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As audiences go, Friday's telethon averaged 59.3 million viewers during the entire two-hour event, according to Nielsen Media Research. The numbers are based on audience totals from ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox, as well as UPN, the WB, E!, PAX, PBS, BET, Comedy Central, Court TV, Discovery, F/X, Fox Family Channel, Hallmark, HBO, Lifetime, MTV, SciFi, Showtime, The Learning Channel, TNN, TNT, TVLand, USA Network, VH1, Telemundo, Univision and Galavision.

All told, the telethon pulled in seven million more viewers than President Bush's 45-minute address to Congress Thursday night, which drew 82.1 million viewers at any one point.

From a historical standpoint, the telethon's 38.3 household rating and 65 share fell short of any all-time lists. The top network telecast of all time still remains the 1983 finale of M*A*S*H, which pulled a mammoth 60.2 rating and 77 share.

I Love New York: That wacky Dave Winer is up to stuff again!

Zeldman: The Angry Flag Vendor

"[T]erribly shocked, but not really surprised."

Some days are better than others. Today isn't one of them.

"In defense of freedom". Not a bad list.

Scobleizer: "It took 15 seconds to change the look of hundreds of pages here. Oh, I sure don't miss using FrontPage anymore."

Just plain silly: "The military campaign has tentatively been named 'Operation Infinite Justice,' according to sources." Quote via CNN

Wow. Dave Winer points to Mapquest's arial photo of the WTC site.

radioPossibility: Marek reiterates the function of the web as a communication tool.

Michael Moore had a lot to say yesterday, but of course I zeroed in on this quote: "[W]hat we have is Bush speaking like a wind-up doll, mouthing a bunch of nonsense clich?s, repeating them over and over and over. But occasionally his batteries run out -- and he goes off on some unintelligible tangent."

Paul Simon, American Tune:

We come on the ship they call the Mayflower
We come on the ship that sailed the moon
We come in the age's most uncertain hours and sing an American tune
But it's all right, it's all right, it's all right
You can't be forever blessed
Still, tomorrow's going to be another working day
And I'm trying to get some rest
That's all, I'm trying to get some rest

For when you need a break from the seriousness of it all.

Grant Morrison: "Despite the rhetoric of 'good' vs. 'evil' employed by President Bush, Mr. Blair and their allies, our leaders can claim NO moral high ground in this sad mess and should not be allowed to."

Slate: A need for new language for the "new kind of war."

Utter Lunacy: I can always count on BlackHoleBrain to root out the the news of the weird. Let's make that case in three links: WTC UFO; Faces in the smoke; the Bill Gates connection.

Good news: My friend, Kerry, whom I was asking to contact me in yesterday's news post has done so. He reports that he was in WTC2 on the 10th, but not (thankfully) on the 11th.

Out here on the west coast, we think you're all right, but nobody I know has heard from you directly. If you're reading this, please go to the forum and post something, okay? Thanks.

More stuff:

DiveIntoMark: "A lot of effort went into making this effortless."

Red Rock Eater Digest: "It's absurd that an attacker can simply turn the tracking devices off."

In a different world, George W. Bush would have given this speech.

"Phantom Towers" of light. Proposed as a temporary monument.