tidbit

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.

One of the funniest damn books I’ve read in a long time is The Gallery of Regrettable Foods (which has a companion website). So imagine my delight at discovering that the author has a blog.

Years ago, in its earliest days, I found on the Web some hilarious stories of tech-support hell. These stories have proliferated.

What would be worse than working in tech-support and putting up with people whose stupidity is almost aggressive? Working at a porn-video shop. Oh, much, much worse. Great stories, though.

An article in today’s New York Times discusses the sense of outrage that many Porsche enthusiasts have at the fact that the maker of their dream cars is now making an SUV, the Cayenne.

Now, I’m hardly a fan of SUVs, and I think this is a dangerous adventure in brand extension for Porsche, but I still want to grab these whiners by the shoulders and give them a good shake. They’ve got too much of their identity invested in their cars. Their comments are telling:

“A Porsche S.U.V. will, perhaps forever, cheapen the brand…Which demographic will this thing attract? My guess is BMW poseur types.”

The existence of the Cayenne won’t change anything about the old 911, except the way 911 owners perceive other people’s perception of the Porsche brand. These guys (I’m guessing they’re almost all guys) imagine that they derived some kind of aura by owning a Porsche, and that aura will disappear once the company starts making such an unglamorous vehicle, and less worthy people start buying it.

I did a translation a few years back that gave results from a focus group study. A luxury-goods company showed the focus group members–already enthusiastic customers of the brand–a prototype sports watch. The reaction was so negative, and so uniformly negative, that they scrapped the whole project. I’m guessing that Porsche focus-grouped the Cayenne six ways from Sunday, and decided there was a market for it. But it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out.

Simple, brilliant, poignant.

Time was I thought that blogging was cool, in a geeky sort of way. Not anymore, now that Barbie has a blog. So do Madison and Chelsea. It’s official–blogging has been co-opted by the pernicious powers of mediocrity.

Via BoingBoing, via ishbadiddle

Back in the early days of the Web, some random surfing opened my eyes to kinks like plushies, furries, and infantilists. Oh, what carefree, innocent days those were. While the chicks with headphones fetish strikes me as odd but somehow innocent, the one that takes the cake for me (so far) is the conjoined-twin fetish.

I don’t know why, but the Samuel L Jackson Soundboard makes me laugh my ass off (Flash required)

Spotted a banner at a resale shop today that read “Formerly Good Samaritan Thrift.”

The bad samaritans are more fun anyhow.

Another whacky fad from Japan. Inserting pearls in the penis. This article had a lot of fun with the topic

Shukan Taishu notes that while many ordinary women in their 20s tend to clam up when it comes to pearl implants, older women are more inclined to shell out a bit for the added sensation, meaning the artificial amorous aid can make the world a man’s oyster.

In the immortal words of Slim Pickens, Holy mother of pearl!