The vast majority of the class argued that the Poles should have laid down their weapons and gotten off their horses once they saw tanks rolling through the countryside. I argued that the Nazis were such an evil force that the Poles should be commended for fighting them, even though it was apparent to both sides that the Poles would be slaughtered. I argued that the slaughter would happen no matter what so the only course of action was to fight and keep fighting until your last breath. Having had two grandparents survive concentration camps, I knew that there was nothing to gain by surrendering. As my friends and readers know, I lean quite heavily towards pacifism, so to admit violence is justified is quite a bold statement on my part.

It takes serious fortitude to fight tanks with horses and sticks.

Growing up as a Polish-American (born in the U.S.A., but both my parents were born in Poland, in fact I’m the first American in my direct family), I heard a near infinite list of Polish jokes. It didn’t really bother me then, and still doesn’t, as I understood they were just jokes and also knew they didn’t really have any foundations in truth. In other words, if the joke was good I’d usually laugh but if anyone thought the jokes were actually representative of the Polish people I’d quickly set them straight. That brings me to the whole point of today’s post, which is to bring your attention to a war story I remember hearing about before but not fully researching.

During World War II, a contingent of Polish soldiers were stationed in Iran. It was there that the soldiers found a small bear cub wandering around by himself. The soldiers adopted the bear and called him Wojtek. They quickly grew very fond of Wojtek, who would drink milk from a vodka bottle [us Poles love our vodka ]. As he grew up Wojtek replaced the milk with bottles of beer and lit cigarettes. In fact, Wojtek enjoyed beer so much that once he finished a brew, he’d bring the empty bottle up to his eye and look inside to make sure it was empty before tossing it aside [here's a link to a Polish newscast on youtube telling this story]. The soldiers became so attached to the bear that he went with them from battle to battle and was officially drafted into the Polish army!

Wojtek became the inspiration for his unit's emblem

That’s right. The Polish army had a real, living and breathing bear fighting for them. In fact, during the battle of Monte Cassino, a crucial battle in the push for Rome, Wojtek carried crates of ammo to the front-lines, without dropping a single box. Here’s the real lesson of the day, any country crazy enough to fight tanks with men on horseback armed with sticks and crazy enough to officially enlist a bear into its military is probably not a country you should be invading. Oh, and when these Poles weren’t fighting off Nazis they’d spend their downtime, drinking, smoking, and wrestling with Wojtek the bear! Robert Brockway raises a great point about this fact:

Who was more badass, the Nazi-fighting bear who wrestled full platoons of trained soldiers, or the men who routinely got body-slammed by him for shits ‘n giggles?

Good question Robert. I say they’re equally badass.

When he wasn't fighting Nazis, Wojtek would wrestle with his fellow soldiers.

If all that wasn’t enough, Wojtek the bear also learned how to work the troop’s showers and would often go in to cool off. The bear would shower so often that the soldiers had to lock the shower to prevent Wojtek from using up all of the water! Still, the bear would continue trying to use the showers and one day found the door unlocked. Upon entering the showers, the bear found an Arab spy inside, who upon seeing the bear immediately surrendered and gave up the location of his fellow soldiers. Wojtek was a legitimate war hero and surely deserves a memorial in his honor.

After the war (of course the bear’s side won), Wojtek settled in an Edinburgh zoo, and many of his fellow soldiers settled in around him. His soldier friends would visit Wojtek at the zoo, often bringing him beer and smokes, and even sometimes hopping into his den for a quick tussle with the bear.

Anyway, I’m wicked proud to be Polish-American and this story just makes me even prouder. Now, anyone got a good bear joke?

Note, it is my understanding that all the photos used above are in the public domain. If you are the copyright holder of any of the above photos, or have reason to believe they are copyrighted, please let me know.

At this point my mind was blown, not only had I just received snail mail it was also hand-written! Crazy!

As my eyes read the note this article about a local teen in Somerville collecting business cards in an attempt to set a Guinness record came soaring back into my conscious. After reading the article I sent Sophie not one but two business cards (part of a set of ten that I received for free from flickr).

As of this note, she’s received nearly 800 business cards so far. That’s 800 in addition to her already existing collection of over 2,200 business cards! She plans on submitting an entry to the good folks at Guinness Book of World Records once her collections hits 5,000 cards. If you’ve got a business card and want to help Sophie in her record breaking quest you can send them to her attention at:

Somerville Journal
20-40 Holland Street
Somerville, MA 02144

If you do send one, let me know! If you include links to your business (non spammy) I might do a shout-out post to those who help Sophie out…

So far Ralph Nader, Chuck Baldwin and Cynthia McKinney have confirmed their attendance. Bob Barr is stating he has a scheduling conflict, though the even organizers are stating he wants to only debate Ralph Nader. In either case, Barr is running a very odd campaign, first ditching uber-popular Ron Paul and now refusing to participate in a debate with his fellow third party candidates.

Right now there are actually two debates scheduled, on being an online debate this Sunday from 7pm to 9pm while the other is a physical debate starting at 8pm. Seeing as how the physical debate is being televised by CSPAN and moderated by Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman it seems the online only debate organized by Trevor Lyman will fall to the wayside, especially seeing as how only Cynthia McKinney has confirmed she’d participate.

In either case, three of the four candidates will be at the physical debate, hosted by The Free and Equal Elections Coalition and the Columbia Political Union. So confused yet by the varying debates and times and places? Well so are the candidates who are now waffling about whether they will or will not attend, even though three of them confirmed their attendance a few days ago. In either case, the debate is scheduled and set up and now it’s up to the candidates to show up. For the sake of progress for our democracy, let’s hope they do show up. Send e-mails to your candidates encouraging them to show up! Even Barack Obama and John McCain are invited, let’s have one debate between all six candidates!

In particular, if we change “King of Great Britain” to “King of the United States of America, George W. Bush” does the document still make sense? Let’s see [note, anything you see in brackets is me adding an incident to support the claim].

“When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain King of the United States of America, George W. Bush is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let the Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good [Bush vetoes children's health insurance bill].

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them [federal raids on state approved medical marijuana operations in California].

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only [Republicans intimidating voters to stay away from voting booths] .

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures [telecom immunity, commutation of Scooter Libby, continued approval of war spending bills and vetoes of timelines].

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness of his invasions on the rights of the people [Attorneys fired for not agreeing with Bush, the power to declare war lies in the Congress, not the executive branch].

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands [Bush expands immigration checks].

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance. [Patriot Act, warrantless wire-tapping, Department of Homeland Security]

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures [illegal wars].

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power [unconstitutional Guantanamo trials, majority of Americans are opposed to Iraq War].

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us [Department of Homeland Security]:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world [Cuban embargo]:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent [war spending for a war the public does not consent to, the economic stimulus checks which are simply an early refund (so you may owe taxes next year)]:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury [false accusations of terrorism lead to illegal detainment]:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences [27,000 people held in secret overseas prisons]:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments [the Dick Cheney branch]:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever [Bush believes he can sidestep wiretapping laws].

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us [Executive Order: Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq which criminalizes anti-war protests.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people [Bush has had a constant negative impact on the environment].

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation [private contractors outnumber U.S. troops in Iraq].

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British American brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British American Crown, and that all political connection between them and the Federal State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”

Nearly every single reason for the original Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom holds true today. There can be only one true patriotic move, declare independence from King George W. Bush and his henchman in the executive branch. Today, as we celebrate this country’s birth we must move forward and yet again renew the Tree of Liberty. The current federal government of these United States of America through its criminal negligence, corrupt conspiracy, and open disregard for the law has rendered itself null and void. The truly patriotic amongst us realize this government is now illegal and an enemy of the people and this country. We all must openly admit and declare that we are no longer part of this criminal, blood-thirsty, tyrannical American empire.

To conclude this post, I will borrow the words of one of our greatest fictional Presidents, the great President Thomas Whitmore from Independence Day. We truly live in a sad state when he is the most inspirational President of my lifetime. Though he spoke of fighting to prevent annihilation from aliens, his inspirational speech holds too true for our modern struggle:

We can’t be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests. Perhaps it’s fate that today is the Fourth of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom… Not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution… but from annihilation. We are fighting for our right to live. To exist. And should we win the day, the Fourth of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day the world declared in one voice: “We will not go quietly into the night!” We will not vanish without a fight! We’re going to live on! We’re going to survive! Today we celebrate our Independence Day!

A war on terror is a war on a word, a concept, an invisible entity that we can never truly kill. It represents a shift in war mentality. In recent history war has taken an us versus them perspective, where group A loves or needs X and group B hates or has X so A and B fight. Now, we fight words, and as a result we’ve personalized and individualized war. A war on terror is in essence a war of one against a feeling.

For seven years we’ve fought against this word, “terror”, yet people are still terrified. They doubt the resiliency of our economy. They distrust our “elected” leaders. They wonder if they can afford to put food on the table. Seven years have passed and terror is still kicking our butts, and will continue to do so, for we cannot kill a word.

There is only one way to end this war and it starts with you. It starts here. Are you ready to end the world on terror? Gather up your courage, clear your throat, stretch your fingers and shout or type it as loud you can:

I am not terrified!

• I am not terrified of dying.

It is an event that will meet all of us soon. Rich, poor, old, young, athletic, obese, smart, stupid, good and evil, all of us will one day die. I speed through the streets of Greater Boston on my bicycle without fear of death. It makes me a better cyclist, as I do not hesitate to move.

• I am not terrified of Muslims.

They are a people. There are over 1.5 billion Muslims in this world. Some of them are evil; some of them are not. Most of them are average people like you and me.

• I am not terrified of peace.

Without war, how would we keep global population down, technology on the cutting edge and resources flowing? By focusing on these issues rather than killing each other, that’s how.

• I am not terrified of the federal government of these United States of America.

If need be, the fifty states of the union can and will exercise their rights to sovereignty.

• I am not terrified that our elections are either greatly mismanaged or more realistically fraudulent.

My vote will be published on this blog. It may not be counted but it will be recorded.

• I am not terrified that artificial people called corporations roam our lands and rape people’s wallets and health for the pursuit of the lowly dollar.

Consumerism is a dying artificial (d)evolution and is already experiencing the last struggles before its’ ultimate death.

Most importantly, I am simply not terrified.

The only way to end this war on words is with words. Declare you are not terrified and join me in a world without wars on words.

As of now, for me, the war on terror is over!

[Edit: Image removed but it was an ad for this guy.]

Is it the worst ad ever? All I know is I feel dirty now. Damn you contextual advertising, this post was not positive!

What do I think?

I agree with the facebook users. Our economy does not need increased consumer spending, rather, it needs increased domestic spending from the government. We already spend too much money in this country on items that don’t increase our productivity or standard of living in the long run. We need to stop borrowing money not borrow more of it. It’s these economic stimulus packages from Bush that have gotten us in trouble. Our government is bankrupting our country.

We need to stop wasting money outside the U.S. borders and spend money here, within the United States of America. We have bridges and tunnels in desperate need of repair, schools literally crumbling apart and failing to teach kids basic principles, and families and individuals falling into debt due to massive health, energy, and college costs. Money should go into all of the areas I just mentioned, not to other countries and certainly we should not be borrowing money just to put it in people’s pockets.

People might go out and spend a little bit more when their rebate checks come in, but it will only be a shot in the arm for an economy that needs open heart surgery. 76% of facebook users get it, why don’t our elected officials?

Still, I would have unblocked the comment as I’m sympathetic to the spammer’s, Ron Paul 4 President, message, however the comment was made on a page, not a post, so it would not show up anyway. Although the Newsvine elections application on facebook will show you that I’m currently voting for an independent candidate, if the elections were today, I’ve give my vote to Ron Paul, as he’s the best candidate right now, in my opinion. I’ll post in better detail why I like Ron Paul later (he understands economics, appreciates the correlation between foreign policies and domestic issues, and he’s a doctor) but for now here’s the Ron Paul un-edited “spam”:

Ron paul is the last great hope for america. I am spamming your blog because I feel it is my duty as a patriot to inform the public of the true workings of the government. I know you probably dont care about whats going on in the world as long as you have your nice car and fancy gidgets, gizmos and widgets. But that doesnt matter because it cares about you. Hang together or hang separate. If you think these unconstitutional laws being passed on a daily basis wont effect you, you’re sadly mistaken. Just yesterday bloomberg and the new york mayor’s office announced that you will no longer be allowed to video tape or photograph on a public street, you will now need to obtain a free permit in order to video tape. However, in order to be eligible for this permit you will need 1MILLION$ in liability insurance. Does that sound like the united states to you? The land of the free and the brave, where you have to register to own a gun, register to own a car, register to drive, register to vote, register to leave the country, register to get benefits, register to protest, and now you need to register to take pictures. Maybe I’m just a dirty commie who cant handle that much ‘freedom’ (sarcasm) or maybe, we live in a police state.

Wake up! Get mad! Get Active! Call your senate and congress leaders and let them know how you feel! THEY ARE OUR PUBLIC SERVANTS WE ARE NOT THEIRS!

www.ronpaul2008.com

Now aside from the poor grammar, the message is solid (hence why I’m repeating it). The trouble with the message, is the lack of care about the target audience. The writer should realize that many people with blogs have no doubt heard of Ron Paul already. The true patriotic action would be to inform people you see in the real world about Ron Paul, his message, and why they should seriously consider voting for him. I’ve already went ahead and done so, speaking about Dr. Paul with friends, colleagues, and even strangers! Yes, the internet has played and will continue to play a huge role in the 2008 elections, however, elections happen in the real world. For this revolution to truly take hold, we must communicate and discuss this message with everyone. Spamming blogs about Ron Paul won’t help his cause. So, Mr./Ms./Mrs. “Ron Paul 4 President”, if you’re out there, get off your computer and get out into the real world. That is after all how Dr. Paul came in second place in Nevada recently, and that is how he’ll win the presidency.

I’m Adam Pieniazek, and I approve this message.

Advertisers soon begin tweaking their content to deliver unique displays that fit within the publishers’ restrictions. Through sheer volume, the advertisers found ways around the specifications set out by the publishers. Robert Bonner’s use of iteration copy, where he simply purchased multiple consecutive spaces and inserted one advertisement, repeated over and over again seems an awful lot like today’s e-mail and postal mail spam; rather than providing consumers valid information, advertisers simply attack consumers with volume in the hopes that probability is on their side. Bonner had other tweaks, for instance, using first letters as capitals in consecutive lines to spell out words, such as LEDGER.

The creativity of Bonner’s tweaks, and surely the outrage felt by the publishers led to a fire storm of anticipation and rumors about the latest and greatest Bonner advertisement. At this point, the advertisers began to resemble true artists, whose attempts at creativity were restricted by the big, bad newspaper publishers. Was Robert Bonner the first rebel superstar of American advertising? It certainly seems so, as people would look forward to the next Bonner release to see what he had up his sleeve this time. Bonner’s advertisements became the product, and individuals consumed them in droves.

This increase in focus on the advertiser’s style led to another curious development, up to this point, businesses would attract consumers, which would lead to higher consumption and expansion. Now, however, businesses began expanding and creating large stores first, and then relying on unique advertisements to draw consumers to the business. Rather than an increase in demand leading to bigger business, bigger business now needed to increase demand!

It was no accident that the largest and most enterprising department stores were the pioneers of newspaper display advertising. Their need to attract crowds within a small geographic radius made the city dailies their perfect medium. (Boorstin)

This switch represents quite the paradigm shift, from the necessity of providing consumers good, valuable information as all advertisers were forced to compete with each other on the basis of content; now, with Bonner’s iteration copy and the break from the newspapers’ restrictions by department stores led to consumers being attracted to the style, not the content. This move also marked the declaration of advertisers that they will no longer be shackled by publisher’s restrictions. Bonner and the department stores’ advertisements marked the beginning of the integration of advertising into the rest of the material world, further fueled by Frederic Hudson’s proclamation that advertisements are a key feature of a newspaper.

The emergence of marketing style then led to the creation of consumption communities, the first signs of branding. As each brand now had it’s own style, consumers could in effect align their personal style and personality with a brand and more easily publicize themselves, as well as the brands they associated with. The distinction between consumption and marketing began to blur, as consumers themselves started to lose sight of why they were buying, and in essence promoting, these products. The positive effects of consumption communities for advertisers, meaning these consumers acted as spokesperson for their brands, caused firms to further desire to know who they were targeting successfully and why.

This desire led to the creation of marketing research firms, who could pinpoint demographic information about consumers buying preferences and advertising consumption. That’s right, advertising, and it’s related data, became a commodity, to be bought and sold by consumers, albeit they did not quite realize it yet. Rather than providing information to consumers, marketers had completely flipped the equation, and now bought information about their consumers. Advertisers became consumers, consumers became advertisers, and everyone became so confused we had to poll and survey individuals to determine just what, exactly, was going on.

It turns out, media, consumers, and advertisers were all mixing together, and adapting and performing functions normally associated with the other two groups. The chapter The Brand Expands, from No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies by Naomi Klein, presents a great analysis and summary of the symbiotic relationship between consumers, producers, media, and advertisers. For instance, producers would use advertisers to find musicians who were willing to be sponsored by their brand. Eventually, the brand became the showcase and the musicians were the sideshow. The advertisement for the brand became the product being consumed, and the musicians became the promoter (albeit sometimes negative) of that brand. Then, musicians grew wise of this trend, and began promoting themselves as a brand, extending so far as to create other forms of media (web-sites, posters, concerts etc.) and their own products with their logos on it. The market research phase naturally extended into the branding of anything and everything and the integration of consumption, marketing, production, and the public sphere, as it allowed all involved parties to access information about why the other entities were successful.

This brings us up to the modern age, where advertisers are viewed by children as the product, and the product is an advertiser (such as when the children in The Brand Extends questioned why athletes would pay to insert themselves into company advertisements). The separation of consumption and marketing has disintegrated to the point where we cannot truly determine who is buying and who is selling. Advertising has inserted itself into the material world in such a manner that we simply cannot consider a world with advertising constrained to 3 pt font in a tiny section in a newspaper. We pay for and consume so much advertising (in the form of movies, product placement, sponsorship, logo placement) that it has truly become a good to be bought, sold, and marketed, just like any other.

Klein, Naomi. No Logo: No Space, No Choice, No Jobs New York: Picador, 1999.

Sing it with me, we are the champions, no time for losers (Philadelphia) because we are the champions….of the world!

According to outside.in, Boston has 89 blog posts for every 100,000 residents, which puts us one blog post above Philadelphia. The Boston Globe states Boston is #1 because

Blogs thrive where locals are wired, well-educated, and obsessed with politics, a topic that inspires bloggers to vent their opinions.

The Bostonist, on the other hand, claims we’re the champs because we’re obsessed with sports, the Red Sox in particular, and there was a lot going on when the survey was taken,

We’ve all got friends who continue to post about their personal topics of interest, images they’ve taken, and, well, musings about sports in the city – but the Sox always have us talking.

Personally, I think the behemoth amount of colleges in the area, as well as the high property values, attracts people with the capability, time, and expertise to blog. College students are beginning to realize that blogs are the new resume and young professionals as well as workforce veterans are blogging as a way to build or venture into consulting work. Plus, we have the most famous blogger over at ESPN.com in our ranks (Bill Simmons).

Whatever the reason, the important fact is Boston is officially the hub of the blogiverse. Makes sense since we’re also the hub of the regular universe…