Thank God For Daniel Lyons

I found an article on blogging in Forbes, Attack of the Blogs by Daniel Lyons today.

To sum it up:

Web logs are the prized platform of an online lynch mob spouting liberty but spewing lies, libel and invective.

Don't take my word for it, see for yourselves.

No wonder companies now live in fear of blogs. "A blogger can go out and make any statement about anybody, and you can't control it. That's a difficult thing,"says Steven Down, general manager of bike lock maker Kryptonite, owned by Ingersoll-Rand and based in Canton,Mass.

I was slighted at first by this massive generalisation - all bloggers are evil, journalists are good and pure. I took a few minutes to reflect on the fact that Dan Lyons gets paid to sell stories. He spends most of the article using "quotes" around things to slant everything in a dubious light, attacks bloggers in print for spreading lies and biased information, and makes suggestions of curtailing the rights to free speech just so companies don't get bad press.

Fuck. As a blogger, I'd like to embrace the label of spewer of lies, libel and invective. Businesses slammed by bloggers? Hire some fucking decent PR flacks to fix it. Answer questions with wry amusement, and meet issues head on. Most of all, be unconcerned. If your product is any good, people want it. If it's that shaky that a rumour can cripple you, you shouldn't be in business in the first place.

Also, remember that it's the web. It's individual expression of feelings mixed with information. A company is merely a group of individuals who cooperate for economic incentives. A deliquent child throws tantrums, acts irrationally, and sulks to get their own way. Just because that child has hit the age of eighteen or beyond doesn't make them lose those basic traits. People squabble. Always have, always will - if your company/group of people pisses off the wrong child, expect a tantrum. Live with it.

The only good thing I feel like saying about Daniel Lyons is that he's great at playing the devil's advocate. I bet that article in Forbes (and a few of the others) has prodded a veritable hornet's nest of vitriol, hate, agreement, derision, discussion, reflection, and writing.
For that, in a world where literacy and discussion is all too often not present, I thank you Mr Lyons.

Richard Smalley is dead.

Richard Smalley is dead, and all there is on him is a tiny wikipedia entry.

Richard Smalley discovered Buckyballs and more or less kicked off the nanotechnology research movement, in case you were wondering.

Blogger Penetration Reaches New Depths

The blog of a dude who knows the guy who makes The Ronnie Johns Half Hour.

I was just fucking googling around, looking for more information, thinking such things as Why Have I Not Heard Of This Dude and Fuck Oath That's Better Than Merick & Rosso when I stumbled across a blog.

Of a programmer.
Who knows someone famous and funny.

Stalking was never so easy :)