Blawgalanche
The hummingbird outside my window this morning wants to read more blawgs. And since Chuck was kind enough to highlight some others, I'm happy to help her out:

• ICANNWatch: where law professors from Temple, Wayne State and the University of Miami contribute to a blog about ICANN and its UDRP (try saying that five times fast).

• Bret Fausett: a Los Angeles attorney blogging about ICANN and DNS issues.

• Swerdloff: A New York attorney blogging about Being John Cusack (the sequel to Being John Malkovich?), neurolinguistic programming, a sign that gets around, etc.

Say, When?
There are two interesting blog bits in the May issue of Wired (blogging must really be hitting its stride if I can get a Saturday manicure and read about it). Andrew Sullivan writes about "The Blogging Revolution," and envisions a day when all writers will build an online presence with their daily musings, then sell books through print-on-demand technology direct from their Web sites. And Dave Winer has $1,000 that says blogs will outrank the New York Times site by 2007 based on a Google search for five top news story key words. He bet Martin Nisenholtz, Times Digital CEO (proceeds to charity).

The curious thing is why Wired opts for the delay between the print edition and when the articles are posted to its Web site. Do they really think they're eating into their own sales if they post the articles when the magazine comes out? If so, I guess I'm playing into the whole strategy by making you think about buying the rag if you haven't picked it up. Here's a preview: the five "Power Bloggers" spotlighted in Sullivan's story based on their blogdex rankings -

• Jessamyn West
• Adam Curry
• Josh Marshall
• Jeffrey Zeldman
• Claire Robertson

Taking A Page
The recent John C. piece is understandably unpopular. As I commented to Jeneane on Blog Sisters, he takes cheap shots for a cheap laugh and ignores the larger picture. (If the response is he intends to elicit cheap laughs and ignore the larger picture so be it - I'll take my laughs wherever they crop up.)

On the loosely joining attributes of blogging, John C. has this to say in his Eight Rules for the Perfect Blog: under "Community," "Prove that you're a dedicated blogger by citing at least five other blogs that you just read. Praise them ad nauseum. Then comment on links that their authors discovered and cut and paste these links to your blog." And, under "Humility," "Make sure to rave about how great blogging is and why everyone should blog and how blogging will change the world."

What John C. ignores that others would be wise to recognize is this: non-webheads are finding blogging a compelling reason to be online in staggering numbers. So staggering that my attempt to keep a comprehensive "blawg"-alogue probably is doomed from the get-go. But don't think I'm going down without a fight. Yes, it feeds my innate meta-mania, but it also shatters stereotypes about my much-maligned profession and makes it - and us - more accessible. Would you expect a Wall Street lawyer to be a gifted web designer? Faith is. A lawyer as the force behind a great time-saving software app? That's Buzz (ActiveWords; never would have known its background if Ernie hadn't connected the dots for me). And New York corporate lawyer Heather now reads Justice Bedsworth's column, which is published only in California - and online.

File these under citing, praising and raving, I guess. But everyone should blog. And blogging has changed the world.

Multiple Applications...
A landmark here in Newport, The Cannery restaurant, was headed for demolition in the fall of 1999. It had a bayfront location and a long history. A local resident, Jack Croul, hated to see the place go, so he bought it and fixed it up. It reopened in February with the help of Ron Salisbury (El Cholo), general manager Steve Herbert (Gladstone's), chef Felix Salcedo (Sonora Café) and sushi chef Yuji Nishimura (Hirozen).

Those details had eluded me until this morning. What I did realize is that if there's a hot spot, my husband and his pals know and go. He's been at The Cannery maybe three times in the last month, including last night. I haven't been there since the reopening, so I had to know if the The Cannery now is "it."* His response was what got me: "The place is crowded, but you don't know anyone. Either trendy people don't go there, or I don't know the trendy people."

*Hey, around here "it" comes along with all the frequency of Ikeya-Zhang or involves Dennis Rodman.

Feeding Back
Ernie writes, and Larry concurs, that online spaces for (anonymous) lawyer comments about judges are good things, and wonders whether this is happening. (Excuse my shortcut of sharing this here and expecting you gents to come find it. I'm writing a brief and time is short.) A California attorney set up just such a system on his site a few years back. The practitioner comments are fairly sparse, and I'm not sure if that's blind terror, or lack of publicity, or both. Maybe if Calvin blogged. Regardless, I'm all for resource-oriented lawyer sites that are useful to practitioners and the public, and this has been one for a long time. Among all the other rich content, Calvin offers downloadable court forms that (last time I used one, anyway) are not available in editable electronic format anywhere else.