A post of actual value

I've been meaning to stretch my wings and find some new blogs. I got a little stuck in expecting Technorati to prompt me to go read my favorites, complete with convenient links and notices. But then Technorati let me down. I discovered it wasn't telling me when a large number of my faves had updated. So I was missing out! Sometimes by several posts! The horror! The drama!

Also---and this is no reflection on my favorites---I started getting a little interested in what else, and who else, is out there.

So I've begun clicking links and wowsa there's some good stuff. And I've noticed some familiar names commenting on these blogs so I see you've all been holding out on me in some way...like not taking me by the ear and guiding me around the blogosphere I guess. LOL

Okay so on my completely random link-following bloghunt/Webhunt today I've found:

1. Work at Home Mom Revolution---this blog is the answer to Her Bad Mother and Gingajoy's questioning comments at BlogRhet

She turned me on to MIT's OpenCourseWare. I love free stuff, esecially free Ivy League education in the comfort of my own PJs at home. This is

a free and open educational resource (OER) for educators, students, and self-learners around the world.

MIT OCW:

* Is a publication of MIT course materials
* Does not require any registration
* Is not a degree-granting or certificate-granting activity
* Does not provide access to MIT faculty

Now, although my heart yearns in the direction of women's studies, anthropology and the oh-so-very intriguing Writing and Humanistic Studies (doesn't it just swell like music when you say it aloud?), I am instead perusing things such as "Competitive Decision Making and Negotiating" at the Sloan School of Management. Maybe I can treat myself with "Humanistic Perspectives on Medicine: From Ancient Greece to Modern America" like a dessert each time I make it through a meaty course.

2. Problogger tells me my recent change of having my comments open in a new window is annoying. What do you think? Should I switch it back? Do you guys multi-task with tons of open windows of stuff?

3. Avitable started a fund for NYCWatchDog, who recently lost his 5 year old son in a swimming accident.

4. Pink is not just for breasts any more. Now it also stands for peace.

5. Pew Charitable Trusts put out their State of the Blogosphere (or, more accurately, "Society and the Internet--- Bloggers: A Portrait of the Internet's New Storytellers") a year ago. I wonder how things have changed---or not---in the last year.

You know, BlogRhet friends, they grant grants for research in this area. Maybe that's the second answer to the GingaJoy and Her Bad Mother questions.

copyright 2007 Julie Pippert

Restaurant Trauma in Texas: How eating out prompted a really uncomfortable lesson about culture

WARNING: This is NOT a family-friendly post, aka the warning I WISH I'd gotten yesterday before I walked in. Yesterday was a Holiday. I hope you heard the scare quotes around that. Yeah, when you are an adult here is how holidays work: you, same workload as always, kids WOO HOO NO SCHOOL FREEDOM. Do the equation. The result is the day I had yesterday. If math isn't your strong suit I'm pretty sure you can still add that up but just in case let's say the highlight of the afternoon included me dumping out the mismatched sock basket and telling the children to have at it, in a way very reminiscent of Miss Hannigan of Annie . Anyway luckily I've taught my kids that Chores are Fun! and they had a good time. Later, I cranked up the fun-o-meter on a bank errand by dropping in the Halloween store to check out costumes, and upped the ante on "Mom needs new running shoes" by tacking on a "Hey let's eat out at a restaurant!" My husband was able to join ...

First it was cocktails and now it's marijuana?

Oh wouldn't Meredith Vieira love to get her graspy judgmental paws on this one: " I'm a Better Mother When Stoned ," by LJ Wilson (pseudonym) currently up at Babble (along with caveat that Babble doesn't endorse alcohol or illegal drug use while parenting). The only problem is I'm afraid I might end up nodding along with her as she rasps out a smug and self-righteous snarky comment that slams all parents who toke a dubie while parenting. Wilson writes I've been a weekend pot smoker since I was about eighteen. As a new mother, I continued the indulgence, but only when I was out and my son had a babysitter. I swore I'd never be stoned around my kid. And that plan worked for two and a half years, right up until one morning when my toddler waged a concerted campaign to fray each of my nerves. Wow. My first moment of disbelief was that it took two and a half years for her child to fray her nerves . That's some laid back well-behaved kid! Or some laid ...

It's cancer

Adenocarcinoma. This is a common form of colorectal cancer. From About.com Definition of Adenocarcinoma Let's break it down. "Adeno-" is a prefix that means "gland." In general, glands secrete things and are classified as endocrine or exocrine. Endocrine glands secrete things into the bloodstream, like hormones. Exocrine glands secrete things that go outside of the body, like mucus and sweat. A carcinoma is a malignant tumor that starts in epithelial tissue. Put the two words together and you get "adenocarcinoma," which means a malignant tumor in epithelial tissue, specifically in a gland. Cause of Adenocarcinoma Virtually all adenocarcinomas develop from adenomas. In general, the bigger the adenoma, the more likely it is to become cancerous. For example, polyps larger than two centimeters (about the diameter of a nickel) have a 30-50 percent chance of being cancerous. You can learn more about polyp size and colon cancer risk by viewing the Polyp Size...

Julie Pippert: Using My Words

Search This Blog