Marti Abernathey

Yes, it’s true… I’m kind of a weirdo. I don’t watch TV (although I do bit torrent the family guy episodes), I’m very selective on the movies I see, and I don’t read the newspaper. Pondering that the other day, I realized that I still read a newspaper. Yes, it’s true, I have my own personal newspaper via the Internet. It’s better than any print newspaper I could hope for.

For those of you that are not net/tech savvy, i read my “newspaper” via RSS feeds. Confused? RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication (RSS) and is a lightweight XML format designed for sharing headlines and other Web content. Most blog platforms (Blogger, Movable Type, etc.) automatically generate an xml/rss feed that can be either added to Livejournal ( http://www.livejournal.com/syn), or you can use a reader like Feedreader. To use Livejournal as your feed reader you must be a paid user. Be warned, if you have a large friends list the feeds tend to clutter up your Friends list. I took all my feeds off LJ and downloaded Feedreader and added them. Now I can read all my feeds off line when I’m traveling to work on the bus ( my IPOD and laptop keep me sane while on the bus I can read my feeds and i open up notepad and write any responses to the posts I read and then post them the next time i get Internet access. Here’s a breakdown of some of my favorite feeds:

Political

GLBT

TrailMix - Blog of the National Stonewall Democrats.
LJ feed:
XML/RSS feed: http://www.stonewalldemocrats.org/trailmix/atom.xml

Bilerco - An Indy based Gay activist blog. Most of the posters there I end up disagreeing with… but wtf… it’s my town LJ feed:
XML/RSS feed: http://www.bilerico.com/bilerico.xml

Indiana

Masson’s Blog - Doug writes mostly about local politics from his point of view. He reviews bills that are being considered in the Indiana legislature.
LJ feed:
XML/RSS feed: http://www.masson.us/blog/atom.xml

Indy Pundit - “Louis Mahern is a contract lobbyist living in Indianapolis. After four years active duty in the US Marine Corps he entered Democratic politics in Indianapolis. He served as a Congressional Assistant for eight years five of which were on Capital Hill. He subsequently served in the Indiana State Senate for sixteen years. He has been a contract lobbyist at the Indiana General Assembly for 12 years.” He’s got a pretty good local and national perspective. Think of him as the grandpa of political bloggers…. just don’t tell him I said that. LJ feed:
XML/RSS feed: http://www.indypundit.net/atom.xml

US

Wonkette- There are other political bloggers out there, but Wonkette is my choice to read. Liberal and edgy, I enjoy getting a lot of information in just a few sentences.
LJ feed:
XML/RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/wonkette/full

Jesus’ General: A 10 on the Manly Scale of Absolute Gender- mocking conservative Christians, posting cartoons featuring “Republican Jesus”, his satirical look at into the world of fundamentalist Christians rocks my socks.
LJ feed:
XML/RSS feed: http://patriotboy.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Middle East

Adventures of Mr.Behi- a concise and open blogger in Iran.
LJ feed:
XML/RSS feed: http://mrbehi.blogs.com/i/atom.xml

hnk’s blog - the blog a 16 year old Iraqi. She puts a real face on the price of the war.
LJ feed:
XML/RSS feed: http://iraqigirl.blogspot.com/atom.xml

The Hanoudi Letter- Blog of Dr. Najeeb Hanoudi. He is the oldest known Iraqi blogger (at 70).
LJ feed:
XML/RSS feed: http://www.thehanoudiletter.com/index2.php?option=com_rss&feed=ATOM0.3&no_html=1

Trans-specific

Gwen Smith - creator of the “Remembering our Dead” website. Her weekly “asshats” posts crack me up. An amazing writer, web designer, and person.
LJ feed:
XML/RSS feed: http://www.wcc.vccs.edu/services/rssify/rssify.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gwensmith.com%2Fweblog%2Fweblog.html

Transcending Gender- a relatively new find. Lots of topical trans posts. One of my new favorites.
LJ feed:
XML/RSS feed: http://www.jenburke.com/wp-rss2.php

World News

BBC- a world perspective on the news. What journalism SHOULD be about….
LJ feed:
XML/RSS feed: http://newsrss.bbc.co.uk/rss/newsonline_uk_edition/world/rss.xml

Just For Fun

:xo~IndyGirl~xo: - Not just another pretty fac… blog. Her wit ( and smart ass attitude) pretty closely mirrors mine… and THAT is scary!
LJ feed:
XML/RSS feed: http://huhnoshit.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Sardonic Bomb - gay male photographer that I know in RT. He’s witty, he knows how to capture men at their finest, and he’s a pretty swell guy. Did I mention he’s cute too?
LJ feed:
XML/RSS feed: http://www.sardonic-bomb.com/atom.xml

Steph’s Journal - Steph is an awesome web designer, an activist, and a social commentator. Her take on things is pretty much right in line with what I believe. Also the creator of IndyScribe.
LJ feed:
XML/RSS feed: http://www.commonplacebook.com/journal/atom.xml

Dictionary.com’s Word of The Day - you’re never to old to learn new words…
LJ feed:
http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/wotd.rss

Real Live Preacher- Not sure why I dig RLP so much, since I’m not a Christian, but I do. He’s an awesome writer that exposes himself so well in his writing… I think that’s prolly why I dig him.
LJ feed:
XML/RSS feed: http://blogs.salon.com/0001772/rss.xml

IndyScribe- a blog that reaches into the creases and crevices of Indianapolis. A showcase of the culture you can access in and around Indianapolis. Indianapolis is more than a Speedway.
LJ feed:
XML/RSS feed: http://www.indyscribe.com/atom.xml

What newspaper would be complete without the Comics section?

Comics

Dilbert
LJ feed:
XML/RSS feed: http://uud.f2o.org/comics/comics.php?nome=dilbert

Sinfest
LJ feed:
XML/RSS feed: http://www.heterosapiens.com/~crschmidt/sinfest.xml

Redmeat
LJ feed:
XML/RSS feed: http://www.jwz.org/cheesegrater/RSS/redmeat.rss

Doonesbury
LJ feed:
XML/RSS feed: http://www.heterosapiens.com/~crschmidt/doonesbury.xml
Now I’m sure some of you are probably thinking, “I’m sure you still look at a real newspaper every once in a while.” Of course I do… the Indy Star has an RSS feed of their headlines. While I don’t believe the US media has some sort of propagandist agenda, I do think they’ve become a big business that essentially has become just that. Using the latest technology to gather my news from the world has opened up my perspective to different cultures, opinions, and ideas.

If you would like to download all of my feeds and use them in your RSS reader you can get my OPML here. ENJOY!