It’s been said suggested that the Web caught on because hyperlinking is “how our brains work” Of course, I think this was said by a guy with attention-deficit disorder, but that’s another matter. And it just struck me how dated the term “hyperlinking” sounds. Never mind.

Anyhow, a few days ago, I was discussing with Jenny a little kerfluffle in the local blog-land that erupted as a result of that Chronicle article (for which I wrote a special blog entry a while back). In the course of which, Jenny mentioned a different issue: the supposed blogger vs journaler tension.

Aside: I wasn’t aware of “journaling” as an activity distinct from blogging until a journaler pointed it out to me. As I understand it, journaling is more writing about oneself; blogging is more writing about the rest of the world.

More specifically, Jenny mentioned that blogging apparently gets more media attention than journaling, and wondered why that might be. In male-answer syndrome mode, I speculated that the mainstream media has a certain fascination with blogs, because blogs intrude on their turf: this is the blogger vs journalist tension. A bunch of people writing about themselves is not news, perhaps unless they’re famous. Well, moby has a blog (I take it back, he calls it a journal), and he writes about not having anything to write about and cleaning his kitchen. So, ok, a journal may not be news after all, even when it is by a famous person. Where was I?

Right. Like I was saying: the media doesn’t see journalers as intruding on their turf, so they aren’t interested, meaning they don’t cover them.

Anyhow, today I see a pointer in Electrolite to “smart observations about the Laurie Garrett affair.” (which I know nothing about). Turns out Laurie Garrett is a journalist of some repute who wrote a lengthy and candid e-mail message about the WEF at Davos. This e-mail was intended only for her friends, but (obviously) wound up being distributed more widely. She was quite upset when she found out, but it’s an interesting read.

Where was I going with that? Oh yeah. As the “smart observations” post mentions, this “in a roundabout way, brings us to blogs.” When we read the unvarnished and unedited thoughts of a journalist, we realize how much the mainstream media sands off the rough edges of reality for us. Blogs provide us with those rough edges. Laurie Garrett apparently isn’t ready for blogging, but blogging is ready for her.

Perhaps even gratuitous. In that vein, Gizmodo has recently featured the following USB-powered items:

• hot cup
• toothbrush
• heating pad
• fan
• lamp [later]

Is anyone remotely surprised that three of these four products are Japanese?

Patrick Nielsen Hayden occasionally writes about the south with some very clear insights. It was on his site that I found the best counter-argument to the southern-apologist position that “the Civil War wasn’t about slavery, it was about state’s rights.”

Right. The state’s right to do what, exactly?

In what comes off as a comical act of pandering to those hypothetical repressed middle-American kids who look through the magazine hoping to get a glimpse of titties, National Geographic, of all magazines, has published a swimsuit issue.

When I saw this on the newsstand, it was next to a tattoo magazine. The woman on the cover of the swimsuit issue was underwater, with the ripples tracing pale lines on her. At first I thought I was looking at two tattoo magazines.

Bush Declares Sanctity of Human Life Day. I leave the jokes as an exercise for the readers, but in case you’re feeling lazy, Megnut has a few prepackaged for your convenience.

A lot of people use my favorite coffee shop, Flight Path, as their office away from home, as it were. They bring their WiFi-enabled laptops, their cellphones, etc, and set up shop (one guy brings a vase of flowers, even). Many people plug their headphones into their laptops to zone out to whatever they have cued up on winamp or iTunes.

Today, I noticed one such cyberdude, his sculptural little clip-on headphones in place, rattling away on his keyboard. His phone starts ringing. He can’t hear it.

If you wouldn’t post so damned many interesting links, I might be able to get some work done.

In an interview with the NY Times, Frank Gehry repeatedly emphasizes his age, and also mentions “I took 15 students to see the Haga Sofia in Constantinople”

I don’t care how old you are, Frank, you’re not old enough to remember when it was called Constantinople. There’s even a song to help you remember its current name.

Oh, and it’s spelled hagia.

Somebody (not even sure who) pointed to the nifty graphic at Ryze. The graphic shows relationships between blogs, based on their blogrolls (I think). Interesting to see how they cluster around a few stars. A map like this suggests that a better word than blogosphere, blogistan, or blogiverse would be blogalaxy.

Ryze, btw, seems like an interesting site for aggregating affinities.

The fact that a country as backwards as North Korea has an official website (interestingly at a .com address, not a .kp address) is kind of weird, but understandable. And sure, I can understand their Central News Agency having a site (at a .co.jp address).

But a gift shop? I will leave the jokes as an exercise for the reader.