I’m off visiting a college with our daughter so this concludes my blogcast day.

[Cue the national anthem and grainy film of the flag waving…]

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The opposite of permission is generosity

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Apropos of nothing, here’s how Mapblast.com suggested I drive from Boston to Brattleboro, VT and on to Bennington Vt.

The trip to Independence is probably just routing me around some bad traffic.

(For a larger version, click here.)

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The leading trade associations for the music and technology industries, which have been at loggerheads over consumers downloading songs on the Internet, have negotiated a compromise they contend will protect copyrights on movies and music without new government involvement. [AP]

And who was representing the customers’ interests when this deal was done?

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I’m teaching the second out of third sessions of my mini-course at MIT tonight. The topic is: The Web’s Moral Architecture. It’s from 7-9pm in Building 1, Room 390.

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Stewart Quealey passes along a press release: Jupiter Research “will be the first research advisory firm to offer dedicated research analyst Weblogs.” The blogs, by five senior analysts, are listed here.

The content’s good: pithy, frank comments on the topics the analysts cover. But, with so much to read, I’m unlikely to go back regularly. Here are some suggestions I offer in the spirit of Good Bloggitude (do as I say, boys and girls, not as I do) to our new neighbors:

Don’t put one entry per page. Scroll them. Having to click back to the contents page does nothing but discourage further reading.

Get off your topics sometimes. I know you’re experts on “Client Access” and “Consumer Electronics,” etc., but if we’re going to get to know you, also write about the other stuff you care about.

Put in a blogroll. You do read other blogs, don’t you?

Talk to one another in your blogs. Disagree. Amplify. Tease. Anything.

If there aren’t some non-senior analysts at Jupiter worth listening to in a blog, then your hiring practices have failed. How about opening it up?

I’m glad you’re blogging and I enjoyed what I read. Really. But it isn’t yet really a blog because it’s not in conversation with other blogs. And for me, that’s the difference between a column and a blog.

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Ever-alert reader Evelyn Walsh points out a remarkable likeness:

No, that’s not a before and after of Steve Case, ex-AOL CEO. The bottom one is Case. Hover your mouse over the top photo to see who that one actually is.

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Thomas Oliphant’s column (here today, gone tomorrow) in the Boston Globe suggests that conservatives ought to be in favor of abolishing capital punishment because it is a clear example of Big Government’s inability to manage a program efficiently.

Good point, although I’m afraid the conclusion conservatives would actually draw is that capital punishment ought to be privatized.

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Here’s a devilishly well-edited clip of Bush giving a fiendish State of the Union address. Pick your video format:

QuickTime (mov)
Real
Windows (wmv)

[Referred from a mailing list]

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Chipster passes along the following:

The Bush White House has an “opinion” line for you to call. So call and give your opinion of the proposed war in Iraq. The line only accepts calls from 9-5 EST., Monday thru Friday. Just call the White House at 202-456-1111. A machine will detain you for only a moment and then a pleasant live operator will thank you for saying “I oppose” or “I approve.” It will only take minutes. Note that the weekends are closed for calls. The president has said that he wants to know what the American people are thinking. Let him know. Time is running out.. Then please forward this e-mail to at least five people right away.

Tell them what you think: 1 PHONE CALL EQUALS 10-20 PEOPLE WHO DIDN’T CALL,

PLEASE PASS ON TO FRIENDS
Deborah Marie, OP
Dominican Sisters

I haven’t been able to get through because the line has been busy all afternoon (yay!), but Google confirms that that is the White House comment line.

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