OxBlog

# Posted 2:57 PM by Patrick Belton

NEW WEBSITE: I've noticed that we get a really remarkable number of hits (and will get even more after this post, in all likelihood) from people googling "Dearborn (/Oxford / Washington / Kabul / Baghdad - hey, you're an adventuresome bunch) Massage Parlours," "Arabic gay sex pics," and even some really interesting combinations of Bush administration foreign policy statesmen (and women) and the former. This probably reflects the principal usages of the internet at this point in history (59% pornography, 31% Nigerian diamonds and Viagra sales, 10% email and e-commerce). In the past, I've tended to just say "welcome, gentlemen, and you can leave your trenchcoats by the door." But my current idea is that, if our dissertations don't come through in the end, we could always just spin out a companion website, OxxxBlog.

Second, we've been talking with friends in the democracy-promotion community about our idea to get funding to translate a weekly "best of blogs" round-up into Arabic and Farsi, with a scrupulously balanced representation each week of centre-left to centre-right blogs from the US and abroad. I have to admit, though, I still haven't figured out a cool title for the project. I've been thinking "Internet (something something) Project," where the middle bit has something to do with electronic political media, and perhaps the Middle East, but just neater-sounding. Any ideas?

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