blogging

This morning I came across an infographic on "Google Facts and Figures" created by Pingdom.

Did you know that 270,000 words are written every minute on the blogging site Blogger?  The Bible has just under 800,000 words in it, meaning that every 3 minutes a whole new testament is being created online.

And that's just Blogger!  There are plenty of other popular blogging sites like WordPress and Tumblr.  Blogging is supposed to prove that everyone's voice is important, that we can all be heard in the digital age.  But that pretty much appears to be a load of crock.

But don't worry.  Have you ever been to a library?  Half those books are just sitting on shelves collecting dust too.  People have known that reading sucks for centuries.

[via Bits & Pieces]

One of today's big new stories is Pope Benedict XVI's decree that priests should try to spend more time using modern communication methods such as blogs.

Says the Pope on his website:

"Priests are thus challenged to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources (images, videos, animated features, blogs, websites) which, alongside traditional means, can open up broad new vistas for dialogue, evangelization and catechesis."

Yeah, that sounds like a great idea: Encouraging sexually frustrated men to spend as much time as possible on the Internet.  I don't see that ending well.

But hopefully all these new web savvy priests can start to convert people back from the Flying Spaghetti Monster and Ceiling Cat.

Internet blogging mainstay Boing Boing celebrated their 10 year anniversary yesterday.

That's right… 10 YEARS of blogging.  Pretty amazing.

According to their celebratory article, they've published over 55,000 posts since they started.  That's right… 55 THOUSAND.

Here's an interesting fact: Did you know that if you've read even 1% of the total content ever posted on Boing Boing, you've probably missed at least one valuable opportunity to move forward in your career?

Crazy to think about, but true.

Congrats, Boing Boing!

Just when you think the uselessness of Tumblr can't hit a new low, someone comes along and debases everything we know about blogging.

300&65 Ampersands promises just what it says: an ampersand a day for an entire year… 365 days.  But what so easily gets overlooked is that to fulfill that promise, the blogger must actually follow through with his goal.

I applaud the owner of "ampersandampersand.tumblr.com" for at least setting boundaries.  Many people start blogs with the idea that, theoretically, they might keep them going forever.

But even one year of ampersands seems excessive.  It's all fine and dandy on January 20th.  Come April though, the weather is going to start getting nice and those ampersands are going to start looking a heck of a lot less appealing.

Hell, a year is a long time too.  2010 might actually be the year you get a girlfriend.  If you have to choose between an "&" and a "BJ," we'll see where your interests lie.

And let's just say you do make it all the way to December 31st, posting that final ampersand and achieving your goal.  Then what?  What have you really created?

You'll probably feel a little silly & a bit like you've wasted your life.

[via The Daily What]

Brad L. Graham (seen above) — the man who is credited with first coining the term "blogosphere" (as can supposedly be found here) — has passed away at the age of 41.

But don't worry…  He'll always live on… In the blogosphere.

That is, until computer technology becomes obsolete and blogs are disregarded.  Then he'll die a second, more final death.

Something to look forward to.

[via The Daily What]

Sure, I spend my life on the Internet, but being online has become so passe.  I've recently found myself wondering if it's possible to get my voice heard and my opinions across in other ways.

Then I saw the photo above on Reddit — allegedly taken at the book section of a Fry's Home Electronics store.  It totally blew my mind.

You mean I can actually go out to a brick and mortar bookstore and move books around instead of posting insulting customer reviews on Amazon and then placing a screengrab on my website?

What's next?  Finding out I can go to a coffee house where they might have some sort of "open mic" where people can just talk in front of other people in real life instead of creating online videos and embedding them on my blog?

Ha!  That would be amazing!  I guess we can always dream.

Two bloggers have been jailed in Azerbaijan (I haven't heard of it either) for blogging. According to Yahoo,

The bloggers, who had been in jail since their arrests in July, say they were targeted for political reasons because of their online criticism of authorities in the oil-rich nation.

The pair had posted a satirical Internet video of a donkey giving a press conference.

A donkey giving a press conference?! That's hilarious!

Thank god we don't live in Azerbaijan here at the Tosh.0 blog, because we'd be in trouble for a LOT of stuff.
Like this, this and this. Or this, this or this. Or this.

So, pretty much everything.

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

[via Yahoo News]

It was only a matter of time before someone created a platform for those who hate Twitter. It's the Twitter antithesis. Woofer is a new service that forces people out of brevity by requiring 1,400 characters worth of depth and detail on every post. I thought that was called LiveJournal?

I can't even read a 1,400 character blog post — let alone write one. So, I think it's the perfect website for my antithesis. To all the Twitter-haters who call it mundane, cursory bullshit: You and your exciting friends should join Woofer! See how mundane and bullshitty your buddies become when they have to write 1,400 characters.

[via Network World via Digg]

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