Back to Reality: Tornadoes, Time Changes, Opening Day, Best Blogs...

So spending 12 days in Alaska, I've discovered, makes you think about things other than blogging and politics and technology and the burstiest stuff in the blogosophere. Like how to stay warm while touring the Fairbanks World Ice Art Championship sculpture park when it's 15 degrees outside. Or how to avoid the moose that wander across highways and side streets at will. Or how to keep one's hair from freezing while soaking in 104-degree hot springs water.

Activity flurries
But the past few days have been busy nonetheless, what with the start of the 2006 baseball season ("happy opening day" is today's most-blogged phrase), the not-so-welcome advent of Daylight Savings Time and the furious arrival of the 2006 tornado season.

Best blogs
Over at Wampum, the best 2005 Koufax Blog Awards have finally been announced (today's No. 3 top blog post) for the best liberal-leaning blogs. Among the winners: Crooks-'n-'Liars, Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, Unclaimed Territory and Shakespeare's Sister, among others.

Probably not what they expected
Today's fifth most-cited blog post from the Auto Blog provides links to make-it-yourself commercials that GM probably never intended for the Chevy Tahoe. A LiveJournaler joins the anti-gas-guzzler fun.

Blog bizarre-ities
Couldn't help but note these distrurbing blog discoveries, either. One of the day's most popular links provides tongue-in-cheek (but creepy, just the same) tips on how to avoid snakes on airplanes, while two other popular links, from Citizen Scientist and Prison Planet describe Dr. Erik Pianka's chilling plan (today's No. 2-3 burstiest person) for keeping worldwide population in check. "You first, fella," offers e-Claire blogger.

Gators? Really?
Bloggers apparently were caught off guard as much as other sports pundits by the Florida Gators' NCAA win over UCLA. A BlogPulse trend graph shows the Gators never gained the traction, even though they still took home the trophy...