Is This One Nation, Under Blog? "A recent Newsweek article claimed that a half-million blogs populate the Net."

Free Weblog Service and a Vampire, Too: "Globo.com, the Internet division of the Brazilian media conglomerate Organizações Globo, began offering a free Weblog service last week through a partnership with Pyra Labs, the small San Francisco-based company behind Blogger, the popular Weblog publishing tool."

Understanding weblogs: "In other words, I realized that a weblog could be a useful tool for personal knowledge management as well as for public communication. Because it's so easy to create and update a weblog -- the characteristic that has made blogging boom in the past year -- it's an ideal information capture device. Whenever you come across something interesting online, you can easily drop a link, a quote, and/or a comment into your weblog, and move on. You may never return to it, but it's there if you ever want to look it up again. Same with passing thoughts: Just jot them in the weblog."

Blog Popularity Spurs New Journalism Class: "As media sources become increasingly web-based, the popularity of weblogs, or "blogs," has caught the attention of many professional journalists. Continuing with UC Berkeley's progressive history, the university's journalism school is one of the first to offer a course centered on this innovative media outlet."

First Commercial Mission to Moon will verify Apollo landing sites: "The U.S. Government has just licensed the first commercial mission to the moon. That probe, dubbed Trailblazer, will orbit the moon for 90 days, filming portraits of Earth as it rises over the lunar horizon and mapping the moonscape in unprecedented detail - as small as one meter in diameter. 'We're also looking to verify Apollo and other landing sites,' said TransOrbital President Dennis Laurie. He said 'verify' because there are still a few people out there who believe the Apollo program was a hoax."

News.Com: "eBay, one of the biggest success stories on the Web, is being threatened with a patent infringement lawsuit that could force it to modify its winning auction format."

Great explanation of the 'What's the frequency Kenneth?' story: "No one could explain the event, and the rumors flew fast and wide. Some speculated the assailant was a KGB agent, while others claimed the attack was the work of a jealous husband. Rather himself couldn't shed any light on the subject."

Hectic lives rob kids of sleep and health: "What's particularly troubling to physicians is that parents are often behind these problemsthey simply don't make routine bedtime a priority. Many are hectic, sleep-starved people themselves, and they forget that children are not miniature adults; kids are hit much harder by sleep deprivation. 'If you are keeping your child up until 11 p.m. for family time, you need to re-examine your life.' says child psychotherapist Barbara Braun-McDonald of Brewster, Mass."

Is it obvious that the featured user and skill are just randomly picked from the active list?

Interesting rehash of the "would anyone hire a blogger debate" over on Blogroots.