Blogging Now Considered Normal

Well, okay. Maybe mainstream America doesn't consider blogging to be "normal" just yet. However, blogging is definitely within the bell curve of things that are no longer weird.

Back in September, CNET's Webware reported that bloggers are now creating nearly 1 million posts per day.

Webware notes that the mainstream media is using blogging as supplementary and complementary to normal online news reporting. Evidence for this is easily found on my two most visited news sites, nytimes.com and washingtonpost.com. The Times has its own index of Times staffer blogs. The Post even has its own blog subdomain. These news blogs seem to be comprised mostly of not-quite-newsworthy news or, more fascinatingly, subjective analysis of the threads and trends that tie news stories together. They are all themed and just browsing through the Times blog index is a good way to unintentionally double your feedreader's subscription count.

A Technorati survey of 1,000 bloggers found that the mean advertising revenue was $6K per year, with some bloggers making over $75K. Watching blogging mature from pure narcissism to legitimate media has been fascinating. Everytime someone makes fun of Twitter (I have a Twitter account, see left), I think to myself, "Hey, this is exactly how blogging was first received.".

Still, the medium deserves a healthy skepticism. Blogging, and internet-based media in general, have a long way to go before they become sources as trusted as magazines and newspapers. There is no Audit Blog of Circulations. You can't rely on frequency of posting and most bloggers don't post their web traffic.

Counting Calories to Become Law?

The New York Times has reported that "nearly three dozen states, cities and counties have passed or introduced laws that would require calorie posting in some form... Two proposals moving through Congress would make calorie postings uniform nationwide."

"The makers of Coca-Cola and M&Ms will soon print calories on the front of packages...New Yorkers got a harsh dose of calorie reality this summer when restaurants with 15 or more outlets were forced to post the calorie content of food next to the price."

Food makers are jumping on the calorie counting trend by reducing portion sizes and posting caloric ratings on their menus. But are they reducing the price? Don't be silly!

Chemical Industry Wrote FDA's Bisphenol-A Assessment

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has reported that the American Chemistry Council, a trade association and lobbying organization representing the chemical industry, wrote much of the FDA's August assessment of bisphenol-A.

A day after the Journal Sentinel ran its story, a group of scientists criticized the FDA for allowing this obvious conflict of interest.

The Environmental Working Group has been criticizing the FDA's position on BPA since this spring and offers this brief review of the conflicts of interest involved.

See all Mediocre Polymath posts about bisphenol-A.