Today on the Dish, Andrew declared our independence, announcing that on February 1 the Dish would leave The Daily Beast to become a fully independent blog which depends on nothing but our readers for support (via a freemium-based meter). Andrew then answered reader questions about the move here and here. Also we rounded up blog reax, as well as checked in on the Twitter response here and here. We watched in amazement as an avalanche of memberships began, published many reader reactions from the inbox, reposted last year's fascinating reader survey, charted the inequality of the web advertising business, got called mavericky in a tweet, and handed John Nolte a Malkin nomination for calling the Dish's independence part of some left-wing media conspiracy.
You can join us as a founding member here.
In political coverage, we rounded up blogosphere response to the now-passed fiscal cliff deal, Michael Hirsh wondered if Joe Biden was the most influential VP in history, Conor Friedersdorf rejected the notion that the 2nd Amendment was some safeguard against tyranny, Paul Ryan earned the year's first Yglesias nomination for supporting the fiscal cliff deal, and Richard Socarides anticipated marriage equality for Illinois.
In assorted coverage, Maria Popova explained her donation-over-advertising strategy, Boris Muñoz imagined a Venezuela without Hugo Chavez, Ada Calhoun looked at the increasing practice of at-home abortions, Wayne Curtis surveyed America's walking stats, and Terry Teachout advocated for more accurate depictions of small-town life in the arts. Also, Edward McPherson told us the story behind Dallas' essential airport, Alex Knapp questioned the management skills of robots, Kevin Kelly called in about the developing world's prioritizing of cell phones over toilets, and a reader (who is an actuary) set the record straight about car insurance rates based on how much someone drives. Readers also pushed back on the idea that teenagers shouldn't smoke weed, while other readers weighed in on why women seem to smoke less of it than men. Then we went over the news that Avis was buying Zipcar, examined the possible late-career solipsism of Judd Apatow, discovered a new use for washing machines in our MHB, met a Chinese camel herder in our FOTD, and saw Colorado mountains through the VFYW.
– C.D.
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