Several things to share that come from some of the people I know from “The Site Which Shall Not Be Named”:
First off, let me recommend to you a new feature from the Boston Globe’s website, Boston.com: The Big Picture
It is the pet project of Alan Taylor, who is a web developer at the Globe and one of the best-known denizens of our particular web community. For a long time now, he has regaled us privately with photos snatched from the press agency wires — the photos that are sent to most every major news outlet in the U.S. every day. Most of the photos he’s shared are NOT the ones that photo editors pick for their publications, but are often times gripping pictures of crises, beautiful photos of exotic locations, or just interesting shots that weren’t quite newsworthy. After a lot of begging and pleading, he finally convinced the powers-that-be at Boston.com to let him post some of those pictures to a daily photo blog, which has now been up and running for a couple of weeks.
I highly recommend adding The Big Picture to your daily blogcrawl.
Also of major prominence, you might remember the sudden popularity of a website called “Barack Obama Is Your New Bicycle”. A genuine Internet meme if there was one, it shot to the height of popularity just as Obama’s campaign started to take off in the polls this winter. Matt Honan is responsible for that website and also the paperback book version of it, which goes on sale nationally in August, just days before the Democratic National Convention. The Internet has, of course, moved on to other memes since then, but you can buy the book and remember those glory days forever.
Somewhat less importantly, but worth looking at anyway: Jason Rhode wrote a well-timed post about the 1935 Sinclair Lewis novel “It Can’t Happen Here”. The book tells the story of the rise to power of a homespun demagogue who becomes president and ushers in a wave of fascism that overwhelms America. Written in the 1930s, as Hitler and Mussolini were consolidating their power in Germany and Italy, the book is clearly aimed at the widespread popularity of fascism in the United States and at populist politicians like Huey Long, but, as Jason writes, the scenario envisioned by Lewis has many parallels to the rise of George W. Bush and the current political scene in the U.S. that it could have been written last week.
Last, but not least, Derek Taylor, who usually writes about the goings-on in my old stomping grounds of Portland, ME, recently went to Italy for an extended vacation and offers some potentially useful tips for anyone else who might follow in his footsteps. Included in that post is a link to the photos he shot there, which you’ll want to look at even if you’re not planning a trip to Italy.
