worldwide pablo

Congratulations

Congratulations.

How many times have you opened up an e-mail with that salutation and thought to yourself, "yeah, right..." WWP got one of these today -- and surprise of surprises, it wasn't what it at first seemed to be.

Turns out we've been invited to participate in something called the Pacific Northwest Portal, an aggregator website that syndicates regional blogs of a progressive slant. In the portal's own words:

Pacific Northwest Portal was founded in January of 2005 to provide the citizens of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska with local news and political commentary, as well as allow the rest of the nation and the world to gain access to an entire region of news & local progressive viewpoints through one website.

The portal was designed to be a regional start page, making it easier for people living in the Pacific Northwest to access local news and viewpoints.

Pacific Northwest Portal is owned and powered by the Northwest Progressive Institute, an organization fighting for a peaceful, freer nation and working to promote progressive, responsible policies for America.

You can learn more about NPI's mission here or here.

The portal's main page includes all of the traditional Pacific Northwest states and adds Montana and Alaska. Leading progressive blogs [apparently the top four from each state] are aggregated on the main page. And then for each state there is a page to click through to, in Oregon's case the Oregon Dispatch, where 12 more blogs are represented, and here's where you will find WWP so listed.

It seems like a pretty nifty idea, something of a cross between Blue Oregon's leftiness and Orblogs' craft. Whether a portal, or startup page, remains a "valid paradigm" [to borrow a phrase from the office] remains to be seen. But the Pacific NW Portal is well-laid out, and for a startup, its scope and organization are to be deeply admired.

Given our contrarian and often "doesn't play well with others" nature, we're surprised to even be invited so such a party, even if only to have eked into that 12th slot. [We can't help but wonder, though, if amigos like Chuck, Jack, b!X,  Isaac, Betsy, Pril, Dalene or so many might be as welcome, or more.] For the time being, and as long as the good graces allow, we'll take on this assignment, and we'll take it seriously.

It's called Pacific Northwest Portal. Do check it out.

Oh, for crying out loud

We usually don't pay much attention to this blog on weekends. After all, this is  a hobby. [And not only that, our blog slogan specifically contains the words "Monday thru Friday."] Honestly, it's par for the course for us to post on Friday and not give another thought toward the blog until the start of the work week.

So imagine our surprise this morning to find that this site received 1,000 hits/pageloads on Saturday, and another 500 hits on both Sunday and so far today. What ever could possibly caused this commotion? Oh. That.

Momma, don't let your children grow up to be bloggers.

fURLsday

Okay, there's no such thing as fURLsday -- we're just making that up. But here's what we would've posted about yesterday, had events allowed. [Albeit, with a twist of having the blogger's most useful advantage -- 24 hours of hindsight.]

Call it a draw: First there were the controversial cartoons of Mohammed. Then came the Islamist call for anti-Semitic cartoons. And now this.

Grace under fire: Say what you will about the shootout at the not-so-OK quail covey in south Texas,  and regardless of your politics, some things still qualify being called a class act.

Just for Men: Subjugate the women! Burn the infidels! And by all means, tend the beard!

Food for thought

Quote of the day:

I miss the days when it was just one dude writing his thoughts to whoever wanted to read it. I hope bloggers don't get too entranced with traffic and ad revenues, although they are addictive in a way. It should still be fun - and a blog with a hundred readers can be just as effective in what it does as one with a million. If your goal is chasing readers and revenue, rather than just venting to whomever, you risk losing what makes blogging so fresh. Perhaps, alas, we already have.

You don't say?

[From Andrew Sullivan.]

ThURLsday, part VII

Patriot act: It's time to do your duty. Online, even.

Worth reading: Of all the blather and shouting past one another so evident these past few days over the Muhammad cartoons, here's an article that makes sense to WWP.

Making a list: We've checked it twice, and guess what? You're on it! [So's God.]

A movie we'd like to see: You knew this would happen sooner or later.

Your song: It's not too late to let WWP know your favorite songs. Come on, come on.

Time marches on

One of WWP's early blog favorites is making a move. Seems that after five years of handling himself the the servers, the software and the surly technological demands attendant to operating a weblog, he's letting these guys take over the hosting.

Writes Andrew:

This kind of deal has happened before, of course - when Mickey Kaus's blog, kausfiles, went to Slate. He didn't change; I won't either. The only difference is that the blogosphere is a lot bigger now; and the distinction between the mainstream media and the blogosphere is diminishing a little. I won't be a Time staffer; I will retain ownership of my URL - www.andrewsullivan.com. This is a lease, not a sale.

WWP has been saying for a while that it seems more and more that the so-called independent blogosphere is becoming increasingly co-opted, and out-maneuvered, by the institutions the blog world lives to hate for. On the other hand, WWP can relate to the argument about  the technology demands of modern blogging: When blogging ceases to be about words and ideas, and drifts instead to the technology of doing it, of blogrolls, RSS, ping protocols and blahblahblah -- well, WWP couldn't care less.

Tick, tock. Maybe we'll all be corporatized some day. Consider it the the march of Time.

Blogging: You define

Comments are still being accepted here.

Open thread: Are blogs journalism?

We'll be tied up for the next few days, attending this event as a delegate from the local congregation. [Duty calls, don'tcha know?]

So meanwhile, here are questions that have been roiling 'round the noggin lately: Is blogging journalism? And does it even matter?

Points for addressing these questions:

• Do credentials, or experience, still matter?
• If anonymous sources are to be avoided [unless absolutely necessary] in the MSM, that is, the mainstream media, why are anonymous voices the coin of the realm in the blogosphere -- especially comments?
• Is it of any concern that websites with 100's or 1000's of visits per day are weighted with authority that at times seems to surpass the usual suspects who register in the 100,000's or millions per day? Why the buzz?
• How much of the blogosphere is mere flamethrowing? How much is dependable?
• Has anyone heard of a blog with an ombudsman? Why not? If we demand them of MSM, why not blogs?
• Are blogs actually adding to our knowledge base, or simply commenting on what we already know? In other words, is blogging an "additive" or "subtractive" medium? Or is it something else?
• Is blogging in danger of being co-opted and made irrelevant by the mainstream's embrace of blogging?

Extra credit for local examples. Now: Discuss it amongst yourselves...

WWP sighting

Courtesy of friend and fellow blogster Chuck Currie [who somehow manages to continue posting unabated from far afield, yet with all the normal blog-essential intricacies and despite the distraction of carrying twin 10-1/2 month-old daughters arm-in-arm to and fro], WWP's countenance is hereby found online.

Here's hoping we all get to see more of that family album, replete with all the other mugs of the Katherine and Frances in their soon-to-be-happening "on the go" mode.

Personal memo to Chuck. Overheard in the narthex: "I barely recognize Chuck. He's gotten so ... uh ... gray."

Back from the dread

The worst fear of any writer is, naturally, writer's block. [Okay, maybe a bad review, or a particularly nasty letter or blog-comment, could be more feared ... but we digress.]

WWP's been enduring an extended bout of the dreaded WB since the time he returned from a French vacation about seven weeks ago, and especially so in the last week -- hence, the lack of post for nearly a week. Sad to say, we're still in the throes of a WB funk. Hours of blog reading has not inspired, nor has perusal of any of the usual websites proved to be a muse. Can it be that the Internet has become ... well .. boring? That webloggers really aren't saying anything new? That the blogosphere has become yet another media-spin echo chamber?

Or that the midlife crisis has arrived more or less on time?

Discuss...