The Committee to Protect Bloggers – Risking Your Life for Your Words

Abhijit Nadgouda of iface, someone I don’t know personally but consider a friend, recently introduced me to The Committee To Protect Bloggers, a part of Civiblog, a multi-blog hosting service acting under “an international initiative with the aim of giving voice to individuals and organizations involved in global civil society.” I’ve written about a lot […]

Washington Post – Why Bloggers Blog

The Washington Post’s Web Watch featured “Bloggers on the Reasons Behind Their Daily Words” by Frank Ahrens. Ahrens wanted to know “why do you blog”. The answers came from around the world, but only few in number, so we can only guess at how representative this “poll” is, but I think it gave an interesting […]

US Federal Protection for Political Bloggers

The Blogging Journalist brought my attention to a CNET article, “Political Bloggers May Get Federal Protection” you should consider reading if you are pushing the freedom of speech issues or tackling political issues on your blog. The impact of this legislation might spread farther, so be warned and get involved: Bloggers would be largely immunized […]

The Oldest Living Blogger – 84 Years and Blogging

The Blogging Journalist directed me to “A New Wrinkle on Blogging” from Pantagraph, an article about Prescott “Pete” Lustig, an 84 year old blogger who blogs at The Late Life Crisis. As the name of his blog implies, Lustig believes “late life” is more descriptive and less patronizing than the term ‘senior citizen.’ He started […]

2006 Bloggies Awards Announced

The results are in and the winners of the 2006 Bloggies have been announced. The Bloggies Award list is hard to read so here is a list of the award winners. Congrats to all. Best Web Application for Weblogs – Blogger Best Australian or New Zealand Weblog – Loobylu Best Asian Weblog – Tokyo Girl […]

Gossip Rules Memory

In an article from New Scientist, “The secret to soap opera addiction”, it appears that people are more interested in gossip than about their day-to-day lives. Humans are more interested in juicy gossip about their friends and acquaintances than the mundane details of their lives, so pay more attention to it We remember juicy gossip […]

The State of the Blogosphere 2006

Dave Sifry’s State of the Blogosphere for February 2006 is out, and making a cute pun, he says that the state of the blogosphere is “strong”. …but the truth is that the blogosphere continues to grow at a quickening pace. Technorati currently tracks 27.2 Million weblogs, and the blogosphere we track continues to double about […]

Turning Your Blog Into a Book

Blogger Push Button Blogging’s article, “How to Get a Book Deal With Your Blog” tackles another aspect of blogging: making mountains out of molehills. Part of the joy of blogging is the instant gratification of being published. This is reinforced by the power found in the Copyright Laws that states that something is protected and […]

Horse Sex and What is Dictating Your Blog’s Content?

In a wonderful column by Seattle Times’ Danny Westneat called “Horse Sex Story Was Online Hit”, Westneat examines the top online stories for 2005. And it isn’t your normal look at a top 10. The top stories were those that were posted online and got the highest traffic counts. In his words: Only this list […]

What Are You Thankful For About the Internet?

I recently wrote about the the 15th birthday of the Internet browser, mentioning the accomplishments of the browser over the past 15 years, and it got me thinking about what I’m thankful for because of access to the Internet through the browser. I’m thankful that my family and friends and I can stay in touch […]

Happy Birthday, Dear Browser

I spent a few minutes this week reflecting upon my own past year’s accomplishments as I listened to my family’s deeds for the year during a very rare family get-together. Actually, they get together all the time. My life on the road means I don’t get together with them save for once or twice a […]

Writing With Culture – The Insidious Pull of Pop Language

Writers Write’s “The Insidious Pull of Pop Language” talks about the invasion of pop culture words and phrases and their impact on writing. William Grimes of The New York Times discusses Leslie’ Savan’s new book, Slam Dunks and No-Brainers: Language in Your Life, the Media, Business, Politics, and, Like, Whatever (Knopf). Savan is horrified by […]

Adding Del.icio.us, Digg, Technorati and Slashdot Links to Your WordPress Blog

David Breyer’s article on putting Del.icio.us, Digg, Technorati and Slashdot buttons in your WordPress blog is brilliant and a must have if you are going for good SEO page ranking. It also makes it easy for users of Del.icio.us, Technorati, Digg, and Slashdot to add your article to their tag service. BUT…it begs the question: […]

Local Blogging Tour Guides – Cornfield Mazes, Cabins, Flying, Satellite Photos, and Landmarks

While some bloggers babble about politics, medical issues, and current events, some share their love of their area and the exciting and fun things going on in the neighborhood – or at least within driving distance. Wasted Days Wasted Nights blogs about going on a date through the nearby cornfield maze in Huntsville, Alabama. Neat, […]

Why Do You Comment in the Comments?

I’m working on an article about comments, why people comment, and what comments do for recipients, and I ran across this wonderful commentary on the issue of comments from Kamigoroshi – Why Do You Comment On People’s Blogs? Why does a person blog? My answer would be because they like to express their thoughts and […]