Announcement

A friend and I have a big announcement tomorrow!

Weekend News

My quilling was featured on DesignMom.

The Church Handbook is online. At least, part II is.

October's Links to Love

Artsy:

Cutesie organic materials.

Stop-motion Lite Brite.

Oil painting on people. Ingenious.

Apartment in Paris, untouched for 70 years, holds a treasure. (Lovely decor.)

Ha ha Halloween.

Creepy stair shadows from Martha Stewart (for Halloween).

Hyperrealist painting by Gregor Thielker (not photographs as you might think).

Hollerado's OK-Go-ish video that was accomplished in one take (if you can believe it):



One-dollar food photos.

Human bookshelf.

Fabulous music video:




Eliza pointed out this nifty "all things homemade" website (with those yummy-looking pie pops).

Awesome Baja, California timelapses:

Baja California Timelapses from Mike Flores on Vimeo.

Lace fencing. Gorgeous.

Black walls. Lovely. But would you dare?

Andrew Bird and his electric violin:



The case for handwriting. (I don't believe it, except for the motor skills thing.)

Eric Carle app.

Colorful wall decals that I think don't need to be just for kids.

Well, this is a charming video of the famous Nielson family:



Everything Explained Through Flowcharts, coming out soon. About it.


Mormon:

Conversion stories: from other faiths to Mormonism.

Best beards in Mormon history. Ardis, you crack me up.

No way. A Deseret Alphabet Translator. But what if you want to translate the other way?


Yes, I Love Technology:

Have you heard about SchoolTube? It sounds like a good idea.

Recover deleted files for free! RECUVA!

Hunch: working on a more user-friendly web experience. Sometimes it's useful for the web to know--like when Amazon can suggest a book to me. Sometimes it seems overboard and we are freaked out at first--like the first time you noticed Google Ads that had to do with the email you were writing. But now I think it's cool, though I have yet to click on one of those ads. But there are also people who are crazy about their online privacy.

Google investing in wind power.

Google translating dead languages.

Identifying fonts and how to make special characters.

Yes! Yes! Yes! You can finally set your GMail to go to the next conversation after deleting, archiving, etc.

Google's security checklist.


Random:

Unfortunate placements of ads.

PBS's "God in America" series.

Light up "sorry" and "thank you" signs for your car. I think people would find them kind of insulting. I can just imagine people saying, "Oh, that's real cute. He thinks he can pull whatever stunt he wants in traffic because he has that sign."

Frito Lay is leading the way with electric delivery trucks.

Crocodile causes airplane crash.

My first introduction to Cake Wrecks.

Liu Xiaobo wins the Nobel Peace Prize while in prison.

Babywearing in Parliament.

Interpreting Facebook portraits. Weird.

Phone calls to newly-announced Nobel Prize winners.

"The Five Worst Meanest Little Girls of All Time" (isn't that title redundant?).

Be careful about keeping warm laptops on your lap (Toasted Skin Syndrome, not to be confused with TSS).

A letter to suicide considerers.

Sesame Street Old Spice spoof:



HOBBY: A celebration of Spare-time Recreational Pursuits.

Funny situation with your kid's drawings.

Another "before fame" video: Justin Bieber (I must confess, I still don't know a single song of his):




Oh brother, people couldn't handle the noisiness of Sun Chips bags. They should have looked at it as novel.

A surfing Kelpie at a surfing dog competition. What the?

Awesome Sesame Street Willow Smith parody:




And the original (wow, what a voice at such a young age, though the repetition in this song drives me crazy):



16 things you didn't know about sleep. (When I was little, I slept in sleep position A. Then I switched to B as I got older, and ever since I injured my meniscus, I have to sleep in C. Weird. I hope I don't go on to D, E, and F.)

Weezer getting older and staying young.

Funny sick notes.

A fancy new Las Vegas hotel reflects rays that burn visitors. Oops.

Digitize your handwriting! (I know, I know, I've posted on creating your own font before. But I never thought of it as a way to personalize your emails and such.)




No arms, no legs, not named Bob, but a fascinating motivational speaker:




Powerful speech by abortion survivor:

January's Links to Love

Literary:

Podcast classes from Oxford are free!

Play with this map of authors. That's an order. Similarly, here you can type in your favorite authors and get some suggestions for some authors you might enjoy. (Like you don't already have a list of 300 books to read.)

Writer as social butterfly article. Do you break down people when you meet them? Do you want to write about them? I do.

George Orwell's diaries.

Translate any word into Parseltongue.

The decade in books.

Artsy:

Vintage Kate Spade catalogs.

Maia Ramishvili art.

Another lovely outdoor wedding.

Helvetica cookie cutters.

The youngest fashion designer ever. (I think my little sister Heidi could do some awesome stuff, too.)

Stolen Monet finally found.

Astounding artworks out of paper.



Between the Folds movie:



I like the idea of a wallpapered dumpster.

Anderson Ink always finds cool stuff. And I like this video she posted of Ramona Falls.

I like this style on guys.

I want to make some valentines like these for the 14th. If only I were romantically involved and someone were romantically involved with me (it's better if it goes both ways, don't you agree?) . . .

35 free fonts.

What type/font are you? test. (The password is "character.")

I will always find scherenschnitte beautiful. And here is some animated scherenschnitte:



I thought I found the German version of J. Crew, but it turns out it's a British company. I love the bright colors in their spring catalog, but it doesn't look like anything ever goes on sale into my price range, so I will probably never buy anything there. Here's the American site. Two of their dresses that I love:














Music:

I'm liking The Last Shadow Puppets:



Be Still My Soul, one of my favorite hymns:


I just barely heard about literal versions of music videos. Ha ha. Like James Blunt's "You're Beautiful":


MCQ's albums of the year list (with included YouTube videos).

Some great MTV music videos.

Techy:

I want a Nexus One! But you knew that. More info.

Google and China via NY Times. And via NPR.

Cool web trend map made by a cool-looking Japanese company:

The Web Trend Map Interview from GaijinPot on Vimeo.

If I had a phone that could take apps, I would totally have foursquare, especially for when I travel.

Via Forbes: "Friendships in the Digital Age."

Have you ever seen funny wifi names? I have. Here are two that are passive agressive.

About Facebook from an employee.

If people send you a question that they just as easily could have answered themselves, and you're the very sarcastic type, send them this link:

http://letmegooglethatforyou.com/


Mormon:

Mormon Scholars Testify website.

Random:

Tanya on sex slavery and New York. Yikes.

The guy who made up Gumby died.

Isn't this disease, Huntington's, tragic?

I'm thinking of juicing to get myself to eat more vegetables and digest some more enzymes. Thoughts?

Modern dating map (though we all know I'm not a modern dater because of the abstinence thing).

Bamboo bikes.

100 skills everyone should master.

I want to swim to the edge of Victoria Falls, too!

Martin Luther King (at Home) Photo Essay.

Amusing accent imitation video (not sure I think the German one is that great for a modern-day 25-year-old):



Chocolate and churros!

I'm not a big fan of hearts (as a shape for design), but these hearts seem like a good style for Valentine's Day.

And I liked these valentines.

Yet Another Invitation, This Time by the New York Times

Check out this New York Times list of places to visit in 2010.

Leipzig is number 10, between Antarctica and Los Angeles!

I've got a couch and a fridge located there if you want to make it to at least one of the New York Times's suggested places.

Job Interview

I really enjoyed my interview last week, and it sounded quite like I'm going to get a job. The only disappointment is the fact that the boss thought I needed more experience and would only offer me the assistant position (which means less responsibility and much, much, much less money--even less than I made at the FHL when I started part-time, if you go divide the monthly wages into hours). I keep thinking that with so much education, you'd think I'd be able to get a real position. But the promotion chances are good, he assured me. So now I just have to decide if it's worth it to stick it out in the lower position until I have the experience I need. The company looks really cool and I'd really like to work for them.

Oh, and I also have to try to forget the fact that my side-effected dry mouth caused my lips to stick to my teeth as I was trying to answer questions. Awesome.

Here is the company. They do internet media, communication, marketing, etc. for companies.

December News

Good news!

I scheduled my tonsillectomy for December, at the same place I had my nose surgery, outside of Leipzig. (Does anyone want to come be my personal nurse? Free board . . . ) Pray for me.

Ten days later, I will fly to SLC to spend Christmas there for the first time since 2006. Get excited!

Random Links

Crayola online coloring.

Can you guess the 100 most-used English words? (I got 48.)

I haven't really been following Olympics, but here's a cool story about a South African swimmer who had her leg amputated.

A FABULOUS personal essay about a missionary named Stephen.

I remember loving Little House on the Prairie. And now it's a musical.

Did you hear about the unabomber being upset about his house being on display? That's especially interesting to me after my deviance class where we discussed prisoner rights.

I really liked this article about internet use.

Here's the report on Marie's trip to America, with a picture of my parents and the windows in our house included.

I wish the guy I had a date with while I was in Utah would email me. He would love this article about how cursive is dead (we had an extensive conversation about it). I've given out my email address to many people I connected well with in my travels recently, but no one has emailed me. I wonder if they think I'm one of those crazies who goes around being everyone's friend. Who knows? In the meantime, I'm still waiting for an email from the organ player and the literature major who works at the rock climbing place in Ahlen.

Here are some interesting remarks about the recent change in talks in sacrament meeting. I was also a bit confused and I still follow along. Of course, I won't be asking anyone to do so anymore.

Bigfoot is dead. Don't ask, just read.

Musings about Eve. (You know, Adam's wife.)

I LOVE this piece about an early, feisty Alabaman Mormon. And how cool is it to have "John the Baptist Gayler" as your name?

After reading that the John Hay library has three books bound in human skin, I looked up some more info. Pictures included. And yes, I can see the face. Can you? I wonder if it's the proportions of a human face.

And, how salt and pepper wound up together.

Links List

I really like this Mormon blog focused on simple doctrines, called Fireside (even though they have spelling issues, they are very sincere).

Jews Believing in Christ's Coming in B.C. Years (Mormons believe this)

Evolution of Worldwide English (www.engrish.com)

I knew there was a reason mosquitoes love me. It's carbon dioxide and lactic acid levels which vary between people. Click here.

4-day work weeks for Utah government employees? I've heard of some people who had jobs like this. They actually quite liked it. One guy in this article talks about how he's looking forward to getting more things on his "honey-do" list done, but I know from experience that once you have more time, you find other things to fill it with. Anyway, it seems weird that they're not going to be rotating which day is off in the week. That's going to be annoying to have offices closed on Fridays, although it's nowhere near the horrible office hours in Germany.

Donkey basketball? Leave it to the animal rights people to fight against it. Can you imagine having a press conference about it and having a serious face?

Fireworks Factory Fires

Did you hear there is a shortage of fireworks this year because of factory fires in China? Those must have been pretty exciting fires.

Do We Walk Wrong?

NPR introduced me to the idea that we walk wrong.

This article about how we walk wrong seemed pretty convincing to me. However, I'm not willing to give up my stylish shoes for those available.

List of Links

Some posts I have enjoyed recently:

Mother in Heaven

Dutch Relief Society President During the War

Commercialization of Religion

Ice on Mars
Possibly False Pregnancy Pact Rumor

Where Your Vote Affects How You Vote (Churches, Schools, etc.)

People Who Saved Library Collections from Floods-which reminds me, I recently read that in Roman times, it was tradition for people to read aloud, so libraries were quite noisy places. I wonder how they know that. It's funny that libraries shifted from then to the stereotype of "Shhh!" to the modern library with "No Shh!" pins on their employees.

Top Ten Joseph Smith Quotations in This Year's Manual

Top Ten Joseph Smith Quotations Not in This Year's Manual

What if the James Boys Met?

Stink Bombs Could Save Lives

The Power of the Itch

Heyborne Continued, Shock from NPR, Early Fan of Technology and Hilarious Wedding Post

Although I see Orson Scott Card's well-written point here, I still think Heyborne made the wrong choice. (And playing a character who smokes and does mean things is different than playing a character in a promotion video for something similar.) However, I realize everyone is at different points.

I couldn't believe this from NPR:

All Things Considered, June 20, 2008 · At least 17 teenagers at a Massachusetts high school seem may have made a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies together. Michele Norris talks with Time Magazine's Kathleen Kingsbury about the unusual spike in teen pregnancies in Gloucester, Mass.

To me, this screams, "Hi, let's ruin our spirits and our lives at the same time." The most interesting quotation to me is the following:

"So these are girls who didn't have a strong life plan, and they decided, essentially, to make their own life plan and take control of the situation," Kingsbury says. "They decided if they needed an identity, being a mother would be their identity."

With all the women in the world trying to deny the motherhood identity, these girls chose that. It just goes to show that people will take things to one crazy end or the other.

I recently read this post about a three-year-old who changed her sister's profile picture. That's awesome.

And last but not least, for all you wedding planners out there, check out this post. It will either give you some awesome hairdo ideas or make you bust your gut laughing.

Keeping Updated on Important News

I took a global world quiz today and got 1 right. 1. That's worse than the statistics we had when we randomly filled out bubble sheets in 8th grade. And the one I got right was one that I totally guessed on and changed once (okay, so I guessed on all of them). I guess my NPR-reading habit isn't quite enough.

I have more important things to keep up date on, like my homework. Oh wait, that isn't happening. I guess more important would be helpful inventions that help people like my mom (not because of Alzheimer's, it's a bit of an inside joke). Read the following:

Fake bus stop keeps Alzheimer's patients from escaping

A nursing home in Germany built an exact replica of a bus stop in front of the facility. The only difference is that buses never stop there.

“It sounds funny,” said Old Lions Chairman Franz-Josef Goebel, “but it helps. Our members are 84 years-old on average. Their short-term memory hardly works at all, but the long-term memory is still active. They know the green and yellow bus sign and remember that waiting there means they will go home.” The result is that errant patients now wait for their trip home at the bus stop, before quickly forgetting why they were there in the first place.

“We will approach them and say that the bus is coming later today and invite them in to the home for a coffee,” said Mr Neureither. “Five minutes later they have completely forgotten they wanted to leave.”

The idea has proved so successful that it has now been adopted by several other homes across Germany.

Mom, you just need to set up a fake one on 45th South. The only problem is, with UTA, those old folks already know that it will never come. Ha ha.

Famous!

I'm famous in Leipzig. Yesterday I and two fellow students were featured in the local paper, the Leipziger Volkszeitung. I was a little disappointed that it sounds like I'm so negative (especially since it ends on a funny but serious note), but hey, cool. Poor Lisa. They should have added her just for good measure.

The translation follows:


Far Away From Home to Discover Your Own Country: How two Americans are studying American Studies in Leipzig

To go to a strange country to get to know your own country better? May sound funny, but that's exactly what Heather Carmody (23) and Michelle Glauser (22) have done. Since October both Americans have been studying at the University of Leipzig in the new Master's American Studies program. "The critical distance of the professors here allows me to look at my own culture from another view," finds Heather.

That is exactly how it goes with the new program--around varied perspectives. The Master's degree is interdisciplinary and combines politics, culture, literature, and sociology. Anne Koenen, professor for American Literature and the leader of the institute, explains: "It was planned from the beginning, that the programm would be international. That's how a totally different discussion is accomplished." In this respect is the program different for the Americans than if it were discussed in their home culture, explains Koenen. Heather noticed already after a short time, that it is not always completely easy, but she learned to deal with it. "If I always wanted to stand up for the honor of the USA, I would constantly feel attached." And Michelle adds: "I often think: if some of my fellow students had lived in the USA, they wouldn't think what they do."

Anyhow, Leipzig is fast becoming a second home for both, also because they are not in Germany for the first time. Last year, Heather worked as a teacher in Mittweida. She randomly found out about the new Master's program through a speech given by the Leipzig American Studies professor Crister Garrett. "I though, that was a big chance for me, although I actually wanted to do a Master's in German Studies." Michelle also sought a new challenge after working for two years. A program in another country seems to be like the right choice for her.

The group of Master's students is very small right now. Besides the two Americans are two Germans who make the quartet complete. Lars Weise is one of them and is excited by the combination: "It gives me another perspective, because every day I get to hear how Germany functions, for example the bureaucracy." Michelle finds the bureaucracy particularly horrible.

Julia Woehrle

China's First Lunar Probe

So China recently sent their first lunar probe into space.

You read that correctly. In the past, sending junk into space was a way to get ahead in a power struggle. Reading this news just made me think, "Isn't it a little late?"

What is China trying to accomplish by doing this? What are they going to discover that's going to be any different than what's already been discovered? Aren't we in a more global world community now where scientists can work together? If their reasoning had to do with being a rising power, why don't they update themselves a little to current power struggle methods?

Worms

I read about how a lab tested 80,000 chemicals on worms that usually live 30 days and I thought, "Protest! Animal abuse!" No, really, I thought, "Wow, that's interesting," because

1. Some antidepressant drug made them live 30% longer.

2. The drug affects a chemistry in their brains which makes them feel like they're starving. (How scientists know these things, I will never know.) This sentence made me laugh: "That's important because scientists have known for a long time that worms that really are starved live longer."

How would you like that, living tons longer but starving all the time? How would you like being a worm, period? What those poor little guys go through so we can avoid our Judgment Day a little longer. (Shaking my head.)

What would make this study even cooler would be if they had done it in Worms, Germany.

The O Factor

Did you know there's an economic term called "The O Factor"? It sounds ominous, doesn't it? But don't go thinking it stands for "The Ominous Factor."

Whenever Oprah mentions something on her show, it either explodes or goes under, depending on what value she attached to it.

Official!

Guess what I got today!?!??!?!??!?

A student visa! And a work permit! I am official!

Stem Cells Breakthrough

Did you read about the scientists who produced embryonic stem cells from skin cells? Cool! We can only hope that this will be a step towards medical therapy. Let me take the chance now to remind you that I held stem cells once. Remember?