Occasionally I go through and update my links in the "Hot Links" section of my sidebar (scroll down a bit to see it).  Some are sites I visit semi-regularly out of a sense of civic duty (among them: americablog, crooks and liars, prwatch, truthout, the wonk room*), others I include as a public service (blog of death, cryptomundo, damn interesting). A couple, like digital urban, just blow my mind every time I check in on them. 

Some I added because I stumbled upon them, and thought their proprietors were wicked cute (ethical werewolf, mediacitizen) or wicked smaht (Pascal Boyer, Zoilus).  And then there are those I only drop by once in a blue moon to remind myself why I stuck them in my Hot Links Box in the first place. 

It's by no means a complete panorama of my personal blogosphere.  I did not include blogs like rush2b, which is entirely dedicated to photographs of beautiful bathroom interiors...
... and, um, elevator interiors, too.  I get a lot of my decorating inspirations there.  But what do you care, right?

I couldn't sleep this morning. Ever since the election ended, I've been at a loss as to what to do at three in the morning, when I wake up and can't get back to sleep.  Usually, like most guys, I wake up with a — TMI ALERT! — raging erection, so that's something.  But there are only so many of these interior decorating sites you can visit before you're all sort of inspired-out, for the moment.  That only keeps me occupied until six or seven.  Then what? 

I used to be able to go to Real Clear Politics and putter around the internet from there.  I bet their traffic dropped off a sheer cliff on November 5th. I know I'm going cold turkey on politics.  But I have some time to fill because of it.  So, after casting about for a little project, this morning I decided to see if all my links here were still live.  It's not politics or porn, but it's got to be done.  Happily, this led to some interesting reading and a renewed crush on the adorable, monobrowed Arj Barker.

And the equally happy rediscovery of some sites unseen over the past several election-sodden months.  That there is a Poem of the Week Blog, and it's delightful and unpretentious, warms my heart and makes the world right.  Poetry is one of those things that can be faked, and people abuse it. In fact, art-abuse is a growing problem in our society, and sooner or later something will have to be done about it.  One way to deal with it at home is to expose yourself to the genuine article. 

As I peruse my links, I realize I don't really have a proper blogroll here.  I have been meaning for years to have a more Web 2.0 approach to the matter, but the dirty little secret of social networking, even with the proper web tools, is that it's work.  And whatever else work may be, it's still, um, work.  You need a Blackberry just to get laid these days.  Remember when PDA stood for Public Display of Affection?  Doesn't anyone see anything wrong with this picture?

Anyway, the long and short of it is, I've updated my hot links, and I'm asking visitors to my blog (that means you) to suggest your favorite, guilty-pleasurest, most interesting, weirdest, and most inspiring sites (they don't all have to be bathroom interior blogs, either), so that next time I'm up at three in the morning I'll have a little something to do with my time. In return I'll get back to you with my thoughts on the sites you've recommended.  Deal?
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*BTW I am purposely not including hyperlinks here so that you have to visit my sidebar to check these sites out.  Clever, eh?