Best of the Week #42

Alright, it’s time for Best of the Week. I hope you’re excited about the impending weekend. Less than 10 days until Christmas! And if you need an exact count:

My most popular post this week was S’mores Cookies. Here is a testimony from my cookie-eating co-worker Matt: Rarely does a cookie come along that transports you back to your childhood days of camping in the woods with your family. This is that cookie. Delicious.

This is awesome – 10 major news stories of the past 12 months created in Lego by Flickr members.

My friends and I totally agree with this.


There’s a total lunar eclipse this weekend (last one until 2014). But boooo we won’t be able to see it here on the East Coast. For those of you in the West: The spectacle will last nearly three and a half hours, starting on Saturday at 4:45 a.m. Pacific Time. Totality—when the full moon will be completely blocked from direct sunlight—will start at 6:05 a.m. PT and last until 6:57 a.m. PT.

Somalia’s Insurgents Embrace Twitter as a Weapon. Most notable from this article: "Shabab fighters recently held a quiz show for children. (The prizes were grenades and an AK-47.)" Yeah, think about that... 


LLC sent me this article about a Hunger Games cookbook. My reaction: insane/love. I think we’re going to have a Hunger Games dinner party before the midnight showing of the movie.

Each of the recipes comes with an explanation of the textual origins of the dish, and it’s amazing to see just how many significant or weird food references the Hunger Games trilogy contains.

The Harvard Sailing Team is probably my favorite thing on YouTube. “Girls Will be Boys.”




Durban: Winners and losers

For some reason that I've not quite figured out, lots of people in the dying embers of this UN climate meeting were asking "who's a winner, and who's a loser?"
There are loads of perhaps more rational questions you could ask, the most pertinent being: "What has this done to curb climate change?"
But what the heck - winners and losers is as good a way as any to set up a quick review of the meeting - so here goes.

I’m not a vegetarian, but I want all of these. Five Hearty Holiday Vegetarian Main Dishes
Meatless main courses guaranteed to satisfy everyone at the dinner table. Mushroom Risotto with Caramelized Onions - ummm yes please!

I love when McSweeney’s publishes articles about DC. "The Long Walk: A Column About Washington"

To put it another way, we’re constantly approaching tragedy here—let me check my calendar for the next scheduled government shutdown—and we’ve learned to roll with it.

Also from this column, the word “seriocomic.” I wouldn’t have believed it was a word if the google didn’t tell me so…


Do you speak runner? As in, do you know what this means? Have you ever had this kind of exchange?

Person 1: "I'm wiped. I just did three at 6:30
then eight by 400 with 200 recoveries."
Person 2: "I thought you still had that ITB thing?"
Person 1: "I did, but I foam-rollered it and now it seems okay."

I challenge you not to cry when watching these videos. It’s a whole blog of reunion videos of soldiers coming home.



I might want to go see this movie tomorrow, but I’m not sure…Unbreakable: The Western States 100. Has anyone seen it? Is it good?



25 clever ideas to make life easier:

This article is hilarious and I love it. It’s about a serious subject (the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court), but it’s sooooo over-the-top that  when I started reading I thought it was a joke. 

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the name synonymous with the International Criminal Court, belongs to a man whose heavily slurred Spanish accent and five o’clock shadow have inspired fear, respect and caricaturing in Kenya and many other nations. A man for whom the international system is but a stage for, some would say, his matador-esque manner of prosecuting the world’s bad/worst people.

Elephants and Africa – two of my favorite things in this photo series.

I'm almost done with my Christmas shopping, but have a few more things to find...hope you have a great weekend!