Internet Content Testable by Google Search

Internet Content Testable by Google Search

Here are our Google Hits of May 3, 2004 for various terms selected by us.
A lot can be learned about the general content of the internet by testing it through the Google Search Engine.

Keyword Term Number of Google Hits

Google Hits May 3, 2004
for English Terms

the 5,750,000,000
of 3,830,000,000
and 3,790,000,000
to 3,640,000,000
a 3,550,000,000
in 3,120,000,000
for 2,200,000,000
.com 1,940,000,000
www 1,910,000,000
on 1,530,000,000
I 1,330,000,000
with 1,260,000,000
this 1,250,000,000
is 1,160,000,000
at 1,130,000,000
it 1,110,000,000
all 1,010,000,000
from 943,000,000
your 795,000,000
home 795,000,000
new 745,000,000
html 744,000,000
not 697,000,000
more 691,000,000
us 665,000,000
no 651,000,000
about 587,000,000
free 584,000,000
http 566,000,000
site 554,000,000
search 552,000,000
we 552,000,000
will 540,000,000
can 516,000,000
if 497,000,000
one 491,000,000
online 486,000,000
you 473,000,000
other 472,000,000
our 461,000,000
do 461,000,000
news 439,000,000
web 438,000,000
has 426,000,000
up 418,000,000
my 414,000,000
time 408,000,000
htm 402,000,000
net 387,000,000
what 375,000,000
org 369,000,000
out 369,000,000
next 351,000,000
help 348,000,000
their 344,000,000
only 341,000,000
use 339,000,000
there 323,000,000
info 319,000,000
mail 319,000,000
me 317,000,000
when 316,000,000
he 313,000,000
see 310,000,000
first 310,000,000
internet 307,000,000
index 306,000,000
view 304,000,000
business 303,000,000
back 303,000,000
who 303,000,000
list 301,000,000
email 295,000,000
price 293,000,000
links 287,000,000
how 285,000,000
name 285,000,000
am 284,000,000
date 283,000,000
its 282,000,000
find 277,000,000
over 270,000,000
software 274,000,000
world 265,000,000
like 255,000,000
people 252,000,000
best 248,000,000
go 246,000,000
buy 245,000,000
data 233,000,000
system 229,000,000
products 229,000,000
used 224,000,000
download 217,000,000
sex 216,000,000
year 214,000,000
health 212,000,000
dvd 212,000,000
work 211,000,000
games 209,000,000
order 208,000,000
shop 206,000,000
books 202,000,000
company 202,000,000
general 199,000,000
after 199,000,000
privacy 196,000,000
should 195,000,000
high 195,000,000
add 194,000,000
full 191,000,000
her 188,000,000
computer 187,000,000
center 187,000,000
through 186,000,000
group 186,000,000
art 184,000,000
man 183,000,000
life 182,000,000
cd 180,000,000
public 179,000,000
each 177,000,000
previous 176,000,000
website 176,000,000
many 175,000,000
pc 174,000,000
school 172,000,000
version 172,000,000
great 170,000,000
user 167,000,000
type 166,000,000
program 166,000,000
guide 166,000,000
know 164,000,000
map 164,000,000
car 163,000,000
tv 162,000,000
research 161,000,000
before 161,000,000
travel 159,000,000
terms 157,000,000
black 157,000,000
edu 155,000,000
take 154,000,000
code 153,000,000
office 153,000,000
send 152,000,000
women 151,000,000
family 151,000,000
sports 150,000,000
report 150,000,000
pdf 150,000,000
text 149,000,000
could 149,000,000
results 148,000,000
must 148,000,000
article 143,000,000
american 141,000,000
were 141,000,000
open 141,000,000
any 141,000,000
action 140,000,000
place 140,000,000
want 139,000,000
read 139,000,000
personal 138,000,000
phone 138,000,000
media 137,000,000
old 137,000,000
Amazon 136,000,000
file 136,000,000
resources 135,000,000
technology 134,000,000
pictures 133,000,000
photos 131,000,000
end 128,000,000
content 128,000,000
Yahoo 127,000,000
house 127,000,000
image 126,000,000
project 125,000,000
live 125,000,000
days 125,000,000
print 124,000,000
love 122,000,000
visit 120,000,000
start 118,000,000
low 117,000,000
every 115,000,000
white 114,000,000
team 114,000,000
children 114,000,000
digital 114,000,000
money 111,000,000
science 110,000,000
source 110,000,000
press 110,000,000
server 109,000,000
login 107,000,000
think 107,000,000
chat 107,000,000
second 105,000,000
him 104,000,000
why 103,000,000
location 103,000,000
around 103,000,000
government 102,000,000
red 101,000,000
week 101,000,000
air 99,000,000
jobs 99,000,000
food 98,900,000
topic 97,300,000
save 97,000,000
study 95,300,000
jpg 94,900,000
war 94,600,000
star 93,900,000
legal 92,600,000
porn 90,700,000
give 89,500,000
tips 89,300,000
join 87,300,000
staff 87,100,000
sun 86,600,000
play 86,300,000
journal 86,200,000
welcome 85,900,000
magazine 85,600,000
sign 85,500,000
hours 84,000,000
Microsoft 83,800,000
browse 83,400,000
password 83,100,000
ad 83,000,000
against 82,700,000
learn 82,600,000
hand 82,300,000
color 81,400,000
age 81,300,000
less 81,300,000
ebay 79,900,000
things 79,900,000
hardware 79,300,000
head 76,800,000
land 76,700,000
entertainment 76,600,000
night 76,500,000
future 76,400,000
logo 75,600,000
database 74,900,000
space 74,900,000
Mr. 74,800,000
enter 74,300,000
interest 73,400,000
paper 72,700,000
daily 72,500,000
try 72,400,000
stock 71,900,000
log 71,000,000
fast 70,900,000
away 70,200,000
Europe 69,500,000
write 69,100,000
weather 69,000,000
word 68,600,000
green 67,600,000
past 67,500,000
trade 67,000,000
Sony 66,400,000
specific 66,000,000
golf 65,500,000
faq 65,400,000
gold 65,200,000
third 64,200,000
basic 63,400,000
record 62,700,000
menu 62,200,000
finance 61,400,000
close 61,300,000
nature 61,000,000
God 60,800,000
click 58,700,000
sell 58,000,000
tour 57,500,000
talk 56,800,000
bank 56,300,000
camera 56,300,000
death 55,800,000
win 55,600,000
commercial 55,400,000
water 55,400,000
weight 54,800,000
official 54,300,000
cat 53,600,000
effect 52,100,000
domain 51,900,000
gif 51,900,000
watch 51,300,000
advice 49,600,000
loss 49,200,000
yellow 47,200,000
communications 47,000,000
standards 46,900,000
editor 46,600,000
motor 46,300,000
doc 46,100,000
Google 45,700,000
fire 45,000,000
browser 44,600,000
law 44,500,000
have 44,000,000
class 43,800,000
deal 43,300,000
dog 42,600,000
brown 42,100,000
by 41,900,000
purpose 41,900,000
earth 41,700,000
client 41,600,000
silver 41,600,000
happy 41,200,000
political 41,200,000
oil 41,200,000
wish 41,100,000
font 41,100,000
some 41,000,000
football 41,000,000
graphics 40,400,000
xml 40,100,000
medicine 40,300,000
investment 38,400,000
ftp 38,100,000
here 37,300,000
blog 36,000,000
retail 35,400,000
cam 34,900,000
foot 34,600,000
IBM 34,500,000
messages 34,200,000
restaurant 33,000,000
teaching 32,300,000
gray/grey 32,600,000
AOL 30,200,000
orange 30,200,000
racing 30,200,000
hear 29,500,000
are 28,900,000
farm 28,600,000
peace 28,500,000
baseball 27,500,000
wind 27,200,000
or 25,200,000
tennis 25,200,000
horse 25,000,000
basketball 24,900,000
now 24,700,000
breakfast 24,700,000
freedom 24,300,000
profit 24,100,000
soccer 23,100,000
she 23,000,000
moon 23,000,000
boat 22,400,000
wholesale 22,400,000
cooking 21,200,000
agriculture 21,000,000
drink 20,200,000
music 20,100,000
newspaper 19,900,000
today 19,800,000
page 19,300,000
slow 19,300,000
headlines 19,000,000
lose 18,500,000
yesterday 16,600,000
ancient 15,900,000
blue 15,800,000
tomorrow 14,900,000
swimming 14,700,000
smile 13,100,000
present 12,800,000
worst 12,700,000
prayer 12,100,000
luck 11,800,000
politics 11,700,000
religion 7,600,000
png 5,620,000
tolerance 2,170,000
megalithic 266,000
megaliths 86,900
blawg 80,600
stars stones
scholars 31,700
Andis Kaulins 4,170
decipherment
megaliths 807
megaliths astronomy
geodetics 38

Toolbars Tested and Compared

Toolbars Tested and Compared

"REVIEW: Toolbars Offer More Than Searches" is an article by ANICK JESDANUN of Associated Press which appeared in the Miami Herald on April 19, 2004 (free registration required to view article).

Jesdanun tested a number of toolbars, outlining the strengths and weaknesses of each: Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, AOL, Dogpile, Ask Jeeves, Alexa, AltaVista, EarthLink, GGSearch, GuruNet.

The article is a valuable read.

The Future of Blogging and Web Feeds (e.g RSS and ATOM)

The Future of Blogging and Web Feeds (e.g RSS and ATOM)

Two articles at Newsday.com contain AP reports involving blogging on the one hand and web feeds on the other. Although apparently contradictory, the news reports are in fact complimentary.

Anick Jesdanun writes in an article entitled
Study: Blogging Still Infrequent
that blogging is not as pervasive as it was expected to be, although the expectation that everyone will "blog" privately is in my opinion a false expectation. The world can not merely consist of "writers", there must be "readers" as well.

The fact is that blogging types of communication and their offshoots are expanding.

In an article by Frank Bajak entitled Enthusiasts Call Web Feed Next Big Thing, we find important discussion of one of the spin-offs of blogging, i.e. the increasing popularity of web feeds by RSS or competing ATOM technology (used by Google's Blogger).

I myself already have the reasonably priced news aggregator Newsgator integrated into Outlook and can confirm what Bajak writes in his article, that web feeds via RSS, ATOM and coming technologies are here to stay.

Moreover, web feeds of blogs will be one of our major sources of news and information in the future, and I predict that web feeds will become one of the primary methods of information interchange in the sciences and a host of other areas where "subscription" to selected information and sources is an effective alternative to more antiquated methods of data gathering.

BlogShares - LawPundit

At BlogShares - LawPundit
we were amazed to find that what is billed as a "fantasy blog market" actually gives a great amount of superb information about a blog - information which is often not found on the more "serious" blog analysis sites. This is curious. Nevertheless, we can heartily recommend Blogshares as a great source of information about blogs.

Here are some interesting - excerpted and truncated stats, for example, for LawPundit as of January 26, 2004.

GeneralURL http://www.lawpundit.com/blog/lawpundit.htm
News feed Syndic8.com

StatisticsIncoming Links 42
Outgoing Links 258
Outgoing Link Value B$22.68
Market Share 0.0044 %

Top 100 Incoming LinksThis is a list of the most valuable incoming links at the time OTHER blogs are indexed. It is indicative of FUTURE value not CURRENT value.

Vertretbar.de (B$450.58)
Lenz Blog (B$318.61)
Transblawg (B$231.44)
Airblogger (B$227.26)
Bag and Baggage (B$226.06)
Corp Law Blog (B$202.65)
unbillable hours (B$179.61)
.......... (B$168.88)
Delaware Law Office (B$162.62)
Disability Law Blog (B$153.36)
OfficialPundit (B$146.33)
TVPundit (B$143.44)
jurabilis - Yet Another Lawyer's Blawg (B$142.91)
WordPundit (B$141.40)
StarPundit (B$139.28)
VoicePundit (B$132.28)
Vertretbar.de (B$128.31)
JournalPundit (B$124.47)
ArchaeoPundit (B$123.81)
WatchPundit (B$112.85)
SportPundit (B$110.00)
SportPundit (B$107.60)
Inter Alia (B$105.25)
LiteraryPundit (B$98.53)
Notes from the (Legal) Underground (B$95.16)
Tax & Business Law Commentary (B$88.33)
ArtsPundit (B$84.64)
Disability Law Blog (B$78.72)
GolfPundit (B$75.63)
Southern Appeal (B$74.90)
LenzBlog Deutsch (B$58.93)
jurabilis - bLAWg - Alexander Hartmann (B$57.01)
Transblawg (B$49.16)
vertretbar.de (B$47.83)
The Blogbook (B$44.80)
Politics & Law (B$39.19)
The Blogbook (B$32.72)
PunditMania (B$25.88)
Classical Values (B$24.00)
The Blogbook - Style (B$18.33)
The Blogbook - Citations (B$18.33)
The Blogbook - Legal Ethics (B$18.03)
PunditMania (B$7.91)
All Outgoing Links
This is a list of all recognised outgoing links from this blog. It may not be accurate or complete.

A Fistful of Euros
AdamPolselli.com
All About Latvia
All Things Distributed
Amidst a tangled web
Amy Campbell's Weblog
Andrew McLaughlin
Andrew Raff: Shameless Self Promotion
ArchaeoPundit
ArtsPundit
Asymmetrical Information
AtlanticBlog
Bag and Baggage
BarlowFriendz
BeldarBlog
Benefitsblog
bIPlog
blo.gs
blog 702
blog.org
blogcount
Blogger
bloglet
Blogmatrix
Blogroots
Blogwise
Boing Boing Blog
Bot a Blog
Burningbird
BuzzMachine
By No Other
Calblog
CamBlog
Carlson's Chronicles
Chad Dickerson
Channeling Cupertino
Christopher Lydon
Civilization Pundit
Classical Values
CNet News
Code The Web Socket
Common Craft - Online Communication Planning
commonplaces
ComPundit
Consensus at Lawyerpoint
Cooped Up
Corp Law Blog
Crescat Sententia
Critical Mass
Cronaca
Crooked Timber
Cyberspaces: Words-Not-Deeds
Daily Dish
Daily Kos
damnum absque injuria
Dan Gillmor's eJournal
Daniel W. Drezner
David Harris' Science and Literature
David's Blogware
Daypop Top 40
Dean's World
DeanLand.WebLogs.Com
debbie's blog - Debbie Weil is publisher of award-winning WordBizReport.com
Delaware Law Office
DennisKennedy.blog
Diary Date
Digital Practice of Law
Disability Law Blog
Discourse.net
disLEXia 3000 blog
Disruptive Technology
Donna Wentworth
Dowbrigade Weblog
E M E R G I C . o r g
e-Government @large
e-Learning
Eaton Portal
EdCone.com
Edublog News
Educational Bloggers' Network
eLawyer Blog
En Banc
Enetation UK
EuroPundits
Family Medicine Notes
Fedlawyerguy.org
Feedreader - new.media.tool
Feedster
Feedster
Freedom to Tinker
Freespace
Furdlog
Geo URL
Gideon's Promise
Gizmodo
Google Weblog
Gotzeblogged
gtetxs
Halley's Comment
HaloScan.com - Free Weblog and Website Commenting
Handakte WebLAWg
Heath Row's Media Diet
homoLudens
house of warwick
How Appealing
Ignatz
Incoming Signals
Incorporation Blog.com
Infothought
Instapundit.com
Insurance Defense Blog
Insurance Law & Disruptive Technologies
Internet Marketing for Lawyers
Invisible Adjunct
ionarts
Ipse Dixit
ItSeemstoMe
Jack Bog's Blog
James Farmer's Radio Weblog
Jarrett House North
JayAllen.org
Jeffrey Zeldman Presents
Jim Flowers' Radio Weblog
JoanneJacobs.com
Joel on Software
John Palfrey
JournalPundit
jurabilis - Yet Another Lawyer's Blawg
JURIST's Paper Chase
KevinSmokler.com
Knowledge Aforethought
Knowledge Bridge
kottke.org
L.T. Smash - Live from the Sandbox
La-Legal annotated
Larry Bouthillier's eLearning and eContent Blog
Law Offices of Erik J. Heels
LawMarketing Blog by Larry Bodine
LawMeme
Lawrence Lessig
LawSites
LAWTECH GURU BLOG by Jeff Beard
Leah's Law Library Weblog
Legal Outreach
Lenz Blog
lightningfield.com
LiteraryPundit
livefree
London Underground blog
Mandarin Daily
Marc's Voice
MarketingWonk
Master of None
Mathemagenic
Matthew Yglesias
MetaFilter
MEX Blog
mirabilis.ca
Mitch Kapor
modern art notes
Movable Type
MyShingle.com
NathanNewman.org - News and Views
net.law.blog
nickdenton.org
NITLE Census News
Notes from the (Legal) Underground
OfficialPundit
Ohio Edublogging
Oliver Kamm
Oliver Willis: Like Kryptonite To Stupid
Out of Lascaux
Out-of-the-Box Lawyering
Overlawyered.com
Oxblog politics review
participo
PDF for Lawyers
Pejmanesque
pMachine
Power Line
ProfessorBainbridge.com
Prometheus 6
PunditMania
Radio Userland
Rantingprofs
Ray Ozzie's Weblog
rogueclassicism
Rory Perry's Weblog
Samizdata.net
Sasha and Andrew's Roundtable
Scott Rosenberg's Links & Comment
SCOTUSblog
Scripting News
scriptygoddess.com
Seblogging
Sifry's Alerts
SlashDot.Org
SocialDynamX
Solomonia
SportPundit
StarPundit
stickbugblog
Susan's Blogware
Taegan Goddard's Political Wire
Tales of Hoffman
Talking Points Memo
TalkLeft: The Politics of Crime
techdirt
Textism
The Corner
The Doc Searls Weblog
The Edge Of England's Sword
The FuzzyBlog!
The Green[e]house Effect: a Weblog
The Legal Reader
The LitiGator
The ResourceShelf
The Roller Weblogger
The Scobleizer Weblog
The Southern California Law Blog
The Speculist
thinking with my fingers
Tillers on Evidence
Tim Blair
tins ::: Rick Klau's weblog
Tom Watson - Labour MP
tonypierce.com + busblog
Transblawg
TRIAL.COM Litigation News
TVPundit
twise.com
TypePad
U.S.S. Clueless
UK Criminal Justice Weblog
unbillable hours
VentureBlog
Venturpreneur
VERFLIXT UND ZUGENEWST
Vertretbar.de
Viking Pundit
VoicePundit
WatchBlog: 2004 Election News, Opinion and Commentary
WatchPundit
webloggED
Weblogs.com
Weekend Pundit
Wendy Seltzer's Weblog
White Rose
Windley's Enterprise Computing Weblog
Wizbang
Wordblog
WordPundit
www.gadgetguy.de via carmina
X-log
Zogby Blog
[BLOG]@IP::JUR

The Guardian Blog Awards 2 - a Thank You for our Analysis of the Awards

Punditmaina also received a very nice e-mail about our posting on the Guardian blog awards, stating, among other things:

"I had to write to say thanks so much for posting a great comment...."

The Guardian Blog Awards

In response to my recent posting in Punditmaina on the - in my opinion - very poor recent Guardian blog awards, I received the following commentary by e-mail (the identity of the writer is not divulged since this e-mail was sent to me personally):

Having followed a link ... I was interested to read your less than glowing comments of a number of the sites recommended for awards by the Guardian...." Clearly, the Guardian were looking for originality, common interest, insight or maybe just plain humorous. This was contained in some of these sites in abundance, which is more than can be said for the parts I read of your site. All you have been able to do is to churn out your own opinion (often very negative) of other peoples efforts. I am not in the market to trash other peoples attempts to lighten life or educate the masses, but I feel your attempts are banal and uninformative. If you feel others blogs are not worth visiting, I would suggest you keep it to yourself. At least most of them have done something worthwhile, which is more than can be said for your sad effort."

Here was the general tenor of my general answer to that e-mail, taking out some items that might identify its sender:

When the Guardian - a newspaper read throughout the world - makes blog award selections to be read by the public - they better be good - or they should expect PUBLISHED criticism. The fact that you suggest that people having a different opinion than the Guardian should have no right to publish THEIR opinion - but only that the Guardian's opinion should be published - says some very negative things about your state of mind concerning people's freedom of speech - other than your own, of course."

Is it not remarkable that some people truly think that their opinions should be published and others' not, simply because they disagree with them. What is this world coming to?

Blogs - Youth is on its Way

Emily Nussbaum's January 11, 2004 article in the New York Times at My So-Called Blog confirms the growing popularity of blogs among the younger generation.

Indeed, the average age of bloggers is now under 30, i.e. 29.

Best British Blogs from the Guardian

Best British Blogs from the Guardian

Simon Waldman, chair of the judges, reports on the Guardian's 2nd British Blog Awards at The best of British blogging.

Their first choice for blog design is the blog The Big Smoker. I found this choice to be a bit of a disappointment - the blog pages are not even centered on the screen - which is just sloppiness in programming. Just because each blog posting has a nicely affixed graphic does not make a blog a design champion. We found this blog to be good, but it would never be our pick. Frankly we find the design stodgy and boring.

The Guardian placed The Bunker second in the design category, another blog which is not even centered on the screen. When the mouse cursor runs over the funny nearly invisible boxes at the top of the blog page, one is not sure whether these are links or whether the screen is just doing a blip. The colored text boxes are nicely done, but this blog too can not be regarded as a blog champion by any means.

The NYCLondon.com photography blog was chosen first in the category of best use of photography. In a day of color photography, I find it hard to select black-and-white photography as being top. Perhaps black and white mirrors how the Guardian sees the world, as the blog also has photos of anti-war protesters prominently displayed. We do not think awards of this kind should be jaded by political allegiances. Some of the photos are nice, but we would never have picked this blog for this award. As someone who has lived in New York, my view of the Big Apple is vastly different than this collection, although some of the photos are definitely good.

Camerantics (the URL given by the Guardian is false) was also considered for the photography award, commended by the Guardian and is surely the far more interesting photo site as each day of the blog is marked by a new unique photo resembling wallpaper - if that is one's bag.

Apparently Nothing.com was also commended in the photography category, with some good shots. It was a bit more than "apparently nothing" - I am not sure it was a lot more.

I am quite appalled by the backwardness of the Guardian's selections which bypass the entire emerging realm of mobile photosnapping (moblogging) which are a mark of our times and so I can only say that none of the above sites would figure in my selection of best photography on the web - they are good - but they do not represent what is going on in the mass of the new media and internet world.

Teenager blogs were also selected by the Guardian - I am not competent to comment on those. The kids themselves should decide which blogs they think are great.

In the "best specialist" category the Guardian considered the excellent London Underground Tube Diary, which has a nice design, good photos and readable text postings. One can see immediately that this site is "alive". Strangely, the Guardian did not give the award there but went to Pepys' Diary, a nice site but not even remotely comparable to the overall effort and quality of the London Underground blog. One can surmise that the Guardian is still engaged in a love affair with an age that is long past and perhaps it is time to give some more sensible priority to OUR own modern day.

Beyond Northern Iraq was the blog chosen as the winner in the category of "best written". I find the January 9, 2004 posting "juvenile" and would not visit this site again - as a lover of the "best" of British humour, this is the kind of somewhat off-color humour I can live without, thank you. Postings like that do not improve my life, nor am I interested in reading about the trails and travails of boarding or not boarding airplanes, the most recent posting at that blog.

Call Centre Confidential is humorous and informative but was only commended by the Guardian, as Belle de Jour, Diary of a Call Girl, took the blue ribbon. Selections like the latter convince me that your average Guardian reader must lead the life of a dullard, getting his vicarious kicks by reading about things he would not speak to mama about. Sex sells everywhere, but I am not sure that blog awards should be given for it.

A Special Award was given for LinkMachineGo, but I am not into mindless profanity and what is merely a link collection of news. See the December 18, 2003 posting at that site. Sorry, not my bag. Perhaps there will come a day when people will realize that gutter-level swearing is neither the mark of intelligence nor creativity, nor anything else positive for that matter - but I am not optimistic about that development in the near future.

Your average man, as Berlusconi stated, has the intelligence of a 14-year old. Perhaps this explains most of these awards.

All in all, we thought that a country that produced all that stuff that Paxman (The English) writes about could do better than what the Guardian has selected.

I am going to blogroll the London Underground and in the future will look elsewhere - other than to the Guardian - to other "best blog" lists for top new blog material. This brought very little.

Blogging at Macromedia

At Brian Chin's blog Buzzworthy we find an article on The business of blogging which discusses the fact that Macromedia uses blogging very successfully.

Weblogging and Smart Pens

The New Scientist has a January 4, 2004 article entitled Webloggers upload digital doodles using smart pens .

Use of the Anoto pens (a Swedish company) for creation of weblog entries made while mobile has been dubbed "handwritten moblogging".

Moblogging is the short form for mobile blogging.

Is Google good for you? - BBC News

BBC NEWS | Technology | Is Google good for you?: "Is Google good for you?"

Technology analyst Bill Thompson gives an up-to-date resume on Google ® - which he says has become the Coca-Cola ® of search engines in spite of becoming more ad-oriented and less consumer-oriented in recent years.

See here.

The ABCs of Management

Mullings: An American Cyber-column by Rich Galen writes:

"Some of you might remember my very excellent management theory which holds that:
'A' people hire other 'A' people. 'B' people hire 'C' people.
That is, in any organization the brightest and most creative will tend to clump together. The 'A' people.
And those who are not so will also tend to clump together. The 'C' And the leader of that group will not be comfortable around 'A' people because he or she will believe that surrounding himself with weaker folks will make him look stronger by comparison.
Nothing you can say or do will dissuade a 'B' person from hiring 'C' people. And nothing will tempt an 'A' person to hire a 'B' person - or, if a 'B' person is hired, nothing will tempt the 'A' person from keeping the 'B' person around long.
And all concerned are happy with this arrangement."

Bravo. That is correct.

Wizbang Weblog Awards 2003

Wizbang is currently taking votes (until December 14 only) for its Weblog Awards in the following categories:

Best Overall Blog
Best New Blog
(Established in 2003)
Best Group Blog
Best Foreign Blog
Best Humor Blog
Best Looking Blog
Best Female Authored Blog
Best Liberal Blog
Best Conservative Blog
Best Media/Journalist Blog
Best Ecosystem Higher Beings &
Mortal Humans Blog
Best Ecosystem Playful Primates Blog
Best Ecosystem Large Mammals Blog
Best Ecosystem Marauding Marsupials Blog
Best Ecosystem Adorable Rodents Blog
Best Ecosystem Flappy Birds Blog
Best Ecosystem Slithering Reptiles Blog
Best Ecosystem Crawly Amphibians Blog
Best Ecosystem Flippery Fish Blog
Best Ecosystem Slimy Molluscs (and below) Blog
Most Egregious Omission

I have many personal favorites which are not included in the Wizbang lists and think that the blog selection is one-sided toward political blogs but it is still useful to look at Wizbang for lists of popular blogs.

All Stanford Law Students to Have Blogs and the Power of Blogs

All Stanford Law Students to Have Blogs and the Power of Blogs

Diebold and the Power of Blogs and the Internet

Word is getting around that the "blog concept" of internet information and dispersion is a tremendous source of power.

Via John Palfrey and his article: "As if Diebold folding weren't enough..." we learn that:

All Stanford Law Students to Have Blogs

"Word is that every SLS student entering next year will be offered a weblog, says Prof. Lessig."

Gee, was I not just reading Dvorak's opinion that blogs are dead?

See the previous posting on the Future of Blogging.

The Future of Blogging

The Future of Blogging

Via Shel Israel's blog ItSeemstoMe at "An Open Letter to John C. Dvorak: Time to Retire", we are directed to an attack on blogs by John C. Dvorak at his November 19, 2003 PC Magazine article "Co-opting the Future".

Dvorak's article has drawn cogent rebuttal, e.g. at

1. Steve Gillmor - "Gillmor Takes On Dvorak's Anti-Blog Stance", November 20, 2003

2. Adrian's Blog - Adrian Bacon has a great rebuttal to Dvorak's attack on blogs, November 21, 2003 and I like what he writes as a comment to Dvorak's post at Dvorak's site. I quote Adrian below [Update: September 22, 2004: Please note that Adrian has informed me that his blog has moved and now uses WordPress. He appears to have edited the original posting. That original posting is found below.]:

"I don't agree with you at all on this.

I blog. I Have done so for a long time. http://www.quicksurf.com/diary.html [Adrian's Blog]

I blog because it's an outlet. It lets me write what I want to write about, when I want to write about it, and how I want to write about it, because unlike you, I don't get paid for my writing, and I don't have to worry about deadlines or subject content. Even though I actually have quite a few regular readers, I really don't care if nobody reads my blog. It's there for me to put my thoughts down. I don't usually show any of the feedback I receive from my readers on my blog, but believe you me, I get comments about my blog. Some are sarcastic, some are funny, and some are a note of thank-you because I said something touching or provided a link to something that they found useful, or something like that. Some of it is hate mail. Some of the comments make it completely worth blogging. You never know how what you say is going to affect someone. By some counts, I have a bland blog. Others find my blog very interesting. You'd be surprised how many regular readers become regular readers because of one or two small things that you wrote that struck a chorde with them. A blog is a blog because it's personal, and it's about you.

Contrary to what you say, blogging is a complement to media companies. Jim Lynch said it best in his post."

3. In fact, see Jim Lynch and his November 21, 2003, writing on the future of blogging.

The opinion of PunditMania is...

The journalistic "pay for brains" model has its place in capitalist society, but it is not an exclusive phenomenon.

Many will find it to be a novel, revolutionary idea, but yes, people can also think, even if they are not paid to do so.

Indeed, he who is NOT paid to think or to write, has in some way far more freedom to write what he is thinking, than someone who must constantly look to see that he is not biting the hands that feed him.

So, blogging will not disappear. Quite the contrary, blogging will expand - indeed, into many new and novel areas.

Here are some areas in which blogging will influence the world or is already influencing that world substantially:

1. The Legal Profession. The legal profession is at forefront of blogging. See InstaPundit and the Volokh Conspiracy.

2. Publishing. The Publication of Ideas for many motives, e.g. Recognition and Establishment of a Reputation are important. Some forms of blogging will replace conventional publications.
Olaf Brugman at the Knowledge Bridge blog has posting that "Academic Publishing inhibits the Free Flow of Knowledge". Brugman writes:
"Publishing a book or chapter doesn't pay. And for most authors, to be paid is not the motive to publish. It is the recognition, the start of new conversations, the personal reputation that motivate to publish." These motivations are not going to disappear.

3. RSS and blogging. Blogs were the first to popularize the use of RSS, and RSS will be a gigantic development on the interent in the future - indeed, it alread IS a gigantic development.

4. RSS and the corporate world. RSS and blog-type communication at Triple Point show us the future of corporate interaction.

5. Blogs, RSS and PR (Public Relations). This is a natural field for blogging.

6. Weblogs in Education. Blogs in education will be one of the biggest areas in active applied learning. See the next posting at PunditMania for an inkling of what is to come.

7. Weblogs in Politics e.g. Bush/Cheney, Howard Dean, The Blogging of the President 2004 show this phenomenon already in action.

8. Blogs and Science. The so-called "scientists" are - remarkably - a bit slow, conservative and feeble, but even they will ultimately join the blog bandwagon, once they understand what blogs can do for them, their research, their understanding and their command of their areas of expertise.