Speaking of Birthdays

My post yesterday noted the 50th birthday of that great writing book, The Elements of Style. Well, today is another important birthday: Sponge Bob Square Pants is 10 years old!

Yeah, a silly show, but keep in mind that nine of the 20 top cable programs were ... da da dum ... episodes of Sponge Bob. Wow. And I challenge you to find a time when the show is not being shown.

Is this related to my blog? If I tried really hard and actually watched the show with some care, I might pull out a telling detail or plot device or show topic that somehow fits what people know, but let's face it -- more trouble than it's worth.

Quick Hit Friday

• New Pew Center report details Internet use during the 2008 presidential campaign. The lede? Three-quarters of Net users went online to find campaign info.
• The "direction of the country" poll question has reached 43 percent (in one poll), an improvement since early January (23 percent). Summary of such polls here.
• New study in Political Psychology argues that political knowledge is important in understanding people's worldviews, such as egalitarianism or individualism. People with low political knowledge are found not to have coherent worldviews. The authors, Michaud, Carlisle, and Smith include the third author who wrote a very good book about political knowledge many years ago.