Orr Shtuhl Launches Wordsworth. Music Lovers Rejoice.

Orr Shtuhl was our arts and culture editor from the time we launched publicly until Brijit went on hiatus a little more than a month ago. I hired Orr on the spot when I met him early last September because, well, he’s got real skills. I’m thrilled to share that he’s now putting his smart, passionate voice to work in a handful of exciting places.

First and foremost, he’s launched, Wordsworth, a blog with the beautifully simple tag “Because they are.”  He describes it as “a blog dedicated to music and the words therein. Accordingly, there will be words to read and music to listen to…” He’ll also be regularly updating a themed, handpicked selection of a dozen tracks on Muxtape — the current collection of “Creepy Love Songs” is terrific. And finally, he’s running a column at The Morning News, a Brooklyn-based site that’s lucky to have the opportunity to showcase Orr’s savvy brand of music criticism.

I’m putting all three of Orr’s efforts into my personal rotation pronto… anyone who loves music should do the same.

New Abstract: Judith Warner on Modern American Misogyny

Read it and weep at the state of sexism in this country. Writes Warner on her Domestic Disturbances blog:

“In a culture that’s reached such a level of ostensible enlightenment as ours, calling a powerful woman “castrating” – however you choose to put it – ought to be seen as just as offensive as rubbing your fingers together to convey a love of gold coinage when you talk about a Jew. It’s nothing other than an expression of woman-hate — and the degree to which such expressions have flourished, in the mainstream media and in the loonier reaches of cyberspace this year, has added up to be a real national shame.”

Indeed.
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Brijit on The American Scene

Reihan Salam, whom I first met in the days just before Brijit launched to friends and family last summer, is going to make me blush. This wasn’t enough to keep me from sharing his post, of course. Any introductions you want to make would be much appreciated, Reihan. And thanks for the kinds words.

To the point that we should re-launch the site without the writer payment component, I think it’s safe to say that when (if?) Brijit comes through on the other side of this challenging time, I’d expect our editorial compensation structure to be, well, different. This jives with the vast majority of the feedback we’ve been receiving, from Brijiteers and others. Exactly what that looks like is still a work in progress.

I headed up 95 from DC this morning to attend the second day of the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association’s annual Capital Connection event. Brijit wouldn’t be a good fit for most of the investors here even under the best circumstances. Nonetheless, there are a handful of potential investors and strategic partners that I’m hoping to see today.

Site’s Back Up, New Abstract Is Coming

Thanks to Brent Thorington for stepping up on Memorial Day and getting Brijit back up. And thanks to Hurricane Electric for being responsive, too.

I’ll write the abstract later this evening, but for now, check out the New York TImes’ obituary of Sydney Pollack, who died today at 73.

Brijit.com is Temporarily Down

A power outage at our co-location facility late last night caused the main Brijit site to go down. I’m aware of the problem, but without a team in place (with the technology expertise that comes with it), it may take a while longer for the site to come back up. Sorry about that, folks. I hope everyone has a meaningful Memorial Day.

Make That “the Award-Winning Brijit.com,” Please.

The good folks over at TheMorningNews.com has honored Brijit with a 2008 Editors’ Award for Online Excellence. Here’s the citation:

“Favorite Helping Hand When in Content Quicksand

A friend once pointed to a foot-tall stack of New Yorkers in his apartment and said he was a few months behind, but was determined to read every article. A praiseworthy effort, for sure, but not everyone has that kind of fortitude. For us, skimming the issue and reading only the articles that beckon is enough; and thanks to the now sadly defunct Brijit, we don’t even have to do that. This service presents a 100-word abstract (with a rating!) of every article from a bevy of magazines, helping you decide if the article is worth the time investment. Alternately, you could read only the abstracts, get dressed up, and remnick cocktail-party conversations all night long.”

This appears about two-thirds of the way down the page. Check out the full piece here.

Brijit on NYTimes.com

Since we launched last October, Brijit has received an overwhelmingly positive response in the media. Marci Alboher writes the Shifting Careers blog for the New York Times, and first mentioned Brijit not long after we launched. I spoke with her earlier this week. Apparently she came back after some time out of town, and told a colleague how useful she found Brijit as a tool for catching up with things she may have missed while she was gone. But alas…

Brijit is featured today in Marci’s blog; we’re currently the lead post on Shifting Careers. Thanks for sharing Brijit with your readers, Marci. Here’s the bit I was most jazzed about:

“The comments to this post are great reading — users of the site offer their suggestions on how to tweak Brijit’s business model and one of the site’s writers weighs in on why the site is appealing to contributors.”

That’s you, Brijit fans. Please don’t hesitate to comment on nytimes.com and tell the world how much you miss the 100-word version.

Positively Un-American?

So now luggage costs extra? Apparently, according to this depressing piece.Thanks to Brijiteer Brian Willett for this one.

Writer Payments Are On the Way

Checks went out yesterday afternoon; PayPal payments went out last evening. These payments cover everything Brijit published this month through May 15. Thanks again to all our Brijiteers.

Cable Killer?

Decide for yourself, here. Thanks to new Brijiteer Greg DeSantis for allowing me to publish his abstract fee-free.

New on Brijit — Iraq: Will We Ever Get Out?

Another Brijiteer steps up! Thanks to Chris Lugardo for letting me publish his fee-free abstract of “Iraq: Will We Ever Get Out?” by Thomas Powers in the New York Review of Books.

David Breashears’ Storm Over Everest

Now here, on Brijit. Thanks to Brijiteer Adrienne Jenkins for allowing me to publish her abstract without a fee.

New Abstract On Brijit. Anyone Else Want To Write One?

Great feedback everyone. Thanks for the terrific show of support. Very helpful as I continue my conversations with potential investors and partners.

I’ve decided that, at least for this week, I’m going to try to do an abstract or two a day — only good stuff. It’s obviously a poor substitute for a fully-staffed Brijit, but it’s better than nothing, and it just feels like the right thing to do as try to find a home for the service while simultaneously closing it down. Here’s one I wrote last night: “Can a Dead Brand Live Again?” by Rob Walker in the 18 May 2008 issue of the New York Times Magazine.

If anyone else wants to write an abstract of something great that they read, watched, or listened to on one of our 100-plus sources, please let me know. If there’s enough interest, I’ll put a process in place to include abstracts from the Brijit community. I think I can handle edits on about a dozen abstracts a day. Leave a comment here if you’re in. Would love to have you. Tell your friends!

To be clear, though (and I don’t even have the technology resources at the moment to change the text of the Brijit site to reflect this): WE ARE NOT PAYING FOR ABSTRACTS AT THIS TIME. Many in the comments have suggested that the site could thrive without the $5 fee — we’re about to find out, albeit on a small scale. I hope you won’t let it dissuade you from writing.

Also, you may have noticed that you’ve stopped receiving your email digests from Brijit. Sorry about that — we know it’s a great product, and if we can figure out a way to come through on the other side, we’ll be makign them a priority from a business development perspective. But we’ve spoken with our friends at SilverPop, our email newsletter provider, and given the situation, we both agreed that we needed to stop sending Brijit emails, at least for now.

Your thoughts on a Save Brijit campaign?

Trying to get a handle on the pros and cons of a Save Brijit campaign of some sort. I’m heartened by all the great feedback here and around the Web. Would need to happen by Monday, for sure, and ideally by COB today. A Facebook group? A petition? Any thoughts? Ideas and volunteers wanted!

Can You Feel the Love?

Yesterday was awful. Out of financial runway, Brijit stopped publishing abstracts for after more than eight months of continuous service to our growing community. Ripped the band-aid right off!

Personally, at least, today’s a much better day. The outpouring of affection and support around closing Brijit, at least temporarily, has been amazing. One of my favorites:

Here’s Marshall Kirkpatrick at ReadWriteWeb: “In a tragic and surprising turn of events, Brijit, one of the most interesting startups on the web, has announced that the company has run out of money…”

Thanks, Marshall. You’ve always had nice things to say about our service, and I appreciate it.

Comments like this one from a loyal reader named Gabe: “I visited Brijit 2-3 times a day. Bottom line is that out of the gazillions of sites out there, there are only around 5 (and Brijit is one of them) where I’m guaranteed to be given quick and easy access to more than 5 articles that I’ll find interesting.”

Also plenty of notes of encouragement from friends, acquaintances and total strangers. Great stuff.

Professionally, I’m pleased to say, I also received inquiries from a handful of credible potential investors and partners, upon which I’m already following up. Long shots, to be sure, but worth a shot nonetheless.

Today I’m feeling the love. Please keep it coming!

Honk If You Love Brijit!

We’ve been proud to work with so many talented and dedicated writers over the past 6+ months. Together we’ve published nearly 16,000 abstracts, covered more than 100 sources, and provided a service that’s proven valuable to hundreds of thousands of people.

Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we’ve run out of money, and can no longer afford to pursue our vision of adapting great long-form content for a short-form world, at least not as a stand-alone company. As recently as yesterday morning, we thought we had the funding in place to continue our work together. But as it turns out, we don’t.

I’m sorry to share that we are ceasing publication of Brijit, at least for the time being, and possibly for good. Beginning today, I’ll be blogging here, and will keep you up to date on our status. I’m still working hard to find a home for Brijit and our community of smart readers, listeners, watchers, and writers. In the meantime, I hope you’ll stick with us on this blog.

Writer payments for all May abstracts published through the 15th will be made next week. As always, we appreciate the good work. And please don’t hesitate to reach out to me via email or comments here on the blog.

Save Us, Jack Donaghy

We haven’t blogged much about the presidential campaign of late. You’re welcome. But this week, as Hillary Clinton (or at least her advisers) appear to be slowly accepting defeat, there’s been some worthwhile analysis. It’s always intriguing to see what the objective Brits at The Economist have to say about the wacky American politicians, and Time has an uncommonly good piece about the calculated moves on Obama’s path to success. Plus, the conversation about the race between journalism giants Bill Moyers and Charlie Rose is worth watching.

And while the media’s got its eyes superglued to Hillarack, one Mr. Alec Baldwin might be staging his great political coming out … one can only hope.

But Who’s Signing the Checks?

With all these reports of questionable medical experts showing up on public broadcast shows, we’re wondering if maybe we should just take two aspirin and call back in the morning. Salon reports on a PBS show featuring Dr. Daniel Amen, who posits that Alzheimer’s is curable — the problem is, the show is produced by Amen with very little vetting, and it sort of looks like an infomercial. And all this just days after Slate told us that public radio show The Infinite Mind had strong ties to drug companies. (Thanks to current top Brijiteer John Lister for the heads-up!)

Speaking of conflicts of interest, The New York Times weighed in on former Bush honcho Karl Rove’s transformation into a pundit — he’s offering advice on the airwaves and pages of Fox News, Newsweek, and the Wall Street Journal. And while his tips for Barack Obama were only so-so, he wrote a colorful profile of John McCain, someone on his side of the aisle. The Times piece points out that even if he’s not really independent, readers know what they’re getting into with Rove. Want to read them for yourself? Start here.

Megan McArdle Likes Brijit.

Megan McArdle, self-styled “the world’s tallest female econoblogger,” just published an interesting take on Brijit on her blog Asymmetrical Information over at The Atlantic. A good deal of virtual ink (and some real ink, too) has been spilled about Brijit since we launched 6+ months ago, but Megan’s the first one to dig into the economics of our writers’ area. To wit:

“The Brijit concept… take people who have time but no money, and marry them to people who have money but no time. Or rather, pay the people who have a lot of time on their hands to read stuff, and then tell the people who have money but no time what they really need to look at, and what they can safely skip.”

I met up with Megan a few weeks back near our offices here in DC. She is, indeed, quite tall. She also grasped intuitively how Brijit has created a system to take advantage of a classic arbitrage opportunity created by information overload. Nice.

Maternal Affairs

Mother’s Day is Sunday, which means procrastinators are buying last-minute cards, florists are putting their game faces on, and siblings are trying not to wring each others’ necks as they fight over where to take Mom for brunch. And as anyone with siblings knows, at times like this it’s best to have an arsenal of insults at the ready — like the one we Dugg up — the more original, the better.

For those of us with dysfunctional families, it’s refreshing to hear about those that make ours seem like Ozzie and Harriet — like the Paskowitz family, all 11 of whom lived in a camper and traveled around surfing. (“Gnarly barrel, Ma!”) Or Margot Livesey, whose story in Vogue details how she escaped her actual family and adopted another. And then there’s the confrontation between a born-again Christian and his lesbian sister on an especially good familial episode of This American Life from last month.

The best Mother’s Day gift? Write a book about Mom, like Jimmy Carter did. But since time is short, yours can be made out of construction paper, for old time’s sake.

On The Daily Show, No Laughing Matter

John McCain joined The Daily Show last night, rounding out its run of hosting one presidential contender in each of the past three months. It was a flimsy ordeal of dodged questions and easy answers, and while the interview marked the Arizona senator’s 13th visit on the show, familiarity wasn’t the only reason for Stewart’s slow pitches — the other candidates got the same treatment. When Barack Obama came on the show in April, he similarly used it as a platform for talking points, while Stewart salvaged the interview with some apolitical zingers (including one about Obama enslaving the white race). And like Obama’s, Hillary Clinton’s visit in March was also plagued by a lagging satellite feed, which meant Stewart again had to yield to the candidate’s sound bites.

Granted, you can’t expect any presidential hopeful to pull a surprise this late in the game, when gaffe coverage has overtaken policy. And a TV professional might make the argument that staying germane to high-profile visitors will keep the guestbook full. But philosophy aside, Stewart and the show’s producers should ratchet up the pressure on political guests, if only for the education of its audience. The Daily Show is comedy first — as Stewart noted in 2006 during his brilliant plea on Crossfire — but it’s hard to make people laugh when you leave the joke-writing up to senators.

Making a Joke of Justice

In case you forgot, the US is still holding people at Guantanamo Bay without telling them why — 775 detainees to be exact since 2002 — and the Washington Post reports that not a single one has gone to trial, and President Bush ain’t likely to make it a priority in his last year. (And don’t forget the March three-dot piece from the Los Angeles Times describing a day in the life of a Guantanamo detainee.) What’s equally horrifying, The New York Times uncovered that 66 people died in immigration custody in less than four years, including a man who died in a coma after suffering a skull fracture and brain hemorrhages. These two pieces are enough to make you agree with the lately-ubiquitous Fareed Zakaria, who’s on the PR tour for his book, The Post-American World. Watch his Daily Show interview — at least there’s a bit of Jon Stewart’s humor thrown in to an otherwise bleak reminder that America’s international reputation is in shambles.

In Profile

Calling The New Yorker a good magazine might be like calling the Beatles popular, but they’ve done a particularly commendable job this week, offering a quartet of profiles that span the artistic spectrum. We first recommend Alex Ross’ portrait of Alaska composer John Luther Adams, whose seismic symphony is literally conducted by the mountains that surround him. There’s also an unpretentious piece about London architect and designer Thomas Heatherwick, whose fluid, organic forms can also function. From the fashion industry we get a profile of top digital touch-up artist Pascal Dangin, and the story of Grant Achatz leads in the tragic irony department — the Chicago chef lost his sense of taste to tongue cancer but still pioneers in the world of molecular gastronomy.

Bachelor’s Degrees are So Passé

I graduated from college with a degree in English, which to some means I have a BA in absolutely nothing. I prefer to believe the parents and professors out there who claim that a liberal arts education is about learning how to think (yes, often at the expense of actual workplace skills). Perhaps I am naive; The Chronicle of Higher Education published a discouraging piece about the worthlessness of the bachelor’s degree. Graduation rates are down, the quality of the education is in question, and the degree itself means less and less. But for those still excited about heading off to college — and congrats on getting in, it’s harder than ever — the Washington Post offers a very basic primer about what to expect. The Post also printed a refreshing essay arguing that many of the students matriculating at top-tier schools are impressively brainy and ambitious — but not exactly kind. And as for recent graduates, take comfort (or not) in knowing that entry-level wages have been falling since 2001. You may be destitute, but you are not alone.

When You’ve Got a Hammer…

Dear New York Times: Last Friday you told us that — surprise! — rich people are feeling the housing crisis like the rest of us. And we didn’t even roll our eyes — we’ll walk a mile in their Manolos before we criticize. But when you file two reports, just a week apart, that lipstick and elective surgery are economic indicators, we have to wonder if you’re reaching for a story. Granted, we’ve all got pages to fill, and we’ll admit your profile of recession-friendly clothing chain Steve & Barry’s was a winner. Just don’t tell us on Monday that newspaper sales are depressed by the economy as well.

Gloria Gaynor Would Be Proud!

In business and politics, as in nature, only the strong survive. There’ve been some great stories of survival this week, beginning with a quirky piece in the NYT about a culinary expert who’s hoping to save rare species by putting them on the menu. New York’s cover story this week carefully dissected the controversial firing of Zoe Cruz, one of Wall Street’s most powerful women, and former heir-apparent to the CEO slot at Morgan Stanley. Perhaps Cruz couldn’t cut it in the competitive world of Wall Street, but some are crying foul, claiming the episode is blatant sexism. Meanwhile, there’s another brand of prejudice being perpetuated around the world: biobigotry. Do you swoon over charismatic megafauna — the big, furry zoo animals — and ignore — or worse, revile — the less cuddly organisms of equal ecological importance? You’re a biobigot, according to another curious science piece from the Times — or maybe you’re just a human with a healthy imagination.

Defining Elitism

In the wake of Bittergate, the chattering classes are taking another look at America’s elite — and deconstructing what the term “elite” really means. Politicians eschew the label, of course — cue the whiskey shots and Budweiser chasers — though Fred Barnes argues that Barack Obama is the poster boy for elitism in the US. (The Harvard Law School line on his resume is a dead giveaway, man-of-the-people Barnes contends.) Meanwhile, David Rothkopf describes a “global elite” consisting of 6,000 leaders and influential people, while John Renehan recently took up some prime real estate in The Washington Post to implore the sons and daughters of privilege to sign up for the armed services. Even if Little Lord Fauntleroy doesn’t join the army, it may be of some consolation to everyone else that the better schools in the US are increasingly looking to make the tuition burden easier for everyone defined as non-elite.

A Surplus of Sachs

Along with subsidized farmers, economist Jeffrey Sachs is one of the few people benefiting from the worldwide food crisis. He’s made a host of media stops for his ludicrously timely book, Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet, including one on Talk of the Nation yesterday that featured vivid description of Haitian squalor from photographer Tyler Hicks. But between authoring two pieces in Time magazine and appearing on a stinker segment on The Daily Show, his spiel can get repetitive (even if it’s the most important argument ever labeled “spiel”). We recommend Sachs’ interview with Charlie Rose, where the economist gets down to specific solutions like affordable fertilizer for third-world farmers. Meanwhile, if you’re looking for an on-the-ground view of the food crisis, Bruce Wallace penned an excellent report from the Manila slums for the Los Angeles Times.

Dirty Laundry

Money laundering alone may not grab headlines, but it’s playing an increasingly high profile role in all sorts of international criminal activity. A cocaine boom in Europe has fueled an increase in euro laundering — so much so that Jay-Z recently featured euros in a video, rather than greenbacks — while the rise of Macau as Asia’s Las Vegas has made it the go-to destination for money laundering in the Pacific Rim. Disgraced New York Governor Eliot Spitzer was caught paying for sex thanks to money laundering, and he could end up being charged because of his illegal wire transfers, rather than cavorting with a hooker. In fact, as the definition of laundering expands — and transfers of more than $3,000 must be reported — criminals are looking to new ways of moving large amounts of currency, including new forms of digital money (a favorite of child pornographers, Forbes reports), pre-paid credit cards, and good, old-fashioned cash.

Trapped!

It’s finally spring, and here in DC, that means we have a few precious weeks before it becomes infernally hot and humid. It also means we’re trapped inside our offices, wishing we were frolicking outside. But there are worse places to be stuck — take the poor guy who was trapped in a NYC elevator for nearly two days. The security camera footage on YouTube is enough to make you carry around a stack of good reading, some snacks, and a chamber pot, just in case.

Actually, though, elevator-guy didn’t have it so bad, if you compare his tale to Marie Claire’s story about the formerly subordinated Teressa Wall, whose testimony against Fundamentalist Latter Day Saint church leader Warren Jeffs has led to attacks from the church — and shaky custody of her children. Nor does it really compare to another harrowing story from the same mag, about “long-neck women” in Thailand who are forced to wear coils around their necks, trapped in the role of silent tourist attractions.

Maybe it’s time to head to the beach, so we can heed Adam Sternbergh’s surprisingly fun-to-read advice to un-trap our poor feet from their shoe-prisons — a lifestyle change we’re not likely to make if the ground is anything but sand.

Land of the Not-so-Free

You won’t hear any US presidential candidate talking about it, but prison has been in the news lately. Marie Gottschalk, writing in The Washington Post, discussed the two societies now developing in the US as almost 1 in 100 American adults is currently incarcerated. Add to that a recent piece in The New York Times, which reported that one-fourth of the world’s prisoners are locked up in the US; the land of the free leads the planet in both the number of inmates (2.3 million) and the proportion of the population behind bars (751 per 100,000, some six times the world average). Of course, not everyone sees this as a problem: The same week as these numbers came to light, the law-and-order types over at The Weekly Standard reported that crime in prisons is dropping, along with the general crime stats. On the other end of the spectrum is Italy, where many federal cases are dropped because they’re tied up in court for too long, a work furlough program worked so well one jail had more guards than prisoners, and one crimelord was let out of the stony lonesome because he was too fat for the beds.

Did You Just Double-Dip That Durian Chip?

Only a few months late, Gourmet is jumping on the snack review bandwagon. Their rundown of Malaysian bite-sized oddities suggests replacing your Cheetos habit with famously stinky durian-flavored crunchies, but it doesn’t measure up to Patton Oswalt’s doomsaying proclamation for the KFC Famous Bowl. If you do venture into the land of fishy-sweet edibles, be sure to snack safely — read Harold McGee’s report about a Constanza-inspired study on double-dipping. If each subsequent dip transfers about 10,000 bacteria to the bowl, you might be better off sticking to MSG.

What’s the Matter with Being Bitter?

Barack Obama’s recent comments about how Middle Americans are “bitter” and cling to God and guns have given the chattering class plenty to bloviate about in the post-Spitzer, pre-Pennsylvania primary epoch. Obama sounded suspiciously like Thomas Frank, author of What’s the Matter with Kansas?, a 2004 book that expounded for a few hundred pages on the idea of cultural issues trumping economic disparity in politics. Frank pens a witty editorial for The Wall Street Journal, updating his thesis for the age of Obama and the 2008 election, while Bob Novak keenly suggests in The Washington Post that Obama keep the concept but ditch the rhetoric. Meanwhile, The Economist’s man in Washington pragmatically suggests that voters will see through the petty controversy and consider the real issues at hand. Stay tuned — we’ll find out tonight.

Eye on the East

Monthly magazines take a while to assemble an issue, but National Geographic’s stunning May issue — about China and Tibet — is more than a timely stroke of luck. A peek at the bylines reveals some very well-known writers, including novelist Amy Tan and River Town author Peter Hessler, who contributes two stories. What does this mean? One explanation is that a forward-thinking editor reacted to increased attention to the area a few months ago and tapped these reliable writers; if they’re already working on books about China, they must have material that could be speedily repurposed into an article.

The May issue also includes two reprints that offer brilliant perspectives from decades past: one from pre-Communist China in 1971 and a glimpse at a young Dalai Lama from 1955. But our favorite piece in the issue was Lewis M. Simmons’ must-read about the Tibetan-Chinese duality of life in Tibet. Kudos to National Geographic for putting together a sharp issue, right on the news.

Remembering the War We’re Still Fighting

The five-year anniversary of the Iraq war just passed — that’s longer than the duration of many marriages in the US — but it’s looking doubtful that Iraq will take the US out for a nice steak dinner any time soon. For one thing, Iraq is not only politically broken, it’s also physically shattered: 20,000 of the country’s 34,000 registered doctors have fled the country since the US invasion, the Wall Street Journal reports. Four thousand US soldiers have died, another grim milestone in a conflict whose “enemy” continues to shift. The Washington Post ’s Harold Meyerson argues that the Iraq war is the first American war to have had several distinct enemies; first we fought Saddam and the Sunnis, then we fought side-by-side with them against Al Qaeda, now we’re fighting the Shiite forces aided by Iran. Plus, as Newsweek points out, our attempts at cultural diplomacy are in shambles — only three of 19 cultural embeds speak Arabic.

Well, at least it’s Friday.

Hot Writer-on-Writer Action!

A.O. Scott’s tribute to film populist Roger Ebert in The New York Times was more than just a sop to cinephiles; it was a rare peek into the (apparently tight-knit) critics’ circle and a nice treatise on the philosophy of appreciation. It also got us thinking about other pieces featuring writers on writers, the king of which is Wyatt Mason’s hyperliterate criticism of John Updike’s review copies of books — all done in Updike’s own hyperliterate style. Whew.

For the tabloid crowd, you’ll remember when New York magazine’s Vanessa Grigoriadis took things personally after Gakwer mocked her on her wedding day. Commentary revives classical music critic Neville Cardus, and Salon’s tribute to Norman Mailer was the best of the bunch that followed his death, as contemporaries like William F. Buckley and Marlon Brando (and the aforementioned Ebert and Updike) weighed in with fond, uproarious memories of the late rabble-rouser.

Money to Burn

While the recession has battered the US stock market and spurred Congress to dole out cash, the ultrarich continue to spend money like there’s no tomorrow. “When times get tough, the smart spend money,” one particularly clueless-sounding events planner tells The New York Times. “Short of our country going on food stamps, I don’t think we’re doing anything differently.” It’s a trend that the national media has helpfully been tracking for us plebs: Some people are having trouble getting their private jets kitted out, multiple kids are increasingly seen as a status symbol, and brands like Bottega Veneta and Coach continue to flourish and expand (though the more accessible-luxury Coach has seen its stock price tumble). Still, for everyone else, the Los Angeles Times offers a guide to haggling more effectively.

Digg for the Rest of Us

As a user, I find Digg worthless. Whew. It feels so good to say it out loud!

Of course, as the CEO of a small-but-growing online media company, I’d give my left pinky toe for Digg’s traffic. But I don’t find the site helpful, and I’d be reluctant to put my name on its virtual masthead, because so much of what floats to the top of Digg is, well, crap like this.

This isn’t me being an elitist, mind you. I love Digg in theory (communism works in theory, right?); the idea of a community of individuals working independently to promote great content is actually near and dear to my heart. But in practice, Digg as it’s currently constituted is no meaningful filter – it’s little more than a sieve. Sure, you’ll find an occasional gold nugget – but you’ll spend hours in hip waders with your hands in the muck trying to find it. And the irony is that the bigger Digg gets, the less valuable it becomes, because more and more muck is being poured into the system.

This reality means Digg is part of the information overload problem, not part of the solution. The signal-to-noise ratio has deteriorated to the point that the filter needs a filter. And doesn’t that defeat the purpose? I mean, who’s got the time?

As it turns out, we do. At noon Eastern today, Brijit will begin covering Digg. Digg, you ask? Alongside the New Yorker and This American Life and The Daily Show and Pitchfork? You bet. There’s great content there, and in the context of Brijit, we think Digg can be a valuable resource for the rest of us, busy people without the time or the inclination to go story-fishing in an ocean of crap.

Brijit takes Digg’s most popular, pulls out the most interesting and substantial items, and sets our community of smart readers, writers, and editors to work boiling them down to 100 words or fewer. And while we’ll credit that we found it in Digg, every abstract links back to the original source, to save you time.

We’re also adding coverage of YouTube and Techmeme today, for different reasons. YouTube has a high clutter factor, too, but it’s search-driven in a way that Digg isn’t, which makes for a better experience for the casual user – you dive in, find what you’re looking for, and hop out. Here the Brijit abstract serves more of a serendipity and discovery function for people with neither the time nor the inclination to visit YouTube every day. As for Techmeme, it’s a pretty terrific algorithmic filter, valuable in almost every way, and we think that a wider audience of non-tech folks would appreciate some of what bubbles up there each day, in a shorter format.

So there you have it. Brijit is covering Digg, YouTube, and Techmeme, so busy people don’t have to work so hard. We hope you’ll let us know what you think.

A Buffet of Criticism

The calls are mounting for world leaders to use Olympic leverage to pry China from its support for genocide in Darfur and human rights violations in Tibet. Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter and the Economist posted almost the same argument: countries should simply boycott the opening ceremonies, focus only on Darfur. There’s no reason to deny athletes their moment, the reasoning goes, and China is unlikely to budge on Tibet. Even our man, the ubiquitous Cloonster, would support that, while XM Radio host Joe Madison (aka The Black Eagle) is pushing for an out-and-out Olympics boycott.

Time tackles the Why? of the situation, noting that even if President Hu Jintao was willing to effect change (don’t worry, he’s not), the red-tape molasses of the Communist Party would hold him up. But the most creative shaming of the Olympics had nothing to do with genocide — Slate did some quick math to calculate that the Olympic torch’s 50,000-mile tour will burn a quarter-million gallons of jet fuel and spew six million pounds of carbon into the atmosphere. Oh, and the whole torch relay thing was started by Hitler. Think on that.

Mad as Hell?

Some say you have to be a little crazy to be a TV journalist. That idea is wonderfully illustrated by a New York Times Magazine profile of MSNBC host Chris Matthews, replete with the summer-blond anchor staring at himself on TV in a hotel bar and exclaiming, “Hey, there I am — it’s me. It’s me.” Somewhat less crazy was Matthews’ brief rumination on his grandfather (and local Philly politics) in Time, and perhaps Matthews should be given some slack for the recent beating he took over his comments about Hillary Clinton (also referenced in the Times profile). Of course, the pressure of getting paid millions to play a journalist on TV isn’t just getting to Matthews: Dan Rather continues the fight to clear his reputation of the stains of the Rathergate scandal, while negotiations about Katie Couric’s future with CBS were unceremoniously leaked to hungry TV news bloggers and reporters who somehow have full-time jobs reporting on reporting. With all this drama on the airwaves, maybe it’s time to start thinking about adding a new wing to the Newseum.

Polar Bears on the Brink

Here at Brijit, we like cute things, and we like controversy. This week, we got the best of both worlds with … polar bears. Vanity Fair reports that last summer the Arctic lost a half-million square miles of sea ice — that’s polar bear habitat the size of Texas and California combined. (I’m recalling that digital image from The Inconvenient Truth where the polar bear’s ice flotation device melts, and he hangs in the water looking forlorn.) So what? asks The Weekly Standard’s Michael Goldfarb, who wishes everyone would chill out about the cuddly ones. After all, there’s an estimated 400 billion barrels of oil beneath the arctic seabed just waiting to be got, and evidence of the polar bear’s demise is tenuous, he argues.

There’s another polar bear controversy brewing, but this one’s, well, less of a crisis. The BBC reports that the Berlin Zoo’s new baby polar bear Flocke is threatening the popularity of Knut, who has gotten overweight in his old age (he’s now a year old.) Perhaps Goldfarb and friends should get a good look at Knut and Flocke — in ten years, their Arctic brethren’s only habitat might be the caged variety.

Out of Jail, Free

The Los Angeles Times caught our attention yesterday with a must-read story about ex-con Ken Layton and his struggle to readapt to civilian society. Reporter Susan Brink peppers her narrative with “quotes” from Layton’s inner monologue, projecting a real-life image of convict mentality: “Do unto others before they do unto you.” The piece echoes an earlier one in New York about a Long Island community for released sex offenders. And The New Yorker has yet another heartrending detainment story, this time about the Hutto Center, a privately run center in Texas where children of illegal immigrants are kept away from their parents in prison-like conditions.

Phew. We know that’s a heavy bit of reading, so here’s a break: a real-life farce about Italian prisoners that couldn’t stay in jail if they tried.

Pontiff-icating

Pope Benedict XVI is making his first visit to the US next week, and the nation’s media seem happy to be distracted from the endgame of the Democratic presidential nomination process. Time’s excellent cover story this week takes a look at the Pope’s relationship with America, while The New Republic examines the Pope’s stance on immigration (and, of course, what his visit might mean for the presidential race). Still, not everyone is excited about the Pope’s visit — for example, the Rev. John Hagee, a prominent McCain supporter, has called the Catholic Church “the whore of Babylon” (a controversy The New York Times looked into this week). And for the curious, Time also recently had a rundown of what, exactly, will get you sent to hell these days.

Still, the most amusing Pope-related news comes from the Washington Post, which relates the tale of a YouTube video, a Pope bobblehead, a funny hat — and one unhappy Catholic spokeswoman.

A Different Kind of Cage

The New York Times ran a moving story yesterday about the Sabal Palm Audubon Center, a wildlife reserve in a Texas town that would be stranded south of the planned border fence. But the center’s exotic birds aren’t the only animals whose fate could be affected by an immigration crackdown; the meager population of jaguars (nearly gone from the US) would also take a hit. The Los Angeles Times raised this issue last week when it reported that Congress waived more than 30 environmental regulations for the border fence. But Time showed that sometimes a simple number can be most alarming, reporting that both George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton added an average of more than 230 species to the endangered species list each term in office; in seven years, George W. Bush has added just 59.

The Sporting Life

There’s no question that hosting the Olympics is a boon for international prestige. (As well as a cause for international controversy — just ask China.) Oil-rich countries in the Middle East are taking a break from scooping up trophy assets and troubled banks in the West and looking at the benefits of organized sport. Doha, the capital city of Gulf nation Qatar, is angling to host the Olympics in 2016; the country hosted the 2006 Asian Games and has already built an $8 billion athletic complex called Sports City. Across the Middle East, countries are using sports to boost national profile as they move away from economies based solely on oil — Abu Dhabi, for example, has constructed the largest permanent Formula One racetrack in the world. And Qatar is not alone in eyeing the 2016 games: Another emerging market, Brazil, is hoping to bring the games to the Southern Hemisphere.

But What About My Cocoa Krispies?

OK, OK, we get it: The economy is going down the tubes. Commodity prices are on the rise, and the crisis is reaching across the global food economy and into American kitchens. David Ignatius reports in the Washington Post that rice and wheat are at their highest real-terms prices since the 1980s. The New York Times’ Kim Severson tries to make lemonade, arguing that the crisis, having hardly affected produce, meat, and dairy, could mean a revolution in American eating habits, though it seems borderline delusional to think the current price spike will create a middle-class of Michael Pollan clones — would that wishing made it so. Perhaps to save some dough we should do like Slate’s Laura Moser, and get that high fructose corn syrup-monkey off our backs. Or we could avoid restaurants and heed Mark Bittman’s advice in the NYT and master that magic radiation machine: the microwave.

There’s No Science in Baseball!

After a gnarly offseason of steroid-infused discomfort, the fourth estate is celebrating the return of baseball. George Will in the Washington Post considers the neurological underpinnings of Cubs fans’ admirable masochism — 100 years of failure and counting! William Ecenbarger, also in the WaPo, waxes nostalgic about his first trip to a ballpark with his father (whose genes could apparently help him pass a doping test, according to Science News) back in the good ol’ days. But those were the good ol’ days of cheating, too, writes Roger Angell in the New Yorker, when getting an edge meant lowering the mound and shortening the fences, rather than taking a needle in the backside. Lower the mound? Sure, says the Brewers’ William Raasch on Talk of the Nation, but not to cheat; it’s a key to keeping up the orthopedic health of pitchers. Though if you really want them to pitch well, offers David Brooks in the New York Times, try this outlandish approach: discipline.

Respect Your Librarian. But Feel Free To Google.

I spoke at a gathering of librarians last week. Thanks to Jill O’Neill at the National Federation of Advanced Information Services (NFAIS) for including me. The 50-year-old organization “for groups that aggregate, organize and facilitate access to information” was hosting a one-day forum on The Future of Bibliographic Control, and wanted Brijit there to talk about user-generated content. I’m always happy to introduce Brijit to a new audience, and with Philadelphia only a quick Amtrak ride away, I was glad to do it.

The other speaker on user-generated content was Susan Chun, the founder of Steve, the art museum social tagging project. Susan has set out to make museum collections more accessible by creating a tool that allows professionals, enthusiasts, and laypeople alike to tag items in more mainstream, less technical ways. Kind of a Del.icio.us for museums. Love it.

She pegged her talk around an email she’d seen while working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. After hearing the story, it’s hard to imagine anyone questioning the value of collaborative, consumer-focused tagging, especially to institutions with large collections.

The author of the email in question was trying to locate a specific painting. He could describe what it looked like in some detail: a “renaissance” painting with an “hourglass” on a “table” in front of a “man.” But the author knew neither the artist’s name nor the title of the painting. And despite the fact that the Met had a terrific academic record of the painting, replete with provenance going back more than a century, Susan was only able to locate it by asking around among the experts she knew in the museum. Tag it with terms people use, and finding this painting is a cinch. Tag it exclusively with traditional bibliographic information, and it remains hidden.

Project Steve and Brijit are attacking different problems in different ways, but the overarching philosophy is the same. Give people the ability to collaborate and be creative within a structured environment, stand back, and watch the magic happen. My presentation on the hybrid editorial model (slides here soon) highlighted this point.

As I told the NFAIS audience, I know practically nothing about what they were discussing most of the day. I’m no expert on the library-publisher supply chain. I’m unfamiliar with the alphabet soup of industry organizations and projects, from NISO and UKSG’s KBART working group to the OCLC or the EEBO. And I’m not at all interested in whether a particular document is considered a monograph or a serial. And neither is (almost) anybody else.

We’re lucky to have librarians and systems that have put us on a firm curatorial footing for generations. But they have to negotiate legacy systems in a way that we Web-native organizations don’t. I don’t envy the task of trying to shoehorn modern content creation and distribution into standards of a bygone era.

One of the other presenters talked of her frustration with a colleague who lamented the fact that people check Google before the library’s own catalog system. I didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry.

The metadata of ISSN X, volume this, page that, is not meaningful to the vast majority of people. Metadata at Brijit means the basics of how most people want their content in an increasingly online, mobile world: title, author, source, date, and TAGS. On an article by article basis. And everything with a link back to the underlying material (where available), so that you can go right to it. We’ve built Brijit to dovetail with consumer behavior, not fight it. It’s a search-driven, link-based, short-form world, and we’re just living (and working) in it.

The Travel Media’s Two Cents

What do travel writers, who essentially cover a luxury industry, do when the economy takes a nosedive? Penny-pinch, of course. The theme du jour is tourism on a dime, as budget-traveler Rick Steves and Rick Seaney of FareCompare.com offer money-saving advice on Talk of the Nation today. Similarly, New Yorkers (and tourists) have some resources to work with, as The New York Times went budget grocery shopping last week, about a month after New York magazine printed their wallet-saving guide. Still, these recommendations pale in comparison to travel writer and voluntary vagabond Rolf Potts, who advocates drifting as the ultimate relaxing (and cheap) vacation.

Faces of Disorder

As Dana Priest reported in January in the Washington Post, some 2,100 American soldiers attempted suicide or inflicted injuries on themselves last year, about six times the number in 2002. Since then, post-traumatic stress disorder has been getting increasing attention in the media, from The Nation’s investigation of psychological pressure in the Marine Corps to Rolling Stone’s recent profile of the immortalized “Marlboro Marine.” Lance Cpl. James Blake Miller, one of the 500,000 veterans suffering from PTSD, puts a sobering face on the illness, likening his life upon returning home to being “locked inside a hell you can’t escape.” Meanwhile, the New Yorker’s review of Kimberley Peirce’s Stop-Loss — about a soldier who must return for a second tour in Iraq — pegs the film as possibly the definitive film representation of the Iraq War.

Are We Really Still Talking About the Merits of Linking in 2008?

It was all I could do not to write a headline laced with profanity, such is the depth of my frustration. (My colleagues talked me down.)

Brijit has enjoyed a great run of mainstream media visibility over the past couple of months, by pretty much any standard. We were on the cover of the Life section of USA Today, the lead example in a piece titled “Services cater to our speeded-up lives.” We got a nice mention on MSNBC in a story called “How to dig out from the information avalanche.” And last week we appeared in the April issue of Wired, which identified Brijit as a prime example of “The Human Touch,” one of “nine trends driving business in 2008.” Great stuff for any company, especially a startup like ours. Just one problem: none of these actually linked to www.brijit.com!

Now, I don’t want to seem ungrateful, but these particular masters of mainstream media are killing me. According to Comscore, MSNBC had 28 million unique visitors in January. USA Today’s sites had more than 8 million, and Wired 2 million. These are big brands with big audiences, the kind of audiences that entrepreneurs like me would ordinarily salivate over. If some small fraction of these audiences finds its way to one of these articles, and some small fraction of that fraction clicks through to visit Brijit, and some small fraction of that fraction likes what they see, sticks around, and shares Brijit with their friends, well, that’s a big deal for a site like ours. Which is why it’s so enraging to be written about but NOT linked to.

When we launched late last year, it was a piece by Frank Ahrens in the The Washington Post that brought us to the world’s attention. More than four months later, we continue to see a trickle of referrals from this story. Why? Because on first reference, there’s a link to Brijit. Now, The Washington Post is about as mainstream as mainstream media gets, but they get it. This isn’t complex neuroscience. This is common courtesy. Hell, this is the Golden Rule we’re talking about: do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

If you’re a publisher, you want other publishers linking to you. If you’re a reader, you want easy access to whatever it is you want to read, listen to, or watch. It’s pretty simple. So what, exactly, is wrong with USA Today, MSNBC, Wired, and the host of other outlets that still haven’t instituted link-friendly standards? Are they so desperate to keep people on their sites that they’re willing to treat their readers with such disrespect? Do they think not linking is the key to consumer satisfaction? Really?

I know this is well-worn ground. It’s pretty common knowledge at this point that the link is the coin of the realm online. The blog as a medium is built on a foundation that linking is good. So is Google. So is Yahoo!. And so is Brijit. And when Tom Rosenstiel, who supervised The State of the News Media 2008 report for the Project for Excellence in Journalism, goes on Bob Garfield’s On the Media and declares that “your website should be a way-station, a place that can help me get to where I want to go. If it were a dead-end street, a cul-de-sac, it would be less useful to me,” you’d think that everyone was on board.

They’re not.

Eastern Promise

When the 26 members of NATO meet in Bucharest this week, they’ll discuss a number of pressing issues, including the group’s ongoing expansion into Eastern Europe. Writing in The Washington Post, Jim Hoagland looked at the behind-the-scenes political maneuvering. Germany wants to block Georgia and Ukraine from joining, and Hoagland argues it’s a move that inadvertently helps both Vladimir Putin and George W. Bush: The two leaders can keep their positions — Bush for expansion, Putin against — without having to do anything about it for the rest of their terms. Elsewhere, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld took to the pages of The Wall Street Journal to argue for the NATO expansion — discussing full membership for Albania, Croatia, and Macedonia, as well as touching on the Georgia/Ukraine issue. Meanwhile, foreign policy expert Ronald Asmus penned a think piece suggesting that the organization needs to overhaul its rationale for expanding, particularly in the face of a more dominant Russia.

Absolutely Flabulous

Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. were down-on-their-luck, regional fast food chains until they discovered “balls out postmodern gluttony.” The 1,400-calorie Monster Thickburger — which sports two 1/3 pound slabs of Angus beef, four strips of bacon, three slices of American cheese, mayonnaise, and a buttered, sesame seed bun — has helped boost the company’s stock price from $2 to $22. It isn’t just the drive-thru, either: Ballparks are increasingly looking at all-you-can-eat seats, where patrons can eat until they puke, in addition to ostensibly watching a baseball game. Dodger fan and funnyman Neal Pollack headed over to Dodger Stadium with an NPR press credential to explain how this is a rip-off for fans, in addition to taking a few years off of their lives. But living large is even extending to supposedly sophisticated food bloggers: The New York Times takes a look at a not-that-surprising development — food writers getting fat.

Less Money, Mo’ Problems

Wired editor Chris Anderson continues making the rounds to promote his free-stuff-online thesis, echoing the message from his March cover story. From photo storage to email addresses, it seems you can get nearly anything for free online — but many of these sites can afford the cheap goods by taking close notes about your surfing habits, info that advertisers prize. Facebook in particular has drawn criticism for its shopper-spying Beacon, which it has since amended (and added additional privacy features), Talk of the Nation reported. Alas, it seems the best things in life are not actually free; in a unique piece, The Believer prints “condensed copy” of an indie-film budget — and $3,000 of its $6 million goes to photocopies of the script.

Stay on Target

Sometimes it doesn’t pay to be the biggest. While Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, has been struggling of late, Target has been humming along in second place. Letting the big guys take the flak for everything that is bad about big-box retailing, Target has been signing up hip designers, keeping prices low, and establishing itself as a go-to brand for everything from trail mix to sundresses. The retailer even found itself playing a bit part in a scandal during the GOP primary race: While governor Mike Huckabee and his wife were on their way out of the Little Rock governor’s mansion, they were listed on the store’s wedding registry in an attempt to furnish their new home. (Wedding gifts are exempt from ethics laws in Arkansas. The Huckabees have been married for three decades.)

The decidedly un-hip former governor of Arkansas notwithstanding, working with designers like Alice Temperley and Erin Fetherston has certainly brought cachet to the retailer, particularly among the younger, suburban set — something that could eventually be reflected in the retailer’s still-struggling stock price.

Regulators, Mount Up

The Bear Stearns bailout is prompting the chattering classes to ponder exactly what, if anything, should be done to fix structural issues in the financial system (or even if they do, in fact, exist). Paul Krugman, who’s been hammering away at deregulation, argues that the current financial mess is the fault of the erosion of oversight of our financial institutions. On “Fox News Sunday,” Glenn Hubbard (former Bush adviser) and Lawrence Summers (former Clinton cabinet member) duked it out from the right and left, respectively, while Newsweek spent its week asking everyone from Robert Rubin to General Motors’ Bob Lutz what to do about it all (a McCain advisor seems nervous: “Hopefully the stimulus package will help pick things up late in the second quarter or early in the third.”) Meanwhile, BusinessWeek is wondering if Hillary Clinton can spin political gold from the dross of the credit crunch.

On a more optimistic note, Charles Duhigg, writing in the New York Times this weekend, reassures everyone that there will be no second Great Depression. Or could it be that our economic system has become so complex that we’re going to be vulnerable to these crises for the foreseeable future?

Brijit in Wired!

The April issue of Wired magazine is online, with a big piece on their 9 big trends for 2008. Number 9? “The Human Touch,” featuring Brijit as the lead example of “ventures that are using people, rather than algorithms, to filter the Internet’s wealth of information.”

Sprouting Fingers

Sunday Morning scored some gross-out points this weekend with its story about Lee Spievack, who regrew his severed fingertip using a “magic” powder made from pig bladders. But it gets better (or worse), as the program actually shows some less-than-appetizing footage of the regenerated finger. However, the story is several months old — we prefer Esquire’s more colorful report from October.

In other Frankensteinian news, a little while back University of Minnesota scientists grew a rat heart in a lab. And if all this weird science is too much for you, check out this piece about PatientsLikeMe, a social networking site for those coping with disease.

Breaking China in Tibet

With violence erupting in Tibet this week, the stars aligned to make China look especially naughty, and as the summer Olympics draw near, everyone’s favorite Communist giant is getting a thorough grilling from the press. The Economist examined the Dalai Lama’s role in the mess, arguing that the bespectacled holy man might be China’s only hope for compromise. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal took note of the tightrope that Olympic sponsors walk as complaints grow about China’s involvement in the Darfur conflict.

And then, of course, there’s the whole censorship thing, which everybody weighed in on. The Los Angeles Times provided a near-comic report on China’s latest PR campaign, in which the country plays victim to Tibetan aggression. The Journal and TechCrunch also looked at the Internet blackout (a world without Google or YouTube? Inconceivable!) — and how Google might respond.

So what do the Tibetans have to say for themselves? The Journal had a great piece about fired-up youth creating their own “Free Tibet” movement — sans the Dalai Lama. And there’s more trouble brewing: The New York Times ran a thoughtful piece about class strife between the wealthier Han Chinese and poorer Tibetans.

But if this week’s violent imagery has you feeling sorry for the Tibetans, take comfort in Saveur’s recent piece on the tea made from yak butter that sustains them in these cold, hard times.

War, What is it Good For?

Yesterday marked the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War, and the nation’s media have been flooding the zone. Ouside of the predictable “it’s been a success!” and “it’s been a failure!” op-eds, there were some more interesting angles. “Talk of the Nation” spoke with the producer for the New York Times’ Iraq-based blog, which includes man-on-the-street interviews with actual Iraqis. Tavis Smiley interviewed Rep. Patrick Murphy, the first Iraq vet elected to Congress, while BusinessWeek ran a feature on vets heading to business school. Salon took a look at the impact of the war on Iraq’s cultural and archaeological heritage, and Dana Milbank of the Washington Post attended an anti-war rally outside, of all places, IRS headquarters. (There’s plenty more if you still haven’t gotten your fix.)

For a truly moving assessment of the war’s impact at home, though, take a look at Esquire’s brilliant piece from late last year about an Iraq vet using pot to treat his post-traumatic stress disorder.

Oh, That’s Rich!

Is it becoming harder to join the true elite in the US? According to recent statistics from the IRS, one needed to report $104 million in adjusted gross income to be among the top 400 income-earners in 2002. By 2005, that number more than doubled to $214 million. Still, the upward shift among the already-wealthy has allowed Barron’s to report (with a straight face, apparently) that more and more people making millions would like to be considered “middle class” — those making $25 million to $50 million per year, for example, are merely “beer and pretzels” rich. (Tough break.)

So things are going swimmingly for Wall Street Journal and Barron’s readers, but what about those other countries with sky-high GDPs? Lest we become envious of wealth in other parts of the world, Ben Stein assures us that, despite growing wealth around the world, America is, and will remain, the richest country on earth. Of course, there is also some evidence of a trickle-down effect: According to The Atlantic (the one with Britney Spears on the cover), the slums and sidewalks of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) are becoming a mere stopover on an otherwise upward trajectory as the city becomes more cosmopolitan.

Everyone Into the (Office) Pool!

Wondering how to fill out that NCAA tournament bracket? ESPN has some sardonic tips — pick schools that have tough mascots, celebrity alums, and that don’t graduate their players. Esquire has some general tips on sports betting, including “just fill the thing out” — no one likes the guy who says he doesn’t know anything about basketball.

If you’re actually looking for depth, there are plenty of player profiles out there to give you your fix. North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough leads the list of frontcourt players to watch; others include Luke Harangody of Notre Dame, Stanford’s Lopez twins, and Wisconsin’s Brian Butch, one of the more inspiring players in the tourney this year. If you like guards, look for Russel Westbrook of UCLA, OJ Mayo of USC, and, on defense, Xavier’s Stanley Burrell (ESPN the Magazine has plenty more). Not taking the court this year is rapper Lil Romeo — he won’t be handling the ball for USC until 2009.

At What Point Does News Break Too Fast?

Scott Karp has an interesting and thoughtful post up on the coverage of the Bear Stearns collapse. He uses the fast-moving story (breaking on a Sunday, no less!) to highlight the advantages of the Web versus print for breaking news. But while I agree with most of what Scott has to say in his post, he loses me here:

“The problem with following the Bear Stearns story on the web is that traditional news brand sites are too conflicted between serving print readers and serving web readers…”

Really? The New York Times homepage was updated throughout the day on Sunday and into Monday. And the paper, well, the paper published the most up to date stories it could given the realities deadlines of the daily miracle that is the big-city newspaper. What’s the problem exactly? Those of us who get our news on the Web got a constantly updated story, well reported and well told. And the folks for whom the paper remains a primary resource got EXACTLY what they expect to get.

According to Karp: “News … has a narrative, a story arc that it is often very instructive to follow. The New York Times has a wealth of reporting that covers a story as it unfolds — but the homepage is useless for looking at the story arc.”

Not to put too fine a point on it, but (and I mean this literally) who cares?

We’re all familiar by now with the advantages of the Web versus print on a fast-moving story like this. Karp seems to be arguing that the traditional press — nastier folks than Scott would sneer derisively at the mainstream media — can’t get us there. But for the vast majority of people, the old-school media brands most certainly can, and do, get us there. To be clear, I’m certainly not suggesting that there isn’t a place for bloggers and crowdsourcing and all of the other terrific resources we have at our disposal for the gathering and disseminating information. Of course there is. But I believe that for most people, on the day, the volume, presentation, and speed of coverage of a story like Bear Stearns provided by the Times or the Wall Street Journal is ample. Anything more seems like drinking from a fire hose.

Of course, some people are really, really thirsty when it comes to news. I’d posit that there are basically two groups looking for more/better/faster: industry-types with some sort of direct vested interest in the outcome of the story, and information junkies. Now, are these groups worth catering to on news? You bet. Look no further than the mayor of New York City to know how lucrative it can be: Michael Bloomberg became a multi-billionaire on the back of providing breaking news on a specific topic (bond prices) to a specific audience (traders).

But for most of us, the minute-to-minute details of bond prices, or the Bear Stearns debacle for that matter, are more than we need. In the end, we want to know what’s happening, we want to trust the source, and we want to move on with our lives.

A Mauling on Wall Street

Bear Stearns didn’t have Jimmy Stewart to keep its clients and shareholders from bolting last week, but the US government and JP Morgan have come galloping to the bank’s rescue. The Federal Reserve has effectively promised not to let the bank fail, while JP Morgan, relatively unscathed from the subprime mess, has agreed to acquire the troubled Bear Stearns for $2 per share — a price that is, amazingly, one tenth of Stearns’ valuation just three days ago. Paul Krugman weighs in on the situation, suggesting the Fed should have let Bear Stearns fail: The bank gambled on risky subprime investments, and allowing the institution to slip beneath the waves would “teach Wall Street not to expect someone else to clean up its messes.” Writing in the Washington Post this weekend, James Grant suggested that the Fed is a little too interested in Bear Stearns’ share price and not interested enough in global inflation — his smart piece analyzes how the US government’s bailout will affect the greenback. But we have yet to see any word on how billionaire investor Joseph Lewis feels about the flurry of weekend deal-making — the largest investor in Bear Stearns, he upped his stake in the bank last year to roughly 10 percent.

George Clooney Kisses and Tells, and Tells, and Tells …

We get it — George Clooney is a handsome devil. Every lady’s favorite piece of eye candy has been making the rounds. The New York Times Magazine put a rather bizarre photo on the cover of its special issue last week of Clooney spattered with mud (sadly, the story had far less dirt). Clooney apparently also had dinner with Time’s Joel Stein, who found him not only handsome, but charming. Esquire has Clooney googling himself, while Radar dug for gossip from Hollywood sources and came up with all sorts of anecdotes about Clooney’s temper.

If you’re looking for other cover candy, though, this week there’s a sensitive Brett Favre weeping on the cover of Sports Illustrated, a New Yorker featuring Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama getting friendly, and a new Vanity Fair featuring a frisky Amy Poehler getting personal with Tina Fey (hey, it’s more action than Playboy got from its interview with Fey).

So Many Zeroes

Three trillion dollars. That’s also how much the Iraq War will end up costing, according to The Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict, a new book by Joseph Sitglitz and Linda Blimes. The authors estimate that future operating expenses, interest on the money borrowed to pay for the war, proper care for veterans, and the war’s impact on the overall economy will actually cost $2.8 trillion to $4.5 trillion. Compare that to the Bush administration’s pre-war projection that it would cost $50 to $60 billion – whoops. (Even then-Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill’s off-the-reservation estimate that the war would cost $200 billion seems tiny.) And that doesn’t even count the $9 billion to $12 billion that has gone missing from the Coalition Provisional Authority.

The authors have gone on an impressive publicity tour: Stiglitz and Blimes have talked to Fresh Air about the book, had an excerpt published in Vanity Fair, and penned an op-ed for the influential Washington Post Outlook section. But they didn’t have to do the all the work themselves: Arianna Huffington and Bob Herbert also used the book and its conclusions for recent columns. And that’s the kind of publicity you just can’t buy…

The Tug of the Cape

Tired of defending your love of comic books to your naysaying friends? AV Club gives you all the ammunition you need with its exhaustive primer on V for Vendetta novelist Alan Moore. For serious doubters, Michael Chabon’s New Yorker essay may be the best starting point, as he strips the proto-hero down to his Spandex and comes up with some nifty symbolism. Some readers might even prefer a nostalgic testimonial, though we have to admit the real-life urban ninja is even more exciting.

The Consummate Professional

Just when the Democratic primary race had started to feel stale, politicos got some red meat in the form of the Eliot Spitzer sex scandal. For people living under a rock for the past 24 hours, the New York governor is alleged to have frolicked last month in a Washington, DC, hotel room with “Kristen,” a high-priced escort who is reportedly a “very pretty brunette, 5 feet 5 inches, and 105 pounds. ” Dana Milbank puts the event into the perspective of DC history — Franklin Delano Roosevelt used a room on a nearby floor to pen some of his best-known speeches — while Daniel Gross compares Spitzer’s transgressions to the crimes of the Wall Street crooks he made his name putting away. Slate uses the imbroglio to ask why prostitution is illegal in the first place. It’s humiliating, to be sure, but still not quite as bad as falling into a coma after being hooked up to “The Wheel” in a S&M fetish club.

A Cornucopia in the Arctic

With fears over the impact of climate change growing, Talk of the Nation last Friday hosted Cary Fowler of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, who discussed Norway’s Valhalla of crop diversity, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. The conversation is mostly about the efforts of the world’s largest seed bank, which holds 100 million seeds. Back in August the New Yorker first picked up on Svalbard’s importance in preserving the world’s flora; while they offer great analysis, the New York Times’ piece just two weeks ago included the most astonishing pictures we’ve seen of the ultra-secure center. Of course, as important as biodiversity is, all those veggies we’re preserving would probably taste even better with a little butter.

Missing the Marx

With the Republican nomination wrapped up and Democrats pitting two highly popular, historically significant candidates against one another, the Beltway press is desperate for a provocative story to tell. In the wake of SNL’s much-discussed roast of the Democratic debate, the press gamely returned to their old standby: conflict. Hence Linda Hershman, for whom the whole race boils down to class struggle. Then again, it could very well be a question of race. Or gender. Maureen Dowd splits the difference, saying it’s about both race and gender, making it the “ultimate nightmare of liberal identity politics.” The Nation’s Katha Pollitt begs to differ, however, claiming that the real nightmare scenario facing the Democrats wears sensible shoes — and answers to the name Nader.

The International Language of Laughter

Comedy’s making news these days, and not just in the US. In Burma three-man stand-up comedy team the Moustache Brothers has gotten away with taking shots at the military junta, but two of the brothers have landed in jail for their jokes, and locals aren’t even allowed to watch the act — which is performed in a living room. Less political is 91-year-old Dr. Tangalanga, a beloved Argentinian funnyman who has been making prank phone calls for more than 40 years; he’s so popular that a third of his victims now recognizes him when he calls. Closer to the US, viral videos have brought stardom to Anita Renfroe, who offers up observational jokes about the foibles of life as a Christian soccer mom, while veteran Saturday Night Live comedy writer James Downey has recently found himself in the spotlight following his high-profile political sketches about the 2008 election. Replayed and discussed ad nauseum by the cable-television crowd, the SNL sketches have brought Downey some increased notoriety (but, as yet, no jail time).

A Scentsible Selection

If the results of Tuesday’s primaries left you looking for something to take your mind off politics, there’s plenty to fill your senses in the nation’s media outlets. The New Yorker’s olfactory article about perfumes will have you feeling like a kid again as you learn about the five senses. Audiences in Pyongyang were similarly stimulated last week when the New York Philharmonic took the stage, and Time was there to capture it in photos. Meanwhile, 3-D chalk artist Julian Beever showed off some of his dazzling sights on Sunday Morning. But yes, we’re leaving touch out of this one — we’re too distracted by that lingering taste of those bacon mints.

Super Tuesday! Again!

Today’s primaries in Texas and Ohio might — emphasis on “might” — determine the Democratic nominee. The chattering classes are saying that the economic situation in Ohio (which isn’t the greatest right now) could end up deciding the race in the Buckeye State. Steve Kroft from 60 Minutes, no doubt enduring multiple layovers, heads to the small town of Chillicothe to get the locals’ take on the election, while BusinessWeek looks at how the grim economic news could help the Dems (though it’s not clear which one). Buckeye Gail Collins posits that her home state might find Obama a bit “show-offy,” while her colleague David Brooks observes that Obama’s campaign themes are ringing true with the kids, what with their YouTubes and Facebooks and open-source software. Seemingly flying about it all is Michelle Obama, who is getting a lot of love these days — especially at The New Yorker, judging from its unreservedly positive profile.

All Bets Are On

With a recession looming, we’ve got to admit that putting a little money on the occasional sporting event is starting to sound like an appealing way to invest. According to GQ, you can’t lose with their advice (Rule 17: Losers bet alone). ESPN has a nice primer to help you clean up in your fantasy baseball draft, but if that’s too much effort, you could always bet on fishing — there might be a million bucks in it for you. And if leaving the couch still sounds like too much to do, you can always win some cash playing Nintendo Wii.

They Love Us In Canada!

Jonathan Kay of The National Post wrote a killer piece on Brijit today. He’s coined the word “Brijiteer,” which I absolutely love, to describe a Brijit writer. And he and his colleagues in Toronto are apparently engaged in a three-way “Brijit Summary Smackdown,” another phrase I plan to adopt with all due speed, as we’d love to see friends challenging friends to these little semi-intellectual contests across the Web. Good stuff.

As the CEO of a startup, I can’t help but smile at the comparison to YouTube and Facebook:

“…every once and a while, a new web site comes along and changes my life. It happened with Youtube in 2005, and then again with Facebook last year. And now I’m going through the same throes of electronic passion with a new love, Brijit.”

And in another sign that we’re moving in the right direction, Kay’s also using Brijit as a verb:

“I am hooked on Brijit like electronic crack. I no longer Facebook, or Blackberry, or IM. Instead, I Brijit.”

In all, they love us in Canada!

The End of the Fox Hunt

It’s an interesting story that you may have missed: Imad Mugniyah was killed by a car bomb earlier this month in a tony suburb outside Damascus, Syria. Not nearly as famous as Osama bin Laden or Carlos the Jackal, by the 1980s, Hizbullah-associated Mugniyah, known as “the fox” or sometimes “big brother,” was responsible for enough kidnappings, bombings, and hijackings to push him to the top of most-wanted lists around the world; his grisly rap sheet included the 1983 bombing of a Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 servicemen, the 1984 kidnapping of Beirut CIA chief William Buckley, and the hijacking of TWA flight 847 in 1985. In addition to Newsweek’s detailed account of Mugniyah’s demise, which describes how it could lead to more violence, the right-wing political pubs picked up on the assassination, as well. The Weekly Standard focused on Mugniyah’s ties to Al Qaeda and bin Laden, while the National Review looked at Syria’s role in the Middle East. Foreign Policy, on the other hand, provides an unrelated look at the next class of terrorists — and what the world can do about it. (Beginning, it seems, with re-framing the debate.)

The Meta Times: Bloggin’ About Bloggin’

Blogs are for everyone, it seems, as Talk of the Nation’s interview with Stuff White People Like author Christian Lander is riding high on our Most Popular list this week. New York Magazine also has a list of other blogs worth your time, including a DC-based Casanova and a confessional translation of The Iliad. Meanwhile, Utne Reader reviews some feminist blogs. But if politics is too polarizing for you, you can always turn to that classic Internet staple — pictures of cute animals.

Musical Diplomacy

Following in the footsteps of the Boston Orchestra’s ground-breaking 1956 tour of the Soviet Union, the New York Philharmonic this week offered a command performance to Pyongyang’s elite. Seeing as North Korea — often called the Hermit Kingdom — remains a relatively closed society in an increasingly global world, press reports about the event provided an important peek behind the DMZ. While The New Yorker covers conductor Lorin Maazel’s attempts to break the language barrier with music, the Wall Street Journal provides a detail-packed account of the trip; The National Review, predictably, criticizes the orchestra’s decision to travel to Pyongyang, while The Washington Post explores earlier attempts to bridge idealogical divides with music (including a performance by Pink Floyd that helpfully came a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall). Still, against all these attempts by well-meaning Westerners to spread democracy around the globe, Foreign Policy asks an important question: Does democracy really make you any happier?

Warning Shots

While the rest of the world lives in relative peace, we at Brijit have been tracking a coming storm, a growing compendium of signs of the apocalypse. Take for example David Matlock’s “G shots”: quick shots of collagen to a woman’s G spot that temporarily increase its size, making it easier to find. Some women are hooked, returning every four months (and dropping $1,850 each time). Other threats to humanity include people enlisting in the “citizen paparazzi” and selling bottled holy water. Still not scared? Well, there’s always those uber-destructive supermassive black holes charging through space.

That’s Super!

With a lull in Democratic primaries before the upcoming contests in Ohio and Texas, pundits and political writers have focused upon the role of superdelegates in this tight race. Raising the specter of a nominee chosen by superdelegates — those hangers-on, VIPs, political operatives, and party cadres who can cast their delegate vote however they please, unbeholden to any popular vote — Rick Stengel ponders the unlikely possibility that superdelegates would dare to go against the electorate, while other reporters look at the controversial history of the superdelgate. Lanny Davis even provides a first-hand account of his experience as a superdelegate, pointing out that they’ve always been seen as “independent” of the electorate, while Geraldine Ferraro offers her own, pro-superdelegate take on the situation. (Of course, both disclose themselves as Hillary Clinton supporters, the candidate widely considered to benefit from all this superdelegate maneuvering.)

Oscar, and the Grouches

Leading up to Oscar weekend, it seems Ellen Page and Juno are finished making the rounds; most of the coverage went to villain-studded Best Picture noms There Will Be Blood and No Country for Old Men. Our own Best Oscar Reporting statuette goes to Premiere, which got up close with four nominated actors. But rather than fawn over favorites, most mags put out contrarian pieces: Time weighs in with some delightful naysaying, and the AARP shows whippersnappers a thing or two with its Movies for Grownups Awards. But even they can’t out-curmudgeon Vanity Fair, which, as usual, is stuck in the past.

Will the Real John McCain Please Stand Up? The Press Corps Can’t Seem to Find You.

John McCain and his Straight Talk Express seem to have a relatively smooth road to the Republican nomination — even if the Express itself could use a Pimp My Ride-style makeover, as a sprawling New Yorker profile of the candidate points out. But who, exactly, is it behind the wheel? The New York Times has a massive investigative feature today, but all it really tells us is that McCain seems to prefer blondes (as does New York this week). The chattering class is split; those on the left would like to strip McCain of his “maverick” image, while those on the right seem to be preparing themselves to hold their nose and vote for him. More interesting is Nicholas Kristof’s contention that McCain is too honest to be an effective political panderer, and EJ Dionne’s argument that McCain is wrong to think terrorism is the biggest issue facing the US. Of course, you could always try watching McCain on TV and forming your own opinion.

The Morning After

It’s not easy being the front-runner. Fresh off his Wisconsin primary win, Barack Obama finds himself leading Hillary Clinton in delegates, but under increased scrutiny from the press corps. Campaigning in Wisconsin, he was teased for skipping the blue-collar pandering (brats, beers, and fish frys), and giving a speech at a convention center instead. Across the US, numerous pundits are arguing that Obama is more style than substance, while others have examined his speeches for plagiarism. Writing from his perch at The New York Times, David Brooks looks at the candidate’s momentum and wonders what will happen “when the magic fades.” But then again, the primaries aren’t over yet. The Sunday morning talk shows were buzzing with party loyalists and testy discussions of the latest issues within the Democratic Party itself: Will delegates from Florida and Michigan be seated at the convention? And how should all those superdelegates vote?

Uncork a Winner!

OK, so you blew it on Valentine’s Day and didn’t get your hands on “the greatest wine on the planet.” Don’t fret; you can impress your friends at that Oscar party this weekend with some decent runners-up (hey, it’s an honor just to be nominated). All the demand for top vintages has created an affordable pocket of commendable bottles, and American oenophiles can now stay local, as enotecas — wine shops that showcase local wineries — are making their way stateside. Finally, round out your tasting with some chocolate, and make it milk, because the lighter side is making a comeback.

Brijit for Facebook Will Save You Time, Make You Smarter, and Earn You Money. Seriously.

I’ve tried really hard not to endlessly flack Brijit in this space. But today we’re introducing Brijit for Facebook, and I can’t help myself — it’s just really cool, and I hope you’ll indulge me.

My 100-word abstract:

Wish you had the time to read cover-to-cover or never miss an episode? So do we. At Brijit, we gather 100 great sources and boil them down to 100 words to save you time. Now Brijit for Facebook lets your friends be your guide to the world’s best content, as we make it easy to share what you’re reading, listening to, and watching. Find it on Brijit, and your friends can see it on Facebook. And if you want to write for fun or profit, Brijit will even pay you $5 or more every time we publish one of your abstracts. It’s that simple.

Kudos to Benjamin Dorr, Allan Chan, Brent Thorington and Richard Ponton for bringing Brijit for Facebook to life. They’ve done some pretty interesting and innovative things here.

EASY SHARING INTEGRATED BEYOND FACEBOOK — For starters, Brijit for Facebook is one of the relatively few applications that’s robustly integrated with a site outside of Facebook. Once you’ve opted in, your reading on Brijit leads seamlessly and directly to recommendations on Facebook. There are no additional steps. No share buttons to press. No comments to tack on. If you read it on Brijit, your friends can see it on Brijit for Facebook. And if they read it, you can see it — it’s a mutual-recommendation tool that requires practically no effort.

A TIME-SAVER, NOT A TIME-SUCK — From SuperPoke to Scrabulous, the vast majority of Facebook applications, fun though they may be, are for wasting time. Brijit for Facebook is all about giving you your time back. We’re 100 percent committed to developing the best possible interface for dealing handling hundreds of sources and thousands of subjects. Today’s release is our first shout at it; additional customization is coming. We also think we’re on the early side of the maturation-of-Facebook trend with an efficient, easy-to-use service that takes full advantage of all of social media’s best traits.

A WAY TO GET PAID — We’re not familiar with too many Facebook apps that actually enable you to earn money easily, but Brijit for Facebook does just that. Users are just one click away from claiming any assignment they want to abstract. Facebook users now have easy access to the Brijit writers area, where they can earn $5 or more for every abstract they write that we publish. And of course, they can show off what they write for their friends with no further effort.

In the end, we think of Brijit for Facebook as an extension of everything we’re doing at Brijit. On Brijit for Facebook, your friends become your well-read friends, and everyone gets just a little bit smarter. We hope you’ll check it out, share it with your friends, and let us know what you think.

Whither the Wisdom of Crowds? Of course not.

I never thought I’d write these words: Thank you, Commander Taco.

CmdrTaco is the screen name of Rob Malda, the 31-year-old founder of slashdot.org. Slashdot, for the uninitiated (i.e. most of us), is a pioneering technology news community, a self-styled “News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters.” site.

So why the shout out? Yesterday Brad Stone wrote in the New York Times’ Bits blog that Malda’s skeptical of the mainstream value of Digg and other wisdom-of-crowds aggregations sites. Malda’s rationale, is, well, rational:

“I try not to paint Digg as my arch-nemesis. The Digg method and Digg community are a wider audience than Slashdot,” he said. “But with sites like Digg, it’s the wisdom of the crowds or the tyranny of the mob. You never know what you’re going to get.”

Put aside the dig at Digg, and CmdrTaco is reminding us that no single form of aggregation holds all the answers. Hence the shout-out here.

There’s extraordinary power in user-generation. From Amazon recommendations to sharing a la Digg or Deli.cio.us, the wisdom of crowds can be an incredible tool.

Of course there’s value in the algorithm. Google uses straight-up algorithm to put relevant information at our fingertips, and its worked out pretty well for them, and generally, for us.

And traditional top-down editorial control is excellent, too. Check out the Sports Illustrated or the Wall Street Journal or The Daily Show, and the value of professional, editorial control becomes pretty clear.

So why, in a world where we have such terrific aggregation options, would anyone settle for just one kind?

Well, more and more, we’re not. A host of companies, including Brijit, are making some variation of a hybrid production model part of their core businesses. We think that’s good news for lovers of great content.

USA Today: Brijit Saves You Time.

Brijit’s the lead anecdote in a piece in today’s USA Today by Marco della Cava.

I’m pretty ambivalent about our service being lumped together with an online speed dating site and an overpriced exercise machine, but the idea that Brijit exists in large part to save people time comes across loud and clear.

Small and Independent Publishers Rejoice! OpenID Will Set You Free. Maybe.

Michael Arrington over at TechCrunch has it that Yahoo! is joining OpenID:

“The rumor last week was that Google (as well as Verisign and IBM) were mulling over the idea of joining the OpenID 2.0 single sign-on framework. But the real news comes today, as Yahoo and its roughly 250 million user IDs officially jump on the bandwagon. Today, there are only approximately 120 million valid OpenID accounts. In one move, Yahoo more than triples that number.”

Marshall Kirkpatrick at ReadWriteWeb reasonably rains on the parade a bit:

“Yahoo! announced this morning that the company will authenticate the identities of its 248 million users if they chose to login to OpenID supporting sites with their Yahoo! ID.

Like the AOL announcement of roughly the same thing in February of last year, the key question is whether Yahoo! will do anything substantive with OpenID or whether, like the AOL announcement, this will just be window dressing to legitimize advocates of OpenID. AOL’s support for OpenID appears to have resulted in little more.

Though there’s every reason to hope that today’s Yahoo! announcement will lead to ongoing, meaningful advocacy of OpenID by the company and then a future wherein Yahoo! sites accept OpenID from other providers – there’s also plenty of reason to be concerned that neither will occur and that Yahoo! interests are really only served by spreading the use of Yahoo! ID further around the web.”

Let’s grab onto that “every reason to hope” part. Let’s say Yahoo! turns out to be a fervent advocate of OpenID and not a mere press-release pusher. In this case, this is awesome, awesome news for small and independent publishers and everyone who might enjoy their content.

One important impediment to audience enlargement is the registration wall. It’s effectively a big sign that says “go away,” unless you’re prepared to take the time and energy to sign up. For many, it’s just not worth the aggravation, and people move on. Rapid adoption of OpenID would go a long way toward eliminating this frustration.

In building Brijit, we’ve been relentlessly focused on how we can help people find and access the world’s best content. We’ve found that much of this content is produced by small and independent publishers. It follows, then, that any tool that emerges that makes it easy for big audiences to interact seamlessly across websites (while attending to sticky privacy issues) is a good thing.

Put another way: if all goes well, pretty soon more than 350 million people could be walking around with skeleton keys to “walled gardens” across the web. Now all the publishers have to do is figure out to attract users beyond their core communities without alienating those communities. And of course, we think Brijit can be helpful here.

Live From DC! Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Brijit!

I was interviewed yesterday by Nick O’Neill of Social Times.

If you’re interested in me, Brijit, or social media, you’ll probably find something valuable here.

When I was running Business Forward, my local DC business magazine, one of my favorite parts of the job was doing our monthly Twenty Questions interviews. There’s something extremely satisfying about conducting a good interview — the ebb and flow of it, getting the subject to enlighten and surprise. Giving a good interview is just as fun, and I have to admit, I think this one qualifies. I make a pretty good case for what we’re building at Brijit and why what we’re doing is important. I always have some trepidation about sitting down in front of the camera, but in this case I’m pretty pleased with the result. Nick, I hope you feel good about it, too.

Take Your Data and Run Like Hell?

Not likely. But big news today that’s likely to shape the social networking infrastructure to come.

From Marshall Kirkpatrick at ReadWriteWeb:

“The DataPortability Workgroup announced this morning that representatives from both Google and Facebook are joining its ranks. The group is working on a variety of projects to foster an era of Data Portability – where users can take their data from the websites they use to reuse elsewhere and where vendors can leverage safe cross-site data exchange for a whole new level of innovation. Good bye customer lock-in, hello to new privacy challenges. If things go right, today could be a very important day in the history of the internet.”

I think Marshall’s absolutely right. So is TechCrunch’s Duncan Riley: “Today Facebook has taken the first step towards open standards and data portability, and despite those previous gripes they should be congratulated for it.”

But if 08 Jan 08 is a day to remember, should we expect to see a stampede of Facebook users ditch the service for greener social media pastures? I doubt it.

If indeed the big guys walk the walk they’re talking — a big if — the real impact of today’s announcement will be a dramatic increase in the number of people behaving socially. Think of all those Yahoo! Mail and Gmail users seamlessly making their contacts the center for their social own social experiences, many (if not most) for the very first time. All the Facebook-mania aside, social media is just getting warmed up, and it’s an exciting time for everyone.

But even if Facebook comes through and opens the garden, I wouldn’t expect anything resembling a flight of users. Facebook became Facebook in no small part by delivering a great user experience, and so long as it continues to make people happy, people will flock to it, data potability or not.

Check Out BigThink, and Think About the Big Trends

A hearty welcome to BigThink, a self-styled “YouTube for ideas, which made a splash today in a NY Times piece, and then this evening on TechCrunch.

Tim Arango pegged his Times story around BigThink’s investors (former Treasury Secretary and ex-Harvard president Larry Summers and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, among others), and painted a pretty Ivory Tower, highfalutin picture of the venture. Erick Schonfeld goes more than 800 words in his evenhanded look on TechCrunch, making fair criticisms of the site’s interface, and comparing it with FORA.tv. (Disclosure — I know Don Baer, one of FORA.tv’s board members.)

Kudos to BigThink founder Peter Hopkins on the launch, and the great coverage.

But the more interesting story, the one I would have liked to see in the Times or TechCrunch, is the trend story. BigThink is an example of a company carving out a quality-content business in a post-YouTube, post-Digg, lewd-and-loopy-win world. Whether or not BigThink’s model is exactly the right one, or if they’ll execute, remains to be seen. But they’re trying to do something interesting, and I can’t help but applaud the effort.

Anyone who’s spent any time around Brijit will understand why I like BigThink conceptually:

They’re embracing unique, smart content with an eye toward making it accessible to a mainstream audience. They don’t seem to be dumbing it down.

They’re taking a hybrid approach to content creation. They seem to be committing to high quality by employing internal editors and house-produced segments, while at the same time seeking to tap into all benefits of community-generated content and the wisdom of crowds.

They’re looking at big long-form ideas from trusted sources and boiling them down for a short-form world.

I sense a trend…

Paying Writers Based on Traffic Is (Mostly) a Race to the Bottom

Plenty of virtual ink is being spilled over the new pay scheme for writers over at Gawker Media. Nick Denton and company are replacing their pay-per-post model for paying bloggers with a salary-plus-traffic-bonus model. According to the internal memo posted on Valleywag, the change is meant, in part, to incentivize the creation of quality content. I’ll believe it when I see it.

Scott Karp does a nice job elucidating the “cons”:

“The downsides of this approach are obvious — the incentive rewards content that is salacious, titillating, slanderous, nasty, etc. — anything that appeals to the base interests of a mass audience. It rewards gaming of social news sites… And of course it rewards search engine optimization … with headlines written for search engines rather than people. “

The “pros” are a little harder to discern. Mathew Ingram seems willing roll the dice:

“[I]n the long run it is likely to make them more intimately involved in their blogs, and more interested in developing a relationship with their readers, and that’s a good thing.”

I’m skeptical. Yes, there’s something to the idea of relationship-building IF the bloggers in question are sticking around for years. But is that really the universe we’re talking about? What’s the average tenure for a writer with a blog network gig? And will this mythical writer actually put more money in his pocket doing an extra-special good job then he might have churning out commodity volume-filler posts?

Of course it’s important to have a strong relationship with one’s readers. But in the end it’s the editor’s responsibility to make sure that the blog owns that relationship. Individual voices are eminently brandable, and can become great businesses. But the biggest content businesses brand businesses, not bloggers.

Dan Blank’s headline, The War Against Mediocre Online Editorial Content, is tough not to love, because we’re all sick of the flotsam and jetsam that pollutes the web’s waters. He rightly points out that “[t]he recognition that the web is is now littered with news and commentary is the key here.” But I think he’s stretching with his assertion that “Gawker is taking a measured step to bridge the gap between blogger and journalist.”

Professional journalists don’t get paid individually based on circ numbers. In fact, compensation based on individual performance would be a disaster for most working writers — it’s the publications (Web and print doesn’t much matter here) to which most readers have fidelity.

Now, that doesn’t mean the occasional rock star journalist won’t make bank. They will; but it’ll be on the back end of building an audience, and come in the form of higher salaries, book deals, speaking engagements, and the like. But these are the exceptions to the rule (and even then their rewards come only for producing a meaningful body of work). It’s not the same thing as Gawker’s traffic-bonus model. Not even the same sport. Denton and company are doing something interesting, but it’s almost the complete antithesis of bridging the gap between bloggers and journalists.

As Scott Karp notes toward the end of his piece, “[w]hat the web lacks most right now is a content filter that adheres consistently to a high standard of quality.” I think that’s absolutely right. Fundamentally, it’s why we’re building Brijit. But we don’t believe paying your writers based on traffic is the way ensure quality. Combining the best aspects of algorithm, user-generated content and traditional editorial control allows us to control for quality. Pay-for-traffic, more often than not, is a race to the bottom.

Brijit Index for 31 Dec 2007

The Brijit Index is a weekly report on the most popular print, broadcast and online features from www.brijit.com, culled from 100 of the world’s best and most trusted sources. The Brijit Index reflects the choices of Brijit’s growing community of smart readers and writers, and spotlights the most popular pieces from the past seven days. We’ve doubled up this week due to the holidays; this Brijit Index covers the past 14 days:

1 Dickheads of the Year by Bill Maher, Rolling Stone, 27 Dec 2007 / 10 January 2008 — Not your average year-in-review, Maher offers up his picks, and readers left of the political center will find it hilarious. PETA’s public enemy number one, Michael Vick holds the dubious distinction of topping the list, and Blackwater CEO Erik Prince is not far behind. Group award-winners include College Republicans, for being “doughy losers who, at age twenty, care more about tax cuts than girls,” and the “twenty-five percent of America who would not desert George Bush if he ran over Dakota Fanning with his pickup truck.”

2 The Worst Films of 2007, A.V. Club, 18 Dec 2007 — Obvious candidates (Daddy Day Camp, Norbit) mixed with high-falutin’ failures (Lion for Lambs, Elizabeth: The Golden Age). Of course it’s easier to pan than praise, and the writers get are loaded for bear, describing the directors of Epic Movie as “cancerous boils on the face of comedy.” Some of the descriptions are so deliciously derisive, you even might be enticed to give bombs such as Dane Cook’s Good Luck Chuck a second look.

3 A Bible, but No Email by Richard Stengel & Adi Ignatius, Time, 31 Dec 2007 — Vladimir Putin is Time’s Person of the Year, and this conversation with the Russian leader is fascinating. Putin openly discusses geopolitics, his view of US failures in Iraq, his KGB training, and American misconceptions about Russians. He’s cagier when it comes to corruption, the murders of journalists, and the jailing of former chess champion Garry Kasparov.

4 Little-Known Mafia Is Cocaine ‘King’ by Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times, 27 Dec 2007

5 Sock It to Me: Competitive Knitters Get Deadly Serious by Kevin Delaney, The Washington Post, 17 Dec 2007

6 Escape From Jonestown by Gary Smith, Sports Illustrated, 31 Dec 2007

7 A Buyer’s Christmas by James Surowiecki, The New Yorker, 24 & 31 Dec 2007

8 J.K. Rowling by Nancy Gibbs, Time, 31 Dec 2007

9 The Year in Food 2007, Chow, 21 Dec 2007

10 Best of Ads, Worst of Ads by Suzanne Vranica, The Wall Street Journal, 27 Dec 2007