there are lots of things i dislike about people. i’ve been thinking about that a lot the last few days, and someone on livejournal managed to find an excellent example that embodies most of my fury.
There’s a great piece about knitting and the work that goes into it that Hapto pointed me to, and the message is a great one: take some pride in the value of the hard work that you put into something.
This story is fantastic. I breezed through the book in a couple of hours, and i think it’s a great book for sassy and smart fifth and sixth graders. Heck, even a fourth grader so long as they don’t scare easily. I love Coraline’s attitude and faith in herself, her resourcefulness makes her a great strong girl character that seems more like a normal girl who just has a level head. I look forward to sharing this book with my neices and seeing what they make of the “other mother.”
I think this is an excellent piece and discussion over at Body and Soul. Lots of food for thought there.
The news is often filled with disturbing stories and sensational episodes that people would just as soon not think about. Fortunetely, there are people out there who still try to wake us up in the face of this common denial.
Nicholas Kristoff is a New York Times writer who has written an interesting series on two Cambodian girls who were sex slaves. There’s also been a follow-up editorial in the International Herald Tribune.
In case you missed it, Jon Stewart was on Crossfire. If you missed it, you can check out the transcript. Better yet, you can watch it (35 Mb wmv via whole lotta nothing).
I have seen a few takes on this piece:
onfocus.com
joho the blog
a whole lotta nothing
I was really interested to see Stewart trying to say something beyond the role of the Daily Show and try to get into the role of Crossfire. While he was put down in a lot of ways, I think he made some really salient points worth thinking over.
I was just sorta amazed that they couldn’t talk, that they wanted him to just be funny. I mean, he is funny because he’s a comedian and his show works to point out how ridiculous things sound, but to pull him on another show and really needle his integrity amazes me. The Daily Show is a comedy, a comedy which points to things that are a problem in our system, but overall about entertainment.
I think Jon Stewart was trying to be serious on Crossfire as another person who interacts in the media world. I don’t think he was taken that way, but I have to respect that he tried.
When I wrote about drugs in kids today I found myself wondering where in the world I would be able to find the proceedings of this ongoing hearing regarding the FDA.
While ranting at length, a friend pointed me to Congress’ publications online. (thanks Joe!)
To be more specific, what I am looking for will probably show up here with the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Committee Hearings for the 108th Congress . Here we can read about all kinds of interesting hearings:
- SARS: Assessment, Outlook, and Lessons Learned
- A System Overwhelmed: The Avalanche of Imported, Counterfeit, and Unapproved Drugs into the U.S.
- Can Tobacco Cure Smoking? A Review of Tobacco Harm Reduction
- Legislative Efforts to Combat Spam
- Blackout 2003: How did it Happen and Why?
- Identity Theft: Assessing the Problem and Efforts to Combat it
- College Recruiting: Are Student Athletes Being Protected?
- The Ultra Deepwater Research and Development: What are The Benefits?
- EPA’s Resource Conservation Challenge
- Online Pornography: Closing the Door on Pervasive Smut
- Problems with the E-Rate Program: Waste, Fraud, and Abuse Concerns in the Wiring of Our Nation’s Schools to the Internet Part 1
- Parents Be Aware: Health Concerns about Dietary Supplements for Overweight Children
See, a little something for everyone!
Sometimes watching children at play can show us a lot about their personality and where that personality development is going. While pondering over some of the things I’ve learned interacting with children over the past year, a friend pointed out to me that self confidence is key all along, and in fact, rejection massively reduces IQ.
moving has made me less accessible online, but I do still read things, just not much new. Through a comment in the blog, I stumbled across FishBoX. I really like the openness of it, and the picture-essays are great. Some of it’s in English and some in Chinese, and it’s certainly worth taking a gander.
Phantom Cell Phone Vibrations plague me at least once a day. You?