The Post-Gazette has, on Sundays, been running a feature called “The Cutting Edge”, where they post snippets from Pittsburgh-related blogs. (Yes, I still get 90% of my news on dead trees. Portable, useful for stuffing shipping boxes, and doesn’t require me to pay some silly “hotspot” to read it.) It has sunk to new lows. You may recall that Chinese newspaper that accidentally recycled a story from The Onion?. Scroll down this week’s Cutting Edge and find “One of America’s great newspapers” doing the same thing. I’d like to hope they’re just adding it in as a bit of comic belief, but the lack of framing text makes me think someone there is just plain asleep at the switch.

Not to worry, though. They’re a “manufacturer” according to state law, and thus aren’t required to pay property taxes. With all that money they’re saving, I’m sure they can put it towards finding, you know, real news to report on once in a while.

Bike Pittsburgh gets out and smells the streetpaint on Liberty Ave. Hello, bike lane!

Do you bike to work? Take the bus? Null Space looks at how Pittsburgh’s commutes compare to other US cities.

Pittsburgh Dish serves up some bad news: Gritty spinach is just one of the strikes against Grille 36.

Poker blogger Mene Gene has a technical close encounter with lovely card player Liz Lieu.

Pittsburgh ladies report on author China Martens’ reading at Joseph Beth.

Golf, anyone?

Are you feeling set upon by zombies? Anthropik is trying to blaze a path to safety.

Tonight: get your panties unbunched with Planned Parenthood’s PantyPallooza — tix are $20 at the door.

wow.

Today violence erupted in Karachi, Pakistan, when demonstrators clashed; according to the BBC, 30 people have died and an additional 90 are injured. This past week, President Musharraf suspended chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry; Chaudry’s arrival in Karachi is thought to have sparked the conflict. Longstanding political tensions between pro- and anti-Musharraf factions seem to be at its root. The BBC reports, “In the worst violence, supporters of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and activists from the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto fought gun battles for an hour.”

What is it like to be in a city that’s descending into chaos? Well our metroblogging siblings in Karachi can tell you.

Update1: There is firing all round my mohallah and area. Please pray for our people. I may disconenct any time due to light or TV cable out.

Update 2: Talat Hussain is UNDER FIRE live on AAJ TV. TS has warned MQM,SINDH GOV & MUSHARRAF RESPONSIBLE if anything happened to their people. I salute this guy’s bravery.

Update 3: AAJ TV has stopped showing live pictures now after a live signal of “CAUTION” by MQM representative

Update 4: Breaking NEWS : AAJ TV BLACK OUT ( In my area). The ghundas on rampage.

These metroblog posts provide a clear picture of the absolute lack of clarity that descends upon a city in chaos. Imagine being in a news blackout while hearing shots and seeing smoke. Or don’t imagine; read all about it.

For the bigger picture — to figure out who MQM is, for example — try the BBC and the International Herald Tribune, which are both ahead of American news media on the story.

To the bloggers and everyone else in Karachi — stay safe.

photo of Karachi in more peaceful times from the metroblogging karachi flickr pool

At least a few people have noticed my extended absence from this website. I know because I saw them on the street and they told me so. Perhaps you assumed that I had been forced to quit the weblogging game, or that I had met with an accident, and was dead or maimed. In truth, it was much worse: My computer was broken. I have spent almost two weeks checking my e-mail on a cell phone and haunting libraries (I recommend the one in East Liberty) to check out cute kittens catch-as-catch-can.

Probably you did not notice at all. Anyway, I am back in the world of the ether with a brand new slightly used PowerBook, and I have some garbage to say. I missed a lot: the ghost of our martyred hero-mayor won the mayoral election for his young successor two months before we even got a chance to cast votes. I don’t really have anything to say about that which has not already been said, but I got some other stuff. Watch here for the next couple of days.

Welcome to Kuala Lumpur! The capital of Malaysia has just become the 54th metroblogging city.

While the weather there is certainly more temperate than here in Pittsburgh, CNN tells me it’s thunderstorming, so we’re all getting rained on, each and every one of us.

We’ve got a lot in common: art museums, multiple newspapers, toll booths on our highways, new metroblogs. Now I just want to know: how do we get one of those fancy monorails?

Earier this month Pittsburgh was the 52nd city to join the metroblogging family — paying with a full deck, ar ar. But things move fast in the metroblogging world, and we’re no longer the newbie of our clan. Welcome San Jose, aka Silicon Valley!