We'll begin today's entry with a Commuter Click from Jay Rosen who tries to distinguish the journalism from the exuberance in the Eason Jordan story. The piece feels a little like a post mortem, although I'm not sure there's consensus that the story is over.

Speaking of media game hunting stories, Real White House reporters talk about their controversial colleague.

Speaking of blogwork getting mainstream media coverage, has it come to bloggers issuing press releases and media kits? (Is it just me or is it a little confusing that so many different people post under the dailykos.com domain?)

Speaking of community reporting, I've been skipping over the blog coverage of the new massive art installation in New York City's Central Park because it felt a little too local for this space. But there is something significant in that coverage that should be pointed out. The Gates blog is a community blog, or mobcast, which means anyone can post on it. And the (year-old) Flickr photo sharing site has a "the gates" tag category to which anyone can contribute. Public coverage of the public opening of a public art event.

When are we going to be able to just make our own license plates?

Though it's common to find original documents in the blogosphere, I don't often see Congressional bills high on link lists. This one contains legislation for a new national ID --or at least, that's what bloggers linking to it say. I'm not very good at reading legal text. It looks like it is standardizing at a federal level what constitutes acceptable ID.

Got ridiculously cold temperatures but no ice wall to climb on? Why not make your own?

Which of the items on this list would you say are the two largest areas of spending by the federal government? Click again.

From the "stop helping me" file, the Raelians throw their support behind Ward Churchill.

Since we've mentioned corporate blogs a few times this week. Robert Scoble is a blogger who works for Microsoft who has been widely noted for the good he's done for the image of the company. The Economist explains. Disclosure: The MS in MSNBC.com stands for Microsoft and thus, I too am a sort of Microsoft blogger, but really it's not even close to the same thing.

Speaking of corporate blog campaigns, do you think this is real? (If it is real, sorry man.)

Dan Drezner gets link attention for trying to figure what the Kim Jong Il is thinking.

What color is Saturn?

I love these "figure out" games, but they can be pretty maddening. So far I figured out how to get the guy to start and how to get him up by the bell.

Valentine's Day lexicon

A sea-floor hotel/resort. (Coming soon to a horror movie near you.)

A visual history of whispering imps on magic posters

48 laws of power

For today's Video of the Day we look at the man behind the Gene Kelly VW video that was the Video of the Day on January 27th. Jason Kottke brings the news along with an interview and other links (some of which appear to be already crashed from his traffic rush, so watch this one while you can).

• February 10, 2005 | 11:18 PM ET

The 'Jeff Gannon' (dubbed G/G for Gannon/Guckert) story turned out to be a bigger fuss than I realized. All week we've been waiting for the Eason Jordan thing to blow up and this kind of came out of the blue (at least to me). One of the better links I saw today was this round-up of reactions in the Washington Post. Also this discussion of Eason and G/G by journalists.

One tangential observation about this story is the way members of Congress (Lautenberg, Slaughter) are using their Web sites to participate. I know politicians always issue press releases about stuff, but I don't often see senate.gov and house.gov links in blogstorms. A sign of things to come?

Speaking of the left attacking media of the right, the Southern Poverty Law Center on the Washington Times and Brit Hume appears to be a target too. I know the conventional wisdom is that blogs as media watchdog is a good thing, but I'm starting to get a sense of just how ugly this is going to be.

Of course, one way to avoid all this intrigue about reporters with ulterior motives is for the government to produce its own news channel. (I never heard of BigNewsNetwork.com by the way, so make your own call.)

Speaking of Pentagon news, Guantanamo detainees continue to make more news online than I see on TV. Most of the Letters to the Editor we've received on this subject assume that anyone in that place is a terrorist and deserves whatever they get (and actually don't deserve the pleasure of a Pentagon lap dance). Perhaps (U.S.) news producers have concluded there's no audience for stories like this.

Tanya Harding the ice skater is a boxer now, and I guess that requires a different kind of training.

Think you'd be all set for a career change if only you could get a publishing deal writing sci-fi and fantasy novels? Click again, and don't quit your day job.

Speaking of click again, the penalty for stealing a real product from a real store is surely greater than the penalty for stealing a virtual product through the Internet, right? Click again.

Non-news event of the day: This link is still on all the lists because folks were anxious to hear if Al Franken would be running for Senate. He isn't.

The North Korea nukes story has bloggers concerned. For an idea of where that country is coming from, lots of folks are pointing to these pictures:

The pictures in this gallery are taken from two North Korean propaganda books purchased in China near the China-North Korean border.
....
These images (and those on the sites linked to below) have been selected to demonstrate the major themes in the art of North Korea encountered by everyday people, including architecture, billboards and monuments, posters, and other art dedicated to the personality cults of the late Kim Il Sung and his son, Kim Jong Il, the current leader of North Korea. Also included are a few images of other everyday images of North Korea.

In our continuing look at alternative angles in the Social Security debate, Josh Marshall shows why I kept running into that WhiteHouse.gov link today.

Your very own blog in just 51 steps (not including repeatedly looking yourself up in Technorati.)

Flickr graph: displaying photo sharing social networks with cool bouncy graphics.

Why are people practically killing each other to get into Ikea?? What's the deal?

Thinking of buying into the new Napster deal? Might want to check the fine print.

I imagine this link has come up because a four day theater run for a movie is probably a new record. I'm more impressed with having found a movie marketing blog.

Speaking of movies, Watchmen is coming! (You know a movie is heavily anticipated when there's buzz over a site that doesn't do anything.)

If this school had required students to wear the kind of shock collars that keep dogs in the yard, then this idea wouldn't seem so extreme. I wonder if parents would feel better about it if they were doing the track of their kids instead of the school? (I don't have kids, I'm just wondering out loud.)

Blog fans who were watching West Wing last night (while Tivo-ing Alias) jumped off the couch at the repeated use of the name "Lawrence Lessig." What's the deal?

From the next big thing department: a podcasting progress report. Not convinced podcasting is a real thing? Exhibit 1: A podcast on the official GM blog. (We also note for the record how well this blog is working as a promotional tool for GM, as opposed to the farce McDonalds tried with its French fry stunt.) Exhibit 2: This piece in USA Today means that everyone who stayed in a hotel Tuesday night learned about podcasting while eating free morning muffins.

This is not the MIT guide to lockpicking.

Speaking of legal trouble, this used to be an animation of a cat licking your screen. Along with bandwidth problems like we saw for tsunami videos, I wonder if the growth in blog traffic will put a crimp in lawless Internet fun.

Clicked does not endorse sticking stuff on other people's cars, no matter how accurate.

This profile of Dawn Eden in the NY Observer was entertaining enough for me to read off the screen until my eyes started to hurt, but too long for that point to be the end of the article, so I'll print it up to read later. Thus it's today's Commuter Click.

I was walking through Painter Hall when I saw a pile of graded papers waiting to be picked up. It was a short writing assignment on how the practical applications of lasers has affected your life.
...
From a quick look at the grammar and incomplete sentences, I knew it was a freshman course. So I took the papers, added my own... comments... and placed them back in the pile.

[Link]

The tagging idea meets message boards.

Video of the Day: Pick a video, any video, memorize it, show the audience and without showing it to me, put it back in the deck.

• February 9, 2005 | 6:33 PM ET

Almost Video of the Day: Mardi Gras media. Too bad I didn't come upon this yesterday, live Web cams of New Orleans. Call me weird, but I still think they're cool to watch. I understand, however, that the Video of the Day should be more than just watching a small picture of cars drive down the street. So....

Video of the Day: In honor of the coming Valentine's holiday, here's Brad Pitt reading poetry about his wife. Add your own irony.

Speaking of Valentine's Day, this divorce story has a Gift of the Magi quality to it (and also sets off my "yeah right" reflex).

In other dubious love news, can these gay penguins be straightened out?

And a Valentine's item from a reliably false source: Love Coupons

Speaking of comedy, by the URL I gather this joke comes from Waxy.org: I bet you five bucks there are people who would actually enter their credit card info into something like this without even thinking twice.

Speaking of online rip-offs, tech bloggers over the last few days have been talking about something called the Shmoo exploit. The explanation is here and you can Google it for more in-depth discussion, but for the less technically knowledgeable, seeing a reliable URL turn out to be a trick URL is an important single lesson that all is not always as it seems on the Internet.

There's the kind of news you don't believe and tsk your tongue, and there's the kind of news you can't believe and smack your forehead. The story I (not to mention many bloggers) can't believe is yet another woman who doesn't appear to be incapable of attracting (lots of) men her own age is in legal trouble for allegedly having sex (13 times) with a boy on the cusp of puberty. What's the deal?

We hear so much about bloggers going after the media that we often overlook the ability of bloggers to network as consumers. I'm a little bothered by the temptation in this piece to turn "corporations can use feedback in the blogosphere to their advantage" into "you better listen to bloggers or else!" Corporate rip-offs and media lies are harder to get away with the advent of blogs, but that's not the same as "the blogger is always right" or even "the mob of angry, e-mail-campaigning bloggers is always right."

Speaking of going after the media, Eason Jordan tale is still slow to progress -at least, the tale of the lynching of Eason Jordan is. But if you're interested in the more substantial issue raised by Eason Jordan's comments (an angle conspicuously absent from the discussion so far -even from Jordan himself), you can finally find it presented here.

Eason Jordan isn't the only journalist (?) in bloggers' crosshairs lately. Today the blogosphere is awash in the news (the forehead slapping kind) of "Jeff Gannon." Among the many links exploring the story is investigation by the Kos community of connections to the Valerie Plame affair.

Roads that play "groovy" music. (Note to my wife: I told you this was a good idea!!)

Trackback is a popular blog tool that puts a note on Blog A that Blog B has responded to something written on Blog A. Tagging is a relatively new idea whereby Web users categorize recommended pages as part of a group effort to bring order to the chaos of information on the Internet. That said, today I learned a new one: Tagback. It takes the part of the trackback function that says, "Hey, I've got something about this on my blog" and applies it to the categories created by tags. Follow the link to read a smarter person give a better explanation. Neat idea.

There may just be something to this Internet thing.

The coolest toy I don't understand that I've wasted time on in a while.

Speaking of time suckers, I've been ignoring this link, thinking it was the same as the baby name search engine we saw awhile ago. In fact, it's a cool Java powered graph of name popularity over time.

The latest volley in this week's Cole v. Goldberg

For Pete's sake, pull your pants up! (...in the name of the law?)

Blame/credit Hollywood.

From micro to mega: Snowflake portraits to a panorama on the moon.

Yesterday we saw a site about how to tie shoes, today we click one about how to tie a tie.

Smash the tones turns an MP3 into a ringtone for you. It appears to be both free and popular. The something-for-nothing quality of it makes me suspicious, but I don't see any scamming.

I never heard of Keyhole before, but their demo looks pretty cool. Given the note in the corner of the site announcing that they've been purchased by Google, it doesn't take too much imagination to envision where the Google Maps site we saw yesterday is going.

Speaking of Google and maps, Newsmap:

Newsmap is an application that visually reflects the constantly changing landscape of the Google News news aggregator. A treemap visualization algorithm helps display the enormous amount of information gathered by the aggregator. Treemaps are traditionally space-constrained visualizations of information.

--Just click it, it'll make sense when you see it.

Commuter Click: Nature interviews technologist Ray Kurtzweil about robot warriors of the future.

• February 8, 2005 | 9:05 PM ET

Somehow in yesterday's notes I overlooked the online popularity of the Super Bowl commercials. There are a lot of places to watch the ads, but the link I found myself clicking the most was AdJab, which seems to be an interesting overall resource for looking at TV advertising.

When we're looking at TV advertisements online, we're often seeing how effective they are at generating buzz. The word of mouth spread of "you gotta see this" links is what they call viral marketing. In fact, I've seen some sites actually call video clips "virals." With our Video of the Day feature we've seen some fabulously successful viral ads, but some efforts fall flat.

Case in point: McDonald's has apparently put together a fake blog to continue the Abraham Lincoln French fry gag from their Super Bowl commercial. So far I've not read any positive reviews -more downward spiral than viral I'm afraid. I think they got more viral mileage out of the McHottie campaign.

One ad that has managed to keep the discussion going is Go Daddy's sexy, half-banned ad. They had the presence of mind to report their own story on their blog. Naturally, news that a sexy ad was blocked from being aired has people clicking... and watching the ad.

Speaking of the Super Bowl and buying stuff, a key element of The Beatles's was anti-materialism, right? Click again.

Speaking of viral (of a different kind), how are you feeling about the security of your Firefox browser? Click again.

With all this talk of ads, you'd think today's Video of the Day would be a viral ad, but in the spirit of contradiction, I nominate Muppets Overtime (original) (it's free for a limited time). The is the second Muppet link I've clicked the last 12 hours, the other being the Gonzo game, which is not something I'd usually link to here, but in case you're too weirded out by that video, this should reset your Muppet meter.

Speaking of kids' stuff: How to tie your shoes (more impressive than is sounds).

Instructional video of the day: 4 minutes about podcasting

Demo video of the day: This breathlessly excited link was hot yesterday but the video was crashed by the time I got there. Looks like they've restored it. They're talking about a software that allows reality and virtual reality to interact in real time in video. So it can put a virtual car on a table and steer it around real objects that are actually on that table. Naturally, video game fans see huge potential for this "immersion" technology.

Hold still, you have something in your eye. Oh, nevermind that's just your solar computer chip.

Wil Wheaton (former Star Trek cast member, current blog icon) tells the story of his ailing cat and his audition for a popular TV show. (If you want to spoil it, scroll to the bottom where he reveals the show and the outcome of the audition. I don't want to be a spoiler.

The Village Voice Pazz and Jop critics poll

Speaking of polls, the winners of the 2005 Evangelical Underground Evangelical blog awards are announced.

This seems mean, but really, it's not like they're making the accusation without evidence.

Digby is not impressed with our president's speaking ability.

Google Maps tops all of today's most-linked lists.

Powerline picks apart a Bill Moyers speech. What stands out to me in this piece is how it appears that the Washington Post published a story using a quote based on Moyers' say-so. Sometimes I'm frustrated when bloggers are so out of touch with media processes and ways of thinking that they jump to ridiculous conclusions and conspiracy theories. Other times I am grateful that bloggers are not tainted by the group think and "common knowledge" errors that seem to be coming up so often lately in criticisms of mainstream media.

Speaking of "common knowledge" errors, I don't plan to cover the Eason Jordan story very closely in this space (there is, as we saw yesterday, an entire blog devoted to the subject), but since I linked to a criticism of Howie Kurtz in yesterday's post, I feel obligated to link to his Jordan piece today.

Breast cancer from artificial light?

Commuter Click: Where does all the processing speed go? It's interesting to see this one has a level rating of "introductory." Hopefully I'm at least that advanced.

Speaking of following up on items from yesterday. The story behind the story of the Ask Jeeves purchase of Bloglines can be found on the new Ask Jeeves blog.

And still speaking of follow-ups to yesterday, we go to the mailbag for an answer to my question about why the military was using Harry Potter imagery:

Will,
Love the blog.
Here is where the Army used the Harry Potter imagery.
Basically, it's an Army magazine in "comic book" form that helps soldiers better maintain equipment. Periodically they do spoofs of things like Harry Potter. It's actually a pretty handy publication, and back when I was active duty, I used to read them all the time.
Now that I'm a reservist, I don't read them as much, but some of the cartoons are still good for a chuckle. I actually have a Vietnam Era one that talks about maintaining the then newly issued M-16.
--Kris Alexander

Dear Kris,
Thanks for your help. Knowledgeable readers are a blessing.
Cheers,
Will

• February 7, 2005 | 10:28 PM ET

The Eason Jordan fuss has festered into a "gate." The Easongate blog promises to track the developments. If you're just catching up, CNN executive Eason Jordan is reported to have accused the U.S. military of targeting journalists in Iraq. Jordan says his statements were taken out of context. The right side of the blogosphere (yes, it seems like just about all of them) says that this is a classic example of anti-U.S. military bias in the media at its highest levels -they smell blood.

What's frustrating the story (though not necessarily the judgments) at the moment is a clog in the information line. There is reportedly video out there, but it's not public yet. And the person bloggers thought they could count on as their man on the inside isn't pitching in. What I'm waiting for is to see if these bloggers can drag the story into the public spotlight by sheer force of will.

So where is the left on this issue? In a classic demonstration of left/right as false dichotomy, they're onto Social Security.

Blog battle of the week: Jonah Goldberg vs. Juan Cole

Last week we looked at proposals to forbid photographing the New York City subway and the Eiffel Tower. Today we see a block on photographing Chicago public art. Boing Boing announces a call to arms.

BlogMap plots the location of blogs. Interestingly, today I also came upon the re-launched GeoURL.

Politics makes strange bedfellows:

If Slate can find the loophole, so can terrorists. (What was the number on the line in the new budget next to Homeland Security?)

You have a week to buy your Valentine's Day card. For today's Video of the Day, here's a bit of a behind the scenes look at the industry.

If you thought you knew someone with an unusual collection, I think the cake has now been taken. Whatever you do, don't tell him about the Flickr photo set of airline meals.

What isn't clear to me about this one is why the U.S. Army would want to use Harry Potter imagery anyway?

Drawing broad readership and collecting a considerable amount of comments is this piece by a mother who hears someone call her 9-year-old son "fag."

Remember back during the presidential debates when everyone was accusing Bush of having a listening device in the back of his jacket? How did all that end up?

Speaking of election flashbacks, remember how Bush opponents claimed they'd leave the country if he won? And after the election, Bush supporters challenged them to put up or shut up? And we saw re-drawn maps and secession plans and a spike in the traffic to the Canadian immigration page? How did all that end up?

Bloggers are sitting up with notice at the advance news that Ask Jeeves will be buying Bloglines.

Commuter Click: How I entered the hellish world of Guantanamo Bay The story was pretty compelling before I decided to stop and print it up to finish later, and I don't expect to see the story told on TV any time soon.

Speaking of things not reported in the U.S., Doctors Without Borders presents their most under-reported humanitarian stories of 2004.

Now this could be handy. A site devoted to the tracking of liveblogging of events. It's still young, but could become a useful hub.

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