There was a time not long ago when smart people would write blog posts about the topics of the day, other smart people would reply, and a big bustling conversat

There was a time not long ago when smart people would write blog posts about the topics of the day, other smart people would reply, and a big bustling conversation would ensue. It was aggregated in places like Techmeme and Technorati. It's nice to see a little bit of that is still alive.