I don't read enough different blogs, so I'm looking at PC Magazine's 100 favorite blogs. I've clicked through to more than half of them, and I'm going to blogroll all the ones that seem worth revisiting. Later, I will have to prune the blogroll, which, to tell you the truth, currently includes a lot of blogs I haven't read in months. I want some bright, snappy blogs that are worth reading every day.
What blogs — beyond those written by you and your loved ones — do you really like reading every day?
ADDED: Meade will like this question: "Do you have a hankering for mead?"
MORE: I enjoyed Sorry I Missed Your Party and Ugly Overload, but I don't see the need to ever go back. I feel bad about myself after reading Sexy People and — especially — for laughing at Christine. Actually, now, I'm starting to feel a weird new love for humanity, as humanity tries to look good and fails. I blogrolled it! And I'm blogrolling Passive-Aggressive Notes, Oddee, Life Hackery, Jezebel, Indexed, Got Medieval, and The Comics Curmedgeon ("This panel shows a way that Snuffy Smith could become relevant to modern audiences: by highlighting the health dangers of meth addiction, which is so sadly prevalent in America’s rural suspender-wearing communities"). Oh, hell, my resistance is broken down. I'll blogroll Sorry I Missed Your Party and Ugly Overload.
January 5, 2009
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60 comments:
Will you comment on the blogs you read?
I find it an odd convention that so few bloggers actually comment *at* the blog they've so obviously read. Instead, they tend to take the argument back to their own blog.
It seems inconsiderate to readers.
Have Andrew Sullivan or Glenn Greenwald ever left a comment here?
I mostly only comment on other blogs if I know the person in real life or if they are talking about me and I want to correct something. Generally, it's better for me to post and link, because it sends them readers.
I don't think AS or GG have ever commented here.
Well, besides this one, and before this one became a habit, I read Powerline and Instapundit every day...and of course a lot of the blogs they linked to in their posts.
Since reading this blog, I'm now reading plenty of the blogs from the commenters here like blake's, Trooper's and amba's. Good stuff.
I like this blog as well, and was sent this via e-mail today. Timely, since we were discussing these books here the other day.
Sully, Ben Smith, Althouse, Malkin
volokh
Ms. A., I read your blog, John Scalzi's blog "Whatever," Dr. Helen's, Instapundit, and Power Pop. The last blog, from Steve Simmels who seems to delight in being angry with you, is mostly about music. I am the token conservative there, and they are all quite nice to me.
But those are my daily blogs.
Trey
Well, I read acrossthecurve.com everyday, but I'm guessing that wouldn't be Prof. Althouse's cup of tea.
Michelle Malkin
http://michellemalkin.com/
Little Green Footballs
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/
Maggie's Farm
http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/
Besides the "majors", I read Victoria's blog Sundries. I also "read" Trooper York, but only for the articles. :)
I used to read and comment a lot on Lou Minatti--that guy is so level headed. He went through some personal crises and nuked most of his blog. I still read him though.
For the low-down on California politics and humor, I recommend "Exurban Nation"
Maggie's Farm, Kausfiles, Sense of Events, Tigerhawk, Richard Fernandez, Roger L Simon, American Digest/VanderLeun, Volohk, Instapundit, Vodkapundit, Althouse, Tim Blair, Varifrank, among others
Since folks are mentioning commenters' blogs, it seems like a major oversight to leave out Sire.
Good God, Jessica "Three-quarters shot" Valenti's "Feministing" is one of the top-100.
What exactly does the "PC" stand for? Post-modern Crap?
Thanks for this. I hardly read any other blogs.
I already went on the bargainlist blog. I may venture into some of the others.
I don't read any other political blogs really and yours isn't even that political.
I don't comment on any other blog either except Troops.
I have very faithful.
True, 1jbp. I didn't mean to exclude anyone. They're all good.
Alarming News:
"I'm a public relations consultant in NYC. From time to time I will write favorable posts about my clients because I believe in my clients and their causes. At that time, I will disclose any relationship with the client. Consider this statement as adequate disclosure for all my possible conflicts of interest now and in the future."
-- From her disclaimer. She writes a lot about local New York politics from right-of-center perspective (yes, such perspectives exist) and about national politics from the perspective of someone who actually does the legwork. She was born in Russia, blogs about hip-hop, and is somewhat obsessed with Guns 'n Roses.
Also, don't play poker with her unless you're decent at it and fairly deep stacked.
"Feministing" is one of the top-100.
What exactly does the "PC" stand for? Post-modern Crap?
In the case of JV, Pointed Cones?
Spengler ; Ace of spades ; Steyn ; Volokh
As you all know I am a high level HR/Compensation Professional.
What I am interested in is how much money do these people make that run these blogs? How is comepensation determined? Number of hits? Are there salary grades for these jobs?
Anyone know?
I've become a fan of FP Passport, a foreign policy blog.
Also the blog at History News Network is very good.
Mark D. Roberts' blog, as well as Charlie Lehardy's (AnotherThink) are excellent, thoughtful blogs that look at life from interesting Christian perspectives.
I like the political blogs of the NYTimes, Washington Post, and Columbus Dispatch.
Jill Miller Zimon, one of my co-bloggers at The Moderate Voice, does an excellent job at 'Writes Like She Talks.'
Mark Daniels
I think it would be interesting to see an excel spreadsheet of all of these individuals salaries.
I am guessing they are all well over 100k.
Meade definitely grows on me. Robin Meade from CNN Headline that is.
Like E Coli on room temperature beef.
On a more positive note; the Manolo's various blogs remain among my favorites.
If you want bright and snappy, I suggest Simple Justice, at blog.simplejustice.us, which as the winner of the ABA's Best Crime Blog seems a glaring omission from your blogroll. Warning though: the blog's proprietor, Scott Greenfield, can be a real dick.
For a whole different flavor, I suggest Who Is Ioz?, at whoisioz.blogspot.com. The guy's smart and gay as hell, entertaining and witty, and pretty much an anarchist. He has no use for "progs." He may broaden your horizons.
I am too impatient to import old favorites into new computers and it's fun sometimes to log onto an old system and see who I had to read a decade ago (Sully) that didn't make it to the next computer. Four years ago Malkin was a daily read, but no longer, although Hot Air is.
I tried Neil Gaiman, one of PC Mag's 100 blogs, for a while because I am a major fan, but I found I just wasn't interested in the daily details about his prolific production.
I scan a number of sewing blogs through the week (wherein, fwiw, consensus is that the Aussie version of Project Runway is superior to the American version - more about style, less about personality.)
Rachel Lucas is a lively personality I enjoy.
What's Alan Watching I enjoy more than their recommended Ken Levine. Levine gets more into the the art of writing for TV, which is less interesting to me than smart opinions about what has made it to the TV screen. It helps that my tastes correspond well to Sepinwall's.
I also have a sub-file of Blogs, titled Vortex, that I look at regularly, Amba's chief among them.
Now, as for MEAD ...
No, I do not now have a hankering for mead, having just finished a rather large glass thereof. Spiced apple mead. Home brewed.
Assuming a familiarity with basic brewing, here's the recipe:
7 gallons clear apple juice (e.g. Mussleman's)
7 quarts of honey. Wildflower is best, and we have our own hives. Use a bit less if you prefer a slightly 'dry' brew as the 7 quarts will give you about 29 Brix.
7 sticks of cinnamon, boiled, added to the primary with their water.
21 cloves, included with cinnamon.
Champagne yeast, which can stand higher alcohol than other strains. You'll probably want to use yeast nutrients, as honey doesn't have enough to carry a good fermentation all on its own.
Ferment towards near dryness, then rack every third day for two weeks to settle solids. Leave minimal head room to reduce airborne contamination.
Bottle it. Let it settle for two or three weeks, and decant as needed, taking care to avoid including residue. Either that or filter it ahead of bottling.
This recipe will start at about 15-16 pa (potential alcohol) depending on the apple juice and should finish around 1 pa. Net of almost 15 ABV, so respect it.
I've also done mead "sherry," again using wildflower honey, with a complex fruit juice like pomegranate or cranberry for acidity.
Basically, go with 8 to 10 quarts of honey (depending on whether you like dry sherry, sweet, or medium) and 4 quarts of juice, diluted to about 7 1/2 or 8 gallons. Again, use champagne yeast and nutrients.
At your third rack, add about a gallon of cheap brandy (like E&J), which will really drive sediment down -- and the ABV up. Decant and bottle about 3 months ahead of use ... if you can wait that long.
Two of the best are www.gregmankiw.blogspot.com and www.davidfriedman.blogspot.com
Like E Coli on room temperature beef.
I'm looking for the joke with a microscope.
Uh-oh. Bad dog. I forgot to mention ... pasteurise your honey if you don't know it is already pasteurised. Otherwise, bad things may grow in your primary and honey is too valuable to waste like that.
Ironically, I can't stand mead the honey wine. But then I find very few wines drinkable. I'm just odd that way.
But I am totally with garage mayall and the blues breakers when it comes to finding my cousin Robin attractive.
Too bad she's from the more conservative Republican branch of our family tree or garage might actually have a chance with her somewhere other than just in his twisted commie liberal pipe dreams.
Lucianne and Maggie's Farm are good engine starters.
'Was going to mention Sippican Cottage as a oner always worth a visit, but I see you've already got him!
'Don't know if it's your kind of thing, but The Beagle Project Blog is my cup of tea.
Aside from the usual suspects, a couple of webbloggers that don't update daily, but which I check regularly for their original content:
Phil Nugent
Bryan Appleyard
I usually start my blog reading with a glance at Instapundit, then I hit Althouse, then Amba.
From there I go my favorite sciencebloggers, Dr. Isis, Junkfood Science, Neurotopia, Frontal Cortex...
Some days I don't make it very far down the list because the first few I hit will have interesting links that I follow.
OT - I dreamed last night that I married Tom Cruise, so I'm looking for referrals to psychiatrists today.
I've got 98 blogs and news sources I peruse daily through Google Reader. I just scroll through and peruse the subject lines for most of them, and there are a handful I make a point of stopping and actually reading most every day. That's why Twitter seems so much like a cross between Google Reader and Facebook.
I could fake being a Republican for a chance at Robin Meade. I can talk intelligently about Democrats hair, blow jobs, and Chappaquiddick. And if she's wearing that blue sailor outfit there's little I can think of that I couldn't be.
Daily reads that are not on your blog list:
James Lileks (The Bleat) Daily ephemera written in a way that makes it interesting.
Trooper York--you've read his comments here, there is more like it there.
JustOneMinute--in depth dissection of complicated political and economic events
Iowa Hawk--Parody from a hot-rod type perspective.
Some of these don't post every day, but I have my blog list set-up to arrange them by most recent post, so I know when there is something new up.
designsponge, soulemama, mother may I sleep with treacher, Confessions of a Pioneer Woman, trooper, blake, victoria, project rungay occasionally.
I love Sleeveface.
It's ok, Ann. I laughed at Christine too. It's a little weird, right? The impulse is to laugh, followed immediately by the feeling that you shouldn't be laughing. And then laughing some more. And then feeling bad about it.
The picture of the cousins is also funny. No need to feel bad about laughing at that one.
maggie's farm is good, and I always forget to bookmark it.
I mostly only comment on other blogs if I know the person in real life or if they are talking about me and I want to correct something. Generally, it's better for me to post and link, because it sends them readers.
Thanks, and that does make sense for smaller blogs or observations about a blog post. Or for what you are discussing in this post (and I went kinda off topic).
I don't think AS or GG have ever commented here.
It's just that this amuses me so. You would think GG doesn't travel around the blogosphere because he leaves no trace behind him. As if it is beneath him (or AS, for that matter) to be a mere blog commenter.
I like Tom Maguire's way. He comments on the blog he's reading, then comes back to his blog to elaborate.
Anyway. Sorry for diverting without being amusing.
To add to your daily blog reading:
Sand in the Gears
Best writing in all of blogdom - you will agree, Ann, after you read several posts.
I read Althouse and Instapundit regularly, Sippican Cottage and Meghan McArdle on occasion, and also hit Carl Bialik's two Wall Street Journal blogs on a regular basis.
These last two are The Daily Fix which links to Sports Columns and The Numbers Guy which links to interesting numbers-based stories (and, incidentally, a lot of sports columns).
I end up reading many of the New York Times blogs because I read the online Times regularly. My two favorites are probably City Room which is highly eclectic and Christoph Nieman's beautiful, but very intermittent Abstract City.
Shrinkwrapped
Typical Sentence:
"At the same time as you must give up your fantasy of eternal gratification from the societal breast, one must also more clearly engage and tolerate the limitations of reality."
Mish's
Typical Sentence:
"Take a good look at AIG. There is no reason for the government to be pouring over a hundred billion dollars to prop up this sick puppy."
In From the Cold
Typical Sentence:
"The XXXI Corps is the defensive formation assigned to take the brunt of an Indian armored assault," said Ravi Rikhye, the editor of Orbat.com, a website that tracks the order of battle for militaries throughout the world."
Big Picture
Typical Sentence: “The Efficient Market Hypothesis, homo economicus, the deification of markets, all need an open public review and a good thrashing."
The Winger
Typical Sentence:
"His influence has had a profound impact on my perspective as a dancer, every detail from a simple reaction in the party scene or how to kneel in flowers was significant."
Information Dissemination
Typical Sentence:
"No single military technology introduced in 2008 has the potential to radically reform an entire military function like the X-47B has to reform Carrier aviation."
American Poetry Alliance
Typical Sentence:
"I read as child all books by American Poet Association—books of B. Dalton Smith, poet of civil War—books of Madeline McCarthy, western cow poetess—books of Shabazz Fish, proud black man of Chicago steel mill hammer ring of truth—and, best of all, books of Franklin Provato, the San Fran funk-up king of speed jaZz, man."
Today's Inspiration
Typical Sentence:
"I wasn't able to locate the tire ad Blake spoke of, but this 1947 Revere ad by Dorne serves well enough as an example of Dorne's work from around that time."
Momfidence
Typical Sentence:
"I have myself breastfed on planes and trains, in stores and Sunday School classes, and once at a business meeting (I was especially discreet!). The part I don't get is why someone would take a picture of it."
Cryptome
Typical Sentence:
"Perimeter security accoutrements of bollards, barbed wire, blast-resistant and tinted glazing, buffer zones, closed-circuit cameras and confrontational signage are external clues of more covert technologies being deployed to discipline the civilian milieu."
Garance Dore
Typical Sentence:
"So I wish you all a super-amazing new year full of half-baked resolutions, unsuccessful diets, fashion faux-pas and unrealistic plans."
PaleoFuture
Typical Sentence:
"Your [car/toaster/robot] speaks to you."
Will you announce what blogs you are de-rolling?
I forgot to mention Spencer Troxell's well-written, witty blog, Everything in the Medicine Cabinet Has Expired.
Oh, I used to read comics curmudgeon all the time. His Gil Thorp commentary is priceless.
I've mostly been purging blogs, not adding them, from my reader and from bookmarks for the past year (I think I'm down to about 10% of the peak.) It's quite rare for me to add one these days. One of the very, very few I have added this year is Sweet Juniper!, which I've been enjoying quite a bit recently. Its style, subject, length and whatnot varies. It may not be for everyone, but I like it and look forward to it.
I don't have a lot of blogs I read regularly. Most of the ones I do have been mentioned, as well as many of the ones I visit irregularly.
One I haven't seen mentioned is Protein Wisdom, which I like when Goldstein is actually writing for it. (I also like Darleen Click on that site.) Also Hector's "Rain in the Doorway", which he posts so infrequently that I forget about him till he pops up in the comments.
I admire the hell out of S. Weasel, too.
But I'm in the "cutting down" camp by and large.
One conservative I do enjoy reading is Marie Don. Ok so not much at the link but that's what I like about her.
I always enjoy blakes The Bit Maelstrom for the best movie reviews you are going to find out there. Sire Says is a lot of fun for cultural news and stuff from the land of fruits and nuts. Amba's blog is always enlightening but a little too serious for me. Ron and Victoria both have great good natured blogs with a lot of interesting stuff. Pastor Jeff often posts stuff that gets me to think. RC Ocean has the best civil war stuff bar none. Synova's blog is also a new one that I have been enjoying. Freeman Hunt's blog is another I check out all the time. And dbp's blog is where I learn about running from the prespective of someone who actually excercises. The freak. Finally Hoosier Daddy participates in a blog that is a great read. In general if you click on the blog profile of some of the commenters you will get to their blog. It is great fun to visit them at their home base away from here and get a better idea of their perspective on life. I makes their comments on Althouse all the more interesting.
Trooper,
Thanks for that! In 4 years, I have never checked out any of the regulars blogs.
Ann,
I too look constantly at new blogs. In fact, I go through your blog roll at least 4 times a year looking for "interesting". Though I view between 3 and 400 new blogs each month, rarely do I add any to my daily list.
My Daily Reads, honed over 4 years, in order of check-in:
Althouse
The Daily Fix. Wall Street Journal Sports Round - up - makes me sound like I know what I'm talking about with all the jocks.
Instapundit. Who else?
Greg's Blog. Fascinating.
Lileks. The only guy funnier than Dave Barry. He only posts once every night.
Sand in the Gears. Again, the best writing on the web.
Hugh Hewitt
Southern Appeal
Volokh Conspiracy
The Carpetbagger. David Carr of the New York Times is the best writer about Hollywood and the Oscars there is.
Huffington Post. Got to check the other side, from reasonable to certifiable.
Dave Barry
Virginia Postrel
Betsy's Page. Smart History Teacher.
Patterico's Pontifications. Scares the hell out of the Los Angeles Times all the way to Chicago. Seriously.
Don Surber
Emdashes About the New Yorker Magazine - "between the lines". Really cool.
The Corner. Sometimes good, sometimes Yawn.
It isn't a blog, but I like quickly refreshing the "everyone" public timeline from twitter.
It only takes a little time before something (that can vary from the NYT to someone wondering why their blog is never read--and everything in between) interesting pops up and I'll click the link for more.
[This is how I recently stumbled on AJGaza. Will wars of the future be live-twittered by lots of folks on both sides (and those in the middle?) I think that would be OK, as long as it doesn't become "entertainment" for gawkers.]
Ones I visit everyday? Other than Instapundit and Ann Althouse:
Just a Girl In Short Shorts Talking About Whatever - Like the pictures and the point of view.
Dinosaur Comics - If you do the artwork well the first time, why change it?
Calculated Risk - It was better when everyone thought their talk of a housing bubble and an impending financial crisis was crazy, but still fun.
And then there's
www.forgotten-ny.com
Ann,
I hate your blog. I really do. But I read it every single day, and I often comment, either anonymously or as myself.
Get up to speed on bloglines, prof. You can read 100's or blogs in a few minutes. Try bloglines or Google reader, and subscribe to things iike "right to privacy -abortion" or whatever.
insular circle:
insta-heh 1st thing, then althouse, then steve h. graham at tools of renewal(formerly hog on ice), then hot air, right wing news, and day by day. that's every day, without fail.
glenn is ok for a lawyer and college professor, plus he's the fountainhead. ann is just charming or i would never have hung around every day, much less stolen her layout. though althouse, i found the huffington toast, and then on to steve graham's hog on ice.
watching steve grow the past few years has been compelling and time well spent. thank you, ann althouse!
"Try bloglines or Google reader, and subscribe to things iike "right to privacy -abortion" or whatever."
I've used bloglines for years, but I don't like the way it looks. I use Google reader occasionally, but I don't like to read that way. I have a lot of Google alerts. But mainly, I like to have a collection of blogs that I actually go to and read. I like to click from my blogroll too. For one thing, when I do that, the blogger can see that he/she got traffic from my blog and might come over and read me, which would be nice.
Thanks, Jazz Bass.
It's not every day that I see a reference to Snuffy Smith and get to name-drop that Billy Debeck and my family were best friends. Not that anyone remembers what I'm talking about. I love aracana. Barney Google lives!
Thanks for the link!
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