It was the summer of 2003, and Daily Kos was booming. kos was writing like a maniac, and one of his two guest posters, Steve Gilliard, was almost matching him post for post, with RonK, Seattle adding occasional posts to the mix. Commenters were frequently adding a couple of hundred comments of their own to these posts.
Steve Gilliard's departure to his new blog was announced by Markos on August 7, and the very next post asked Who should be the next dKos guest blogger(s)? The suggestions are lost (no comments survive between July 1 and August 16), but I'd expect that a name prominently mentioned was one of the two to get the nod on September 19: Meteor Blades.
Meteor Blades' first guest blog post was five and a third years ago tomorrow, on September 19, 2003. Join me on the flip with an array of links to his posts here on Daily Kos.
The man we know as number 6 has had a long career on Daily Kos; even before he had that number he was writing extensively on the blog, first posting under the name Meteor Blades just about 6 years ago with a couple of comments, the first dated January 25, 2003. (He posted twice before that under his real name: for links to those comments and his first month's output as commenter MeteorBlades, please see Top Comments: Meteor Blades on Daily Kos, part 1. Or you can see his dKosopedia pages.)
He was one of the first half-dozen guest posters (aka front pagers) named to assist kos, all from 2003 and the days before Daily Kos switched from its initial Movable Type platform to Scoop: Billmon and Steve Soto on January 3; Steve Gilliard on April 3; RonK, Seattle on April 11, and Meteor Blades and DHinMI on September 19. The switch to Scoop occurred on October 13, though I doubt that was paramount in Markos's mind in terms of getting more guest posters; he seemed to have other things on his mind:
They will take over most blogging duties on weekends, and will be invaluable help when I'm on the road and in the immediate aftermath of our new baby (coming Nov. 10-ish).
New baby Ari appeared over a week ahead of schedule, arriving late on November 2; the announcement was made the next day. It was an early aftermath.
As with the previous front-pagers mentioned in this Top Comments series (and subsequently on the dKosopedia), finding the writing of Meteor Blades on Daily Kos is difficult in that all the early comments and posts he wrote are at the archived, Movable Type (pre-Scoop) site, and that site has no way of distinguishing between authors of front-page posts. No searching, no nothing. The same is true of comments from that period: the comments on a post are displayed in a separate window, and there isn't a way to externally link to a particular comment in the thread, only to the entire thread itself. Above the fold, I alluded to the fact that nearly seven weeks of comments have been lost to posterity: Movable Type's comments feature had been temporarily disabled on July 1 for what was supposed to be a few days, and HaloScan comments temporarily activated in the full knowledge that these comments would be lost. The switch back wasn't made until August 16, and with it a month and a half of comments disappeared forever into the bit bucket.
In over five and a quarter years under Scoop, Meteor Blades has written 1234 posts (as of 7pm this evening)—947 front-page stories and 287 diaries—plus 36,406 comments. Add his 16 Movable Type front-page posts, and you get 1250 total. In his ten months on Daily Kos when the Movable Type software ran the blog, he likely wrote well over a thousand comments—he wrote 86 comments in 19 days during a February 2003 shortened by travel, and commented daily for the first 17 days of that month. The Movable Type site was archived in place, but there are no search capabilities in the archive, and comments are displayed in a separate window. There isn't a way to externally link to a particular comment in the thread, only to the entire thread itself. One purpose of this diary is to link to all sixteen of the Meteor Blades guest posts under Movable Type.
Meteor Blades is an excellent writer. You see it in his posts, his comments, even his appreciation of good comments. Sometimes, when the Top Comments diarists are having trouble finding great comments to highlight, we'll check out what other folks are recommending: one of the best for that purpose is Meteor Blades. We're not the only people who lean on him, who rely on his wisdom, as was made quite evident this weekend after SusanG's excessively cryptic preview of the Sunday Kos article, still in the queue as I write. There have been a couple of "explainer" diaries on the subject already.
But it's his writing that's most important. Perhaps the best source for links to those articles is in Wee Mama's Happy Birthday, Meteor Blades. It appeared this past Thanksgiving Day, so you might have missed it. (I did; I was out of town and didn't discover it until searching through all posts tagged Meteor Blades.) It's the perfect diary for a Meteor Blades–phile: it lovingly paints a birthday picture using his own words to explain his politics, his username, his political life, and more. There's an alternative view of his name I'd never seen before, and links to over a dozen diaries and some special comments. If you've never read How I Learned to Savor Thanksgiving, there's no time like the present. Go ahead. This diary will still be here when you get back.
Below, I've listed the linked diary titles for all posts that Meteor Blades wrote. If he also made comments, I've also linked to the comment thread with the number of comments he made in it.
His first article, "Billions for Iraq", was written in two parts. The numbers being talked about in parts one and two were so large and incomprehensible back then: $50 billion, $75 billion. That they don't have the same breathtaking quality five years later—that numbers an order of magnitude larger, $350 billion and $825 billion, are being thrown around with far greater ease—is another demonstration of just how destructive the Bush administration has been to this country. That doesn't diminish the excellent writing, however, or the instinctive touches: I still smile reading the coinage "hoi oligoi".
There were also articles on the California gubernatorial recall, the outing of Valerie Plame, energy policy, and more. The titles and links are there: happy hunting!
Meteor Blades' front-page (Movable Type) stories, September 19 through October 13, 2003: -- 16 total
Friday, September 19, 2003
Billions for Iraq - Part I also has 2 of 106 comments by Meteor Blades
Saturday, September 20, 2003
Billions for Iraq - Part II also has 1 of 36 comments by Meteor Blades
Saturday, September 27, 2003
Energy Plan: No Visionaries, Please also has 1 of 27 comments by Meteor Blades
Sunday, September 28, 2003
Spotlight Returns to Diebold Voting Machines also has 2 of 68 comments by Meteor Blades
Monday, September 29, 2003
Plame Affair Finally Gets Legs also has 1 of 162 comments by Meteor Blades
Recall Enters Final Week with Davis on the Ropes also has 3 of 190 comments by Meteor Blades
Friday, October 3, 2003
Plame Affair Merely a Symptom also has 6 of 155 comments by Meteor Blades
Hans Blix Weighs in a Little Late also has 1 of 56 comments by Meteor Blades
Sunday, October 5, 2003
Did Ken Lay and Arnold Schwarzenegger Collaborate to Screw Californians on Energy? also has 3 of 67 comments by Meteor Blades
Bush Leads a Medieval Presidency also has 3 of 170 comments by Meteor Blades
Tuesday, October 7, 2003
Despite Public Differences, Novak Found Common Cause with Neocons also has 2 of 68 comments by Meteor Blades
Friday, October 10, 2003
Energy Plan: No Visionaries, Please - Part 2 also has 5 of 139 comments by Meteor Blades
Saturday, October 11, 2003
Pat Robertson Spouts Terrorist Threat also has 2 of 77 comments by Meteor Blades
Sunday, October 12, 2003
Will Israel Blast Iran's Nuclear Facilities? also has 1 of 173 comments by Meteor Blades
Valerie Plame Affair Not Forgotten has no comments by Meteor Blades in the 78 posted.
Monday, October 13, 2003
Rumsfeld May Have Something to Say About a Chinese in Space also has 2 of 84 comments by Meteor Blades
Last, but certainly not least, here are the searches you can run to get links to the Scoop writings of Meteor Blades. These began the evening of October 13, 2003, when the Scoop site was first opened to users:
• 947 front-page stories
• 287 diaries
• 36406 comments (warning: can take two minutes or more to retrieve data)
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I think much of Daily Kos is already looking forward to the inauguration, because traffic was light in the Top Comments mailbox today. Still a few did come through, sent to the Top Comments gmail address before the 9:30pm Eastern Time deadline. The actual address of our mailbox for top comments submissions is:
TopComments AT gmail DOT com
(change " AT " to "@" and " DOT " to ".")
Anyone can send great comments to our address. Be sure to include the direct link to a comment—the URL—which is available from that comment's date/time; we need that to find your choice. Please always include your Daily Kos user name in the body of your message, so we can credit you properly. As I say every time (and with good reason!), both link and username are important. If you also include a writeup, we can include that, too; if you just send the link, then you give us a chance to further exercise our creative muscles.
WarrenS sent in this nomination (writeup by sardonyx):
In greendem's diary Pete Seeger Restores "This Land is Your Land", mkor7 reminds us of another of Pete's accomplishments.
From nonnie9999:
Sam Loomis posted a magazine cover that boggles the mind.
Bill in Portland Maine explains how he came up with his user name.
JesseCW has a Pete Seeger story with a wonderful surprise ending.
FrankCornish has a language lesson.
burrow owl gets all biblical.
Lava20 knows how to handle a troll diary.
NCrissieB defines what patriotism really means.
Angry Mouse wrote:
Here's an excellent observation by LionelEHutz about John McCain refusing to allow Cindy to be on Dancing With the Stars.
From Elise:
Wolf10 talks about checking on his neighbor who may be losing her public assistance. I hope everyone in CA does the same based on SmileySam's diary.
Dallasdoc has a great comment on Medicare and SS reform. Don't scroll too far or you'll fall into yet another blah argument.
RFK Lives sums up my feelings today! Woot!!
From sardonyx (your humble diarist):
In Dallasdoc's diary from late last night, What Is It to Be a Citizen?, thetruthmatters points us to the Federalist Papers, with action we can take after every quote, and elsewhere, CanYouBeAngryAndStillDream explains his plan and details the actions he's taken. There are many excellent comments in this diary, with very different outlooks; if you haven't read them all, now's the time to take a look.
SteveP refutes some common misstatements on undocumented workers and illegal immigration.
Special K explains how to rebut arguments against the Employee Free Choice Act.
In a liveblog of today's We Are One concert at the Lincoln Memorial, filegirl gives a unique impression of today's festivities.
Finally, today's top mojo using my revision of the cskendrick-devised mojo-to-Excel process.
First, Top Mojo excluding search-identifiable tip jars and first diary comments:
1) Gray Davis was "Enronned" by Inky99 — 143
2) No, this is about Bill Moyers by Balam — 141
3) Knee jerk attacks on any critic of Israel by Lefty Coaster — 129
4) We got our country back today by RFK Lives — 120
5) A Wonderful Event by Better Days — 108
6) I went with my real name by Light Emitting Pickle — 106
7) Gray Davis by slouching — 106
8) Aw,man! by kestrel9000 — 105
9) Absolutely beautiful! I'm 65 and retired and by phrogge prince — 105
10) Concert Going Around the World by Centrocitta — 100
11) You can't make this shit up! by Land of Enchantment — 99
12) WoW.... by SmileySam — 96
13) Arnie targeted the blind and disabled by decembersue — 95
14) Pete Seeger by sidnora — 94
15) REMARKABLE DIARY!! by Old Redneck — 92
16) Here it is! Up on Youtube already by MsLibrarian — 92
17) Jesus, Pete Seeger is sing 'This land...' by phrogge prince — 91
18) We got our country back by RFK Lives — 89
19) I'll repeat myself then: by SciVo — 86
20) I think this is more abt Foxman being a blowhard by Pesto — 84
21) Because by Dreaming of Better Days — 84
22) I am so glad he is here by anotherCt Dem — 84
23) This diary violates the rules by buhdydharma — 83
24) Jesus christ... by GlowNZ — 82
25) U2 brought tears to my eyes by RFK Lives — 79
26) I think this should be a lesson to all of us by Odeomi13 — 78
27) Obama said he would listen to all sides... by Elise — 77
28) Schooled by Limelite — 77
29) Thanks you America by Leftywingnut — 75
30) The ADL used to be a great organization by The Bagof Health and Politics — 74
Top Mojo with No Exclusions:
1) Tipjar by SmileySam — 453
2) What a day. by greendem — 369
3) The cease fire by both sides comes as good news by Lefty Coaster — 325
4) Gonna go get some chow, by Crashing Vor — 303
5) Best wishes to Brother Ansgarr by gchaucer2 — 292
6) Please leave tips by Dallasdoc — 265
7) Tip jar n/t by Kula2316 — 245
8) Tips for non-partisanship... n.t by dkmich — 243
9) Tip jar by occams hatchet — 201
10) Great stuff by LaFeminista — 168
11) Its just not going to be nearly as "funny"... by JeffLieber — 145
12) Gray Davis was "Enronned" by Inky99 — 143
13) No, this is about Bill Moyers by Balam — 141
14) Knee jerk attacks on any critic of Israel by Lefty Coaster — 129
15) We got our country back today by RFK Lives — 120
16) Tips for Roses by Land of Enchantment — 119
17) A Wonderful Event by Better Days — 108
18) I went with my real name by Light Emitting Pickle — 106
19) Gray Davis by slouching — 106
20) Absolutely beautiful! I'm 65 and retired and by phrogge prince — 105
21) Aw,man! by kestrel9000 — 105
22) Concert Going Around the World by Centrocitta — 100
23) You can't make this shit up! by Land of Enchantment — 99
24) Show me your TIPS by Trix — 98
25) WoW.... by SmileySam — 96
26) Arnie targeted the blind and disabled by decembersue — 95
27) Pete Seeger by sidnora — 94
28) REMARKABLE DIARY!! by Old Redneck — 92
29) Here it is! Up on Youtube already by MsLibrarian — 92
30) Jesus, Pete Seeger is sing 'This land...' by phrogge prince — 91
© sardonyx; all rights reserved
All quotes are the property of the original authors or the websites that held them