From the BBC: Storm Blogs Offer Katrina Insight

Los Angeles Times: Newspapers Improvise with Web Editions and Blogs

New York Times: Flooding Stops Presses and Broadcasts, So Journalists Turn to the Web

MSNBC: Blog Links for Katrina Survivors and Families

Katrina Blog Relief Day: The blogger "N.Z. Bear" from The Truth Laid Bear is organizing this blogging event, which will take place on tomorrow -- Thursday, September 1st. He's asking bloggers to post an article asking their readers to send donations to charities to assist those who've been hit by the storm.

While we in North America don't talk much about cricket (with the exception of a few pockets, such as Silicon Valley, where a number of Indian and Pakistani techies have started leagues), it is a beloved sport played in many Commonwealth countries. As with anything else that has a devoted following, cricket too has a number of blogs devoted to it.

"If you think that people get passionate about the War On Terror," writes Alan Connor in the BBC article Blog Before Wicket, "they've got nothing on cricket writers." Go check out the article for links to some notable cricket blogs.

[Last updated Monday, August 29, 5:49 pm EDT] Before I begin, I'd like to send my prayers and good thoughts to those of you who are either in Hurricane Katrina's path or have friends or loved ones there.



Here are some blogs that have been reporting on Katrina:

• WeatherBlog
• Eye of the Storm
• Fresh Bilge
• Josh Britton
• The Irish Trojan's Blog
• CapitalWeather.com
• NixGuy.com
• Edward Champion's Return of the Reluctant
• Storm Digest
• Weather or Not
• Hurricane Katrina blog
• Kaye Trammell's Hurricane Katrina Blog
• Ernie the Attorney
• New Orleans Metroblog
• NOLA View
• A LiveJournal entry cataloguing blog reports on Katrina
• A BoingBoing entry cataloguing blog reports on Katrina
• Dr. Jeff Masters' Wunderblog
• Another "Eye of the Storm" (Journalism grad students working with the Sun Herald)
  

For more blogs reporting on Hurricane Katrina, try this Technorati search.

For photos, try this flickr search.

Blogware blogger Tod "I Love Radio.org" Maffin has a weblog devoted to coverage of the lockout at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (Canada's public broadcaster) called CBCunplugged.com. It's already one of the 10 most-read Blogware blogs.

Some interesting statistics from editorsweblog.org:

According to the latest Annual Euro RSCG Magnet and Columbia University Survey of the Media, 51% of journalists, combared to 11% of all US internet users (according to eWeek), are using weblogs regularly and 28% rely on them for their daily reporting.

Also notable:

By contrast, only 1% of journalists believe in their credibility.

Hmm.

From a BusinessWeek interview with Hu Zhiguang, who runs one of the leading blog service providers in China:

Q: What do you think is the biggest difference between the blogosphere in the U.S. and in China?
A: The difference between China and the U.S. is quite large. The U.S. has many famous bloggers, and they have a big influence. In China, because of the political environment problem, it's not possible to have that sort of thing.

So [Chinese blogs are] more lifestyle- and entertainment-oriented. But Chinese bloggers are more willing to express themselves than American bloggers. Because elsewhere in America there's more freedom, so the methods of expression are more [varied].

Q: But, as you say, the political environment in China means there's a lot that people can't express in their blogs.
A: Sometimes there are people who write about Taiwanese independence and the Falun Gong.

Q: And what happens when they try to do that?
A: We set up keywords for our programs, like "Falun Gong," and when you type in those keywords, you cannot post them. It just shows up as stars. Everybody has that.

MediaChannel.org points to an interview with Wall Street Journal tech reporter Nick Wingfield who talks about how journalists use blogs in their jobs. It boils down to these four points:

1. Journalists use blogs as tickler files when researching stories.
   
   
2. Journalists use blogs as sounding boards.
   
   
3. Journalists use blogs as digests of the day's news.
   
   
4. Journalists don't "flog the blog" - they see blogs as useful websites.

If you love animation, check out these blogs!

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Oh, that's freakin' sweet! The creative team behind the hilarious animated television series Family Guy have their own blog: Family Guy Freakn' Blog. Not only do the contributors talk about the show, they also tell some interesting stories about the animation industry and the choices they made that led them to their careers in animation.

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Luxo is a blog that covers events, upcoming films and peope at  Pixar Studios, the creator of the feature films Toy Story, Toy Story 2, A Bug's Life, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo and The Incredibles.

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Cartoon Brew covers the world of animation from all sorts of angles. If you want to keep up with what's going on in the world of animation, this place always has the goods.

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You might not know what Macromedia Flash is, but you probably seen all sorts of animations on the web -- and even on TV! -- created with it. Cold Hard Flash is a blog created by Aaron Simpson, who works in television animation and follows the explosion in animation created using Flash.

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Steven den Beste established his reputation as a dedicated right-wing blogger who wrote long-form blog entries that analysed his topics with an engineer's eye for detail. He got into anime -- Japanese animation -- not too long ago and he's been blogging a storm about it on Chizumatic. Although he's changed his blogging subject, he still writes with that same dedication to details.

Having grown up in the Philippines, the United States and Canada, I've been flying since the age of one and have always been fascinated by airplanes. I used to be a bit of a "planespotter", always trying to identify any jet I saw, and I collected as much memorabilia from any flight I took (including the safety cards, which you're not really supposed to take). I still love hanging out in airports and getting a good look at the jets, and I do miss the days when you were allowed to get a tour of the cockpit.

Randy Baseler is the VP of Marketing for Boeing's commercial airliner division, and I make it a point to check his blog, Randy's Journal, from time to time. Randy uses his blog as a way to promote the company and let people get a look at the world of aircraft design and manufacturing. He's written articles about having a full schedule promoting Boeing at the Paris Air Show, the sleek designs of Boeing's upcoming aircraft and a recent demo flight for their new Connexion service, which provides broadband internet access to airplane passengers.

One of most notable things about Randy's Journal is its honesty. It doesn't feel as if it's been vetted by a PR department or a team of marketers. He's not afraid to talk about deals that didn't go through or missteps that his company has made. Can you imagine either of these griups writing a line like this?

What we're trying to do with the Dreamliner is bring back a little of that magic we lost along the way.

If you're considering using a blog to promote your business, you might want to borrow a few pages from Randy's book.

Recommended Reading

• Flight Test Journal
  Another Boeing blog -- this one's about the events leading up to next year's release of the upcoming Boeing 777 Worldliner.
  
  
• Puget Sound Business Journal's article: Blogs become big for business and legal firms.

[via Marginal Revolution via Kottke] The marriage wasn't official until they blogged it! There's an obscure law in texas that says that a marriage isn't official until it's announced in public. Blog entries are considered to be public announcements, so he blogged and she blogged and it became legal. Congrats!