Six Apart Buys Livejournal

Six Apart is buying Livejournal.  As a former Livejournal user I hope Six Apart works hard on making LJ easier to use.  I'm not sure why I am blogging about this other than to note that it is very amusing to me how snotty some bloggers (and commentors on Slashdot and other places) are about Livejournal.  So what if a lot of the blogs on there are very superficial?  At least people (especially teens) are blogging somewhere.  It's a start....right?  I started on LJ because I didn't know any better at the time, and I am glad for the experience. 

So Livejournal, welcome to the Six Apart collective kiddo!  I promise the hazing won't be too harsh during the assimilation process. 

Crooked Timber has an interesting discussion about gender and blogging up right now. 

I'm blogging this via Misbehaving dot net but also saw it on Debbie Gussman's blog.

By now you've seen the horror that has ravaged through parts of Asia this week.  As I type this over 78,000 have been confirmed dead.  The Boston Globe has a good article up about where you can donate money to help with the effort to non profits.  ZDNET has an article up about blogs in the affected region and how they are assisting relief efforts.  A blog has been set up to try to coordinate efforts out there.  Amazon has a page up where you can donate to the Red Cross. 

Bloggied via Conversational Reading, Political Physics, Boing Boing

The Independent has a review up about the latest biography of Borges, Borges: A Life, by Edwin Williamson.  Since I blogged about this biography once before already, perhaps I should add it to my reading list for the spring?

Salon has an article up about Flickr right now. 

After hearing about Gilbert Sorrentino from a few other blogs over winter break I am going to check out Aberration of Starlight. 

In a couple days maybe I will post a "best of" list for 2004 and what I am reading over winter break. 

Google Library

Great news that Google is going to scan the collections of some of the biggest libraries in the country.  How cool is that?  Imagine how much this could help research?