] If recent rumours are to be believed, AOL is getting
] ready to add blogging to the homepage services it offers
] users in the next month or so. It's a sign of how far
] these regularly updated pages of web links with personal
] comment have come in the past five years.
]
] When they first got started, these real-time online
] diaries were the preserve of the techno-literate. The
] advent of easy-to-use publishing services such as
] Blogger, launched in August 1999, began to bring it into
] the mainstream. In the past year or so, blogging has
] bloomed, becoming one of the most interesting and popular
] online phenomena. It's mass market enough for AOL, but
] still innovative, thanks to software such as Moveable
] Type, which adds feedback and networking to the basic
] formula, turning weblogs into places where ideas can be
] developed by groups of like-minded friends and
] colleagues.

Guardian Unlimited | Online | New biz on the blog

] U.S. forces have destroyed an enemy stronghold in
] Afghanistan near the former Taliban headquarters,
] bringing an apparent end to the fighting in the area,
] military officials said Tuesday.
]
] The U.S. Central Command said earlier at least 18 enemy
] personnel were killed, but there were no U.S. casualties.

United Press International: U.S. destroys stronghold in Afghanistan

If you follow this, I don't think you will be able to make it to the end of the speech without getting alcohol poisoning.

Good luck.

The State of the Union Drinking Game 2003

] I am a Defender-ship.
]
] I am fiercely protective of my friends and loved ones,
] and unforgiving of any who would hurt them. Speed and
] foresight are my strengths, at the cost of a little
] clumsiness. I'm most comfortable with a few friends, but
] sometimes particularly enjoy spending time in larger
] groups.

What Video Game Character Am I?

] Carlos nonchalantly asks whether his drink was made with
] whole or skim milk. He takes a moment to slurp on his
] grande Caffe Mocha in a crowded Starbucks, and then he
] gets back to explaining how much he wants HIV, the virus
] that causes AIDS. His eyes light up as he says that the
] actual moment of transmission, the instant he gets HIV,
] will be "the most erotic thing I can imagine." He seems
] like a typical thirty-two-year-old man, but, in fact, he
] has a secret life. Carlos is chasing the bug.

Wow, this is really fucked up. I can't believe that someone would think that living with AIDS is anything like living with diabetes. This made my stomach turn.

Never under estimate how stupid people can be..

RollingStone.com: News: Bug Chasers

The Bible, interpreted with legos, complete with warnings for nudity, sexual content, violence, and cursing.

Everyone needs a hobby I guess..

The Brick Testament

Does anyone know about this? I can't believe they actually do this. Never pay for long distance again!

Sprint Realy Online

Take your $20 from the recording industry and give it to the EFF.

SendItToTheEFF.org

] "The people are now the arbiters of the truth. And this
] is as it should be. The only people who are purely
] interested in the truth are the citizens at large. They
] are, therefore, the only people who can be trusted to
] find it."

A short rant Decius wrote about the impact that weblogs will have on the media.

Weblogs and Democracy

I guess I should make some comments about these, considering I made them.. :)

Before anyone sends me any feedback, please keep in mind, whats posted here is my proof of concept. Infact, if you look at the second graph, you notice its datasource is labeled "yeah.stat". That should indicate the half-assed mannor in which they came together. I must admit, I hope these don't make it out to a large audience (just watch, this is what gets us Slashdotted), because they are not up to my standards. I know, I know.. Release early, release often.. I heard you Eric..

I'm working on a new version of my graphing scripts that will do a number of things these didn't, such as using colors to convey link properties and topic information. I'm backed up with a bunch of work, so it may take a while.

There is one minor error in Decius's description. This graph does not take topics into account at all. I threw out all that information when generating these. The links do convey direction, so thats why some nodes have two links between them. If I wasn't throwing out topic information, there would be a number of nodes with over 6 links connecting them. [Update: Little unclear here. The dot graph dosen't take into account topics, other one does. My error..]

Expect the next set of graphs to look very different.

I would like to see people discuss the privacy ramifications of these graphs, as they see them. Since these graphs are generated using the most private of information, users reputation tables, I would like to see a discussion about this. Everyone involved with MemeStreams can easily be described as a "privacy zealot", so we are concerned, and we are listening.

In particular.. In this format, when private information is aggerated, does it become statistical information that can be desiminated without infringing on user's privacy? And can anyone think of a way that an individual user's reputation information could be mined from this graph?

Visualizing MemeStreams