Monthly Archives: July 2008

PresidentialWatch08: Mapping the Political Blogosphere

July 31, 2008
1 Comment
John Little

PresidentialWatch08 has mapped over 500 political blogs, including Blogs of War. Their innovative interface allows users to dig into the posting and linking trends of the political blogosphere. Be warned, you can kill a ton of time creating reports.

Presidential Watch 2008 is pleased to bring you the ultimate set of tools to see, hear and feel what citizens and supporters are saying on the Internet about the 2008 presidential elections.

Our non-partisan observatory of the 2008 netcampaign offers to monitor and analyze the important trends of the campaign, the opinions of citizens and the continuously evolving standings of the candidates taking part in the race, from the primaries to the final run-up.

The tools and the contents we provide should satisfy your private interest for politics. They will also give you great insight for your posts and articles on the presidential race.

Where is the debate happening ? What are the hot topics on the agenda ? Who’s making the news ? Who are the online community leaders ? Here are very simple and comprehensive ways you can answer these questions.

H/T PSFK.com

The Mars Phoenix Lander Confirms Presence of Water Ice

Those are the relevant updates posted by the team on Twitter. It’s my favorite way to follow the mission. Nearly 30,000 people seem to agree.

Science News also has an update:

The Phoenix team was surprised to detect the water ice in the latest sample delivered to the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer instrument, or TEGA instrument, said William Boynton, a TEGA co-investigator from the University of Arizona, during a press briefing.

Delivering an ice-rich sample to one of TEGA’s eight ovens proved to be a challenge for the scientists for the past month. When the latest two attempts failed, the team instead decided to dig and dump a sample of soil taken from just above the ice layer.

The analysis of this sample, however, showed that “this was icy soil,” Boynton said. The results show that when the oven heated the soil, some of the sample melted at 0o Celsius — the melting point of ice.

Greyhound Canada: One Passenger Decapitates Another

Go Greyhound? I don’t think so:

As horrified travelers watched, a Greyhound Canada bus passenger repeatedly stabbed and then decapitated a young man who was sitting and sleeping beside him, a witness said Thursday.

“There was a bloodcurdling scream. I was just reading my book, and all of a sudden, I heard it,” Garnet Caton, who was sitting in front of the two men, said of the Wednesday night incident west of Portage la Prairie, Manitoba.

“It was like something between a dog howling and a baby crying, I guess you could say,” Caton said. “I don’t think it will leave me for a while.”

I drive by Houston’s Greyhound terminal daily. This story is less surprising after seeing the collection of characters that hang out around that place.

Update:
The victim has been identified as 22 year old Tim McLean. A Facebook group has been created in his memory.

The Onion: Al Gore Places Infant Son In Rocket To Escape Dying Planet

The modern mythology of Superman brilliantly suffused with Al Gore’s bizarro take (pun intended) on the world:

Former vice president Al Gore—who for the past three decades has unsuccessfully attempted to warn humanity of the coming destruction of our planet, only to be mocked and derided by the very people he has tried to save—launched his infant son into space Monday in the faint hope that his only child would reach the safety of another world.

“I tried to warn them, but the Elders of this planet would not listen,” said Gore, who in 2000 was nearly banished to a featureless realm of nonexistence for promoting his unpopular message. “They called me foolish and laughed at my predictions. Yet even now, the Midwest is flooded, the ice caps are melting, and the cities are rocked with tremors, just as I foretold. Fools! Why didn’t they heed me before it was too late?”

Al Gore—or, as he is known in his own language, Gore-Al—placed his son, Kal-Al, gently in the one-passenger rocket ship, his brow furrowed by the great weight he carried in preserving the sole survivor of humanity’s hubristic folly.

Ludacris Music Video – Politics as Usual

A post on LiveLeak contains the lyrics:

I’m back on it like I just signed my record deal
yeah the best is here, the Bentley Coup paint is dripping wet, it got sex appeal
never should have hated
you never should’ve doubted him
with a slot in the president’s iPod Obama shattered ‘em
Said I handled his biz and I’m one of his favorite rappers
Well give Luda a special pardon if I’m ever in the slammer
Better yet put him in office, make me your vice president
Hillary hated on you, so that b^$&%* is irrelevant
Jesse talking slick and apologizing for what?
if you said it then you meant it how you want it have a gut!
and all you other politicians trying to hate on my man,
watch us win a majority vote in every state on my man
you can’t stop what’s bout to happen, we bout to make history
the first black president is destined and it’s meant to be
the threats ain’t fazing us, the nooses or the jokes
so get off your ass, black people, it’s time to get out and vote!
paint the White House black and I’m sure that’s got ‘em terrified
McCain don’t belong in ANY chair unless he’s paralyzed
Yeah I said it cause Bush is mentally handicapped
Ball up all of his speeches and I throw em like candy wrap
cause what you talking I hear nothing even relevant
and you the worst of all 43 presidents
get out and vote or the end will be near
the world is ready for change because Obama is here!
cause Obama is here
The world is ready for change because Obama is here!

Those lyrics won’t sit well with most Americans. Luda is bringing more harm than good to the campaign (not that I have a problem with that). Obama’s people seem to agree:

“As Barack Obama has said many, many times in the past, rap lyrics today too often perpetuate misogyny, materialism, and degrading images that he doesn’t want his daughters or any children exposed to,” said spokesman Bill Burton. “This song is not only outrageously offensive to Senator Clinton, Reverend Jackson, Senator McCain, and President Bush, it is offensive to all of us who are trying to raise our children with the values we hold dear. While Ludacris is a talented individual he should be ashamed of these lyrics.”