Posted 12:07 PM by Blah blah

See who's linking to your blog at Technorati. For example, here's who's linking to me recently. I find this more up-to-date than Blogdex. You can see how various bloggers are tied together virtually. Also, both of these sites are great for finding out what the most popular links are in the Blogger world today.

Blogging has really exploded in Brazil, the Middle East, and China. For example, some of the most widely linked new blogs are in Arabic! (I was even linked by a blog in Portuguese.) Wouldn't it be cool to keep in touch with bloggers in Iraq and help diffuse whatever lies may be printed about each other's nations? Make Links, Not War!

This is outrageous: Revealed: US dirty tricks to win vote on Iraq war (The Observer): "Secret document details American plan to bug phones and emails of key Security Council members....The existence of the surveillance operation, understood to have been requested by President Bush's National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice, is deeply embarrassing to the Americans in the middle of their efforts to win over the undecided delegations." I hear that Rice, former provost of Stanford University, is thinking of running for governor of California. Well there goes my vote for her! :(
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From the always insightful Thomas Friedman (NY Times): The Long Bomb: "[I]f taking out Saddam and rebuilding Iraq had been my goal from the minute I took office (as it was for the Bush team), I would not have angered all of Europe by trashing the Kyoto global warming treaty without offering an alternative. I would not have alienated the entire Russian national security elite by telling the Russians that we were ripping up the ABM treaty and that they would just have to get used to it. (You're now seeing their revenge.) I would not have proposed one radical tax cut on top of another on the eve of a huge, costly nation-building marathon abroad.

I would, though, have rallied the nation for real energy conservation and initiated a Manhattan Project for alternative energies so I would not find myself with $2.25-per-gallon gasoline on the eve of this war — because OPEC capacity is nearly tapped out. I would have told the Palestinians that until they stop suicide bombing and get a more serious leadership, we're not dealing with them, but I would also have told the Israelis that every new or expanded settlement they built would cost them $100 million in U.S. aid. And I would have told the Arabs: 'While we'll deal with the Iraqi threat, we have no imperial designs on your countries. We are not on a crusade — but we will not sit idle if you tolerate extremists in your midst who imperil our democracy.'...

[I]t would have helped generate more support to increase our staying power in Iraq and the odds that we could pull this off."
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A Simple Rule for Complimenting People

Intelligent girls want to hear they are sexy.

Sexy girls want to hear they are intelligent.

Guys, of course, want to hear both.