LiveJournal is publishing its own statistics.  The two most interesting: 1) of 932,081 users, 425,901  (46%) are considered ‘active’ (meaning the other blogs are defunct); 2) of their bloggers who ‘declare’ gender, 63.4% are female and 36.6% are male.

The latter breakdown on gender (slightly less than 2:1 female) is precisely the breakdown I’ve noticed on Xanga over the last couple years.  That reminds me of the refrain from Surf City (Brian Wilson and Jan Berry):

And we're goin' to Surf City, 'cause it's two to one
You know we're goin' to Surf City, gonna have some fun
You know we're goin' to Surf City, 'cause it's two to one
You know we're goin' to Surf City, gonna have some fun, now
Two girls for every boy

Oh, by the way, as a ‘paid member’’ to LiveJournal, I have a few free LiveJournal accounts available for ‘friends’ (you see, if you don’t pay, it’s free but by invitation from ‘paid members’ only) and I’m hereby inviting first-comers (since I have too few friends ) until I run out (of friends? no, I mean ‘accounts’).  But you can only have one (if I have any left—friends? no, I mean ‘accounts’!!) if you don’t quit Xanga dammit!

This blog is now on Baghdad time.  It saw a soon-to-be vacant niche and seized it (since Saddam is now on borrowed time).

With all the internet's instantly-updated newsfeeds, here's a novel idea: scan the daily front pages of 201 newspapers from around the world and make them web-viewable.  The Newseum is the place.

There is no greater disaster in the spiritual life than to be immersed in unreality, for life is maintained and nourished by our vital relation with realities outside and above us.  When our life feeds on unreality, it must starve.  It must therefore die.

  - Thomas Merton