Carnivals and Links

NZ Bear is worried and link whores gaming the TTLB Ecosystem. He's mostly commenting on "open trackback" posts.

And James Joyner, at Ecosytem and the Value of Links » Outside The Beltway, stretches the point to Blog Carnivals:

[Carnivals,] pioneered by Bigwig at Silflay Hraka, is a compendium of self-submitted links to blog posts published, usually on a rotating basis, once a week. Bear himself highlights the dozens of these things. Originally designed to garner traffic and attention to especially good posts (in the opinion of the creator, at least) they have become linkwhoring festivals as more and more of these beasts get created and, frankly, unread.

Now, I think I can fairly say that I've read more carnivals than anyone on the planet, after building the Blog Carnival index. And, although a few of the carnivals are essentially unedited (such as WizBang's Carnival of the Trackbacks), most range from focused but lightly edited to highly edited and annotated with gusto.

So, while we have a couple hundred carnivals, the world is too small for much carnival spam (carnival submission spam is another matter, and we're working on that at BC).

To NZ Bear, I can just say that any algorithm he creates will be gameable, and if he creates an expectation that he'll evolve his algorithm on a regular basis as his ecosystem evolves, then it's less likely to distort the blogosphere.

I just wanted to say that, for me, for now, carnivals are the good guys.

Posted by BradRubenstein at 05:57 PM

From Zero to Turkey in 30 Minutes

Well, the turkey was delicious, and cooked to perfection in only 35 minutes, thanks to the new fryer.

It turns out that I didn't need to activate the fire extinguisher. That's a good thing, because it imparts an off flavor to the turkey (don't ask me how I know this).

Adam tells me that the dogs were somewhat freaked by all the activity, the presence of all the food (so near, and yet so far!), and, I don't doubt, the presence of a rather large pot of boiling oil. I hope they've calmed down by now. If not, Chris brought some Absinthe, and there was a bit left over...

Posted by BradRubenstein at 12:58 PM | TrackBack

An inordinate fondness for beetles

The biologist J. B. S. Haldane was supposedly asked once if he could say anything about God from his study of nature. Haldane replied, "He must have an inordinate fondness for beetles."

It's been a while since I've been browsing through the extraordinary collection of online images at the New York Public Library, but I came upon some images that brought to mind Haldane's remark. The beetles at right are from Illustrations of Exotic Entomology, 1837.

Or perhaps you want cockroaches? Check this out..

The images on this site are truly amazing.

Posted by BradRubenstein at 09:20 PM | TrackBack

Fried Camel Hump

My friend Adam decided that he wanted to deep-fry a turkey for thanksgiving, so off he went to get a fryer and a fire hose (though I suppose a bucket of sand would have sufficed).

Thanksgiving needn't be so complicated, though. Instead of turkey, how about fried sliced camel hump? Now there is a tasty tidbit of Gansu cuisine:

On the Silk Road with Hexi Corridor as the mainstay, tourists may taste various kinds of famous local dishes, such as Camel Hoof on the Silk Road, Fried Sliced Camel Hump and Fried Camel Hump and Five Kinds of Slices.

Don't those sound yummy? Adam asked me what I wanted to bring to the potluck, and now I think I know.

Posted by BradRubenstein at 03:03 PM | TrackBack

Faith, Conviction, Belief

I'm reading the carnival of etymologies today, as I do every week, over at Done with Mirrors.

Callamachus seems to be trying to understanding the kinds of thoughts that lead to world events today, by taking us on a long etymological history of the words belief, faith, conviction. It is an interesting journey, and I was caught short by the punchline:

Faith has "fidelity" at its root. Conviction has "victory." But belief has "love."

It's like starting in a skyscraper, and ending in a cherry orchard.

Back issues of Carnival of the Etymologies are easily found at Blog Carnival.

Posted by BradRubenstein at 09:50 AM | TrackBack

New York Marathon, 2005

It turns out that the New York Marathon runs right past my window this year. Of course, I went downstairs to cheer and take a few pictures. I love marathons, although I only actually ran one once (the 2001 Motorola Marathon).

The technology of marathons is pretty amazing. Every runner is tracked at certain points (via a chip in their shoes). This year, on a web site hosted by Time Warner Road Runner Cable (of course), there is a feature that allows you to search for your favorite runners (up to 10 of your friends and family), and put a popup on your computer that streams their progress, pace, and finish time.

The race just saw its first finishers: Jelena Prokopcuka of Latvia crossed the finish line moments ago with a time of 2:24:41.

Posted by BradRubenstein at 12:13 PM | TrackBack

Hangin' at the Freddies

I was at the coolest shindig last night, and met some interesting people, and I can't help but namedrop.

My sister-in-law, Dr. Chris Parker (who is the director of faculty activities in the office of research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute) was in town with brother Stew, not just to shop, but also to drop by the 2005 Freddie Awards to collect her award (in the category Issues and Ethics) for a piece she produced entitled "Entering a Clinical Trial: Is It Right for You?".

So, she invited me to the awards ceremony, a black tie affair at Cipriani's. Very swank, good food, and a long awards program.

I got to meet Marsha ("Marty") Evans, CEO of the Red Cross, and had a great conversation with, of all people, Jack LaLanne (both got public service awards from the Freddies). Did you know Jack was originally from San Francisco, opened up a gym in 1936 at 15th and Broadway in Oakland (very close to where I lived when I was a grad student at Berkeley)? The Jack LaLanne Show launched the year I was born. Now, at age 91, Jack is talking to me about the importance of fitness ("Are you lifting weights," he says. "Yes, I am!" say I. "There isn't anything you can't do," he says, "if you lift weights and eat fresh fruits and vegetables").

His wife, Elaine LaLanne, was also charming.

I'll put up pictures shortly.

Posted by BradRubenstein at 01:49 PM | TrackBack