With a little help from his friends, as of about 20 minutes ago. Haven't been able to talk about this until now. Glad that I can.
(Earliest find credit: readers have chimed in; contrary to ealier assertions, Junkyard Blog appears to be the winner - I don't count Metafilter as a blog.)
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What a wonderful surprise! Thanks for the news.
The Agonist was in no way the earliest at all!
Like you, don't think he counts, as he had received a 'heads-up' from Diane!
I posted on the Agonist. I was four hours late btw and Junkyard Dog two hours late. Metafilter posted at about 8:30 am.
I assume Diane posted even earlier, but her site is down right now.
Diane was the one who was able to get his posts up through the convoluted system that Salam and friends in special places had put in place earlier to work around the difficulties of posting direct to blog*spot from Baghdad.
I don't understand why Diane can't start another blog under another name. I don't understand why her employer told her she can't blog-- what if she were keeping a diary? I've never heard of this. Lots of people keep journals and diaries. I can understand why CNN wanted their reporter to stop, since they could view the blog as competition, but for a person who is not a working journalist, this is ridiculous, and I can't really believe that her employer has total control over her 24 hrs a day-- it doesn't make any sense. I don't really get her perspective on the world, I really don't. During the New Yorker incident it seemed like she was just another Monica Lewinsky into self-promotion. I don't want to bad-mouth her but taking her blog down and claiming that her boss has total control over her 24 hrs a day just doesn't seem very credible to me. This is all too drama queen. And then there was her legal "defense" fund-- in defense of what? I am relieved that Salam has survived and that he already has a sat phone. Some people were talking about chipping in and buying him a sat phone. Well, now they don't have to. Happy ending!
Button, Diane's blog is apparently a problem because her workplace is leftist and politically intolerant. As for starting a new blog under a different name, it's not as easy as it appears. Having been warned by her employer, whatever she does needs to be leak-proof. If she is identified with a new blog, she could lose her job. She decided no blog was worth that.
If this guy Salam Pax doesn't show up pretty soon to claim his 15 minutes of fame and to cash in, it will start to smell bad.
As for Button's comment, I agree in all respects. Ridiculous. If any employer in the US sought such control, they would be subject to legal sanctions.
Another reason why it will start to smell bad if Salam Pax doesn't show up soon. Like the cloned Raelian babies.
Late comment here, so nothing timely about Salam. As for Diane and her employment situation, was it really the politics -- or just the updating during work thing? That was the last hint I saw.
And certainly most non-union employees in the US are in "employment at will" situations, meaning that barring discriminatory practices they can be let go for any reason at any time. It's also funny because blogging might not be what it was today if it weren't for a bunch of sites back in '98/'99 passing around Cameron Barrett's story of being fired for his online writings (short stories, rather than his blog). In those days the word blog didn't even exist (and yes, I was there).
Another thing I was there for was the beginning of Metafilter, and yes, it's a blog by any definition and exists to be a blog. Certainly the linkless post remains a taboo. And since mathowie was involved in Blogger and continues to be an author and programmer in the field it's hard to argue he and his site are somehow outside the world of blogs. It's kinda nice that we scooped y'all, given that Salam and the war aren't our "beat" (except in the "dead horse" context!).