And today it went live!

The partnership begins with their using Seesmic to power political discussion with one of their most widely read political columnists - Chris Cilizza. For this integration we worked with The Washington Post team to develop a customized version of the Seesmic threaded player.

Here's the inaugural conversation: JOIN IN!!! Click on play to hear Chris' post and question. As the video is playing you'll see the "reply" button appear in the upper right corner. Click on that and you'll be prompted either to log-in to your Seesmic account (if you have one) OR you can sign up right there! Super simple - just pick username, password and enter your email address - and you're off!

In any case, there are those comedic gods to whom I pay homage and genuflect (or at least double over laughing, which I'm pretty sure is the humor equivalent on that front).

Among those: Steve Martin ("wild and crazy guy" era), Chevy Chase (I have one word for you, Fletch), Steven Wright (he makes usual dry humor seem positively waterlogged), Sarah Silverman (you have to love someone who insults everyone with such a lovely smile), but the true masters of funny in my world are the brilliant men behind Monty Python and Fawlty Towers.

Their work is hallowed comedic ground for me, and so when my colleague Vinvin told me that John Cleese was going to be on Seesmic I just about passed out.

And then something remarkable happened.

John Cleese said I was funny.

He answered the question I asked him too, but he said I was funny.

The Seesmic conversation player I've posted here opens with John's reply to my question.

But if you wish to watch the whole thread, you can click on the far left thumbnail on the bottom and listen to it all!

Re: cathy/ John Cleese on Seesmic Tuesday 7th at NOON Pacific Time

Or does it?

When I got home tonight I had a note in my personal email inbox from the contact address on my blog. It was from a fellow named Darren. He informed me that someone I knew had died.

In and of itself that's not, perhaps, all too unusual. But in this case, the person who had died is someone who I never met - at least not in person.

His name was Craig Manganello. He was a member of the Seesmic community.

We never met in person.

Our only connection was via a few digital threads (namely Seesmic and Twitter).

But I knew Craig.

Through his online world, Craig divulged deeply personal things - from his commitment to launching a technology venture to his passion and talent with music to the considerable struggle he had with his health. He engaged in debates. He encouraged and inspired. And through his music he shared his fears and the essence of who he was.

Looking at his MySpace video page, you see a concert his did in June. If you look at his Twitter feed, you see as recently as early August a trip to the beach, an outing for steak dinner with the family, and then the return of health issues that he'd thought were, perhaps, under control.

And now, he's gone. Just like that.

The marvelous thing is that he's not really gone. Far from it. Just look at the links listed through this post. Every one of them points to a place where something that Craig created can live on. His carbon print may have moved on, but his digital mark remains - a deeply inked tattoo to which we can all continue to link, refer and connect.

So it is for all of us. While our physical time in this place has a structured in and out point, the radiating connections we grow as we pass along in life remain.

In the Jewish faith, when someone passes the family and friends sit shiva for a week. The process of this experience and the stages through which the mourners are guided are such that when the process is finished, you can move on.

Though Craig wasn't Jewish, there is something I think to be said for giving people an opportunity to express their grief, share their stories and process the loss.

It seems fitting that this process has begun in a place Craig enjoyed. I've included this conversation below and even if you didn't know Craig, hope that you will feel free to share your condolences or, if you wish to share your own stories of coping with loss with the group, please introduce yourself and chime in.

NOTE: IF YOU WISH TO PARTICIPATE, WHEN YOU CLICK ON REPLY YOU WILL BE PROMPTED EITHER TO LOG IN TO SEESMIC OR TO CREATE AN ACCOUNT. CREATING AN ACCOUNT IS VERY SIMPLE - JUST ENTER NAME, USERNAME, PASSWORD AND YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS AND YOU'RE OFF TO THE RACES!

I'm no Wall Street guru.

Heck, the last math class I took at Northwestern University was fondly nicknamed - math for trees.

But you'd have to be quite a few sandwiches short of a picnic to not have a clue that our country has skidded rapidly down the slippery slope of financial woes into a painful morass for pretty much anything related to its financial health.

And you know what? I'm scared.

It's actually less about the financial crisis itself and more about the fact that there don't seem to be any clear-headed leaders doing anything about it.

But at least now I've heard a voice that speaks with reason. My friend Heather Gold posted this clip on her blog and so with a curtsy in Heather's direction for bringing this clip to my attention, I'll share with you.

I'm not suggesting she's not smart (even if I disagree with her politics).

I'm not suggesting she's not brazen and sassy (a quality I admire, though I find her morally reprehensible).

What I am suggesting is that the Republican spin machine is trying desperately to frame this candidate ... and in this rather superb interview by Campbell Brown, she holds them to task. And in my opinion shows them for the pathetic, weak and otherwise bullshit laden party that they have proven themselves to be.

Oh dear. There I go, parading around in my politics again.

Regardless of your political bent, you have to admit that Campbell's tenacious questioning here is a solid example of a good journalist focused on getting a straight answer.

Nice.

But as Sonia Arrison explains in her column this week at TechNewsWorld, the jury is still out with regards to which candidates "gets it" on the tech front.

Candidly, I think that any policy McCain may put forward is nothing more than window dressing and a whole lot of bullshit.

After all, he is illiterate on tech so how the hell does he know if the policy is sound? I know. I know. It's about the people with whom he surrounds himself ... but frankly since the buck stops with the person living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, I'd feel a heck of a lot better with someone who at least knows where the power switch is on their computer.

The thing that excites me most about this discussion, however, is that Sonia is testing out Seesmic to talk about it and give people an opportunity to discuss the topic further.

With that ... here's the conversation ... Hope you'll join in.

NOTE: You don't need to do anything to listen in on the conversation. Just click play. If you want to chime in yourself, when you click the "reply" button you will be prompted to sign in to Seesmic if you have an account. If you don't, it's no more difficult than entering your name and email address and you're off to the races. And that also means any time you see a Seesmic conversation player on any site, you can take part there too!

Who deserves the tech vote: Obama or McCain?http://www.technewsworld.com/story/Who-Deserves-the-Tech-Vote-64250.html

And figured that I would bring it here ...

So with that, here's the deal - I love to cook.

More to the point, I love to bake.

It's a passion and skill inherited from my father's mother ... my Mommom Frieda.

She was a feisty, salty, sarcastic woman who tried to hide the fact that she smoked by opening all the windows of her apartment before we came over. Some of my fondest memories are of standing in her kitchen, hearing stories of her immigration to the US at the age of 9, and watching her create the most delectable confections ... Most of which I've carried on.

About two weeks ago a colleague of mine came in with a shopping bag filled with bananas. Apparently his wife had been ... well ... a bit overeager when she saw that bananas were on sale. And her being from Europe the whole pounds/kilos thing wasn't clear.

As a result he brought in a bag of them to hand out.

At the moment I was HUGELY hungry so the banana helped. Out of gratitude (and my own love of baking), I snared a pile of bananas and decided to bring him a little treat.

I took the liberty of chronicling the baking ... and I share the recipe - including the super secret ingredient.

So check it out ... and if you have any questions about the recipe feel free to ask!

On the left to right political spectrum I admit fully, wholly and down to the very marrow of my bones to an inclination leaning more to the left than not. But I'm a pragmatist above all. And given a compelling set of facts and convincing argument I'm more than willing to alter my view.

Disclaimer (of sorts) aside, I hope you'll read on...

Several months ago I had the pleasure of crossing paths with a fascinating and inspirational group of people. They call themselves "refugees from Broadcast television news."

To be honest, I don't recall if they gave themselves this descriptor or if I created it after our first meeting at their offices over near the old Barbary Coast. But now, having had the pleasure of working with them a bit, I have to say that it fits.

The organization is LinkTV. And the team there is comprised by seasoned veterans whose collective experience ranges from newsroom and programming to management and distribution ... and they add to the mix a deep passion for social media, social change and an understanding of technology.

With their network, this group brought together the best of all worlds. They truly approach news and story-telling from as global a perspective as possible. And more so than almost any media organization I've experienced (at least in TV), the LinkTV crew truly embraces what they clearly feel is a moral imperative ... Television without borders.

Imagine the joy it gives me to be able to say that not only do I respect their work, but that I have a chance to work with them!

In partnership with Seesmic, LinkTV seeks to expand the conversation about truly global issues ... literally. Using Seesmic's video conversation technology, LinkTV expanded its Dear American Voter project -- a campaign to engage the world in a truly international discourse about key issues here that have ripple effects around the globe.

The following conversation tackles a topic that makes me alternately angry and sick-to-my-stomach -- the impact that the faltering US economy has internationally.

These are strong voices - and they're voices you won't hear on every single newscast (sick of sound bites anyone?) ... And thanks to the Seesmic platform - you can actually engage and join the discussion.

If you're already using Seesmic, clicking "reply" will prompt you to login. If you don't have a Seesmic account, don't sweat it. The window will prompt you to create one - but it's only your name, email and a username ... you won't leave this site, and you won't get spammed.

I promise.

And if video commenting just isn't your thing, you can leave a text comment below too.

Either way, I hope you'll get involved!

A ridiculously huge X-Files fan.

As in, I own the first five seasons on DVD, a copy of the first movie, along with a rather embarrassing array of merchandising products.

So when we were approached (we being the gang at Seesmic) about working with 20th Century Fox to participate in a very exciting project for the new X-Files movie, I just about fell out of my chair.

The connection came through one of Seesmic's core community members, Gia Milinovich. She's a blogger, producer and recently worked on the Indiana Jones 4 press junket - a project which also included Seesmic!

Long story short - I went to LA, met with the superb team at 20th Century Fox, and then we started talking about integrating Seesmic into a chat widget they were already developing. As these things go, it turned out that a better option was to build them a branded, standalone version of our threaded conversation player.

So we did.

The idea is simple. The first post of this thread is a trailer for the film. The rest is all conversation among fans!

In addition to this player being available standalone on their site, there will also be a link to it from the text chat widget that they developed - a widget that's now embedded on 2,300 sites!

The truth is out there ... and now so is the conversation...

I'm damn glad I was wrong.

On May 15, 2008 the California Supreme Court struck down a previous ruling that had rendered gay marriage against the law. In doing so, the gates were opened for what then took place on June 17, 2008 - the first LEGAL marriages in California.

The superb content crew at Seesmic tackled this topic by sitting down with someone who I describe as being a combination of a cyclone and a warm hug - Kate Kendell - Executive Director of NCLR.

This conversation thread starts with the promo for Rachael Joy's Newspop episode in which she interviews Kate. While the "live" session with Kate is done, you can still join the conversation. Click on reply - if you don't have a Seesmic account it will prompt you to register (don't worry it's easy). You can join the discussion. I'm going to see what I can do about getting some folks at NCLR and EQCA to join up on Seesmic and perhaps dip into this conversation on occasion to answer questions.

So sit back, take a listen, then lean forward and get involved!

For a funny perspective, check this out:

It's a very moving, very powerful speech.

Harper is going to Israel at the end of June. Yossi has a call to action - to have this video reach 100,000 views before Harper gets to Ben Gurion airport.

So ... how about we help him out?

You can watch the video right here ... and for your ease of forwarding, here's the link to send out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRwWMJ1NLbM

For months now as Seesmic's user base has grown, it's been a slow creep to find faces in the timeline who I knew from the real world.

Yesterday I logged in to find someone who I'd met in a business meeting days before. In that meeting, we talked about various ways people were using the platform. He specifically asked me about performance art, even more specifically he asked about poetry and spoken word.

And there he was - sharing a very cool poem called "Chinatown."

Here's his post:

Watching his post made me think there's a market for some sort of computer teleprompter into which you can feed text so that you can look directly into your computer camera while you recite something like this. Or maybe some sort of clip or rack that holds the copy just above your monitor.

In any case, I felt compelled to share a poem of my own. Well not something I wrote, but something that I love. It's a piece by Pablo Neruda entitled "Leaning into the Afternoons".

It's sponsored by WISE, and the objective is to help propagate the already rapidly expanding world of blogs and new media - specifically among a female audience.

My fellow panelists include some people whose work I respect quite a bit ... and some others I'll have the pleasure of meeting for the first time.

The panel moderator, Zennie Abraham, asked each of us to give a little overview - by video - on our definition of new media as a "warm-up" of sorts for our panel.

Here's what he posted this morning:

I'm not suggesting it's always a good thing. Nor am I suggesting people's privacy shouldn't be respected. But in the spirit of erring on the side of transparency, openness and freedom of speech, I have to say I think that the upside of the Internet as monster megaphone is more accountability for those who choose to behave badly.

Just ask George Allen. His "Macaca" incident derailed any chance he had at running for President, and torpedoed his ability to hold office for anything other than a white supremacist organization in the future.

Yes, cameras and microphones are everywhere, and while those who live in the entertainment world fall prey to prying lenses all the time, I personally believe that for those in political office that magnifying glass becomes all the more powerful. And why not. After all - they're supposed to be representing others.

One state legislator in Oklahoma apparently didn't get the memo.