A Web designer who lives on Whidbey Island near Seattle, Gordon Coale was an early blogger. His one-sentence, first entry dated 10 August 2000: “I blog, therefore I am,” could be an epigram for many of us these days. Another of his earliest posts was about Harry Potter and anyone who’s a fan of Harry’s is fine by me. Coale also hosts an online radio show, Testing, Testing, (which I’ve not had time to listen to) that showcases northwest U.S. musical talent.

This is an intensely political blog – leftie variety – and Gordon regularly discovers Websites and information that I don’t find elsewhere or are too far afield for the time I can devote to surfing. In a recent post, he pointed to a timely piece about Britain’s 1917 occupation of Iraq that begins:

“They came as liberators but were met by fierce resistance outside Baghdad. Humiliating treatment of prisoners and heavy-handed action in Najaf and Fallujah further alienated the local population. A planned handover of power proved unworkable.”

Gordon is an invaluable political resource, but don’t let his passion for politics fool you – there is plenty of other interesting material on this blog, particularly photography. He recently (21 June 2004) posted a picture of himself riding a “skycycle,” a bicycle taller than I’d have the nerve to get on. And I spent about ten minutes examining a closeup he posted (16 June 2004) of the hand of Michaelangelo’s David, just the hand, which is so real-looking that I mistook marble for flesh until I read the caption – a reminder that I must get to Italy before I die to see such genius for myself.

Some other “photographs” on this site are really scanned objects with astonishingly beautiful results. Gordy’s Dinner, March 9, 2004, is vegetables as you have not seen them before. And his scanned Dead Bugs overcome even my girlie-girl attitude toward crawly things.

Another special section on Gordon’s site is the story and journals of his grandfather, Griff, who was a Navy combat artist in World War II. A fascinating piece of history.

Whimsy turns up on Gordon’s site too and I especially like the tribute to Ray Charles he re-posted:

“Logical proof that Ray Charles is God:

1. God is love
2. Love is blind
3. Ray Charles is blind

Therefore: Ray Charles is God.”

This does not begin to cover the breadth of Gordon’s blog. It can be confusing sometimes because he frequently posts many different long entries on one day and it’s easy to forget where you are in time as you scroll through. But Gordon more than redeems himself for that minor annoyance with the best damned blogroll I’ve seen anywhere.

Blogrolls with hundreds of links down the left or right side of the page are ubiquitous and, alphabetized or not, useless. As a form of endorsement, they are not believable and they hurt your eyes when you’re looking for a particular link.

Gordon has at least a couple of hundred links too, but they are particularly well-chosen and he has grouped them into labeled categories and sub-categories that attract the eye rather than repel it. Gordon.Coale deserves your attention.