[FTF]

Is this the underground media or something? Do I have to have an IPod to hear this? Seems like matrix type stuff. Blue pill or the red.

How do I know that it's not any different from the garbage I'm force-fed on 90% of the cable news channels anyways? Do blogs hold some sort of legitness over regular commentary?

Why is the news so damned technical now? Was it ever easy to understand?

This sucks:fire:

[Black Majik]

Blogs are just another name for web journals.

[Zundfolge]

blog is short for Web Log.

here's an extensive definition http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog


Many blogs are crap, but the there is a tendency for bloggers to fact check each other (and the MSM) which is more than the MSM does to itself.

[ugaarguy]

A blog is a weB LOG , or open journal. A blogosphere is the group of blogs that fall within that sphere of interest. Examples would be that Xavier Breath, Geek With a .45, and others write blogs that, mostly, fall within the guns/shooting/RKBA blogosphere, but naturally overlap into the political arena. If people are interested in it there is a sphere full of blogs for it.

[Kaeto]

And don't forget the ever funny Law Dog's blog.

[Justin]

Feel free to post links to your favorite gun-related blogs in this thread.

(Blatant attempt to drag this thread on-topic.)

[pax]

www.booksbikesboomsticks.blogspot.com is Tamara's blog. Good reading.

From her site, you can follow the links to

TFS Magnum (wheelgun.blogspot.com) which is a site with lots of news stories about people who defend themselves, and commentary about same, and

Alphecca (www.alphecca.com) which is also a news-oriented site, but this one keeps a good eye on anti-gun bias in the media and does a weekly report on that, and

The Lawdog Files (www.lawdogfiles.blogspot.com) which features our very own Lawdog's screamingly funny take on life (as well as some good advice and a few mind-blowing rants), and

XavierBreath's blog (xavierthoughts.blogspot.com) which often reports on the state of the pawnshop market, and features some great firearms eye candy.

pax

[sm]

http://thelawdogfiles.blogspot.com/


I swear to Shiva sometimes I think the State of Texas needs a "Not Guilty By Reason of Stupidity" verdict.
-

http://booksbikesboomsticks.blogspot.com/

Yay, me!
To celebrate 365 days, 844 posts, and 135,000 hits, I think I should buy a gun
-

http://munchkinwrangler.blogspot.com/
military and police, magnum flavor.

Number of .38 Special rounds I've fired through my 3" Model 10 since I bought it in May of '05: 1,600.
Number of pieces of .38 brass retained : 1,600.
Failures to feed, eject, or go bang: 0.

[sm]

http://thelawdogfiles.blogspot.com/


I swear to Shiva sometimes I think the State of Texas needs a "Not Guilty By Reason of Stupidity" verdict.
-

http://booksbikesboomsticks.blogspot.com/

Yay, me!
To celebrate 365 days, 844 posts, and 135,000 hits, I think I should buy a gun
-

http://munchkinwrangler.blogspot.com/
military and police, magnum flavor.

Number of .38 Special rounds I've fired through my 3" Model 10 since I bought it in May of '05: 1,600.
Number of pieces of .38 brass retained : 1,600.
Failures to feed, eject, or go bang: 0.


http://xavierthoughts.blogspot.com/

NO! Say it ain't so!
What could be worse than a potato gun? Click here to see how to transform your feminine hygiene products into tactical fun.


Ain't the 'Net Great...:D

[geekWithA.45]

Blogs are the 21st century equivalent of the town tavern, where people go to discuss and argue the events of the day. They are our soapboxes.

They are democratic, in that anyone with a computer and an account can join, and they are meritocratic, as your readership and reputation are directly proportional to the quality of your thought, the validity of your arguments, and the correctness of your facts.

Shams, fakes, and weak arguments are exposed by other bloggers pretty quickly, and often without mercy.

They are a force for political change, in that people with like interests can draw together to propose, accept, and act upon a plan. For example, the PorkBusters recently outed two Senators, one R, one D, who put a "secret hold" on some anti pork legislation. Bloggers uncovered the fake Killian memos, and ended Dan Rather's career. They had an impact on ending the AWB, in that they tracked the goings on in the halls of power, and called the NRA to task, by exposing them to our view for inspection, and subsequently forcing them to change their strategy from "fix it in committee" to "kill the damned thing dead".

Doing it well also takes a lot more time than a busy guy has.


Do blogs hold some sort of legitness over regular commentary?

Blogs directly contradict the notion that there is some holy seal of approval that legitimizes commentary. This "holy seal of approval" was once exlcusively wielded by newspaper and tv newsroom editors.

People's thoughts and arguments stand or fall on their own merits, the blogosphere simply provides the arena for the Darwinian combat.

As a result, a topic expert, who is otherwise an unknown, and has not taken all the steps necessary to curry favor with the mass media, and thus gain exposure, can have his say.



Why is the news so damned technical now? Was it ever easy to understand?

Mass media news has always filtered and dumbed down the complexities of our world.

Being a truly informed citizen is like a never ending homework assignment, it takes a great deal of effort to penetrate the smoke and mirrors to get to what's going on.

It's always been that way.

Mass media simply give people the excuse to believe themselves informed because they've watched the 4.4 minutes of content of substance that comes with the 6 oclock news.

[sm]

http://www.grantcunningham.com/blog.html

The effect was perfect - the birdseed rained down and thoroughly covered the bride and groom, who were surprised and greatly amused at their "shotgun wedding." Their photographer even stifled her laughter enough to thoroughly document the prank, and I'm quite certain that this was a first for her too!

http://shakeypete.blogspot.com/

Frustrating, But I Won My Class

I won my catagory at yesterdays shoot. Well, maybe I lost. It's hard to figure it out when I scored the highest in my class and the lowest. Yup. I was the only one shooting Frontrier Cartridge.

http://www.fredoneverything.net/

Now, Armadillo World Headquarters—this is getting difficult. You probably didn’t know that armadillos had a headquarters. Well, they did. They’re more organized than you think. It was an open-air music-and-lotsa-beer joint where wild bands played seditious music for dirty rotten anarchistic hippies, like me, and all these Texas gals, the which there ain’t no better on this or any other earth, except maybe in Arkansas, (well, or Alabama, or….) wandered around in tight cut-offs and the music soared and flew and flapped and you hollered “LSD!” at the waitress, who brought you a whole mug of it. (It meant Lone Star Draft. At least during working hours.)

http://geekwitha45.blogspot.com/

A little bit about Budapest, and my trip in general. I've got some interesting and personal tidbits to share that are directly relevant to our shared interests, but I'm going to leave those for a separate post, when I can give them their just due.

[MBane666]

The Michael Bane Blog (http://michaelbane.blogspot.com)

Warning...I fling poo!

Michael B

[History Prof]

Being a truly informed citizen is like a never ending homework assignment, it takes a great deal of effort to penetrate the smoke and mirrors to get to what's going on.

Geek, Can I steal that from you? Just reading this thread, I'm going to add BLOGs to my lecture on "the new media" in my PoliSci class, and the way you just put it here is PERFECT!

[geekWithA.45]

:) Be my guest.

Always happy to help young minds on the path to truth and light. :neener:

[mete]

Blogs are another source of information [or disinformation] and can be a valuable source of info and point of view outside of the typical media but has to be looked at carefully just like any source of info !

[Gifted]

Why not start your own?
http://www.livejournal.com/
FWIW, that's the site I use. There's countless other hosts out there.

[Jim K]

A blog is simply a private web site, where the owner (blogger) can write to his little heart's content and have the fun of "publishing" his ideas to the world to see. Just remember that the contents of a blog are like the postings here. They are the opinions of one person; no one checks for accuracy, no one verifies statements. The blogger can say anything with no restrictions except certain direct threats or blatant libel against a non-public figure.

Some bloggers have "inside" connections in certain areas and their blogs are checked routinely by news organizations. Most are more like sounding off in the desert with no one hearing or caring.

Jim

[the pistolero]

http://southeasttexaspistolero.blogspot.com/

...What I am about to say shouldn't really be news to the self-appointed, self-important elite -- then again, no one ever actually accused them of being all that intelligent, as far as I know -- but basically telling 60 million voting-age people that their concerns don't matter, especially on an issue so central to American culture and who we are as a people, an issue which sparked the war that brought our nation into existence, isn't going to win them any friends, and, what's more, it for **** sure isn't going to win their preferred candidate any votes.

[crazyXgerman]

may i also recommend this page as a nice source for gun related news from various sources:

http://www.topix.net/guns

[U.S.SFC_RET]

How does one blog?

[XavierBreath]

How does one blog?
Choose one of the many prefab formats such as Blogger (http://www.blogger.com/start) and use the WYSIWYG format.

I began blogging for several reasons..........

First was directly after hurricane Katrina, I was furious over the gun confiscations (I still am). I like to think that the gun bloggers helped prod the NRA and SAF into action. It was amazing to me that even the internet forums we know and love were in denial. I went to NOLA during the aftermath, but I saw only a limited segment. Blogging allowed me to arrive at what I believe to be the truth in that matter.

Blogging helps me track my gun trading and trends I see in my area. I write them up so it will provide entertainment for others as well.

Blogging has allowed me to trim down redundant forum posts by simply posting a link to my blog. It has also allowed me to show new gun acquisitions without lowering bandwidth here with the photos. I'll post a gratuitous link here (http://xavierthoughts.blogspot.com/2006/08/clark-combat-colt-1911.html) to my latest. I'm thrilled with it.

The mainstream media (MSM) once thought blogs were a a strange speck of insignificance in the world of publication. They were a bunch of illegitimate nut job journalistic wannabes. Then bloggers destroyed Dan Rather's career when he did not fact check himself, and worse, refused to back down. Suddenly, the MSM saw the power that Thomas Paine himself once held. A common man publishing the truth is more powerful than any corporation publishing propaganda. The emporer had no clothes, and the modern day "Common Sense" was on the internet in the form of bloggers. More recently, bloggers have exposed bias by USA Today (http://michellemalkin.com/archives/003780.htm), and Reuters (http://michellemalkin.com/archives/005674.htm) in their use of photoshopped photos to show news events that never occured (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3287774,00.html#n).

Not all blogs are good, or even well informed. Some, however, are powerhouses. The more visible they are, the more they are fact checked by other independant bloggers. Thus, the more accurate they theoretically become. In addition, bloggers fact check the MSM, and the MSM is learning that they had damned well better toe the line or be exposed. That is a good thing. The era of "truthiness" is over.

Ever hear of Cory Maye (http://www.theagitator.com/archives/cat_cory_maye.php)? If you own a gun for home defense, you should. His case threatens us all. It is only being pursued by bloggers because the MSM does not care.

I'll add one more significant blog: Want the truth from Iraq? Visit Michael Yon (http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/).