Watermark

Gosh, how many female bloggers are there, anyway...?

Graphic from Tild~, of course

"Well, its actually time to put together the list for Top 50 Female Bloggers. I started with 50 and will expand to 100 if there are a lot more female bloggers than I expected."

...says ENKAY  [Warning: Ads Ads Ads]

I'm actually on this list.

How did I get there?

I posted a comment directing him to one of my posts on the weary issue of where are the women bloggers?

But, apparently instead of going there and seeing that we number in the hundreds, thousands, and tens-of-thousands, he just added me to the list.

Now, this is a young man -- 19, he says -- but he also claims to have been on the internet since 1999 . Shouldn't he know?

He has, however, put a lot of energy into this effort, developing a complicated ranking formula:

"The female bloggers will be ranked based on their Google Page Rank, their Alexa Rank and their Technorati ranking. The list will be updated on a weekly basis as Alexa and Technorati will be updated but so will the actual rankings themselves."

This puts me at #68 today, but I expect to keep falling as more of us are added to the list, and he discovers that there's an ocean out there, in which I am a microscopic minnow.

A microscopic female minnow. (Do minnows have gender?)

Because this keeps coming up, I've made a page devoted to the issue:

  HERE ARE (a few of) THE WOMEN BLOGGERS

From now on, I can just point to it.

Will I put ENKAY's Female Bloggers List on that page?

Oh, what the hell. I probably will. I'm going to assume he means well. I'm sure he does mean well.

But I hope that he -- and others -- learn eventually: just because you don't see us, don't assume we're not here.   We're here, all of us: women, children, the disabled, the poor, the quiet, the invisible of all shapes, sizes, and colors -- all the people who are not you.

We're here.

UPDATE

ENKAY tells us in comments:

"Hey there! I definitely do mean well by having the list as I wish to shed light onto some of the talented female bloggers out there ... It's basically "Readers Choice Award" so being on the list is actually quite an honor because it means that someone nominated you, and in your case, there was someone else other than yourself who nominated you! ..."

I don't know why that didn't occur to me, but it didn't -- so thanks to whoever it was that nominated me. And -- I happen to know -- he is still accepting nominations.

International Rock-Flipping Day Update

Want to see what lives under rocks? Look here:

Flickr photo pool

Pbase gallery

Blogger-participants so far include: Windywillow (Ireland) Heraclitean Fire (London, England) Sheep Days (Illinois, USA) Earth, Wind & Water (somewhere in the Caribbean) Pocahontas County Fare (West Virginia, USA) chatoyance (Austin, Texas)

Fragments from Floyd (Virginia, USA) - GRAND PRIZE WINNER

Watermark (Montana, USA) pohanginapete (Aotearoa/New Zealand) Fate, Felicity, or Fluke (Oregon, USA) Thomasburg Walks (Ontario, Canada) Idle Thoughts of an Idle Woman (Queensland, Australia) The Transplantable Rose (Austin, Texas) Nature Woman (New York state, USA) Marja-Leena Rathje (British Columbia, Canada) A Blog Around the Clock (North Carolina, USA) Busy Dingbat's Sphere (West Virginia, USA) Hoarded Ordinaries (New Hampshire, USA) Congo Days (Kinshasa, Congo) this too (London, England) Roundrock Journal (Missouri, USA) Wanderin' Weeta (British Columbia, Canada) Blaugustine (London, England) A Honey of an Anklet (Virginia, USA) Looking Up (Ohio, USA) Ontario Wanderer (Ontario, Canada) Bug Safari (California, USA) Riverside Rambles (Missouri, USA) Pure Florida (Florida, USA) Burning Silo (Ontario, Canada) Musings from Myopia (Texas, USA) Cicero Sings (British Columbia, Canada)

Thanks to Dave for instigating this exploration, collecting the links, and sharing the code.

Blog Day

On this day, blog readers will find themselves leaping around and discovering new, unknown Blogs, celebrating the discovery of new people and new bloggers.

Five WELL Member Bloggers:

WORLD CHANGING  | Change Your Thinking

WorldChanging.com works from a simple premise: that the tools, models and ideas for building a better future lie all around us. That plenty of people are working on tools for change, but the fields in which they work remain unconnected. That the motive, means and opportunity for profound positive change are already present. That another world is not just possible, it's here. We only need to put the pieces together.

Masson's Blog | A Citizen's Guide to Indiana

This site is generally, but not exclusively, devoted to Indiana politics and related issues. That notwithstanding, whatever I feel is interesting on a given day will likely make its way to the blog.

. . . either my political views have drifted leftward or politicians have drifted rightward — at least on the state and federal level. Local politics do not seem to translate into “left” and “right” quite as much, and so I tend to maintain a non-partisan view of local politics. My views tend very much toward the libertarian: stay out of my pocket book and stay out of my bedroom. Balance the budget and respect the Bill of Rights.

Ari Davidow's Klezmer Shack | 10 Years of New Jewish Music

The Klezmer revival (article revised 9/97) sparked a renaissance in Jewish music and culture. Nowadays, the revival is over--klezmer is a popular music form that is no longer exclusively Jewish, and other forms of Jewish music are also gaining in popularity. And no one questions the place of klezmer in both Jewish and popular cultures. Well, no one we care about.

WEBLOGSKY | Jon Lebkowsky's Industrial Strength Weblog

I've been putting bloggish pages online since 1993. I'm currently part of a partnership called Polycot, where I consult on web strategy and work with various kinds of web projects, most of them focused on bringing people together online or creating a more effective online presence.

. . . I don't just blog about the web. I'm a culture maven with broad interests, so I blog about diverse subjects.

~ Through The Walla Walla Grape Vine ™~

The Wild Walla Walla Wine Woman™! I believe there are only four major food groups and like my name, they all begin with the letter "C" -- Cabernet, Cheese, Chocolate, and Coffee!!! Although I have a certification in Viticulture Science, I enjoy the tasting room environment so I can visit with our wine tourists and showcase the valley's wines. If you time it just right, you might see me at a local winery screwing corks and cleaning spit buckets. I am humble. I work for wine.

I hope there's something new for you here; I know there's a lot of good reading, and listening.

Telling Our Stories: Inspirational Bloggers

Cusp, at l'ombre de mon ombre, has given me an Inspirational Blogger Award for my beautifully crafted blog full of inspiration, creativity and courage in the face of M.E. Of course, Watermark has been completely redesigned since it won this award; let's just assume it still wins.

These awards were initiated by Writer's Reviews, with the expectation that each blogger cited would nominate another five blogs in some combination of five possibilities. Since Cusp mentioned both of my blogs, I'm going to assume that I get two shots at this; I did Abide last week; today I've chosen from Watermark blogrolls.

Before we get to that, though -- yesterday I turned on the radio and out came Bill Moyers -- his emphatic presentation voice, rather than his gentler interviewer voice, but unmistakable nonetheless. He was speaking about Media Reform, a speech from last January:

A vibrant media is the oxygen of a living democracy. When the media are dominated by a handful of big corporations, citizens of a democracy are on a respirator gasping for air. James Madison, founding father, understood this well when he said, "A popular government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but the prologue to a farce or a tragedy or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power that knowledge gives."

He outlined all the dangers we know of corporate media (Big Media), and expressed the hope that our digital age may provide a counterpart. He said that we must tell our own stories.

And I felt -- inspired. Validated. I thought, yes -- that I can do. I can tell my own story, and that matters. That counts.

These are people who tell their own stories, in their own ways:

The Inspirational Blogger Award

For those bloggers who inspire others through their words and actions. With a positive attitude, and an uplifting spirit these bloggers make the blogosphere a better place, and encourage others to do the same. This award is for bloggers who rise up to set an example but continue to reach out and support others.

• Miriam's scribblingwoman (now scribblingwoman2)
• Erin Noteboom's Vivid
• Anne's Ample Sanity
• Deb's sugarfused
• whiskey's whiskey river

Each of these bloggers have entertained, inspired, and encouraged me over the past few years, both publicly and privately -- and I thank them for it.

If you are one of the bloggers nominated (& tagged) above, and you would like a blog badge, go to Writer's Review to pick one up. And, of course -- as with any of these tagging memes you find at my blogs -- participation is strictly optional.

Between this post and yesterday's, you have a lot of good reading to choose from. Enjoy!

Introductions

I had planned to do a series of posts on the comments from the INTRODUCE YOURSELF post, and began that last week -- but I've decided:

• It's too overwhelming to decide what to choose from each comment
• I can't possibly express the flavor of that thread with excerpts
• Better you should just go read it -- and even contribute, if you've a mind to -- yourself

So, I'm going to revert to thanking those folks, from all over the place, who have given thought and time to commenting, and enlivening this blog in my absence:

• John B. | Blog Meridian
• belledame222 | Fetch me my axe
• Cheryl | Journey of Cross and Quill
• Mary Scriver | Prairie Mary
• John Baker | John Baker's Blog
• DrMeglet | randomness revovled around me
• Megan | Flaming Renaissance
• Cathy | The Quiet One
• Laura | Moments, Musings
• Jacquie | wild ink
• meika | meika loofs samorzewski
• pam | MarillaAnne
• Endment | Endment
• Leesa | Peace of My Mind
• Chia
• Theresa Quintanilla | QViews
• Pearl | Humanyms
• Michael | Stick Poet Super Hero
• Bitteroot | Bitteroot and Bergamot
• Anne | Ample Sanity
• Crafty Green Poet
• Lori Witzel | chatoyance
• Rachel | Tales of My Thirties
• bobbi | KirkWorks Fine Arts
• mike | scandalize my name
• sandra
• leah | Creative Every Day
• Tammy Vitale
• somewhere joe | Hooky Beach
• Frances Sbrocchi | Fran's poems
• P.B. Adams | starsequence [popups]
• barbara | barbtries a blog
• Robert Twist | Fantastic Poems
• catnapping | the odd neighbor
• Linda | Straight Up and Slightly Dirty
• sdruthla | Creative Hoarding
• Wm. Rike | arcane matter out of place
• Nancy Bea | www.GenreCookShop.com
• neha | Within/Without
• Natalie | BLAUGUSTINE
• schmutzie | Milkmoney
• Sarah | Sarah's writing journal
• Robert | Robert Peake
• antonia | flowerville
• Coral | CoralPoetry
• Ozymandiaz | Ocellus
• Francesca Gray | Pushing an Elephant Up the Stairs
• Shann Palmer | Shann Palmer says
• Daphne | somewhere i have never travelled
• poet | HIDEAWAYPOET
• Patricia (a/k/a Roswila) | ROSWILA’S DREAM & POETRY REALM
• T Caber
• Edie | A bunch of wordz

There's lots to explore up there; I hope you'll click a few links and discover that for yourself. 

A Gratitude Post

Wulfgar! has announced the winners of this year's Montana Weblog Awards, and Watermark is tied with Raven's Nest as the Most Creative Montana Blog. This is company I am proud to be in. I'm also well pleased with Wulfgar!'s observation that it's pretty obvious that Mike, Sharon and a certain Sam from a certain creek have a very broad readership.

I'll post the complete list of winners below the cut -- where you should go, for some enriching discoveries -- but first, a few thank-you's:

• to Wulfgar!, for taking on what must be both a fun and an exasperating task, honchoing this now annual event
• to all of you who took the time and interest to check out Montana's offerings
• and to all who voted for Watermark

I also want to thank those folks, from all over the place, who have given thought and time to commenting in the Introduce Yourself! post. So far, we have:

• John B. | Blog Meridian
• belledame222 | Fetch me my axe
• Cheryl | Journey of Cross and Quill
• Mary Scriver | Prairie Mary
• John Baker | John Baker's Blog
• DrMeglet | randomness revovled around me
• Megan | Flaming Renaissance
• Cathy | The Quiet One
• Laura | Moments, Musings
• Jacquie | wild ink
• meika | meika loofs samorzewski
• pam | MarillaAnne
• Endment | Endment
• Leesa | Peace of My Mind
• Chia
• Theresa Quintanilla | QViews
• Pearl | Humanyms
• Michael | Stick Poet Super Hero
• Bitteroot | Bitteroot and Bergamot
• Anne | Ample Sanity
• Crafty Green Poet
• Lori Witzel | chatoyance

This thread is even more fun and thought provoking than I had anticipated. Even if you don't feel like participating, I bet you'll find the comments, and the commenters' sites, of interest -- check them out -- and, of course, check out . . .

 

Montana Weblog Awards 2006 - Nominees

Today is the last day to submit nominations for this year's Montana Weblog Awards. We are allowed to submit three nominations in each category. Wulfgar! tells us:

However, 6 categories remain without the appropriate number of nominees.  Remember, for a weblog to be nominated it needs at least 3 people to nominate it.  For a Category to go forward, it needs at least 3 nominees to appear.

. . . you do not need to be a Montanan or even have a website to submit your nominations.  You simply must be a reader and aficionado of (some) Montana weblogs.  I ask again that you submit your entries as comments to this website [A Chicken Is Not Pillage] (any post will do, what I really need is the email that comes with the comment), or submit to the email [email protected].

This has been a tough one. For one thing, there are so many new Montana blogs that I'm not familiar with, and did not have time to get acquainted before this deadline (though I've added a few to my Bloglines.) So most of my nominations are for blogs I have been reading for awhile -- including this one.  And yes, I have nominated my own blog, where I felt it would be competitive.

I didn't nominate in areas I don't know, and I didn't nominate for "Best Post" -- just too overwhelming. If anyone feels that one of  my own posts  is that good, hey -- go for it.  You have until the end of the day to nominate; then the voting begins.

Here are my nominations -- go give them a look, and Happy reading! Oh -- and don't forget to stop by and Introduce Yourself!

 

Political

Best left leaning blog:

• Left in The West
• NewWest.net
• Wulfgar!

Best right leaning blog:

• I don't read them, so I don't know.

Best independent or libertarian blog:

• City Lights
• Dave Budge .com

Best Political blog:

• Montana Netroots
• 4&20 blackbirds
• Left in The West

Blog that had the most impact on the 2006 elections:

• I really don't know, so no nomination.

   

Culture

Montana Blog that best represents popular culture:

• Better Living Through Blogging
• The Daily Cat Chase
• NewWest.net

Best Montana history blog:

• A History of Montana by Kodak
• Karbon Kounty Moos
• Prairie Mary

Most exemplifies Montana lifestyle:

• Karbon Kounty Moos
• Thoughts From the Middle of Nowhere
• Prairie Mary

 

Creativity

Most creative Montana blog:

• MOTTO
• Watermark
• Zen Life Among the Mountains

Best photographic Montana blog:

• Bitterroot and Bergamot
• Karbon Kounty Moos
• Watermark

Best written Montana blog:

• Prairie Mary
• American Buddhist Perspective
• Watermark

Most humorous Montana blog:

• Montana Jones
•  A Secular Franciscan Life
• A Drivel Runs Through It|Patia Stephens (I realize this is not thought of as a humor blog, but Patia has a sense of humor that runs through everything, and makes me laugh. I especially like her cranky posts. Not that I relate, or anything.)

 

Special

Best post:

Best series of posts relating to given topic:

• Prairie Mary's series on Animal Control. Sadly, Blogger does not provide categories -- but one of the posts is here, and others surround it. She reminds us: Humans are animals but animals are not human.

 

bloggity bloggity blog blog blog

I.

Suzanne Stefanac, author of dispatches from blogistan; a travel guide for the modern blogger is this month's guest at The Well's InkWell.vue. Non-members are welcome: Join us, or email questions and conversational contributions to the Inkwell.vue hosts. If, after hanging out there a bit, you would like to explore The Well  further, drop me a note.

Filled with practical, easy-to-implement advice for making blogging more enjoyable, useful, and profitable, this book covers everything from blogging and how it fits into the history of journalism to practical tips for planning and managing a blog, attracting and retaining an active readership, and even generating revenue. Written by noted technology journalist and interactive media veteran Suzanne Stefanac, the book's fresh and succinct design; quotes and commentary from noted and celebrity bloggers (authors Bruce Sterling, Steven Johnson and Cory Doctorow, Craig Newmark of craigslist.org, NPR news commentator Farai Chideya, blog pioneer Justin Hall among others), accompanying blog site; and more, make this a blog book like no other!

Suzanne also contributes now and then to Blogging Blog, and has her own site at dispatches from blogistan. I got this book a bit over a month ago, sat down and read it cover to cover. Now I look forward to reading it again, more slowly, and this great opportunity to discuss one of my favorite topics -- blogging blogging blogging! -- with a true expert. This is a very cool book!

II.

Well, I've finished this -- a post per day, all of November. And now it's time for:

III.

Holidailies is a free community writing project. All Holidailies 2006 participants promise to update their personal web sites every day from December 1 to January 1. Portal participants post summaries of their entries, which are aggregated on the front page of Holidailies 2006...

I did this a couple of years ago, then forgot and was too late to register last year. Since I seem to be on a roll, here, I thought I'd see if I can keep going.

And then we have:

IV.

The 2006 Montana Weblog Awards at A Chicken Is Not Pillage. Wulfgar! is soliciting nominations in many categories, including (hint hint):

Creativity

Most creative Montana blog.
Best photographic Montana blog.
Best written Montana blog.
Most humorous Montana blog.

Special

Best post. (include a link, please.)
Best series of posts relating to given topic.

There are also categories for Political and Culture blogging. Voting has not yet begun; this (until next Tuesday, December 5th) is the nomination period. You needn't be a Montana blogger to nominate someone, or to vote, but the nominees must be Montana blogs.

Watermark won last year for Best Culture Website. I don't think Blogging Blog or Abide has ever been nominated -- and I'm not sure they would fit any of the categories anyway. And gosh, there are a lot of us. The competition will be as tough as Montanans.

I will be mentioning when voting opens.

ElderBlogger PhoneCon

Actually, I'm probably not, being a bit short of energy, and on an odd schedule at the moment -- but you might like to:

The first annual online gathering of elderbloggers in a live, telephone conference to promote friendship and conviviality, share stories and have some fun on a fall afternoon.

There may be some special activities or maybe we’ll wing it. This is an experiment. If we like it, we don’t need to wait a year for the next one.

Click the button to go to Time Goes By for details. You never know, I might wake up on time, and with energy to spare for what sounds like a potentially very fun experiment.

It's from 8:30 AM - 2:30 PM eastern U.S. time. It's international. And yes, you are invited:

All elderbloggers, their readers and even those who have not yet reached elderdom. We have a capacity for up to 96 participants at a time.

 

My Nerd Score

Via Shelley I found ScienceBlogs (gee, thanks, more must-read) and via them I found this quiz, which they are all (OK, many of them) in a very macho competition, taking:

 

Why is my score so low? Well, because I got all the science questions wrong, that's why. Except In E=MC2, what does C stand for? C is the speed of light.

I'm pretty sure. I watch public television.

And I don't have enough RAM on my laptop. And I don't have enough gadgets. Or rather, not the right kind of gadgets.

Oh, and also, there was a girl-picture to react to, but no boy-picture. What's up with that?

Actually, I scored higher than I expected.

Good thing I have no woundable macho ego.

This has made me recall my most intense regret: that I did not study science and math through high school and college. That, in my day, girls were not expected to do so, and my passion for the subjects was not strong enough to overcome my compliance.

Once, in a dream, I saw a fourth spacial dimension. I experienced it. I hesitate to put it this way, but it was ... awesome.

If a physicist had that dream, might it have offered some clue to the workings of the universe? I haven't even the language to articulate it.

I can't do the math.