Just Between Strangers

To Speck, within sight of 4 years old

2012-01-29T19:45:00.007-05:00

I can't believe that it's been nine months since I sat to write one of these! The fact that I haven't found the time has to be credited, at least in part, to how fast we're running all the time to keep up with you, your energy and your ever-increasing grasp of the world. You're still at an interesting intermediate state in many ways: you use scissors like a champ now, gladly take on 100-piece puzzles, and are pround to be a user of Big Girl (fluoride-containing) toothpaste as of the last couple of weeks, but you still resist saying goodbye to your high chair or crib, show no signs of advancing toward overnight potty training, and have reverted to eating only a half-dozen favored foods (and complaining about dinners out). Still, leaps and bounds on many fronts mean you're a radically different girl than when last I wrote.

Notably over this span, you took on an assortment of behaviors that I've always associated with Kids (without really being aware of the ages at which they might predominate). We're probably 6-8 months into the world of repeated demands such as "hey! watch this!" You like making up imaginative stories, especially about a former/secret/imaginary life in varying degrees of detail (from the vague to the explicit: you lived in Greece, you had different parents, you rescued a sparrow...). You have lately become obsessed with poop jokes and all things scatological or smelly. And you can make an abstract scribble and then describe in detail the things that it shows.

Other pleasant surprises: you have moments of real snuggliness. You no longer require your PB&J cut into tiny pieces, and you sometimes even eat the crusts! (as long as they're not attached.) You worked hard for several months at swinging and jumping until you finally achieved your goal (around 42 months) of successfully navigating a set of monkey bars. Around that same time you took your first true solo potty trip and also managed to get yourself dressed one morning. (Neither of these things are reliable yet, but progress!) You're not only able to spell your name, but you can write at least the first three letters -- and love to do so -- and you know your and Gammy's phone numbers by heart. You can work a computer mouse and no longer even think about doing so as you navigate games and websites. You have developed an interest in board games, which is something of a relief to your parents. And you're a complete water bug, loving to splash in Gammy's pool, and taking your first no-parent swim class at the Y.

Most striking here is your leap in social development. Not only have we seen you play with (as opposed to next to) other kids, first occasionally and now regularly, but you actually made your first real friends in the last two months -- we even swung a playground playdate with one of them. You still have a tendency to adopt little kids and look after them more than to engage real peers, but friendship is a pretty loose construct at this age, and the enthusiasms are mutual, so who cares!

Here are a couple of things that I now recognize as toddler behavior, but might in a more naive stage of life have expected I had another 10-12 years before I'd have to master: claims that we're "ruining your life," general anti-parent acting out, and back-seat driving ("keep two hands on the wheel!")... I find that a glass of wine with dinner is a great help in such matters -- that and increased use of morning coffee appear to be your parents' adaptations to life with the challenges of 3.

Here are some distinctive new things that seem very specific to you:

You started to have a set of "three questions" that you wanted to ask at bedtime before the last song (what time will I get up, am I wearing a diaper, will you come if I need something) and this has evolved into a pretty long nighttime ritual, including a "sleep tight" call-and-response with whoever is putting you to bed.
An innocent game of feeding you macaroni (to speed dinner time) took on a life of its own as each bite had to have an entire narrative context (a bunny running away from a fox, who says, "I'll get him next time!" etc.). We repented too late.
Your vocabulary, grammatical structures, and use of idiom continue to be amazing to one and all. You ask the meanings of new words and often incorporate them later.
You are interested in maps (especially to playgrounds!), flags, and languages (esp. the bits of Spanish being introduced at school), so we're happy to see that you seem to have some concept of the greater world. However, you've taken to calling the US flag the "Philadelphia flag," so there's still a way to go! hah.
Your desire to read has begun to bear fruit, as you now recognize easily 100 words when you see them written, and while you still like to "fake read" books to your family, at other times you also work in the real words that you recognize, such that your takes approximate ever more closely the real story (and, in the case of Pooh stories, often make it all the way there). You've also surprised me by reading a sign or bit of chat from the online games we read together, so this may soon be another skill you apply without thinking about it (although I keep waiting for a moment of amazement when you realize that you are uncovering new content for yourself)...

So I feel that we are poised on the cusp of a whole new world -- of spending time with friends, of exploring new ideas and places through reading, of transitioning more and more into the Big Girl realms of behavior. And yet you still feel very attached to us, like having your flock around you, are in no rush to push off. We're in no rush either. Part of us looks forward to reclaiming more free time, more head space, but part of us can hardly imagine you heading off to kindergarten in another 18 months, or even graduating to the older class in your preschool (in more like 6-9 months). And I suspect that we'll miss your acute desire for our involvement in everything you think and do, however exhausting it can seem right now. But we're excited for what you're seeing and thinking, what's just ahead, and the whole crazy trip. Keep it coming!!

Quote of the day

2012-01-25T09:49:00.001-05:00

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
- Anton Chekhov

(via whiskey river (riskywiver on Twitter))

Minds ranging through the universe

2012-01-23T14:46:00.004-05:00

I went to this video to see Stephen Colbert out of character, but I stayed for the whole thing, because it's the best demonstration I've seen of Niel DeGrasse Tyson's amazing way of bringing science and its wonders to life (and one of the best discussions I've seen of the broader value of science and of encouraging intellectual curiosity in general). Heartening, and worth the hour or so of investment.

Grimly apt

2012-01-17T09:58:00.003-05:00

Martin Luther King's famous "I have a dream" speech isn't freely available in video form because of the choices of its legal owners (his family and Sony Entertainment). You'd think that they'd want everybody to watch it on MLK Day, what with the national holiday and all, but apparently keeping history alive costs $20, man.

(via Ezra Klein)

Now THIS is how a new year should start!!

2012-01-05T15:16:00.002-05:00

The FDA is finally limiting antibiotic use in agriculture, to help forestall the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Better late than never -- the future of our species thanks you!!

(via mimi smartypants)

Tweet of the day

2012-01-04T10:21:00.000-05:00

Seriously, more people live in my apt complex than will vote for any candidate in the Iowa caucuses. Come here & cover our tenant meetings.
- anildash (Anil Dash)

Wacky idea of the day

2012-01-03T14:52:00.002-05:00

...would be Obama-Clinton for '12. Seems unlikely to me, given her previous statements that she's done running, but it would certainly give the campaign a kick in the shorts and would set the party up for 2016. Only time will tell...

(via kottke)

Holiday cheer

2011-12-22T16:37:00.003-05:00

Or, at least an end-of-year batch of cheerful and/or fascinating links to tide you through quiet afternoons of eggnog recovery. Hooray!!

Fascinating

My political philosophy and personal philosophy are not the same
Taxing Job Creators -- not how it's usually explained...
Audiobooks: A Cautionary Tale -- how authors can get happier outcomes
Insomnia drugs waking people from comas
2011: The Science Year in Brief
12 Ways to Make Congress Work -- certainly raises some interesting ideas!
I Would Like To Help You Get Your Show Cancelled -- on life in the TV writers' world

Cheerful/hilarious!

The Bomb Buried In Obamacare Explodes Today-Hallelujah!
A community design success from Philadelphia
Planting Wind Energy on Farms May Help Crops, Say Researchers
Louis C.K.'s giant pool of money -- a great story on many fronts
Sexual Assault Prevention Tips Guaranteed to Work! (worth repeating)
Generation X Doesn’t Want to Hear It
New Decoy Website Launched To Lure Away All Moronic Internet Commenters (if only!!)
Pointlessly Gendered Products
I’m Christian, unless you’re gay. -- a heartfelt essay about living your supposed values
An open letter to Minnesota state senator Amy Koch (gays apologize for causing her adultery)
xkcd presents Some new science mnemonics
What group projects teach
Tim Minchin: If I Didn't Have You [video]
I Have No Words -- Mike Tyson as Herman Cain
18,000 People Cheer Thing Going Through Thing -- sports satire
Fabulous dance performance [video]
The most beautiful literary mystery in Edinburgh -- be sure to click to see them all
Charlie Todd: The shared experience of absurdity -- some great projects from Improv Everywhere
Turtle has some wisdom to share (in ALL CAPS)
Holiday pupcakes are almost done (oh, the cuteness!)
Finally, this photo just makes me happy.

Quote of the day

2011-12-20T14:58:00.002-05:00

The only calibration that counts is how much heart people invest, how much they ignore their fears of being hurt or caught out or humiliated. And the only thing people regret is that they didn't live boldly enough, that they didn't invest enough heart, didn't love enough. Nothing else really counts at all.
- Ted Hughes

(via whiskey river)

Taking the long view

2011-12-19T14:21:00.002-05:00

Really good piece over at Hullabaloo about what liberals should be trying to accomplish not only in terms of near-term domestic policies but in terms of the future evolution of the truly global economy and its level of justice toward all. It's a little on the long and chewy side, but really important. It's hard for me to imagine the political mechanisms for this level of global organization of the "90%," even if they feel some psychological kinship already, but lack of imagination is no excuse -- we need to find a way to give labor some kind of voice/leverage before it's already plutocrats all the way down.

Go, read it already. Things to mull.

(via a Medley tweet)

Widespread frustration

2011-12-09T09:22:00.008-05:00

Am finding this a very frustrating time to be a well-informed citizen of the world -- rabid politics is dooming us to extended recession, America seems to be near-single-handedly preventing the world from addressing global warming before it's too late, and our government is reacting violently to expressions of free speech and public demonstrations. I'm short of time, but I hate to let my "grumpy" file get any thicker before Christmas, so here's a big frustration dump from the last month or two, without much additional comment:

How evo psych is laying waste to responsible science journalism
Essays on the trap of US student debt
Sexism's Low-Grade Fever
The Psychology of Nakedness (and unfortunate implications for opinions of women)
A flurry of how online harrassment of women is completely different from what men experience (in both quantity and sometimes-terrifying quality):
1. On being harassed: a little GF history and some current events
2. But How Do You Know It’s Sexist? The #MenCallMeThings Round-Up
3. The Internet Miniskirt
4. "You should have your tongue ripped out": the reality of sexist abuse online
What baseball tells us about racism
Congressional Dysfunction Begins To Spook Old Pros
What We Want to See On TV: Handsome Politicians
EPA chief tells GOP to STFU
Wal-Mart to Cut Healthcare Benefits
Lack of jobs leaves more suburban, middle class sliding into poverty
CHART OF THE DAY: Paul Ryan Wrong About Upwardly Mobile America
CHART OF THE DAY: Long Term Unemployment Is A Huge Problem — Especially If You’re Old
Older, Suburban and Struggling, ‘Near Poor’ Startle the Census
New Cartoon: Government To The Rescue!
Worthless (we can always protect the banksters somehow)
A Banker Speaks, With Regret
My daughter and I are reading Steinbeck’s “Grapes of Wrath” aloud to each other, and those Depression-era injustices seem so familiar today. That’s why the Occupy movement resonates so deeply: When the federal government goes all-out to rescue errant bankers, and stiffs homeowners, that’s not just bad economics. It’s also wrong.
Who Killed Hard Work And Personal Responsibility?
Federal Prosecution Of Financial Fraud Falls To 20-Year Low, New Report Shows
The euro zone’s terrible mistake
Ignorance is bliss when it comes to challenging social issues
The Medicaid Ambush: The Supreme Court's unexpected and astounding reasons for wanting to hear a challenge to Obamacare.
Congratulations, Television! You Are Even Worse At Masculinity Than Femininity
IBM co-opting GPS system?
Topeka, Kansas, legalizes domestic violence to save money
How Medicare Fails the Elderly
W. enters my wife’s schoolboard race
Naomi Wolf: how I was arrested at Occupy Wall Street
Psychology of pepper spray
Pepper-spray inventor: "It's fashionable to use chemical agents on people who have an opinion"
The Healing Process
San Diego police arrest congressional candidate for voter registration in Civic Center Plaza
Occupy Forcing Militarized PDs to Show Their Colors

Ouch

2011-12-08T12:35:00.003-05:00

This bit at Animals Talking in All-Caps is right on, with an amusing finish to take the edge off of what would otherwise be a head-banging frustration frenzy of agreement. Wow.

(And can I just say, how does that guy keep the creativity coming at this impressive level day after day? It just blows my socks off.)

Tuesday kid-blogging

2011-12-06T13:26:00.003-05:00

Been a while, I guess! Here are some of the Many Faces of Speck from recent months:

A playful grin during her midsummer obsession with hanging bars.

Speck during her second haircut, admiring the effects of (ahem) combing!

Zebra warpaint for Halloween, very dramatic!

Quote of the day

2011-11-22T16:46:00.002-05:00

We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same.
- Carlos Castaneda

(via whiskey river)

Occupy is not "visit"

2011-11-18T14:43:00.004-05:00

Rachel Maddow gives a little history of organized protest and suppression of same in the last 50 years and how it's likely to apply to efforts to get rid of Occupy Wall Street protests in cities throughout the country. Heartening to see people returning after armed thugs chase them out; I hope she's right that this will be counterproductive.

More here on how the apparently coordinated clearings out took place and how the media is handling them. Will be interesting to see whether the country's sympathies rebound as quickly as the protesting crowds; I hope that these dictatorial actions aren't rewarded...

Planning ahead

2011-11-15T10:41:00.002-05:00

Looking ahead to Thanksgiving with anticipation/dread? Need to figure out just the right thing to bring? Here's the perfect flowchart, covering possibilities from the college party-on to Grandma's traditional show and friendly to hostile. Hilarious.

(via a Medley tweet)

Friday frolics

2011-11-11T11:45:00.006-05:00

A heaping helping of cheery and interesting links to unburden my browser and lighten your weekend (with apologies for how old some of them are):

Cheering/silly

Have old books and nobody to trade them with? BookMooch might be for you!
Matt Damon explains non-financial motivations and the education sector
Occupy Wall Street boiled down to a humorous (but accurate) caption -- indeed!!
A list of Obama's accomplishments to remind the nay-sayers
Also, separately, good advice to get involved in politics, not just spectate:
... creating change is the responsibility of the people who desire that change. Being disappointed in President Obama or frustrated with the Tea Party is a waste of time. The only thing we really control is the amount of effort we put into getting what we want.
Well said.
Also well said, the now-famous quote from Elizabeth Warren on how nobody succeeds alone.
Medicare steps up enforcement of equal visitation and representation rights in hospitals
Malaria report sees near-zero deaths by end of 2015 -- there's a headline I didn't expect! thanks, Gates Foundation!!
Rafe reminds us that sometimes success is just keeping going, whether or not your approach is perfect or planned to the end; adjust when you must, but show up.
A Dutch city set up a pedestrian slide an alternative to the stairs down to the subway -- fun!!
Here's a blog of what reasonable women's armor would look like if it were made for fighting, not titilating teenage viewers -- amen!
Goofy photos of dogs shaking off water -- oh, the jowls!!
I continue to find ANIMALS TALKING IN ALL CAPS absolutely inspired, from the simple and goofy to the wordy and/or profound. Rock it!
A heap of Demotivator-style expressions of first-world angst -- most entertaining.
The problem with averaging star-ratings - hah!
An amusing list of cultural faux pas in New York City -- lots of insights there into cultural norms of busy places generally.
Here's a fun cover/collaboration of the Muppet Show Theme (by Ok Go)
I've tried to resist all these auto-tuning videos, but I love the musicality and science of this video about the matter of the universe, which features a lot of great people expressing their joy in the crazy beauty of it all... (kind of makes me teary)
You've probably already seen this, but it's so sweet I want to bookmark it here: an elderly couple tries to figure out their webcam, with much entertaining discussion along the way...
Here's another old couple who know how to play a duet!! wonderful.

Fascinating

Game of Thrones visual effects -- an amazing demonstration of how real scenery can be blended into green-screen fantasies to make movie places come alive
Amazing slow-motion video of an owl coming in for a landing.
Spoilers don't spoil anything -- a surprising finding that knowing how a story turns out lets us relax and enjoy the trip to get there.
Facts Don’t Persuade Climate Skeptics–So What Does? graphics!! (also, this report might have some impact...)
Ever wonder why it's hard to speak a foreign language over the phone? Part of the answer is provided by this audio-visual illusion, in which different mouth movements make you hear different sounds from the same track. We need visual cues to put it all together well.
Speaking of fooling your senses, apparently it's possible to make apple pie without any apples, something that came in handy during, e.g., the Civil War. Who knew?
How to Peel a Head of Garlic in Less Than 10 Seconds -- it's not a way you probably would have thought of!
Have an old globe? Find out how old by using this table of when different countries ceased to exist/appear on maps...
Ever wonder why your fingers and toes wrinkle up in water (but nothing else does)? Looks like it may actually improve traction on slippery surfaces! Thanks, evolution!!
Did you hear about that faster-than-light-speed particle that seemed to challenge Einstein's theory of relativity? A proper application of relativity made sense of things (and proved that it hadn't broken light speed after all)...

Pumpkin silliness

2011-11-01T12:30:00.002-04:00

Am way behind in blogging, kid pictures, and all the rest of my non-mission-critical life, but wanted to put this out there, as it's possibly a first in Halloween revelry: the frog pumpkin (by request, of course).

Quote of the day

2011-10-18T15:46:00.001-04:00

Life is a garden,
not a road
we enter and exit
through the same gate
wandering,
where we go matters less
than what we notice
- Bokonon
(muse of Kurt Vonnegut)

(via whiskey river)

Making the right people nervous

2011-10-11T10:56:00.002-04:00

A couple of signs that Occupation Wall Street (and associated protests) are on the right track: powerful people are worried that it could induce policy changes (what? in reponse to public desire?), and financial bigwigs are overreacting out of panic and looking a little crazed as a result. From the latter link:

So who’s really being un-American here? Not the protesters, who are simply trying to get their voices heard. No, the real extremists here are America’s oligarchs, who want to suppress any criticism of the sources of their wealth.

Indeed. Keep up the good work, frustrated average citizens! The public understands where you're coming from!!

GOP horse race

2011-10-06T09:41:00.002-04:00

Hilarious -- Slate actually animates the polling data for the last 18 months, so you can watch the candidates pull ahead, fall back,...

(via pourmecoffee on Twitter)

The people are speaking

2011-10-05T13:14:00.002-04:00

I'm not sure what to make of Occupy Wall Street, as a movement or as a name, but it seems somehow to have come to embody all the injustices of the last few years, in economic and moral terms -- that possibility is discussed here and the sentiment summarized thusly:

There are a lot of people who are getting an unusually raw deal right now. There is a small group of people who are getting an unusually good deal right now. That doesn’t sound to me like a stable equilibrium.

Only time will tell whether this set of demonstrations becomes symbolic of such woes to the more general American public, but if that connection persists, we might have the start of a real revolution, which is something I think that this country is in dire need of.

Mr. Rogers

2011-09-29T12:15:00.005-04:00

Speck was a little under the weather recently, and I took the opportunity to show her her first episodes of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. She was under the impression that she wouldn't like them (having seen some documentary footage about him, maybe?), but she was totally engrossed, from the first shoe-change to the bonus-materials tour of a construction paper factory, and eager to see them again.

For me, the experience was less of recall from my own childhood -- honestly, who remembers anything specific from age 4? -- than of an overwhelming wave of appreciation for this man and his approach to children, his understanding of their questions about the world, and his ability to talk to them right out of the television in a way that made them want to answer back and care about their friendship with him. It was all I could do to not openly weep right there on the couch, and this little exchange of letters allowed me to do it just now at the office instead. What a delicate appreciation he had of the people he was addressing, and a gentle way of giving them a gift from a distance.

Thanks, Mr. Rogers, for all the time you took making good things in this world, and for the rare devotion to focus on little kids as people for so many years. A higher being in a sense that many religious traditions would aspire to...

(via Medley on Twitter)

Edit: idiotic to write about Rogers without linking to this profile, about which I can only say, Holy crap!

(via kottke)

Wednesday giggle

2011-09-28T12:23:00.003-04:00

Well, *I* just had a 2-hour staff meeting, so I could use one, anyway:

ANIMALS TALKING IN ALL CAPS

Great annotated photos expressing many goofy things; it's like a cross between Cute Overload and Demotivators, Inc. Righteous!

(via NowThis)

Tuesday baby-blogging

2011-09-27T15:53:00.002-04:00

A few recent cute ones, taken upon the first testing of a new skateboard!

This serious, helmeted look cracks me up a bit.
Maybe it just looks like a kid older than 3.5.

Skateboarding was a hit!!
(Not a surprise, since this was a direct request.)

Will be interested to see how/when the eventual transition to no-hands skating goes, and then to a proper higher deck placement as her confidence increases. But right now, this takes plenty of concentration, and apparently wore out her legs on the way to the playground. Still, seems fun to me!

Thought for the day

2011-09-26T10:58:00.002-04:00

The only thing that is real is that we have six roots within us. Three roots of good and three roots of evil. The latter are greed, hate and delusion, but we also have their opposites: generosity, love and wisdom. Take an interest in this matter. If one investigates this and doesn't get anxious about it, then one can easily accept these six roots in everybody. No difficulty at all, when one has seen them in oneself. They are the underlying roots of everyone's behavior. Then we can look at ourselves a little more realistically, namely not blaming ourselves for the unwholesome roots, not patting ourselves on the back for the wholesome ones, but rather accepting their existence within us. We can also accept others more clear-sightedly and have a much easier time relating to them. We will not suffer from disappointments and we won't blame, because we won't live in a world where only black or white exists. Such a world doesn't exist.
- Ayya Khema

(via whiskey river)

To hell in a handbasket

2011-09-23T10:06:00.013-04:00

I apparently just read, seethe, and file the links away for some imaginary future date when I'll have lots of spare time to analyze, ponder, and blog. But that's not happenin'! So here's a record-breaking heap of links from the last three months, that pain me to varying degrees and/or foreshadow the end of the American experiment:

I. Politics

Oh, What Did You Think Would Happen? -- Governor Christie renegs on a major political deal, unashamedly
The First Amendment, Upside Down -- campaign finance *stifles* speech?!?
Mysterious Firm Gives $1 Million To Pro-Romney Group, Closes Shop
Why the Press Loves Jon Huntsman but Ignores Ron Paul -- The media is fascinated by protest candidates who critique their own parties, but it marginalizes those who attack the establishment [fascinating!!]
Conservative pundits grapple with ‘anti-science’ charge, flail
Wis. Official To DMV Employees: Don't Offer People Free Voter-ID Cards Unless They Ask (no reason to *encourage* civic participation by the poor!)
When Ronald Reagan Was President, There Was A Soviet Union And A Cold War -- but now mindless conformity is all the GOP needs
Dennis G. Jacobs: Case study in judicial pathology -- more turning the Constitution inside out in the name of Security...

II. Economy

Social Security provides the majority of income for three-fifths of Americans age 65+, but hey! let's whack at it and keep those old folks scramblin'!
Related: We know how to reduce poverty among seniors
Bill Gross: Deficit reduction can — and should — wait -- even big Wall Streeters can see the obvious! why not our political leaders?
British Economy, After Austerity, at Zero Growth in the Past Nine Months -- more evidence that our approach is a deadly one
Public special ed employee has $0 paycheck after health insurance deductions -- ah, but the public sector is pampered!
A rising hunger among children -- eventually a lack of money affects nutrition and these children's futures
The Embarrassment of the Poverty Rate -- is that it gets higher as we throw up our hands
The Price of Rural Life -- disproportionately dependent on national support
Big oil companies make huge profits with taxpayer support but cut jobs anyway

III. Health Care

How our two-tiered healthcare system hurts kids -- wait longer for appointments and care than identical symptoms with private insurance
Perversity -- public health interests and the financial interest of hospitals are often at odds, showing why capitalism is unlikely to solve this one

IV. Other stuff

All Work and No Pay: The Great Speedup -- American workers getting squeezed from both ends
Guilt Through Algorithmic Association -- when what people Google starts affecting your life or your safety (really scary!)
Even married monogamous women are dirty sluts who deserve cancer now -- when a vaccine becomes a political football
Minority Rules: Scientists Discover Tipping Point for the Spread of Ideas -- when you hear that "when 10% hold an unshakeable belief" is the threshold, it makes more sense of the craziness that passes for Conventional Wisdom these days...
Return of the Bug-Eyed Bachmann -- not so funny when you clue into the gender politics of such images -- more here.
A Message To Women From A Man: You Are Not "Crazy" -- more on how women's opinions and feelings get dismissed
Finally, really pulling lemons out of the lemonade pitcher: Ugandans say they were beaten and forced from homes to make room for carbon credit forest. Of course...

Say it ain't so

2011-09-20T12:56:00.003-04:00

Digby notes some disturbing parallels between our response to the current economic situation and steps taken during early stages of the Great Depression. Nontrivially alarming how little we've apparently learned...

Maybe I'm just grumpy

2011-09-14T09:12:00.002-04:00

...but I think this current headline could sort of summarize the GOP's problems/strategies on most fronts over recent years:

Super Committee Riven By Major Divide Over Basic Facts

If those tasked with preventing disaster are going to sit around yelling "Earth is flat!" "Earth is round!" then we're already lost.

Quote of the day

2011-09-13T13:42:00.001-04:00

Apropos to my previous post, but from a different context:

I no longer fear bad men doing bad things. I now fear ignorant people doing ignorant things out of their own misguided fear that the world is a horrible place.

Ridiculous that we are afraid to exercise our own parental judgement, to live our lives as if those around us were doing the same...

Who we became over the last 10 years

2011-09-13T09:23:00.004-04:00

I was discussing with Spouse the degree to which I was resistant to this weekend's memorialization of 9/11. A part of me is fine with our sharing as a nation the shock and sorrow of that day, finding some unity again, but that possibility has been obliterated by ten years of politicization of the event, of claiming it as justification for unwarranted actions overseas, civil rights intrusions at home, and a general willingness to make our decisions out of fear and defensiveness rather than rationality or our founding principles. It leaves me frustrated with our nation and our leaders, and unable to get back to the reality of the searing moment we're trying to commemorate.

How have we changed in the last ten years? Only insofar as we've learned nothing, continue to give up our freedoms, get used to continuous intrusions on our rights and persons in the name of "security." Just ask this everyday Ohio mom who was detained and treated like dirt for having the nerve to, um, fly in a plane while brown? There appears to be no penalty for cruelty and injustice anymore, as long as somebody is sufficiently nervous along the way, and nobody has any concrete rights that they can rely on once DHS is involved. It's more than scary -- it's alienating, infuriating, heart-rending. This isn't who we wanted to be; why have we let bin Laden push us there?

About my feeling

2011-09-12T14:22:00.000-04:00

I guess I'm with Krugman on this one. That, and Sunday's comics pages were really poisoned. Enough that my tennis and football frolics were all soberized -- the comics too? Have we lost all sense of humor in this country?

Shameless

2011-09-02T12:04:00.004-04:00

Am left speechless by this conservative columnist who admits that he's against registering the poor to vote. I guess I'm just amazed that there are really people who think that moving big blocks of money around is more "productive" than fixing your sink or assembling your gadgets. Or that the poor care about robbing the wealthy more than just being able to live their lives happily and safely. Loathesome.

Seems obvious but it's not

2011-09-01T16:32:00.004-04:00

A very cogent and concise argument against the current Google+ "real-name" policy: Google+ Can Be A Social Network Or The Name Police – Not Both

The Google+ common name policy is insane. It creates an antisocial space in what is supposed to be a social network. It is at odds with basic human social behavior; its implementation is NECESSARILY arbitrary and infuriating, and it is actively damaging the Google+ brand and indeed the broader Google brand.

Indeed, people are fleeing the network, the Blogger host, and even finding alternative search engines. The wondrous allure of "starting over" with all the lessons of Facebook in hand has been wiped away by this demonstration of complete obliviousness to how people operate in the world (of which the Internet is just one slice)...

(More on the arguments against using/requiring real names, when pseudonyms do the job just fine, here.)

Thought of the day

2011-09-01T09:13:00.002-04:00

A Modest Proposal

Since conservatives claim to believe that the stimulus destroyed the economy, how about we have Stimulus II which only goes to states with Democratic governors. Everybody's happy!
- Atrios

(directly from Eschaton)

Best website ever?

2011-08-25T11:10:00.003-04:00

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

2011-08-24T14:26:00.002-04:00

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

2011-08-15T13:32:00.002-04:00

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

2011-08-15T11:59:00.003-04:00

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

2011-08-09T12:20:00.001-04:00

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?

2011-08-05T14:36:00.003-04:00

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

2011-08-02T12:00:00.003-04:00

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

2011-08-01T10:29:00.010-04:00

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

2011-08-01T10:24:00.001-04:00

A good jobs program would be paying people to whiteout 2011 on calendars and replace with 1937.
- ntoddpax
(NTodd Pritsky)

(via Medley)

Quote of the day, soulless edition

2011-07-28T14:57:00.001-04:00

Wow. Boehner on whether his bill will prevent downgrade of U.S. creditworthiness: "That is beyond my control."
Josh Marshall, at TPM

It's rare that I think that the Chamber of Commerce is with the white hats

2011-07-27T09:24:00.003-04:00

...but the TPM scorecard for internal GOP fault lines shows that there's plenty of crazy to the right of even traditional Wall Street interests. So pround to note that the Club for Growth (and PA Senator Toomey) is there in the thick of the crazy.

As if this isn't all enough, we have another heated battle ahead, as most of this year's budget agreement was put off after the last round of negotiations blew up. Thanks, Tea Party, for really degrading what little residual comity and dedication to service remained in Congress before you showed up! Sigh.

I blame Speck

2011-07-26T16:41:00.004-04:00

I've downloaded just a few Speck-oriented iPhone apps, with the thought that they'd help out when we got stuck waiting somewhere. Of course, she saw them before that, so now I mostly have to keep the iPod hidden if I want to do other normal play things.

Anyway, one of my more recent Speck downloads was Pocket Frogs, which allows you to breed and raise ever-more-colorful and patterny frogs over time, with a slowly growing complexity of habitat and choices to be made about which you keep and which you sell, etc. Speck likes the idea of it -- or, at least, she liked hopping the frogs around the pond, and was very motivated to get from our starting brown and green frogs to her favorite color, blue -- but really I'm the one who has gotten sucked in. In the one day since I tried it with her, I've collected a rainbow of crazily patterned frogs, mastered some of the subtleties of managing the limited resources for growing them, and wasted entirely too much time generally messing around.

I can't yet tell whether my obsession will be sustainable, or whether Speck will be pleased or annoyed that I've grown our colony in her absence. For my part, I've managed to avoid any temptation to spend money for more in-game resources, taking the need for time to pass as a spur to, you know, do other things. But this pushes my cuteness and collection buttons, as well as yay! tangible progress! circuits, so I suspect I'm not done yet...

Edit: Turns out that more advanced frogs take longer to mature, reducing the drive to play for long stretches (as it's better to let eggs hatch and grow overnight, say), so there's a natural slowing down to a stable level once you're hooked. Good design.

The criminalization of caring

2011-07-26T10:07:00.003-04:00

You might be a sex offender if you do any of these normal things, including love your kid or be a teenager with a significant other. We really live in ridiculous times in many ways, but the lurid way we now view all contact with children is one of the sickest.

(via FreeRangeKids)

Quote of the day

2011-07-15T11:57:00.001-04:00

Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet
confinement of your aloneness
to learn

anything or anyone
that does not bring you alive

is too small for you.

- David Whyte
Sweet Darkness
The House of Belonging

(via whiskey river)

Wake up and smell the crazy

2011-07-15T09:46:00.004-04:00

I'm tired of the Republicans holding our country (and especially its poor and elderly) hostage to their every crazy economic whim, and I agree with Krugman that the fact that the commentariat seems to have just noticed the extremism doesn't mean that it's new.

A number of commentators seem shocked at how unreasonable Republicans are being. “Has the G.O.P. gone insane?” they ask.

Why, yes, it has. But this isn’t something that just happened, it’s the culmination of a process that has been going on for decades. Anyone surprised by the extremism and irresponsibility now on display either hasn’t been paying attention, or has been deliberately turning a blind eye.

I also agree with Krugman that this craziness has spread in large part because there has been no cost associated with it -- no outcry, no push-back, not even really much negotiation against it. Perhaps the uncrazy just dismissed such things, forgetting that repetition leads to establishment as truth. Anyway, am happy to see any amount of debunking and disgrace that can be mustered, but a little pessimistic that we can manage such before the ship of state hits one iceberg or another...

(via Eschaton)

Parenting-related link-dump

2011-07-14T16:58:00.004-04:00

Man, I wish we had something like this outdoor preschool available near us (video link, sorry) -- looks great, and I'll bet those kids are go-getters!
Is it possible to give too much positive praise to preschoolers? Actually, the article refers to lots of good research showing that it's the specifics of how we give praise that matter -- paying attention to details is key, as is rewarding effort/strategy more than just success/completion. Not always intuitive!
5 Surprisingly Easy Ways to Make Kids Smarter -- some of these require lobbying your school/district for changes, but they seem like they could really pay off at little or no additional expense.
Age Specific Responsibilities: Practical Suggestions for Responsibilities You Can Expect Your Child to Begin at Specific Ages. Great guidelines for all those times when it can just seem easier to do it for them.
What Difference does Difference Make? An Appreciation and Review of “Equally Shared Parenting” -- I link this less because of any absolute advice she might offer on how to divide caretaking than because of the utility of the framework in which the discussion is set: that partners need to find a workable balance in the "four domains of childrearing, breadwinning, housework and time for self." I think we often don't think in those terms, and a lot of reasons for conflict can come from leaving one or more of those domains out of the conscious discussion.
I love this part of parenthood -- Heather showing the mix of humor and heart that have made dooce.com a huge hit through the years.
TLG Made it to 3! -- just a parental reflection that rings very close to our aspirations and experience. Onward to each new day!
To the Time Machine! -- a nice reflection on the simplicities of a good summer camp, on wriggling your toes in summer, and on parental nostalgia. sniff.
Finally, two epic records of one man's trip through parenthood, filled with wisdom and wacky dark humor: first a week-by-week journal of the first year, and then a monthly look at toddlerhood that follows. Really two pretty thick books there, but fun, and might be illuminating for new parents to read in semi-real time...

WTF?!?

2011-07-12T10:57:00.001-04:00

What is up with this milk-for-PMS woman-hating campaign? It feels satirical (including the Fear Factor way that the guys are lit), but appears to be part of the GotMilk family of websites, so I think it's actually legit! "Everything I Do Is Wrong?" The mind boggles!!

Friday kid-blogging

2011-07-08T09:38:00.004-04:00

Summer continues to be full of activity -- Speck literally jumps out of bed in the morning ready to go! (This is leading to much increased parental caffeine consumption.) Here are just a few out-takes from recent adventures...

Attacking a climbing wall!

Jumping for joy!!

Collapsing after a burst of activity (at least for a moment).

Have a good weekend, and remember to squeeze in some fun -- that's what all the work is for!

Bring back the jedi master!

2011-07-07T08:56:00.005-04:00

I don't know if it's the bubble of the Presidency, or just poor advisors, but the Obama folks really seem to have lost their ability to judge what's going on, particularly where modern Republican "negotiation" strategies are concerned, with the result that they're failing to step up the pressure/rhetoric either in the media or behind closed doors. I'm not just worried about our national credit rating; I'm afraid they won't wake up until they've given away the store.

Perhaps some wake-up call can be had from watching Governor Christie in New Jersey essentially rape the state legislators who'd been bargaining in good faith on the budget there. The rules have changed, kids; there's no more trust and compromise to be had, only leverage and positioning!

Update: Quote of the day, on this:

"I'll take [Boehner/Cantor/Lannisters/Littlefinger] at his word!" I just realized: Obama negotiates like Ned Stark. Now, winter is coming.
- Kevin Murphy (kcm74 on Twitter)

Holy crap! Apt, and not at all funny...
(RT'd by Medley)

A river of summer stones

2011-07-05T13:41:00.007-04:00

Making a go of July at the second iteration of this project. Will see how well I can remember to stay attuned, and how my glimpses are different in summer than in winter.

Day 2: a pleasantly cool morning
soft breeze in the trees and against the skin
from the rooftops, sparrows shout back and forth
as if energized to get things underway
Day 3: reading aloud;
she scoots closer
for the scary part
Day 4: patio grilling ---
the shared relief
as the A/C compressor goes off

Have some fun this weekend!

2011-07-01T12:22:00.002-04:00

Whether success or failure: the truth of a life really has little to do with its quality. The quality of life is in proportion, always, to the capacity for delight. The capacity for delight is the gift of paying attention.
- May Sarton
Twi Chi

(via whiskey river)

Thursday link-dump

2011-06-30T16:50:00.006-04:00

Accidental free-time this afternoon! Let's get some recent infuriators out of the tab-heap! (with apologies for how old some of these are...)

Your iPhone is tracking your movements. No really, and there seems to be no workaround.
Edit: since this was discovered, it's been fixed in an operating system patch, so if you're updating, you should be ok. reminder to stay alert!
Authorities finally admit that all three reactors at Fukushima melted down -- honesty is good but doesn't really help with damage mitigation...
DHS documents show agency isn't sure pornoscanners are safe -- but really, everything is fine! don't look over here!!
This is what happens when we don't vaccinate -- outbreaks, at huge public cost
Why A Power Of Attorney Is No Substitute For Marriage When A Loved One Is In The Hospital -- imagine not being able to hold a loved one's hand in their final hours, because paperwork was being investigated several states away
CHART: Bush Policies Dominant Cause Of National Debt -- those tax cuts have cost us more than our economic woes + ongoing Middle East wars combined!
Chart Of The Day: For American Workers, No Economic Recovery -- suck it up, peons!!
Schumer: Republicans’ ‘Slash-And-Burn’ Policies May Be Effort To Sabotage Economy -- win the election at the cost of the economy! sigh.
Medicaid a Big Deal Too -- people forget how much of the elder population relies on Medicaid when nursing home time comes
Tipping point for severe climate change already reached -- well THAT's not good news!
Wonkbook: What a Nobel prize won’t get you -- apparently a label of "qualified" from the U.S. Senate
Hollerin’ Season -- what it's like to be subjected to sexual harrassment (or steeled against it) everywhere you go
The Women Men Won't See -- an amazing story of a female comics enthusiast being treated like she literally isn't present in the store
Is Roe safe? Absolutely not. -- not a good time for complacency
Common Hour: The Promise and Perils of Hook-Up Culture (video) -- in some ways reassuring, but paints a deeply depressing image of sexual relations on campuses today
The Secret History of Iraq’s Invisible War -- an amazing story of immense financial investment into fancy technology to counter low-tech methods of terrorist assault
Afghanistan, the Barking Dog -- a great visual summary of our flailings there

I think he didn't like them

2011-06-28T11:33:00.004-04:00

Wow, this boing boing product review is a brilliantly artistic reaming of a terrible product (LED "candles"), which the author felt required somber background music and deep, grievious disappointment.

To call these candles at all is an insult to every pig that died to yield the tallow fat that lit the literary and creative endeavors of mankind up until the electric era.

Worth a listen. I have yet to find any lamp-like LED product that didn't make me feel this way; there are some tragically appealing but useless stone garden lights in my furnace closet as prime examples...

Today's Twitter funny...

2011-06-27T22:13:00.001-04:00

It doesn't TAKE all kinds. We just HAVE all kinds.
alittlepregnant

(via Medley)

Why I love heritage tomatoes

2011-06-22T13:49:00.003-04:00

But really, reading Why Supermarket Tomatoes Suck makes me want to skip tomatoes altogether from October through May...(sob)

It is more profitable for them and their large fast food and supermarket customers to handle and sell tomatoes that are harvested in two or three passes when they are green, indestructibly hard, and impeccably smooth skinned and have a couple of weeks of shelf life ahead of them. Taste does not enter the equation. "No consumer tastes a tomato in the grocery store before buying it. I have not lost one sale due to taste," one grower said. "People just want something red to put in their salad."

Ack! Gotta get a garden plot up and running!

Not always what you imagine

2011-06-20T23:38:00.002-04:00

Here are some misconceptions about introverts that resonate with me -- that's right, nay-sayers, I am a person who dances, jokes, and makes small-talk, but actually recharges while in woods, reading, or by myself. Yes, high-school interviewer, the answer is "introvert" -- thanks for not waiting for an answer! Anyway, it's useful to see these laid out...

(via kottke)

Friday baby-blogging: Summer frolics edition

2011-06-17T14:07:00.003-04:00

Finally some new kid pictures, yay!

Ran into an old gym class pal at the playground...

Much watery frolic ensued (complete with cute ball-sharing and hops)...

This one looks innocuous, but the thing here is that Speck is driving --
she's a regular master of the mouse as of the last couple of weeks!

Rip van Sullivan startles to life

2011-06-17T12:38:00.005-04:00

Andrew Sullivan notices that the Republican Party has left him (and rationality) behind:

On these terms, today's GOP could not be less conservative. I'd insist it's less conservative than Obama. It does not present reality-based reform for emergent problems. It simply reiterates dogma and ruthlessly polices dissent or debate.

I don't know what it will take to undermine the ascendancy of the Tea Partiers and other frothy right-wingers, but I hope that some sanity can return before they drive our country to financial ruin and the loss of any moral authority that our national ideals once gave us.

No really, we were trying to find him too!

2011-06-16T09:15:00.001-04:00

Apparently Pakistan is rounding up the informants who helped the CIA locate bin Laden, and their fate is unknown. But these guys are our friends, right?

Link dump: Cheerful edition

2011-06-15T21:51:00.011-04:00

Fascinations:

Ever wonder where your tax dollars go? Enter a few numbers and find out using this spiffy White House form.
Vitamin Poppers May Make Less Healthful Choices -- got my healths all covered now!
(In)(di)visibility -- a fascinating exploration of differences in how we treat people relative to "failings" that they can be "blamed for" (e.g., weight) versus those they "can't help" (e.g., autism) and what it says about those doing the judging.
But for most of us, achieving the state expected of us wouldn’t just be a matter of trying, it would be the equivalent of earning a Ph.D. in astrophysics while simultaneously working swing shift as a police officer and raising triplets as a single parent — and we’d never get to stop. Maybe someone can actually do this, but expecting it to be a routine occurrence is, frankly, an expectation not supported by existing evidence.
When Did You Know Your Gender? -- another of those questions (like "when did you choose to be straight?") that make you rethink your assumptions/privilege.
How Teens Understand Privacy -- as a much more subtle and multifaceted matter than we tend to give them credit for!
Lost in Translation -- the experience of taking on something new, mastering it (you think), gaining humility, and learning some more... Funny and insightful.
Top Ten Myths About the Brain

Amusements and cheer:

A Texas letter-to-the-editor asks why we don't hold politicians to results standards like we use to "motivate" teachers (among other philosophical musings).
Translation of General Misogyny to Uncomfortable Truth -- a web screed "translated" to expose its blindness to white male privilege. Full of truth and satisfyingly snarky along the way.
Ben Greenman’s Museum of Silly Charts -- priceless!
Books - That is exactly how they work -- a picture that captures the joy of reading.
Unsuck It -- business jargon unpacked (and served with a side of snark).
Is it possible that the national mind is open to the factual delusion of the Republican party? One can only hope...
Speaking of which, Schumer To House GOP: You Still Own Your Vote To Privatize Medicare -- I hope they follow through!
10 Modern Movies That Are Better in Black and White -- fun to watch, for the visuals and for the snippets of movies you loved or never saw.
'No Homework' Debate Finds Support In New Jersey -- we gotta do something to find a balance for our kids!

Just plain awesome:: An amazing collaboration between Yo-Yo Ma and dancer Lil Buck -- Ma just keeps on pushing the boundary of where people think a classical cello should go. This is lovely and joyous.

Poem of the day

2011-06-14T15:38:00.001-04:00

You, as you are, you're just right.
Your parents, your children, your daughter-in-law, your grandchildren,
they are, all for you, just right.

Happiness, unhappiness, joy and even sorrow,
for you, they are just right.

The life that you tread is neither good nor bad.
For you, it is just right.
Whether you go to hell or to the Pure Land,
wherever you go is just right.

Nothing to boast about, nothing to feel bad about,
nothing above, nothing below.

Even the day and month that you die,
even they are just right.
- fragment of a Shin Buddhist poem in Taitetsu Unno's book,
River of Fire, River of Water

(via whiskey river)

Where tribute ends and remake begins...

2011-06-14T10:27:00.003-04:00

Have been listening to Lady Gaga recently, and I like her stuff very much, but it's impossible to have been a teen in the 1980s and not hear classic/early Madonna in many of her songs (as well as influences from other stars of a similar era). I picked up that the bridge in Born This Way was a hat-tip to Vogue, but I had no idea that the parallels ran this close; give anything 30 years and it's new again, in the right hands at least. More power to her for having learned the right lessons from that previous incarnation -- boppin' pop + continually repackaged outrageousness can make for serious longevity!

Graphical good taste

2011-06-12T23:27:00.002-04:00

I tend to an excess of seriousness in picking my wines, but am in no way above appreciation of this categorization of wine labels as an alternative way to make sense of the crowded shelves. Hilarious (and not without truth)!

The air's just fine where I am!

2011-06-07T10:19:00.004-04:00

I'm pretty much just going to cut and paste from Atrios about the state of our economy and the lassitude (or stupidity) in dealing with it:

The overall May 2011 unemployment rate still hovered around 9% and the rates for African Americans (16.2%) and Latinos (11.9%) were even higher, not to mention the youth unemployment rate (24.2%). But guess what the most relevant rate for those Washington insiders themselves might be? Probably the rate for individuals over 25 with at least a bachelor's degree.

Now that was a relatively puny 4.5% in May. Which explains why the Village can concentrate on worrying about the deficits.

Deficits, schmeficits. We need to do something to create jobs -- short-term, long-term, make-work, whatever -- before the bottom really falls out of things. When 60% of the unemployed have been out for more than 6 months, you're looking at a huge swath of people just giving up...

Peaceful stimuli for a Friday afternoon

2011-06-03T14:36:00.003-04:00

Two bits that are pretty neat:

A video montage of images and short clips that make neat visual or intellectual pairings. I don't want to spoil it for you by saying more...
(via dooce)
Similar but different, out-of-phase pendulums make a constantly varying and remarkably beautiful set of patterns. Almost poetic.

Have a good weekend, all!

When logic and selflessness meet

2011-06-02T12:53:00.002-04:00

This is pretty touching: some elderly Japanese former engineers have volunteered to clean up the contaminated nuclear reactor, sparing the futures of the young people who would otherwise do the work. I can hardly begin to respond to this...

Filthy hippies proved right again

2011-05-31T14:30:00.004-04:00

That is, cell phones may well increase cancer risk -- not enough data to confirm, but enough to flag as a concern. Now who's paranoid?

Update: boing boing points out that there's actually no new information here, just a legalistic designation. So ignore the whole thing, I guess, or continue as you were...

Tunes

2011-05-30T14:50:00.004-04:00

Enjoyed this video survey of people's listening habits, in part because my brand new iPod has made me think about my dissipated listening habits and more curious about how others fill their audio time. But also, the video captures an interesting mix of people and musical types, and it's hard not to see it as a reflection of how fractured and complex the space of musical possibilities has become, when one might recognize only a small percentage of what was being enjoyed by folks walking on the street next to you.

Working blind

2011-05-26T13:15:00.002-04:00

I think that the Patriot Act is a pretty grim document, so I'm more than unnerved to hear that the government has a secret interpretation of that legislation that expands its reach beyond what the public realizes. I'm sure that massive data-sifting feeds into how intelligence agencies think they'll foresee terrorist activities, but the dangers it raises for average citizens are not at all trivial...

Quotes of the day (aging-related)

2011-05-26T11:58:00.003-04:00

Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won't either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself you tasted as many as you could.
- Louise Erdrich

I have learned to be happy where I am. I have learned that locked within the moments of each day are all the joys, the peace, the fibers of the cloth we call life. The meaning is in the moment. There is no other way to find it. You feel what you allow yourself to feel, each and every moment of the day.
- Russ Berrie

You have used up the years and they have used up you, and still, and still, you have not written the poem.
- Borges

(via whiskey river)

It's not just me!

2011-05-23T12:31:00.004-04:00

Man, it's hard to get a key to work decently in our front-door lock. Turns out that copying is even worse that I expected -- the photo makes it clear that by a half-dozen copies you're not even dealing with the same key any more! I suspect that ours are all at least third-generation at this point (although presumably *somebody* that we know has the original)...

Link dump: Latest outrages and frustrations

2011-05-20T21:08:00.007-04:00

Man, most of these deserve a freestanding post, dissection, pull-quotes... but it's just not going to happen. Here's a heap of things that just make me want to cry in a darkened room (or maybe bite somebody).

School Officials Often React Poorly to Student Suicides, Experts Say -- many of the classic actions to help the community mourn actually glorify the act of suicide and encourage others to consider it (!)
Why Do Americans Pay More For Healthcare? -- summarized in visual form, and likely not the reasons you may have been told...
Eight facts and three thoughts about Social Security -- also not what tends to get discussed, but important facts and conclusions here
Cartoon: The Wage Gap and Women’s Choices -- seems so obvious, but...
South Dakota Banning Abortion Without Banning Abortion?
Scott Walker wants you to die alone if you married the wrong person -- to whom else can this putz flip the bird?
Top Doctors Opt Out of Airport Security Scans -- make of it what you will
Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill compared lawmakers trying to block raising the debt ceiling to "al Qaeda terrorists."
CBO: GOP Budget Would Increase Debt, Then Stick It To Medicare Patients
Reading Is Fundamental Funding Eliminated -- and this one is already done
Barbour Says Everyone In Mississippi Has Access To Health Care -- But 18% Are Uninsured -- yes, folks, these are your elected representatives!
Poll: Miss. Republicans think inter-racial marriage should be illegal -- I'm constantly amazed to learn what decade/century we live in...
How Quickly We Forget -- race isn't the only thing driving right-wing fervor against Obama
He Won -- bin Laden, that is; we've sold our liberties for "security" in too many ways...
To *enter* the post office in downtown Athens, US Marshals are demanding photo ID -- what on earth?!?

Quote of the day

2011-05-20T10:32:00.002-04:00

An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.
- G. K. Chesterton

(via riskywiver)

No plastic at all?

2011-05-19T13:02:00.005-04:00

Have been driven to action by this study, which indicates that it's not really safe to store any of your food or drinks in any kind of plastic.

The researchers were able to measure some type of estrogenic chemical leaching from roughly 95 percent of all the plastics tested, including 100 percent of the food wraps and 98 percent of the plastic bags. Even when the plastics were unstressed and just exposed to various solutions, they still leached estrogenic chemicals.

Am trying to find glass or stainless steel alternatives to our mishmash of plastic containers, while also factoring in the need for unbreakable toddler options and leakproof lunch solutions. Looks like a pretty big project, but I expect to have many decades yet in which my body can thank me...

Quote of the day (Twitter edition)

2011-05-17T22:27:00.002-04:00

Since the media is so stuck on the passive-aggressive phrase "openly gay", can we also get them to use "current wife" for politicians?
- urbanbohemian (Brian Gray)

(via nowthis)

A little quiet here...

2011-05-16T14:31:00.001-04:00

...because we have a significant local election tomorrow. (Speck helped us slide lit under doors yesterday!) I have many links queued up for dumpage here, so presume I'll get to them later this week.

Without past, without conscience...

2011-05-11T19:58:00.001-04:00

The modern GOP: I just can't decide whether they think playing with fire is harmless or just don't understand our nation's history and principles. Sure, an amendment like this is pretty much dead on arrival, but what does it even say to propose such a thing? (and every such proposal, of course, makes it more imaginable in the future...)

Poem of the day

2011-05-10T10:28:00.002-04:00

Advice to Myself

Leave the dishes.
Let the celery rot in the bottom drawer of the refrigerator
and an earthen scum harden on the kitchen floor.
Leave the black crumbs in the bottom of the toaster.
Throw the cracked bowl out and don't patch the cup.
Don't patch anything. Don't mend. Buy safety pins.
Don't even sew on a button.
Let the wind have its way, then the earth
that invades as dust and then the dead
foaming up in gray rolls underneath the couch.
Talk to them. Tell them they are welcome.
Don't keep all the pieces of the puzzles
or the doll's tiny shoes in pairs, don't worry
who uses whose toothbrush or if anything
matches, at all.
Except one word to another. Or a thought.
Pursue the authentic - decide first
what is authentic,
then go after it with all your heart.
Your heart, that place
you don't even think of cleaning out.
That closet stuffed with savage mementos.
Don't sort the paper clips from screws from saved baby teeth
or worry if we're all eating cereal for dinner
again. Don't answer the telephone, ever,
or weep over anything at all that breaks.
Pink molds will grow within those sealed cartons
in the refrigerator. Accept new forms of life
and talk to the dead
who drift in though the screened windows, who collect
patiently on the tops of food jars and books.
Recycle the mail, don't read it, don't read anything
except what destroys
the insulation between yourself and your experience
or what pulls down or what strikes at or what shatters
this ruse you call necessity.
- Louise Erdrich
Original Fire: Selected and New Poems

(via whiskey river)

Planes, trains, and automobiles

2011-05-10T09:08:00.001-04:00

Really, with regard to making train security as stupid as plane security, I agree with Atrios. Even in the abstract this makes no sense.

Awesome

2011-05-08T13:03:00.002-04:00

Reflections on Mother's Day, from a mother to those she's raising. So much loving, so much letting go...

(via Free Range Kids)

To Speck at 38 months

2011-05-07T15:22:00.003-04:00

Wow, hard to believe that 6 months have sneaked by, but I seem to have the list of new developments to support it. Most obvious to the casual observer is that you've become a creator of games -- crawling or slithering across the floor, jumping down the stairs ("don't touch!"), making up rules for kicking and chasing a ball outdoors (even if not always followable by mortal parents), and inventing other silliness on the fly. You love to pop any bubblewrap that crosses your path (initially it took great zen-like concentration, but recently you discovered the destructive power of dancing across a sheet of the stuff on your heels!). And you craftily substitute a triumphant raspberry for the occasional good-night kiss, much to your own amusement.

Language continues to be your unparalleled forte, wowing your teachers with your fluency and continually surprising us with your dexterity and variety of words. There are still plenty of signs of Work in Progress -- most notable is that as you began to give some common words their full three syllables, they didn't always end up in the right place ("beanna," "amitals," and "elphantant" are the most notable). But you've picked up on the family game of substituting topical lyrics into familiar songs (especially anything that can be sung to the theme of "Maisy"), and you like to make up your own words for things (like "cun") and ask for them to be worked into books that are read to you (a challenge to tired parents!). Further, there are *many* signs that you are hungry to be able to read: you want to take your turn at "reading" favorite books aloud, sometimes riffing on the images and other times working in turns of phrase from the original text; you recognize all the names in Winnie the Pooh, and can integrate them smoothly into your concoctions when you read those tales to us; and you are picking out more and more individual words (apparently deciding for yourself the controversy between word-recognition and phonetics modes of learning).

There are things we have enjoyed less: a period when you wanted us to read you one book while you flipped through another; the congealing of the frog nap game into a sort of running discipline proxy battle; a rise in violent rhetoric, including threats to "chop you up to bits" (or "make a mama-loaf") or "throw you out of the house"; elaborate rituals of reverse psychology, as when every peanut-butter sandwich had to be accompanied by great shows of longing from Mom, combined with "you missed your chance" taunts; and a return of biting, most dismaying at times when it arose in a context of snuggling and affection. I guess we're getting resigned to the idea that such things are never a phase that is truly past, just a cycle that comes and goes, and to trying to find the connection even amidst the exhaustion and conflict.

Meantime, you've learned to use scissors with amazing success, took a few months of swimming instruction that got you from terrified clinger to confident and cheerful kicker, learned to carry on a nearly functional phone conversation (and became obsessed with same), and decided that 45 is your favorite number (45 minutes also acts as your definition of Nearly Forever). And you expressed your first bit of night fear, talking about "blue dots" that could only be kept at bay by a nightlight.

You like to laugh at the idea that Mom had your bear Tsah (a little battered these days) on a shelf for many years without realizing how special she was. Have no worries for yourself on that front; whatever the challenges, your parents are completely enchanted with you, your explorations, and your crazed giggles. Looking forward to more!

Krugman and what it means to be liberal

2011-05-06T13:11:00.004-04:00

I greatly enjoyed this New York Magazine piece on Paul Krugman and his policy critiques of the current and previous administrations. I have much admired Krugman's work at the Times and online, and tend to agree with the way that he would like to see things pushed, so it was nice to see how he arrived at some of his arguments, and some push-back from those who disagree. Am amused by the description of Krugman as the "leading exponent of a kind of liberal purism against which the compromises of the White House might be judged," but we have so few audible voices on the actual left that he indeed has come to fill that role.

If you arranged members of Congress from left to right based on how they voted on welfare-state issues—Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance—it turned out that this left-to-right axis could predict every other vote: On Iraq expenditures, on abortion, whatever. “When you realize the fundamental divide in U.S. politics is just this one-dimensional thing, and that is how you feel about the welfare state,” Krugman says, “that changes things.”

We have so little basis anymore for discussion of class issues or the value of the welfare state that we seem to be pulled hither and thither by the proposals of conservatives, unable to rally the public to a wider defense on the basis of values arguments. Perhaps we can find our way back, and along the way help Krugman feel less alone...

Before and After

2011-05-03T12:53:00.002-04:00

Yeah, 9/11 was ten years ago, blah blah, but still this blows me away. It's just hard to imagine that kids could be so inculcated with the mystique of 9/11 without knowing anything about Bin Laden and Al Quaeda...

Cranky instincts of millions of parents confirmed

2011-05-03T10:52:00.001-04:00

Lack of Sleep May Lead to Brain Aging

(via Follow Me Here)

Quote/poem of the day

2011-05-02T13:44:00.003-04:00

To This May

They know so much more now about
the heart we are told but the world
still seems to come one at a time
one day one year one season and here
it is spring once more with its birds
nesting in the holes in the walls
its morning finding the first time
its light pretending not to move
always beginning as it goes
- W. S. Merwin

(via whiskey river)

Some subset of missions accomplished, anyway

2011-05-02T09:43:00.005-04:00

I will admit I never really expected to see this headline, let alone in Obama's first term. After ten years, it almost feels more like an anticlimax than a victory. (At least to me; the surreal crowds in D.C. and NYC apparently think otherwise.) Ok, then, let's bring home all those troops wasting time in Afghanistan and Iraq, 'kay?

(It's also worth noting that this was a victory for old-fashioned intelligence and human ops, none of this data-sifting and drones. Imagine!)

Friday baby-blogging

2011-04-29T13:59:00.003-04:00

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!

Obligatory pic in Easter finery, although I missed the cute egg-hunting action shots...

Not an Easter egg, but a giant "dinosaur egg" at the zoo playhouse.

Apparently a froggy gullet is an ok place to be...

Poor widdle corporations

2011-04-28T10:01:00.002-04:00

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)

A playground for grown-ups!

2011-04-27T10:19:00.001-04:00

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)

Link dump: parenting-related

2011-04-26T16:46:00.003-04:00

Arranged loosely by age of child...

Enough With the Breast-feeding Wars!
It's a measure of how crazed we have become on this topic that just saying, "It's not such a big deal!" is a big deal. Our culture is hung up on mama's milk, and the undercurrent is: Why should anyone consider what is best for the mom when the baby's whole future is at stake?
If only sanity had a chance!
Why Preschool Shouldn't Be Like School -- figuring things out trumps having it explained every time. More in a similar vein: Let Preschoolers Play!
Stealing from Kids, Part II -- we can't forget to teach minimal self-sufficiency.
A mom comes up with a project in which her kids can earn badges for mastering skills around the house, from pumping up a tire to sewing to reading a map. Fun and empowering!!
Mother of all recessions -- finances are forcing some women off the "mommy track" and back into the workforce, which may be just as well... (a friend of mine is quoted here! :)
Outrage of the Week: Mandatory Fingerprinting for Little League Vols
Slut-Shaming on the Playground -- it's never too early to counter antifeminist memes
TEDxObserver talk on kids and privacy -- Cory Doctorow reassures and challenges parents whose kids are online.
Suicide-Proof Your Teen (as Much as You Can)

Not what you'd like to see reported

2011-04-25T14:09:00.004-04:00

...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 giggles

2011-04-22T10:31:00.003-04:00

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

Putting kids in perspective

2011-04-21T22:24:00.002-04:00

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...

Quote of the day

2011-04-19T13:38:00.004-04:00

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)

Keep saying it until we no longer have to

2011-04-15T13:00:00.004-04:00

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)

Just Between Strangers

To Speck, within sight of 4 years old

Quote of the day

Minds ranging through the universe

Grimly apt

Now THIS is how a new year should start!!

Tweet of the day

Wacky idea of the day

Holiday cheer

Quote of the day

Taking the long view

Widespread frustration

Ouch

Tuesday kid-blogging

Quote of the day

Occupy is not "visit"

Planning ahead

Friday frolics

Pumpkin silliness

Quote of the day

Making the right people nervous

GOP horse race

The people are speaking

Mr. Rogers

Wednesday giggle

Tuesday baby-blogging

Thought for the day

To hell in a handbasket

Say it ain't so

Maybe I'm just grumpy

Quote of the day

Who we became over the last 10 years

About my feeling

Shameless

Seems obvious but it's not

Thought of the day

Best website ever?

Belated stones of July

Warren "no-B.S." Buffet

Monday kid-blogging: Action edition

Poem of the day

Making a mess that can't be cleaned up?

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

Link dump: We can all use some cheery distraction edition

Twitter quote of the day

Quote of the day, soulless edition

It's rare that I think that the Chamber of Commerce is with the white hats

I blame Speck

The criminalization of caring

Quote of the day

Wake up and smell the crazy

Parenting-related link-dump

WTF?!?

Friday kid-blogging

Bring back the jedi master!

A river of summer stones

Have some fun this weekend!

Thursday link-dump

I think he didn't like them

Today's Twitter funny...

Why I love heritage tomatoes

Not always what you imagine

Friday baby-blogging: Summer frolics edition

Rip van Sullivan startles to life

No really, we were trying to find him too!

Link dump: Cheerful edition

Poem of the day

Where tribute ends and remake begins...

Graphical good taste

The air's just fine where *I* am!

Peaceful stimuli for a Friday afternoon

When logic and selflessness meet

Filthy hippies proved right again

Tunes

Working blind

Quotes of the day (aging-related)

It's not just me!

Link dump: Latest outrages and frustrations

Quote of the day

No plastic at all?

The air's just fine where I am!