Blogs & Blogging – Page 24

Opinions — everybody has them

The web site Right Wing News has been polling bloggers, “right-of-center” bloggers and “left-of-center” bloggers on the greatest and worst figures of the 20th Century, American History, etc. It appears only a few of the queried bloggers responded each time, but here are the top five from some of the lists. See if you can figure out what the list is and who was polled. The number in parentheses is the number who voted for that individual.

5) Ben Franklin (28)
4) Abe Lincoln (31)
3) George Washington (35)
1) Ronald Reagan (36)
1) Thomas Jefferson (36)

5) Henry Ford (13)
3) Margaret Thatcher (16)
3) Albert Einstein (16)
2) Ronald Reagan (21)
1) Winston Churchill (26)

5) Winston Churchill (13)
4) Nelson Mandela (14)
3) Albert Einstein (15)
1) Franklin Roosevelt (20)
1) Martin Luther King Jr. (20)

3) Timothy McVeigh (16)
3) Nathan Bedford Forrest (16)
3) J. Edgar Hoover (16)
2) Richard Nixon (25)
1) Joseph McCarthy (26)

All the polls are here.

The Top Ten Reasons to read NewMexiKen every day

By Lee

#10 So far no terrorist threats to blogs.
#9 Two words: Cutting Edge.
#8 It’s cheaper than subscribing to USA Today.
#7 No big-hair weather bimbos.
#6 It’s the blog by the blogger that got all us bloggers blogging.
#5 A fair and balanced approach to blogging.
#4 Links to all the news that’s fit to blog.
#3 A real shot in the arm to the New Mexico Tourism agency.
#2 He’s family.
And the number one reason to read NewMexiKen every day:
It will make it easier for Ashcroft to keep track of you.

O! for a Muse of fire, that would ascend The brightest heaven of invention

NewMexiKen had a slump yesterday (my own little power outage). Perhaps I need a muse. Gwyneth Palthrow comes to mind. Then there could be a movie “NewMexiKen in Love.”

Maureen Dowd on Politicians’ Weblogs

Blah Blah Blog

John Kerry has given more grist to critics who label him aloof and insincere by assigning staff members to write his cheesy blog. (It’s like trying to prove you’re a sportsman by making an aide go fishing for you.)

He isn’t alone

“I admire people who don’t care what anyone else thinks about what they do, but I’m not one of them. I care what people think and would not want you to know how much I hope you like what I write.”

— Andy Rooney

Why NewMexiKen?

The World Wide Web is about 10 years old. Almost from the beginning I have been interested in its content and use. In 1994 I spent ten weeks on a working group whose mission was to evolve an approach the Department of State should take regarding use of the web. Fortunately, many at State took their own initiative and established useful and informative State-related sites even before we had an “approach.”

By 1996 I had built my first personal web pages and put them on line. I still have a print out. At about the same time I also designed the State Department Library’s first web pages. (My little piece of history—State’s Library was established by Thomas Jefferson; its web pages were established by me.) Later I built pages for Debby and Kenny’s books and presentations, Lee’s PCT thru-hike and others.

All along I have maintained some sort of personal page or pages on-line. Often these have been simply lists of links. Occasionally I have added photos or commentary. Ultimately, each time, I wonder what’s the point—no one besides me looks at the page. I delete whatever is there and go back to just links or to nothing at all.

But I always come back and build another page.

I find I enjoy the creativity and the endless tweaking it takes to get the page to look just right (to my eyes at least).
I also find I like coming up with links, or photos or my own words and sharing them—and hoping others will find them interesting, too.
Blogging software makes adding items quick and simple.
It’s free and I have the time. Except for Law & Order it’s better than TV. And I do do other things.

And so, NewMexiKen begins.