North Coast Cafe, South

Robot Wisdom & Jorn Barger, Weblogs' Daddy

Over five years ago I first discovered Jorn Barger's Robot Wisdom, a prolific link to items of interest on the Internet. Barger, clearly, was/is a polymathic genius, amateur scholar of James Joyce, et al, whose interests range from rocket science to Britany Spear's boobies. Sharing only one-tenth of his fascination with things found on the net, I was a regular if not daily reader of his blog.

Then, one day, he disappeared.  This gives some idea of what happened but surely it's not the whole story.  Anyway, he's back and I'm back to reading him everyday--here.

Soldiers in Iraq Blog

see more here

Review: Best Weblogs

One of the pleasures of blogging is discovering people whose sensitivities and talents are extraordinary, intense and inspiring. They are few and far between.

One of the finest bloggers I've come across is Marie Freeman who lives in the western mountains of North Carolina.

Her photography is superb; her posts about the people, the character, and the natural beauty of her community are invariably stunningly elegant and dear.

Do yourself a favor and visit Blue Ridge Blog

Journalist's Fired for Blogging?

What would you do?

The following memo was received by a working journalist who also happens to have a weblog.
It outlines a new company policy forbidding editors, reporters and photographers from publishing on the web any material giving an opinion about current events.

Of course journalists are not alone in having their employment terminated for the content of their websites or blogs, but, in the name of freedom of the press, free speech and all that, this policy does not sit well with me.

At very least, it gives cause for the revival of the ancient custom of thenom de plume

---- Newspaper policy on personal Web sites and Web logs (blogs)

Editorial staffers (editors, reporters, and photographers) may operate personal Web sites, Web logs (blogs) or chat rooms only with the prior approval of their editor. Such Web sites, blogs and chat rooms may not contain content dealing in any way with the subject areas that the employees cover or reasonably might be expected to cover. The editor may withdraw approval of an editorial staffer's operation of a Web site, blog or chat room at any time.

It is especially important that editorial staffers do not express personal opinions - on their Web sites or in their blogs or chat rooms - on news subjects or issues that they cover. Such publication of personal opinion casts doubt on their impartiality, ultimately calling into question the newspaper's commitment to fairness. [Con't.]...

... An editorial staffer who violates this policy will face disciplinary action up to and including dismissal.

The blogger & recipient of this memo remarks in his blog

Well, that's the end of the line for me. Since I often sit at the wire desk and make decisions about which national and international news stories get published in the next day's edition of the ------ ------, the line about "may not contain content dealing in any way with the subject areas that the employees cover or reasonably might be expected to cover" precludes me from writing about current events in any form.

It's been nice knowing you all.

Lost and Found Weblogs

I love this one.

Chomsky Comment Spam

I've received some moronic comment spam on this blog, but nothing, nothing like what Noam Chomsky got in the first days of his new blog.

Here's a sample:

Posted by Andjam at March 24, 2004 10:05 PM

THE JEWS RULE THE WORLD. THEY DO. THEY REALLY REALLY DO. WHAT IS ALL
THIS IDF, IDD, IDFFING CONSPIRACY? ITS THE JEWS I SAY, THE JEWS!!!!

JEWS JEWS JEWS JEWS!!!!!
Posted by JOEAKBAR at March 24, 2004 10:06 PM

Not to mention the JOOS JOOS JOOS !!!!
Posted by Austin at March 24, 2004 10:08 PM

DA JEWS!!!
Posted by MICAGEN MUSLIM at March 24, 2004 10:08 PM

I heard MIT is among the top US universities for suicide rates.

I'd be suicidal myself if I had Dr. Chimpsky as a professor.
Posted by Ed Moran at March 24, 2004 10:09 PM

News on the Chomsky blog is that the U.S.A. should try to be like "Brazil."

BRAZIL

muahahaha!!!
Posted by Austin at March 24, 2004 10:11 PM

Iowahawk, couldn't you be getting in trouble imitating Chomsky like that?

Still, this is the funniest new blog since Allah, the Most Merciful and
Compassionate started his blog.

I just wish Allah would give us more updates on what Atta is up to.
Posted by Ed Moran abu Been Drunk in Cambridge at March 24, 2004 10:11 PM

ED MORAN OF LGF,

I HAVE $1000 FROM A SAUDI ARABIAN PRINCE, A LINGUIST ENROLEMENT VOUTURE
FOR MIT, AND A BOMB BELT IF YOU CAN FIND THE JEWS!

DA JEWS!!!!
Posted by MICAGEN MUSLIM at March 24, 2004 10:11 PM

This site is ghey.
Posted by Howard Zinn at March 24, 2004 10:11 PM

Noam, you are a witless paranoid fool. Your analysis of issues is
laughably shallow. Stick to the linguistics.
Posted by Monco at March 24, 2004 10:11 PM

I USED TO WANT TO BLOW YOU UP, GNOME, YOU JEW!

BUT I FEAR YOUR DEPRAVES DEBASE SKANKY AMERICAN HATING ASS WOULD LIKE TI
TO MUCH.

NOW I REALIZE CRUSHING YOU UNDER THE WEIGHT OF 10,000 AYNRAND PAPERBACKS
WOULD BE MUCH BETTER!

Giornale Nuova

Each infrequent post is precious and dear. Bookish, literary, artful. A little bit mystery, a little bit history. Trust me on this. Go there.

I love this site

I browsed my way to the Pierpoint Morgan library’s website earlier today, and found my eye drawn to the pages on display there from an illuminated manuscript known as the Da Costa Hours, after the book’s second owner, one Álvaro Da Costa, armourer to King Manuel the Fortunate of Portugal. Details from each of the twelve calendar images in this manuscript follow below.

Weblog Designers: Warning!!!

Any Website or blog that uses purple type on a red background, or red on black, yellow on orange etc. will not be read by me. Period. Full stop. That is all.

Jeesh.

Astroturfing

ASTROTURFING n. The use of paid shills to create the impression of a popular movement, through means like letters to newspapers from 'concerned citizens', paid opinion pieces, and the formation of grass-roots lobbying groups that are actually funded by a PR group (astroturf is fake grass; hence the term). This term became common among hackers after it came to light in early 1998 that Microsoft had attempted to use such tactics to forestall the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust action against the company. (The Jargon Dictionary).

The most recent incident of astroturfing I'm aware of was perpetrated by Bush backers who had servicemen and women in Iraq "write" dictated form letters to hometown newspapers describing what wonderful things they were doing and how much the Iraqi people loved having them.

Then of course there are the infamous CNN Website "Question of the Day" polls conducted by Wolf Blitzer et al. which give readers an opportunity to weigh in oAtrion some topical issue. These polls are often posted by partisan bloggers--it's become almost a sport. Atrios is notorious for this. Just today he has a discussion about this poll.

NPR, Blogs and Jeffery Dvorkin's Apology

In a recent exchange of emails between Jeffery Dvorkin, NPR's ombusdman and history professor, Ann Little of Colorado State University over alleged bias by some of NPR's news commentators, Dvorkin superciliously dismissed Dr. Little's comments because they were based on news and commentary gathered from the Internet, specifically Weblogs and not from traditional mainstream media.

Dvorkin subsequently changed his view and has apologized:

Mea Culpa

In an e-mail to a listener, I dismissed those people who criticize NPR based on information they get from blogs. That e-mail to Professor Ann Little (to whom I apologized) was posted on one of those blogs, www.mediawhoresonline.com. The response from people who read this and other blogs was pretty impressive.

Blogs are, as I now appreciate, as legitimate a method of communicating information and opinion as traditional media. I was wrong to suggest that much of political blogging is "astroturfing" (see definition below). Indeed, a recent Pew poll points out that an increasing number of Americans are getting their information from non-traditional sources. That fact has now been made abundantly clear to me.

You were right. I was wrong.

In future, I will pay closer attention to those who feel inclined to contact me, regardless of where they get their information. Political life in the United States is changing and so, it seems, should be how and where political journalism chooses its information.

Isn't that sweet?