Meta

So here's the skinny.

I saw this about 8:45 and it gave me a shock. It's the first four pages of reddit.com - a user generated internet site, like digg. You might have noticed a few posts I've dropped here are from there. No biggie...I like it because it has one simple thing going for it, it loads faster on my compooter than digg. It's from the Wired guys, who I've also dropped a lot of posts from, 'cause I thought you might be interested. (There - fjuckin' disclaimer - onto the other stuff)

Anyhoo - the deal is, I'm an information junkie. (wow, big surprise, tell me more all mighty D.T.)
But this was 10-01-08, and something happened. Instead of a few submissions that were important, and a whole mess of "I made a star wars stormtrooper cake - here's how!" Throughout the day, there was less and less of the stupid shit you goto the internet for, and replaced by more and more important things. Like, say, what's happening with our (U.S.)economy, our money, and our politicians. It was almost an example of how an open-source information distribution system is supposed to work. When nothing important is going on, tell me a buncha' crazy crap that will distract me from whatever lame stuff I'm thinking about, and when some big thing is really, actually important, get me all the most relevant articles from people who know what their talking about.

I wasn't able to get screen grabs...so I just copied and pasted. But this was a pretty remarkable assortment of articles. Yeah, there's chaff in there, but some of it's still really fun chaff. It's just that when you scroll past it...(which you will, just catching random headlines) it becomes something greater than it had been. Do you want to educate yourself on this crisis? Well, here's a bunch of stuff to help. If not, keep scrolling cause there's other random internet stuff in there that'll make you say "cool!" or "awwww sooo cute" or "WTF!" (BTW it'll all be different tomorry) but this all showed up today instead of light-saber-boy.
(sorry there's no links, but you can search the interesting ones out yourself...it's the innernet after all. (Also sorry this is so stupidly long...))

9 Grand Loan At Less than Prime from WaMu=Credit Crisis? (oxdown.firedoglake.com)
submitted 7 minutes ago by jack_alexander to reddit.com

Report Shows White House Engineered U.S. Attorney Firings (nukesylo13.com)
submitted 7 minutes ago by IWS to reddit.com

Ok Americans, grab your ankles. Here it comes again, and this time it has extenders. (nytimes.com)
submitted 8 minutes ago by aussie_bob to reddit.com

Message to the World from the US: "Please help us!" (unknownnews.org)
submitted 8 minutes ago by cornelius99 to politics

$700,000,000,000 is Nothing Compared to the Billions a Day that Were Loaned to Wall Street Last Week Alone. This is a Real Eye Opener!!! Clearly, We Aren't Angry Enough!! (youtube.com)
The moment bride was arrested on her wedding day in swoop on illegal immigrants (news-mail.blogspot.com)
submitted 11 minutes ago by shahsameer282 to WTF

Sarah Palin... playing the flute for the 1984 Miss Alaska Pageant. WTF. (youtube.com)
submitted 11 minutes ago by dri3s to WTF

VP Debate Drinky Bingo - no one should have to watch the debates sober! (tikirobot.net)
submitted 11 minutes ago by rajbot to politics

Who else is really scared of a fixed election in McCain's favor? (self.politics)
submitted 6 hours ago by ddddbbbb to politics

Don't die, stay with me, damn it! [pic] (i36.tinypic.com)
submitted 7 hours ago by m4rc to pics

Click here to waste 2 hours of your day immediately! (fantasticcontraption.com)
submitted 9 hours ago by phipsi180 to technology

Homer tries to vote for Obama (youtube.com)
submitted 6 hours ago by hobgobbler to funny

CBS News: New Study Details Massive Voter Roll Purges Underway in At Least 19 States (bradblog.com)
submitted 13 hours ago by delkin to reddit.com

appears 222 times in the Reddit main page source. Whoever wrote the page, I feel your pain. (self.programming)
submitted 8 hours ago by ajrandall to programming

Bailout Passes in Senate (money.cnn.com)
submitted 2 hours ago by RyVal to Economics

New York Times in 1999 - Fannie Mae easing credit requirements on loans to minorities and low-income consumers; "May run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue." (query.nytimes.com)
submitted 13 hours ago by paperwasp to business

Dan Aykroyd has lost is fucking mind [VID] (crystalheadvodka.com)
submitted 4 hours ago by briandunning to WTF

Human genome sequencing costs fall again: $300 million in 2003, $1 million 2007, $60,000 beginning of 2008, $10,000 now and $5000 by the end of 2008. (nextbigfuture.com)
submitted 11 hours ago by contraco to science

Unbelievable: Sec. 503 [of new Bailout bill] "Exemption from excise tax for certain wooden arrows designed for use by children." (salon.com)
submitted 6 hours ago by gypsydoctor to business

youtube deleted the rick roll video :( (youtube.com)
submitted 23 hours ago by chaosmachine to WTF

"Things were getting worse and I couldn't take it anymore. It was then, in my biology class, that I became a legend." (ubersite.com)
submitted 13 hours ago by booc0mtaco to funny

Palin Finally REALLY blows an interview. 2:55 WTF MIND BLOWING (cbsnews.com)
submitted 4 hours ago by tch to politics

Ron Paul: Buying bad debt is the wrong solution (cnn.com)
submitted 10 hours ago by alecb to Economics

CNBC: "The Bill is very clear.... hundreds of billions of dollars are going bail out foreign investors...the bill has been carefully written to make sure that can happen". [60s VIDEO] (youtube.com)
submitted 11 hours ago by starbork to business

Sarah Palin Explains Why Women Should Be Forced To Bear Their Rapists' Babies [Couric Interview Video] (ca.youtube.com)
submitted 14 hours ago by tampico_rush to politics

The truth about airbrushing. Not cool. Click on "portfolio" and be amazed. (iwanexstudio.com)
submitted 9 hours ago by cargirl to WTF

The world's weirdest, craziest, and just plain strange wedding customs (eventective.com)
submitted 9 hours ago by socialexpert to WTF

iPhone Developer Program drops onerous NDA: Opens to book publishers, discussion forums, mailing lists, etc. (developer.apple.com)
submitted 12 hours ago by jimothy to programming

MADD boots paraplegic woman from Idaho state fair booth designed to scare people out of driving drunk, because her looks were "offensive." (disaboom.com)
submitted 4 hours ago by Saydrah to WTF

The $700 billion bailout bill has passed, 74-25 (hosted.ap.org)
submitted 2 hours ago by cLFlaVA to reddit.com

If you can name one news source you read, vote up. (self.politics)
submitted 2 hours ago by bumped to politics

Intelligent design: "childish ignorance" (guardian.co.uk)
submitted 13 hours ago by betajames to science

The Atlas of the Real World (telegraph.co.uk)
submitted 19 hours ago by cactushair to science

Clinton Praises Obama In Florida After Being Both Criticized And Mocked In Recent Days For His Tepid Enthusiasm For Obama (redgreenandblue.org)
submitted 10 minutes ago by jerryjamesstone to science

This country is doomed. It really is. These are the people who vote for our leaders, remember that. (cnn.com)
submitted 12 minutes ago by contrarian to reddit.com

Price of oil drops below $98 as economy forces Americans to drive less (independent.ie)
submitted 19 minutes ago by boo_radley to Economics

Steve Ballmer Tops List Of 25 Most Influential People On The Web (hitchrome.com)
submitted 13 minutes ago by robinbal to reddit.com

Obama’s Fishy $200 Million FEC may seek a formal investigation into the collection by the Obama for President campaign of more than $200 million in potentially illegal political donations (spectator.org)
submitted 13 minutes ago by MindVirus to politics

Wall Street crisis hits Main Street: job losses have jumped, auto sales are plunging, small businesses can't get credit and we're facing the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. (associatedcontent.com)
submitted 17 minutes ago by shedrin to business

McCain's Missed Opportunities (newstalkradiowhio.com)
submitted 16 minutes ago by boo_radley to politics

Geert Wilders (of 'Fitna' fame) speaks to the Hudson Institute 2008-09-25 on Europe's Muslim threat (amren.com)
submitted 15 minutes ago by spam_rocket to reddit.com

Shouldn't the people who have benefited the most from Wall Street excess, the wealthy, pay for the bailout! The Sanders Amendment would make that happen! (gopolitico.com)
submitted 4 hours ago by philasurfer to business

I just wanted to point out to young/new voters that you cannot wear your Obama shirt to the polling place, you will be turned away. Tell your friends. (dcist.com)
submitted 3 hours ago by Eschuk to politics

Into Centaurs? [PIC] (photobasement.com)
submitted 11 hours ago by jda06 to pics

Tree power might sound like a hippie battle cry, but scientists have literally tapped into the tiny electrical current carried in trees and created a company (dsc.discovery.com)
submitted 12 hours ago by noname99 to science

FUCK!!! (self.Economics)
submitted 1 hour ago by TaxExempt to Economics

From Many Years Ago.. Say what you want about Eminem... This video speaks volumes. (youtube.com)
submitted 6 hours ago by drpants to reddit.com

Self:Economics - Isn't the bailout bill just one giant subprime loan? (self.Economics)
submitted 10 hours ago by econ2econ to Economics

***Update***
I cut out a couple pages in the interest of not boring you to death.

So yeah...If you made it down all this way, there's a couple of good videos about cows in the next post. However, I would say, if you processed even 60% of the headlines from what you scrolled past...we've reached an interesting information tipping point. No?