The Top Thinkers of Beyond the Rhetoric

I just realized that I had neglected to give the proper recognition to the top commentators of October and November. For that, I apologize. My intention is to dedicate one post a month (like I did for September) to the people who take the time out of their days to post comments on this blog. Remember that Beyond the Rhetoric is meant to be a conversation and not just my soapbox.

With that, we turn our attention to the five guys who left the most comments for the month of November 2009. Let’s see what they’ve had to say on their blogs in recent days.

Ray Ebersole sits at the top of the list again. On his own blog, he recently discussed the Tiger Woods media circus, expressing his disgust over how mainstream news outlets seem to focus on celebrity gossip like Tiger’s incident rather than on “real world news” that really matters. I can understand our infatuation with celebrities, but this is clearly getting out of hand.

EarningStep is always on the lookout for new and interesting ways to earn some extra cash. One of the newer developments allows you to make money with Facebook and PayPal. It’s called the PayPal Wishlist and it’s a Facebook app. It sounds a lot more useful than Farmville and, at the very least, it could be a good way to tell people what you want for Christmas.

Betshopboy hasn’t been around to update his blog very much lately, but he has a very good excuse. He’s going to be running his first full marathon in a few short days. He’s been training for this event for some time and it’s been great to track his running experience on his blog and through his Twitter account. He has set both distance and time goals for himself. Let’s cheer him on!

Kalvster wants to make your Internet adventures a little bit more convenient and possibly a little more interesting too. Found a great music video online and want to grab the tune for personal use? Check out the list of online services that let you download YouTube videos as MP3 audio files. I’ll let you decide for yourself where these services land on the legal spectrum.

DCR approaches a couple of classic idioms, deconstructing their utter lack of logic. If people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, does that mean that people in brick houses should throw stones? If they shouldn’t, then why does the idiom mention glass at all? Realistically, no one should be throwing rocks around in their homes. Even if you don’t smash a window, you could crack a TV.

I’d like to extend another hearty thank you to everyone who participated in week’s contest, as well as everyone who left a comment on this blog in the last month. Without you, I would be shouting into a vacuum.