Friday, November 11, 2011

Best of the Week #38

Well I had a great week in the internet publishing world. First, on Monday my write-up, Survivors and Supporters Drawn to National Race to End Women’s Cancer 8K, was published on the Washington Running Report (and has been on their homepage all week).


And then my new work blog series (Enough 101) launched on Tuesday.


And then, dun dun dun, the Christian Science Monitor picked up my first Enough 101 post for their Africa Monitor Blog!!!


I love the Monitor -- the weekly printed edition is delivered to my house, and I grew up having the daily Monitor delivered to my house and fighting over the crossword puzzle with my Mama. And now I’m on their website – yay! :) 


My most popular post was Zingy Orange Ginger Cake. Oh man that was delicious! And would be a great spice cake sort of thing for holiday celebrations….yummm!




Ok, enough bragging. Let’s get down to Best of the Week.


This profile in the WaPo is about a ballerina who now decorates cakes. They’re gorgeous - I love this stained glass cake.




This video is hilarious:
Comedian and late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel issued a bold challenge to parents: Tell your children you ate all of their Halloween candy. And record the response.The result: A hilarious compilation of post-sugar high kids instantly mourning the loss of their Oct. 31 efforts.Kimmel admits he didn't expect so many kids to cry, and honestly, we didn't either. Yes, the trick's a little mean, but, you have to admit, it's pretty funny.


Random and interesting: Celebrating the hidden heroes of technology
When I asked Mr Hoppenbrouwers to choose his favourite products he plumped for the rawlplug, the coat-hanger, and the clothes peg - "like our product they are all very simple, very minimal but they carry a large weight".
A list of global food blogs – see if your country of interest is on there!

This video of Joan Benoit-Samuelson winning the first Olympic Women’s Marathon is awesome and inspirational. Did you know that my Mama ran in those Olympic Trials?




These amazing photos were taken by the Black Rhino Range Expansion Project, which seeks to relocate rhinos to less-populated parts of South Africa. They move the animals via helicopter airlift, a new, more humane transportation technique which is much faster, allowing the rhinos to remain anesthetized for a shorter period of time. The effect is breathtaking and odd — something straight out of a Terry Gilliam movie.




This series of photos, In pictures: Mali celebrates African photographers, is beautiful. The photo below was the winner, but they're all good.



What is quirky about the United States? Marginal Revolution shared this list – pretty funny.
My Norwegian friend visiting right now says,
4700 kinds of toothpaste.
Surprisingly clean big cities.
Everyone complains bitterly about the suckitude of government and is suspicious of it but they all follow the rules anyway even if nobody is watching.
How supermarkets not just let you wander off with carts into the wild blue yonder but will set up displays of firewood, plants, pumpkins, etc., out front with nobody watching and trust you’ll bring it indoors to pay for it. (see also rule-following above)
He finds these last two especially jarring given the U.S.’s high incarceration and violent crime rates.
Or this, from a Brit:
When Americans kid one another, they will wait a few seconds and then let the kidee know that they were just kidding. Every time. This shocked me for a while.
I want to experience some of these amazing places please. KThx.


Have you ever heard of a “murmuration”? It’s a flock of starlings.  A chance encounter and shared moment with one of natures greatest and most fleeting phenomena. Watch it here.


Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.


This is cool:

And no Best of the Week is complete without a McSweeney’s post – this one is DC specific and therefore especially hilarious. Dispatches from the Capital: Could DC Be a Cougar Town?
A certain socialite tries to set me straight. “No woman in DC’s going to fool around with a younger man because they don’t have enough to say. They’re boring.”
“We’re talking about casual situations,” I remind her. “Not much conversation needed.”
“Yes, but people in DC are dorks. We like talking.” She sighs.


...More than money or looks, information—about politics, refugees in war-torn countries and even the sex lives of others—is our currency. To be the cougar who seeks out her cub for a night or a weekend, you can’t care too much about what people think. And people in DC, right or wrong, care.
Anywho, have a great weekend! I'm going to a Parks and Recreation themed party on Saturday night...pretty excited! 


Oh and Happy Birthday SpeedyKate!!!