This is probably one of the best "how to have a good blog" lists I've seen.
via Amy's Humble Musings
Friday, October 31, 2008
The power of the Rosary
A man writes about how he was suddenly called to pray the Rosary, and how it brought him out of a 19-year porn addiction.
via Matteo
via Matteo
Thursday, October 30, 2008
"How we paid off our mortgage on a $29,000/yr salary"
A fascinating essay about how a family of six lives completely debt free and even manages to tithe and give to the poor on a less than $30K salary.
via Sandy
via Sandy
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Nutrition info online
A handy, easy tool for looking up the nutrition info for various foods online.
Monday, October 27, 2008
This crane operator obviously has NO fear of heights
I feel a little queasy even looking at this picture of the new skyscraper in Dubai. Notice the crane balanced up at the top. [Updated to add: look to the right to see the construction elevator on the outside. I hope they pay those guys well.]
Some thoughts on one issue voting
This pastor's post one of the most strongly-worded posts I've seen on this issue. It has a lot of great points. An excerpt:
via Amy's Humble Musings
So, is the candidate’s stand on the issue of shedding innocent blood important enough to disqualify him as a candidate? Yes. While a single issue can’t qualify a candidate, it can disqualify him...I don’t think someone is a good candidate just because he is prolife. But he cannot be a good candidate unless he is prolife.Read the rest here.
via Amy's Humble Musings
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
"We live in exponential times"
This is a fascinating video about how quickly the world is changing. It's full of great stats, like the fact that if MySpace were a country it would be the 5th largest in the world. (A little bit of background about it here).
That link takes you to directly to a video that takes a minute to start playing, but it's worth the effort to see it. Sorry, I couldn't find a YouTube version to embed.
That link takes you to directly to a video that takes a minute to start playing, but it's worth the effort to see it. Sorry, I couldn't find a YouTube version to embed.
"We'd rather stay home."
Kim writes one of the best blog posts I've read in a while, in which she talks about an exchanged with a grocery store checker who couldn't believe she actually liked the idea of having 10 kids.
via Joyful Chaos
via Joyful Chaos
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
When smart nerds pull pranks
A history of MIT pranks. Very clever. Very nerdy. (Think: turning the dome into R2D2 and turning a statue of John Harvard into a Halo 3 character.)
via Geekpress
via Geekpress
A list of companies that donate to Planned Parenthood
Wow. Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the list. It looks like it might have been shorter to just list the companies that don't give money to PP.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Brilliant idea: "sitter soiree"
What a cool idea: a party where moms and potential babysitters get together so that they can get to know one another. Where is one of these in my area?
via Krista Colvin (Twitter)
via Krista Colvin (Twitter)
Some Subtle Effects of the Birth Control Culture
Jess has a thought-provoking post at Making Home about the effects of birth control on society. It reminds me of this great PDF that illustrates the fruits of both the contraceptive and open-to-life worldviews.
Monday, October 20, 2008
The story of a dictionary
An interesting article about Noah Webster and his passion for creating a dictionary (scroll down for the article):
Read the rest here.
Webster had no help with his dictionary, and ultimately defined more than 70,000 words. In order to understand the roots from which words blossomed, he acquired a working knowledge of at least 20 languages, including Sanskrit...Ferreting out 20,000 more words for inclusion in his masterwork was a daunting task. Webster’s passion for investigating the origins of words slowed the process even more.
Webster was a born-again Christian who often displayed his deep religious convictions not on his sleeve, but in his definitions of words. For example, in showing how the word "fear" might be used in a sentence, he wrote, "We have reason to fear the punishment of our sins."
Read the rest here.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Printer problems
I got an email with this video attached and the following forwarded message:
Dear Geek Squad,Cute.
I recently purchased an HP Printer, and when I am in the room watching it, it works perfectly. However, nearly every time I leave it unattended, the papers come out wrinkled, sometimes even shredded, with blurred ink. If I re-start the print job and baby sit it, there are no problems. You can imagine that this has been very frustrating, and I would appreciate one of your technicians coming out to fix whatever the problem is.
Thank you,
Dave
Friday, October 17, 2008
Patients of abortion providers get almost half price discount at Clarion Inn
No word on discounts for pregnant women in need who keep their babies:
Emphasis mine.
An abortion clinic that performs abortions up to the sixth month of pregnancy has worked out an arrangement with two area hotels to provide substantially discounted room rates for women seeking abortions. [...]
Right to Life has confirmed that the Clarion Hotel in Cherry Hill offers a reduced rate of $59 for a room originally priced at $109 to those women who provide a receipt from the clinic that says they have to stay overnight.
Emphasis mine.
What an incredibly touching story
Nathan of Confessions of a Cystic Fibrosis husband did a post recapping his family's story. Wow.
Beautiful pictures of small stuff
Sorry I couldn't think of a better title, but the pictures are lovely.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
The haiku generator
Click New Haiku to generate more. (As they say in the About page, this is not necessarily a good haiku generator.)
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
10 tips for creating secure passwords
Helpful.
One I didn't see listed but is excellent in terms of security and memorability is: combine the letters of two names. So, for example, if your husband's name is Paul and your son's name is Henry, you could do use the cryptic but easy-to-remember hpeanurly as a password (hpeanurly). [Obviously, you might want to choose names harder to guess than that, but you get the idea.]
One I didn't see listed but is excellent in terms of security and memorability is: combine the letters of two names. So, for example, if your husband's name is Paul and your son's name is Henry, you could do use the cryptic but easy-to-remember hpeanurly as a password (hpeanurly). [Obviously, you might want to choose names harder to guess than that, but you get the idea.]
Iranian actress causes uproar by appearing at Hollywood premier without headcovering
An interesting article about the heated mixed opinions in Iran about this actress appearing in the U.S. without hijab.
via Those Headcoverings
via Those Headcoverings
Teenager with Down Syndrome elected prom queen
What a beautiful story:
Kristin Pass, an 18-year-old senior with Down syndrome, became Aledo High School's homecoming queen Friday to a joyous standing ovation and the flutter of a thousand tissues on a remarkable night for an amazing young woman. [...]Read the rest here.
"It's just something you can't even imagine," [her mother] said. "And afterward, everyone was just running down to her, congratulating her.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Depression-era cooking tips
What a great little cooking show! Very useful considering the current state of the economy. See more videos on this subject here.
via Morning Coffee and Veiled Glory
via Morning Coffee and Veiled Glory
Turning The Other Cheek?: A Real-Life Dilemma
Elizabeth Esther shares a recent experience where her son was bullied, and asks readers how she should handle both the bullying and the frustrating response from administrators at his school. Both the post and the comments have a lot of food for thought.
Waiting for the promised land...patiently
Rachelle Gardner has an excellent post about when we feel called by God to do something, yet it seems our efforts are not paying off. (Though this post is targeted at writers, I think her words are true for anyone in that situation.)
The story of The Shack
The story of the surprise hit Christian novel The Shack. After being rejected by both Christian and secular publishers alike, the author and a pastor friend self-published it, spent $300 in marketing and started selling copies of of their garages. It caught on like wildfire and has now sold an estimated million copies!
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Democracy unmoored from Christianity
Matteo has a powerful excerpt from Mark Shea about what happens when American democracy loses its Christian roots:
It's a thought-provoking post. Read the rest here.
[Democracy] is not sacred and it's not eternal. It works just so long as you have a Christian or post-Christian culture that still holds by custom and convention what it no longer holds by creed: namely, things like the doctrine of original sin, natural law and the fear of God. As long as a culture has such things, even in lingering form, democracy functions as a restraining valve on original sin by keeping power from being concentrated in the hands of too few.
It's a thought-provoking post. Read the rest here.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Google's election tools for educators
Google has all sorts of tools for helping teach kids about the election, and is holding a mock election on October 30.
Party planning made simple
I thought this sounded like a great, easy system for party planning for organizationally-challenged people like me.
via Works for Me Wednesday
via Works for Me Wednesday
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Spanx vs. cheaper alternatives: a comparison
Extremely important and fascinating information for some of us. (For those of you who don't know, "Spanx" are body-shaping undergarments.)
Big family needs new car, buys stretch limo
I just re-discovered this post from last year and had to link to it: blogger Suzanne of Raising Saints posted a picture of the used stretch limo that she and her husband bought to haul their family of eight around. How cool is that?
New database of Catholic Saints
Wow, quite an accomplishment! Click on "view" to see details about each one. More info here.
via Mary's Aggies
via Mary's Aggies
AmEx rates credit risk by where you live, shop
I'm not sure what I think of this, but it's interesting that they've found it to be effective in predicting credit risks.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Can a computer convince people it's human?
We'll see:
via Presurfer
Next Sunday, six computer programs will answer questions posed by human volunteers at the University of Reading in a bid to become the first recognised "thinking" machine. If any program succeeds, it is likely to be hailed as the most significant breakthrough in artificial intelligence since the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue beat world chess champion Garry Kasparov in 1997. It could also raise profound questions about whether a computer has the potential to be "conscious" - and if humans should have the 'right' to switch it off. [...]
The test will be carried out by human "interrogators", each sitting at a computer with a split screen: one half will be operated by an unseen human, the other by a program. The interrogators will then begin separate, simultaneous text-based conversations with both of them on any subjects they choose. After five minutes they will be asked to judge which is which. If they get it wrong, or are not sure, the program will have fooled them.
via Presurfer
Structure and anxiety
An interesting excerpt from a book about anxiety:
There's more here.
Structured living is often lost when anxiety hits because your feelings of panic are so overwhelming...This feeling-based reaction to life is terribly harmful. It leads to instability and to being able to count on nothing, not your feelings, not your actions, not your schedule. Everything in your life is chaotic. All people, but especially people with anxiety problems, need structure to their living. The chaos that is caused by impulsive, feeling-driven planning undermines all structure and exacerbates the feeling of being out of control that characterizes anxiety disorders.
There's more here.
The quietest place on earth
A glimpse inside the quietest place on earth. If the Guinness Book of World Records ever does a Noisiest Place on Earth, I'm entering my living room.
via Presurfer
via Presurfer
Monday, October 6, 2008
Deep fried Twinkies?!
I think I gained a few pounds by just watching this.
Here's the recipe (please click on that link only out of morbid curiosity, not out of any kind of intention to actually try it).
Here's the recipe (please click on that link only out of morbid curiosity, not out of any kind of intention to actually try it).
A note for Bloglines users
A little public service announcement: it seems that Bloglines has stopped updating most of the feeds of Blogger blogs that have custom domains, as well as a few others. This blog's feed seems to be working OK, so I thought I'd mention it for any Bloglines users -- if it doesn't seem like some of your favorite bloggers are updating, you may want to click through to their sites to check.
(Some of my favorites that have been affected by this are Rocks in my Dryer, Betty Beguiles, Creative Minority Report, Holy Experience, Leave the Lights On, Testosterhome and Toddler Dredge...oh, and my other site.) Just FYI!
(Some of my favorites that have been affected by this are Rocks in my Dryer, Betty Beguiles, Creative Minority Report, Holy Experience, Leave the Lights On, Testosterhome and Toddler Dredge...oh, and my other site.) Just FYI!
Sunday, October 5, 2008
An atheist's thoughts on meaning
Dr. Bob has this extremely thought-provoking excerpt from an atheist:
By writer David Foster Wallace, who committed suicide in September.
In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And an outstanding reason for choosing some sort of God or spiritual-type thing to worship...is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things -- if they are where you tap real meaning in life -- then you will never have enough. Never feel you have enough...Worship your own body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly, and when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally plant you....Worship power -- you will feel weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to keep the fear at bay. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart -- you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out. And so on. [...]
It is not the least bit coincidental that adults who commit suicide with firearms almost always shoot themselves in the head. And the truth is that most of these suicides are actually dead long before they pull the trigger.
By writer David Foster Wallace, who committed suicide in September.
Friday, October 3, 2008
A good video for a Friday
What a beautiful song -- turn up your speakers. Warning: some graphic images of the Crucifixion.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
How to make a flashy wardrobe modest
Some helpful tips for those of us with some pieces in our wardrobes from, umm, a different phase of life.
A college student tries to make sense of casual sex
I hesitated to post this op-ed in the Smith College paper because of some graphic comments, but it's worth reading to see just how lost this generation is. (WARNING: skip it if you don't want to read a few graphic references of sexual nature).
Print your own coloring books
This is a great site with drawings to print and color of pretty much every variety. There's also an online coloring page where kids can color online.
via Presurfer
via Presurfer
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Snow on Mars!
Really neat. Although I'll probably just use this as fodder for complaining about Texas winters ("Even MARS gets snow every now and then...").
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