Rollcall: Should we have a meeting? Maybe by irc? Just to check in. We've got some pending business: redesign, site architecture, link logging, access to this blog. Some have been too busy to post much lately. Is that a problem, anything to worry about? Should we invite more contributors? Or, as I... (Miscellany)

Shhh! The audience is listening: Let's all be on our best behavior. Christopher (Back to Iraq) Allbritton is teaching a digital journalism course at NYU this semester and recently assigned the class to read a few blogs during the current week and comment on them. It's rather humbling and instructive to get feedback from people just... (Journalism)

Globo blocking blogs?: An orkut message I received from a "friend" of jibot (a bot that heralds visitors to the #joiito irc channel) accuses Brazilian company Globo of blocking access to the Blogger-driven blogs it hosts to anyone from outside Brazil and of preventing users from accessing their (free) blogs until they pay for... (Products)

Jack Straw from Wichita at the Mars Hotel (U.K.): Dave Winer says I've always wondered if Mr Straw knows that his name is the title of a Grateful Dead song. This is why weblogs are so revolutionary. Just kidding." [Scripting News] I think he does. His boss, Tony Blair, was the frontman for a Dead cover band called Ugly Rumours... (Miscellany)

Lucky Ducky strikes again: Tom the Dancing Bug has been having a great old time lampooning the Wall Street Journal's Lucky Duckies trial balloon that complained about the unfair and progressive U.S. federal income tax.... (Salon Bloggers)

Guardian takes on "appeasers" meme: The Guardian deconstructs the "Saddam = Hitler" argument (without invoking Godwin's Law!), and turns the table on the question of who is appeasing whom. We'll leave deconstructing the specious "Bush = Hitler" protest signs as an exercise for the class.... (Miscellany)

Gulf War II simulation: Posing as an interactive game (there's really only one choice, about halfway through, and I suspect it's a Hobson's choice), this Flash animation projects a worst-case scenario for the upcoming (ongoing?) Gulf War. [via Nick Denton]... (Miscellany)

Denton on Blogoogle: Nick Denton is all over the Bloogle story. I especially like his suggestion that Google should support and open standard for weblog updates and indexing.... (Products)

Homeland security specialist career training: Watching late-night TV (Ask Rita), I saw an add for a Homeland security specialist program at NIT schools' San Jose campus. It started with an American flag and a voice over talking about how 9/11 changed everything. Quick cut to a man in a suit introducing himself and calling himself the... (Miscellany)