@Jeff Chandler
Your mention of the "Planet WordPress feed" is the first I am hearing of such. I looked at it, it was 80% WPTavern posts, 15% Ma.tt and 5% HeroPress. This is an observation, not a criticism.

Do you know any of the powers-that-be who controls the curation of that feed? Wouldn't it be a great idea to get some more WP dev focused blogs on that list, such as ibenic.com, carlalexander.ca, pippinplugin.com, etc, added to that list?