I’m jarvising on MSNBC todayt at 5:20 EDT, assuming I can shake myself clear of this awful cold-flu-y thing for 90 seconds… [Technorati tag: msnbc]

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Just as we knew blogging was succeeding because of the hundred different plays on the word, “folksonomy” is now spawning its own, including “fauxonomy,” a phrase used by Tom Coates and used in The Daily Chump‘s tagline, so to speak. (I myself am guilty of the highly forced “folksongnomic.”) [Technorati tags: folksonomy fauxonomy]

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Graeme Thickens, in a de-hyping mood, gives ten reasons why businesses won’t blog. I agree that business has been slow to pick up on blogs, but I find too many of his reasons unconvincing. For example:

“Businesses don’t do passion.” True, but employees do. And employees, not businesses. write blogs.

“Business doesn’t like gossip.” So now we know which types of blogs Graeme’s been reading :)

“Businesses already communicate well in various ways.” Puhlease! Businesses can barely croak out intelligible phrases. Have you heard an executive talk recently? Or a marketer? That’s maybe the biggest reason why businesses ought to blog: Employees get to talk like humans.

“Business writing style and blogger style don’t even come close.” See above.

Other of his points make more sense to me. I agree that companies don’t like to do public experiments and blogs take time without providing an easy-to-measure ROI. And companies do need reassurance that they can have some measure of control over what gets blogged on their site: They can set up policies and editors.

But Graeme, I think, misses two points. First, blogs are more likely, IMO, to show up internally. As project groups come to rely on blogs as a great way of communicating and capturing their knowledge, companies will get more comfortable with outward-facing blogs. Second, Graeme ends by saying he’s much more excited about word-of-mouth marketing. From my point of view, the companies who succeed at word-of-mouth marketing will do so by entering the blogging fray as equals. [Technorati tag: blogs]

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Rebecca reports on the use of tagging by Chinese bloggers. Also, in response to a post by Joi Ito, “If you are posting something on your blog about Chinese-Japanese tensions, Sino-Japanese history debates, and related issues (or if you’re uploading related photos to the web),” she recommends you use the tag “cn_jp_dialog.”

Also, GlobalVoices has a great post about Chinese bloggers managing to post about the anti-Japanese rallies even though they are not supposed to. (One of the main IM services blocks messages that contain the word “march,” for example.) [Technorati tags: cn_jp_dialog tags globalvoices]

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As I prepare to get on yet another plane — and I have a cold that has pushed me into the bottomless well of self-pity — I’m thinking about the three trips to Europe I’m making in the next couple of months. They’re all red-eyes. I don’t sleep well on planes. I have on occasion dosed myself with dramamine because it knocks me out without leaving much of a hangover. Some people I know swear by melatonin to reset the diurnal clock. I’ve never tried it. Any suggestions?

Alternatively, if you’d like to upgrade me to business class, I’d be happy to give up the drugs. It’s your choice really. [Technorati tag: melatonin jetlag]

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The Boston Phoenix this week runs an excerpt from Dave Van Ronk‘s memoir, the Mayor of MacDougal Street. The piece is about how Van Ronk lost control of his arrangement of The House of the Rising Sun, first to Dylan and then toThe Animals. Van Ronk was not on the Lessig side of the copyright battle. Anyway, I bring this up because Van Ronk ends by saying that late in life he discovered that the song isn’t about a whore house. It’s about the Orleans Parish women’s prison.

Add it to the annals of busted folksongnomies. [Technorati tags: vanronk risingsun]

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Carbonize some marshmallows and sell them as “Microwave Campfire Marshmallows.” It’s a surefire million dollar idea, assuming you figure out the marshmallows-explode-in-the-microwave part. But, you could probably just market your way around that: “Poppin’ Fresh Microwave Campire Marshmallows (Caution: Be sure microwave door is securely closed.)”

And while I’m not on the subject: Towards the bottom of the Dunkin’ Donuts coffee cup, on the outside, it says “Caution: Contents extremely hot.” I understand that lawyers made the company put that there, but why are coffee places serving us coffee that’s extremely hot? And am I now responsible for reading the fine print on a coffee cup before drinking? Breaking the seal on the lid of this coffee cup constitutes agreeing to the EULA…”

Have I mentioned I’m in a whiny, crappy mood because I’m sick as a dog (a cold) and am about to fly to Phoenix and back? Poppin’ fresh eardrums, away! [Technorati tag: eula]

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This was the working keycard a hotel I was at recently gave me:

[Technorati tags: marketing advertising]

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I just downloaded Dreamweaver 2004 (v7) and to my amazement, in order to change the default extension from .htm to .html you have to edit an XML file, just as in v6. The Preferences dialog box shows you the current extension but doesn’t let you edit it there. Oh no. Go root around in XML.

I like Dreamweaver at lot, but what the hell are they thinking over at Macromedia? [Technorati tag: dreamweaver]

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How to tell the people on the plane who are coming into Boston to run in the Marathon:

1. They have big LCD watches

2. They carry their running shoes on board because they’re afraid of checking them through.

3. They are built like whippets.

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