Bits and pieces found floating in the blogosphere

Texas Women's Blogs -
Read this and weep - Check out TxSharon's "Corruption in Government," a comprehensive list of corruption cases against mostly Republicans and just a few Democrats (lots of good detail-8/6/07). This is really a good reference piece, and has good corrections from readers.
Find Texas Progressive blogs - "TXSharon," who writes Bluedaze, posts this about the Texas Progressive Alliance Weekly Blog Roundup (features a great list):

It's Monday, and that means it is time once again for the Texas Progressive Alliance Weekly Blog Round-Up, where we review the best in Texas blogging from our various member blogs.

Great follow up on Hurricane Rita - Fayrouz in Beaumont's very image-rich and moving blog post is titled, "Extreme Makeover." (8/6/07)
I must be slow today or it is a really bad Monday - I have taken to quoting myself. This is from an old S/SW blog post. But is still exactly the way I feel:

As I have returned to keeping up with the current events that interest me, I find that I have many thoughts and much to write about. And as I write, my strong feelings diminish, my frustration level goes down, and I am able to regain my perspective. It's a good thing, as Martha Stewart would say (and I still sort of like Martha).

And, for anyone who reads this, I am recommending this great article by Kevin Kelly. It is in Wired magazine and focuses on the history of the world wide web. It gives great perspective.

About the larger . . . sphere -


This is in a way about the world of bloggers -
"Cloudy selves: navigational metaphors (just in time for summer!)" - Grant McCracken's THIS BLOG SITS AT THE Intersection of Anthropology and Economics. To quote,

Each of us is a network. A messy, crowded, cloudy network. We are some rough, disorganized but not entirely unconnected composite of our experiences, relationships, interests and outlooks. We are diverse, complex and multiple.

So what are the structural properties of this network? How do elements cohere? How do they survive passage through space and time? Why do they not just burst into flames and fall from the heavens? Icarus, like.

. . . The issue here is how networks manage the great clouds of information they need to sustain themselves and to grow. It certainly makes since to "shadow" or to "ghost" other networks, to choose what they choose, to exchange what we've got. These cloudy selves are going too large to be sustained by their owners' efforts only. It is going to have to be a collaborative exercise. We are going to have to pool our resources. We are going to have to put our head's together. We are going to end up with some out of body, out of mind, out of network, cross dependencies that put at risk our conventional ideas of the discrete, free standing, independent, liberty seeking individual. Right?

This great big blog came from a single individual - The headline really caught my eye: "YearlyKos no more" It is from Marc Ambinder at the Atlantic online, with a Hat Tip Politico.com (8/2/07). To quote the author,

This is the final year that the biggest yearly convention of netrooters will be named after Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, or Kos. Mr. Moulitsas enjoyed the attention and adulation befitting a political pioneer, but he now has many other projects to attend to, and he recognizes that the liberal/progressive blogosphere has outgrown any one personality.

This story explores a big aspect of the blog revolution - From the Democratic Strategist - Kudos to Josh Marshall. "How TPM, Bloggers Are Revolutionizing Political Reportage" is the subject linked to an important LA Times feature on political blogging.
And here's a great reference tool - a "niche search engine" - About.com