Tabula Rasa

Ahhh crap. I went and changed over to the new formatting scheme without saving my blogroll, didn't I? So now it's all gone... all gone! **sniff**

Since I have to rebuild the list from scratch, it seems as good a time as any to spend a post reflecting on the bloggers who I admire and who inspire me.

Right near the top of the list would have to be Mark Bahnisch and co. over at Lavartus Prodeo (affectionately known as larvyprod). It's a great group project, and a fantastic selection of bloggers who all contribute insightful commentary there, in many cases also maintaining their own blogs. There's also a lively and (mostly) intelligent audience of commenters who will often spawn later posts when addressing a particular subject.

Also up there is Tim Dunlop, best known for the brilliant Road To Surfdom blog which he pretty much single-handedly blogged until he got snapped up by Uncle Rupert - so now he's getting paid to blog (good work if you can get it!) full-time at Blogocracy. Tim never fails to make me laugh, make me think, and just generally come up with great material. He still pops in to RTS from time to time, but the blogging duties there are mostly covered these days by a crew of bloggers Tim recruited upon becoming a sellout (just kidding, Tim!) who include Eric Martin, Ken Lovell, Helen from Cast Iron Balcony and the inimitable Aussie Bob.

Liberal mothers whisper to their children in dark places the fates of little lefties who venture into Catallaxy Files without rock-bottomed, copper-sheathed unassailable arguments. Fantastic intellects, libertarian views, great economic analysis, very little patience for the idealistic or hard-left. Skepticlawyer in particular is great to read.

Ever read an Andrew Bolt column? Did it make you want to claw your eyes out? Then you'll love BoltWatch. In the words of its creator MrLefty, it's "Where Andrew Bolt's Deranged Polemic ... Gets What's Coming To It". And it certainly does. MrLefty also maintains AnonymousLefty, one of my favourite blogs that relentlessly pokes fun at raving right-wing loonies.

I also love weez over at Machine Gun Keyboard. Between the comics, the military analysis and the just plain snark, she's great value! Also in the same domain lies Suki Has An Opinion - Suki makes some fantastic posts, particularly in relation to feminism.

Wow, I'm only scratching the surface. Part 2 coming soon.

Cheers,
QS.