Friday, February 26, 2010

Mama Bean posts links on Friday - February 26, 2010

I seem to be overcompensating for my internet deprivation by posting every remotely interesting link I come across, just in case I don't see another before my 6 pm time limit. So, not all of these are the most win the internet can offer, but they still caught my admittedly web-ADD eye.

-This video (found it on Conversion Diary) is for moms. It made Papa Bean and I think about our moms, when she gets to the empty nesting part. We're still at the very beginning of this journey, so it's hard to fathom we'll ever get through the things she describes.

-The woman who writes this blog travels the US with her husband and two young daughters in an RV. They previously lived with their eldest daughter in a tiny (382 square feet, or something like that) apartment, and documented it on flickr. I think I found the link from a design blog (?) Anyway, this particular entry is about a weekly simplifying they undergo, to find things they don't need and donate them. I am far too materialistic to do this weekly, but I really dig the sensibility of incorporating simplification as a routine. We already have so much stuff we don't need, and getting rid of it can feel truly purifying. Will ponder a less-than-weekly way to try this in our home. (This lady has also documented her journey with dreadlocks so compellingly, I briefly considered trying them, too.)

-New York Magazine article about ChatRoulette. Don't know anyone who's actually tried this yet. It feels like this was the inevitable next step in Web 3.0 or whatever version it is we're on. We're a fairly tech-savvy family (my ineptitude with cell phones notwithstanding) and I like to think of myself as an earlier-than-average adopter (don't have the financial means to be a truly early adopter) but I think my age shows in my reaction to this phenomenon, which is 25% intrigued, and 75% squeamed out.

-I like the premise behind this website more than I like the execution. It's a catalogue of falacious argument styles people (bigots) use to derail meaningful conversation about their prejudice. When you spend a lot of time on the internet, or even just on mommy blogs, you become familiar with the Flame Warriors, and derailment is their script of choice. I think I just enjoy reading pithy examples of the illogical commentary I often wade through professionally and religiously.

-Codeorgan makes a song out of URLs. The site worked fine for me, and this blog makes a thoroughly pleasant song on it. But it didn't work for a friend, so *shrug* attempt at your own risk of mild disappointment.

-So I guess there was this Superbowl commercial about guys and all the things guys have to endure. It's totally funny. Then there's this feminist spoof of it. It's also totally funny. Jack came to the same conclusion, "Both are funny because both are true. Men and women are different but the same. It's why we like and dislike each other. :)" Sandra also clarified the third wave of feminism seems to have lost steam, and some in the US are pushing for a fourth.

-In the serendipity that IS the internet, my next link also addressed feminism, from the perspective of a grandma who grew up during the 60s, and found the whole second wave more or less overwhelming and confusing. Her account of growing up really resonated with me for a variety of reasons that are too long to go into here, but I suspect many of my peers may feel similarly. (Which is the whole point of link love anyway, on facebook or otherwise; sharing things that strike a chord because we're sure they'll strike the same chord in those we've befriended.) Her blog, Like Mother, Like Daughter is an absolute jewel, and I repeatedly read bits of it out loud to Papa Bean. It's primary topic is not, in fact, feminism or even Catholicism. It's more of a domesticity and parenting blog. She has much wisdom, and I love the web for giving her a forum.

-Speaking of domesticity, I have saved the Very Best Link for last. This may, in fact be the Very Best Link of my whole life, because it (un)folds one of the deepest mysteries I have ever pondered, and brings profound inner peace to my linen closet. Judging by the reaction on facebook, I am not the only person who never understood How to Fold a Fitted Sheet. It's like the very light of Heaven beamed down on me in my living room, as I accomplished this Feat of Wonder for the very first time. Apparently L was blessed to have learned this from her mother, and Aunty E learned it from Martha Stewart. But I learned it from the internet, and for that I am eternally grateful. Excellent follow up tip from K: "I put the flat, fitted, and one pillowcase all inside the other pillowcase. Then I have a little bundle in the linen closet and I never lose the matching stuff." We're all little Marthas in our own way, aren't we? (Now there's a worthy treatise, the feminist implications of Martha Stewart...)

(A final aside: the blogger who created the Fitted Sheet Tutorial of Genius, Molly Piper is married to Abraham Piper, son of John Piper, who will feature in next Friday's Link Love. John Piper is a famous American pastor and author. His son has two interesting blogs. He and Molly have lived through the hell of a stillborn daughter. I find all of their various internettings very engaging, even if I don't necessarily subscribed to their particular niche of Christianity. The power of the internet, and all that yadda.)

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for stopping by the blog and for your comment about The Shack. The more I hear about it, the less I feel like it is something I need to read. I may set it aside for a little while longer.

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