloggers.

The Abstract Appeal blog, focusing on Florida law, has an authoritative roundup of the issues without taking sides. And blogger Mark Kleinman discusses other similar cases that are just as difficult but not receiving nearly the publicity as the Schiavo case.

In general, who are bloggers writing about most in this entire affair? To date, her husband and the Florida judge who has consistently ruled in Michael's favor to remove her feeding tube are capturing most of the attention.



Personally, twice in the last 18 months, cousins, aunts and uncles have had to make the wrenching decisions involved with hospice care and feeding tubes, and both times, an aunt and uncle, respectively, experienced good, dignified, peaceful and painless deaths, surrounded by the people they loved. Thank goodness no politicans were circling outside like the opportunistic vultures that they seem to be.

Elsewhere in the blogosphere, Yahoo has purchased Flickr, the photo-image-sharing service many bloggers use. Blogger Jeremy Zawodny provides some perspective.

On the foreign policy front, the Washington Post claims the U.S. used misleading intelligence (hmmm, imagine that!) in its stepped-up efforts against North Korea.

BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: Today's graph examines discussion among bloggers about the leading causes of death for American adults.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:25 AM

If the outpouring of grief among bloggers for "gonzo journalist" Hunter S. Thompson, who committed suicide over the weekend, is any indication, the writer had an intensely loyal following. In fact, news of his death dominates BlogPulse results -- capturing 24 of the top 40 links and 17 of the top 40 key phrases.

(Trivia: Garry Trudeua's "Uncle Duke" character in the Doonesbury comic strip was based on Thompson, according to his obituary).

Other weekend deaths noted in the blogosphere include actress Sandra Dee, the original "Gidget," and 88-year-old singer John Raitt, Bonnie Raitt's father.

And even though lots of places were closed Monday in honor of President's Day, that didn't stop bloggers from talking politics.

Congressman Maurice Hinchey, a New York Democrat, lobbed some unverified charges at the Bush White House during a community forum in Ithaca. Specifically, he hinted (without evidence) that Karl Rove was the mastermind behind the fake memo that CBS's Dan Rather relied on for a story -- later retracted -- about Bush's failure to fulfill his National Guard duty in the 1970s. Also talking? Doug Wead, who publicized the "secret" recordings he made of Bush when Dubya was considering his first run for the White House.

And the author the Minnesota Politics blog is a little taken aback by the vitriolic response another blogger received from the PowerLine bloggers (you now, Time magazine's bloggers of the year) for their "big deal" treatment of the coverage of Jeff Gannon/James Guckert, the fake White House reporter.

For a BlogPulse snack, how about a little pizza to go? Weekend BlogPulse hits highlighted a function in the video game Everquest II that allows users to order a pizza as part of the game play. Handy. Now gamers NEVER have to leave the house.

BLOGPULSE TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY Last week, we looked at buzz about the best actor/actress nominess for this year's Academy Awards. What about best movie nominations? Seems anyone's guess is good this year.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:59 AM

Even though he disappeared from the public spotlight more than a decade ago, so dominant a figure was NBC's Johnny Carson that his death on Sunday dominated the Blogosphere. In today's BlogPulse results, Carson leads both the top people cate