PSoTD

The Daou Report, at Salon, has been missing from blog action since June 29th, with the exception of a posting on July 9th by Peter Daou, and is on official hiatus until August.

Surprisingly, this has only garnered 20 comments of dismay. Imagine if Eschaton or Kos or memeorandum announced they were going on hiatus for several weeks, particularly after announcing they were going to work with a likely candidate for President in 2008, and they had left the comments on. What would have been the response, both in quantity and quality? Somehow, I think it would have been a LOT uglier. And people pay for Salon. They do not pay for Kos/Eschaton/Memeorandum/etc.

I wonder if Salon is monitoring the response as part of a determination to whether they were going to bring in an experienced blogger to cover this same territory. It does baffle me that a blog that seemed to be growing in importance in the blogosphere has been allowed to idle for a rather important political month. It sure would be interesting to see what kind of traffic loss The Daou Report has suffered in the past month, and even more importantly, inbound links.

On the other hand, if Salon has to hire someone else to run The Daou Report (and perhaps have to rename it as well), then taking their time probably makes a lot of sense. After all, a poor choice for editorial control and vision can kill a blog or any other publication faster than going silent for a short time...

Women 'use mobiles to deter men's approaches'

The mobile phone is changing how we interact with each other, according to a study - with some women using theirs to keep predatory men at bay.

More than 16,500 people were surveyed for the Mobile Life Report which reveals insights into how we live. In the past, women may have used a newspaper as a barrier to deter people from approaching them but that has changed.

The study, which was published by The Carphone Warehouse and the London School of Economics, showed that 54 per cent of women under 25 admitted using their mobile in public situations to deter people from approaching them.

I'm not sure what the property tax treatment is of properties owned by churches and cemeteries across the country, but if they are going to start building commercial enterprises by allowing cell towers to be placed on their premises, then I think that treatment ought to be reviewed.

From Asbury Park Press:

Council President Thomas Gilmour said Thursday's zoning board hearing on Verizon's application to build a 133-foot-cell tower on land owned by the Church of the Nativity is scheduled to proceed.

From Greenwich Time:

In what would be a first for the Diocese of Bridgeport, T-Mobile is negotiating a lease to install a 110-foot telecommunications tower in Putnam Cemetery.

If the plans go through, Putnam would be the only cemetery among the diocese's 15 to have a tower, and would be one of only a handful of cemeteries in the state with towers.

Wireless companies have sought to build more towers in cemeteries, reasoning that those buried in them won't object. It turns out, though, that their families sometimes do.

From Arizona Central:

A new Chandler church is the parish of "immaculate reception" thanks to a cellphone tower disguised as a palm next to its parking lot.

The Wellspring Church's MonoPalm northwest of Dobson Road and the Santan Freeway is one of hundreds of new cell tower installations going up across the Valley this year as wireless companies scramble to improve coverage in the face of sprawl.

Pastor Kelly Carr said cellphone provider T-Mobile approached the Southern Baptist church's leaders about renting space next to the sanctuary before construction was finished this year.

It's more than a trend. It's a strategy of telecommunications companies.