‘On my rough count, there are 100 times as many political bloggers in Australia as there are sports bloggers. Therefore, I unsyllogistically conclude that Australians are 100 times more interested in politics than sport.’ Tim Dunlop
On my rough count, there are 100 times as many political bloggers in Australia as there are sports bloggers. Therefore, I unsyllogistically conclude that Australians are 100 times more interested in politics than sport.
If, by chance, you are in the sporting minority, the place to go is Ubersportingpundit, where, for instance, the topic of cricket’s best chuckers is being addressed.
One of the things I got emails about after last week’s blogjam was how to start a blog. I wrote back to everyone, but here’s some links for any others who are interested. Still the quickest, easiest and cheapest way to start your own blog is Blogger – yep it’s free. For a more versatile approach you can try Movable Type, though you will need to have some idea about building websites to use it.
Alternatively, you can use their Typepad version, which gives you many of the advantages of Movable Type but is quick and easy to set up. Costs start at about $US5 a month. And if you do start a new blog, don’t forget to let me know about it over at Surfdom.
On a related subject, the ongoing debate about the influence and usefulness of blogs continues apace, and Jozef Imrich collects a bunch of stories on the topic.
And some people got a widdle bit upset that I didn’t include them in last week’s round-up, so go and say hello to this poor fellow.
Ken Parish penned an interesting piece about the new Iraqi constitution and there was follow-up at Southerly Buster.
John Quiggin was on the topic with this discussion of how to assess how well things have gone in Iraq since the US occupation. All these sites also link to other relevant stories, which is one of the nice things about blogs, one post generally leads to another and another and maybe even another and another.
Intellectual property expert, Kim Weatherall, discusses the recent High Court ruling in the case where Channel 9 sued Channel 10 about The Panel using Channel 9 newsclips on their show. Flick through Kim’s other writings on aspects of the recent free-trade agreement between Australia and the United States.
Clarence Street wrote a review of the way in which the Weekend magazines in Australian newspapers have been revamped (bonus picture of Halle Berry).
If you ever wanted to understand the term “assassin”, then Soul Pacific has the post for you – and incidentally, Soul Pacific will give an idea of the quality of presentation possible on a humble blog.
I also discovered an Australian blog I hadn’t seen before: Frankenblog seems to deal mainly with science stories and issues related to science and public policy. I haven’t had a good look around yet, but it looks interesting.
Meanwhile, Helen looked at affirmative action for men in the teaching profession, while the Bulldogs’ gang rape story, which is one that the blogosphere has shied away from a little, was tackled over at Williams Burrough’s Babboon, who has some words about Herald columnist, Miranda Devine’s take on the matter.
Chris Sheil moved the discussion in another direction and discussed the future of Rugby League.
The blogs I read kinda got taken over this week by the story of the terrorist bombings in Madrid and the subsequent Spanish election. I mentioned at my site the travel blog of Australian musician, Sophia, who blogs atKrokodilla, . She is currently working in Madrid and offered this personal account of the terror attack there. She has other posts up now, and her writing highlights how blogs can offer an immediacy and intimacy not generally found in mainstream media.
Early on, journalist/blogger Christopher Allbritton discussed the likelihood of an ETA/al Qaeda collaboration.
As events unfolded, it became generally accepted that there was an jihadist connection to the bombing, and when the people of Spain threw out their conservative government, many (especially here in America) were quick to condemn this as capitulation to the terrorists. I wrote an argument against that point of view but I’m not sure I convinced a whole lot of people.
Bunyip, for one, thinks the Spanish people sold their souls. Canadian journalist, Mark Steyn, took exception to the Australian Federal Police Commissioner suggesting Australia’s relationship with the US might make us vulnerable to terrorist attack, and he was roundly chastised from Gummo on the left and Gnu on the right.
Gnu expanded his discussion in this post.
Steve at the Daily Slander suggested there were lessons from Spain for John Howard about being honest with voters, while one of the Libertarians discussed if terrorism could ever be justified.
Finally, one of the nice things about doing blogjam for Margo is that you get noticed by the Governor General. More next week.