Necessary feeding

Recently my subscription to Daring Fireball lapsed and it took me a day or two to realize that Gruber was not on vacation but that my feed had stopped. Sucked. Made me grumpy. Misanthropic, even.

So I figured now was a good time to comb through the ol’ reader and highlight those feeds that I can’t do without. I’m subscribed to hundreds of sites, but there are a few that give a moment of pleasure in simply seeing the new entry indicator in bold. Some of these are obvious and well-known, others perhaps not. Have a look at the one’s you don’t know.

Daily
Coudal Partners
Daring Fireball
Gapers Block
ISO50
kottke.org
Mark Bernstein

Not-so-daily, but just as satisfying
fueled by coffee dot com
microscopiq
PointAwayFromFace
Roo Reynolds
stevenberlinjohnson.com
wayne&wax

It’s interesting to think about what’s common about these sites. True, I know the authors of 7 of 12 of the blogs, but that’s not really an explanation. It’s that I feel a connection to all these sites in ways other than just being a reader.

For instance, I’m a huge fan of the music of Tycho (ISO50). I have eminent respect for the scholarship of Wayne Marshall (wayne&wax). Gruber (Daring Fireball) is a close friend of Jim Coudal’s; that’s a degree of separation that makes him almost a pal. And so on.

I’m sure there’ll be a blog one day from someone I have no other connection with, but right now it’s all about personal affinity. A kind of social networking informs my own reading habits, you could say.

Should I be following your site? Let me know.