m2h blogs by Marcia Hansen

Top 10 Search Engine Optimization Tips – self explanatory

Jott – [via: LifeRemix/LifeDev] transcribes voice messages you phone in. Maybe you’ve already used it?? You can call in and send email, text messages, messages to a group, or even content to your blog or twitter. Looks cool. Note: the terms of service prohibit repeatedly calling in long messages. I’m not sure how they define long, but I don’t think it would ideal to use as an interview transcription service, which was my first thought.

When I was at Mizzou, I was lucky enough to participate in a mindfulness based stress reduction class. (you can also check out the linked site above for new meditation mp3 downloads.)

Today, while scanning mindfulness news, I discovered the following info on introducing children to mindfulness practice.

The Hawn Foundation (started by Goldie Hawn) supports teaching K-12 students about mindfulness. They are looking for schools to partner with to introduce their Mindfulness Matters curriculum.

From what I read, I gathered that it’s not an after-school program, but an in-school curriculum project designed to help children increase their self-awareness, develop problem-solving skills, deal with stress, and learn more social behaviors.

Even though the foundation was started in 2003, it looks like they are still working on developing content for their website. From cruising around, it appears that they might eventually have classroom tips and sample handouts available. For now, however, if you’re interested in finding out more, you can use the above links to contact them.

Web Strategy by Jeremiah – check out his post for today, the questions corporations ask about social media.

Social Media Today – check out IT Flower and whitepaper.

good images with these posts.

As you might guess, cows are quite commonplace here in northern Illinois. But, we don’t see many like this one.

It’s a first for me: a striped cow.

After a little research, I think it might be a rare Dutch Belted Cow.

A while back, Jenny wrote a post about cutting out mainstream media.

Below are a few links I’ve come across may be of interest to people who think similarly.

Common Language Project: Positive Reporting Across Borders
Happy Rant – also check out his blogroll
Yes Magazine

j. It’s so much fun to be on the receiving end of a run down the hallway and the little one flinging himself into your arms for a hug.

j. Hearing “I love you” in his soft sweet voice.

p. Hearing the same question repeated five times even though you’ve answered every previous question.

p. Hearing “why?” 50 zillion times. (BTW, my cousins told me yesterday at the family reunion that I deserve this. According to them, “why?” was my favorite question until I was around 7. Word is, I drove them all nuts until I decided to act like a normal person.)

j. Hearing the magic words, “please and thank you.”

j. Playing peek-a-boo. It’s hilarious when he puts a cover over his head and thinks we can’t see him.

p. Endless whining about what he’s not going to eat. OMG. Shoot me now.

j. Feeding the ducks and geese. It’s so much fun, I may have to go by myself now.

p. I don’t want…my diaper changed, to take a bath now, or to take a nap. Later. Not now.

p. His utter horror at getting wet himself after he sprayed me with a hose. I thought he was never going to forgive me for lightly spraying him back.

j. Teasing him about how to say “milk.” I say, “milk.” He says, “No, milky.” Repeat. Endless laughter over this one.

The joyful moments are absolutely fantastic. The painful moments are a hell that make me think I never would have survived having a 2 year old of my own, and he was only here for 5 days. I started this post on Friday, the day he went back to Mom & Dad. It’s Sunday now, and although I’m not ready for another 5-day stint, I’m already up for another shorter visit.

Billie at Parts-n-Pieces gave me a Rockin’ Girl Blogger award. That is really sweet of her to do and she said such nice things. The feelings are mutual because if she hadn’t just given me this award, she would have found her own name on my list below.

I looked over my blogroll and decided to narrow things down by choosing bloggers I’ve met in real life because they are just as rockin’ f2f as they are here in the blogosphere.

1. Donna at Why Not Blog – She is one of the coolest persons I know. I admire her outlook on life and how she puts things in perspective. You never know what she is going to blog about, but her cats are featured prominently and they rock too!

2. RMH aka senioritis at Schenectady Synecdoche – I’ve been reading her blog for a while now. Girl Howdy can she get the work done. I wish I had 1/2 of her focus and drive. I so enjoyed meeting her in person. Her presence and warmth really come through. Her blog is one of the first I read every morning.

3. Jenny at Working Blue – She is really rockin’ cool! I’ve been reading her blog since before it was Working Blue. I’ve also read some of her print stuff and even heard her present. I really like how she writes and expresses her ideas. Plus, I keep thinking, V. has it made–one day she will surely realize just how rockin’ her mom is.

4. jo(e) at Writing as jo(e) – Speaking of cool moms, jo(e) is it. Plus, she is a rockin’ girl blogger for sure. I love the stories she tells and the cool pictures she takes. She is such a talented writer, and she has perfected the back of head shot. Now I want to take those shots of all my family and friends.

5. repressed librarian – She is such a caring and thoughtful person. Her deep values and principles are so integrated in her life. I admire her so much. I look forward to reading her blog whenever she posts. Maybe now that I’m in the same general vicinity for a bit, we can do another blogger meet-up.

Billie gave out an honorary rockin’ girl blogger award, but I want to give out an alternate mention to R.A.D. Blogger – Even though she hasn’t blogged much yet, when she does get going, you’re going to see how smart she is. I hope you get to know her more. She rocks!

I’ve finished reading Al Gore’s text, The Assault on Reason. I feel as if I’ve been assaulted. If ever anyone wanted to believe that W’s actions were merely misguided, rather than politically motivated, dishonest, unreasonable, illogical, and sometimes criminal, I don’t think it would be possible for them to believe so after reading this book.

Before reading this text, I was naively holding out hope that W might believe that what he was doing was best for all Americans, even if it often privileged the wealthy at the expense of the lower and middle classes. Now, I have no further illusions. The way that Gore portrays this administration leaves little room for me to accord such thought.

In describing the problem, Gore holds little back. His argument is that this administration believes they are entitled to the economic gains they have engineered, wrestle even more executive power, and that we have done too little to stop it because the majority of us spend 3/4 of our free time watching TV and not participating in any discussion of ideas, and as such the idea of engaging with with or questioning any of the decisions that are made for us becomes very difficult and highly unlikely. Add to the public’s passivity, an unceasing rhetoric of fear propagated by the current administration, and it’s likely that many people don’t know what to do to make a difference.

Prior to reading, I would have expected Gore to quote prior presidents such as Jefferson and Lincoln. However, Gore quotes from a diverse number of sources on the order of Habermas, Lawrence Grossman, Lippmann, Neil Postman, Edmund Burke, Winston Churchill, George Orwell, and Martin Luther King Jr, among others in the 273 citations. His manages an intellectual and informative tone, without sounding preachy, petty or partisan. Early on he states, “It is too easy–and too partisan–to simply place the blame on the policies of President George W. Bush. We are all responsible for the decisions our country makes” (2). He doesn’t let us or himself off the hook. He does discuss how we are being manipulated by TV programming, so-called news, as well as the 30-second political ad. I found his discussions on brain activity and psychology fascinating, but some people might get bored by these discussions. Nevertheless, Gore argues that we must understand how and why the problem came about if we are to have a chance at solving it.

In the introduction, Gore promises to describe and assess the damage, and he does a good job of it in the first eight chapters. He also promises that his last chapter will be a roadmap for change–a strategy outlining how reason can be restored to democracy. Unfortunately, this last chapter is all too short in my opinion. At just 25 pages, he has little room to layout a detailed strategy. Instead, he offers examples of how those of us who are connected to the internets might be a force for change, including more participatory TV such as the network he helped found, Current TV.

There were only a few times when I cringed at the way he expressed his ideas. He discusses extensively how the 24 hour cycle presents us with repeated news about unimportant and uncritical topics. He conveys that the TV news serves its corporate interests at the expense of critical, investigative journalism and that journalists are unable to do their jobs. However, in support of this point he quotes Dan Rather’s statement about TV being “dumbed down and tarted up” (17). I think Rather’s comment has more to do with his personal feelings of being replaced by Couric. According to Rather’s page at Wikipedia, the entire comment was: “the mistake was to try to bring the ‘Today’ show ethos to the ‘Evening News,’ and to dumb it down, tart it up in hopes of attracting a younger audience.” I find the ‘tart it up’ comment offensive. And, Gore is trying to appeal to a younger, more connected audience with Current TV, so the use of this particular quote is problematic for me.

The second discordant moment I had while reading was his use of the word simple and simplicity. In chapter two in his discussion of how Bush uses faith to divide issues into absolute wrongs and rights, Gore writes,

Simplicity is always more appealing than complexity, and faith is always more comforting than doubt. Both religious faith and uncomplicated explanations fo the world are even more highly valued at a time of great fear. Moreover, during times of great uncertainty and public anxiety, any leader who combines simplistic policies with claims of divine guidance is more likely to escape difficult questions based on glaring logical flaws in his arguments.(55)

This paragraph is all well and good. However, a few pages later, Gore writes,

When you boil down precisely what went wrong with the Bush Iraq policy, it’s fairly simple. He waged the politics of blind faith. He used a counterfeit combination of misdirected vengeance and misguided dogma to dominate the national discussion, bypass reason, silence dissent, and intimidate those who questioned his logic both inside and outside the administration. (60).

His word choice here is problematic. As an editor, I would have suggested a different word than ’simple’ in this paragraph. How about, ‘it’s fairly straightforward.’ Then I wouldn’t have a problem following a critique of simplicity in one area with a concise statement of the problem in another that followed so soon thereafter. However, in neither area, do I find a problem with the larger argument at hand.

Overall, I’m glad I read the text. If I was going to review or debate many of the issues he discusses, I could use his footnotes as a starting place to extend my reading. I just wanted two more chapters at the end. I want more that I can do to help because sometimes it does feel like there is little I can do to change or do to make a difference.

While what I said before under entertainment notes is true that this town doesn’t have any coffee shops listed in the yellow pages, I’ve just discovered via an ad in the local newspaper that there is a coffee shop in the bookstore downtown, Books on First. Their website doesn’t mention that they have wireless internet; however, the ad in the newspaper said it is so. I will have to check it out.

In her latest good things post, Billie talks about cooking eggs in the microwave, and how good they turned out. Her post reminded me of how I’ve just learned a new way to cook potatoes in the microwave, and they turned out really good. Surprisingly, good.

Instructions

1. Prep the potatoes: clean and pierce the skins. Mom likes to slice the ends off, but I like to make a long slit length-wise in the potato on both sides. Choose your own method of perforation.
2. Butter the entire skin of each potato, all the way around. There is just no easy way to avoid getting your fingers a little messy on this step.
3. Wrap each potato individually in plastic wrap. I’ve been using press and seal wrap because that is what we have available. At the craft show, one of the ladies was selling what looked to be two pot holders sewn together with a top flap like a sandwich bag. If you try and like this method and don’t want to use plastic wrap in the microwave, you could get/make yourself something similar without too much difficulty.
4. Microwave until done. For two small to medium sized potatoes, five minutes works for me.
5. Unwrap and enjoy with whatever toppings you desire. We had some leftover barbecue chicken (boneless, shredded/stringed cooked in the crock-pot the day before) that was really great on top with a little sour cream and pepper.

I’m usually very picky about only eating potatoes baked in the oven. I am just not fond of how plain microwaved potatoes taste. I’d rather not even eat them (and that is saying a lot because I love potatoes!)

I really like this new way of cooking potatoes in the microwave. Note: If I am planning ahead of time, I will still bake potatoes in the oven, but when I need potatoes at the last minute, I’ll use this method. I don’t know where the idea originated. Mom told me about it. She learned it from my brother. I don’t know where he picked it up. Maybe I’m just late to the potato baking party, but I thought I’d share the new method in case there are other potato lovers who haven’t heard of it yet.