I though it was just me.. that did not get it.. I feel much less like my VCR is flashing 12:00 now.. thanks!

I fear that I sometimes suffer from "A-lister awe," figuring that those folks (and everyone, really) know more about everything than I do, and if what they do looks, well, less than perfect, it must be me.

I can't help thinking that in this case, however, the emperor really has no clothes.

I guess it's all a matter of perspective. I don't know any of the names on the supposed A-list. What is the A-list anyway?

If OSM were an aggregator of some other names, like say, Siegmund, Neidlinger, Zalm, Educat... well then I might be interested. But I guess I already have that.

OTOH, there's Findory which I looked at when you mentioned it in a meme a while back. I've found some very interesting stuff that way.

Y'know, I attempted to do the same with the Christian blogosphere - but as a hobby.

Even so, I see these guys quickly building what some might later deem as a sort of blogspheric ghetto.

Provided their business model doesn't do'm in first.

Jim, I guess each person defines their own "A-list," using their own criteria. Mine is found primarily -- but not exclusively -- in my "Neighborhood" blogroll. Hmm. None of the OSM bloggers made it. How odd.

Dean, I think your idea of a niche aggregator or portal has more appeal than one that attempts to cover the waterfront. For the latter, Google News and Technorati work just fine for me, along with the specific blogs I consider "go-to" sources for specific topics.

I wish OSM well...all they need to do is to score some bigtime advertisers like Coke or J&J, and given the increasing problems with advertising via traditional media, they may well do it. But all that does is make OSMers rich; it doesn't make them credible or winsome. They'll have to do that on their own, and they may find out that being part of OSM makes that harder.

I had a long and pleasant phone conversation with Roger Simon when they first started getting serious about putting this together. Besides "making money" which is a good goal....Roger envisioned something somewhat like an AP or UPI for the print media where "blog journalists" from all over the globe could either submit stories to OSM or link them from their blogs. I think that he would still be one of his goals and would be a good service.

However, in this startup phase anyway, it looks more like just another blog where the big boys comment or pick apart stories generated by the MSM. In my opinion there is enough of that already. I'm interested in genuine original content.

each person defines their own "A-list," using their own criteria. Mine is found primarily -- but not exclusively -- in my "Neighborhood" blogroll

**honorific bow in your general direction** many thanks for including a Penn's Woodsian in your neighborhood.

I have no idea what a "Penn's Woodsian" is, or I might have excluded you after all. ;-)

On the off chance you were being serious about that previous comment, I will enlighten you. Penn's Woods is the meaning of the name Pennsylvania, the commonwealth founded by Quaker celeb William Penn some time ago, my state of residence.

More likely you were just being your humorous Texas self.

I know it sometimes seems like I know everything, but this is completely new to me.

One can learn a lot by hanging out with bloggers.

Extrapolating from my new-found knowledge, would I assume correctly that "Transylvania" means "Woods of Pontiac Sports Cars"?

RIGHT! You get a smiley for the day :-)