Web Monitor
17:30 UK time, Tuesday, 9 June 2009
A celebration of the riches of the web.
Underwear telling the story of the economic crisis and the US president being influenced by a children's programme - it could only mean one thing - it's been a normal day for Web Monitor (which is unrepentant over Ruaraidh Gillies's comments - Paper Monitor may choose to go along with the old media "look away now if you want to avoid knowing the result" convention, but this is the web - you can't suppress information). Now remember, readers, if you come across an unusual point of view on the web, send it to Web Monitor via the comments box to the right of this page.
• that Barack Obama is the first US president from Sesame Street. It's not just convenient for her as his background is harder to pin down compared to previous presidents, it's also to do with his age - he's the first who has been young enough to watch Sesame Street, growing up - and said he did so. But of course, Gibbs goes deeper than that - she notes his optimism, enterprise and earnestness. attempting to pin down the episodes that he could have watched although there's no mention of how might have informed his macro-economic policies.
• "We'll share files in Brussels" is not your average election promise but then, the Pirate Party isn't your average political party. why Sweden's Pirate Party managed to secure a seat in the European Elections with the promise to make file-sharing legal. Ernesto suggests that the win may have more to do with their comparative youth, as he observes the Pirates received more votes from those under 30 than any other party in the European elections.
• Naomi Wolf became an advocate of feminism after publishing her book, the Beauty Myth, which claimed all forms of beauty were socially constructed . So how would she feel about the "conventionally beautiful" Angelina Jolie knocking Oprah Winfrey off the top spot of ? , Jolie is unique in the celebrity world - possibly even a feminist icon:
"She has created a life narrative that is not just personal. Rather, it is archetypal. And the archetype is one that really, for the first time in modern culture, brings together almost every aspect of female empowerment and liberation."
• The linguists behind to counting their millionth word in the English language. There were only 15 words to go since last time Web Monitor checked, so unless we start getting creative, the millionth will be born sometime on Wednesday morning. The website however, seemed to have pipped Language Monitor to the post as they claim to already have 1.7 million words. (Exactly what the GLM classifies as a word is covered in .) Maybe the difference is down to their pooling of resources from all around the web instead of using linguists. With all these words to contend with, the an increase in that tip-of-the-tongue feeling as they explain why your brain just can't remember that word. The more words you know, the more the words will elude you and the less you use the word, again the more likely you won't, you know, like, remember or something.
• Finance writer the ways to track the recession to its underwear. Economists say the sales of men's pants is a good tracker of the recession as they stop buying them because no-one can see the difference. The US economy saw a 12% decline in sales in the 12 months to January. Brief sales are also seen as a good early indicator of a recovery due to pent-up demand leading to people buying more pants as the recession nears its end.
• Here's the digital version of "the dog ate my homework" - sells you corrupted files that you can send as an attachment by email. By the time the recipient explains the file seems to contain scrambled and unrecoverable data you should have bought some time to finish the assignment and send it again. If Web Monitor doesn't seem to be here tomorrow it's because the dog ate the computer.
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