Suggestion Saturday: November 30, 2013

Here is this week’s list of blog posts and other tidbits from my favourite corners of the web.

Life is a Picture, but You Live in a Pixel. Why material possessions and having more money are not the key to longterm happiness. The only thing I would add to this is that it is important to have enough money to cover your basic needs. Sometimes I think that cartoons like that assume everyone in the world is comfortably middle class, and that is clearly not the case.

Dirds. Dog heads photoshopped onto bird bodies are the cutest damn thing I’ve seen in ages. When my husband first showed them to me I squealed.

The Case Against “Fluff” Pieces on WordPress via dlmchale. A sobering reminder for those of us lucky enough to have Internet access. This sort of thing is a giant, flashing red mark in the “god doesn’t exist” and/or “even if there is a god, s/he is anything but benevolent” columns in my book. I can’t fathom how any being with a shred of compassion could overlook so much suffering.

Cowboy Scholars. If I was physically strong enough to keep up with the physical labour I’d give this career a try in a heartbeat.

I Love My Family But Loathe Their Politics. What a powerful essay! Knowing how to carry a conversation without wandering into hot-button issues is an extremely important skill that unfortunately seems least likely to be mastered by those who need it the most. 😛

Texas’ Other Death Penalty. This is absolutely Dicksonian. I wish Canada would welcome all of these patients with open arms. We’re not a perfect country by any means, but at least we don’t allow our own citizens to die from treatable diseases in droves because they’re too poor to afford medication, surgery, or other treatments.

How Feminism Hurts Men. Everything I want to say about this link is spoiler-y. Go read it anyway.


How to Be a Friend to a Friend Who’s Sick is one of the most useful books I’ve read so far this year. It’s really difficult to know what to say to someone facing a life-threatening or terminal illness, but Ms. Pogrebin explains what she preferred to hear quite clearly. I found it even more interesting to see how opinions varied among all of the other people she surveyed. Some folks loved certain phrases, other despised them. People with serious illnesses aren’t a monolith after all.

What have you been reading?

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One Response to Suggestion Saturday: November 30, 2013

  1. John Guilfoyle

    peter janney…perusing his words through his recollections and investigations..;)

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