Fed up with the 'curse' of meaningless blog memes, the Thinking blog came up with 'the thinking blogger awards', which I must admit I felt quite flattered when this blog was named for at the end of February. I felt flattered mainly because once upon a time it was my ambition to become a philosopher, but since I moved into journalism and self-employment full-time (I started my media career as a columnist/commentator) I frequently feel I'm too busy to think, and too much of my blogging consists of mentioning developments I find interesting but want, and frequently fail, to return to analyse more in-depth.

Now February is a long time ago you might say, but I read so many excellent blogs that I spent quite some time mulling over which blogs I would nominate (for more of my favourite blogs do check out my blogroll, especially the 'Media Stuff' section if you're a media junkie like me, which I hope to update with more great blogs soonish, and I will also try to link up the feeds I subscribe to in my newsreader soonish, after I've found time to systematise my feeds a bit).

Too many blogs, not enough thoughts? Here's a few of those that almost always make me think, even if I don't necessarily always agree with them (but, as with books, I think the best are those who can serve as cutting stones for your own thoughts, challenge you intelligently, rather than tell you something you've already figured out yourself).

1) Mediainfluencer (Adriana Cronin-Lukas): Adriana was the person who got me blogging in the first place: I'm somewhat commitment-phobic, and in the end, after telling me about the wonders of blogs for years, she just set up a blog for me, which I guess is the way to go about it – didn't take me long to get hooked. I keep waiting for the day she finds time to write her book, but in the meantime, this is quintessentially Adriana:

The good news is that for the first time in history the internet is a place where we can create viable alternatives without having to blow up the existing ways. The internet has provided a relatively undisturbed environment in which people can play and build stuff that works - for them as well as others. They don't have to waste time undermining or dismantling an already dysfunctional system to show how new ways could work. They can experiment instead of having to 'fight for the cause'. They can get on with chatting, connecting, networking, squabbling, playing with ideas and technology that are now scaring the media and businesses. Bypassing a system by building a better one elsewhere is proving to be far more powerful than blowing it up. Doesn't help the old system a bit but makes the rest of us nicer and happier people. :) In many ways, if this is a revolution, it is a revolution turned upside down. For start it's not those who want the change that are building the barricades...

2) The Infinite Wall (Solan's blog on my blogroll): I keep wishing that Solan would blog more, though I understand fully how his job as a maths professor and his family commitments leave him very limited time to do so. Still, even though he's a nominalist and me a realist, we always had the most vibrant and stimulating conversations and his rare blog posts always offer good food for thought. Here's a sample (on why he calls his blog The Infinite Wall):

But neither climbing nor mathematics are the origin of the infinite wall. Its origins are hidden within the strange recesses of Eastern mysticism, ch'an (zen) Buddhism. Bodhidharma is said to have gazed at a cave wall for nine years. Though said to be historical fact, I prefer to think of the wall gazing as an enlightenment metaphor. Any physical wall then becomes representative of the obstacles to enlightenment - obstacles that are perhaps identical to enlightenment itself.

3) Confused of Calcutta (JP Rangaswami) – when I set up my blog I scrolled thru Adriana's blogroll to see if I found some blogs well worth linking to and this was one. I must admit I have yet to be convinced about the archaneness of intellectual property rights, but this blog keeps challenging me to think about the issue, as well as other issues, in new ways (type in his blogs', or his, name in my google bar to get some good quotes).

4) Robin Hamman: I read a well of excellent media blogs (check the 'Media Stuff' section of my blog), so this was a very difficult choice, but Robin combines good media links with often thoughtful and open-ended posts on interesting media developments, libel, online community management and other key issues for media junkies.

5) The Global Perspective – finance/business from across the globe: I like Daniel's blog because it's 'thoughts in motion' and reveals the fallacy of thinking of financial reporting only in terms of the top companies of any given nation - as too many newswires do. Our economy these days is very much interdependent and relational: just looking a nation's 'top' xx companies means you often miss the big story and focus on dinosaurs rather than the future.