A coronal mass ejection (CME) that billowed away from the Sun on May 16th is heading for our planet. It is not a remarkably bright or fast-moving CME. Nevertheless, the cloud could trigger a geomagnetic storm when it reaches Earth on May 18th or (more likely) May 19th. Sky watchers -- particularly those in northern Europe, Canada and across the northern tier of US states -- should be alert for auroras after local nightfall this weekend. Visit spaceweather.com for updates.
All this talk-talk-talk about weblogging! Jeez O'Reilly had all these sessions on weblogging! Everyone wants to know... What it is? Where it's going? What's useful about it? Why would anyone want to write online where everyone in the world could read it? And in some cases not get paid for it? Why-why-why?? yadda-yadda-yadda!
[Putting on my Community Wizard Hat]
Chill folks! Stop making this thing called Weblogs so damn complicated! Take a big step back, get a cup'pa whatever and get a little perspective on weblogging. Other than the technical issues Weblogging, which I leave to Dave and others, it is really pretty simple.
What is sure to me-- is that weblogs are where each person or author has the opportunity to SHARE their interests, passions or areas of expert points of view with others. It's the quality of the information and the volume of readers that separates the pros from the amateurs.
Weblogs differ from standard community and professional "forums."
Forums are: 1. usually owned by someone else and moderated. 2. They are topo-chronologically linear on a specific topic, 3. others add directly to the conversation or dialogue in the open, and 4. the original authors usually do not have the ability to control their words once its posted.
Exactly how weblogs BECOME communities are still being defined.
However a few things are beginning to be obvious to me.
1. Weblog materials monologues are under the direct control of the author and may be an editor. This is why experts find them a good method to publish online. 2. Weblogs are chronologically arranged. But 3. Currently most weblogs do not have direct feedback. That's why a. comments programs are so popular in order to get feedback, and b. linking between bloggers is necessary.
From where I sit: Weblogging is just getting started, but-- a weblog can be as simple as a personal journal or as complicated as an online magazine format. It all depends on the vision of the author-owners. The major problem which needs to be resolved is how to bring the experts together under various umbrellas (loosely joined,) in order create a destination for readers vs. the beef stew we've got now.
This is my opinion and while it is still evolving, I'm sticking to it. Now I am going to play in the woodpile and do some yard work.
For What It's Worth Department: Let's see-- Napster designs a music file sharing system. The company eats up a considerable amount of VC funds to build a product that could revolutionize the music industry. Napster trys to work with the recording industry, but gets blown off by the record companies. Then the recording industry sues Napster out of business. Now Bertelsmann, one of the major names in the recording-entertainment-online industry in Europe, (and a good friend of AOL/TW,) buys Napster at a fire sale for the technology. [sniff-sniff] What smells ?
Good Afternoon. My name is Andy, also known as RatByte. I'm Mary Lu's (ahem) darling Eight-month old Black Miniature Schnauzer. Yesterday Mom took me to the groomer to get a haircut for the "hot summer." I'm not exactly sure what she means by hot, but she tells me I'll find out. My job around here is to play with Teddy the black Laborador, play with my toys (and I've got a lot of them,) keep Mom company while she works on the computer, guard the house and my favorite-- chase the birds that land in the back yard.
This morning I got into trouble for digging in the Mom's rose garden and getting my hose full of mud. Jeeze I thought I was helping! Does the mud on my nose look "that bad?" Let me know, 'cause she's really ticked at me! -- RatByte
If Rageboy can talk about his personal life-- we decided to share a little here as well. Now! I need to wipe the mud off the keyboard!
It's all about point of view. Two bloggers can look at the same event and see two different things. That's why it's good to have a variety of views of the same event. Think of it as triangulation, a technique I learned from a friend who was into hacking AM radio in the 70s. He put a transmitter in the trunk of his car and sang along with the music on his car stereo. He'd jam WABC in NY, which was the top teen station then (it might still be for all I know). The FCC had a hard time finding him, because they use a truck to find radio hackers. How to draw it. Put a dot on a piece of paper. That's the pirate radio station. Put another dot on the paper. That's the FCC truck. Draw a line from the truck to the station. Now move the truck to any other point, it could be just a few blocks away. Draw a line from the truck to the station. Bing. You now know where it is. But this assumes the station didn't move. Oooops. Rob Fahrni 
or What It's Worth Department: Let's see-- Napster designs a music file sharing system. The company eats up a considerable amount of VC funds to build a product that could revolutionize the music industry. Napster trys to work with the recording industry, but gets blown off by the record companies. Then the recording industry sues Napster out of business. Now Bertelsmann, one of the major names in the recording-entertainment-online industry in Europe, (and a good friend of AOL/TW,) buys Napster at a fire sale for the technology. [sniff-sniff] What smells ?
