Catching up on the blogging

To begin with, I need to share some of the amazing things I've seen recently while perusing the web.

Save Money
I usually don't enjoy things from Reader's Digest but this article had a few nice sites in it. I'd never heard of Jellyfish, meetup or some of the travel sites before. All those will be relevant shortly.

This article while not quite as helpful is... well I must have liked something about it when I bookmarked it.

Pictures from around the web
Mac users will understand this. If you're a windows user, pretend it says "ctrl" instead of the little flower picture.

I became a vegetarian when I was 12, although, I imagine if my mom ever gave me this, I would've been a vegetarian at a much younger age. It looks like it should taste good, but totally wouldn't.

Politics in the news
Reproductive rights haven't gotten a whole lot of play in this election cycle. However, some economist did some research and found out that if the elected official is a man, the more daughters he has, the more likely he is to vote "liberally" on reproductive rights. I wonder why that is.

I think my opinions on the current presidential administration is fairly clear. This article simply illustrates the point that there's always a little bit of good.... I think my feelings towards Africa are equally clear. While I'm not wild about this money being in a bill to continue the war in Iraq, I'm happy for anything that helps that part of the world. I'll just go ahead and think that's where all of my tax dollars are going.

Seriously, Why do people think a gas tax holiday is a good idea? If it's too expensive today, it'll be way too expensive tomorrow. Taking a holiday from the real price won't help when it's a commodity that we consume on such a regular basis.

Science in the news
I was at this training recently and the trainer said, "loosing weight isn't complicated, it's just hard". I think he was right, although this article takes it a step further which only makes it seem harder.

Mental stimulation is important as this article suggests although there have been several research studies saying things like that Nintendo DS game don't actually stimulate the brain in a way that would help the brain fight off Alzheimer's. Although it will stimulate the brain in a way that will ultimately cost money.

I'm mentioned the spinning dancer twice before here and here. Now, more on how the thing actually works.

This was an issue we grappled with often at my old job. Even once the teens I supervised learned the science well enough to explain it, they couldn't always convince the parents it was true or that they should care. You should care about science by the way.


For Kelly
A while ago, I talked with my friend Kelly about Del.icio.us which is one of my favorite websites ever. Initially when I started using the site, I was bummed that I couldn't assign web pages to various folders in a nice little tree. (I have to look at all these links every time?) Kelly experienced a similar initial discomfort. Shortly after starting to use the site, I fell in love with tags and now which Mac OS X allowed me to tag everything instead of those clunky old folders. So, when I found this post on Slashdot it seemed like a relevant topic.

For Amanda
See if this looks familiar.

From Around the Web
Best headline ever

Remember my month of not eating out? During that time I packed a lot of lunches. I wish I'd had this idea then. Even though I don't eat meat, I do sometimes freeze portions of the food I've made for later.

The only place whose liquor laws are more screwed up than my current home state. I remember the beer warehouses there. To curb drinking, beer must be purchased a case at a time. No, seriously.

Need a job? These guys are hiring. I'd recommend AmeriCorps, Peace Corps and Teach For America to just about anyone.