A change in format for the weekly link round-up. A combination of a busy working week a lack of decent material to link has conspired to keep my folder of links rather thin. So instead I'm going to feature a few blogs I read on a constant basis (daily to weekly).

Firstly there is Pete's A Perfectly Cromulent Blog, the best blog name bar none. He features a great idea for keeping a daughter's future sexuality under control. It's just crazy enough to work and I'm damn well going to use it too. He also looks at Harry Shearer's bleating on the Simpsons. He talks to (now) dead people. He reviews Collateral and takes on Starbucks. Read his blog: it will embiggen your mind.

Jim nicely sums up not just his but my views of politics as well. He's already been the subject of a linkfest this week, but you need to read his blog. Really.

The good Doc Rusty pointed out another difference between the old and new Iraq, says war is brewing between Russia and Georgia, talks about some real "African-Americans" (with a pointer to OTB), takes Bill's post and neatly summarises why he blogs, AND has the deceny to apologise for being so popular because he created the now world-famous blog stamps while he's guest blogging at the Diktat. He deserves his success and you should stop by MPJ.

One of the more thoughtful blogs out there is Peaktalk. A former Hong Konger himself, Pieter has talked about the shrinking undecided vote in the US election and on "hedonistic" Europe with a follow-up on how the drift between Europe and the US may lead to great closeness between America and Asia. His is one of the few blogs that has well-reasoned and thoughtful posts on a consistent basis.

Protein Wisdom requires you to engage both your brain and sense of humour at the same time. Thus many don't get it. But it is full of off-the-wall gems. He recaps the blogging of the DNC and details his plans for the Republican convention and transports THK back to the 70s. If his neighbour (note the correct spelling, people) ever read his blog, there could be some serious trouble.

Joe Gandelman's The Moderate Voice is another solid read. Everything from the Indian Spiderman to a thoughtful suggestion on how to settle the Kerry/Swift Vets dispute (with sensible thoughts on negative political advertising) to those pesky registration pages on news sites. He follows major stories and keeps updating with more and more links from around the net. Another good read.

Finally via Ilyka comes this little gem. If we had a choice we'd all go that way.

UPDATE: From the Living Room collective comes the inevitable Olympics Blog. It contains Olympic related news, including a report that nudity will appear during the Opening Ceremony. If it's during the mind-numbing marching of the athletes I doubt if anyone would notice. The good news is the spooks don't think there will be any terror attacks on the Games. And there's an article to remind you what the Games are really about...