iz gots awardz

Schmutzie has tagged me with a Thinking Blogger Award. I'm fairly excited about it, but you might not have been able to notice due to my face being buried deep in snotty Kleenex.

I've been working on the second post in my Evidence For Evolution series, but my brain seems to shut down when I get sick, so I haven't finished it off yet. For me, the subject material of this next post is a little more tricky to convey than that of the first. Perhaps this award is just what I needed, the proverbial kick-in-the-ass for motivation.

There are three rules for participation in the Thinking Blogger Awards:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote.

The majority of the blogs that make me think are ran by the Seed overlords at ScienceBlogs.com. However, I'll try to get more specific:

1. Laelaps by Brian Switek - Especially his recent post about the evolution of baleen in whales. There are a number of blogs on my blogroll that I just skip through if their recent posts don't catch my attention, but I always make it a point to read Brian's posts from start to finish.
2. The Loom by Carl Zimmer - Especially his recent post about early bats. I own a copy of and have thoroughly enjoyed every single science book that Carl has written. I also have his forthcoming work on pre-order through Amazon.
3. Pharyngula by PZ Myers - It's hard to pick out a single post of exceptional quality from PZ's blog, because I find them all very thought provoking. Even a simple picture of a sexy cephalopod can trigger action potentials up in my gray matter (or inspire some people to Cephalopoetry).
4. Sandwalk by Larry Moran - I loved his recent Darwin Day post about Darwin's relationship with William Gladstone. He's also currently on a vacation to Paris! Have a good trip, professor.
5. xkcd by Randall Munroe - His blog is funny too, but mostly I love his comics:

Philosophy by Randall Munroe

Mouse-over caption: "It's like the squirt bottle we use with the cat."