End of the Year Posts: Favorite Issues Blogs

Ok, the grades are in, the family is away and so I can just type some silly posts (yes, I will get some research done this break!)

This post will be the first in the series of “the best X” of the year.

Blogroll These blogs/websites were my favorites of the year (in no particular order)

Daily Kos. Yes, my fellow progressives sometimes have me reaching for the pink bismuth; you do get a lot of noise from those who have never faced the challenges of holding elective office. But it is also the kind of place where you can make a quantum mechanics joke…and not only will some others get it, others might even correct you on a nuance!

As far as the politics, this is an example of Daily Kos at its best.

Paul Krugman Hard hitting and insightful. Here is one of his articles on economics in which he blisters the….over-reliance on mathematical models!

Robert Reich No, he doesn’t write as much as Krugman does, but his articles are well worth reading. Here is one example. Yes, it is critical of President Obama’s caution on economic matters.

Legal Satyricon Yes, this civil liberties attorney uses over the top language, and it is very easy to end up on his “asshat” list. But he does a great job of explaining the legal issues to the lay-person and of pointing out the harm that well intentioned censorship can cause. Here is an example of his discussing obscenity laws.

Why Evolution is True Jerry Coyne is a world class scientist and a best selling author. His blog keeps you up to date on new discoveries in evolution and new results in zoology. He also pulls no punches on his assault on superstition.

The Conservation Report: not updated all that often but the Animal Camouflage series is fun!

Cosmic Variance: great updates on cosmology and astronomy, with an occasional dash of humor.

538.com: Nate Silver’s excellent statistics and politics blog. This is a sample of the well thought out, evidence based ideas that you’ll find here.

3 Quarks Daily: ok this is a link dump, but it provides links to a wide variety of articles on a variety of topics:

example one, example two, example three. They also have stuff on the arts (which I usually skip over); this is sort of like a Utne reader of the internet.

Schneier on Securty I am not a security professional, but most of these articles are interesting to read. Here is the article that lead me to his blog to begin with.

Fail Blog: good for the belly laugh.

Of course, these aren’t the only blogs that I read and follow.

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