web-goddess

“Blog under your real name, and ignore the harrassment.” That’s a nice little article on the importance of using your real name on the Web. I had a few people tell me that my whole drama with anonymous trolls last week wouldn’t have happened if I were quieter about who I am and what I do. “Why can’t you just have a journal in a locked drawer?” I can understand their bewilderment, especially those who aren’t that Internet-savvy. It comes down to this: I like to talk and I like to write. For whatever reason, I feel compelled to put my life out there for friends, family, and whoever to learn about. I’ve been doing this for eight years now, and the benefits far, far outweigh the occasionally annoyances. I’ve made friends – real “in person” friends – from around the world. I’ve gotten some amazing opportunities. I’ve met some of my heroes. I’ve got a community here that I can count on. That’s why I do this. I made a decision early on – way before I started blogging, in fact – that I was going to be transparent about who I am online. And if people don’t like it, they can get stuffed. 🙂

Oh man. Why did it take me so long to listen to the Best of Bootie 2007? IT RULES. I’ve used it for my last two runs and it’s been awesome. I nearly fell over when the Star Wars sound effects kicked in. I also really like the “Tender Umbrella” mashup. Highly recommended.

Great AskMefi Today: What do you call those big clumps of snow that accumulate in your car’s wheel wells? In my Indiana family, they were always “car boogers.”

The Duckworth-Lewis Method explained. Neat! The DL Method is a system for deciding which side in a cricket match wins when the game has to be cut short (for weather or darkness). I always wondered how it worked.

lowercase L. It’s a blog that collects photos of people’s hand-written signs where they’ve capitalized all the letters except for “L”. It doesn’t sound like much of a phenomenon to me, but I’m sure I’ll start seeing them everywhere now… (Link courtesy of Daring Fireball.)

I just finished reading this collection of short stories from the author of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. It’s lovely. Susanna Clarke created such a large and unique universe in that novel that I was happy just to be able to see more of it. The stories all feature interactions between our world and the world of Faerie. Several of them feature women, which is nice since the other book was so male-oriented. These aren’t complicated stories, and they feel more like fairy tales than anything else. The thing I really liked was the creepy mood throughout each one, that feeling that even in the must mundane British village, there are secret places around every corner just waiting to be wandered into. The writing is also amusing in places, such as the reworking of Rumplestiltskin. (“Mr. Simonelli or the Fairy Widower” is oddly stuffed full of references to Jane Austen. I suppose with a tale about five young ladies in Derbyshire though, you can’t escape that.) I think this review does a great job of laying out the strengths and weaknesses of the book. Just think of the stories as extended footnotes from the novel. They’re also great bedtime stories for grown-ups…