Reducing My RSS Use–Happy Earth Day

Did some spring cleaning in my Bloglines account today…cut about 50 feeds with an eye to cutting about 25 more at some point. My extended vacation made it very clear that I’m just not being realistic to keep 150 or so active feeds (not including my Seton Hall course blogs) in my aggregator. So, by the time I finish, I’m hoping to get to 75-100 instead of 200+. The struggle is, of course what (or who) to cut. It’s hard to drop the people who I know, even if what they’re writing about isn’t always the most relevant to what I want to follow. I find myself looking at every feed with the “what have you done for me lately?” question lingering. I actually dropped a few people today that I had been reading for a very long time, and I feel bad on some level. But it’s that time thing again. The fact that Stephen Downes is hinting to his return from a break has me hopeful as his daily posts always held stuff of interest and I have missed them greatly. (No guarantees, that Stephen will be blogging as in the past when he returns, however.) And by and large, that’s what I’m really looking for more than anything at this point. Filters of good information. Trusted sources that consistently produce links and thinking that I can learn from. I’ve become a very demanding reader…

And on a personal note, I just wanted to acknowledge the “passing” of Earth Day today. I’m amazed at how little attention it seems to garner, especially in a time when we need to give it (or at least its raison d etre) a great deal of notice, I think. And if you don’t believe me, you should read my wife Wendy‘s new book which she just released last week: Just the tips, man for protecting the environment. It’s not a calendar, but it’s got 365 simple acts that each of us could practice to make a difference. Her research for the book was inspiring (and somewhat depressing, if you know what I mean…we’re such pigs.) I’m extremely proud of her efforts to make a differnence, and her passion has led me to change many of my ways. (If you don’t believe me, come over some weekend and watch me cut my lawn with my new push mower. My biceps will be bulging, baby, and I can put that stinky, smelly, polluting two-cycle engine lawn mower to bed. But now, how the heck do I recycle it?)

Anyway, remember, any day is Earth Day. If you know more, you’ll do more, so check out the book. (Shameless family self-promotion, I know…)