Happy Birthday to Big Boi, 38.
Okay, I've been doing these links posts as a daily thing for a year now; Terry Jones, now 71, got the first birthday greetings; if I keep doing this, I'm going to try not to repeat, although I won't promise, since I'm very capable of forgetting and don't want to spend too much time looking it up.
More importantly, I suppose I need to decide whether to keep doing these as daily hits. They do seem to spark some discussions, which is good; I just don't really know whether anyone cares about links posts these days. And of course there is some opportunity cost in doing it, although not all that much (I obviously don't write much about most of the items, and I often fill it with stuff I'm seeing anyway; I don't usually have to hunt for more than one or two extra ones to fill it out, although on days when I'm doing the roundup for Greg I often have to stretch a little more, although usually I just have fewer items. See below). If anyone has strong feelings about it one way or another, this is as good a time as any to let me know.
The good stuff:
1. Useful analysis by Dave Weigel about undernews.
2. A great ACA implementation story from South Carolina (I lost where I got it from, but it was probably the great Sarah Kliff). Adam Beam reports.
3. And Gallup is trying to figure out what went wrong in 2012. Good.
I always enjoy it when you do "cranky blogging" because it helps teach me (as a normal political observer) what is and isn't important when looking at politics and political journalism. I bet it would be more difficult, but it would be cool if you did daily cranky blogging.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I tend to click at least one of the links you post daily. So I like the current system as well.
I like the links. They help me keep up with what's going on, while letting you do the work of finding out.
ReplyDeleteI very much appreciate the links.
ReplyDeleteI check them every day! Slightly interested party, but I would even if I weren't.
ReplyDeleteThe links are great. And the birthday announcements are always neat, even if they are often ball players I've never heard of.
ReplyDeletePlease continue doing links. Always the first thing I check in the morning!
ReplyDeleteI usually click on at least one or two of the links, in part because I don't follow the wonkier sites or all the hardcore poli-sci stuff, so it's helpful to have that stuff curated for me.
ReplyDeleteSame thing for me. The links are useful because they tend to connect me with stuff I wouldn't otherwise be reading, and I suspect that's true for a lot of us.
DeleteDitto!
DeleteI've always really appreciated the links and agree with the comments here. Keep it up! Very useful.
ReplyDeleteI do appreciate the links and read about one a day. It's nice that they're shorter as Greg's place has too many for me.
ReplyDeleteAnother regular link-clicker!
ReplyDeleteAnother fan of the link post reporting in.
ReplyDeleteOkay, I think I can figure out the pattern here. Thanks, everyone.
ReplyDeleteYep, don't stop.
DeleteI'll trust Gallup to figure out what went wrong when Newport DOESN'T say "but our generic congressional vote was pretty accurate!"
ReplyDeleteThe thing that should be further off, on average, was closer to the final result? That's not a defense of your sampling methodology; that's a bug.
I agree with all the above. I think your links posts are better than most.
ReplyDeleteI like the birthdays. I sometimes look at the links for stuff you've posted elsewhere. I don't often click the other miscellaneous links, but you usually have a few that aren't things I would pick up at other similar sites I visit. If it's not a lot of hassle, I'd say keep doing it just like you are.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be doing my job as the resident libertarian if I didn't point out that Big Boi voted for Gary Johnson.
ReplyDeleteThe story is kind of funny:
http://reason.com/blog/2012/12/29/big-bois-post-election-racist-moment-i-v
Are rapper birthdays a new Plain Blog feature I've missed?
I think I did Ludacris. I think I remember considering Chuck D, but went with someone else. Oh, and definitely the guy who is The Streets.
DeleteYou'll be happy to know that as I write this, I'm listening to another birthdayer, Rickie Lee Jones, singing "Tell Someboday (Repeal the Patriot Act)."
That does warm the cockles, yes.
DeleteNot a birthday shout-out, but you did tip your hat to KRS-One's Ron Paul endorsement. The juxtaposition of Ron Paul with any rapper is enough to stick in one's mind, but given his message, it's almost surprising there weren't more endorsements like that.
I'm a big fan of the morning read stuffs, so I think they should stay.
ReplyDeleteYes I love the links and the birthday shoutouts - and who really cares if someone you deem worthy gets a repeat birthday shoutout at the expense of someone else who gets overlooked? They'll know its their own birthday and won't enjoy it any the less because of it. Don't sweat the small stuff.
ReplyDeleteBUT...OMG! OMG! OMG! The unravelling of the coverup was so awesome and out-of-control and unpredictably and deliciously off-the-hook. The numbers and weight of those involved was staggering - forced everybody to rethimk their worldview.
One of my all-time favorite political cartoons came from this period:
Late night in the darkened Nixon bedroom. Old-fashioned 4-poster canapied bed. View of the moonlit Washington Monument through the window. Caption: "Dick - I drove the getaway car."
It was barely 4 months after a stunning re-electionand barely 6 weeks after we had finally emerged from the tragedy of Vietnam. Dude promised to "bring us all together"and instead let us twist slowly in the wind for another 18 months before having the decency to just leave. Shame on him.
(And shame on Romney's people for trying to pretend that the American people don't give a crap whether their President blatantly lies to them or not. It's *not* the demographics, stupid.)
Anyway, gather us around the internet campfire and tell us that story and remind us what it was like to be alive in those days and how an entire country was slowly and reluctantly forced to acknowledge the ugly truth about its leaders - and I don't think anyone will care or begrudge you of missed birthday acknowledgements or links.
I usually click on a link or two. So I see some value in it. But I wouldn't be heartbroken if you didn't want to do it anymore.
ReplyDeleteI usually click on at least one link. Obviously it's your blog, and if you'd rather do something else, it's your call, but I like them.
ReplyDeleteI click on the links but only on the ones that sound interesting. Oddly enough, it's one of those cases where I may or may not have been interested in the topic before, but if your blurb about it shows some enthusiasm, I am more likely to be interested in it too.
ReplyDeleteI regularly read at least one of the morning links.
ReplyDeleteI very much like your "links" posts. You have a good eye for worthwhile articles I would usually otherwise miss.
ReplyDelete