If you still don't understand the power of good backlinks and the value of a ping, all you have to do is look at the PageRank that was assigned to the last Backlink Bonanza post that I did. It has a PR of 4. The previous one has a PR of 3.

[Oops. It was a 4 when I looked at before writing this and now it's a 3. Perhaps it's in flux due to a PR update taking place.]

Speaking of PageRank, my PayPerPost opportunities went from 9 to 90 overnight when my PageRank was restored. I'm not going to touch them with the proverbial 10-foot pole, especially after just getting my PR restored, or I'd be considered the biggest idiot in existence.

Here's another batch of backlinks I've found through pingbacks and Google Alerts:

• HMTKSteve linked to me with his post on "Where have all my blogging friends gone?". I haven't gone anywhere, but a lot of others have.
• Chris Lodge, on his Thermal blog, linked to my article on blogging transparency with his post of "Blogs That Make Me Think". If he keeps thinking about what I write, he's going to develop a tumor.
• The Dragonlady linked to me when mentioning that I tagged her for the three things meme. I don't tag anyone anymore because I don't like participating in memes.
• Sueblimely linked to me in her "News from the Blogosphere - 22 December 07". I really appreciated the sentiment. That situation has been overcome by recent events.
• Corey Thompson linked to my article on the almost universal hatred of the RIAA with his quick post on pushing the bully back. He lives in Canada, but Canadians aren't immune to the threats of the RIAA.
• Sandee of Comedy Plus linked to me so many times it's nearly impossible to keep up with her: Spirit of Christmas Award - Revisited,
  Unique Gifts/Precious Memories - Day 7, Holiday Award's Presentations, You Rock My Socks, Mr. Present!, Great Blog Award 2007, Bloggers of the World Award. Holy cow!
• Ronald at Reader Appreciation Project linked his WP Categories and Plugins plugin page to my categories page as an example of the "plugin in action".
• When Abhinav Sood officially started his new self-hosted WordPress blog, he linked to my blog with his very first post, "Kick-Starting Inspirit Blog". I hope to see good things appear on his blog.
• Chris Lodge, on his Blog-Op blog, linked to my article on blog drive-bys with his post of "Blog It Your Way". More recently, he linked to my article on search engine rankings with his post about "The Only 404 Page You’ll Ever Need".
• My meme post, "5 Blogs That Make Me Think", drew in a few links in response: Andy Beard linked back to it in two different posts, "Do I Make You Think?" and "Standing on the Shoulders of Giants" (I don't think I was one of the giants he was talking about). Matthew Jabs linked back with "5 Blogs That Make Me Think" as well. Hmm… that title seems familiar.