The Dao of Dragon Ball (manga, TV)

REVIEWED BY: Marguerite Zelle

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: The Dao of Dragon Ball

WEB ADDRESS: thedaoofdragonball.com/blog/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: The true history and connections between Dragon Ball and ancient cultures, divine beliefs and the martial arts of the spiritual warrior have never been unveiled. Until now.

Finally, a blog that reveals the secrets of Dragon Ball.

MY REVIEW: If you like Dragon Ball, you'll love this blog. For those of you who have never heard of Dragon Ball:

Dragon Ball is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. It was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1984 to 1995; later the 519 individual chapters were published into 42 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha. Dragon Ball was inspired by the classical Chinese novel Journey to the West. It follows the adventures of Son Goku from his childhood through adulthood as he trains in martial arts and explores the world in search of the seven mystical orbs known as the Dragon Balls, which can summon a wish-granting dragon when gathered. Along his journey, Goku makes several friends and battles a wide variety of villains, many of whom also seek the Dragon Balls for their own desires.

Since its release, Dragon Ball has become one of the most successful manga and anime series of all time. The manga's 42 volumes have sold over 152 million copies in Japan and more than 200 million copies worldwide. Reviewers have praised the art, characterization, and humor of the story. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest manga series ever made, with many manga artists citing Dragon Ball as a source of inspiration for their own now popular works. The anime, particularly Dragon Ball Z, is also highly popular in various countries and was arguably one of the most influential in greatly boosting the popularity of Japanese animation in Western culture.

The author of this blog is something of an experton the subject, and indeed is working on a book on the subject, also called The Dao of Dragon Ball.

Here's a bit more of the author's bio:

Padula is a website developer, private Shaolin Gong Fu martial arts instructor, video game designer and owner of Young Forest Games, where he creates "Games with Meaning" for PC and consoles, and is also a journalist for the Epoch Times Newspaper.

Derek has been a fan of Dragon Ball since the first two seasons of Dragon Ball Z aired on television in America over a decade ago (1997), and has been watching the anime and reading the manga ever since. He majored in East Asian Studies and saw a lot of correlations between Buddhism, Daoism, and Japanese culture within Dragon Ball and his daily life. This led him to write The Dao of Dragon Ball.

Derek is also a Falun Dafa practitioner and believes strongly in it's Fa (Law).

He holds a B.A. in East Asian Studies with a minor in Chinese from Western Michigan University.

He has contributed to the following video games:
-"Tony Hawk Under Ground (T.H.U.G.)"
-"Pitfall: The Lost Expedition"
-"James Bond: 007: From Russia With Love"
-"The SIMS 2: Holiday Pack"
-"Puzzles of Life"
-"The Sopranos"
He is a board member of the Westwood College Student Advisory Board Game Design Curriculum of Los Angeles and is on standby at ITT Technical Institute Torrance campus as an Adjunct Professor of Multimedia.

Check out this blog!

Sample post:


Goku’s Simple Life
Goku lives a simple life.

Like a wandering pilgrim, Goku’s only possessions are a martial arts uniform and occasionally the nyoi bo staff.

Goku is almost single mindedly focused on his martial arts cultivation.

Chi-Chi handles all of the domestic affairs, including the caring of their house, the monetary concerns, and the raising of children.

This reminded me of my own life and how it is a bit too complicated.

By an average person’s standard my life may seem rather simple: An average guy with an apartment and some stuff. There are also career, family, social relationships, time, personal projects, and trying to achieve many things simultaneously. Perhaps too many.

In regard to physical stuff in particular, at times all of the external content can feel a little heavy, because each one of those items is connected to my emotions. Each material item, when picked up, transports my memory back 5, 10, in some cases even 15 years. They all carry emotional weight. An outsider cannot see or feel this.

I recently read a book called The Power of Less, by Leo Babauta, and it emphasized the importance of simplifying our lives.

I also read a blog post on Man vs. Debt that presented the idea of taking inventory of all the items in your possession, one by one, and the benefit of the process.

So that’s what I did.

Taking Stock and Letting Go
I counted every single item in my home and car: Every spoon, every pencil, every piece of clothing, and every game, miniature and cable.

They were recorded by hand and then entered into a spreadsheet (here). It was an exhausting process.

The end result was 1,706 items.

The number was surprising. How could I own so much?

When I looked at the spreadsheet of all the items from a zoomed out perspective, it seemed to almost amount to the culmination of my external worth. As if this was the entirety of my life.

But I knew this wasn’t true.

What would I be without all of these things? Would I still be me?

Yes. And perhaps even more so.

During the taking of inventory I threw some items away and designated others for donation. I donated three bags of clothes, electronics, and other items to Goodwill.

As time goes on, unwanted books and other items will be sold or donated. Why keep what has already been utilized?

There’s a story from Buddhism that states that once you’ve ridden your hand crafted boat to the other shore of nirvana, it is important to remember not to be attached to the boat. It was a beautiful boat and served you well. It was the vehicle that made your journey across the ocean possible. But now that you’ve made it this far, it’s time to let that vehicle go. Otherwise you cannot move forward.

Some items were easy to let go, while others were difficult. For example, my DBZ t-shirts, which I had worn since high school.

It was hard to look at each item practically, and ask if I really needed it or would use it in the future. Often I discovered that the item had been with me all these years for purely sentimental reasons.

Ultimately it is the attachment to the items that matter. Not the physical items themselves. Without attachments, anything can be let go if it’s no longer needed. Likewise, without attachments, the amount or value of material items isn’t important. Ideally, everything we own can be made of gold, yet we are not attached.

The entire process was liberating, as it allowed me to take stock of life, internally as well as externally. It was empowering to realize what I have available, and to control things, rather than have things control me.

To gain, one must lose. Because there is more empty space, I feel freed up and lighter in spirit.

Imagine how it must feel to be like Goku, as described in the final episode of Dragon Ball GT:

Full of joy and care free.

Gentle, with a good heart.

I recommend that you try this activity for yourself. Begin with a single section of a room and expand from there.

Tackle life with as much energy as Goku, and you’ll be sure to succeed.

SAMPLE POSTS:
--Gen Fukunaga Hints at More DBZ
--Dragon Ball Cosplay at Anime Expo 2011
--Dragonball Book Review – The Dragonball Z Legend: The Quest Continues
--Dragonball Book Review – Pojo’s Unofficial Dragonball Z Cards Simplified: A Player’s Guide
--Dragonball Book Review – Dragonball Z: An Unauthorized Guide
--Dragonball Book Review – Dragonball Z Extreme
--Dragonball Book Review – Pojo’s Unofficial Total Dragonball Z


_______________
Reviews published every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
___________________________
Check out my kindle BOOKS!:
Whose Body, by Dorothy Sayers (the Annotated Edition)The Coldest Equations (science fiction)
The Lady and the Tiger...Moth

The Thing on the Fourble Board (arts and entertainment, OTR, audio books reviews)

REVIEWED BY: Marguerite Zelle

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: The Thing on the Fourble Board

WEB ADDRESS: http://thefourbleboard.blogspot.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: eviews of audio books in the mystery and science fiction genres, and in nonfiction - historical, biographical, scientific. I review the quality of the narrator(s), as well as the books.

I also review and synopsize old time radio programs - The Shadow, The Saint, The Jack Benny Show, Dragnet, X Minus One.

I also review soundtracks to selected theatre productions and motion pictures.

If you're a fan of the theatre of the mind, I think you'll enjoy this blog.

Updated twice a week.

MY REVIEW: When I was young, I scoffed at the idea of listening to books on tape. I could (and can) read a book in three hours that it would take a narrator eight hours to get through.

But I hadn't fully thought my criticisms through. I now listen to audio books in the car, and make time for at least half an hour before lights out. With a good book and, just as importantly, a good narrator, audio books are fun to listen to.

My OTR experience is limited to The Shadow - and I'm still waiting for those synopsis to show up on the blog, but it's a relatively new blog, we've been promised the Shadow, so I'm sure it will come.

Highly recommended.

Sample post:
The Art Thief, by Noah Charney, 2007

8 Audio CDs (about 8 hours listening time)
Interestingly, if you look on Amazon.com, The Art Thief, by Noah Charney, has only a 2-annd-a-half out of 5 star rating. A lot of people (at least, a lot of people who post their opinions on Amazon) don't seem to like it.

I do.

When listening to an audio book, it doesn't matter how good the book itself is, if the narrator is lousy. A few weeks ago I checked out a Clive Cussler audio book. Can't remember the title now, or the name of the narrator, but in any event I could only listen to a couple of minutes of it before I gave up on it - the narrator's reading was that bad. No attempt to change voices depending on what character was talking, no intonation changes at all, just a dull monotone.

Simon Vance has all this stuff down pat. The Art Thief is a bit wordy, but because Vance uses intonation and inflection all the time, it's not hard to listen to - it's easy to concentrate on it.

He also does various voices...although I did find it distracting that the voices his characters use when speaking, and the voices he used when that same character was just internalizing thought, were not the same.

Anyway...what you get with The Art Thief is a very complex story, and a lot of information on art. Some of the negative reviewers on Amazon got tired of all that art info (especially since several characters would have their own point of view on the same piece of art, so we'd hear the same information several times, just articulated differently. But, the way I looked at, hearing it repeated so many times allowed me to learn and remember what was being said - and since I'm interested in art as well as in a good mystery, I enjoyed it.

This book isn't a howdunit, more of a whodunit and eventually a whydunit. (In other words, we never learn exactly how all the artwork managed to be stolen, but we learn who did it and why they did it.)

If you're interested in art at all - how it affects the human psyche - and mystery, and like listening to a good narrator, I think you'll enjoy this book.

The characters may be stereotypical, and there isn't much character development, but they're interesting and sympathetic. ANd the author has a good sense of dialog and sense of humor.

So give it a listen. You may turn it off...but I guarantee it won't be in the first five minutes!

Noah Charney bio from Wikipedia:
Noah Charney (born November 27, 1979) is an American art historian and novelist. He is the author of The Art Thief, a mystery novel about a series of thefts from European museums and churches, and is the founder of the Association for Research into Crimes against Art.

Early life and education
Charney was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1979. His parents, a psychiatrist and a professor of French Literature at Yale University were, in his words, “of the class of Americans who idealize Europe”, and as a youth he spent most of his summers in France.

He attended Choate Rosemary Hall, and received his undergraduate education at Colby College in Maine, where he majored in Art History and English Literature. During this period, he spent two years on exchange programs in Paris and London. Also while at Colby, he founded the Colby Film Society and wrote several plays, one of which won the Horizons New Young Playwrights Competition in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2002, the year of his graduation.

After graduating, he moved to London, where he studied at the Courtauld Institute and received a Masters for his work on seventeenth century sculpture in Rome. He subsequently attended Cambridge University, St. John's College, where he received a second Masters in History of Art writing on Bronzino's London Allegory, and began a PhD.

Current and Recent Projects
In 2006 Charney took a leave of absence from his studies at Cambridge to focus on other projects. Notable among these was writing. During the previous year he had written his first novel, The Art Thief which was published by Atria, a division of Simon and Schuster, New York,in September 2007. It has been published in 13 languages and was a best seller in Spain, Slovenia, Canada and The Netherlands. As he researched his novel he found that there was little scholarly material on the subject of art crime.

So he organized a conference on the subject in Cambridge in 2006, which attracted the heads of the art crime divisions of the FBI, Scotland Yard, and the Italian Carabinieri and was the subject of an article in the New York Times Magazine. In 2007 he joined with them, along with academics and others interested in the field, to form the Association for Research into Crimes against Art (ARCA). ARCA is a non-profit think tank based in Rome, dedicated to helping to prevent and prosecute art thefts, and to establishing the study of art crime as an academic subject.

Mr. Charney taught at Cambridge University's summer program and at Miami Dade College's program in Florence. In 2009 he taught a seminar on Art Crime at Yale University, New Haven. He is currently Adjunct Professor of Art History at the American University in Rome. He has also been a visiting scholar at the Institute of Criminology in Ljubljana, Slovenia .

He is the editor of Art and Crime, a collection of original essays by experts in the field, published by Praeger Press in the Spring of 2009[11]. In February 2010, geoPlaneta published a series of four museum guidebooks by Charney in Spanish and English. Called "Museum Time" (De Museos) the first books in the series provide guided tours to highlights of the collections of the leading museums of Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, and the Basque Country.

His non-fiction work on the many thefts of the Ghent Altarpiece, called Stealing the Mystic Lamb, was published in October 2010 by Public Affairs. He is currently working on a second novel and other non-fiction projects.

ARCA offered its first Masters level course in art crime and security in the summer of 2009—a 12 week course in the town of Amelia, Italy. The program has been quite successful and was featured in the New York Times. Mr. Charney also edits The Journal of Art Crime, a scholarly publication on Art Crime and Security that comes out twice a year.

RECENT POSTS:
--Paul Temple Radio Serials: An Overview
--Theatre Music: The 39 Steps
--Audio Book: The Art Thief, narrated by Simon Vance
--OTR: The Shadow
--The Joy Of Audio Books
--Manifesto


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Reviews published every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
___________________________
Check out my kindle BOOKS!:
Whose Body, by Dorothy Sayers (the Annotated Edition)
The Coldest Equations (science fiction)
The Lady and the Tiger...Moth

Gearzap - Kindle covers and more!

There's a company in the UK that offers all kinds of covers for the Kindle, as well as IPads, for tablets and for Macbooks

http://www.gearzap.com/

They've got more stuff than you can shake a stick at.

The only caveat is that the descriptions of the products don't give dimensions - I ordered a Kindle cover for the "latest generation of Kindle" - only to find out it didn't fit (The "latest generation" are those ones without keyboards, mine has a keyboard but its a year or two old). That's my fault - if I'd taken a closer look at the Kindle in the illustration I would have seen that it didn't match my Kindle - it's the newer grey version rather than my older white one - and my doesn't it look clunky!

But since the Kindle isn't backlit, a cover with a light works nice!

They have a variety of clip on lights for the Kindle, for example (my major interest!,) so that if you already have a Kindle cover , you can just clip on with the light without having to buy a new cover.

Check 'em out today - you'll be surprised at how much stuff there is to make your Kindle experience more enjoyable! They are located in the UK but in this day and age of computers, you can order from them with no problem if you live in the US.

So check out their Kindle covers today.

Faith-FilledFood For Moms and Grandmothers (parenting, Christian life)

REVIEWED BY: Marguerite Zelle

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: N/A

WEB ADDRESS: http://www.faithfilledfoodformoms.com

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Hi,my name is Shari Lynne! I am a stay at home faith filled Christian midlife wife,Mom,Step Mom,Grandma! Whew,that’s a mouthful.

I am so excited to share my experience,strength and hope with you! I have been married for 24 years and am a stay at home Mom of 7 (3 still at home). I also have 3 beautiful grandchildren. One of which I get to babysit everyday:) Yeah,for me! (that is my only claim to fame:)

..We are a blended family. When my husband and I got married,24 years ago,he had two children and I had two children. Ages 9,10,11,12.

Well when our older children were almost all grown and out of the house (all except one) my husband began to suggest that we have children together.

I was pretty young,36,So with much more prayer I gave in to God and my Husband. And as Martha Stewart would say “It’s a Good Thing”

Another part of my journey that I feel compelled to share and encourage others about is that I have been in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction for 27 years. I feel very called to share that there can be joy and real life in sobriety. That God does indeed restore the years the locusts have eaten away!

Whether you have come to this blog seeking positive encouragement, laughter or spiritual insights you have come to the right place!

Or maybe you’ve come for some great parenting and homemaking tidbits to add to your toolbox…you’ve come to the right place!

Possibly you have come out of frustration and desperation, even despair…you’ve come to the right place!

May Faith Filled Food For Moms be a daily resting place where you find the “Food”you need to be the best you can be. Let’s encourage one another and build each other up!

MY REVIEW: This blog will be of interest to parents - and grandparents, in particular those who are Christians. The author has led - and leads - a fascinating life, and shows how to overcome problems in one's life.

Check it out!

RECENT POSTS:
-- Guessing Game
-- Red Lights–Give Thanks
-- Wife,Mom,Step Mom,Grandma ….I’m just me!
-- Easy Pumpkin Muffins
-- Listen To The Children –Giving Our Full Attention
-- Step Parenting–An Investment in the Future
-- Taking Time To Relax!
-- Have a Plan!
-- Buying in Bulk
-- Book Review –Bible Stories for Preschoolers

_______________
Reviews published every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
___________________________
Check out my kindle BOOKS!:
Whose Body, by Dorothy Sayers (the Annotated Edition)
The Coldest Equations (science fiction)
The Lady and the Tiger...Moth

Repost: Stay At Home Dad - now available on Kindle!

REVIEWED BY: Marguerite Zelle

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: Stay At Home Dad

WEB ADDRESS: http://www.stayathomedadblog.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Information for Stay at Home Dads from the CDO, Chief Domestic Officer

MY REVIEW: Too often in today's society, the Dad as parent has been ignored or marginalized. (The stereotypical dad spends all his time at work, comes home to pat his kids on the head and send them off to bed, while he relaxes in front of the TV.) In actual fact, Dads are very important to the development of a child or children.

So it's nice to see a parenting blog written by a dad (there are a few of them out there.) This blog is written from the perspective of a stay-at-home dad, and its interesting to see the "stay at home" type stuff written from the dad's perspective.

Both moms and dads can benefit from reading this blog.

Sample post:

Media Challenge: Add a Dad Advise Column/Blog (or at least include us)
With more and more dads choosing to stay home to raise their children I am surprised that media outlet have yet to embrace dads for blogs, parenting advise columns, guest writers and the like. At the very least, rename the “mom” columns and blogs to “parents” and have both moms and dads input. Whether a major news network site, national parenting magazine or advertiser, each blatantly lacks advise or input from dads.

The days of the hands-off dad are vanish quickly. More and more dads are playing an active role in raising their children and sharing duties around the house, not to mention being the primary care giver while mom works.

As a stay at home dad, I do everything a stay at home mom does. Primarily, raise my son, teach him life skills, love and nurture him. After that comes, all of the cooking, cleaning, laundry, shopping, home repairs, appointments, scheduling, transporting, bill paying, chaperoning, school involvement, and making a little money on the side consulting. I list these tasks not as a badge on my sleeve, but to eliminate the forthcoming questions from the nay-sayers that think stay at home dads play with their kids all day and leave the chores for mom to do on the weekend or evenings after a full day of work. It is a stereotype that I am frankly tired of hearing and reading about. The only way to eliminate the stereotype, just like any other, is through education. So here in lies the challenge:

Affiliates with ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, Parenting Magazine, Parents Magazine – seek out and include dads in your blogs, ads, guest columns, articles, advise columns and features to help quash the stereotypes of the stay at home dad. You may be surprised at how much we know about parenting and how much help and advise we can offer from a slightly different perspective.

RECENT POSTS:
--Part 1 – The Bully Debate: Is all bullying bad?
--Stay at Home Dads Are Quickly Being Noticed By Savvy Retailers
--The Cut-off Date. “Red Shirting” – Trending Towards Later Kindergarten
--Have You Become A Talking Head When Correcting Behavior? Passive vs. Active Interaction.
--Daddy, That Lady is Big! – How to Handle the Not-so-subtle Questions
--Start of Fall: Wild Mushroom Risotto
--Moment of Reality: The first family vacation
--Simple (and inexpensive) Home Improvement
--Media Challenge: Add a Dad Advise Column/Blog (or at least include us)
--Make Your Own Pizza Night

_______________
Reviews published every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
___________________________
Check out my kindle BOOKS!:
Whose Body, by Dorothy Sayers (the Annotated Edition)
The Coldest Equations (science fiction)
Volcano Seven: Treasure and Treasure Hunters
The Lady and the Tiger...Moth

Reuniting pets lost during natural disasters with their owners

http://www.DogCatBlog.com
Blogging on no-kill and reuniting families and lost animals

A couple of websites that also deal with this project:
http://www.TagTrace.com
Instructions for Shelters and Rescues on how to trace dog tags

http://www.StealthVolunteers.com
Stealth Volunteers

Free (and semi-free) Literary Books for the Kindle (US & UK)

REVIEWED BY: Marguerite Zelle

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: Free (and semi-free) Literary Books for the Kindle (US & UK)

WEB ADDRESS: http://www.ClassicKindle.com

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Your guide to the best free and inexpensive classic e-books for the Kindle. Because some conversions are sloppily done, a free download can be a waste of time. These are books that are out of copyright, but never out of style! Many are from before 1923, but some were published between 1923 and 1963. I link to the US & UK versions.

MY REVIEW: There are a LOT of free books for the Kindle - most of them coming from before 1923, because that's when the copyright date went into effect. Anything published before 1923 is in the public domain, anything after that....may or may not be.

But everyone's getting into the act with these public domain books - there are often several versions available. And some of them have just been scanned in - which always results in a few errors which may or may not have been corrected before being uploaded to the Kindle.

So this blog is really helpful and well worth the 99 cents a month, to save time finding professionally produced books.

Sample post:

Tristram Shandy - by Laurence Sterne The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, a novel by Laurence Sterne, published 1759 through 1767. (US Edition) (UK Edition) That is, additional pieces came out over the years, but now all are collected into one novel.

This is said to be a very funny and at the same time, very difficult novel. (Proust & Joyce are also in the funny, but difficult category – not to scare anyone off.)

The book has a rather famous beginning with the protagonist’s conception. And here it is:

I wish either my father or my mother, or indeed both of them, as they were in duty both equally bound to it, had minded what they were about when they begot me; had they duly consider'd how much depended upon what they were then doing;--that not only the production of a rational Being was concerned in it, but that possibly the happy formation and temperature of his body, perhaps his genius and the very cast of his mind;--and, for aught they knew to the contrary, even the fortunes of his whole house might take their turn from the humours and dispositions which were then uppermost;--Had they duly weighed and considered all this, and proceeded accordingly,--I am verily persuaded I should have made a quite different figure in the world, from that in which the reader is likely to see me.--Believe me, good folks, this is not so inconsiderable a thing as many of you may think it;--you have all, I dare say, heard of the animal spirits, as how they are transfused from father to son, &c. &c.--and a great deal to that purpose:--Well, you may take my word, that nine parts in ten of a man's sense or his nonsense, his successes and miscarriages in this world depend upon their motions and activity, and the different tracks and trains you put them into, so that when they are once set a-going, whether right or wrong, 'tis not a half- penny matter,--away they go cluttering like hey-go mad; and by treading the same steps over and over again, they presently make a road of it, as plain and as smooth as a garden-walk, which, when they are once used to, the Devil himself sometimes shall not be able to drive them off it.

Pray my Dear, quoth my mother, have you not forgot to wind up the clock?-- Good G..! cried my father, making an exclamation, but taking care to moderate his voice at the same time,--Did ever woman, since the creation of the world, interrupt a man with such a silly question?

Did you follow that? Did you find it funny? Then this book is for you! I have to say it is funny and I like the analogy about us being so hard to budge from the tracks laid out for us early in life. To me that is more thoughtful than funny . . . This is yet another candidate for the “first modern novel.”

RECENT POSTS:
--Dracula's Guest -by Bram Stoker
--Tristram Shandy - by Laurence Sterne
--“Looking Backward, 2000 to 1887” – by Edward Bella...
--The Lifted Veil- by George Eliot
--Wuthering Heights - by Emily Brontë.
--A Ramble of Six Thousand Miles through the United ...
_______________
Reviews published every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
___________________________
Check out my kindle BOOKS!:
Whose Body, by Dorothy Sayers (the Annotated Edition)
The Coldest Equations (science fiction)
The Lady and the Tiger...Moth

Stay At Home Dad (parenting)

REVIEWED BY: Marguerite Zelle

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: Stay At Home Dad

WEB ADDRESS: http://www.stayathomedadblog.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Information for Stay at Home Dads from the CDO, Chief Domestic Officer

MY REVIEW: Too often in today's society, the Dad as parent has been ignored or marginalized. (The stereotypical dad spends all his time at work, comes home to pat his kids on the head and send them off to bed, while he relaxes in front of the TV.) In actual fact, Dads are very important to the development of a child or children.

So it's nice to see a parenting blog written by a dad (there are a few of them out there.) This blog is written from the perspective of a stay-at-home dad, and its interesting to see the "stay at home" type stuff written from the dad's perspective.

Both moms and dads can benefit from reading this blog.

Sample post:

Media Challenge: Add a Dad Advise Column/Blog (or at least include us)
With more and more dads choosing to stay home to raise their children I am surprised that media outlet have yet to embrace dads for blogs, parenting advise columns, guest writers and the like. At the very least, rename the “mom” columns and blogs to “parents” and have both moms and dads input. Whether a major news network site, national parenting magazine or advertiser, each blatantly lacks advise or input from dads.

The days of the hands-off dad are vanish quickly. More and more dads are playing an active role in raising their children and sharing duties around the house, not to mention being the primary care giver while mom works.

As a stay at home dad, I do everything a stay at home mom does. Primarily, raise my son, teach him life skills, love and nurture him. After that comes, all of the cooking, cleaning, laundry, shopping, home repairs, appointments, scheduling, transporting, bill paying, chaperoning, school involvement, and making a little money on the side consulting. I list these tasks not as a badge on my sleeve, but to eliminate the forthcoming questions from the nay-sayers that think stay at home dads play with their kids all day and leave the chores for mom to do on the weekend or evenings after a full day of work. It is a stereotype that I am frankly tired of hearing and reading about. The only way to eliminate the stereotype, just like any other, is through education. So here in lies the challenge:

Affiliates with ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, Parenting Magazine, Parents Magazine – seek out and include dads in your blogs, ads, guest columns, articles, advise columns and features to help quash the stereotypes of the stay at home dad. You may be surprised at how much we know about parenting and how much help and advise we can offer from a slightly different perspective.

RECENT POSTS:
--Part 1 – The Bully Debate: Is all bullying bad?
--Stay at Home Dads Are Quickly Being Noticed By Savvy Retailers
--The Cut-off Date. “Red Shirting” – Trending Towards Later Kindergarten
--Have You Become A Talking Head When Correcting Behavior? Passive vs. Active Interaction.
--Daddy, That Lady is Big! – How to Handle the Not-so-subtle Questions
--Start of Fall: Wild Mushroom Risotto
--Moment of Reality: The first family vacation
--Simple (and inexpensive) Home Improvement
--Media Challenge: Add a Dad Advise Column/Blog (or at least include us)
--Make Your Own Pizza Night

_______________
Reviews published every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
___________________________
Check out my kindle BOOKS!:
Whose Body, by Dorothy Sayers (the Annotated Edition)
The Coldest Equations (science fiction)
Volcano Seven: Treasure and Treasure Hunters
The Lady and the Tiger...Moth

Repost of We Got Kidz - now available for the Kindle!

REVIEWED BY: Marguerite Zelle

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION PAGE: We Got Kidz.

WEB ADDRESS: wegotkidz.com

BLOG DESCRIPTION: We are so happy to finally have this page up and running. It’s been a long time in the making. It all spawned from our need for attention and our super charged love for our family. Seriously – We have a story to tell, and we’re sure you’ll find it intriguing if for no other reason than because it’s a story that may be similar to your own. Our dream is for this to be an open forum for parents just like us – either married or single – to have a place to express their fears and air out their insecurities… A huge resounding “YOU’RE NOT ALONE!” Most of it will be absolutely hilarious.. We’re just a funny couple by nature – what can I say. Once we get the hang of this blog thing, look forward to silly videos, our Comic Strip of the week, and whatever other silliness we come up with to share. If nothing else, whenever you have those moments with your partner where you stop.. look at each other… and both say with disbelief.. WE GOT KIDS – hop online and share it with us.

MY REVIEW: I really enjoyed this parenting blog. It's a nice mixture of serious stuff (pointing out the problems with glorifying teen pregnancy) to informative (Target diapers are cheaper and work just as well when little kids let go of big...well, you know!) to just plain fun or humorous (the 9 types of crappy handshakes.)

The author writes well, and has much good stuff - and funny stuff, to say. And she's so clearly in love with her fiance and her twins - a boy and a girl. Like most parenting blogs where this is evident, these entries are a joy to read.

There's also a section of amusing comic strips, recipes, and a calendar of daily events happening in Atlanta, Georgia.

Check it out!

Sample post:

Teen Pregnancy Is Awesome! WTF?

A letter to Teen Mom’s who think it’s cool: Dear Teen Mothers, Okay, so what’s up with this whole teen pregnancy craze? I’m not one to judge, I mean things happen. I understand… But the way that it’s been glamorized in the media lately is just plain weird. 16 and Pregnant? Teen Mom? WTF?? It’s not cool to get pregnant prematurely ladies. I mean you’re a kid for cryin’ out loud! I waited until I was thirty to birth some babies and some days I still don’t know if I was ready for what I signed up for: loss of freedom, and certain luxuries – And let’s not talk about sleep. What the hell is that? I’m blessed to have a Fiance that supports his family to the death. We don’t have a lot, but we have each other. A lot of you all can’t say the same about your partners. To have a “baby daddy” who is sixteen years of age is psycho. You know girls mature faster than boys. You remember being on the playground running from Jimmy with the booger on his finger? Well at 16, it’s about the same mental capacity. Just trade the booger for a penis. I hear you all have a new member to welcome to the club. This is an interesting twist – 19 year old Dominican model beauty Rose Cordero has recently announced that she’s been knocked up. Congratulations and a welcome basket are not in order here. Sure, she’s the “it” girl in fashion right now. Her biggest achievement to date has been becoming the first solo “black” model to grace the cover of French Vogue. She’s a millionaire – or at least a “hundred-thousandaire” who I’m sure is more than capable of providing for a child… But can she provide for that child mentally being a child herself? I don’t think so ladies. Be young! Have fun! Live your lives, and wait to have your kids. Sincerely, Kesha C of WeGotKidz.

MY REVIEW:

RECENT POSTS:
--Stumble Saturdays – 9 Types of Crappy Handshakes
--Dinosaur Wearing Weirdo? Not MY son
--Video of the Week! ❤ Beyonce’s Fake Baby Bump??
--BET’s “Reed Between the Lines”…hmm
--Getting Down & Dirty With Diapers
--Teen Pregnancy Is Awesome! WTF?

_______________
Reviews published every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
___________________________
Check out my kindle BOOKS!:
Whose Body, by Dorothy Sayers (the Annotated Edition)
The Coldest Equations (science fiction)
Volcano Seven: Treasure and Treasure Hunters
The Lady and the Tiger...Moth

Retro Reviews #16: Eyes For Lies

REVIEWED BY: Ann Currie

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION PAGE: Eyes for Lies: The Blog of the Human Lie Detector.

WEB ADDRESS: www.eyesforlies.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Scientists have identified 50 individuals who are able to spot deception with great accuracy after testing. More than 15,000 people. Eyes for Lies is one of the 50 people.

MY REVIEW: This one caught my eye. In one post she reviews the video of Josh Powell concerning the disappearance of his wife. She uses her special "skills" to determine if he is guilty by watching his video. Then she dissects the interview piece by piece and describes what she sees and how she interprets it. Each post deals with a prominent criminal case in the news.

Some of the posts can get almost a little sensational, but that is the nature of the beast. The blog is interesting (I have always loved mysteries). She posts everyday.

RECENT ARTICLES:

• Sam Thompson
• Diena Thompson talks to Chris Cuomo
• Alex Martin is Nick Francisco
• LA Times: Edwards is Engaged
• Perhaps its not Jarred Harrell

We Got Kidz (parenting)

REVIEWED BY: Marguerite Zelle

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION PAGE: We Got Kidz.

WEB ADDRESS: wegotkidz.com

BLOG DESCRIPTION: We are so happy to finally have this page up and running. It’s been a long time in the making. It all spawned from our need for attention and our super charged love for our family. Seriously – We have a story to tell, and we’re sure you’ll find it intriguing if for no other reason than because it’s a story that may be similar to your own. Our dream is for this to be an open forum for parents just like us – either married or single – to have a place to express their fears and air out their insecurities… A huge resounding “YOU’RE NOT ALONE!” Most of it will be absolutely hilarious.. We’re just a funny couple by nature – what can I say. Once we get the hang of this blog thing, look forward to silly videos, our Comic Strip of the week, and whatever other silliness we come up with to share. If nothing else, whenever you have those moments with your partner where you stop.. look at each other… and both say with disbelief.. WE GOT KIDS – hop online and share it with us.

MY REVIEW: I really enjoyed this parenting blog. It's a nice mixture of serious stuff (pointing out the problems with glorifying teen pregnancy) to informative (Target diapers are cheaper and work just as well when little kids let go of big...well, you know!) to just plain fun or humorous (the 9 types of crappy handshakes.)

The author writes well, and has much good stuff - and funny stuff, to say. And she's so clearly in love with her fiance and her twins - a boy and a girl. Like most parenting blogs where this is evident, these entries are a joy to read.

There's also a section of amusing comic strips, recipes, and a calendar of daily events happening in Atlanta, Georgia.

Check it out!

Sample post:

Teen Pregnancy Is Awesome! WTF?

A letter to Teen Mom’s who think it’s cool: Dear Teen Mothers, Okay, so what’s up with this whole teen pregnancy craze? I’m not one to judge, I mean things happen. I understand… But the way that it’s been glamorized in the media lately is just plain weird. 16 and Pregnant? Teen Mom? WTF?? It’s not cool to get pregnant prematurely ladies. I mean you’re a kid for cryin’ out loud! I waited until I was thirty to birth some babies and some days I still don’t know if I was ready for what I signed up for: loss of freedom, and certain luxuries – And let’s not talk about sleep. What the hell is that? I’m blessed to have a Fiance that supports his family to the death. We don’t have a lot, but we have each other. A lot of you all can’t say the same about your partners. To have a “baby daddy” who is sixteen years of age is psycho. You know girls mature faster than boys. You remember being on the playground running from Jimmy with the booger on his finger? Well at 16, it’s about the same mental capacity. Just trade the booger for a penis. I hear you all have a new member to welcome to the club. This is an interesting twist – 19 year old Dominican model beauty Rose Cordero has recently announced that she’s been knocked up. Congratulations and a welcome basket are not in order here. Sure, she’s the “it” girl in fashion right now. Her biggest achievement to date has been becoming the first solo “black” model to grace the cover of French Vogue. She’s a millionaire – or at least a “hundred-thousandaire” who I’m sure is more than capable of providing for a child… But can she provide for that child mentally being a child herself? I don’t think so ladies. Be young! Have fun! Live your lives, and wait to have your kids. Sincerely, Kesha C of WeGotKidz.

MY REVIEW:

RECENT POSTS:
--Stumble Saturdays – 9 Types of Crappy Handshakes
--Dinosaur Wearing Weirdo? Not MY son
--Video of the Week! ❤ Beyonce’s Fake Baby Bump??
--BET’s “Reed Between the Lines”…hmm
--Getting Down & Dirty With Diapers
--Teen Pregnancy Is Awesome! WTF?

_______________
Reviews published every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
___________________________
Check out my kindle BOOKS!:
Whose Body, by Dorothy Sayers (the Annotated Edition)
The Coldest Equations (science fiction)
Volcano Seven: Treasure and Treasure Hunters
The Lady and the Tiger...Moth

Retro Review #15: Wendy Knits

REVIEWED BY: Ann Currie

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION PAGE: Wendy Knits

WEB ADDRESS: www.wendyknits.net

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Running commentary on knitting with advice, free patterns, and Lucy the WonderCat.

MY REVIEW: A blog that follows a knitter and her cat Lucy through their daily life. She mentions friends, interviews a peer who has recently published a book, talks about projects she is working on, and new products she has found. It is a well written blog that stays on track with her life around knitting with just enough of her personal life to keep it interesting. (It is a great resource.)

If I were a knitter, I would be a reader, but alas I lack this talent. The author posts frequently, almost every day, and has been doing so since 2002.

RECENT ARTICLES:

• Busy Day
• Happy Birthday Lucy
• An Interview with Crazy Aunt Pearl
• What Today has been Like
• Let it Snow

-------
Ann Currie publishes My Life a Bit South of Normal
and also, Silver Pieces: The Strange and Peculiar

Retro Review #14: Sarah and the Goon Squad

REVIEWED BY: Ann Currie
MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION PAGE: Sarah and the Goon Squad

WEB ADDRESS: www.sarahandthegoonsquad.com

BLOG DESCRIPTION: twins, parenting, humor

MY REVIEW: Ok, here is a mom with twin 5-year-olds. Now, you have to understand that this winter has been a B*&^% for those living in DC which is where she resides. They have had snow upon snow upon snow. I cannot imagine continually being housebound with 5 year old twins, but Sarah has done it and lived to blog about it.

The author is a good writer with a dry wit. She stays on course - focused on what is going on with her life. I especially like her comment about a rumor that there was a run on Spam at Costco causing her to question if it were a snow storm or a nuclear holocaust. She posts frequently with pictures. Great blog.

RECENT ARTICLES:

• An incomplete list of things I do not understand
• Again
• Reading teacher of the year, right here
• Snowpocalypse now
• Beware: The winter storm cometh

---------
Ann Currie publishes My Life a Bit South of Normal www.abitsouthofnormal.com/
and also, Silver Pieces: The Strange and Peculiar strangeandpeculiarsilver.blogspot.com/

Retro Review #13: Talking Films

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION PAGE: Talking Films

WEB ADDRESS: www.talkingfilms.net

BLOG'S DESCRIPTION: The site talks about movies from all across the world.

MY REVIEW: The author is an Indian, Prem Shashi. His writing reflects the fact that English is not his first language. It’s very, very good…very verbose, and with just occasionally the incorrect – but closely matching – word. Occasionally some missing punctuation – but nothing too distracting.

For example:

Enda Walsh is critically known for his work on the film Hunger. He is right now in line to write a screenplay based on the life of Nazi extermination camp commander Franz Stangl, according to the Australian Press.

Stangl was a senior assault leader for Hitler’s SS and a commander of two Nazi extermination camps who was infamous for his quick rise to power, ruthless leadership and consequent alcoholism.

(And just to be clear – “Enda Walsh is critically known for his work on the film Hunger,” would be better as “Enda Walk is known for his work on the critically successful film Hunger,” (critically in this context meaning “the critics”).

And “and consequent alcoholism” – I’m pretty sure he means “subsequent alcoholism.”

Nevertheless, this slight problem with the language is a minor detail. The author is clearly very knowledgeable on films and shares lots of good info. The actual site, http://www.talkingfilms.net., also includes videos of trailers, but if you don’t have time to check the site daily, having the info delivered to you on Kindle makes sense.
 

RECENT ARTICLES:

• Hunger co-writer Enda Walsh on Nazi film
• Bigelow gets a Miraculous Project next
• Tom Hanks is all set to remake Summer Hours
• Gwyneth Paltwo infects Contagion
• Trailer watch: Zoe Kazan explodes on screen

Retro Review #12: Hawaii Vacation Blog

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION PAGE: Hawaii Vacation Blog

WEB ADDRESS: www.blogcatalog.com/blog/explore-hawaii

BLOG DESCRIPTION: An adventure blog to guide you to all the hotspots on the islands of Hawaii. Hop onboard and follow the tracks of the Trailblazer Travel Book authors.

OUR REVIEW: Ah, how I’d love to be in Hawaii right now. It’s not in the cards however, so the Hawaii Vacation Blog is a nice substitute. It’s written by people who actually live in and have traveled throughout all the Hawaiian islands. (Just as a point of interest, the Big Island of Hawaii is not actually the one people think about when they think of Hawaii, that’d be Oahu, on which is located Honolulu. Just in case you don't know that!)

RECENT ARTICLES:

• Staying on Oahu
• Guide Me (uninformative title for an entry about the Big Island
• The Once and Present Place to Be – Mauna Lani Resort
• Lyon Arboretum – it’s grrreeat!
• Some enchanted evening article on the Fairmont Orchid Hotel

Retro Review #11: TV Snob

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION PAGE: TV Snob

WEB ADDRESS: www.tvsnob.com

BLOG DESCRIPTION: TV Snob - The weblog for exclusive news & reviews of tvs and tv technology.

MY REVIEW: I’m not interested in the technological aspects of television myself, but if you are, you’ll probably enjoy TV Snob. It’s published by the same people (Blogpire Productions), who publish Candy Snob, but the difference is this one is updated on a daily basis.

It is updated Regularly (Unlike other Blogpire Blogs). If you are in to entertainment technology, this is the blog for you.

These are simply reviews of different TVs and Accessories (No personal insight). Same stuff you will find on the internet, but compiled in one spot.

RECENT ARTICLES:

•JVC media player eats SD cards and that’s it.
•Sony BDP-S470 3D Blu-ray player shipping this month
•InFocus SP8602 home theater projector shipping
•BenQ V2200 monitor sports 10,000,000: 1 contrast ration
•Netflix Watch Instantly going 1080p, 5.1-channel surround sound.

Retro Review #10: Tales of an Amputee Mommy

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

OUR RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION PAGE: Tales of an Amputee Mommy

WEB ADDRESS: amputeemommy.blogspot.com

BLOG'S DESCRIPTION: I am a 35 year old below the knee amputee. I am also the Mommy to an extremely active 3 year old little boy. I have learned volumes since my amputation five years ago. Being a parent with a disability can be isolating for both parent and child. I am hoping to share my experiences through humor so that other disabled parents know that they are not alone.

OUR REVIEW: Tales of an Amputee Mommy is a very good blog, and an inspirational one as well. Its author, Peggy, is 35 years old. Eight years ago, she was involved in an accident that crushed her left foot. After a year or so of constant and excruciating pain, she decided to have her foot amputated. She is now fitted with a prosthetic device, and she and her husband have a three year old son.

Here’s some info from her website about the trauma of amputation:

I don't want to simplify the work necessary to recover emotionally from an amputation. It was not an easy journey. My surgeon recognized the depression and body issues and set up counseling sessions with a specialist in the field. Unfortunately, the insurance company denied the request stating that the amputation was "elective" and that I, therefore, shouldn't have emotional issues.

I was forced to maneuver through the transformation without expert guidance. I struggled with my identity as an amputee, and as an amputee woman. It took years before I could look in a full length mirror and not tear up. Although I believe I have worked through the pain and the issues, I still have bouts of "the amputation blues."

Peggy speaks of her life with a prosthetic leg, of her joy in taking care of her son, and the joy she and her husband have together, and the joy of family. Her stories will warm your heart every day (much more so than a “joke a day” would ever do.)

RECENT ARTICLES:

• Haiti.
• Try and Try Again.
• My Stump is Ugly! But I am Not.
• Potty Talk!
• Organization is in the Bag.
• Froggy Love

Retro Review #9: The Hermitage

REVIEWED BY: Ms Cairo

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION PAGE: The Hermitage

WEB ADDRESS: www.hermitblog.com

BLOG DESCRIPTION: This website chronicles the building of my home, The Hermitage. There’s tons of information here, including:
•resources for those who are interested in building their own homes.
•weather at The Hermitage and surrounding area
•lots of photos
•my milestones in construction of this wonderful place
•and the day by day ramblings in my blog.

MY REVIEW: The Hermit lives completely off the grid – his home is solar powered, and the resources include solar powered ones. (Once the concrete slab for his home was poured, all electricity to power tools has been generated by the sun). For anyone interested in solar power or alternative energy and how it can apply to your lives, you’ll enjoy this blog.

RECENT ARTICLES:

•Fort Garland for Sweethearts: Fort Garland is a popular pizza place in the area, having a Valentine’s Day special
•Foggy Morning: A photo and commentary on a foggy day
•Local food: a discussion of San Luis Valley – the “breadbasket of Colorado” – and how stores in the area ship produce from other locations.
•Building materials: He gives a plug to Jim’s Post Commissary, where he purchases all the basics for building his home and the La Jara Trading Post – a huge hardware store.

On travel til Wednesday

I'm visiting elderly relatives in Box Elder, SD who do not have internet.

Will try to sneak out now and again to an internet cafe to post, but more than likely will not be posting until Wedneday.

(Retro reviews post regardless)

Retro Review #8: Deal Book

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: Deal Book

WEB ADDRESS: http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Daily news on mergers & acquisitions, I.P.O.'s, venture capital and more. Edited by Andrew Ross Sorkin

MY REVIEW: An excellent blog for investors and those interested in the financial future of the country... told from the New York Times' point of view!

Some sample paragraphs:

The long-awaited opinion in the Selectica case came out this week from Delaware Chancery Court. Vice Chancellor John W. Noble, in the 71-page opinion, validated the Selectica board’s decision to adopt a net operating loss poison pill and permit this pill to be set off after Versata intentionally crossed the pill’s threshold.

The facts of the case are frankly odd. They arose out of Versata’s acquisition of 5.2 percent of Selectica and Versata’s accompanying offer to acquire Selectica. (Both companies produce business software.) In response, Selectica adopted a low-threshold net operating loss poison pill that would be triggered when someone acquired 4.99 percent of its stock, rather than the more typical 15 percent trigger. Versata was exempted from this threshold to the extent that it did not subsequently acquire Selectica shares

RECENT ARTICLES:
-GE Disputes Incident in Paulson’s Book
-Citi Still Has Competive Pay, CFO Says
-Philip Morris to Buy Back $12 Billion in Shares
-Another View: Why Privacy Matters to the Swiss
-AIG Lines Up Underwriters for AIA Offering

Retro Review #7: Crooks and Liars

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: Crooks and Liars

WEB ADDRESS: http://crooksandliars.com

BLOG DESCRIPTION: This "Coulter-free Zone" blog is founded by John Amato and features political and other current events commentary by liberals and progressives for liberals and progressives. It frequently references The Daily Show, Hardball, and Countdown with Keith Olbermann

MY REVIEW: The blog may be intended for liberals and progressives but I as a Republican find it interesting as well. Indeed, anyone who is at all interested in the political process (and we all need to be, these days) will find it instructive to read blogs on both sides of the aisle – those from liberals and progressives aka Democrats, and those from Republicans, whom Amato apparently considers to be “crooks and liars.” (Truth be told, all politicians of either party are “crooks and liars” – that’s what’s so depressing about what should be the greatest government in the world… - but we as people are to blame for allowing these crooks and liars to remain in power.)

So, regardless of your political affiliation, this is a good blog to read. It cost $1.99 a month rather than 99 cents of most blogs.

RECENT ARTICLES:
-Sen. Kyl: Unemployment Benefits A 'Job Disencentive'
-Utah legislator who wants to criminalize miscarriages is a Glenn Beck '912er' and Tea Party fan
-Dana Bash: It Could Take a Couple of Weeks for Democrats to Work Around Bunning's Obstruction
-McCain: I'll Cut Deficits Like Reagan!
-Jim Bunning's hold is also killing "flood insurance"

Retro Review #6: The Comics Curmudgeon

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: The Comics Curmudgeon

WEB ADDRESS: http://joshreads.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Do like the comics? Do you like making fun of the comics? Of course you do! Read the Comics Curmudgeon for all this and more.

MY REVIEW: I heartily recommend The Comics Curmudgeon, if you like to read the daily comics (for whatever reason. I read some of them because they’re so bad they’re good, for example, and that seems to be the reason the Comics Curmudgeon reads them, as well.

Rather than the Comics Cavern, which is – I guess – focused on independent comic books, The Comics Curmudgeon is strictly concentrated with the newspaper comic strip page (strips that you can read online at such locations as http://news.yahoo.com/comics

(My own favorites (favorites because they are good, not because they are "so bad they are good!") are Brewster Rockit and Rip Haywire. I wish my own strip, The Lady and the Tiger (about a woman pilot), was represented. Well…perhaps one day.

RECENT ARTICLES:
-Metapost: Attitude adjusting comments of the week! (Mary Worth)
-He’s got legs, and he knows he should hide them (Beetle Bailey and others)
-The Miller Party — and, oh, what a party it will be (Beetle Bailey and others including Judge Parker)
-Frolicmania: Day two (Archie, Mary Worth, Gil Thorp)
-PULL THE TRIGGER MARY (Mary Worth)

Retro Review #5: Financial Armageddon

Reviewed by: Ms. Cairo

Recommendation: YES

URL: http://www.financialarmageddon.com/

Amazon Subscription page Financial Armageddon:

Blog description: Insights on debt, derivatives, government guarantees, the retirement system, and the coming economic unraveling

This blog is found in the Business and Investing category. It provides a gloomy view of investing, and it's a must read.

Sample post:
July 21, 2010

'Anyway You Cut It - Sales Just Aren’t Cutting It'
As a long-time market-watcher, I get a kick out of those countless Wall Street "experts" who focus so slavishly on "the number." You know, earnings per share, or EPS: the manipulated, expectations-managed data point that "analysts" view as their raison d'etre.

Even though it's been obvious for years that corporate America, including companies like Apple and IBM, are playing these fools guys (and gals) like a finely-tuned fiddle, the highly-paid Wall Street types still seem totally clueless about what's going on.

During ordinary times, a racket like this is simply a source of amusement; now, though, when it's more important than ever for people to have an accurate read on where things stand, the beat-the-number scam is a pathetically cynical joke.

However, if somebody actually takes the time to look at data that might be a tad more relevant to the decision-making process, they will likely reach the same conclusion as Bloomberg BusinessWeek's Investing Insights blog does in "No Sales Means No Jobs Means No Recovery":

Last week U.K. scientists determined which came first: the chicken or the egg? They claim it was the chicken. But the Wall Street version is which comes first, Sales or Jobs, is still open. Consumers don’t want to spend because they don’t feel comfortable about the future, specifically the economy and their job; companies won’t expand - add to plants, spend on capital expenditure, hire workers (full or part time, even extending hours) until their sales pick up. From the company’s viewpoint, why invest to produce more when you aren’t even selling everything you are making now, especially if their earnings are doing well (not to mention they have more cash on hand then at anytime in history). From the consumer’s side, even those who feel secure with their job are watching their bottom line, and money remains tight (and don’t even look at your retirement holdings or benefits). So how do you break the downward cycle of ‘I won’t spend’ therefore ‘I won’t build’? For starters there were the jump start stimulus programs. But here we are trillions later and no jobs. Maybe it would have been worse, maybe we just need more stimuli or maybe we’re just feeding a junkie. Pick a theory, stand at Broad and Wall and preach it. But whatever we’re doing, wherever we are in the process, it hasn’t worked yet, and Americans aren’t known for their patience. So if we don’t start to see some actual improvements soon the tie goes to the down side, and time is not on our side. I’m not looking for a home run, just someone on base would be nice - something to root for.

The above commentary is mine of course, and not part of my earnings review below, but the two do appear to be blending. Maybe I need to step back and look for bias in my reporting, or maybe a 38% increase in earnings isn’t the whole story.

As of last night we had 24.9% of the Q2 earnings reported. So far, the Q2 2010 earnings results are encouraging at first glance. Based on the issues that have actually reported, earnings are 14.5% ahead of estimates, with 65.8% of the issues beating their estimate. Sales, however, are a different story. While 73.4% of the issues have beaten their sales estimate, the “beat” is only slight, with the overall aggregate sales coming in 4.4% ahead of estimates - far less than the 14.5% for earnings. The earning growth over last year’s Q2 2009 is equally impressive, with earnings 38.4% ahead (excluding Citigroup which had a massive loss last year), but sales are a disappointing 6.7% ahead. Anyway you cut it - sales just aren’t cutting it.

I believe comparisons should focus on quarter-over-quarter results to determine the recovery’s progress, as well as the underlying momentum of the economy. And since I believe jobs are number one, and given that companies are generally in good financial shape with excess cash so they can ride out any short term disruption, I look to sales as a future indicator. On this basis, earnings are running ahead of Q1 2010, but sales are flat, and that’s the problem. It’s great that companies have improving earnings, but those improvements are due to high margins, which were the product of cost cuts - specifically job reductions, the very thing that we need to improve now. Until companies and consumers start to spend more, the job front will not get better, but they won’t spend more until they believe things are getting better. The stimulus programs were suppose to jump start the economy and break the downward cycle by convincing both groups that better times were here. But so far we’re not seeing the sales or the jobs; but earnings are good, at least for now.

Latest posts--Safe, or sorry: Americans investing in municipal bonds. They *used* to be safe, but now more and more cities are in danger of defaulting.
--No Wonder Americans Are Pessimistic: job news isn’t really as good as its been portrayed
--The Next Phase of my Evaluation: Michael Panzer points out that Greenspan, Paulson and Greenspan are not economic experts.
--A Secular Shift: The recession has battered the US economy, but the lobbying industry is humming along in the nation’s capital, even for companies that have shed thousands of jobs in the past year.

Retro Review #4: Improve Your General Knowledge in your Leisure Time

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION PAGE: Improve Your General Knowledge in Leisure Time!

WEB ADDRESS: gklt.blogspot.com

BLOG DESCRIPTION: It provides readers with information that people should know as their general knowledge; the knowledge that is well known or must be known by everyone. This blog is to help people establish their common framework in a social context to know general items in various areas of social life, science, business, technology, art, sport, universe, creatures, etc. It presents the information in an easy way to read, memorize (also to improve memory) and self-test. So readers could improve their general knowledge while enjoying their leisure time.

MY REVIEW: Each entry in Improve Your General Knowledge is simply a piece of trivia.

For example:

Jeopardy: The American quiz show featuring trivia in topics such as science, literature, history, music, culture, sports, etc.

Cold Mountain: wounded soldier, Inman, leaves the Civil War and walks home to his sweetheart Ada in Charles Frazier’s book: Cold Mountain.

The Falkland Islands: IN 1842, the British made Stanley the capital of the Falkland Islands of Argentina.

Well, the trivia is interesting, and it can certainly act as a spring board to do further research, should you find one of the trivia pieces is interesting.

I just wish that each piece of trivia would actually give a bit more information. Two paragraphs are better than one!

RECENT ARTICLES:

• Answer for Crossword Puzzle No. 2
• Crossword Puzzle No. 2
• Jeopardy!
• Cold Mountain
• The Falkland Islands

Retro Review #3: Cessna Warbirds

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES, with reservations

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION PAGE: Cessna Warbirds

WEB ADDRESS: www.cessnawarbirds.com

BLOG DESCRIPTION: History of the 12,000+ Cessnas sold by military air arms worldwide since World War II. Book excerpts. Articles. Artwork. Military Cessna flight manuals.

MY REVIEW: If you go into the archives (on the web), there are some great and informative articles (about 3-5 a month for 2009).

As an aviation enthusiast (my own aviation blog is - You Fly Girl: Women in Aviation), I was looking forward to learning about Cessna Warbirds, from this blog by Walt Shiel. He’s the author of the book, Cessna Warbirds, as well as T-41 Mescalero, Cessna Warbirds Vol. 1, Devil in the North Woods (Novel) and Pilots and Normal People.

Unfortunately, his blog is not updated as frequently as I would wish - although the last update was February 17, 2010, so I've moved him from the inactive file into the active file.

FYI, Shiel has another blog, www.waltshiel.com, entitled View From The Publishing Trenches, about publishing, which makes for interesting reading also.

RECENT ARTICLES:

• Cessna Built Gliders
• Tweet, Skymaster, DC-3 News
• Cessna Bird Dog Woes

Retro Review #2: My Life A Bit South of Normal

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo


MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION PAGE: My Life a Bit SOuth of Normal

WEB ADDRESS: www.abitsouthofnormal.com

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Every once in awhile I stop and ask myself, "I don't think everyone lives this way." In fact, "I don't think anyone else lives this way." I have an ordinary existence with an insane extraordinary cast of characters. When I think about it, I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried. Yes, folks it's all true, and it could only happen in the south.

MY REVIEW: The author of the blog, who updates it every couple of days, is a 50-year old southerner who lives in the Deep South. I believe this means, South Carolina. (I’m from Minnesota, for all that I currently live in Virginia.) Most regions of the US (or indeed, of any country) have different traditions, menus and so on, as does every generation. (I’ve read about collards in books, for example, but I’ve never felt the need to dine on them. Sufficient to know that in the Deep South they are still a traditional dish!)

If you’re interested in people, you’ll enjoy these entertaining and amusing, and culturally-instructive anecdotes.

RECENT ARTICLES:

• The Dollar Store
• I Don't Fry Chicken
• Pet Names
• Pass the green beans and the pot, please.
• Starving Children in China