BlogPulse Highlights

Should Bloggers Abide by a Code of Conduct?

2007-04-12T16:38:02-05:00

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...

Web 2.0: Is the Machine Using You???

2007-02-08T15:47:55-05:00

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.

Strange Things: Candy Fortresses and Half-way Statistics

2007-01-18T15:29:41-05:00

From the "creative people with too much time on their hands" department comes one of the most popular blog posts from the past several days: "What I did Over Christmas Vacation." To wit, a bunch of "Lord of the Rings" fans built a replica of Helm's Deep battle sing candy (Sourpatch Kids, Gummy Bears, lollipops, peppermints, icing etc). No pun intended, but...SWEET!...and rather nerdly.

What about guys?
And one of the week's top news stories -- that more U.S. women are spouse-less than those who are married -- was curious for what it didn't report: the number of men (over time) who are also spouse-less or not. The report noted generally that more men are married than women, but didn't provide comparative historical data for men. Hmmm... WhereItStands at least provides a timeline.

What Will 2007 Bring?

2006-12-26T12:37:22-05:00

What will 2007 hold for the U.S. and Iraq? A redeployment of existing U.S. troops in an already embattled country? A troop surge? A little diplomacy for a change? A BlogPulse Trend Graph, while not able to predict the future, plots references to "stay the course" against references to drawing down/redeploying troops. ("Stay the course" peaked in pre-election late October when the Bush Administration officially abandoned the three-word policy as official policy).

Happy Holidays All Around

2006-12-22T10:03:16-05:00

As the song says....

That Person is You/Us

2006-12-18T20:28:40-05:00

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.

Things To Consider Over the Holidays

2006-11-21T15:31:11-05:00

Could you drive through a major U.S. city if all the traffic signs were removed? European cities are experimenting with the concept, which ranks among today's most-cited new stories in the blogosphere. (Can anyone imagine driving in Boston without traffic signs?)....

I give it a year, maybe two
I'm not sure what the folks at the U.S. Mint think will make Americans suddenly begin loving the dollar coins, given the fact that the Susan B. Anthony $2 version went, well, nowhere. "Dear Mint: We want LESS weight in our pockets, not more. Thank you."

Feeling the earth move, indeed
If the spirit strikes you on Dec. 22, here's why. Enough said.

Are We Really Rushing the Season?

2006-11-17T12:00:11-05:00

It's less than a week until Thanksgiving, but Christmas decorations seem to have been up for months in retail stores. Are we rushing the season? Perhaps....(the spike, by the way, is for the Canadian celebration of Thanksgiving.

Can't We All Just Get Along?

2006-11-13T10:14:23-05:00

It hasn't been a week since the mid-term elections, and the divisive fear-mongering has started already, what with right-wing bloggers hinting that Al Quaeda is absolutely thrilled now that Democrats have swept Republicans out of majority control, a point refuted by Glenn Greenwald. Maybe everyone ought to take a deep breath and at least let the Democratic majority take office before they start speculating and spreading fear and loathing. Who knows? Maybe some real live international diplomacy and intelligent foreign policy might make a difference for a change...

BlogPulse, the book
OK, so there is no BlogPulse book, but over at the Data Mining blog, Nielsen BuzzMetrics' own Matthew Hurst created a close fascimile of one.

You Did It. You Voted.

2006-11-08T14:18:15-05:00

Today's BlogPulse graph shows which party bloggers were discussing more in Tuesday's Democratic sweep of the House and still-contended results in the Senate race:

How did SHE get in there?
Still, with all the predicting and guessing and polling and pontificating, guess who ends up No. 2 on today's list of most-blogged-about personalities? Yup. So-called "entertainer" Britney Spears.

Just Do It

2006-11-07T10:21:14-05:00

Another One Bites the Trust?

2006-11-03T14:30:32-05:00

The Rev. Ted Haggard, who resigned yesterday as head of the National Association of Evangelicals, is today's burstiest person for that very reason. Well, that and the reasons behind the resignation: allegations that he paid for a gay escort for the past several years (among today's most-cited links) while leading religiously-based anti-gay agendas from New Life Church in Colorado Springs, of course (one of today's most-cited phrases).

Maybe he can pastor to resigned Rep. Mark Foley. And Jimmy Swaggart. And Tammy Faye Baker's husband, whatever his name was. And... (Note: One would assume that staking the high moral ground also means having the ability to walk on it).

On a Scale of 1-10.......

2006-11-02T10:00:28-05:00

Given what's happened this week, you have to wonder what's' worse: John Kerry's botched joke about the kind of smarts needed to wage an effective war, or the fact that the Iraqi government basically told the U.S. troops to leave one of Bagdhad's strongest havens for independent militas? Is that "stay the course" or not?

The verbal smackdown
And it was time for a BlogPulse graph to illustrate whether actor Michael J. Fox, who takes his drugs for a legitimate degenerative disease, or DJ Rush Limbaugh, whose excuse for taking drugs is more elusive, captured more buzz for Limbaugh's recent mockery of Fox's political involvement on behalf of stem cell research:

Of Martial Law, Porn $$ and Six-Word Novels

2006-10-31T12:35:29-05:00

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: