It wouldn't kill you to skip a day

I participated in a lively discussion about showering today on a friend's Facebook page.
What struck me the most about it was not the whole back-and-forth of how often it's appropriate to shower, but how many of the posters considered a daily (or even twice daily) shower as a necessity. And how very arrogant and wasteful that is.
There are places, even in our own nation, where water is a precious commodity, but some of us treat it as if it were unlimited and all ours. Even though our pocket of the world is not suffering from drought, doesn't mean that we should treat water so cavalierly. We are all interconnected and water is valuable whether you have a little or a lot.

The pits

Should we start a trend? If we already found our life mate, do we still have to shave? Or not shave?

"But is it time for female underarm hair to make its triumphant return?" asks the Internet. The link includes a brief history of underarm shaving including the fun fact that we women have only been shaving our pits for the past 100 years. (Happy century of hairless armpits!)

It's alive!

Friend and fellow-blogger, Kim got me thinking about hoarding today. I think I am pretty good about hoarding. Not great, but I tend to toss things more than keep them.
(Except shoes. But, really, everyone needs seven pairs of black shoes because you have the casual boot, the dressy boot, the bootie, the casual sandal, the dressy sandal, the standard pump, and the ballet flat. They all serve different purposes. Now, if I had EIGHT pairs of black shoes, you could call me frivolous.)
I've come to the realization that I also have a hard time tossing plants. I'm not attached to them, I just feel guilty for throwing away something that is alive.

Girl power

Yesterday was International Women's Day (That's right, ladies! A whole DAY!) where the world is supposed to celebrate the "economic, political and social accomplishments" of women. Google had a doodle. And there is an official website. Hilariously, the website features a short video spotlighting the Google doodle set to music. A man's music. internationalwomensday.com couldn't even be bothered to find a woman's music for their 1½ minute video.
IFLScience cited some amazing women you never knew. Learn more here.

Update: if you're on other social media platforms, check out the hashtag #womenyoushouldhaveheardof

Friday Sunday Book Blogging

I had a Friday Book Blog, but I've been fighting something nasty and didn't post it in time.
Here it is Sunday:
My favorite book this week was Murder at the Brightwell by Ashley Weaver. She isn't going to win any awards for detective fiction, but it was a fun read. Once a person has consumed all the Inter-War British period detective stories that were written contemporanously, one has to accept newer "historical" fictions. And since I'm all caught up on Charles Todd, Jacqueline Winspear, Laurie R. King, Anne Perry, Will Thomas, etc, etc, etc. I have to make due with new authors. I will allow that I liked the story and the characters have a lot of potential should she choose to make a series.

I only wish his apology had been more sincere

Much of the Interwebs were horrified by Don Lemon's interview with one of the alleged* victims of Bill Cosby alleged* rape. When he asked why she didn't fight back, he perpetuated the myth that victims of rape could somehow have stopped it, if only... .
The fact that much of Twitter and a host of other media outlets called him out on it was wonderful. 20 years ago, no one would have blinked at that line of questioning. That so many people see through this veiled attempt to blame the victim makes me hopeful.
One day we will live in a world where, if a person is raped, no one asks what she was wearing or why she didn't report it.






*legal term for "not proven in a court of law."

#YesAllWomen

While I was on break last week, a beautiful thing was born out of tragedy. For the first time ever, a hashtag is relevant and not completely useless. #YesAllWomen, when used correctly, conveys all of the small unpleasantries that all women encounter everyday as well as some of the larger, more heinous crimes.
The point (in case you missed it) is that, we know not all men are sociopathic violent douchebags, but all of us have to live in a world where those men exist and they look exactly like all the guys who aren't. The tweet about M&M's says it well:

If you haven't read some of the tweets, I encourage you to do so. Slate has also posted more than a few good articles. Here is one. Also check out this blog post in case you're still inclined to the "Hey! Not fair to men!" viewpoint. Or this one.
The reason I like this hashtag so much and why I think it is actually worthwhile is that it is providing some solidarity for women and a reality check for the men. Some of them might actually get it. And pass it on to their sons.
Some day, we may live in a world where, when reporting a sexual assault, the question of what the victim was wearing is NEVER asked. When we can walk to our cars alone at dusk without fear. When we can share an elevator with a male we don't know without discomfort. When we can decline a drink from a stranger at a bar without having to worry how he'll react. Or accept one without having to worry what he'll expect in return.

DeChief

For opening day this year my company allowed us to dress-down in Indians gear. As a protest against the offensive caricature of Chief Wahoo, on opening day I "deChiefed" an old shirt. 
And I tweeted it (Yes, I'm on Twitter too.) with the hashtag #deChief. It was inspired by a Twitter user @DeChiefWahoo and I think it's a great way to show that we like our baseball team but hate the racist grinning mascot.

Everyone who supports/loves Wahoo uses the same two arguments: 1. It's tradition. and 2. It's not offensive to me.
Listen: 1. Slavery was traditional once too. Just because your grandpa always said n*gger doesn't mean it's okay. And 2. Blackface minstrel shows weren't offensive to the crowds of white people in the audiences, but that doesn't make them acceptable.

Anyway, the point of this blog post is: after getting a couple of re-tweets and such, I got a request from ABC News to use the image. And it brought to my attention that I had not officially posted on my blog about my disgust of Wahoo. (All over Facebook, other people's blogs, but not here.)

Weird books

This is a cheater post, but I did want to share the wacky hijinks from Mental Floss. Some of these book titles make a bit of sense when you read the subtitle, see the cover art, or put them in context. But no matter what you do to it, How to Poo on a Date is just. NO.

Again Friday Book Blogging on a Sunday

Oooo. I'm getting lazy. And after reading blogs which have mentioned the importance of DOING (Thanks for kick in the pants, David and Toni for reminding me that I'm supposed to be writing and not thinking about writing.) I'm finally sitting down and tip-tapping out the weekly review.
Top honors go to Peter Turnbull's Gift Wrapped which was a thoroughly satisfying whodunit set in York, England and featuring the circumspect inspector Hennessey.
Beginning with an oddly concerned citizen and a batch of post cards, the Inspector and his team find three bodies and two murderers, but fail to catch the masterminds behind the mystery that started the whole investigation.

It's an honor just to be nominated.

I have been graciously nominated for a Liebster Award courtesy of a lovely anonymous poster and the Lobe Stir blog. They have asked that I answer the below questions.
*What is your writing routine/ritual like?
Every night before I go to bed, I write a blog post for the next morning. On nights that I'm grumpy or tired or both, the post for the following day sucks.

*What do you do when you get stuck?
Getting stuck means that I have to spend hours combing the Interwebs for fascinating stories that I can give my own pithy spin to. Or I look at LOLCats or someecards for 45 minutes of completely wasted time, and then write about my daughter moving out or my husband being genetically unable to throw anything away.

*What is your favorite sentence that you wrote this year?
I don't keep such close track of my sentences, but I do like my ability to create them. I'm relatively partial to the opening sentence here, but only in that I would love to win an award. Otherwise, at the risk of offending the judges with my ridiculously liberal views, I select this sentence:

 "The complete disconnect between the rabid defense of the 2nd Amendment by some Representatives coupled with the self-destructive desire to eliminate all government to the point where they no longer have jobs, and these same elected officials' desire to do everything in their power to regulate the minutiae of my reproductive cycle never strikes them as odd."

And most importantly:
*Do you know any good jokes?
No. I know some really bad ones, though. 

Cheating --->

I'm a little under the weather, so I'm using a cheater post. Read about the giant concrete arrows that march through the middle of our country.
(h/t to LSH)

Meteor

I told myself I was going to get out of bed before dawn to see the Perseids, but then I thought, "It's cloudy," and went back to sleep. Instead, I looked at some cool pictures that other people with not cloudy skies in far-away places took.

This is my favorite. Read about it here.

Trivia buff

My friend and fellow-blogger (who is one of the most supportive people I've ever met) is offering tickets to the upcoming movie "Copperhead" on her blog. I'm sure she wouldn't mind if you tossed your name into the hat, if you're interested. But that's not why I'm posting.
She has inadvertently tapped into one of my guilty pleasures: history trivia. I'm not a huge Civil War fanatic in that I don't visit battlefields (except Gettysburg on the 8th grade trip to Washington D.C.) or attend re-creations. I don't collect memorabilia or discuss it hours on end.
But I have read Shelby Foote's entire Civil War history. Twice. And watched the Ken Burns documentary at least three times. I've read other books on the war, but Foote's is amazingly well-written and thorough.
There are other periods of history, I find fascinating. And I read a lot of historical fiction, but for the sheer impact alone, the American Civil War holds a favored position with me. That said, I'm not sure I want to see the movie. And I'm really disappointed that the trivia quiz is the same 8 questions each time. It was hardly a challenge!

race fast safe car

Today is post 2002. (I have published 2002 posts since September of 2005!!!) Since it's not a word, it's technically not a palindrome, but still a cool number.
I've posted before about palindromes. Well. Once. They're the kind of word that makes me smile when I notice it, but I have always sucked at coming up with good ones. Or even mediocre ones.
Fortunately we have the Internet, where someone else will do it for us.

Pin it down

I have never had an interest to 'pin' and frankly, between this not-very-time-consuming blog and "catching up" on Facebook, I'm already spending too much time staring at a computer screen. Especially after a full day at work staring at a computer screen. So I haven't jumped on the Pintrest bandwagon, I've stayed out of my daughter's Tumblr, and I have no desire to tweet anything to the world.
But, as you may know, I read. And one of my favorite authors is Laurie R. King, especially her Mary Russell Holmes novels. I follow the author on Facebook where she posted about a fan/friend who had created Pins (pinups?) -whatever you create on Pintrest- for Ms. King's books. So I clicked along and I see the appeal of this site now. She has made mini-virtual-scrapbooks for each one of the novels pulling stock photos of settings, clothing, accessories, even moody atmospheric pics. These vignettes are all vintage since the novels are set in the 1910s thru 1920s and they set the tone of the books perfectly.
The books themselves are a treat, and these visuals are a bonus delight.

History of the world

I found a fun (to me) new (to me) history site, and predictably (to me) spent hours (literally) learning fascinating (to me) tidbits about my hometown. Many thanks to Case Western Reserve University for the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History.
And, should you ever have a burning desire to read about the 1836 Bridge War or the establishment of the second oldest shopping center in the United States, that's the place to do it.

This site reminded me of another old favorite, albeit with a broader subject. Eyewitness to History absolutely delivers the goods with eyewitness accounts of anything from the Capture of Jerusalem in 1099 to Picket's Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg.


If you like 80s pop music and history with a bit of humor in the mix, check out the historyteachers YouTube channel. The music videos are amusingly cheesy and briefly educational.

For history geeks like me, these places are a rabbit hole. (Be careful, if you visit, you will find yourself running as late as the white rabbit.)

Photograph

I  blogged about this in 2009.
National Geographic follows the very last roll of Kodachrome film ever as photographer Steve McCurry decides on a personal  way to say goodbye to an icon in the little goldenrod box.
His final 36 photographs can be seen here, but the National Geographic documentary tells of the journey each portrait represents.

Body beautiful

Perhaps this writing thing runs in families. Punkinhead has her own spot on the Interwebs (in that trendy teenage domain known as tumblr) where she posts a lot of nonsense just like her mom.
A ways back she posted about the new-ish trend in body image awareness.
Because most of us are on the chubby side of runway model body-type, we are embracing these new "I love women with curves" tweets and posts and tumblrs and reddits and blogthisoverandoveragains as a great step on the road to a redefinition of what is beautiful for the female body.
But there are downsides. One shared by Almie Rose (APOCALYPSTIK) posits that "When men say that they like, 'a woman with curves' what they mean is chest curves and ass curves. They don’t mean, 'Yes, please have a little tummy that spills over the top of your underwear.' They mean, 'I love big boobs.' They don’t mean, 'Girl, I love it when you gain 10 pounds and look 5 months pregnant.'" This is the smack in the face by reality for those of us who have that tummy. She's right. No matter who tells you that women with curves are beautiful, they are NOT talking about the kind of curves that become pouches where actual food particles can become trapped.
Conversely, Punkinhead, who truly weighs 90 pounds dripping wet, is feeling the sting because, as she says, "Reading all of these people saying skinny girls are ugly gives ME a complex. I know this is like the rich white man complaining about reverse racism, but sometimes this REALLY EATS AT ME. Sometimes I sit here in front of my computer shoveling food and soda into my mouth being like 'THE GUY OF MY DREAMS IS GONNA LIKE CURVY GIRLS. I’M SO SCREWED'"
 So our search for external validation continues and we continue to be disappointed and depressed and a little self-obsessed. All of which can be mitigated by never standing naked in front of a full-length mirror.

Top 10 Idle Musings of 2012

10. On moustaches and multi-syllabic words
 9. One of many on abortion
 8. The job of journalism
 7. A wikimaze (of course)
 6. Heat and self-reflection
 5. A little bit of 2nd Amendment
 4. Loafing around
 3. The stuffing wars continue
 2. Entitlement spending
 1. Squirrel Appreciation Day