Questionable

Draw yourself as a teen

There's this meme going around challenging people to draw themselves as teens. Have I done it? Not yet. Maybe I will. But then there's the challenge of scanning it (I guess I could take a picture of my drawing). Then there's the decision I'd have to make regarding which teen year. The really awkward 13yo or the oh-so-sophisticated 17yo. Plus, I can't draw.  Anyway, even though I'm a lazy ass doesn't mean you should be. Draw yourself as a teen.

Lazy Linking

Two quick things.

If you haven't seen this new blog from the Boston Globe, you gotta check it out. Called, The Big Picture: News Stories in Photographs, all it does it provide large, beautifully shot (and presumably edited), lovely, emotional pictures of the world around us. Each post is a series of photos organized around a particular theme. It might be one individual event like the Chinese earthquake, or it could be like today's entry, pictures representing World Environment Day. The blog author expects to update it two or three times a week. The first picture will show up in your feed reader or on the front page of the blog, but one click gets you to the whole series. It is completely worth a few minutes a day to look at these unbelievable photos. (My favorites since it started are those of the Chaiten Volcano and of the Brazilian tribe.)

I know I plug MinnPost a lot around here. I do subscribe to their feed, but only read the stories that interest me. Many go unread. But they do have a relatively new feature called the Daily Glean that I highly recommend. Each day, David Brauer summarizes the top stories of the day culled from the networks and the local papers. Each story gets a paragraph and a link. It is an easy way to keep on top of things if you don't have time to read the paper or watch tv news. Here's a link to today's edition.

Are you a MN Mom?

This post is just a shameless plug for a new website called Minn Moms.

This new venture, from the folks at the Pioneer Press and twincities.com, was created to meet a need we kept hearing about in the community. Moms wanted local solutions to their everyday dilemmas (What's for dinner?), they wanted help making important decisions (What school should I choose?) and they wanted the latest information on issues that matter to them (bispheynol-A in kids products). They also wanted a way to connect and share with other local moms. And they wanted it all in one easy-to-use place available at a time that was convenient to them. MinnMoms.com does just that.

I have to admit that there isn't a ton here that I'm going to read, but I know one of the contributors and I do like hearing about her adventures with her three young kids. My favorite thing on the site is the blog where a number of Pioneer Press moms contribute with stories about their own families.

The person I know is currently in Ireland with her three kids (one, a very rambunctious 2yo). Those posts alone are worth reading.

Iz lurn sum werds

On my recent tour of Wisconsin (here to Sheboygan, Sheboygan to Reedsburg, Reedsburg back to home), I listened to many podcasts. My favorite is Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me!, via NPR/Chicago Public Radio. But I needed variety, so I also downloaded a show my brother turned me onto called A Way with Words. Aside from some of the obnoxious public radio callers, this show is worth a listen. The two hosts discuss words, grammar, slang, punctuation, expressions, and more. I especially like that one of the hosts is more grammar and root word oriented while the other talks more about contemporary slang, expression origins, and new words.

I come from a town and from a family with an interesting linguistic history. During one of the March shows, a person with a German family background called about a word used by my mom. A word I hadn't heard in so long that I had sort of forgotten about it. When we were kids, we used to ask my mom, "Mom, where are you going?" When she didn't really have an answer or didn't want to reply, she would say, "Bucks-dee-hoo-dee." The actual German word is buchsdehude, which has a much less exaggerated pronunciation. Not to be confused with the composer of the same name, according to the podcast, aus buchsdehuse, used by a German meant going to a nowhere place.

If this little-known podcast can help me to understand my mom's mispronounced German, imagine what it can do for your English language questions.

Unusual blogs I read

I had lunch with someone last week and was telling her about some of the blogs I read. She was astonished at the different types of content. Here is a sprinkling of some of the blogs I read:

20x200 - I don't read this so much as I wait for it to be updated. Twice a week, two pictures/photos go on sale for $20 in a run of 200. Lots of good, cheap, art.

Barbara Ehrenreich's blog - She doesn't publish often, but when she does it is always thoughtful and insightful.

Crunch Gear - Wanna know about gadgets? This is just one of many places to find out.

Geeky Traveller and Elliot - Two (of many) travel blogs I read.

View from the Tundra - a fantastic local photoblog.

x365 project

Jess, who has commented a few times here, turned me on to this project.

This started with one guy who wanted to mark turning 40 in a cool and meaningful way, now people all over the world are making a list of 365 people they've met during the course of their lives - people who left an impression and whose name they remember - then they're randomly writing a set number of words about someone on their list. They're doing this once a day - for a year.

I love the idea of it, but I can't imagine embarking on something of this magnitude. But, I look forward to reading her daily thoughts. She is a writer and editor, so I'm guessing her scribbles will be great.

Lazy linking

I hafta finish a paper so I am not doing much substantive blogging right now. Anyway, a few links for the interested:

Adam Platt from MSP/St.Paul magazine has a great blog. He writes on various topics, some local.

I've been into origami lately. Here is a site full of patterns.

A cool slide show of old St. Anthony Park

A local chick who studies birds and write a good birding blog.

One of my most favorite local blogs, Eyeteeth, written by Paul Schmelzer.

Another great TC blog, Twin City Sidewalks, which as you might expect features local streets, avenues, and corners.

Blog recommendation

I've stumbled upon (not in the social networking sense) a blog named Hank and Phyllis Like to Watch. It is my new fav pop culture blog. Imagine two retirees discussing television with wit and aplomb. Today's post about the O.J. Simpson book is a little oogly for my taste so read Phyllis' take on Jennifer Garner/Sydney Bristow instead.

Feed test

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Thanks

What are your Firefox plugins?

After my hard drive died last fall, I never got around to reinstalling my Firefox plugins. I don't remember which ones I had. So, I suppose I need to go to their website and read about the most popular. But, before I do that, which ones do you use?