Best of Advice

This is one of the blogs I look forward to reading each day, because it only takes a minute, and the rules are very insightful. I just don't want it to end at 1,001.

Related: my dad might be Irish, because he always leaves family functions with what is apparently termed as an "Irish goodbye," except not with the intoxication part. Just the no goodbye part.

Best of Authors

I love authors. As I told Whitters tonight, they are my movie stars.

From Michael Chabon*, author of so many books you should read - Wonder Boys, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, The Yiddish Policeman's Union:

"One of the things that had served to discourage me over the course of the primary season was a general acceptance of the premise that oratory was a specious, feckless, inherently untrustworthy art. The Obama camp would rightly dispute the charge of offering only “pretty words,” but they never seemed to argue the larger truth: that ultimately words were all we had; that writing and oratory, argument and persuasion, were the root of democracy; that words can kill, or save us; something along those lines. “You can only say what you can first imagine,” as I heard Tobias Wolff (the short-story master, not the Obama campaign adviser) explain to a group of people at an Obama fund-raiser. It was a mark of Obama’s fitness to lead, to me at least, that he possessed sufficient natural reserves of imagination to kick oratorical ass." (via The Morning News)

*Holy shit, apparently he was at the convention. AND NOBODY TOLD ME. If you hear that Dave Eggers was there, just make sure I don't find out.

Best of Elsewhere

The people at The Morning News, who bring me the Tournament of Books every March, also share my political views. And probably yours, too.

"...not only do regular people not run for president, they shouldn’t run for president. Sarah Palin’s appeal apparently rests on her being just like us, but why on Earth would we want to elect someone just like us? Have you seen us?"

Best of Summing it Up

"I am angry. I am infuriated. And I don't think I would be if Sarah Palin were a qualified or competent choice as McCain's running mate. But the fact, the reality is that she is not. And instead of demanding better from their party, instead of going, wait a minute, no, we deserve better than this, many Republicans are contorting themselves into a denial of reality."

Dooce.com speaks truth to power.


Also, as a former community organizer, I have to say Palin is an idiot for calling out organizers in her speech. 1) They have a lot of "actual" responsibility, 2) They are "regular people" who are not politicians working for their communities, 3) Why, when you are trying to insult one person, would you insult a whole group of people who work on both sides of the aisle, and 4) THEY WORK ON HER OWN CAMPAIGN.

How do you spell incompetent? P-A-L-I-N

And, I say this as a woman, a proud Vagina American, I'm not voting for someone just because we share the same special parts. Especially when she opposes the rights that come with those special parts.

Best of Quizzes

Okay, here's a chance for some audience participation.

I found a math quiz online from The Morning News headlines, and you can try it, too. We talk a lot about math in our house these days, and a few nights ago Whitters and I sat at the kitchen table doing it all night. Grant hates math so he just hung out in the living room with his headphones on, so the evil math terms couldn't even make their way to his brain. Whitters also hates it (LOATHES IT & DESPISES IT), but I'm a fun tutor (most of the time), and she found herself having a tiny, tiny bit of fun doing truth tables. I cannot wait for proofs. Transitive property, here we come!

But back to this test. I'm a little ashamed to say that I only got 3 out of 4 right, but that's okay. How did you do?

Another fun quiz is the 50 states one. You get 10 minutes to type in the names of all the states. The first time I did it, I only got 48. Don't cheat! I gave the test to a coworker (and spelling is not his strong suit), so when he said he got all 50, I was a little surprised. And a lot suspicious. Even if he remembered all the states (doubtful), I knew he wouldn't be able to spell Connecticut. I asked if he cheated, and he said no, so I checked his history. Suuuuuure, he didn't. He just happened to google "50 states" during the test. He still says he didn't cheat. Right.

Best of Advice

Somehow the universe knew I needed to read some of this today. Do you need it too?

Relationship advice from Sarah Brown (a Tulsa native living in NYC) via Dooce (the coolest blogger ever).

Money advice from NYT. We spend too much. But I'm trying to be better! And save! It is taking me awhile to learn this lesson in all aspects of my life, but I really am trying to focus on the long-term.

Life advice from J.K. Rowling to Harvard graduates, some of whom did not realize how lucky they were to be in the audience. If only I had gone to Harvard. And stayed in school there for 9 years.