Blogs Crawl All Over Cyber-Insects

With millions of sites floating through the blogosphere, who really has time to peek at even a fraction of them? Blogophile reads them for you and presents a weekly roundup of the buzz on must-read blogs. Blogophile appears new each Wednesday, and is written by CBSNews.com's Melissa P. McNamara.

The Pentagon's looking for a few good insects, and bloggers are skeptical. Plus, Duke University's coach has bloggers giving new meaning to March Madness. Find out why. And bloggers fight back when a former New York Times reporter says they're the reason she got fired.

The Pentagon's Bugged

The Pentagon's defense scientists are hard at work, trying to create an army of cyber-insects that can be controlled remotely to check out explosives and send transmissions, the BBC reports. Scientists plan to insert micro-systems at the pupa stage, when the insects can integrate them into their body.

The new scheme is the brain-child of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). And it's not the first time DARPA has had its eyes on insects. Its previous experiments to get bees and wasps to detect the smell of explosives failed when their feeding and mating behaviors got in the way.

Most bloggers are highly skeptical, but intrigued nonetheless, making the story the 20th most cited link on Blogpulse.

"Butterflies that shoot laser beams? Spiders that capture people in their webs? Creeepy," Adam blogs on Adam's Life.

Others, like Pharyngula, are leery the Pentagon has the know-how to pull this off. "Although the idea of having a remote controlled dragonfly is very cool, I am very pessimistic, and have to dash a little cold water on the plan ... We don't have the understanding of insect neurodevelopment to be able to even come close to what they want," Pharyngula writes. "It's a ridiculously pie-in-the-sky idea, and someone in the Pentagon has clearly abandoned the reality-based community to come up with this one."

Some view it as a waste of American tax dollars. "I'd call this another example of 'your tax dollars at work,' but it's so incredibly ridiculous and embarrassing, I couldn't bear to do even that," David Austin at Quaker Agitator blogs.

But Julian Ravage is a fan. "I have always liked the idea of cybernectic insects working on mass or as simple spies. They are pretty much like simple machines (compared to larger, more complex creatures). If I had to choose an insect to control with implants, I would go with ... Monarch Butterfly ...;) No one would suspect the butterfly!" Julian writes.

Does Coach K Need Money?

Say what you will about the team, but Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski is a smart guy when it comes to milking March Madness.

During last year's march to the NCAA title, Coak K was featured in ubiquitous American Express commercials. As Adfreak writes, "OK, you're a teacher who happens to coach basketball. If we accept this and sign up for AmEx, will you please stop showing us that ad?"

Now, Coach K is back to cheer Chevrolets. Bloggers are not rushing out to buy them.

"I love March Madness, love college basketball, love the upsets. But are we in for a new annual tradition in March: the Coach K commercial blitzkrieg?" Tom Sherman at Underscorebleach blogs. "God I hope not. After American Express pounded us into submission last year with a sappy tribute to Duke's nasal numero uno, this year Chevy is putting the full-court press on with their 'Nothing's Stronger than the Truth' carpet bombing," he blogs.

Milbarge, however, seems to have the best solution for those annoyed with Coach K's commercials. "Do what I do -- ignore the commercials and run to the kitchen during timeouts," he writes on Begging the Question.

North Carolina's News & Observer has mocked the ads with its own amusing fake pitches,"Coach Kommmercials," which include a dancing Coach K hawking the iPod, or rather, the "kPod."

But Stormbringer offers a cautionary tale. "Coach K has ANOTHER COMMERCIAL?!," he blogs. "He just doesn't know when to quit ... then again, perhaps this bodes well for my Heels. Afterall, we all (should) know what happened in the last NCAA Big Dance during which commercials featuring Dook's head coach were shown."

And speaking of March Madness, Tim Nudd praises CBSportline.com's "Boss Button" feature on its media player. "The idea is, if you're watching at work and the boss comes by, you can click on the Boss Button, and an innocent-looking spreadsheet magically appear," Nudd explains.

It's Judy's Turn To Cry

While there have been many people fired from their jobs for blogging, few claim as vocally as former New York Times reporter Judith Miller has that blogs themselves did her in.

Slate previews an upcoming Vanity Fair article in which Miller credits the role of blogs with her downfall. Lest you've forgotten, Miller reiterates she became a "major target in the intense public anger directed at Bush's war, owing to her reports that Saddam Hussein was producing weapons of mass destruction." Miller credits these (unnamed) bloggers with destroying her relationship both with the Times management and with her colleagues. According to Slate, Miller tells Vanity Fair:

"The bloggers were without editing, without a way for people to understand what was good, what was well reported—to distinguish between the straight and the slanderous. Things would get instantly picked up, magnified, and volumized."

Most bloggers aren't buying it.

Soulfull of Thoughts sums up many bloggers' sentiment, writing, "All I have to say is: Come on Judith, GET REAL!"

Liberal bloggers continue to tie Miller to the Bush administration. Steve Soto at The Left Coaster is suspicious of why Miller hasn't cited specific blogs. "But does Miller name names of bloggers who did her in, or did she make this claim previously when she wrote her explanations to the NYT readership for her inaccurate crap and willingness to be a tool of the Bush White House? No."

And Freedom Deathwatch posts, "The Mistress of Propaganda blames blogs for her downfall. The real reason is, of course, is she was the prime conduit for Dubya's propaganda blitz leading up to the war. She lead the charge to war at the NY Times, who, feeling duped by her, gave her the heave-ho. Good riddance, Mistress of Propaganda."

Even Arianna Huffington, who made her own news in the blogosphere this week, weighed in. "It's laughably biased," Huffington blogs. "(The author) Brenner is a close friend of Miller -- she co-hosted a dinner for her on July 4th before Miller headed to jail, visited her at the Alexandria Detention Center, partied with her after her release, and is longtime friends with Miller's husband, who used to be Brenner's editor. The article is nothing more than a massive attempt to rehab the disgraced reporter."

Robert Farley boasts, "Who knew bloggers had such power?"

Conservatives More Productive?

New American Foundation fellow Phillip Longman's op-ed last week made lots of conservative bloggers jump for joy, and put some liberals on edge.

Longman uses population trends to conclude that progressives are less likely to have children than conservatives. He finds, for example, that among states that voted for President Bush in 2004, the average fertility rate is more than 11 percent higher than the rate of states for Sen. John Kerry. It's a pattern replicated globally as well. "An increasing share of all children born into the world are descended from a share of the population whose conservative values have led them to raise large families," Longman writes.

Some conservatives say the study reflects problems already facing the left. As Daisy Cutter writes, "This is one of a number of structural problems facing today's post-modern Left. Yes, it's true that conservatives have our own challenges. Yet, our challenges are met by remaining true to our convictions. By contrast, the Left's self-destructive narcissism requires it to abandon its philosophy to survive."

Paul Mirengoff at Powerline.org agrees. "In general, it seems that the further left one looks on the political spectrum, the more self-centered and morose people one finds. Hence, perhaps, the lower birthrates. As always, the future belongs to those who believe in it, and to their descendants."

And John Hawkins offers some tongue-in-cheek advice for those on the left. "Does that mean the left is doomed demographically? No, not necessarily," Hawkins writes on Right Wing News. "They might be able to make up for it in other ways. For example, giving Amnesty to illegals could help bring millions of new voters into the fold. They could also -- don't laugh -- freshen up their philosophy and ideas and gain a much higher percentage of new converts."

But liberal bloggers are fighting back. Ron Chusid on The Unofficial John Kerry Blog puts his hope in his daughter. "While I may have only raised one daughter, my bet is that she, and others like her, will have far more impact on the world than children spoon fed conservative dogma," he writes.

Shakespeare's Sister also sees hope in progressive children, like herself. "While many of us would probably identify ourselves as progressive products of conservative homes, we often likely reached such an alternative via the influences of books or films which opened doors to new ideas, science classes, travel, and/or progressive people who touched our lives in one way or another."

By Melissa McNamara