Bloggerhood Etc. 6/1/15

Second Battle of the Virginia Capes by V. Zveg (1962).

After a few weeks off (thanks to a stubborn chest cold), here is the best of the last twenty one days (give or take).

Best Dad Post. “Why I Want My Daughter to Curse” by Lorne Jaffe at Mighty.

Best List. “4 Signs Your Baby is Ready for Solid Foods” by Alice Callahan at Science of Mom.

Best Confession. “We Quit Our Jobs” by Liz von Ehrenkrook at So I Married a Youth Pastor.

Best Transition Post. “Commencing” by Cara Strickland at Little Did She Know. 

Most Surprising. “For One Irish Couple, Backing Gay Marriage Is a Matter of Family Values” by Hanna Ingber at The New York Times.

Best Commentary. “When Mean, Scared, Scary People Have Stolen My Jesus” by John Pavlovitz.

Best Special Needs Post. “A Writer in the Family” by Robert Rummel-Hudson at Support for Special Needs.

Geekiest Post. “On the Taxonomy of Spaceships” by Hageshii01 at Critical Sh*t.

Best Question. “What’s in a Name?” by Andee Zomerman.

Best Insight. “It’s a Good Life” by Alise Chaffins at Knitting Soul.

Best Parody. “The Kevin Smith Blog” by Glove and Boots (via YouTube).

To catch up on the great posts I’m reading online and to get a sneak preview of future candidates, check out my Around the Blogosphere board on Pinterest.

Bloggerhood Etc. 10/28/13

A lot to choose from this week leads to an extra-long list. Think of it as a top ten (plus one) in no particular order.

Most Honest. “Famous brands updated with honest taglines [21 pictures]” at 22 Words. Featuring the above logo and 21 others. How many times have I burned my mouth on one of those things?

Smelliest. “Axes of Evil: What happens when a grown woman wears Axe fragrance for an entire week?” by Dalia Lithwick at Slate. I can almost smell it through the screen.

Best Sports Essay. “The March Toward Midnight” by Craig Fehrman at SB Nation. We all love the “Cinderella story,” but not all Cinderella’s are created equal.

Coolest Invention. “Say hello to a radically redesigned cello — with optical effects” by Tim Hornyak at CNET. I want to see—and hear—this instrument play. Anything but Pachelbel’s canon.

Best Dad Post. “Tears of our Fathers” by Dad on the Run. A great review of the 2013 At-Home Dads Convention.

Best Followup. “Map: Six Decades of the Most Popular Names for Boys, State-by-State” by Reuben Fisher-Baum at Jezebel. After last weeks map and this one, I find myself wondering how many 90s wedding invitations read …

You are cordially invited to celebrate the wedding of

Jennifer ______

and

Michael ______

(Please fill in the last names before printing)

Best Photoblog. “This Is The Stuff Nightmares Are Made Of. And Most Of It’s On You Right Now” at ViralNova. Actually quite beautiful and not really nightmarish, except for this …

AAAAAH!!!

Biggest Rout (EVER). “Breaking Madden: The Buccaneers and their 44 Greg Schianos” by Jon Bois at SB Nation.

Challenge extended …

@jon_bois I still think you need to have the bucs play with 22 schianos at some point tho, since what their situation needs is Greg schiano.

— Tim Cottrell (@timcottrell7782) October 8, 2013

Challenge accepted.

22? Eh, let’s double it.

Most Thought Provoking. “Those People” by Jennifer Ball at Scary Mommy. Some of us have been “those people” at one time or other. And if what Jesus said is true, he is “those people.”

Most Heartbreaking. “A Man Chronicles His Wife’s Battle with Cancer in Heartbreaking Photographs” by Katy Waldman in Slate. October isn’t just about fighting breast cancer or celebrating survivors. It’s also a time to remember those we’ve lost.

Best Video. “How Many Countries Are There?” by C.G.P. Grey (via YouTube). A great geography lesson with no easy answer.

Bloggerhood Etc. 10/21/13

Photo: Randy Curioso

Best of the week, starting with two posts on an overblown, media-manufactured controversy that won’t go away …

Best Question. “While We’re Objecting to ‘Redskins,’ Shouldn’t Oklahoma Change Its Name, Too?” by Sam Howell at RYOT.

It’s one thing for the Choctaw to have the term okla humma (red people), but isn’t it a bit crass for us to use that as a name for a state with, you know, red people we put there?

What kind of racist does that?

The red kind, actually.  It was the idea of Allen Wright, a Choctaw chief, during treaty negotiations.

As an ofay of suspect ethnic pedigree, who am I question a Choctaw chief?

Or me? Or anyone else for that matter?

Best Answer. “Why the Washington Redskins Name Should Stay ‘As Is’” by Deon Rhode at No Socks and Flip Flops.

Most Natives don’t care. Like 80-90% don’t care, according to whichever set of data you look at. In fact, my own polling of people when I find out that they’re of Native decent gave me a 100% ‘IDGAF’ response. (It should be noted, however, that the number of people polled in my survey is no larger than 5.) Not only do many Natives not care about the name, a large percentage of them view the name as a badge of honor – probably a larger percentage than those who are offended.

And if they’re not offended, who am I to say they should be?

Followed by two great parenting posts …

Best Dad Post. “An Everyday Dad Job Description” by Thomas Blevins at Elevate Dads.

Mr. Dude walks up and says, “Hi.”
I shake his hand and say, “Hello”
Mr. Dude smiles and says, “So what do you do?

He goes on to list all the jobs done by an “everyday dad,” from “Superhero” to “Tooth Fairy” and a whole lot more!

Best Mom Post.“16 and driving – My twins and I Navigating the Doubly Exhilarating World of Independence” by Cornelia Becker Seigneur.

My twins are 16. Oh my. Wow, and double wow.

They grow up too damn fast!

Two amazing kids …

Most Amazing Kid (West Coast). “RB girl, 10, wins $50,000 peace prize” by Pam Kragen in The San Diego Union-Tribune.

RANCHO BERNARDO — When Kathleen and Bob Carscadden of Rancho Bernardo traveled to China five years ago to adopt their daughter, Jessica, they carried along a photo of the special-needs orphan clinging tightly to a borrowed teddy bear.

Last week, 10-year-old Jessica was awarded a $50,000 Peace First prize for her homegrown public service project that offers other lonely children a teddy bear when they’re most in need.

Quite an achievement!

Most Amazing Kid (Back East). “Out-of-Towners: One young visitor reaped huge reward from a giant duck” by Sarah Armbrust in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

People seemed surprised that we had traveled all the way from Texas to see the rubber duck. In some ways, I was also surprised, but under the persistent urging of my 9-year-old daughter, we came.

A brave girl with an immune deficiency who traveled all the way to Pittsburgh because she loves rubber ducks. One child, fighting for her life and driven by hope.

And three more, just for fun …

Best Photoblog. “Photos: When L.A.’s Most Famous Streets Were Dirt Roads” by Nathan Masters at KCET.org.

Photo: Los Angeles Public Library Collection

Most Mesmerizing Animated Graphic. “Map: Six Decades of the Most Popular Names for Girls, State-by-State” by Reuben Fisher-Baum at Jezebel.

Image: Jezebel

Best Video. “Tips for Surviving, Monsters!” by Glove and Boots (via YouTube).

“The comma truly is the game-changer of the punctuation world!”