Packing It In

I just can't possibly keep up. Every day, more posts, from more interesting sites, competing for the dwindling time I spend surfing the web (set to dwindle further as the weather gets nicer). How do people do it? The Poor Urblog withers on the vine at a time when it should be bursting at the seams. A Cry for Help has devolved into my personal blather that bores even me. Meanwhile I'm supposed to be finishing a website for a freelance job, negotiating with my college loan guarantors, setting up two backyard apiaries, developing a fairly large piece of software and dropping 20 pounds. And I used to read books and take pictures and keep my fish tank clean! Anyway, despite the title, I'm not quitting anything. The magic of RSS has pretty much freed me from the guilt of non-updating, and if you keep coming back, well, thank you. However, if you're looking for new blogs to fill the once dependable bil.com gap, here's two new Rhode Island sites worth a look/bookmark: Rhode Island's Future (the inverse-Anchor Rising, though you'll notice both are optimistically titled) and Black, White, Left, Right, which I found via RIF (not Reading is Fundamental). I've been meaning to make a definitive list of RI blogs, but some combination of laziness, busy-ness (not business, apparently) and fear that you all will discover the dark secret that lives in my title bar has prevented me from doing said link compilation. Rhode Island's Future is notable, to me at least, for listing among it's contributors David Segal, the only Green to hold elected office in RI (as an East Side City Councilman). That aside, I've found lots to like in the tone and content of all the recent posts there. (Ah, group blogs, so many updates, so little pressure. One thing I've learned is you can't give posting privileges to people with less time and/or motivation than yourself. Not having your name in the URL probably helps, too). BWLR, what little I've skimmed of it, seems to have the sadly rare quality of being written with an open mind. Of course that's my lazy-journalist-style analysis of a site that doesn't scream rank partisanship at you when you come through the door. As always, visit and make up your own mind.