Friday, April 29, 2011

Friday baby-blogging

Some long overdue kid pictures from the last month or so. I tend to get way behind in processing photos, but a few real winners is a good motivation!

Speck in a yellow ruffly Easter dress
Obligatory pic in Easter finery, although I missed the cute egg-hunting action shots...

Speck lying flat in a giant dinosaur egg at the Philadelphia zoo
Not an Easter egg, but a giant "dinosaur egg" at the zoo playhouse.

Speck peers out of the mouth of a huge frog
Apparently a froggy gullet is an ok place to be...

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Poor widdle corporations

scales of... justice?Thank goodness our current Supreme Court is there to protect them from any disturbance or unhappiness! Wouldn't want them to have to watch where they're putting their feet down all the time... [head-desk]

(via digby)

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

A playground for grown-ups!

At least, that's what this parkour practice city feels like to me. Man, those people are athletic, and this stuff just looks like a whole lotta fun!

(via kottke)

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Link dump: parenting-related

a momtini = a martini with a pacifier in itArranged loosely by age of child...

Monday, April 25, 2011

Not what you'd like to see reported

...about police anywhere, let alone many places!
Police in the US now rival criminals, and exceed terrorists as the greatest threat to the American public.
When civil liberties extend only up to the point where you get arrested (rightly or wrongly), you're not living in a civilized nation. These guys in New Orleans make the 1980s LAPD look sort of mannered!

Friday, April 22, 2011

Friday giggles

tiny smilie faceThis tot has a seriously delirious giggle. Apparently he loves bubbles and his dog does too. Hard to beat a good time for all!

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Putting kids in perspective

Just love this piece on the myriad responsibilities that a 9-year-old can take in stride, loving the tasks and the importance of helping out (and keeping her family's farm running).
Because they can, if you just let them. Because sometimes a job well done is a reward unto itself. Because it feels good to be a family member, instead of just a dependent. Because everyone wants to walk strong and smart and confident in this world.
Kids need to play, but they need to feel that they're doing things that matter too. We need to remember that they can manage a lot more than we sometimes think...

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Quote of the day

a single cherry blossom, from a photo by Paula's House of Toast
Now winter, the winter I am writing about, begins to ease. And what, if anything, has been determined, selected, nailed down? This is the lesson of age – events pass, things change, trauma fades, good fortune rises, fades, rises again but different. Whereas what happens when one is twenty, as I remember it, happens forever. I have not been twenty for a long time! The sun rolls toward the north and I feel, gratefully, its brightness flaming up once more. Somewhere in the world the misery we can do nothing about yet goes on.
- Mary Oliver
(via whiskey river)

Friday, April 15, 2011

Keep saying it until we no longer have to

Adobe's entry in the It Gets Better movement. Man, so much experience of "if I could just get through this part..." -- we need it to get better today so everybody can "give future you a chance"!

(via NowThis)

Why I love the Internet

There are, of course, many reasons, but the fact that there's a wide outlet for specific kinds of inspired ridiculousness is definitely among the top arguments. Ah, happy Friday!

(via kottke)

Thursday, April 14, 2011

A smaller heap of links, of the cheery and interesting variety

Because apparently I barely remember how to blog anymore. Sigh.Is it Friday yet??

Monday, April 11, 2011

Quote of the day


The truths we have come to understand need to find their visible expression in our lives. It is not enough to be a possessor of wisdom. To believe ourselves to be custodians of truth is to become its opposite, is a direct path to becoming stale, self-righteous, or rigid. Ideas and memories do not hold liberating or healing power. There is no such state as enlightened retirement, where we can live on the bounty of past attainments. Wisdom is alive only as long as it is lived, understanding is liberating only as long as it is applied. A bulging portfolio of spiritual experiences matters little if it does not have the power to sustain us through the inevitable moments of grief, loss, and change. Knowledge and achievements matter little if we do not yet know how to touch the heart of another and be touched.
- Jack Kornfield
(via whiskey river)

Thursday, April 07, 2011

Quote of the day (Twitter edition)


Impressive that our expectations of government have shrunk to "don't shut down" and may still be unmet.
pourmecoffee
(retweeted by Medley)

Wednesday, April 06, 2011

Now, isn't that better?

I think what we all need is a cute sleeping puppy to distract us from the fact that our government is about to go to hell shut down. Awwwwwwww......

photo of an adorable sleeping puppy

If that isn't sufficient to stop your head-banging, try this huge gaggle of additional cuties. Now, aren't you feeling all warm and fuzzy?

Tuesday, April 05, 2011

Link dump: latest outrages edition

Ack!!

Friday, April 01, 2011

If only...

There are many times when we wish "if only" -- if only smarter people were in charge, if only the media focused on what was important, if only politicians would worry about jobs and not the deficit, if only America appeared to be true to its ideals. Well, having written that list, it's a bit anticlimactic to append the two links that sparked it, but here they are:
  1. I wish smart econ bloggers were in charge!
    In a rational world, there should be no discussion of the deficit as policy. Team D and Team R would present their competing visions for what the government should spend money on, and where that money should come from. ... Ideally, we'd have one party that thinks we should spend a bit more on things like social safety nets, and do so with more progressive taxation, and one party which thinks we should spend a bit less, and with more regressive taxation, and the voters would have a reasonably clear choice.
    Sounds like crazy socialist Euro-think!

  2. I wish that people wouldn't fantasize that Presidents can fix everything!
    The federal government is full of smart, competent, persuasive people working in a system that prevents them from rapidly addressing even the problems with obvious solutions. Let’s see some realistic thought experiments that address that.
Well, at least there are some homework projects for the industrious among us to contemplate and maybe even work on...