Author: N.Z. Bear

I’m debating whether to rename the Hall of Link Sluttage.

I don’t mind tweaking PC sensibilities for a good cause, but I’m not convinced the joke is actually all that funny.

Comments? Thoughts? Alternative taxonomies are most welcome — you where to send them.

Okay, minor digression from my bottom-up blogrolling this week: if you think the major American newsweeklies suck (and who doesn’t, because after all, they do) you must check out Bleat o’ the day, in which he delivers a thorough thwacking to the ‘zines and the cretinous fools who waste barrels of perfectly good ink on their pages.

Note: This post was seriously wrong the first time I wrote it, so it has been rewritten heavily. Sorry!

Ok, I’m still examining Bradford DeLong’s weblog to see if it gets the totally-un-sought-after, not-particularly-valuable, and overall generally dubious honor of being the TTLB Leftie Blog of the Week, but he definitely gets a link for his referral to The Poor Man’s post The Cornier, in which TPM shows us what the conservative bloggers over at NRO are really thinking. A small sample:

SLATE – OF PHONEY TRAFFIC STATS![James W. Whitesides IV]

Slate claims to get 3 million different hits a year. Well, I’m certainly not one to begrudge another’s success, but whoop-dee-doo-da! I mean, Slate just gives away all their content free! I mean, so do we, but Slate gives it away on a Microsoft site. If The Cornier was on Microsoft, we’d get like 3 million hits every single day! Probably half the people who go there are fat middle-aged housewives trying to go to MSN’s Special Valentine’s Day Soft-Focus Soap-Opera Porn Sex Quiz, but too drunk off of Arbor Mist lemon-lime Chardonney at four in the afternoon to hit the right link. And Mickey Kaus is gonna regret it when MS goes under and he lives in a box under a bridge. Maybe he can write his blogs on a cardboard sign he uses to panhandle traffic on the interstate! Try THAT information superhighway, sell-out! Not that I’m jealous at all. And not that there’s any such thing as homelessness.

Beautiful. Surely someone must have linked to this gem before me, no?

Addendum: By the way, lest you think Prof. Delong is simply a goofball, he also provides quite a bit of serious political & economic analysis as well. Not suprising, since he was Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy in the Clinton administration.

Hey !

And everyone else. I’ll repeat a few basic principles of the ‘ecosystem’ thing, just to keep them clear in everyone’s mind:

1) When links are counted on your page, only the links you have to other bloggers on the list are counted. So you can have links to CNN, Yahoo, AOL, etc — but none of those will count in your total, or have any effect on anybody else’s total inbound links.

2) Conversely, your total number of inbound links only represents the links you are getting from other weblogs on the list. If there are twenty other blogs that have links to you, but none of them are on the list, you won’t get ‘credit’ for them.

3) Keep in mind what others have observed, which is that strictly speaking, this is not the whole blogosphere by any means — it would more precisely be called the ecosystem (and map) of the political blogosphere (and who knows, maybe only a small chunk of that). As I mentioned in the original post, I started with Glenn and Stephen’s lists — hardcore politicos both — and worked out from there. So if your blog is a hardcore technical blog, don’t be surprised when it doesn’t rank that high on this list — because right now, at least, there aren’t many other techie blogs on the list to give you links that would be counted. You may have the most linked-to blog in the technoblogosphere, but that only helps if all the other techies get on the list as well.

There are several other interesting projects going on that are doing similar work to mine in ‘mapping’ the blogosphere; I’ll do a post sometime today with a roundup — there’s definitely some cool stuff out there.

Anyway, getting back to the political vs. techie distinctions: I’m toying with another idea that may explore those “subworlds” of the blogosphere in a more interesting way, so there may be Part III of the ecosystem project up sometime this week.

But I really want to do some writing. Honest. Damnit, my left brain and right brain keep pulling me in different directions. Interesting geek project or meaningful prose? Please fate, don’t make me choose!

Update from the Marsupial Anti-Defamation League

I received the following from a certain fellow hanging upside down by his tail from a tree. I reprint it here utterly without permission:

Dear Mr. NZ Bear:

I recently came to your site via a link from Dr. Reynolds’ Instapundit blog. I notice that in your ingenious list of blogological specimens, you completely ignore marsupials. I would like to recommend that you view Possumblog, one of the finest specimens of Didelphis virginiana currently blogging today.

Possumblog is well-written, insightful, thought-provoking, and is the only blog written with the use of a prehensile tail AND opposable hind toes.

Whereas most of the better known blogs concentrate on topics such as current events, political controversy, science, dogs, and sewing, (and often require the reader to be educated and literate) Possumblog takes a fresh and different approach, choosing to string long words together with no discernable reason or method. The effect is stunning and occasionally readable without the use of illegally obtained (and often dangerous) Schedule II narcotics.

On behalf of The Board of Regents, the Publisher’s Consort, and the humble Staff of Possumblog, I wish to thank you for your time and consideration.

Yours truly,

Terry Oglesby

Possumblog

Well what are you waiting for, a formal invitation? Go out the furry little critter’s blog, already.

Blogosphere Ecosystem: First Update Complete

OK, since everyone got so excited about the first pass, I moved up my schedule for the update and have done another sweep through the list.

Updates / Improvements:
– Added about 40 blogs to the list
– Fixed the bug where links redirected to top-level pages instead of actual blog pages on non-blog-only sites
– Fixed a bug that, believe it or not, was causing Glenn to get undercounted (related to all his different addresses during his move)
– Added categories “Flappy Birds” and “Slithering Reptiles” so that the big ole’ Microbe bucket wasn’t too huge

What’s Still Broke:
– The routine reads most pages just fine, however, a few pages are not being read correctly and hence their outbound links are not being included. Not sure why this is, but it may have something to do with setup to prevent spidering. Any suggestions are welcome, but this one is going to have to wait to be fixed for the moment.

What’s Totally New
Since we have the Ecosystem list tracking who is getting the most (or least) inbound links, it seemed only natural to create a similar list which shows who is providing the most outbound links. I call it the Hall of Link Sluttage.

Not surprisingly, I am way way up near the top of this list — since, duh, by creating these lists I’ve put a huge number of links on my page. I may have to take myself ‘out of the running’ for this category.

Finally: If you believe your site is being counted incorrectly, please feel free to drop me a line and let me know. Be as specific as possible about where you have links from other weblogs on the list that you don’t think are being counted. (Remember: only links coming to your page from other weblogs on this list get counted, not any links that sites that are not on the list might have to your page.) The more precise you can be, the easier it will be for me to track down any issues that exist.

And finally: remember, kids. It’s all in good fun. Don’t take this all too seriously.

Yglesias has thrown his hat into the ring as a liberal blogger, writing:

I dunno if my site (yglesias.blogspot.com) counts as “small” — I’m a rodent by your calculations — but I’m certainly a liberal (in a Matt Welch kind of way, not a Noam Chomsky kind of way)

Good, ’cause I did say no idiots.

…and if you want socialist I’ll write a post about my nutty scheme to have the government own all the land and grant it out on the basis of long term leases to real estate developers — the revenue could be used to costly social programs — hooray!

Dude, rock on! I dare ya! Coming out for public ownership of capital and big government meddling in social policies in one post will definitely get you on the flaming liberal list…

Speaking of the left…

I’ve been meaning to do a Christopher Hitchens post, ‘specially since he got a bunch of bloglinks for of his recent Nation columns.

Hitchens, in my view, is one of the most interesting and intelligent journalists / thinkers we have around today. I don’t always agree with him (but frequently do), but he’s always worth reading. His strong and consistent admonishments that it is the responsibility of every person to hold their own beliefs, and form their own judgments, rather than following the herd of conventional wisdom, were in fact part of my inspiration to join the blogging crowd and lend my voice to the din.

Anyway, praising Hitchens is easy, and practically everybody does it. But what I wanted to pass on are a few links that show that there is something equally enjoyable and enlightening as reading Hitchens: listening to him.

Hitchens is a phenomenal public speaker, and damn, he’s got the hardcore Oxford accent to make everything he says sound brilliant, too. So here is my little version of a “Hitchens audio primer”. There’s quite a bunch of audio interviews and / or lectures with Hitchens out there on the net, but here’s a few of my favorites to start with (many of these can be found at the unofficial Hitchens home page as well, or at this page devoted to Hitchens audio. ).

A good general interview with Hitchens (in two parts) by Danny Postel can be found here and here. In particular, Hitchens discusses his dim view of Mother Theresa, thoroughly debunking the conventional picture or her as a great friend of the poor.

Hitchens main claim-to-fame in recent years is his relentless attacks on Henry Kissinger, who he believes has both committed war crimes and violated the laws of the United States. I just found an entire page devoted to The Trial Of Henry Kissinger , so you can choose your own interview there, or start with this interview if you want my choice. Hitchens makes a convincing case indeed.

And finally, Hitchens has been one of the most outspoken critics of the left’s dismal reaction to the war; a longtime socialist and frequent critic of U.S. foreign policy himself, he nonetheless completely condemns the onslaught of “Islamic fascism” and is a strong (but not uncritical) supporter of war in Afghanistan and against terror more generally. For a primer on his view on the war and the left’s reaction, check out his address at the University of Chicago, “Is Bush’s War Our War?” (where he affectionately addresses his audience as “the beaten rabble that constitutes the remnant of the American left”)

Check him out, and judge for yourself. Because I assure you Hitchens wouldn’t want you taking my — or anybody’s — word for it.

It basically doesn’t matter to me what actual content has to offer, because it’s written by Zorak, Lone Locust of the Apocalypse. And that’s just too cool not to link to. Not to mention that he quotes Kierkegaard.

Justin Sodano’s Weigh In makes the list today if for no other reason than a rather disturbing “separated at birth” post.

Wanted: good flaming liberal blog

OK, I’m doing my little lesser-known-blogroll scan, and running across quite a few good neocon / libertarian blogs.

But what about the left? I have an urge to link to some good liberal thoughts. (Anybody reading this page consistently will probably recognize that I might well disagree with said thoughts, but that’s what open debate is all about).

Requirements:

– Must be a ‘small’ or ‘new’ blog. A squishy requirement to be defined by me as I see fit, but let’s put it this way: TAPPED need not apply.
– Must be a self-professed liberal or lefty. Libertarian doesn’t count. Bonus points if you actually claim to be a socialist.
– Well articulated, intelligent argument is key. As mentioned, I don’t have to agree with you, but I do have to conclude that you’re not an idiot.

Nominate yourself or someone else by me an email. But fair warning: I don’t promise to link to you, but I do promise to at least check out your page.

Looking for a roundup for the latest news with a libertarian slant and a strong dose of punk runk thrown in? Check out Blue Button at Popshot. Nice collection of links to recent stories of interest, with concise, sometimes pithy commentary. Example:

The European Union Wants to Tax You. Come on, it costs a lot of money to run a socialist dystopia.

Nice. The weblog is an extension of PopShot itself, which describes itself as:

“a indie/punk-rock music and culture magazine printed and distributed in Nashville, Tennessee. We differ from the majority of indie/punk magazines in our editorial perspective which is capitalist/individualist/libertarian. Our mission is to bring the ideas of limited government, personal freedom, and individual rights to young people, especially to our peers in the independent music community where these ideas are typically not covered.”

Libertarian capitalist punks. Neal Stephenson, call your office! (And page Ken MacLeod while you’re at it).

Taking My Own Advice

Sometimes, the obvious thing to do just slips by me unnoticed, and I have to go running after it to catch up.

I may not be an A-lister, but I have been getting a heck of a lot of traffic recently. And so I do have the ability to take my own advice, and direct a little attention on the lesser-known spots of the blogosphere.

So, my blogrolling scan this morning will be from the bottom up. Today’s links shall be devoted to the microbes of the Blogosphere. Sorry Glenn, Andrew; Stephen — you boys all got enough linkin’ lovin’ coming your way; it’s time to shed some light on the little guys.

And where better to start than at the absolute bottom of the food chain? is a specialty blog devoted to — what else — nanotech. I haven’t paid nearly enough attention to nanotech in recent years, other than to note that practical uses of the technology seem to become more and more likely every year. I’ll definitely be returning to Nanodot to dive deep and refresh my science-fiction addled mind with the latest realworld developments…

I’m trying to put aside the Ecosystem stuff for a day or two, but makes a good point that I do want to respond to. She says:

“Da Bear has a new system for rating bloggers, something to do with links. And when I saw it, the first thing that hit me was guilt (I needed to update my links page), then ego (hey! I want to be a mortal human!). But now I’ve thought it over, and Bear, you’re doing it backwards. We should be promoting the less-linked blogs, not the most-linked blogs. The big guys should be on the bottom, and the little guys on the top. That’s partly why on my links page, Instapundit, Lileks, Den Beste, and a few others are at the bottom of the page. They don’t need the link-love. But people like Da Bear and File13 do.”

Meryl has a great point (leaving aside the nice compliment she tosses my way). But I would turn it on its head. The list can be used for exactly the purpose she proposes: to help promote the lesser known bloggers. The list on my page itself won’t, because even if I flip it upside down a new blog being listed in the the sea of “microbes” isn’t going to get them much attention.

But I do hope that the more widely read bloggers will scan the bottom of the list, and see “Oh! Blogger X is doing great stuff, but isn’t getting any links. I should remember to link to him more often.” Or, as Meryl alludes to: it can serve as a reminder to update your permalinks to those blogs you genuinely do think are great.

The list is meant to be a map of reality. But that doesn’t mean reality has to be static: it can be also be used as a guide to which spots in the blogosphere aren’t getting the attention they deserve. My hope is that it will be: because after all, the ego trip is fun for everybody, but a more noteworthy accomplishment would be improving what the blogosphere does best — filter — by encouraging folks to pay attention to their links, and ensure they truly represent their opinions on who and what is worth reading.

navel gazing haiku

Random navel-gazing of the day:

So am I a geek pretending to be a writer, or a writer pretending to be a geek?

You decide, fair readers, you decide…

PS – Anyone who emails me with zen meanderings about dreaming of being a butterfly will be thoroughly thwacked.

Huge response to the Blogosphere stuff today. Just as a FYI: thanks to all those who have dropped me mail asking to be included on the list. You will be, next time around, but I’m probably not going to do an update for a few days; I want to refocus my blogtime back on actual writing for a bit. Your patience is appreciated…

Hey, neat! Somebody else has a picture of the blogosphere. Check out Casey Marshall’s Picture of Weblogs.

It is an actual Java applet, so it has some cool features, it appears, like being able to search for a particular blog. Check it out!

(PS: Found out about this one via a comment from Craig Schamp over on VodkaGuy’s page).

BTW: I know Bill Quick is Daily Pundit; several folks have already pointed out that he appears twice in the list already (thanks to those who did).

Lots of folks are excited about the Blogosphere Ecosystem, it seems. Many many links are coming my way this morning. Cool.

Hmmm…. I just caused myself to get a lot of links by producing a list which showed how few links I was getting. Do I get the metablogging medal of the day?