One Proud Puppy, Part II

Image credit: PuppyDogWeb.com

OK, it's time to stop procrastinating. HopeSpringsATurtle was kind enough to pass on the Excellent Blogger Award, A.K.A. the E for Excellent Award to those who aren't paying close attention. So that's twice someone's done that. Looks like I'd better put the thing up before it happens again.

Before I do, though, I'd like to make a point to those considering creating awards of this type. That point is - there's a thing called exponential growth. Here's how it works:

Suppose you give an award to five people. Then they, in turn, are obligated to give it to five more people. How many people now have the prize? That's easy, it's:

5 + 5 x 5 = 30

Now, each of these five people is obligated to give it to five more. Assuming no repeat prizes, that number is now:

30 + 5 x 5 x 5 = 155

Let's consider that three generations of awardees. Still not bad, right? Now let's look what happens in succeeding generations:

Generation	Population (Awards)
4	780
5	3,905
6	19,530
7	97,655
8	488,280

Before long, in other words, everybody has one. The problem is even worse when you have to award ten people to accept one.

If you think we're not there already, consider that this blog is read by fewer than fifty people on a regular basis. I've been given two of them - one of them twice.

If I ever create an award, I promise to make you pass it on to no more than two people. That way, by the time we reach the saturation point, everyone will have forgotten who was to blame for starting it in the first place.

Enough complaining, on to the fabulous prizes...

First off, here are the awardees for The Thinking Blogger Award. Shoephone tapped me for this one some time ago. I've had trouble figuring out whom to give it to ever since. That's not because there aren't lots of worthy candidates. There are. It's just that most of them already have one, some are too big for a prize like this, and some of the ones who are on this list don't even know who I am. But, hey, as we say in theatre, without further ado:

• Colorado Bob - this is probably the oddest award, because it's a site that hasn't been updated in forever, by a guy who called it his "Internet Tombstone". Still, Bob is one of the brightest folks I've run into, and he tells great stories. Go to his site, and read his stories.


• Sic Semper Tyrannis - Patrick Lang, a former special forces soldier who served in the Middle East for much of his career, runs a site that he calls "A Committee Of Correspondence". He's built up quite a little committee over there, with some really bright people. He did it by offering trenchant, bullshit-free observations about the Middle East, the military, and politics.


• Folo, Lotus's blog. It's been on the Dickie Scruggs case like a tick on a swaybacked mule ever since it began, and has built an impressive list of contributors and commenters in a short time. She's also interested in Pakistan and other South Asian issues.


• Screw Loose Change, run by James B. and Pat, this is a terrific resource to send people who are in 9/11 denial. If you think having Colorado Bob's site on this list is strange, maybe this one will seem even stranger. These guys are both conservatives, and they even display that ridiculous "101st FartingFighting Keyboardists" banner. But after reading a post in which Pat wrote (in the comments):
  

  
  Oh, debunking911 I certainly know there are folks from both sides who believe in the CT, but it's like the Clinton death list reversed. There were liberal nuts who believed Clinton had Vince Foster murdered, but there were a heck of a lot more conservatives, because they were predisposed to believe the worst of Bill and Hillary. So it is that more of the "Truthers" are going to be liberal; they're predisposed to believe the worst of GWB.
  

  
  I realized these guys weren't just idealouges. It's easy to recognize nonsense coming from the other side. When you recognize it from your own, you're a thinker.


• The American Street - This is Kevin Hayden's blog. It's been around for what, five years now, Kevin? I have tried to avoid giving this to the "big" blogs, but Kevin's been one of the most welcoming folks on the Internet, and he provides some of the wisest political observations out there. If you haven't visited, please start.

The awardees, should they choose to accept this award, must agree to link back to the originator of this prize, and find five other awardees.

Well, that's it for that award. I realize some of the folks on this list don't even know who I am. They might not even want it, and are probably saying "Who are you to be giving this thing to me?". It took me a long time to formulate an answer to that one, but I finally have:

I'm the 250 pound carnivore with sharp teeth and anger-management issues, and I'm feeling a bit peckish. Take your prizes quietly and move along.

We'll be taking a short break before we reveal the winners of the Excellent Blogger Award. Stay tuned.