Mama Bean posts two weeks of links on Sunday (good grief) - May, 16, 2010

I know, I know, where have I beeeeeeEEEeeen? If I told you, I'd have to kill you. Well, not really. I'm just busy working on several impossibilities right now, namely: 1) adding hours to the day, and 2) cultivating a money tree in my backyard. I trust you understand. However, these endeavors will be fruitless. Unfortunately, this will not necessarily free me up to blog more, as the failure to lengthen my days is a key issue. Perhaps the solution lies in efficiency? But I'm a mama; efficiency fell by the wayside sometime during the end of the 2nd trimester of pregnancy...never to return again?

- Do you remember learning how to swaddle a baby? What's that, you've never done it? Well, this is how it's done, in 47 easy steps! And while this particular post may seem like an exaggeration to the uninitiated, I assure you, it's not.

- I love Zooey Deschanel, I love her music with She & Him, I love her dancing in this video for In the Sun. It makes me think of Feist a little bit. Happy + Love. Please enjoy and smile.

- This is a cute little chart of what various intoxicants will make you do in various situations, such as being at a party, or being near the phone. For example, with alcohol, in the bathroom you will puke. Or, with PCP, near the cops you will attack them with a dead bird. I mean, this is stuff everyone knows, right? But it's handy to have it in a little chart like this!

- Sunday's coming! The ultimate parody of your average mainstream large church service. It's funny because it's TRUE.

- These folks loved Sunday so much, they turned an old church into their home. I think it's a very beautiful re-purposing, but some commenters feared intimacy might be a little awkward, with so many stained-glass saints watching. And Pastor Jim prefers churches to stay as churches.

- This is how science works. Really. Magnets really are metal with pieces of gravity in them! Duh. Unfortunately, it's a tumblr site that doesn't update by RSS. Check back regularly for updates. The funniest updates of your life.

- What if they made action figures of the Bronte sisters? It would be awesome, that's what.

- I read an insane amount of celebrity gossip. It's silly, like, I'm sure some of my time shortage could easily be resolved by curing myself of this addiction. Oh well...I mostly read Oh Know They Didn't (the neverending pit of gossip, there is no way to read it all, just let it wash over you in all its trashy glory) and Evil Beet now, but Pink is the New Blog really introduced me to the online world of gossip. However, Trent evolved, I didn't grow with him, and stopped reading. But this is a cool post about a song Kelly Clarkson wrote in response to the whole Ryan-Tedder-wrote-the-same-song-for-both-Kelly-and-Beyonce debacle (cf. Kelly's Already Gone v. B's Halo. I like both songs, and I like them for that catchy little four chord hook Ryan gave to both of them...)

- How to mow your lawn without mowing your lawn. It really is the best idea ever.

- A little NYT infographic on the privacy rabbit-hole that is facebook. There's a repeating cycle of privacy hysteria that circulates on the web - facebook's not safe, twitter's not safe, blogs aren't safe, the internet is full of creeps, throwyourmodemAWAY OMG!!1! Of course, this is not the solution. As Neil points out, a new concern is the potential for lock-in. If this is how the world communicates, this is how we must communicate if we want to be in the world. But how to be safe? How to teach my children to be safe? It's daunting, as the graphic demonstrates.

- Cleopas and his friend did not "see" Jesus, on the road to Emmaus, until they were ready to see him. Here's some interesting commentary on the purpose of the delay in opening their eyes. I found it uplifting, the last paragraph in particular.

- The National Doodle Day raises money to help neurofibromatosis research by selling doodles during NF Awareness Month. This doodle is by Gillian Anderson's (Agent Scully, drool) daughter Piper. Apparently, she's old enough to be in art school now. Which makes me feel old enough to be like a grandmother or something. Check out the other doodles in the series, too.

- Who knew South Koreans take football so seriously? It's mind-boggling, the coordination required to make this work. Makes the Wave at hockey games seem so...juvenile :)

- Remember this video of new Photoshop's content aware feature? Well, here's an amusing little spoof of it. It's really well done, right down to the script and voicing.

- I have 205 links on fbook right now. The very first link I ever shared was a short film called The Tribe, narrated by Peter Coyote. It was freely available on youtube when I linked it, but is now only available privately. Here's the official website. I'm sad I can't access it anymore... The second link I shared was pictures of Michael Stipe and Thomas Dozol's apartment. The third link I shared was a poignant video allegory of The Instruction Manual of Life. Every time I watch this clip, I see something new. For example, the letters on the cabinet he builds around 4:19 spell out bullshit. Never noticed that before. The fourth link I shared was a cute short film about young love. And the fifth thing I shared is a spoof of Nickelback's Rock Star called Worship Star by Shekelback. If you know anything about Christian contemporary music, you'll find it as hysterical as I do. I posted that video a year ago. Cool.

Mama Bean posts links on Friday - April 30, 2010

I thought I went all crazy with the links last week, but I didn't at all. I just went crazy one day, because I had been largely away from my computer during my parents' visit. So, here's what I came up with...

- It shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that my position on the Christian spectrum is on the progressive side of things. That being said, I'm conscientious that my blogging on the subject not be exceedingly polarizing, because...I don't know. I want to be Switzerland. My participation in the online Christian community is fairly broad and varied. I read people that live in other areas of the spectrum, when they have reasonable, intelligent, love- and grace-filled things to say, even if I disagree with them (on doctrinal issues, etc.) We agree on fundamentals, y'know? (I don't go crazy. I don't read things that are just going to piss me off, b/c my internet time is precious, not to be wasted on unnecessary anger.) But I often approach those sites that are a little removed from me with my defenses up, expecting to disagree, anticipating at least an internal argument to satisfy myself. John Piper is someone I approach this way. And consistently he presents a biblical, persuasive position that I agree with. It's enough to make me question my position on the spectrum, or at least try on hats from other points of view... This is an example. I'm always frustrated with pat(ronizing) answers along the lines of, "We're just little humans who cannot understand, so we shouldn't trouble out little heads about it." Because, let's face it, things do trouble us, our hearts and our little human minds. Somehow, when Piper says, "We're working with infinite realities that our brains are not capable of managing on our own" I don't have that knee jerk frustration. When he follows it with, "You can't learn one truth from God and then manage it with your brain" I don't get any sense of being patronized. The rest rings true; "You have to constantly submit every thought that you have about God to other thoughts about God so that God manages your brain. Otherwise you will take a truth and distort it in some sinful way." This is important for me to remember, because I can so easily get caught up in blogs, and tweets, and status updates, and forget to "be thoroughly biblical. Test everything by the Bible." It is good for me to find places, online or off, who remind me of these things, from whatever their position on the spectrum. (Huh, I probably coulda made that its own post...)

- Of the variety of Christian content available on the internet, I think I am most pleased with the new space for Christian humour and satire. These types of conversations were a little more suppressed before the web came along, at least as I perceived it, growing up with the internet being fairly new and then exploding during my key developmental years (i.e. adolescence and early adulthood.) Here's an example. It's funny, without being cruel, or un-Christlike. Plus, after posting it on fbook, I was prompted by Scott to learn more about Mars Hill, both Mark Driscoll's, and Rob Bell's. Good times.

- After an internet hiatus, I can always trust haha.nu to welcome me back to the World Wide Wacky with fun, viral blurbs and videos. Here's a video of a magician appearing to sit on thin air, for an airline promotion of how comfy their seats are. A little research reveals, as Demetrio pointed out on fbook, that there are metal rods built into the legs of his clothing, supporting a small plate under his butt, and another support going up the back of his shirt, no doubt. But it's fun just to imagine he's floating :) Here's a website that will convert any URL into a site programmed during the early 90s. If you ever had a geocities page, this little trick will bring back many fond memories. Here's a series of pictures of gummi bear surgery. All the cool kids did things like this to their gummies, and I trust you will all appreciate the intricacy of execution involved here. (Click on the pic to embiggen it.) Finally, here's a video of the Best Salesman Ever demonstrating the drumming capabilities of a cute little keyboard. As he says so succintly, this IS Rock 'n' Roll.

- Interesting news from PepsiCo that they've changed the crystalline structure of salt. Chemistry is crazee, y'all! I *heart* it :P Apparently, we eat salty snacks so fast, the salt doesn't have time to dissolve quickly enough for us to actually taste it, so a bunch of the salt hits our stomach untasted, and thus unnecessary. This new salt dissolves quicker, so we taste it more fully, so they can use less of it, without changing the overall flavour of the snacks. Cool beans! Brother D tried to incite a fbook protest against GE foods, but I had to remind him salt doesn't have genes, so they can't be engineered. It's just little ions that can be reorganized for more tastiness - huzzah!

- I can't even remember what bloggity trail I followed to this site, but I'm so tickled by the find. It's a site selling cloth diaper components, so you can sew your own. If I ever figure out how to use a sewing machine, maybe I can make my own diapers, if we ever need more than the set we've got. (Although that seems unlikely. Both that I'll learn how to sew or that our current supply will become insufficient.)

- Here's a satirical take on the typical Academy Award winning movie. Genius.

- We've got a weekend of rain ahead for the Prairie Valley. Given the valley's tendency to flood, sometimes days of precipitation like this makes the residents squirrel-y. However, the winter was light on snow, the thaw was reasonable, and the rivers didn't trespass too badly past their banks. April was gorgeous and sunny and dry. Almost dusty. Allergies have been acting up every which way. So the rain is quite welcome. We took a chance on this delicious tea at the supermarket today; Tetley Green Tea with Lychee and Pear (decaf, for the nursing mama.) I plan to enjoy it all weekend loooooong...

Mama Bean posts links on Saturday - April 24, 2010

- What a terribly apropos way to start this week's Link Love. Seth Godin tells a story of overhearing someone in a coffee shop seeing his website for the first time, and his inability to personally guide them to the best parts of his digital self. I've definitely been worried, in my absence from the blog recently, about maintaining the quality standards I've set for myself, and someone's first impressions based on my blog activity as of late, so this link particularly hit home this week. He admonishes the online world moves too quickly for nuance - every byte you put out there could be the only thing anyone ever sees of you, so make it worth it. "Every interaction might be the whole thing." I don't need Seth Godin to tell me to be nervous about this - I'm always looking to make each entry stellaramazingincredible, and acutely aware of putting my best foot forward in commenting, facebook statuses, and tweets. (cf. loosely, this entry about blog self-censorship. K wisely pointed out the Internet is forever.)

- This is a post about the intersection of parenting and environmentalism. When I was younger, I used to say I didn't want to have children. The real reason was because babies scared me, but the reason I told people was that the world was too broken to bring another human into. And I still struggle with this; how do I teach my children about the birds and the bees, the actual dying birds and bees around the world, without conveying a defeatist attitude? Because it is my responsibility to teach them the truth about their world, and help them make positive life-long decisions. I suppose growing up in our Cheapskate Hippie household will help, but as the author points out, "I want with all my heart to help our children find a path forward, but I am having a hard time seeing the forest for the falling trees." I got some very encouraging feedback from Mike, who was the person to open my eyes to Peak Oil many years ago, and also one of the people who inspired our vegetable growing. He points out only colonized bees suffer from Colony Collapse, but we can still support wild bee populations. For e.g. drilling hole in a piece of wood to look like honeycomb will attract wild bees to create nests nearby. He felt his enthusiasm regarding small changes still making a difference was lame, but I told him I find him delightful and charming. And helpful!

- Another Skeptical OB post, this time about understanding lactivism in the context of the dominant mothering ideology, which is Intensive Mothering. Breastfeeding is an integral part of what's considered success as an Intensive Mother, and those who rigidly adhere to the ideology will find a failure to breastfeed tantamount to failure as a mother. Which is, of course, ridiculous. It's important to recognize, although this ideology is the cultural standard, that doesn't make Intensive Mothering the Truth, the Way, and the Light of parenting. When you break from the dominant ideology, you leave room for flexibility, and adaptation, where each parent and each child has the freedom to figure out what works best for them. Maybe Intensive Mothering works best for you - yay! If it doesn't, something else will - yay! As Dr. Amy points out, "There's nothing wrong with the dominant ideology of intensive mothering. There is something wrong with insisting that the dominant ideology is the only correct ideology" (This would be a good parallel discussion on denominationalism in Christianity...)

- Don't click this link if you're scared of ants. It's a video of ants eating a crab essentially from the inside out. Apparently it gave Char nightmares. (Sorry!) I found it interesting in a car wreck kind of way. Insects are fine to watch from afar, but I get a little squigged when they're right in front of me. Ants in my own backyard get boiling water poured onto their nests. (It sounds cruel, but it's a quicker demise than some of the neurotoxin poison control options.)

- What really happens after you save the princess. Okay, maybe the joke is sexist and demeaning. But it's kind of cute and well executed, and it made me laugh. It could make you laugh, too...

- Ooh, three videos in a row! This is an Oscar-nominated short animation depicting a fictional world constructed of corporate logos. Very well done! There are thousands of logos, and it's all terribly clever. The story is cute, too, and then there's the sociological message-y undertones...but I didn't read too far into it. Too much thinking ;)

- This is an interesting follow up to a math education link I posted a few weeks ago. It's basically a (very loooong) collection and summary of different parents' experiences with self-directed math education. He draws interesting distinctions between the categories of math children learn: playful math, instrumental math, didactic math, and college admissions math. I haven't finished the whole article yet, because I got distracted by his link to his article on the Sudbury Valley schools. I've lately found myself preoccupied with homeschooling blogs, and educational theories, I suppose because I have a kid now who's going to need educating at some point. I don't think homeschooling will work for our family, but really, we're all homeschoolers, because we all have a responsibility to complete and complement the education they receive at school. So I want to gather ideas and plans now...I know, a little obsessive on my part /shrug.

- This link probably deserves its own post. It's a fantastic entry by an adoptive parent about God's place in adoption. Basically, adoption is always God's plan B for a child - plan A is always for children to grow up in their family of origin. Now this may not sound so revolutionary or anything, but within some Christian circles, this is an incredibly unpopular viewpoint. The popular warm and fuzzy thinking is that God created these children to be adopted. Which really diminishes the birth mother's role to some kind of unworthy surrogate, and ignores the real pain and complexity of her child's separation from its original family. I say this from the perspective of someone who is both Christian and adopted. I commented on the post, "Growing up, I always knew something bad (sin) was the reason I wasn't raised by my original family, but I was told to ignore that reality, because it showed a lack of gratitude. It is important for adopted children to feel they can grieve their lost family, and still be happy and blessed and feel gratitude for their adopted family." These are issues the adoption community is only coming to grips with in the last few years. The best resource I discovered in my mid-20s to really help me understand my feelings about adoption is this book. If you are participating in any aspect of the adoption community, I highly recommend reading it.

- As a follow-up to yesterday's post, here's a great summary from the Pioneer Woman about why she loves growing her own vegetables.

- To be honest, I didn't read this article closely enough to say anything super meaningful about it. It's a (virtual) debate about the Church's relationship to the Arts, and how Christianity has "radically abdicated its understanding of the power of beauty; and since beauty might be the only argument for God the people of our time are actually open to, that means we are largely failing to tell the Christian story to the world." The one point I really liked about the article was a brief comment on the progressive bibilical illiteracy of our youth. (Good grief, I sound crotechety and old...) There is this whole generation of children growing up with a gap in literary comprehension because they don't know the basic biblical allusions made in older literature. I have wondered about this before, how the trajectory of modern literature will travel as biblical allusion becomes increasingly irrelevant or simply unknown. The article's broader point is how to responsibly use art to engage modern culture, without succumbing to the flashy, trashy, etc. standards of Hollywood. Anyway, I'm not doing the article any kind of justice, read it at the source :)

- Fun for the Finale! It's the Four Chord Song! They're ALL the Four Chord Song! Wheeee!

Mama Bean posts links on Friday - April 16, 2010

- I feel like I should orchestrate these link lists like a mix tape; start with a little fun timez, proceed through some Srsly Scientifical Studiousness, toss in some God and His People activity, and finish with more fun timez. Or alphabetize? Sometimes the order I post links through the week falls into this nice logical sequence for Link Love, other times we're jumping around all ADD-style. Which, now that I think about it, is fairly apropos vis a vis the nature of the interwebs. So without much further ado (why do people sometimes say this "further adieu"? That doesn't even make sense. Just because further ado is a sort of pretentious thing to say doesn't mean you have to supplant a nonsensical french word pronunciation to make it sound even more pretentious) our first link is a picture of what they thought home computers would look like in 2004 fifty years ago. B commented it's "[t]oo bad someone invented the mouse. Otherwise we apparently would have awesome giant steering wheels on our computers."

- No more fun timez, right in with the Contentious Mom Issues, namely the Mamageddon of Breastfeeding v Formula Feeding. (Isn't Mamageddon the best term ever? We must fight about this totally ridiculous parenting issue as though it is The End Of The World! RAWR!) I read this blog post about how much of the reason why moms end up formula feeding has to do with lack of support in the hospital (or from family or employers.) I posted it because of the discussion at our breastfeeding group that revealed the majority of moms felt totally overwhelmed by the nurses in the hospital pressuring them with totally contradictory messages to feed-more-pump-more-the-baby's-not-gaining-it's-going-to-get-dehydrated-and-die-you're-a-terrible-mother-why-don't-you-just-let-us-give-it-a-bottle-already!?! RAWR MAMAGEDDON!! L pointed out that the author has a "somewhat inflammatory and judgmental" writing style, which I think is to be expected from someone whose blog is titled Tact is for people who aren't witty enough to be sarcastic. So maybe I wouldn't write it the same way, but I agree with the general idea that one of the bigger barriers to successful breastfeeding is not that moms don't want to do it, or don't know that it's a good choice, but that they are poorly equipped to fight against the fear mongering and their own self doubt.

- This is an incredible, poetic description of what the blogging community can be. It's a good account of why I do All Of This. I totally realize the online world is not Real Life for everyone, but for me, it is as much my real life as my offline world, and I am conscientious to language it as such. I know there are ways technology has contributed to greater isolation to the detriment of offline community and relationship building, and I am an advocate for everyone finding their own balance. For my balance, I take the social mediaz and real-ize the shit out of them!

- (Oh man, there will be no fun timez anymore ever again I'm sorry) Is it necessary to draw a line between being forgiving and actually forgiving? Is this an important semantical separation? I think this is a compelling argument. On the one hand, God is always forgiving, that is, in a state of readiness and eagerness to forgive. But, actually forgiving should not and does not happen without a person acknowledging a need for it, i.e. repentance and confession. To imitate God, we are also eager and ready to forgive at all times, but actually do the act of forgiving only when someone has requested it. This resonates for me, as a people-pleaser kind of personality, that I can have a forgiving heart that's ready to forgive at a moment's notice but (and it's a big but) I shouldn't preemptively do the act of forgiving people, making myself a total doormat with no self-respect.

- Fun Timez Returneth! LULZ This is a video imagining The Attack of the 8 Bit Universe. I didn't play many video games as a kid, pursuing other branches of the Nerd Family Tree, but even I chuckled at this one. And dated myself a bit in the process, as there is this entire generation of kids now who don't have a clue what these games and characters are from.

- Hmm, combination of fun timez (cartoon) with theologicianing and critical thinky-stuff. This is a picture of the parallels between the hierarchy of heaven (described in Revelation) and the hierarchy of the Church. It is meant as a cultural criticism, I think, to challenge why this format is used, what it's value may or may not be, if there might be new imaginings that could better serve humanity. Niel commented, "It's no coincidence that religious groups often choose to build their churches in such a manner as to inspire awe." Bang on, bro. I replied, "It's probably good to have physical and organizational structures that inspire awe, but that awe should be directed towards God, not a person (priest.) These can be heavy issues to face, and so even an edge of humour helps to lighten the load, as it were." I just discovered thenakedpastor this week, and I'm really enjoying his insights so far.

- Another new discovery this week: Hyperbole and a Half. She (I think?) is a funny blogger with funny pictures and everyone should enjoy her (?) !! This post is about her method of dealing with all those people who think "a lot" is one word. It is more than hilarious. It's like another Bob the Angry Flower's apostrophe use guide.

- (End of fun timez back to seriousness...rollercoasterwheeee) "[T]he evidence strongly suggests that the rising prevalence of autism if largely an artifact of broadening the diagnosis and increased surveillance." Before the 1970s, an ASD diagnosis carried a stigma, while mental retardation (MR) did not, so parents funneled their resources into getting an MR diagnosis, which also afforded them greater social support at the time. After the 1990s, as ASD lost the stigma and gained better access to public resources, parents began mobilizing their resources for an ASD diagnosis instead of MR. Interesting, right? A new study found children who live near another child diagnosed with ASD are drastically more likely to be diagnosed, because proximity provides access to information that allows parents to marshal their resources into effective diagnosis. These are sociological reasons for the apparent increase in ASD incidence - it is not a true increase in incidence, and that is important for determining how we allot research dollars. Everyone who commented on this post on my fbook stayed really respectful and non-histrionic, and for that I am grateful. I am well past the vaccine-autism link, the science is clear, there is no link. However, I still think there are strong connections between diet, gut health, and symptomatic control, and I hope more research is funded in that direction.

- Take this quiz to see how observant you are! Don't cheat, you Cheaty McCheatersons. I scored 15 out of 25, which I guess is pretty good.

- Oh by the way, would you like to watch my son eat cereal? Of course you would! You can also watch The Hand of Mom wipe cereal off his forehead and smear it into his bib. And you can hear me laugh a lot. Or alot. (haha do u see what I did thurr?) I got stuck in the youtube vortex of watching a string of suggested videos from Bean's video, and ended up watching clips of puppies and raccoons being bottlefed. Everything on the internet ends up with puppies (or porn. Your choice.)

- Not quite puppies, but this elephant seal sort of behaves like an overgrown beflippered puppy. It's super cute, except I couldn't help thinking about the fish breath.

- Phew, a whole string of only fun timez all the way. This is an excellent kijiji (tooooo maanyyyy iiiiiiiiii's) ad for the manliest Jeep Liberty you've ever seen. Are you Chuck Norris enough for it? I didn't think so! Never mind, the ad has been removed. Trust me, it was hilarious.

- Dood, I'm totally gonna end this list of linkedy-lovedness with politics /sigh. I know, bad idea. But bear with me, maybe plz? Here's the marriedtothesea comic. Okay, now I will write something nonpolitical that is a little related but not really. I get a little tired of people in my neck of the North who complain about the weather. I don't mean like gripe about a genuinely cold or dreary or wet day. I complain about that, too. I mean people who are upset and dour whenever it isn't 20 degrees, sunny and clear. We live in Canada! There are seasons here! If you don't like seasons, you should move! If you "can't" move (like your job? want to stay near your wife or your kids? enjoy the socialist healthcare oopsIgotpolitical?) then spare us, and try to deal in silence. Like the rest of us. Sorry, that's like an uber-harsh note to end on, isn't it? Hmmm....LOOK IT'S CUTE! (Forgive me?)

Mama Bean posts links on Friday - April 9, 2010

- I'm exploiting my son's cuteness! lol Not reeeeeally. I sent some pics of Bean modeling his cloth diapers to Greenline, and they added them to their website. I like to show him off. Little ego strokes. I guess that is pretty exploitative - mombloggy gods forgive me!

- I am a little disappointed in this picture series of how peeps are made. It didn't show the marshmallow getting pressed into the peep shapes, which is what I really wanted to see. But I did like the picture of the sugar getting sprayed with yellow dye, which was JC's favourite part as well. I wonder how bright the pink dye must be! I'd never tasted a peep until this year, when Papa Bean and I bought some on sale. They are kind of boring - it's just plain marshmallow. I thought they'd be flavoured (citrus? banana? How AWESOME would banana be? That's my favourite fake flavour. I wish we'd done the organic chem lab where you make the ester responsible for fake banana flavour. Instead, I got to isolate clove oil. Booooooring, and not at all delicious. Oops, I've run off track.) Sooo... yay peeps? Nope.

- As Dr. Lovely pointed out on my fbook this week, Seth Godin is a genius. He is one of my favourite daily visits. In this post he lays out some ways virtual friends should be encouraging and challenging you to grow and be your best. In some corners of the momblogiverse, encouraging and challenging start to look more like sniping and spiteful attacks. But I have been blessed with some really excellent friends where the online and offline demarcation is blurred, and it's truly the best of both worlds.

- Oh man, this tab was sitting on my browser for days. I really enjoyed it, but kept hesitating to post it, I don't know why. He's a talented kid, and he sings the theme songs to a bunch of the shows I watch. Videos like this are what the internet is for. (Also, the internet is for porn! Eeeeexactly...(no the link is not NSFW)(Brackets within brackets again, with a side order of italics. Seriously...)(And it would appear ellipses are also becoming a problem...))

- True friends will drive you to the airport. True lovers will pick you up. At the gate. Jane Friedman laments a potential shift in her relationship when he picks her up by waiting in the parking lot and calling her cell. I might feel the same way. Papa Bean always made it to the gate during our back and forth visits while I was at Chiropractic college. I was not so great at being on time...but he still loves me. We wouldn't have survived a three year long-distance relationship if he wasn't so patient. JC and Jenn likewise shared touching stories of their lovers' dedication (waiting with Gwen Stefani tickets, and somehow consistently circumventing security blocks others' unromantically comply with, respectively.)

- For some reason, I pay a lot of online attention to Unfriendlies toward Chiropractic, including Science-Based Medicine. The bloggers there recently met with Josephine Briggs, the director of the US National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM.) SBM is dedicated to bringing about NCCAM's demise, which makes this post feel a little like lip-service, but I guess we have to be thankful for any dialogue, even if it feels a little fake. The SBM folks are always calling for better research from CAM providers, but then they want to kill the primary funding source of that research, which is just another way of saying they don't actually want the research to get done at all. It's very frustrating, from my position as a scientist, because I want the evidence to back my profession as much as anyone, and I know we need that funding to accomplish it. So. Where was I going? I wish they'd back off sometimes. Dr. Amanda points out no amount of research may be sufficient, as our profession has produced some compelling studies thus far, which they discredit in various ways, chiefly that the research isn't the gold standard double-blinded randomized controlled trial. But there are major barriers to successfully engineering that kind of study using Chiropractic methods, namely, how do you deliver a sham/placebo adjustment, and how do you "blind" the providers? Anyway, scientific conundrums make the world go round, this was just an interesting article for my Chiropractic colleagues, showing the NCCAM director going to bat for us against some of the Big Bad Skeptics.

- Help me, eh? If Canadians were phishers...

- Last week me met the Sharing Machine family of webcomics, this week we meet xkcd. His depiction of hell is pretty much bang on. An American friend commented this makes him think of Health Care Reform, which made me lol. In this particular issue, I liken being Canadian to being like Switzerland - I'm neutral! Which isn't totally true, because I think universal healthcare is a great idea. But I don't know enough about the HCR bill as it stands to know if it's the best solution, and I also do know the legislation will likely adversely affect some of my Chiro buddies. So, yeah, I'm SwitzerCanada, and that's all I'm going to say about that haha.

- So I mostly posted this picture because it's a dress that's a hippo and hippos are my FAVOURITE omg pon1es!!!11!!!!1 The dressed was fugged, but I don't care. If I were model-thin, I'd wear it. And then I'd go eat a gosh darn sandwich...

- Oh man, we're heavy on the boring and scientifical this week. Alright, so this huge study followed the dietary habits of a whole pile of people for many many years, and found only a slight protective factor against cancer from a diet high in fruits and vegetables. But what does it all mean? It does not mean we don't have to eat fruits and vegetables anymore, that's just silly, they are healthy and full of nutrients, and offer numerous health benefits besides their long purported helpfulness against cancer. The point is, that hypothesized effect of high order protection against cancer is actually almost statistically insignificant, so we should stop spending valuable research dollars in that arena, and apply them more judiciously to other avenues. At least, in my analysis.

- And yet another thinky post: a case study of elementary students who didn't start learning rote arithmetic functions until grade six. They learned to count and measure things, to have some very practical experience with numbers, but instead of endlessly drilling tables, they told each other stories. They talked to each other. They used language. Guess what? Math is a language. Any discipline or area of knowledge is just a language, and when you can navigate words and word systems with ease, you can learn new languages more easily. These kids caught up to their standardly taught peers quickly, and consistently out-performed on word problems requiring reasoning and critical thinking. This case was performed decades ago, with no policy change in site, but I think (as the author points out) that homeschoolers have probably been doing this in a modified way for ages. There is something to be said for a middle ground - teaching concepts and focusing on language instead of rote recitation and drills, and there's something to be said for the Montessori method of allowing children to guide their own learning, so they learn things when they're ready to learn them. Maybe we aren't really ready to learn math at seven years of age. And by we, I don't mean myself (or Char, who commented) because I loved math in elementary school, table or word problems, didn't matter. I was a n.e.r.d. to the nth degree.

- The internet celebrates the Found, perhaps no where more explicitly than here. Today's post is a shopping list that ends with "too much ear wax." In my head, I read this list as a beat poem.

This week was not a terribly active blogging week. Too much happening in the offline world - Easter potlucks with friends, Easter vigil mass, Easter church brunch, and friends visiting overnight. I have a string of ideas to work on, hopefully this weekend will have a little more time for it.

Mama Bean posts links on Saturday - April 3, 2010

- Let's start off with some awesomeness, specifically the A-Z of Awesomeness, by Neill Cameron. I don't know who this Neill guy is, but his fancy, alliterative, and extremely awesome alphabet totally made the interweb rounds this week. A half dozen folks that I follow linked to it, and I only follow an infinitesimal sliver of the internet, so you can imagine...something. That it was very popular, that was my point.

- Very sweet NYTimes article about a dad reading to his daughter every night for 3218 nights in a row. They had very specific rules (had to read before midnight, had to be for at least ten minutes) and the people in their life really supported them. Always nice to see the Jaded Media celebrating a feel good story.

- LOL Isn't a biology party just an applied chemistry party? Well, yes, and isn't Life just an applied math party? Discuss.

- So, I follow a variety of sites I call domesticity blogs. They are kind of a subset of parent blogs, in that the authors are usually parents, but they focus on the activities of making a home. Small Notebook is an uber-blog, with nice regular content about playing house. This post was about cleaning, an activity I suck at (maybe because I spend more time reading blogs about it, than actually doing it.) Judging by the response on facebook, I am not the only one afflicted. I'm looking forward to some cleaning a-ha moments of my own.

- So French Elle put plus-size model Tara Lynn on their cover. And she looks pretty fabulous. I commented on a suspicious lack of double chin, which friends pointed out could be due to knowing how to hold one's head properly, or Jack Lalanne's facial workouts, but I'm going to guess some photoshop work was still involved. The commentary at the ONTD post was also interesting; it seems the fashion industry must either eliminate all fat and imperfection from skinny models, or celebrate (in a way) and accentuate fat in plus-size models, but there is no coverage of the in-between, which is where the vast majority of humanity exists.

- So, I posted this Marketplace report on spinal decompression machines. Now, Marketplace is no friend to Chiropractors, and they execute their unfriendliness in typical journalistic fashion. On the other hand, health-care practitioners of any sort who are abusing their position of trust deserve to be outed. This report says it's about the DRX machine, but really just focuses on the poor behaviour of one Ontario DC who is making supremely unethical decisions. I asked for reactions from my Chiropractic colleagues and thought I'd get more response. Two friends replied that even though the DC in question is abusing the potential of spinal decompression technology, they both find good results with flexion-distraction style decompression. I received flexion-distraction while in college and loved it. This table takes advantage of the actual lumbar anatomy, using flexion to reduce pressure on the discs and relieve inflammation/irritation. And the doctor controls the amount of flexion/pull, instead of relying on a computer program. I've always been a little leery of the automated decompression tables, but I totally recommend flexion-distraction. I wonder if anyone in the PVC does it...

- Well, do you? Superpoop is the king of all irreverent comics. Helpful Jack pointed out these other examples. That last one there is particularly...choice. I think I need special absolution for laughing at these.

- "Look at your man. Now look at me." The goal of every funny commercial is to become a funny meme. When a suitable collection of really funny spoofs has amassed, you know you've made it. (Ann asked if Papa Bean smells like WOW. It's funny because it's true...) If you really want to be sure, check if you've made it here yet.

- Margaret Atwood is better at Twitter than I am. Papa Bean finds her unreadable, I found the whole article totally entertaining. Of course, I follow her on Twitter now, and she is hilarious there, too.

- This is my future. Oh, how I love children's television. BTW, this week's Link Love has now featured both superpoop and nataliedee. The rest of that family is Toothpaste for Dinner and Married to the Sea. I'll just wait while you go ahead and check them out, mmm-kay.

- Darwin Catholic wrote an entry about how silly it is to accept the miracle of the resurrection, and then quibble over reasonable or scientific explanations for other biblical miracles. I called such quibbling apologetics, which Niel was surprised to hear applied to discourse between Christians, since generally apologetics is directed out from the Christian community to convince non-Christians. But in practice, Christians probably consume the bulk of it. We might tell ourselves this arms us with good answers for difficult questions when we're out prostelytizing, but I think it might also be to give ourselves some good answers for our own troubling questions. Anyway, I don't go in much for apologetics myself, feeling like they counteract some of the purposes of faith, and this post kind of summed that up. On the other hand, I'm still not going to turn into a young earth creationist any time soon. (Random follow-up: I recently discovered Darwin Catholic is pretty far removed from my particular faith and political mores. But I still like most of his writing. It's weird. The internet is weird.)

- Wednesday started with two posts of things I want: a snotsucker nasal aspirator, and Vibram FiveFingers. Let's be clear, those bulb aspirators for babies do not work. They are beyond useless, I think they actually make things worse. And no snot is removed from the nose. These little sucker things seem astonishingly useful, and reasonably priced. I'll let you know how they work when I get one - so far Bean's been blessed with only one cold. The FiveFingers just look cool, and Ann tells me they are quite enjoyable. I think they'd be perfect for camping and shmucking around the rivers and lakes in our neck of the woods.

- Final link is to a survey on casual sex. It's a very well-written survey, and anyone can and should take it. Whatever age, whatever orientation, whatever sexual history, we all have valuable information to share. And then my friend L-EK noticed this link could be a cheeky addition to the things-I-want train of thought, and I just had to giggle about that.

Friday turned out busier than expected. I like to fill the day off with fun - dishes from the whole week piled up, wiping my counters in forever, baking carrot cake with pecan cream cheese icing (omg srsly 4get teh cake, eat only icingz nom nom nom), feed and change and clothe the child, assist with caesar salad preparation, dinner with friends, scrapbooking with friends, oh and Beanlet no wants to take nap aaaAAAAAAAAAaaall afternoon. This is why the Link Love happens on Saturday this week. But I will try to make it Not A Habit...oh look! Papa Bean just brought the leftover cake and icing for us to share, what a good Papa Bean :) Happy Saturday!

Mama Bean posts links on Friday - March 26, 2010

- You can't HANDLE the link! The Pioneer Woman is a SuperBlogger - her site has a regular blog, then cooking, photography, home & garden, and homeschooling wings, plus a collaborative cooking site. She toured a cooking book last year, and just sold the movie rights to her love story. I used to only read the cooking and regular blog parts, but on the RSS I get it all. So I found this homeschooling entry about coping with stress. It's a good example of the goofy charm that has won her thousands of readers (at least.)

- I have terrible name memory. It's rough, when my whole job is seeing people all day, engaging in something very valuable and important to them (their health), and then I can't remember their name (or their job, or how many kids they have) from month to month. I write myself notes on the chart, which helps, but I still feel I should be better at this by now. Anyway, according to the Cambridge Face Memory Test, it's not the face recognition I have a problem with. I was proud of my 96%, but I'm no 99% superstar-named-Jack.

- Jennifer from Conversion Diary has a whole, separate site of all the interesting links she finds. This link is a video of Father Barron explaining Lent. I think I will write more about this on Sunday. It was eye-opening, in that I'm-so-dense kind of way. It's a very straightforward explanation, and I enjoy it's simplicity.

- All the Smart came out on facebook when I posted this video of Fire in a Jar. This is why I'm a scientist, because of cool shit like this. Go see. It doesn't even matter why it happens. But just so you know, Kyle and Jack (of 99% fame above) explain: the bottom flame consumes oxygen inside the jar, creating a noncombustible layer. The vapour in the jar expands upward, and is hot enough to ignite oxygen at the jar's mouth, creating the second upper flame. This is the phenomenon called backdraft.

- Waste some time at You Suck at Craigslist. It's funny.

- Wow, I exercised excessive restraint again. I have many more links to love. I will just unleash them all upon the masses, without heed! *mwahaha* This video demonstrates the new capacities of Photoshop's content-aware function. It's like the program has AI; it is sentient. You just highlight or circle things you don't like, and click content-aware, and it evaluates the other stuff in the picture and fills in the blank. It's fan-fricking-tastic! I do all my photo editing in Picasa, which is free and does all I care about for now. But I'm getting very intrigued by all these actions and layers and content-awares. This could get dangerous!

Mama Bean posts links on Friday - March 19, 2010

- The week kicks off with a Christoph Niemann collection from the New York Times, of abstract maps illustrating things like an omelet, or chewing gum. It totally made my Monday-morning-after-Daylight-Savings-Time better.

- I always love internet addictions that are also for a good cause. FreeRice is a vocabulary quiz, with fairly hard words. (As Mike said, "man...tabor!!") For every correct answer, ten grains of rice are donated to a country in need. Ten grains doesn't seem like much, but there's a handy little picture that shows what your answers have amounted to. After about 500 grains, you get a sense that someone's actually going to get a meal from your efforts. The words do repeat, especially if you get one wrong, so you can get it right the next time - and get the rice!

- Desiring God posted a link to a free download of a coffee-table-ish book (well, the pdf is free, I don't know how much the book costs) about street people, compiled by volunteers on the (American) west coast. I got a little cynical about the project by page 3, I don't know why, and I don't think it says anything particularly complimentary about me. I am pretty jaded, I know, but I'm not heartless. My reaction to this book made me think otherwise. Maybe someone more heartfull will get more out of it than I did.

- I was really hoping someone on facebook would take up the challenge of The Impossible Quiz and tell me how they fared. I got totally hooked on this thing for most of an afternoon. It's basically a series of trick questions, and some you just plain have to guess. Papa Bean helped me get past some of the trickier ones. Go waste some time!

- This is the US National Debt Clock. I wrote on facebook that I wished there was one for Canada, so I googled it. The Canada Debt Clock puts our debt around $15 billion, but it isn't all broken down like the US one.

- The last two links are both from Her Bad Mother. First, she responded to a New York Times article about mommy blogging. The next day, she posted some hate mail she received. The gist of both posts was moms rock, blogs rock, women rock, why can't we all be nice too each other. But she says it so much better.

So I've worried, as the Link Love posts got longer, and my facebook profile got crowded with linkages, that I was sharing Too Much Internet. And then this week's post feels kind of lame. I exercised excessive restraint. With the RSS feeder, it's even easier to wade through the Not and find the Hot, if I posted it all I know 'twould overwhelm. But I guess I don't have to be sooooo discriminating, or I'll have more boring posts like this one. And I know how much y'all are Depending On Me (ha!)

Mama Bean posts links on Friday - March 12, 2010

- Starting off with another haha.nu find! Sounds about right. This is a music video of a very apologetic man goofily winning back his love's good will. It is presented as something real that some guy did, but upon reflection, I think it was probably staged as a fairly low budget music video. But it's still pretty cute. I'd go back to him.

- This Sarah Schmelling spoof of the What to Expect Series, written for a 38-year-old is pretty cute. I found WTEWYE kind of the opposite-of-helpful when I was pregnant. It mostly seemed to say anything is normal when you're pregnant. Hair falling out? It happens! Hair super amazing? Also possible! Hair completely the same? Sure, why not?! It also seemed to say anything is worrisome. Do you feel constipated? Probably normal, but eat more fiber! Do you have diarrhea? Could be normal, but make sure you're drinking enough fluids. No change in regularity? That may seem normal, but it could be an indication of super rare infant monkeybuttfingeritis! In any case, make sure to annoy your doctor with inane questions that this book is supposed to answer so you don't waste their time!!! Hmmm, apparently I had a lot to say about this topic...

- Last week I posted a video of physiological machines. This week, haha.nu posted a subway map of human body systems. It is really well done. (Click on the picture to make it bigger.)

- One of the best examples of why hockey is Canada's game. During the gold medal game, water use in Edmonton (and presumably other major centres) plummeted during play, and drastically spiked during intermissions between periods. Basically, the whole country took a collective potty break. Awesome. I've been wondering if Americans would have reacted to winning the same way Canadians did, since hockey isn't as big down there. It's not, like, football, or baseball. I know Canadians would not have handled losing as coolly as Americans did, though. We would have been a nation of sack cloth and ashes, wailing and gnashing of teeth. It would have been bad, y'all.

- Mitchell and Webb is, I gather, a British sketch comedy show. In this video, they take on the incessant football (soccer, to the erstwhile colonized masses) coverage in their part of the world. Kind of like hockey or ohmigoodnessrslyneverending curling coverage here in the Prairie Valley. And yes, you love me because I used erstwhile in context.

- Is it ever okay to spank your kids? This article was written by one of my favourite bloggers EVER. On my facebook, two moms like'd it, and two guys who are not (yet) fathers commented. The article is not really even mostly about spanking, more about how we might choose, in the moment, parenting practices we never thought we'd use, or that parenting-pundits tell us are Fundamentally Wrong. She writes, "We all have good guesses and great intentions and well-laid plans, but the truth of the matter is that the work of raising children, by its very nature, defies all those things." There is an invitation, for all parents, to cut each other some slack. She emphasizes that mothers belong to a community, and communities work better when we're nice to each other. Most of the comments at the site are favourable, but some folks do tear into her.

- This is a cute reworking of 1 Corinthians 13, Paul's popular list of What Love Is. It starts off, "Love is patient when you’re dressing for the wedding and discover your husband forgot to pick up your dress from the cleaners."

- A timely post for "preachers and those who listen to them." To summarize: 1) Trust there is a cumulative effect to the preaching. It's impossible for a pastor to deliver the Killer Sermon each and every week. They should not expect it of themselves, and neither should congregants. 2) Define the win; devise a rubrik for evaluating the essential traits of a sermon. He proposes his own (text-based, Christ exalting, gospel centred, audience focused) but I imagine each pastor could come up with his or her own criteria. Since I'm not a pastor, I found this message to listeners most close-to-home: "Don't judge your pastor on whether he is funny or dynamic or captivating. If your pastor is preaching the bible, exalting Christ, keeping the Gospel central and applying it to your context, then you have a great pastor and you should thank God for him. Stop complaining about your pastor's delivery; pray for your receptivity. I hear people criticize their pastor's preaching but never scrutinize their own listening. Maybe the problem is not what you think it is."

-And we end off with yet another haha.nu link, and yet another subway map, this time of various rock bands on different coloured genre-lines, highlighting key intersections and overlaps. Music snobbery at its best!

Mama Bean posts links on Friday - March 5, 2010

-Technically, I put this link on my facebook last week, so it should have been on last Friday's Link Love, but I missed it. It's a little video of the machines inside our bodies. Super cute and well executed. I really loved my anatomy and physiology courses at Chiropractic college.

-Bea Arthur Mountains Pizza. Bea! Arthur! Mountains! Pizza! Does that sound like all of the most awesome things ever in one awesome site? It should, because that's what it is. Go waste some time.

-I mentioned John Piper last week. He's a little more conservative than I am, but I still find his sermons and writings well argued and compelling. Papa Bean has been learning and writing about the early Bible stories in his classes this semester, and thinking about these same questions of a violent God. This is Piper's take on how God could kill women and children in the Old Testament.

-The Nickel Arts Museum at the University of Calgary had a validation machine as part of an exhibit. My friend K's then fiance (now husband) Jim got me a ticket punched by the machine that says "You are loved." I think it's still in my bible, or an album somewhere. This video, called Validation, is a really beautiful love story that makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. (Also, the guy in the video played Dr. Bobolik on Nip/Tuck seasons 1-3.)

-This image is a brief recap of the typical life. Friend K, from above, said she would add "eternal and ever-deepening happiness" after "commitment" which I guess lets the rest of us know how that marriage to Jim is going. (By the way, the haha.nu site at which the bulk of these links are found is, obvs, totally excellent. They post 5-10 things a day, from funny videos to cute picture sets. I don't know where they find it all. Also, it's not based in North America, so sometimes the engrish in the commentary is amusement in itself.)

-Welcome to your new web addiction, Young Me/Now Me. As Jennifer commented, "Can't... stop... looking..." and it's so true. I like everything about this competition/collection of people's recreations of pictures from their youth. I like how it's young-now, not young-old or then-now. I like the head shots of baby photos vs. adults, where you can see how their eyes and smiles stay more or less the same through out life. I like the happenstance "recreations" where it's obvious the person (or, more likely, their family and friends) stumbled on two pictures of them being goofy as an adult in exactly the same way they were goofy as a child. I like the clever replacements, a cigarette and martini in place of a baby bottle, pizza and beer instead of birthday cake. I like it all. And now you will, too.

-Another haha.nu short film called Accro. The site reposts videos from its Shorts series pretty regularly, which is nice, because I like to revisit internet gems without having to bookmark everything obsessively. Although, let's be honest, I'm pretty good at obsessing. This video is kind of depressing, very existential-what-is-the-point-of-our-futile-existence. But the animation is so cute, and the depiction is so clever. I mean, this is art, right? This is depicting your reality, communicating it meaningfully, so it speaks to a shared reality. That's how I see it, anyway.

-I've been reading Dr. Amy Tuteur's blog, the Skeptical OB, for a little while. I probably found it during my research of homebirth, because Dr. Amy is a strong proponent of conventional medical management of birth, and actively (accrimoniously?) against homebirth. I don't agree with everything she says (obviously) but I appreciate her straightforward approach to reading scientific literature. I think lay persons, meaning non scientists, can really benefit from approaching media reports of scientific findings more critically. I linked to her post on snowplow parents. The next step after helicopter parents (those who hover), these parents simply plow all obstacles and troubles ahead of their children, so they never need strive or struggle. It's an interesting term. Enjoy. Oddly, the only person who "liked" this on my facebook is not, as far as I know, a parent or parent-to-be.

-I don't know who Nerina Pallot is, and I don't care to wiki it right now. She covered Poker Face, and wore a cat hat while doing so. She blathers, that's the only word for it, a good long time at the beginning of the video, so just fastforward until it looks like she's going to put on the hat and start singing, and start from there.

-You don't even have to click on this one, I'll just repost it here: "After accidentally offending someone, I want them to understand: I didn't mean it. But when I'm offended - who cares what they meant?!" This is Abraham Piper's (at 22words) suggestion that we all change our reaction to feeling offended. I love this blog.

-Oh goodness, alright, I'm limiting future haha.nu posts to, like, one a week. This is the OK Go video for This Too Shall Pass. It's a giant Rube Goldberg machine they orchestrated in a warehouse. It is The Awesome. I mentioned on facebook that OK Go and Rube Goldberg machines remind me of my friend Mike, to which he replied (of the video), "whoa... best pythagoras switch ever!" which is another name for Rube Goldbergs (or Heath Robinson contraptions, for our UK readers. Ha! As if... .) Because Mike is a tinkery kind of inventor-like kind of guy, and naturally he would know the synonyms for these things. Mike is also The Awesome. He once told me his plans to make biodiesel from yard waste in his basement.

-First, a Dr. Amy link, then a Science-Based Medicine link. I don't know why I read these blogs of allopathic superheroes who denigrate my profession and birthing choices, but I check them every day. This post is about Chiropractic, so I had a vested interested in reading the article, and the comments. I thought my chiro-college facebookers would comment more, but 'twas not to be. I'm interested in reading Sam Homola's books, Inside Chiropractic and Bonesetting, Chiropractic, and Cultism. I have struggled professionally with the subluxation concept, and how it translates to my day-to-day practice life. Anyway, sorry if there were too many boring science-y healthcare posts this week.

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.)

Mama Bean posts links on Friday - February 19, 2010

- Wal-mart is dropping a bunch of name brands, to cut costs, and increase sales of their own Great Value products. At first, it makes sense to streamline and simplify the consumer's life - "Do I really need to decide between 15 different types of toothpaste?" Overall, though, I think the implications could be pretty dire. If smaller stores keep stocking multiple brands, they will incur the greater cost, which must a) be passed onto customers, who will leave, or b) lead to lower profit, if they try to keep their prices competitive (which they can't, because it's freaking Wal-mart.) Stores fail, and people lose their jobs. Meanwhile, as Wal-mart increasingly becomes the only game in town, and is dropping contracts, manufacturers drop employees, and ultimately fail, also. Consumers may be happier in the short-term, and Wal-mart will certainly happily make more money, but basically all this means is a lot more unemployed people. Unless these major brands can do what they've done thus far; find a way to survive. Maintain brand integrity and find new ways to sell their stuff.

- How old were you when you got married? Will age be a consideration when you do get married? Or education, debt-load, career path, etc? Do you think marriage is undersold or oversold by your culture? Your religion? This Catholic blog post discusses the dangers of overselling early marriage (in response to this Wall Street Journal article) by implying it is easy. I liked how he urges us to resist the temptation to teach kids about doing the right thing by overselling it unrealistically. Mostly because he urges us with sarcasm:

And yet, living in an age which seems to believe more than ever in the quick fix, and that if it feels good it must be good, the temptation seems almost overwhelming to tell people that it will all be fun and easy if only they'll do the right thing. Chastity is sexy. Marriage is one big adventure. Having more kids is easier than having just one or two. NFP is a sure thing, and it's romantic and divorce-proofs your marriage too. And please try out our new chocolate fudge diet - it's the fastest way to lose weight.

- Papa Bean is entering a tough profession. I will be charged with building him up, and encouraging him when he goes through times like this. (If I were a pastor, I would struggle with entering a building project, also.)

- I don't love the way conservative Christians organize and categorize gender roles and marriage. On the other hand, I do agree with this summary. I guess because, even if Papa Bean weren't entering the Ministry, I am still charged with building him up and supporting his purpose. And I do need to feel needed. (And vice versa, which may be what this interpretation of marriage is missing; that it is likely both spouses occupy each role, and require the other person's appropriate response.)

Mama Bean posts links on Friday - February 12, 2010

- Another mom blog I read, Conversion Diary, linked to The Domestic Monastery, a lovely little post at lifeissues.net about monasticism in the life of the stay-at-home mom. I am not a stay-at-home mom, but this nonetheless spoke to the change in circumstance having a child brings to one's home life. In particular, I liked the comparison between the constant demands of children and the monastic bell: "She hears the monastic bell many times during the day and she has to drop things in mid-sentence and respond, not because she wants to, but because it's time for that activity and time isn't her time, but God's time." This ties in well with another post I recently read on the spirituality of domesticity, which I will blog more completely later.

- Following a fairly awkward annual general meeting at church, I read this summary of the story of Jethro and Moses. It lays out guidelines for approaching a leader with suggestions for improvement (being Jethro) and guidelines for receiving such suggestions as a gracious leader (being Moses). At first, I really zeroed in on the Jethro side of the lesson, because that's the role I'm more likely to play, as a congregant. However, the lessons in Moses' reaction apply to anyone who faces criticism, which is all of us. It was an encouraging read, as we enter an intense time at church. And I think it will be helpful, too, as I navigate the mom-world, with its incessant advice and suggestions, unbidden, but impossible to ignore.

- And on a lighter note, love this BBC video satirizing How To Report the News.

Mama Bean posts links on Friday - February 5, 2010

- Seth Godin is great at devising intriguing and true-to-life categorizations of human behaviour. In Hunters and Farmers he describes the different thought patterns between Hunter-types and Farmer-types. He describes hunting as "long periods of distracted noticing interrupted by brief moments of frenzied panic." I lol'ed.

This may be just another way of looking at the type A/type B personality divide, but I think he offers good insight into what this means for each type in terms of teaching them, working with them, and marketing to them. For e.g. "Farmers don't dislike technology. They dislike failure. Technology that works is a boon." Being a risk-averse farmer-type, this captures why I didn't jump on cell phone technology; it didn't work for me, and now it's too complex for me to be anything but a failure at using it. When the design the simplest, most efficient and perfect mobile-whatever, I will be all over it. And please don't tell me that it's the iPad.

- Rethink College is a short video project from Langara College that encourages creatively pursuing your interests and passions and dreams outside the college box. At the time, I didn't think rethinking college was an option for me. But then, I didn't have this beautiful video to inspire me.

- Finally, I have discovered the treasure that is Her Bad Mother, and this is The Manifesto that hooked me. Well, that and her wit and charm. Plus she's Canadian. And our sons share a name. Her writing gets me all warm and fuzzy inside, with endless refrains of Thank-God-I'm-not-the-only-one ringing in my mind.