• February 28, |
We'll start today with the Commuter Click: The click I ran into everywhere in the blogosphere today is the who refuses to present a government approved ID. You may remember this is the guy who bought a plane ticket and demanded to see the law that requires he show ID in order to fly.
From the biggest link of the day to what is arguably the biggest story of the day, is liveblogging the situation in Lebanon with a tone reminiscent of what we saw not long ago on Ukraine blogs.
Last night's big blog activity went hand in hand with last night's event. has become a tradition for some bloggers. Among those most-linked, distinguishes herself.
Speaking of the Oscars, don't you love to hate all those rich people ?
. "Join us in the attempt to drive planet earth into a new orbit!"
Lots of folks are talking about the BTK killer. Among the usual suspects of news media links is the extensive coverage by the locals: . Hey, it's the Internet, the world is smaller here, might as well go to the source.
Foreigners are in the U.S. and bragging about it beforehand!
Related: does have an international section guys, you don't have to come all the way over here.
Speaking of crime sprees: . Luckily authorities are smart enough to recognize the danger and arrest the kid before he can unleash his undead terror.
Kerry Edwards still filing in ???
In that vein, a lot of folks are linking to about a "Count Every Vote Act." Skipping the hype I went to to see the actual bill (this site is my new pet pleasure). The Democrats' bill is called , but the text isn't up yet to read. Interestingly, I also ran into a voting reform bill from the Republicans, , introduced the same day. You can actually look at the and see them discuss the Republican bill in the beginning of the day and the Democratic bill toward the end. I wonder if this is a demonstration of how poorly the two parties are working together or if this is standard practice at the bill introduction stage. Either way, it looks like some election reform is coming one way or other.
Somewhere an office manager is in a steaming rage as thousands of post-it notes are used to on building windows.
What is the deal with sarcasm blogging? I think I'm reading a criticism of and halfway through I'm thinking, "This guy is a wack job." Duh.
And then I think I'm reading a and again, halfway through I think, "This guy is making no sense!" Again, slow on the uptake.
(I will add though that it's worth clicking through the links in the Google autolink piece because it's at the center of a pretty big storm. In a nutshell, clicking the autolink button will cause some of the text on the page you're looking at to automatically be clickable through Google. The controversy is that what this all means is that a third party is essentially changing the content of the Web page. While some think the autolink feature is handy, opponents see it as the first step down a slippery slope where big browser companies alter the appearance of pages in ways the original authors didn't intend. [Another popular link today that isn't mentioned in the above, .])
Halle Berry with pride. Bloggers everywhere gain a new respect for her.
. I don't know about that, but it makes for an interesting scroll.
I clicked all the way through to listen to Lesson 1 and it didn't ask for a credit card or anything, so I think this really is free.
[Note: Swearsaurus link removed. Thanks go to reader George Morris for pointing out that the link had gone bad.]
Video of the Day: A of how we'll one day annotate the planet.
The video made me pretty excited to try it, but is much more complicated than I thought. Since there's a theme of learning new stuff today and I'm going on vacation in a couple days I may buckle down and try to learn it.
In the meantime I can content myself with the global annotation project that is already up and running . (Although I can only play with it for so long before it makes my head spin. That's a lotta blogs!
For folks who like a Video of the Day more true to its viral marketing origins, .
" by the Lumiere brothers, and the French army was the only one taking color photos during the course of the war." There's not much more info on this interesting page.
Speaking of old war photos, , a totally different world war. And interesting in a different way.
Historic photos of a different kind of violence: .
. Or maybe it's .
CORRECTION:
A reader writes from Twisted Pair Records to correct me on Friday's Video of the Day:
Just thought you might want a link to the guy who does the sand art. He is the one you see in the video you posted on your blog. Sicaf is just an animation festival, not the artist's name. The artist's name is .Just wanted to give credit where its due....Sicaf stands for "Seoul International Cartoon & Animation Festival", not the artist who did the video.Thanks.
• February 25, |
Before installing new software on your computer you usually have to agree to some kind of terms of service called an End User's License Agreement or EULA. We all check the box, but do you ever actually read all that legalese? If you'd read it in at least one case you could have made for yourself. And even if you don't win any money, you could save yourself some pain and anger by avoiding the kind of adware that many people refer to as spyware (Dear lawyers, I don't refer to it that way. Love, Will)
Of course, as we saw yesterday, sometimes you can become infected with that crippling adware completely by accident, and when they happens, .
Given the insidious nature of that kind of computer clobbering adware, the people who make it are probably hiding from the government which is surely anxious to punish them in some way, right? .
, which is generally not enamored with the blogosphere gets all "focus group" on Kottke and the idea of living on blogging.
Speaking of Metafilter, here they're asked how to make .
And speaking of the blogosphere's founding fathers, it looks like Justin Hall has . Hall is generally regarded as one of the first bloggers. Last month he had a that caused a stir among bloggers who often wrestle with themselves over whether the time they spend blogging -including Jason Kottke. Hall's news and Kottke's announcement are an interesting juxtaposition.
Commuter Click: .
Poor man's Tivo of the day: The first (new) episode online, plus deleted scenes free, no commercials.
And how about poor man's ? (I've had mixed success making this work. I guess it's a matter of finding something good.)
Staying with heavy bandwidth items...
You have to watch (or at least download) five of the Oscar nominated short films for free.
Just how popular is this ? They're performing it . (). (I'm hoping that finding two sources for the same video will lessen the bandwidth burden on the source.)
That clip is funny, but my choice for Video of the Day is this amazing from Korea. (alternate and ) This is a 9 minute video, so it takes a while to load. If the first links are dead, (?) finds more sources.
thinks out loud about how Democrats can build a political strategy around Social Security.
.
Late to the party -isn't that always the way? I never heard of , but apparently it was popular enough that its ending is news online. Also making an impression is this note of congratulations from an .
The is getting some attention online. I figured most folks were linking to it as a "can you believe this one?" item, but in checking citations I found this that sees a connection to the abortion issue.
BBC Radio 4 has . They're the kind where you type in a command. I've just learned that I'm terrible at that kind of game.
Jeff Gannon has as his former employer takes .
Bloggers continue to keep an eye on Iran, highlighting the story of a girl for having sex. (But what the heck is that a picture of?)
has her fans whipped into a frenzy.
There's money in . The and .
. Now, I just bought a new cell phone and the instruction book says it takes 4 hours for a dead battery to come to full charge when I plug it into a wall. Just how long would I have to wave a wind powered phone around for it to charge?
Not everyone is praying for the Pope as various versions of pick up clicks.
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• February 24, |
Wired has a on Kottke's venture to live by the blog, although he seems to prefer . It's difficult to explain exactly why it is that Kottke news is news. Not long ago, the whether and why to keep or delete a Kottke entry and ultimately decided to keep it -although the reason does not seem much more specific than because he's huge. Jason Kottke is a foundational blogger and exemplifies the qualities that constitute skilled blogging -everything from technical proficiency to diversity of interests to writing ability. He's a blogger and he's good at what he does, and that's why Kottke news is news (here).
Speaking of Kottke's blogging skill, look at this link he found today: a for a $100 grand-a-year (for one year) to blog about the Dukes of Hazard. If this isn't a hoax, these are tulip days indeed.
Speaking of what it means to be a blogger, Ann Althouse, guest blogging for Glenn on this site got me thinking today that maybe we need a few new words in the blog dictionary because "blog" is beginning to lose what little meaning it ever had.
Blogging is just writing. There's no reason why it needs to be nasty and domineering....Drum's idea of a "fundamental" blog is a blog I don't even want to read. ...[T]here are endless other things you can do with a blog if you're capable of breaking out of your playground mindset.
Who the hell are bloggers (and I don't mean who the hell do bloggers )? Yesterday we saw point out that "blogging is a medium, not a caste." Today we find declaring,
The more I read about the weblogging phenomenon from traditional media sources — the more I hear about it from talk show hosts and pundits, and the more triumphalism, tribalism, and group hurt we're starting to see from the "blogosphere" — the more I'm convinced that even "hip" reporters and tech-savvy bloggers themselves don't really "get" blogs any more than those senior Republican senators do.
Balko then goes on to strip the definition of blog to its basics in an effort to bring some rationality to the exuberance. With all the attention being given to blogs lately, some folks have been putting the bandwagon before the horse. The solution appears to be an general effort (not organized, but there's a discernable pattern) to back the wagon up so everyone can get on the same page (sorry, that wagon metaphor only goes so far).
In line with the pattern set by the links above, Atrios has re-published his instructions for .
Another answer,
: I live in a transparent country. I live in a country where decisions made by government are wide open and people are able to call people to -- me to account, which many out here do on a regular basis. Our laws and the reasons why we have laws on the books are perfectly explained to people. Every decision we have made is within the Constitution of the United States. We have a constitution that we uphold. And if there's a question as to whether or not a law meets that constitution, we have an independent court system through which that law is reviewed. So I'm perfectly comfortable in telling you our country is one that safeguards human rights and human dignity, and we resolve our disputes in a peaceful way.
Have you heard about that German newspaper report that a town hall style meeting with President Bush in Germany was cancelled because the Germans wouldn't let the White House screen the questions? Bloggers are linking to (and it's in English).
A popular click to the Volokh Conspiracy reveals some thoughts by on a brewing discussion about the relationship between libertarians (and Libertarians) and the Republican Party. I think the focus of this discussion , but you might want to check out .
Big concerns on the Web today about catching from .
"47 percent believe that and support the hijackers who attacked the U.S. on September 11, 2001 (up six percentage points from November)."
turns your cassette deck into an MP3 player. Will the future end up looking exactly like today's world, just with new technology hidden in everything?
Speaking of gadgets, if this is , I don't want to see what your sewing kit looks like.
I haven't been labeling them as such, but with the TV looking to the Web for so much of its material, we could easily do a daily "as seen on TV" segment here. Today's item from the Daily Show with Jon Stewart: . When the rapture comes and you are in heaven, how will you send your told-you-sos to the heathens you've left behind?
Speaking of going to God, somewhere out there a church choir is going to have a backup band.
Professor Bainbridge explains the .
Does it mean anything that the only American Idol bio I've run into on bloggers' most linked lists is ?
In the future, all reporters will have their own blogs and a newscast will stretch beyond the TV screen.
The latest tool in the Google toolbox is , a movie specific search command. So say, for example, you watch this really funny of Justice League America reciting the script of that office comedy... what was it called...!
Lots of links to this today. It's a little uncomfortable I think. Who's he making fun of?
A on comic book covers.
Speaking of covers, real , fake titles.
Cool movie trailer of the day:
If , does Puerto Rico get their star on the flag?
I know it's very serious that Iran sentenced a blogger to for blogging, but I can't help but think of the in which he's embarrassed to tell the other criminals that he was convicted of littering.
I know we clicked a right wing conspiracy parody yesterday, but this one has a great VRWC .
Speaking of conspiracies, some bloggers think they see one in this about President Bush's uncle making money on the war.
And still speaking of conspiracies, is it just me or does it seem like every week or so lefty bloggers are uncovering a new Republican strategy document. Today's is about of 2004 to the elections in 2006.
Speaking of 2006, Senator Rick Santorum has acquired a lot of so it shouldn't be surprising that his is taking advantage of online tools including blogging and video clips as part of his campaign.
Speaking of bold titles, how about ""?
Still speaking of bold titles, How to do .
Speaking of video games, these are "." You can read of what that means, but in short, they're free and legal.
Commuter Click: As regular readers know, the Commuter Click is something I haven't read but it is recommended by bloggers. It's too long for me to read comfortably off the screen so I print it up to read on the commute home from work. I've read a little of this one so far. It's a sort of history of Web pages. It looks interesting for putting things in context and fits well with our theme of backing up the bandwagon so we can all get on the same page.
As far as I can figure, is a video RSS aggregator. In keeping with our theme of getting everyone on the same page, they have in their about page.
• February 23, |
notes that even if there was a New York Times/blogger meeting, he wouldn't be invited. And : "Blogging is a medium, not a caste." Will the blog backlash (you know it's coming) be led by bloggers?
: Man breaks all ten commandments before breakfast
pointing to draws attention. I see a few on this list I'm interested in watching later.
on Hunter Thompson, whose attorney says in hindsight he .
"Right."
"Yeah, they're the hot new thing. All the makers are starting to pay attention to podcasting."
I ran into lefty bloggers talking about "the F-word" in three separate places today. Apparently used it in a lecture. adds links and lines to a post that's been developing over the last couple weeks. And also has a sort of list. It's hardly uncommon for there to be this kind of namecalling thrown at the Bush administration, but this feels different somehow.
The Internet might not be after all.
: 'In 8 easy steps, here is how to get your book, CD, or DVD listed on the long tail of Amazon.'
-By Craig himself. (Even if you don't care about this one, check out the options for how to read the piece. Interesting presentation.
Speaking of Craigslist, isn't on any "most linked" lists yet, but I predict it will be once it has a day to spread, so I'll get it out of the way now.
"" I can't see how this isn't going to crash soon under bandwidth or legal pressure, so if you want to spoil your Star Wars III viewing experience, better to click sooner than later.
If you don't want to click the above link but do want a Star Wars fix, there a .
Paris Hilton got hacked because she used as her password?
Speaking of "that's hot,"
. Pez dispenser gets #98. Tickle me Elmo is a gadget?
Quick backstory: One question never resolved in the CBS document scandal is where they came from. We know who gave them to CBS, but who started it all? If you distrust the Bush administration and are suspicious that the White House didn't object when CBS presented them with the papers, you might concoct in your head a conspiracy theory that Karl Rove was behind it all. And if you're foolish enough to go making wild accusations with no evidence, you might actually say that conspiracy theory out loud in front of a lot of people. Now that you're caught up, we go to .
I'm watching the Daily Show as I write this and Peter Jennings just read a quote about their new UFO show from a supposed blogger. I googled a line from what he read. . (Post Number: 1140188) (Dude, your joke could have stood on its own, why piss on bloggers in the process?)
I see the photos but I still don't believe it.
(the blog that needs a new name) has an idea for the PR folks at the White Hou... never mind.
. I saw one description that said it's like Flickr but with video. How the heck do they host all this?
Juan Cole gives of the story behind the story on how the Iraqi prime minister is being selected.
I suppose it shouldn't come as any surprise that they copyright gang would eventually get around to .
Speaking of copyright laws, for a documentary about DJs and sampling was crashed yesterday but looks restored so click away.
, which by most accounts I've read is a pretty sincere effort (as opposed to a publicity stunt.) The blogroll is a little self consciously "balanced" but then, it's the UN.
Along with the mention of Jane Galt yesterday I was going to bring up the Lawrence-Summersian buzz that with his thoughts on female bloggers. I held it until today thinking I'd take the time to do some kind of round up. Meanwhile, Drum himself has the of reactions from lady bloggers. There's enough commentary in these two links that I don't think anyone needs to hear my two cents. Instead I'll thank La Shawn Barber for the tip so I could watch it all unfold:
Kevin Drum of Political Animal commented on Susan Estrich's whine about the paucity of women writers on op-ed pages. He compares these pages to the blogosphere and notes the same thing seems to occur here. Low traffic, he posits, may be one of the reasons women political bloggers aren't as popular as the men. He mentions my blog and Michelle Malkin's.The irony is that he fails to LINK to both. He later rectified the blog faux pas. :) The important point is why male bloggers dominate the upper reaches of the TTLB Ecosystem.
has declared today a in support of .
Links announcing the news of the death of dominate blog link lists today. Pretty much every news agency that published a story is now listed as a popular link. In the non-big-media category there's and a .
The earth is delicate and if we're not careful we'll destroy it, right? . -Or, Commuter Click again.
That's an official site registered to Fox, not a parody, but it isn't quite clear what the page is for. I was relieved to find an explanation from the .
Did the executive editor of the New York Times really use the expression ""?
Poor man's Tivo of the day: riffing on Jeff Gannon. (If you can catch a repeat on HBO, Robin Williams was really good on that show -although he did pretty much turn it into the Robin Williams show.)
The lefty bloggers are pretty united in about an .
Microsoft blogger the company my job calls Papa.
Speaking of corporations spending ridiculous amounts of money on dubious online ventures, it seems like a lot of bloggers have strong opinions about The New York Times purchasing About.com. Among the highlights are pointing out that the NYTimes essentially paid $410 million bucks for 500 Weblogs.
I've heard some grumbling about blogs as the new Dutch tulip. Could this be the perfect example? Before you answer, paints a saner picture. And finds other issues.
And speaking of how the media are spending their money, ?
The has drawn the attention of a lot of bloggers, both for the humor, the bizarre involvement of the courts, and the implications for the human/animal/primate (/biker) connection.
Prominent female blogger thinks too much is being made of the remarks made by Harvard President Lawrence Summers. An interesting discussion ensues in the comments section of that blog.
explains that hate mail pushed him over the edge, causing him to lose his temper with blog. It is exactly what I was talking about in my reply to John Halski .
New (to me) global political term: -which might also be called the Axis of Not-the-U.S. I always keep an eye out for these stories since I read this San Jose Mercury News piece about how while the U.S. ties itself up in the Middle East.
vs.
The story saw some new developments today, tracked closely by .
(Sorta, see the comments.)
decides to try blogging full time. If anyone can do it, he can.
Speaking of that story, I can't really link to the hacked contents because of all the nudity, not to mention the ads that generally accompany Paris Hilton online content, but sibling sites and have been covering the matter extensively if you wish to pursue it. All I have to say is that it's really odd that all of her photos were of herself and some of those were topless. How similar to that is what's on your camera phone?
Video (?) of the Day: . Warning, take your motion sickness pills first!
The cell phone backlash reaches .
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