What did the Internet look like in 1996? "...very few web designers had even the most rudimentary of aesthetic sensibilities, and nearly half of them were clinically retarded."
posted on Jan 26, 2008 - View this thread

In the same spirit as the Open Net Initiative and Committee to Protect Bloggers that both track global internet filtering, Sami ben Gharbia's Access Denied Map tries to track the blocking of sites like Blogger, Flickr, YouTube and others by governments, as well as efforts by activists to keep them accessible or to challenge their blockage.
posted on Nov 19, 2007 - View this thread

First blog from space Milestones yet to be reached: First convoluted post about breakup from space; first fringe political views from space; first emo band in space (sponsored by MySpace, natch).
posted on Sep 20, 2006 - View this thread

3quarksdaily. Just another blog, sure, but a good one. 3quarksdaily is a filter blog much like our very own, but with only 15 users (and an editor). As they say on their about page "On this website, my guest authors and editors and I hope to present interesting items from around the web on a daily basis, in the areas of science, design, literature, current affairs, art, and anything else we deem inherently fascinating." The do an admirable job.
posted on Dec 6, 2005 - View this thread

Internets: Serious Business! These last few months have seen an increase in the attacks on the participatory culture of the web. The mainstream establishments, both political and corporate, have been looking with a cautious eye towards this new developing place. So far we've established that blogs can get you fired, keep you from getting a job, give pedophiles a place to ruminate on snatching your children, threaten journalistic integrity *snicker*, endanger the marketing , product planning, and product life cycles for automobile manufacturers, can infect your computer with virii, and have all sorts of negative consequences. The internets (both of them) can cause your children to be charmed, seduced, and addicted by readily available porn, and can also provide access to extremist radical and fundamentalist groups, prompting Congress to discuss more restrictive legislation (NSFW), but only for the porn. It has even been claimed that the web has given "Al Qaeda wings". P2P is blamed as causing record loses by the music industry, despite their investments in local station marketing payola. The FEC has held public hearings attended by both hemispheres of the blogosphere (amazingly in near-agreement) discussing the regulation of political speech online. The figureheads of a certain political party fear that their affiliated slice of the blogosphere may be too far-left. Newspapers and TV are leading the charge, with the internet standing in for pharmaceutical scares, yo-yo diets, and missing white women. The question is, how will the libertarian-minded digerati respond to this very real attack on the essence of web culture?
posted on Jul 29, 2005 - View this thread

Bloglash Blogger: Term used to describe anyone with enough time or narcissism to document every tedious bit of minutia filling their uneventful lives. Possibly the most annoying thing about bloggers is the sense of self-importance they get after even the most modest of publicity..." and so it goes. Might bruise a few egos, but it is a very funny bit of ranting - with a few home truths.
posted on Jul 24, 2005 - View this thread

Blogs are bad, essays good. Yet another priesthood is taking defensive action, this time essayists. In this piece, the author argues, without much thought or precision, that the throughtful, precise essay is much, much better than those dirty blogs. With apologies to Bill Maher, NEW RULE: If you think Matt Drudge is a blogger and cite him as such, you've already lost the argument.
posted on May 15, 2005 - View this thread

The web gets mashed up.
posted on May 10, 2005 - View this thread

Grandfather of the personal blog freaks out at age 30, after spending 11 years writing about the most intimate details of his life. From the beginning, he was always brutally honest in a time long before it became so commonplace, before any of us knew where this internet business would take us. Naturally he recorded said freakout on video for the world to see, and more or less shut down his storied site. Can we take this kind of display at face value? Is it a bad case of someone substituting net life for the real thing? Is it all just effete whining? Or is this a genuine case of two loves colliding, and a man forced to make a difficult choice?
posted on Feb 7, 2005 - View this thread

Blogging Festival in Iran: "Attempting to form a society of the web Persian content providers, this festival tries to improve the quality of the published information by the means of discussing sessions, roundtables and the exhibition. This festival, backed by the PersianBlog team, as the greatest Farsi weblog provider, and the National Youth Organization of Iran, is the first practical attempt for sponsoring the bloggers and internet magazines."
posted on May 25, 2004 - View this thread

Best. Baby. Site. Ever. A huge reason: Trixie is cute. Other reasons: TPOD and the telemetry, oh the telemetry! The charts are amazingly thorough, and funny. Definitely part of what makes this site such a delight is Trixie's dad, whose entries are witty and thoughtful. As a new dad myself, with my own baby page, I'm impressed, but I imagine this'll be good readin' for all, parents or no.
posted on Mar 26, 2004 - View this thread

I am Blogger, hear me roar! (3.1mb PDF) - A new study shows that "Online Political Citizens are not isolated cyber-geeks, as the media has portrayed them. On the contrary, OPCs are nearly seven times more likely than average citizens to serve as opinion leaders among their friends, relatives and colleagues. OPCs are disproportionately “Influentials,” the Americans who “tell their neighbors what to buy, which politicians to support, and where to vacation...” " They are “canaries in the mineshaft for looming political ideas” and tend to be more young, white, single, college educated, and affluent than average. I just feel so influential. Now where's the friggin paycheck...
posted on Feb 6, 2004 - View this thread

How old are you? The Ageless Project lists 1,800 blogs, sorted by the blogger's birthdate.
posted on Oct 20, 2003 - View this thread

Hatred via weblog. The Jewish Internet Association, a tax-exempt, non-profit California corporation, considers the Internet a battleground, where "every channel must be utilized to resist and convert others to our defense and support." A whois showed they have the same mailing address as palestinefacts.org. However, examining their weblog reveals an agenda that is every bit as hateful as Hamas.

From a recent entry: "The Palestinian Arabs go through a pretense of having a government" .... "This must end. In the past the only way such murderous, bastard regimes have ended was through massive destruction of their people and lands." .... "The same process will be required to end the fraudulant "peace process" and come to the point where there can be a new start."

The JIA site links to a guide for shutting down offensive websites. Do you think the same techniques would work against them too?
posted on Oct 16, 2003 - View this thread

Beginner's guide to trackback. Old news to most here, but with even Radio Userland now implementing the technology, trackback has the potential to be another kind of spam, with gratuitous self-links popping up all over the place. When everyone can blog, will the Blogosphere be the next victim of Usenet's neverending September? Whether providing "community support" or "publishing tool", how long before popular bloggers are forced to implement Bayesian trackback filters?
posted on Jul 22, 2003 - View this thread

Stupid things I have done, a list by Heather and her readers.
posted on Oct 14, 2001 - View this thread

Entertainment Weekly's current (September 28, 2001) edition begins its story on the Internet in the wake of the recent terrorist attacks in the United States with a paragraph stating that:

By 9:15 Tuesday morning, a link to a live webcam atop the Empire State Building with a clear view of lower Manhattan was posted on Dave Winer's Scripting News Weblog (scripting.com). And dozens of other daily log writers, including the all-encompasing Metafilter.com, compiled the highlights from U.S. and foreign news sources.

The article goes on to mention many other links to relevant online sites including kottke.org, thefineline.org/tflblog, and camworld.com. Apologies if this is a repost. I couldn't find it in recent days listings or search results.
posted on Sep 21, 2001 - View this thread

Glassdog to close personal narrative. Well, at least the Life Serial, that is. Will there be a new section to round out Glassdog Services (tm)? We hope so.
posted on May 2, 2001 - View this thread

This link is copyright, Eric Costello... aka Glish. No, really, he's serious. Is this really necessary? Comments?
posted on Apr 11, 2001 - View this thread

Deconstructing
Joe Clark (a fellow Torontonian, no less) has provided food for thought in his "Deconstructing 'You've Got Blog'" screed. While Joe scores some valid points, I think he misses the mark in a few major ways. In the process, he comes across as cynical, and a bit wounded, too. [more inside]
posted on Nov 14, 2000 - View this thread

Happy birthday, theobvious.com! Five years on the web is a hell of a long time. A round of applause for Michael!
posted on Aug 1, 2000 - View this thread