As time passes since January 30, the Iraqi people's vote is assuming more and more significance.  Not only was it a psychological turning point for Iraq, but it seems to have triggered events throughout the mid-East, including Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, and Iran.  Excellent.  People are even asking What if Bush was Right? 

On January 30 the best way to get a sense of events was from Iraqi bloggers, of whom there are now quite a few; my favorite post was this one, from Life in Baghdad, consisting of the simple statement "I did".  They all did, and it has made a huge difference.  At Iraq the Model, they said "The People have Won."

As usual, Chris Muir nailed it: 

The news is so good, American Digest is nervous... 

[ Later: Gerard Baker wonders What Have the Americans Ever Done For Us? ] 

Want to see something amazing?  Check out the African cliff.  In the last ten years the life expectancy in many African countries has plummeted, due solely to AIDS.  Wow. 

If you're not reading Mark Cuban's blog, you should be.  Here's a great post on the broadcast flag, entitled "call their bluff": "Although the broadcast flag is bad for consumers in every possible way, it would be great for my content businesses.  Not because it would protect content, it wouldn't.  They all would benefit because we wouldn’t use the broadcast flag.  While the big networks would create confusion and anger with their customers, our businesses could be the knight in shining armor and provide content in exactly the means consumers want it, unencumbered and available to watch, where and how they like."  I love it. 

This is awesome; Jon Udell's "screencast" walking tour of Keane, NH.  A great introduction to the capabilities of Google Maps, if you haven't checked it out yet. 

Luke Hutteman likes Google Maps.  (He's the author of SharpReader, BTW.)

Business 2.0: The 101 Dumbest Moments in Business, recapping 2004.  These are really good. 

I just found this: Science Made Stupid.  You have to be clever to catch them :) 

The NameVoyager tells you how the popularity of various names has changed over time.  My name was most popular around 1905.  Go figure.  Anyway it is a cool application and a cool Flash UI, too.  [ via Clive Thompson ] 

My "two years ago" link took me to this article from March 2003, coverage of the cricket finals between New Zealand and India.  If this isn't the funniest article ever written, I don't know what is.  I've read it about ten times, on about ten different occasions, and laugh harder each time.  No?  Only me then.  Good.