Best website ever?

That's a hard thing to judge but this must be a contender: The Kid Should See This collects pictures and video clips that should fascinate kids, whether about science or art or just neat stuff. I was going to save this for my next bunch of parenting links, but I've spent the last hour watching clips on the site (Baryshnikov from 1969! an octopus doing amazing things for camouflage!), so I think it can't wait...

(via kottke)

Belated stones of July

Ok, so I think this proves either that I'm incapable of a sustained project in the summer or that this particular summer got the upper hand over me. I basically managed almost no small stones for July, but here are the few that have been rattling around in my bookbag...

pebble 1

winds rising --
in the middle of the sidewalk
a single shoe

pebble 2

mossy shingles --
a sparrow calls from the sycamore

pebble 3

the high bounce of my eraser
as if trying to come back to the desk,
to have another chance...

Warren "no-B.S." Buffet

Buffet points out to our buffoon Congress that the ultra-rich don't need protecting from higher taxes and would be happy to pay more to prevent widespread pain among the working classes.

My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It’s time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice.

You tell 'em, Warren!

Monday kid-blogging: Action edition

Man, Speck is all swinging and jumping, ALL the time. Jumping from the kitchen stool, swinging from a stair rail, and on and on. All accompanied by "watch this! watch this!" wow. I'm throwing in one picture here from a quieter occupation, just to give us all a breather...


Here, both hanging and climbing!


A little updating of math on the big chalkboards at Dad's work.


Dangling from the monkey bars -- oh how she wants to swing to the next bar!

Hope to upload some videos of swinging and jumping soon!

Poem of the day

Questions Before Dark

Day ends, and before sleep
when the sky dies down, consider
your altered state: has this day
changed you? Are the corners
sharper or rounded off? Did you
live with death? Make decisions
that quieted? Find one clear word
that fit? At the sun's midpoint
did you notice a pitch of absence,
bewilderment that invites
the possible? What did you learn
from things you dropped and picked up
and dropped again? Did you set a straw
parallel to the river, let the flow
carry you downstream?

- Jeanne Lohmann
The Light of Invisible Bodies
beyond the fields we know

(via whiskey river)

Making a mess that can't be cleaned up?

Just my feeling about the downward spiral of American politics these days. Sigh.

• Lessons of the Crisis -- The debt-ceiling debacle revealed that politics is broken in every possible way and there's no point in explaining complicated matters to the American people. (author's subtitle)


• On Rules and Norms: Four Reasons to Regret This Moment -- once somebody has tried "things that just aren't done" and succeeded, is there any going back to rational discourse?

Every economic study seems to indicate that the economy needs more stimulus, but our idiot leaders are going with austerity instead, and I fear that Ireland and Greece are our future. Hard to know what to do with one's own savings and future planning in that light, let alone how to steel oneself for the wider national suffering to come...

Maybe if I post this here, I can get back to work

A little frog-obsessive today, sigh. Anyway, here's a screenshot of my frog nursery, complete with a number of eggs waiting to hatch (that is, tormenting me with their lengthy maturation times)...



When I get some of my other habitats filled with thematic frogs (earthy amid dry leaves, or neon on black gravel, say), perhaps I'll share some more.

Link dump: We can all use some cheery distraction edition

Informative and interesting:

• Zombie Marie Curie shares her wisdom (via xkcd): "You don't become great by trying to become great. You become great by wanting to do something, and then doing it so hard that you become great in the process."
  
  
• Bad Job Market: Why the Media Is Always Wrong About the Value of a College Degree (it's always good, even if graduates sometimes end up tending bar)
  
  
• Cowboys and Pit Crews -- more from Atul Gwande on how the culture of medicine needs to be changed before we can get to less cost and better outcomes
  
  
• Tattoo Tracks Sodium and Glucose via an iPhone -- technology could allow noninvasive monitoring of many health conditions
  
  
• Pythagoras Solar Turns Windows Into Panels Of Energy -- imagine tall buildings with full solar panel coverage!
  
  
• Soda bottles become electricity-less “light bulbs” for the poor -- no electricity required during the day!
  
  
• Less transformative, but still inspiring: 50 creations from 50 pieces of Lego!
  
  
• Behind N.Y. Gay Marriage, an Unlikely Mix of Forces -- how that political reality came to be
  
  
• Obama Administration Reaches A Compromise On Fuel Economy Proposal -- recently bailed-out car companies get behind major improvements in mileage! yay!
  
  
• The medium chill -- getting off the aspirational treadmill and enjoying the life you have

Hilarious:

• The real George Lucas has been imprisoned for 20 years while an impostor ran amok, making prequels (video "trailer")
  
  
• You gotta love that the CDC has a guide on surviving a Zombie Apocalypse!
  
  
• Muffin Films short silly bits, if you need some surreality...
  
  
• Define the Ratio of People to Cake -- a cranky journalist answers a collection of really strange interview questions
  
  
• How The BET Awards Changed My Life (by capturing the WTF face that summarizes our times)
  
  
• Plot Device -- a truly inspired little musing on what happens when plot twists get the upper hand on an afternoon
  
  
• Neil Patrick Harris' 2011 Tony Awards Opening Number for anybody who missed it -- Broadway's not just for gays anymore!!
  
  
• The Invaders Are Here! -- kitten versus apples; who will win?

Summer fun/try at home:

• What’s Scrabble When You Can Play Novelist? -- how to turn a heap of mindless summer reading into a fun party game
  
  
• Just what we've all been needing: a Make Everything Ok button!!

(a cheery toddler lunch by A Mindful Life!)

Twitter quote of the day

A good jobs program would be paying people to whiteout 2011 on calendars and replace with 1937.

- ntoddpax
(NTodd Pritsky)

(via Medley)