Friday, April 13, 2012

Best of the Week #55

Best of the Week is a little bit out of control this time around…basically there’s been a constant stream of gchatting and site/blog-sharing this week. Soooo win for you all!

My most popular post was S’Mores Cookies. (Ooh as the weather gets nicer, I’m thinking grilling! Fires! S’mores!)


This is officially the BEST TUMBLR EVER. When In DC. I would love to specifically share with you each awesome post…but that would be like 75% of them, so I’ll let you explore yourself. (LOVE this and this and this and this and this...ok I'll stop.)

"Animals Who Are Extremely Disappointed in You." I love the bear and owl. But scroll to the bottom because the last one is great too.

4. This Baby Bear
This baby bear is frankly shocked that you missed that deadline. Shocked.

The original pitch for The Muppet Show. I LOVE the muppets. (It gets really funny around 1:20…or at least I think so.) (source)




This will be interesting to a very select few people…"Peak Intel: How So-Called Strategic Intelligence Actually Makes Us Dumber."
  • The problem is, the market for intelligence is now largely about providing information that makes decision makers feel better, rather than bringing true insights about risk and opportunity.
Video of a real life fruit ninja – he succeeds the second time around. Great use of a Phantom camera.

This is an interesting and very well-written article. Definitely worth the read. "Africa's Tuareg Dilemma." (There will always be a special place in my heart for all things Tuareg.)
  • These aren't countries so much as city-states -- Nouakchott, Bamako, Niamey, Ndjamena -- with armies that try to keep some order in the far-flung, far less populated reaches. State armies never have ruled this desert; rather, they have maintained for much of the time a stable cease-fire with the Tuaregs there (often through integration of key Tuareg fighters into local military bases).
  • ...many governments in places like Africa cannot simply be classified as democratic or authoritarian, because their most "distinguishing characteristic" is sheer "fragility," no matter who is in charge.

 I win at this. Does that mean I have the intellect of a pre-schooler?



I’m so glad the internet has come to recognize that corgis are the cutest dogs in the world. (source)
  • Corbin the Corgi (full name Corbin Dallas Multipass) is an impressively cute dog, stemming from the fact that he is a Corgi. Here he is being especially cute while submitting to his mandatory pre-house vacuuming.




Furniture shopping? I know people LOVE Ikea, but it kind of scares me. And it’s plan for world domination scares me even more. "Welcome to Ikea-land: Furniture giant begins urban planning project."
  • There are feelings you get when you enter an Ikea store. The vertiginous experience of getting lost in their craftily designed labyrinth. The surprise of wandering into something you hadn’t intended to buy. The discomfiting almost-warmth of a fake apartment. The faintly reassuring sense that your children and your car are in someone else’s hands. Then the odd realization that you’re really inside a high-security structure on the distant edge of town.
  • Would you like to feel that way all the time? The people who run the Swedish home-furnishings behemoth are launching a bold push into the business of designing, building and operating entire urban neighbourhoods.
Followed by this of course:
FINALLY. WE’VE BEEN DRIVING FOR DAYS.
I AM GOING TO BUY SO MANY FLÖRGS AND BJÅRNBLÛBS IT WILL MAKE YOUR FACE FALL OFF OF YOUR FACE.
OH, AND DON’T LET ME FORGET LITTLE LIGHTBULBS FOR MY SLÖLM.

This article inspired my YA Fiction Challenge. "The Greatest Girl Characters in Young Adult Literature."
  • [Katniss] might have been a red-headed spitfire determined to live life on her own terms (or that other red-headed spitfire, who did the same). She might have been a prairie girl, or an orphan girl, or just a little girl who didn't quite fit in—maybe one who squeezed a whole tube of toothpaste into the sink, just because she felt like it. She might have been a girl spy. Part of what makes Katniss such a relatable character, despite being put into a situation to which none of us can truly relate, is that she's a girl character like so many who came before her, if writ slightly larger, and with different, more violent bells and whistles. 
A list of banned words for food writers.
  • "Spheres" or "orbs" to describe round foods. Ice cream is served in scoops. Doughnuts can be fried as balls. Neither are orbs. That's just forced use of thesaurus right there.
Want to go back to my place for some geospatial analysis? Read more "Pick Up Lines for the Planet".

chocolate printer exists:
  • A chocolate printer that allows sweet lovers to create their own custom-made 3D treats is to go on sale tomorrow at a cost of £2,500.
  • The machine squirts out chocolate and, via computer instructions, allows the user to build any shape they like out of the food.

Genius: "The Most Difficult Dinner Guest Ever and 5 Meals to Feed Them."


When writing my waffle blog post on Tuesday, I came across some questions about waffle terminology that I’d never considered before. (source)
  • Suggestions included nooks and divots [1]; indents, syrup holders and pockets [2]; honeycombs, dimples, grid indentations, dents and windows [3]. Wikipedia's waffle article uses the word pockets one time, in passing.
How to design the foam on your latte. Just in case you need/want this skill.


"How Muslims View Easter"
  • With Easter on the way, I became curious about what the Koran has to say about the crucifixion. I called an imam I know, Ibrahim Sayar, and we got together over glasses of Turkish tea. Sayar does a lot of interfaith work, much of which involves getting people from different religions together to eat kebabs. In the company of Christians, he said, mentioning the status of Jesus in Islam can be a great icebreaker. “I always tell people, there are millions of Muslims named after Jesus and Mary—we call them Isa and Mariam,” he said. “Nobody names their children after someone they don’t like.”
I am dying to have a red tiled kitchen. "20 Small Kitchens with Style."


This is a super-cute Nike commercial. My only complaint is running skirt??? Jeesh. (source)





Are you amused? You should be. Have a great weekend!