Citizen Reporter

Trying desperately to stop watching Rocky V which was on the Dutch television this evening, I flipped to CNN (seeking to be entertained rather than informed). Sure enough, I look at the screen and its the very video Daily Kos and Madge Weinstein pointed out almost a week ago; the one with the Aegis military contractors driving around Iraq shooting civilians to a soundtrack. The lame news anchor was trying to convince we the viewers that this was breaking news.

This incident re-enforced what many of us already know, but a majority of the world still doesn’t: blogs are increasingly more dynamic, more informative, and faster to disseminate info than any CNN or FOX ever is. A good blog post or podcast or videoblog when its quickly put online, with background links, and honest presentation, even if the author admits to not knowing all the information that goes with it — it is still far more useful then this crap they push on us via television. And you can bet Aegis, the US military, and others, are all scrambling and stumbling to explain their murderous, criminal ways…. credit to the bloggers.

Speaking of idiocy and deception, the money pit that the US congress has quietly funded with billions, once again failed. Missile defence, what a stupid, wasteful, and dangerous project.

You probably know that this blog isn’t only about world events, Europe, and expat life, it only seems that way! For the longtime readers, you may recall that I like to occasionally give advice and recommend internet applications to use, in order to maximize your use of time, help you find stuff, and make you into the most efficient internet activist you can be. (even if you don’t want to be… convert.. convert…)

Lately I’ve been explaining RSS (really simple syndication) to alot of new people, since an overwhelming majority of web-surfers still don’t use it or understand how VITAL it can be. So if this is old news to you, then you-go-girl, because you’re part of the in-the-know minority– now help me figure out ways to reach the masses. Wikipedia will explain RSS to you, and then you absolutely must start using bloglines, and paste in all the rss addresses from all your favorite blogs, newspapers, weather reports, bittorent sites, auctions, you name it – every website has or will have RSS. Once you start using it you’ll have more time to talk with people in your office, or take a walk, or drink hot chocolate, like I do…. no more typing in the same web addresses day after day: w w w dot b y -oops — b i c y c l e dot o r g. Is this you? It doesn’t have to be — start using my RSS feed

Now there are two other simple and beautiful net tools, free and easy-to-understand, that I demand you look into. First, for those websites and articles you want to save. STOP adding things to your bookmarks. I mean, you might re-install the browser, or work on many computers through the course of the day (like me!), or simply make a dam mess out of your favorites so you can’t find anything anyway. You need to start using Delicious, there – with one click- you can toss in all your important articles and weblinks and they’ll always be there on the net, for your reference. Plus you make tags for each link, so if you look at my delicious, you can imagine how many articles fall under the tag “war crimes”.

The last tool is the absolute easiest, and it’s what alot of you have probably been looking for: a way to search through all the crazy blogs out there, to find specific subjects/topics. Again, it has been around forever, but I’m going to guess many of you have never gone over to technorati and searched for say…. Torture Flights – boom- all the blogs that have talked about torture flights. It even pulls up the latest images on flickr or buzznet, so you can type my name and voila — my thanksgiving glamour shots.

Ok class dismissed, but before you go, I hope you didn’t just ignore all these names thinking that you don’t get it or need any of this. Trust me, you do. The internet ain’t what it was 6 years ago, or even 3 years go, so neither should the way you use it.

Actually there weren’t any tonight, not as far as I know. I still can’t write straight, and one more night of the gobble gobble awaits. Not that I’ve touched a single gobble gobble in the last 48 hours or 7 years really, it’s more of a symbolism. As I sat at Thanksgiving dinner numero deux this evening, one of the other guests was describing how and why she liked dark meat of the turkey better. No big deal, I remember how to communicate carnivore-style.

But since its 3am and I don’t really work tomorrow, I wanted to speak of this holiday and the bloggers I love to share it with. Meaning– there are certain blogs that are traditionally my favorites at this time of year, over the last couple of years. Which is why, for starters, I emailed xTx to send some love. When she’s home for the horrid-days, insanely wonderous poetry oozes from her fingers, among other orafaces.

And of course I also enjoy reading the man who sometimes ends up at a pub instead of thanksgiving dinner, mr thestateimin himself. He did, mind you, make it to relative’s house this year.

Finally, no thanksgivinin would be complete for me, without the BitchPhD and her mouse loving pseudononymous kid.

Course I read over a hundred blogs and love many of them, but these three have been thanksgiving staples for a long time, and are now part of my holiday ritual. Thanks my friends!