Potent Readables

Even if you, like me, would sooner tongue-kiss Al Gore than hear the word "blog" again this week, it's worth recalling that these websites can do a good or at least interesting job sifting through the vast effluvia of 15,000 journalists. And, helpfully, there are a bunch of sites that collect in one place the very latest typings from at least 30 people blogging the convention. For instance, Convention Bloggers, Feedster, and Technorati.

And, as happens every four years, just about the most useful coverage can be found in the National Journal Convention Daily, a friendly, 48-page collection of schedules, sensible feature stories, party poop, witty listings, and -- most importantly -- daily Dave Barry columns. The National Journal is usually subscription-only (except for the hard-copy of the paper, which is distributed widely here for free), but this year they are offering it online for the cost of registration. And yes, they have one of those b-thingies.