So Google is taking blogs out of its equation, at least sorta.

I'm of mixed feelings on this: My own mild dread at seeing a Usenet link pop up (and the nostalgia I now feel for them), is offset by the knowledge that, as much as taking off the (politically frequently savvy) blog-niche from search results will reduce noise, it's going to cut out a lot of well-qualified academics in a broad variety of fields, as well as some incredibly bright guys whose jobs and insights are well-grounded, and who bring much needed expertise to laymen. Sometimes they even give a different perspective from a well-known medium.

And that doesn't even count the brilliant folks out there who aren't "credentialed" the way those others are, but who bring a different insight than the well-credentialed loonies of the world.

A Google search is like any other variable tool; sometimes you know exactly what you want; other times, you find what you want accidentally.

In some ways, the internet sucks a lot more than it did ten years ago.