ABOUT CLICKED

The modern news consumer ignores Weblogs and online citizen journalism at his own peril. But not everyone has the time to keep track of what's going on the Web. With this blog we hope to track the highlights of what's being discussed online so when news breaks from the Web, we're ready.

Will Femia is a Weblog enthusiast who, through good fortune and dumb luck, was introduced to the form as his position as chat producer for MSNBC.com careered into obsolescence. On any given day, Will can be found having already spent an unhealthy amount of time squinting at a computer screen.

Send a message to Will at spotter@msnbc.com



Morning clicks

Posted: Friday, November 30, 2007 12:57 PM by Will Femia

Plans to Fix U.S. Rail Could End Road & Sky Gridlock - Well, Duh. Page 2 has a cool map that shows this isn't just an Eastern Seaboard idea.

Google's going to use its philanthropic arm to pursue renewable energy technology. I can't quite put my finger on it but there's something embarrassing about having to make a charity out of energy research.

How to let go of grudges and bitterness - I don't know if I've ever seen an article on this subject. Even with all the Christian influence in this country, we don't hear much talk of forgiveness. I mention this piece also because it came to mind when a reader named Kathy sent in: How to cope with Death. But they're not as similar as the titles suggest.

Mashable is holding a comment troll contest, which I learned about while reading their review of a site called Don't Censor Me. The contest is a funny idea but I don't share their romantic view of deleted and down-voted comments. P.S. Some of the best rude-on-purpose comments I've read lately are on the Hot Chicks with Douche Bags site.

Speaking of trolls, here's a clean round-up of those Democratic (or at least, non-Republican) questioners from the CNN debate. Remember, this isn't a question of tolerating differing opinions, the point of the debate is to help Republicans choose their candidate, not fight with Democrats (yet).

10 Semantic Apps to Watch - They make it clear from the beginning that semantic apps don't necessarily mean "semantic web" but there's some parallel and we know a lot of people expect the semantic web to be the next big thing so this is a good way to begin getting your head around the concepts involved. Lots of talk of "natural language."

I don't know if this story is big enough to warrant its own post but that armored car employee who's wanted by the FBI in connection with the 7 million bucks that went missing has a MySpace page here.  We might guess from the friends list and comments that this is his girlfriend. Some of you may not see any value in these things but I find the context they provide really enriching to the story. The song on his page alone conjures mental images of a frantic race to the border.

The expansion of obesity in the U.S. I wonder what a demographer sees in this. What makes the Bible belt lead the way?

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Comments

Why does the Bible Belt lead?  One image:  Hot dish.  ;)

You need to read some Yoga Journal; you'll find articles on forgiveness there.  There was a really good one about two years after 9/11.

Kate, Wasilla, Alaska (Sent Friday, November 30, 2007 2:15 PM)

re: Forgiveness

I don't remember where I read it, except it was a very thin paperback book. It said that forgiveness is not something you do, or even can do, for another person. Forgiveness is something you do for yourself. Giving up a grudge cleans up your own thinking, which is otherwise tainted by the negative feelings.

If you want to include the religious concepts, as you mention in the piece on the subject: if the person you hold a grudge against needs forgiveness, that's not something they can get from you. Their forgiveness comes from someplace much higher up.

In psychological concepts (this from my own training, not the book), holding in a grudge causes your anger to be turned inwards. You exhaust yourself emotionally by running the tape over and over rather than getting it out and "processing" it. That is a source of depression. Since we often hold grudges against family members, whom we frequently see during the holidays, and we try to hold it in rather than ruin the holidays, there is a likely source for at least part of the "holiday blues". You can enjoy the holidays more by giving yourself, and them, the gift of letting go of the grudge.

Dennis McClain-Furmanski, Dalworthington Gardens, Texas (Sent Friday, November 30, 2007 2:21 PM)

Do you have any information on what criteria were used to define "obesity" over that time?  I understand that it's been changed at least a couple times, and each time, it includes more people; under the current definition, some muscular people can be defined as "obese" even with very low body fat percentages because they have higher BMIs.

Jack Weber (Sent Friday, November 30, 2007 5:59 PM)

Re: Bible belt belt size

Three words: Biscuits and gravy.

But it's really hard to tell if it's a case of a real change or one of statistical zeal. I seem to recall the definition of "obese" being revised at lower weights several times in the last few decades.  

From the Wikipedia, under the subject "Lies, damned lies, and statistics": "...even accurate statistics can be used to bolster inaccurate arguments".

Since nearly all of these published statistics use Body Mass Index (BMI) to determine obesity, I'll put up another Wikipedia quote: "The duality of the Body Mass Index is that, whilst easy-to-use as a general calculation, it is limited in how accurate and pertinent the data obtained from it can be."

There seem to be a lot of people staking out careers based on an epidemic of obesity, and it makes me suspicious of any results without dedicated debunkers explaining the flaws in how those conclusions were reached.

Steph Greenberg, Mar Vista, CA (Sent Friday, November 30, 2007 7:32 PM)

I like your attitude in the morning Will... Trains commute hundreds of users at the same time (duh), Corporations invest in (on?) the Earth they live on (Google), a Christian culture (re)learns forgiveness... but I know you weren't awake yet when you linked to a page that then had a primary link to a MM page which you had previously already been admonished for... Ah Will... Will you (we?) ever learn?

(Paranthetical abuse next on Jerry)

John Brak (Sent Friday, November 30, 2007 11:54 PM)

You're WAY off base (as are the rest of the national media) about the questions in the YouTube debate. During the democratic debate, Democrats were asked questions like "Will my taxes go up the way they usually do when Democrats are in office?" and another from a man tossing a gun around, calling it his baby, and asking if the candidates are "going to take his baby away." Somehow I doubt these were Democrats asking the questions, but I didn't hear you objecting back then.

I'm offended at the laziness of the reporting on this issue (and most others, these days). It's been played like CNN did something wrong in not protecting the Republicans for dastardly Democratic questions they don't want to answer, while none of you have bothered to even LOOK at the first debate to see just how full of cr*p that idea is. Shame on all of you.

Greg Griffin (Sent Wednesday, December 05, 2007 1:54 PM)



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