Everyone's Talking About Blogs

In The News
This Sunday's Post seemed to have a story on blogging in every section. From weather bloggers to this one on former Senate staffer Jessica Cutler's infamous, short-lived blog on the travails of sleeping with 6 men. The latter article does a pretty good job of presenting her generation's (or perhaps only some of its) "so what" take on sexuality.

Wired (August 2004) does not seem to have posted Clay Shirky's very interesting item called "Why Oprah Will Never Talk to You. Ever." It defines three catagories of blogs:

• Those which serve as a form of broadcast. Someone already famous, or someone who became famous, posts and will never respond to your comment or click over to your blog.
  
• Mid-range networks of blogs linked to each other; "nearly anyone can participate."
  
• And ones like mine: "Obscure bloggers reach only a small, essentially closed community of readers."
  

There's a swell fold-out graph that explains how using inbound links as the yardstick allows a realistic comparison of major blogs and traditional news providers. This measure makes room for three blogs in the top 10: Slashdot, Plastic, and Davenetics. The NY Times holds spot one; the Washington Post number 4, behind CNN and BBC News. Blogs that were more familiar to me in the top 40 or so: boingboing, Fark [motto: by boys for boys], wwdn.

At Library Stuff, Steven Cohen writes about nothing but blogs and RSS stuff these days, still,
this is an interesting abstract of a paper to which he links.

Over the Dinner Table
Actually, it was after an Indian dinner with "the Silver Fox" and "the Old Geezer" and their pal, W., that SF mentioned that the one or two times she read Capital City she felt too voyeristic. I noted that I feel like I am keeping several friends up-to-date at once. She replied that when she wants to know what's up with me, she calls. Well, gee, I guess she does. What a pal.

Post Script
Wow; Slashdot, Plastic, and Davenetics are so "powerful," clicked-to so many times, that Google listed them first based on searching just the one word. Imagine "owning" the word "plastic," at least on the web. (A site on awful plastic surgery is the number 2 hit if one types "plastic" in the search box.)

Also noted at Wired: they plan to use "i" not "I" when writing "internet."

Capital City weather: clear and warm after o so much rain.
Reading: Nicholas Basbanes, Patience and Fortitude. Thanks, BarrieLee.