Nanny Goats in Panties (Humor)

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: Nanny Goats in Panties, published by Margaret Andrews

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

BLOG DESCRIPTION: This blog humorously observes the planet and its occupants, complains vociferously, participates in ironic self-destruction, and displays the occasional ruminant. With or without undergarments.

MY REVIEW: Well, the unifying theme of this blog is the author's liking of goats. And the photos she shares do make them look cute. (Well, babies of any species...well, most mammalian species, anyway, look cute). Other than that, she blogs about her day, and yes, it is indeed humorous. She does have a sharp sense of humor. Indeed, her entry entitled "The Dangers of Shopping Alone" is hilarious.

If I were the type of person who liked to have a smile with my morning coffee, before getting on with my day, I'd love this blog. It's a lot more amusing than those silly "Joke a day" blogs.

But then most humor blogs I've reviewed, such as Midlife Musings, to name only one, are funnier than those pointless "Joke a Day" blogs.

So I'd say give this blog a chance (in particular seek out "The Dangers of Shopping Alone" in the archives, if you're reading this review much after March 1, 2010).

Here's some sample paragraphs:

California is from Mars, Arizona is from Venus
Oh sure, when we checked in to the Hilton hotel in Tucson, Arizona, it seemed innocuous. Pretty, even.

We should have known when we bore witness to grass at this so-called hotel, that something was afoot. I don't know if you non-Arizonians know this, but people in many parts of Arizona, especially the desert-like Tucson area, do not have grass. Let alone the green variety.

What, you don't believe me? Have I ever lied to you? Okay, one time! But I was protecting not only myself but the poor frog too. I mean we were both young and stupid and he had his tadpoles to think of. I'm not proud of what I did, but we both moved on and I was sort of hoping you'd have more compassion than you are displaying right now, quite frankly. Also? I can't walk into my laundry room with the swamp photo wallpaper without breaking down, but I must soldier on because it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

So, besides that one time, have I ever lied to you? If you're hesitating, let me help you. The answer is no. I haven't. In fact, I have proof of said lack of grass in Arizona. Here is my Tucsonian friend's front yard, sans grass:

RECENT ARTICLES:
-The Dangers of Shopping Alone (March 1, 2010)
-Goat Thing of the Day: Goat-Minded Sheep (Feb 25, 2010)
-California is from Mars, Arizona is from Venus (Feb 22, 2010)
-Goat Thing of the Day: A Belated Valentine. And Childhood Goat Trauma (Feb 19, 2010)
-Tucson, Arizona is a Big Bully (Feb 17, 2010)

The Dog Ate My Care Plan

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

NOT AVAILABLE FOR SUBSCRIPTON VIA THE KINDLE

MY RECOMMENDATION: Maybe

WEB ADDRESS: http://thedogatemycareplan.wordpress.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Welcome to the life and times of a 28-yr-old mother of three and wife to one. I'm a junior nursing student in an evening/weekend BSN program graduating in December of 2011. Join me in my pilgrimage through endless studying, sleep deprivation, and the utter and total lack of a social life. But be nice to me...I may be your nurse some day!

MY REVIEW: Most people have it tough these days. Going to school to get an education to get a decent job, worried that they'll have a decent job to get, and so on. Writing about one's experiences can be very therapeutic (indeed, not enough people do it!)

The author of this blog, IsntSheLovlei, is in training to be a nurse, as she points out, and she explains in her description exactly what she is going to share with the reader,"endless studying, sleep deprivation, and the utter and total lack of a social life."

Who will find this blog of interest? Well, fellow nursing students - those who are thinking of taking such classes and want to see how fellow students react, those who are taking such classes and enjoy reading other's experiences, and other people who don't intend to be nurses themselves but are just interested in what people have to do to get into this or that field.

The one problem with this blog is that it is not updated very frequently...on average once a month.

Subscribe to the blog via its RSS feed, and see if you'll like it.

Here's a few sample paragraphs:

Health Assessment is just about coming to a close—thank goodness. For a minute there I thought I wasn’t going to make it–my hair even started falling out again. But I’m still here, balding and all lol. We had our clinical final exam/check-offs this past Saturday. You have to do an assessment of one major system (Neurological, Thorax & Lungs, or Abdominal) and two minor systems (CN 1-6, CN 7-12, Cardiac & Peripheral Vascular, or Head/Neck/Face/Ears)—which you basically pick out of a hat. Since you don’t know which ones you’re going to get until that morning you have to know ALL of them perfectly—or at least sufficiently well as clinical is pass/fail. With so many minor details within each system I must have studied for it for a week straight—I even slept with my notes the night before.

Instead of visions of sugar-plums dancing in my head I was having nightmares about cranial nerves, diaphragmatic expansion, and liver spans. But it actually turned out ok. My major system was abdominal—which of course was one of my least favorites. I’m just not comfortable with the percussion aspect of it. Liver spans, splenic dullness, tympany over the gastric bubble—most of the time it all sounds like the same ol’ shit to me. And how many nurses really percuss in their daily practice? I am almost 29-years-old and I don’t remember ever being percussed. For my minor systems I had Head/Face/Neck/Ears (and I remembered to hold the otoscope upside down!) and Cranial Nerves 7-12—piece of cake.

We still have to take the HESI tomorrow night and our final exam on Thursday. If we make benchmark on the HESI (we’ll see how that goes), we get 10 points added to our final exam grade. Now I wouldn’t mind that at all…

Up next, Maternity/OB. But first, spring break here I come! Of course it won’t be a full week of pure unproductive bliss since we’re expected to have read the first five chapters in our maternity textbook for the first day of class—oy!

RECENT ARTICLES:
-Buh-bye Health Assessment (March 1, 2010)
-Sink or Swim (Feb 6, 2010)
-Now Back To Your Regularly Scheduled Program… (January 31, 2010)
-Slow and Steady Wins The Race! (December 18, 2010)
-Not Just a Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of Nursing School (Nov 23, 2009)

The Foodista Blog (Lifestyle and culture)

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: The Foodista Blog

WEB ADDRESS: http://foodista.com. Blog at http://www.foodista.com/blog.

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Food and cooking posts from the staff and editors of Foodista.com.

MY REVIEW: I find the Foodista website a bit confusing. There seem to several parts to it, not well defined. There's a site where chefs and cooks talk about their ouvre, then there's a site that's a user-input site - people can share their own recipes. Then there seem to be two types of blogs. Well, the blog url I shared above is the one that gets fed to the Kindle.

And, if you're a foodie, you'll love this blog! Nuff said.

Here are a few sample paragraphs:

Like many food lovers, the strangest things make me hungry. For instance, the Olympics. Ok, perhaps that’s not too much of a stretch– watching feats of endurance always works up a bit of an appetite– but that’s not what I’m talking about. The Olympics remind me of a wonderful vegetarian restaurant in Vancouver, The Naam; their miso gravy is to-die for, and completely changed what I thought was possible with miso.

Miso is made from fermented grain or soybeans, salt and kojikin, a fungus also used to brew soy sauce and sake. Miso falls into three basic categories: komemiso, made with rice and soybeans; mugimiso, made from barley or rye and soybeans; and mamemiso, made from soybeans alone. Varying the fermentation time, the amount of salt and the strain of kojikin creates further variety: shiromiso (white miso), akamiso (red miso), awasemiso (mixed miso) and hatchomiso, the richest, thickest variety.

RECENT ARTICLES:
-Knocking back moonshine with Max Watman
-Q&A with Chef Tom Douglas
-Unexpectedly great food and wine pairings: champagne and...salad
-Beyond soup - 5 uses for miso
-Chef Q&A with Alexx Pitts

Murderati (arts and entertainment)

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: Murderati, published by Murderati.com

WEB ADDRESS: http://murderati.com

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Through the eyes of today's leading mystery and crime writers, MURDERATI examines critical themes, historical archetypes and trends in publishing, marketing and the life of the published author.

MY REVIEW: I enjoyed this blog very much, and recommend it highly. As an aspiring fiction writer, I found this blog extremely interesting, and I think you'll find it so as well. In addition, if you're just a mystery fan, rather than an author, you'll find this of interest just to know how writers think and create.

Some sample paragraphs:

Yesterday, I made the time to attend my local RWA meeting where New York Times bestselling author Alyssa Day spoke about heroines. Alyssa is a talented paranormal romance writer who has a reputation for writing alpha heros AND alpha heroines. I asked her permission to talk about her workshop on this blog because I think it would benefit ALL writers, not simply romance or romantic suspense authors.

Alyssa's workshop was hugely inspirational and beneficial to me. A lot of people might think that after 13 published books why would I want to attend a craft workshop? The same reason why I bought Donald Maass' FIRE IN FICTION last summer--I am still learning. While I believe my strength in writing is centered around my heroines, I also believe that all writers, no matter what their level or how many books under their belt, published or unpublished, can learn something simply by listening to others. Sometimes it's not like we learn something particularly new, but we are given a new way of looking at something we know and it broadens our perceptions and our craft.

Yesterday was just such a day for me.

I write strong heroines. My hardest characters are the heroines who are not in a naturally kick-ass professional. For example, Julia Chandler (prosecutor in SEE NO EVIL) or Robin McKenna (night club owner in KILLING FEAR.) Why? Because when your heroine has a role like cop or FBI Agent or P.I. reader expectations are that the character knows how to take care of themselves, that they are independent and strong-willed. Female cops are not wimps, for the most part, and I don't have to convince my readers that Detective Carina Kincaid (SPEAK NO EVIL) knows how to investigate a murder. I can simply put her in the middle of the investigation and give her the label "detective" and readers get it.

RECENT ARTICLES:
-Do-it-yourselfing (general entry on people who DIY) (March 1, 2010)
-What would Princess Leia do? (The Alpha heroine) [Ed, was Princess Leia an ALpha heroine????] (Feb 28, 2010)
-The Fairy Tale structure (fairy tale memes used in modern day mystery fiction) (Feb 27, 2010)
-Ramblin on... (thinking about her new novel) (Feb 26, 2010)
-The reality of reality (notes on location and setting) (Feb 25, 2010)
-It's alive

Boing Boing (Arts and Enterrtainment)

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES, with Reservations

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: Boing Boing, published by Boing Boing

WEB ADDRESS: http://boingboing.net/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Touted as "A Directory of Wonderful Things," Boing Boing informs readers about everything from new technological gadgets to privacy advocacy and civil liberty issues. With its five contributing columnists--Cory, David, Xeni, John, and Mark--Boing Boing offers information to enlighten, entertain, and change world views. Boing Boing has won the Bloggie award twice for "Weblog of the Year."

MY REVIEW: A very popular blog via the Kindle, if its sales ranking is to be believed. It also cost $1.99 a month instead of the more usual 99 cents, to subscribe, and I'm not sure if it's that valuable!

Although the blog does cover interesting material in a wide variety of subjects, it is link heavy. 90% of its posts are the kind where you have to click on a link to read the complete article. Well, since you get a free two-week tryout when you subscribe via the Kindle, check it out for yourself and see if that irritates you beyond all reason. (It would me.)

Some sample paragraphs (from a review of a book I suggest everybody read!)

Over the weekend, I finally picked up and read Dan Ariely's Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions, an accessible intro to the subject of behavioral economics -- that is, the study of how people behave in the real world and why that varies from the predictions made by classical economic theory (which predicts that people behave rationally and in their own interests). This is a subject I've been very interested in for some years and I'd read and blogged a lot of material about Ariely's work, but somehow never got 'round to reading it for myself.

I'm very glad I did! Ariely's a very engaging writer and a smart social scientist with a knack for illustrating his hypotheses about human behavior through elegant and simple experiments. There's no better time than now to read Predictably Irrational, as Ariely's theories about cheating, incentives, self-fulfilling prophecy, self control, and how we value the things we own versus the things we desire go a long way to explaining the econopocalypse, and also provide an excellent framework for analyzing proposals to get the economy moving again.

For example, Ariely describes a series of experiments that measure work performance among randomly selected groups of people where one group is paid nothing, one group is paid a little, and a third is paid a lot. The group that was paid a little did a little. The group that was paid a lot did a lot. The group that was paid nothing did even more. Ariely and colleagues go on to refine this experiment by changing the reward to gifts (chocolates) instead of money, then to gifts whose value is enumerated ("you will receive a $5 box of Godiva chocolates") and examines how this effects performance. He also examines what happens to performance in situations in which one is at first paid to work, then asked to do the same work again for free.

The results are fascinating, and point to the idea that we work hard for money, and we work hard for social reasons, but that one can short-circuit the other, and lastingly so. He then goes on to explain how companies that ask their employees to work harder for social reasons ("you're part of the team") but dismiss the employees for economic reasons ("we need to cut costs") end up in an impossible place. So do companies that ask customers to come make a purchase as a social transaction ("join the family!") but then treat the transaction after the fact as a purely economic matter ("you should have read the fine-print").

Every chapter works in this vein, and taken as a whole, Predictably Irrational presents a fatal blow to the idea that we can run a system on the assumption that people will take courses of action based on rational calculus, unclouded by cognitive blind-spots that make it practically impossible to find the best course of action.

Of course, this is already an accepted reality of the business-world -- it's why, for example, companies worry that an overly discounted price will reset consumer sentiment about the value of their product. It's why advertisers run "lifestyle" ads that don't feature the product or enumerate its benefits. It's why there are introductory offers that increase in price thereafter. All of these are designed to appeal to emotion, not rational calculus.

But in economics, this irrationality is treated like quantum physics: sure, it's true that this happens on the subatomic scale, but the whole system behaves in a rational, Newtonian fashion and can be treated as such. As Ariely persuasively argues, the economic world is full of a lot more weird, irrational quantum effects than we assume.

RECENT ARTICLES:
-Predictably irrational: subjecting the "rational consumer" hypothesis to scientific scrutiny [this is an excellent review of an excellent book, by the way, and I encourage everyone to read it, regardless of whether or not you subscribe to this blog.)
-Worst fries in America
-The Long Goodbye (guest blogger says au revoir)
-Tim And Eric's New season premieres tonight
-North Korea's woman traffic cops and the robotic mime they do
-Kid's gimbal-mounted cereal bowl