Sunday, March 18th, 2007
A couple weeks ago 34 Reasons Why Readers Unsubscribe from Your Blog circulated the blogosphere. It’s an interesting read. One of them certainly rings true to me: Partial Excerpts Feeds.
I subscribe to feeds to read what folks have to say. Providing only a title and/or a blurb is not what I am looking for. Do not make the reader click the link to go to your web site to read your post. It is most annoying and defeats the technology. Blogging is about sharing your thoughts. Syndicating your words should not inconvenience your audience.
Now that PoliticsNJ.com has become a blog since it sold, it would do well to heed this lesson. It is a sure-fire way to lose me as a reader.
Posted in Media, New Jersey, Politics | 2 Comments »
Friday, March 9th, 2007
. . . Shauna is no longer hosting Scriggity. That is a shame. I hope Drew finds a better replacement than Andrew did at Rocketboom . . . Speaking of RB, former host Amanda Congdon’s vlog is now a daily at ABC News . . . Enlighten shares with us that Carla Katz’s company Pablo Neruda is named for a communist. Splendid! . . . What does Bill Gates know about education and why is he testifying before Congress? To show how out-of-touch Mr. Gates is with education, he has called on Congress to partner with business and educators to reform education. Mr. Gates, the federal government has no role in education. Use one of your spiffy computers to look that up. Sheesh . . . I made Spicy Sesame Noodles with Peanut Sauce. Very good stuff, methinks. But where does McCormick get off charging more than $80/lb. for sesame seeds? Outrageous! I know the local bagel store isn’t paying that for my sesame bagels . . . ah, no one recognized the cache in last week’s video. Do you recognize the cachers? . . . I guess New Jersey Democrats are not in favor of open records given they are spending our tax dollars to fight federal subpoenas. The budget is public, folks. Don’t hide your greed at my expense. Open the damn books . . . Just today, NJ Chief Justic Zazzali wrote in another case: “Openness is a hallmark of democracy — a sacred maxim of our government“. How come the legislators don’t understand? . . . PoliticsNJ was sold to the NY Observer. It has brought on former NJ Governor Whitman and the crooked former US Senator Robert Toricelli as bloggers. The Torch’s first post shows how wrong he is about politics. As we have outlined here any number of times, moving the presidential primary is a bad idea . . .
Posted in Miscellaneous | No Comments »
Monday, February 26th, 2007
I had little interest in watching the Academy Awards. I saw none of the nominated movies, although have an interest in The Departed. Frankly, other than children’s movies, I am not certain I even saw a movie in the theatre this past year.
So, when I realized FNC was going to air a new show with Michelle Malkin as one its hosts, it was easy to change the channel.
The show, It’s Out There, pairs Malkin with Kirsten Powers of Powers Point fame. Malkin, of course, has her own site as well as her video site, Hot Air. Both are on the blogroll.
The premise of the show is to recap what is going on in the blogosphere. Sigh . . .
While I enjoy the hosts and the topic, a show such as this is doomed for failure. It seems to me a couple of the other cable channels tried this format.
The problem is that the blogosphere is dynamic. As soon as one tries to describe it, it has moved. A true recap of the week’s events online are going to come off as very stale in such a format.
This was the point I made to Mr. Snitch who took a break from his blog a year ago to pitch his book about the best of the blogosphere during 2005. He thought there was a market for such a publication. The problem is that by the time a book is published, the stories are all old.
A couple of weeks ago the blogosphere was all abuzz with Amanda Marcotte and the Edwards campaign who hired her. Now that she was fired resigned, how many want to continue the story? The blogosphere has moved on while holding Edwards accountable for his decision.
So, what did Malkin and Powers discuss on their show? Presidential campaigns’ Second Life sites. Seriously! Oh please.
They also spent time on how campaigns are using Facebook and MySpace to attract younger voters.
It is clear that this middle-aged conservative blogger is not the demographic for the show. I suspect that this show will not last long. It’s unfortunate as I believe both Malkin and Powers are talented and make a good pair. FNC needs to find a different show for them.
Posted in Media | No Comments »
Thursday, January 18th, 2007
Last year New Jersey lost several bloggers from the scene. More recently, two of the “bigger” bloggers have been MIA.
Roberto of Dynamobuzz, one of the first New Jersey bloggers I read has been absent pretty much since the summer. I know he has had some technical issues, then got sidetracked, and a few false re-starts. Gone, apparently, are the daily updates on the politics of our state. I miss his take.
More recently, EnlightenNJ has gone AWOL. One of his last posts indicated there had been some losses recently, so perhaps he just needs a little time away. Like Roberto, Enlighten was a daily must-read. He pretty much is the New Jersey conservative blogger of choice. His voice on the issues is missed.
And Ken Adams is similarly absent. He too seemed to disappear this summer. He left a comment here the other day, so I know he is around, but other than the Valour-IT project, I cannot recall much of what he has written about recently. Right now it appears his site is down (y’gotta love Blogspot).
Hurry back guys!
Posted in New Jersey, Politics | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, January 10th, 2007
I added a new social bookmarking link to some of my posts tonight. Every post in the culinary category now sports 
Bite This! below the post.
Clicking on it is similar to digging a post. It puts the post up on GroupRecipes in the blogs section. Those posts with the most bites are listed first. The idea is that when blog readers find food related posts they like, clicking the link will highlight the post to other foodies.
So, feel free to bite my culinary posts.
Posted in Culinary | No Comments »
