Doing it for art

• February 18, |

Web designers, who are populous in the blogosphere, are often concerned with conveying instruction without words. It is likely this interest that has raised the profile of this collection of .

Easily the most popular video today is of The Daily Show segment on Gannon. ()

Though that's the most popular video clip today, if you, like me, already saw it on TV, it's kind of a rip-off for that to be the Video of the Day, so here's the one I nominate:

Speaking of Gannon, the story creeps forward with .

If you want more entertainment bang for your Video of the Day buck, . Click the GB oval for the English version, then the videos tab. There doesn't appear to be a direct link to the videos page.

A look at the president's habit. I remember the first time I saw him do this it was to a black man, and some bloggers criticized him for being racist because apparently there is some kind of slave-era good luck ritual that is similar. This series shows pretty clearly that he is an equal opportunity head rubber.

A lot of folks are getting a kick out of of some Greenpeace activists getting their butts kicked. While both the scene and the language are entertaining, what struck me is the impossibly Hollywood way the protesters got in the building:

Are you kidding?

This public allows you to submit your own tricks.

The MS in MSNBC.com means Microsoft, so take that as you will while I share these next few links.

Every day the list of reasons to leave the house gets .

Many bloggers have found themselves enamored with . This site saw a surge in popularity earlier this week, but all the photos crashed by the time I saw it. Now it seems she's found new photo hosting.

Speaking of McDonalds, why would anyone volunteer to be a bathroom attendant at McDonalds on 42nd Street in New York City? .

Speaking of art, it was just a matter of time before we started seeing .

Bloggers apparently don't feel the coverage of is complete enough because two alternative (meaning not mainstream media) biographies are seeing heavy linkage. () ()

Commuter Click: What Social Science can tell you about flirting and .

earlier in the week and I didn't think much of it because it seemed more like the photo-editor equivalent of a typo than anything malicious. Now that it's come up again that someone has confused nuclear facility satellite photos, are we ready to admit that one of the lessons of the lead up to the war in Iraq is that those photos don't show us anything anyone can actually understand?

I have to chuckle when I see that a list of the show up as a popular blog link. Whoever faked those CBS National Guard documents just didn't know what they were facing.

"" Given that it's source is the Senate Democrats, of course it's going to show the Bush plan to be a disaster. But more interesting to me is that it's a Web campaign from Senate Democrats with a .gov URL. More evidence that politicians are getting savvier about spreading their message through the Web.

: where Godzilla beats King Kong, but .

I've been neglecting the mailbag lately and I really don't want to get behind, so let me share a few:

Dear Podrock,
Thanks for your note. As my colleague points out today, even NASA is backing off that claim now.
Cheers,
Will

This next couple are funny. Earlier in the week I mentioned that I didn't see an "about" button on to get an idea of what, if any, agenda might be motivating the site. The first mail shows that the obvious answer is "look harder" and the second most obvious answer is "just ask." The second letter is a wonderful demonstration of the blogger technique for getting answers.

Letter #2:

Dear Anne,
You GO!
Cheers,
Will

Dear Robin,
Hope this doesn't freak you out. It was just an idle question, we're not trying to "Gannon" you here. Thanks for your reply and thanks for the service your site provides.
Regards,
Will

Dear Martin,
Thanks for the tip. I guess you're right, the real question is whether anyone is on the other end of these things.
Cheers,
Will

Dear Crazy Joe,
Way to go!
Fondly,
Will

Dear Editor,
Let me first say how very sorry I am about your bandwidth. This is a problem I am trying to be very sensitive to as I go stomping around the flower garden that is the Internet. I appreciate your suggestion.

In my defense, I'm pretty sure you overestimate my traffic driving ability, and the fact that I only do my link shopping on lists of most popular links means that you were already getting click attention before I got there. But that's all besides the point.

It is definitely a hazard that at any given moment, any given site can suddenly end up the subject of a surge of traffic that can effectively destroy the site. I'm afraid the hazard is only going to get worse as the blogosphere drifts farther into mainstream awareness. I'm interested in any other solutions folks have.
Regards,
Will

Dear Mike,
Thanks for the tip. I'm starting to think I should read Web sites from the bottom up.
Cheers,
Will

• February 17, |

The most gratifying link of the day is about the differences between the left and right blogosphere. I don't necessarily like the context of winning and losing, but I'm excited to see someone finally pointing out the practical differences in the left and right pundit blogosphere. For someone like me who examines blogs through link patterns, the differences are stark because of the differences in linking (and blogging) styles.

Speaking of left and right as apples and oranges, something I often wonder is whether at some point bloggers will recognize that the "biased media" canard is a tool of the "hurting America" partisans and that in fact bloggers are more united by their common goal of criticizing a lazy, sloppy media than most coverage bothers to point out. What brings this to mind are two of today's popular links, one which uses the Gannon story to argue and another arguing that Gannon-like softballs were just as prevalent in the .

Speaking of blogs .

Not quite life, but sort of life related program activities. Still exciting though.

Some of the recent developments in the Gannon story have made it into the mainstream. You can safely click Washington Post link without concern of seeing any naked man parts.

of the Gates in Central Park give some sense of being around the real thing.

Speaking of photobloggers, they don't typically show up in the "most linked" lists I look at to write this blog (linking isn't what they're about), so that fact that three separate links about a new Cannon camera (, , ) showed up today is an interesting gage of the level of buzz surrounding this item. Possible disclosure: As far as I know, none of my myriad corporate parents are Cannon, but who can tell anymore?

finds the end of his rope on righties accusing lefties of being 'on the other side.'

Lots of links in the blogosphere to the . My impression of the tone of those links is reflected in this strip.

A lot of bloggers are concerned that attacks on media members will result in a backlash including mainstream media reports that characterize bloggers in an unflattering way, and intimidation tactics like lawsuits. I have to think that the popularity of is due in part to sensitivity to that issue (along with the more simple fact that excerpting and linking is elemental to blogging).

Speaking of legal hurdles. Here's a look at . Will legalities kill the podcasting star? .

Video of the Day: The trailer is out! In case that one is crashed, I also ran into as an . Strangely, the trailer on the is boring.

takes a look at Syria as domino.

My biggest concern about the story of the committing suicide is if it becomes part of the one-upsmanship of reality TV. Suicide is not a publicity stunt.

Howard Dean's comments about the number of black Republicans:

• Offensive
• Not offensive

With the Kyoto treaty yesterday I clicked on a few before-and-after photo displays. This one seems to be the favorite of bloggers today.

When came out, a lot of bloggers found food for discussion in the theme that the philosophy of "everyone is special" means that the exceptional are held back to protect the self esteem of the unexceptional. So it comes as no surprise that about a sort of self-esteem backlash is getting heavy linking from bloggers.

Commuter Click: or even interesting, but it's way too long for me to read off the screen to find out. I'll print this one up for the ride home.

At what point does the new trend in audience interaction ?

Speaking of animal cruelty, and even feels a little illegal. It's not immediately clear that it's meant as any kind of animal rights political statement or anything other than a joke.

A brand new blog from . Only one post so far, but let's hope he keeps it up. I'm a million percent in favor of politician blogs as a means of keeping government transparent.

Newsweek's piece has struck a chord with mommy bloggers.

seems like mostly inside baseball that, frankly, I don't care about, but I will say that like the Eason Jordan resignation, bloggers were somewhat underwhelmed with the results of the CBS investigation. The point of these blogstorms, at least nominally, is to get the facts. Resignations and firings are incidental to getting the story right, and if a CBS legal battle brings new facts to light about the source and genesis of the documents, that would be more in line with bloggers' goals (though not necessarily floggers' goals).

Cool resource of the day:

?

(with free music)

(This is the "cooing" kind, not the fingers in the mouth kind.)

Today, in the year 2014, The New York Times .

• February 15, |

The big story in the blogosphere today is not quite ripe enough for comfortable presentation in this space, so while that develops, we have some time to look at some final thoughts on the Eason Jordan affair. It's worth noting that while blogs are often credited for their ability to produce immediate "insta" commentary, the humans who run the blogs still benefit from a few days of thinking.

Jay Rosen continues his extensive coverage with a .

Blog pioneer makes an appearance on today's most linked lists for her thoughts on the off-the-record angle.

Speaking of the death of off-the-record, ?

Salon blogger compares the Gannon and Jordan stories and looks at how the lessons of those events are intertwined.

draws clicks for his letter to the New York Times, offering to having bloggers meet with their editors to explain to them why they're idiots. That should be well received Jeff. It's not really clear which of the millions of bloggers will enjoy the privilege of venting at the New York Times editors in person. Presumably Jeff thinks he should be one. There's a pretty long list of comments on the post and I only made it through about half, so maybe the answer is in there.

All of the above links are a lot of reading material and could qualify as today's Commuter Click, but I understand if you're sick of this story already, so for today's commute, I recommend this story of an autistic savant is his own genius.

A government representative for folks in the U.K. From what I've seen in the letters to the editor mailbox here, U.S. citizens would have a good time with one for Congress, one for media leaders, and another for corporate leaders.

Blogging can get you fired. We know this because people have been fired for blogging. Right? .

: Zefrank's Valentine's Day analysis

Speaking of Valentine's leftovers:

And one more: .

? This was a top ten story on MSNBC.com too.

It seems like lately I'm running into a lot of pieces looking at the foundations and philosophy of science. My guess is that it has something to do with the evolution/creationism/intelligent design debate.

Presenting . Reminds me of something that would be served at Crif Dogs here in New York. (.)

One blogger called this an to the tsunami.

-I have to give them credit, when I see 9/11 conspiracies, I always change the channel/turn the page/click away or else I get real angry.

A lot of folks are excited about , the blog of a maker of fine English suits -and the first tailor blog I've seen

From the "as seen on TV" department, there's still time for you to buy a wedding present for .

Hanzi Matter ("dedicated to the misuse of Chinese characters (Hanzi or Kanji) in Western culture") pops up as a popular link every now and then, probably as word of it spreads from peer group to peer group. made me laugh.

(This didn't get anyone fired or ruin anyone's life, but I think it qualifies as useful blog research and journalism.)

(odd that the first and last are about French Toast).

Everyone knows that George W. Bush is devoted to his religious convictions. That must mean his plans for faith based initiatives are getting his full support, right? .

How to turn a caulk gun into an .

Cool resource of the day:

is a blog about how the world sees America. They offer translated versions of foreign press reports. I don't see an "about" button though, so I'm not sure who's behind the site -which obviously matters when we're talking about portraying America.

-Even if you don't have plans to visit Tokyo, start reading this and you will.

of Central Park with the new Gates project. Look! There's me waving!

• February 14, |

Let's start today with a letter. John Halski writes from St. Louis, MO in response to my about the churning blog waters:

Dear John,
Thanks for your note. My remark about getting a feeling for how ugly things will get was meant in reaction to there suddenly being so many simultaneous attacks in progress -and the nature of those attacks. Looking back at , while there was enough substance to the issues that media beardstrokers, both professional and amateur, found something to tug on, and blog advocates like Jeff Jarvis are on TV today evangelizing about blogs as the voice of the people and the embodiment of true democracy, anyone who actually read more than a few A-list bloggers last week knows that the real energy of last week's rages came not from bloggers but from floggers, cut from the same cloth as the "hurting America" crowd from cable news and talk radio.

In spite of a few lofty blog discussions about journalism, ethics, war reporting and White House credentials, that's not what motivates floggers. Floggers are the reason the lesson people are learning from events like last week's is not that truth matters but that it's dangerous to piss off bloggers (so we better pander to them).

Which leads me to another reason why it's going to get ugly. From what little contact I have with folks in TV and newspapers, I don't get the impression that many of them has a clue about blogs. By now they know the word, and they know blogs killed Dan Rather, but they still don't get it. So a story has to be flogged into hysteria for it to get onto the mainstream radar, and because they aren't learning any journalistic lessons from blogs, they report the floggers' story. The actual substance of the Eason Jordan and Jeff Gannon stories did not draw nearly the attention of the "blogs take more scalps" stories.

The potential for ugliness as a result of mainstream media's inability to process blogs also exists in a lack of experience in dealing with opinions in volume. If a thousand people showed up on the Mall in D.C. to protest a cause, no one would bat an eye, they'd hardly be distinguishable from a tour group. But a thousand angry e-mails is something else. Have you ever seen a thousand angry e-mails? Read ten in a row and you feel a dark cloud over you. Read twenty five and you want to cry. Scroll you mouse a few times and it looks like there's no end to those mails and you think the world has come to an end! Until mainstream media learn how to process and contextualize large quantities of public input, they'll never find the substance of blogger complaints, they'll continue to report on floggers, and flogging with continue to be the only way to get a story into the mainstream press. And that will get ugly.

P.S. If this post offends anyone in any way or contradicts anyone else's views, I take it all back and renounce every idea and I apologize with every drop of remorse I can muster. I need a job. I hope to start a family some day. Please don't make me "resign."

Regards,
Will

One more link I'll mention in connection with Eason Jordan is the personal blog of the man who . (By the way, isn't it kind of funny that the Davos folks held an off-the-record conference but had an official blog that essentially puts everything on the record?) (And I wonder how they feel about the fact that they had a huge global conference and an accompanying blog and the only noise they managed to generate was an American media story.)

Here's a potentially funny variation on online group activism. Anti-war bloggers are going to to Jonah Goldberg.

Folks unhappy with today's holiday -and left without a card to boot, can find some comfort , or with coarser language but similar disregard, .

The navigation is a little unclear, but I was able to listen to free classical music , so I guess it works. Hopefully the fact that it's been picked up by the blogosphere won't crash it.

"This is a work in progress... 1 pixel = ~1,000 km; images are to scale with each other."

Star Trek Enterprise fans not going down .

Howard Dean takes with him to the DNC.

Commuter Click today appears to be the most linked story in the blogosphere right now: I think is related, but after trying to skim through it a couple times I still didn't get it, so I'm going to have to print it out to read later when I'm not rushing against Valentine's dinner deadline.

Speaking of the future, it's now! .

Boing Boing brings us the latest in bizarre "" news.

describes an interesting divide and conquer effect (not strategy) the right side of the blogosphere has had on the left. adds the point that the right blogosphere is not necessarily the Republican blogosphere.

Lest you think bloggers don't turn their powers of investigation on each other, as far as I know to the level of scandal, but it still leaves a . (Unless the whole thing is a hoax, in which case it's a pretty clever stunt.)

Also . But good eye.

I've been seeing Crooked Timber come up in blog discussions lately, but this is the first I've seen heavily linked in a while. It's a response to the about religious faith being part of evolution.

Video of the Day: