MAY COSIES

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BEST BLOGS IN THE KNOWN UNIVERSE, 5/2009

THIS MONTH HIGHLIGHTING SMALL PERSONAL BLOGS THAT SHOW GENUINE HOSPITALITY




Well Designed, Well Written, Interesting, Funny, Informative And Cosy Hangouts Online

It doesn't hurt that these blogs have blogrolled us, either. The term "blogroll" comes from the ancient Etruscan term khkoiugiggittigiggitti, or "logrolling," meaning you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. The idea is to create crawl-able links between websites so as to catch the search engines' attention, introduce more people to the sites, and drive up traffic, which may result in more blogrolling and listings on the various blog-ranking and rating websites.

All this is done purely for egotistical purposes, to get a message out, make friends and influence people, shill for a job or an invitation to post on a bigger blog or media site; or to make money through selling ad space or merchandise. In our case, we just wanted everyone to look at the graphic photos of our perineum imbedded on every page. DON'T JUDGE US! DON'T YOU JUDGE US!! DON'T YOU DARE JUDGE US!!!

There are no perineii on any of these pages, as far as we know. We did see a preputium clitoridis in the corner of one of them. That could just be our imagination, though. Preputium clitoridis on the brain, lately. We can't even remember which one of these it was. You'll just have to scrutinize them all:


NOVEMBER FIFTH
"A Wine Key, Party Crashing, and A Nerf Football"
Skyewriter tells a story. You'll have to click on this to see the ending. It's so...

' My dissertation chair is taking us out for dinner on Tuesday after my defense. In addition to some friends I have invited, some faculty members will be there, too. One of whom is the chair of my department, who has seen me buzzed on more occasions than I care to recall. The 2nd worst time was at the start of my second year here. At the end of orientation week every August, the department throws a party for the new *first year graduate students* (this is key). It involves cases of free booze and good food. The party is held in an historic house two blocks from where I live. My first year I got pretty toasted and ended up being out until 4 AM after bar-hopping with a group of other new students. At the end of orientation week my second year... '

I [HEART] THE MUDFLATS
"For the Birds"
The social-networking/ fansite for The Mudflats. Everyone is welcome to join & post.

' My View from The Right Reverend: I am Radagast the Bird-Tamer. Well, no, but the birds in this sanctuary are pretty bold. Even the woodpeckers. I suppose the same can be said for all the little creatures here. Spring is a wonderful time of year. I may be projecting, but it seems all the creatures emerging from the cold winter share the same sense of eagerness and energy, and general joy just to be alive. OK, I’m not projecting at all. They’re just as happy it’s Spring as I am. '

GEEZERPOWER
"A letter from Obama on Healthcare Reform "
A regular contributer to SUZIE-Q, this is WordGeezer's personal blog. Fascinating stuff.

' Can this be the same Obama that we heard when he was campaigning for POTUS. I voted for him because I wanted universal health care or a reasonable facsimile thereof. I recieved his email asking to send his (cough cough) bedrock requirements to representatives in congress. President Obama has announced three bedrock requirements for real health care reform. It must: ' [continues]

IT'S MORNING SOMEWHERE
"Friday Cat Blogging - Boy, will my cats be pissed!"
Ms. OWL and her kittys, careers & cat-tastrophes. Nice fotos & paintings, too. A really kewl chick! [for a Missourian]

' A friend of mine has five cats. Two of the cats had kittens. The first one had one kitten, then the second had four. Since that made ten cats, in all, I told her I would take one. She gave away the first kitten, already, because it was older than the second batch. That still leaves her with nine cats. When she told me what colors they were, I told her I would take the white-with-black-ears-kitten. The first pictures she showed me were of a very ugly little kitten, of course, the kitten was only about four weeks old, at the time. Last weekend, I took my camera with me when I visited the kitten. In the picture above, the kitten is walking with mom. I thought that was a cute picture. ' [click link for foto]

THE IMPOLITIC
"In the eyes of a child"
Consistently the best of the blogs, and always hospitable. Libby needs help moving. Can you carry a refrigerater? No? OK, then make a donation to her blog. We know you have money. Do we have to waterboard you?

' I've been following politics so long that I don't trust any politician, not even the ones I vote for. So I've been rather conflicted about Obama. While I think he's the best president we've had for a very long time, and he's done a lot of good, it still makes me uneasy when I see him continue bad policies and cover up for the last administration. But it's photos like this that ease my mind somewhat. Children, especially babies, have a sixth sense about people and when I see them engage with our president like this, it makes me think he's probably a good man who is going to do all right by us in the end. '

COFFEEHOUSE STUDIO
"SPONTANEOUS APPLE CREATION: 5/12-13/09 "
Pocono radio personality, DJ Jimi The Hippy, aka Rainbow Demon.

' Had a bit of trouble getting set up this week. After the minor delay, things seemed to run smoothly. The little car needs a brake job - and two new tires - it was a bit scary getting in - but we made it. Big old "Bessie the Bronco" needs a new idler belt. I'm broke till payday... Seems that the new casino just discovered the station, and it was a bit of fun talking to them on the phone. They were requesting Zeppelin. It sounds awesome in SHM (super high material). You can actually hear Jimmy page touching the 12-string if you listen... but do we really need another CD format? This is the way things should have sounded from the beginning... Damn the record companies. '

WIKIPEDIA
"Logrolling"
From the ancient Etruscans to the modern Blogniks, the logs keep a'rollin'.

' Logrolling is the trading of favors or quid pro quo, such as vote trading by legislative members to obtain passage of actions of interest to each legislative member. It is also the "cross quoting" of papers by academics in order to drive up reference counts. The Nuttall Encyclopedia describes log-rolling as "mutual praise by authors of each other's work." American frontiersman Davy Crockett was one of the first to apply the term to legislation: The first known use of the term was by Congressman Davy Crockett, who said on the floor (of the U.S. House of Representatives) in 1835, "my people don't like me to log-roll in their business, and vote away pre-emption rights to fellows in other states that never kindle a fire on their own land." The widest accepted origin is the old custom of neighbors assisting each other with the moving of logs. If two neighbors had cut a lot of timber which needed to be moved, it made more sense for them to work together to roll the logs. In this way, it is similar to a barn-raising where a neighbor comes and helps build your barn and then you go and help build his. Here is an example of the term's original use. "A family comes to sit down in the forest," wrote an observer in 1835. "Their neighbors lay down their employments, shoulder their axes, and come in to the log-rolling. They spend the day in hard labor, and then retire, leaving the newcomers their good wishes, and an habitation. Though most sources support the above etymology, another possible origin is from the sport by the same name in which two contestants try to topple each other into the water by standing on a log. Each must keep up with the other or risk taking a spill, so it appears to be cooperative. Spy Magazine ran a feature entitled "Logrolling in Our Time" that cited suspicious or humorous examples of mutually admiring book jacket blurbs by pairs of authors. Private Eye magazine regularly draws attention to alleged logrolling by authors in "books of the year" features published by British newspapers and magazines. '

COSIE'S
The Cosie Awards
All the Cosie winners, so far.
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TO POST A COMMENT: CLICK ON "COMMENTS," "Post a Comment" or "# of COMMENTS" just below the SOCIAL BOOKMARKING LINKS (Digg, Delicious, etc), about three inches down from here. Please do comment. Thank you.

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Suggestion Box & Tip Jar We would like to make over this blog to make it easier to access, to read and to comment on. We would also like to serve our readers better by providing more of what you need and want to see. All serious suggestions will be considered. We hope to move to our own domain in the near future, and we would like to ask for your financial assistance in doing that, and in upgrading our hardware & software. Small one-time donations and larger long-term subscriptions are welcome. Exclusive advertising is also available. If you think we are wasting our time in doing all this, please let us know. If you wish to help us, now is the time. As always, negative bullsh*t from right-wing trolls will be sh*tcanned. Thank you to everyone else. Please send feedback & PayPal contributions to cosanostradamusATexciteDOTcom. Thanks.

SUPPORT OUR TROOPS: BRING THEM ALL HOME ALIVE, NOW!

PAYBACK'S A MOFO

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THANKS TO THE BEST BLOGS IN THE WORLD

JUST BECAUSE

Just Because They Are The Best. Plus, They Linked Us...

It occurred to us suddenly while pushing strawberries through a mass spectrometer the other day in Tahiti that we hardly ever link to any other blogs. Yeah, we have a blogroll. And, yeah, our friends can post & comment here. But we almost never cite another blog as a source. That's because we rarely use a blog as a source, since most of them are just linking & quoting somebody else. We try to get to the ur-source whenever we can, or to be that source.

Still, it's nice to be nice. And it's important to be important. While some blogs clearly don't need, or don't want, or couldn't care less about our help, others might. Anyway, it's the self-serving thought that counts. When somebody links to one of our posts, we should link to one of theirs. That's how we all become known to you, the surfing public.

We can say that these bloggers are not nut-jobs. You won't scroll down and find a story about how the Jews eat babies [as everyone knows, babies are not, in fact, Kosher], or recipes for hash brownies [can't wait to see the hits I get on this one], or instructions on how to make a neutron bomb out of your Prius [that's classified]. What you will find is a few relatively sane people who care enough about their fellow girls & boys to try to communicate with them and maybe inch the general consciousness upward a bit by sharing information, thoughts, feelings, and stuff. Lotta stuff.

So, check these folks out. Don't hold it against them that it was us who recommended them. They didn't ask for this. But they deserve it:


IT'S MORNING SOMEWHERE
"What a catastrophe!"
The best of the Friday cat-bloggers, Ms. OWL is a gifted writer, painter & photographer. She provides a civilized oasis in the arid wastes of Blogistan, where all cat-fanciers are welcome. And us too.

' We were home and mom was just sitting there when the phone rang. I think she was watching Beastmaster. Anyway, I heard her say, "insulin shots, twice a day?!"

I'm thinking, "this can't be good," and then she said, "pills to help liver enzymes? Special cat food? I feed all five by giving them food that they can eat whenever they want. No treats?!"

I'm doomed. I can just feel it. I'm getting my claws sharpened cause when she pokes me with the needle, I'm gonna poke her back! '

THE IMPOLITIC
"Isn't that just like a Republican"
Libby Spencer vs. The World. Be afraid, World. Be very afraid. This lady has CLOUT! She also blogs politics for the Detroit News, which, I believe is in your State of Michigan.

' If there was a hypocrisy event in the Olympics, the GOPers would be gold medalists. After fighting tooth and nail against the stim bill, blasting the "excessive spending" and characterizing the provisions as a payback for Democratic special interests, two GOPers issued press releases praising the bill. Florida Rep. John Mica and Alaska Rep. Don Young had the nerve to take credit for spending targeting their home states without mentioning that they had voted against the bill themselves. Not that it's a big secret, but their apparent assumption that their constiuents are too stupid to notice is rather breathtaking. '

ESCHATON
"While We're On My Favorite Topic"
Atrios' blog is mainly a watering hole for other bloggers and various wingnuts. But he gets one off pretty regular, himself. Wait, that sounds bad...

' It costs a lot of money to own and operate a car. AAA pegs it at about 7 grand per year (.pdf). That's close to $600 per month. Living in a place where you can reduce the number of cars per household provides significant savings. Minor changes to development patterns which would open up that up as an affordable possibility for more people would be a good thing.

Many people see owning a car as an inevitable expense. It isn't. '

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TO POST A COMMENT: CLICK ON "COMMENTS," "Post a Comment" or "# of COMMENTS" just below the SOCIAL BOOKMARKING LINKS (Digg, Delicious, etc), about three inches down from here. Please do comment. Thank you.

IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM YOUR BLOGGERS:

Suggestion Box & Tip Jar We would like to make over this blog to make it easier to access, to read and to comment on. We would also like to serve our readers better by providing more of what you need and want to see. All serious suggestions will be considered. We hope to move to our own domain in the near future, and we would like to ask for your financial assistance in doing that, and in upgrading our hardware & software. Small one-time donations and larger long-term subscriptions are welcome. Exclusive advertising is also available. If you think we are wasting our time in doing all this, please let us know. If you wish to help us, now is the time. As always, negative bullsh*t from right-wing trolls will be sh*tcanned. Thank you to everyone else. Please send feedback & PayPal contributions to cosanostradamusATexciteDOTcom. Thanks.

SUPPORT OUR TROOPS: BRING THEM ALL HOME ALIVE, NOW!