StumbleUpon | Isadore's blog posts

http://Isadore.stumbleupon.com/review/37135583/

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 11:14:59 -0700

This new interface is really depressing....and so is what SU has become. I feel like my blog has gone from an accomplishment - something I used to put a lot of work and thought into, and got a lot of enjoyment out of - into a jumble of bitter, peanut-gallery comments about content that has been continually deteriorating in meaning and impact.

Maybe I'm just outgrowing SU....or maybe my life has become so stripped of joy that I'm failing to recognize that I could recapture the old spirit.

Or maybe I just really hate the new font and layout.

http://Isadore.stumbleupon.com/review/31272941/

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 08:12:48 -0700

I think I need to go for awhile.

http://Isadore.stumbleupon.com/review/26288642/

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 14:40:49 -0700

http://Isadore.stumbleupon.com/review/26257339/

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:54:47 -0700

http://Isadore.stumbleupon.com/review/26111117/

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 14:28:46 -0700

http://Isadore.stumbleupon.com/review/24796310/

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 06:23:08 -0700

I am leaving for Toronto in the next day (if all goes according to plans). I will probably be incommunicado during my trip over - so, nobody go worrying that I've died, or experienced some sort of horrible catastrophe (at least, not a catastrophe of the non-conventional-when-moving-across-country type). I should be able to check back in around the first week of September.

http://Isadore.stumbleupon.com/review/23698260/

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:08:22 -0700

~ Semipolitico: Mini-Feature ~

Okay so I don't regularly do mini-features. Well, now I do. Which is probably something that will last about a week, as I'm pretty easily distracted. Anyways, the next three posts deal with a Chapel Hill-based political blog that caught my eye today, and its creators.

http://Isadore.stumbleupon.com/review/23477314/

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:10:42 -0700

I think I've had a small revelation this afternoon. At some point during my university education (and probably somewhere in the middle of my 967th academic journal article), I became a snobby intellectual purist when it comes to reading materials.

So when I was shopping this afternoon, and a headline from Reader's Digest grabbed my eye, I thought "Hrmph, what could Reader's Digest have to say that's at all intelligent?" The article was about "Greenwashing" - and how to protect your pocketbook from environmental hype. I automatically assumed it was right-wing anti-environmentalist propaganda designed to convince consumers that truly green products are unneccesary. After all, Reader's Digest is just a watered-down "issues" magazine for those without the inclination to read "the real stuff!"

A pause for a bit of back-story might be useful here. My thoughts in the grocery store this afternoon displayed a terrible lack of respect for my roots as a reader and thinker. Reader's Digest, with it's pastel covers, quirky features, and eye-catching article titles, was my first contact with adult reading material. When my parents divorced, and I was a confused 7 year old staying with her grandparents, their seemingly endless stacks of Reader's Digests entertained me for hours, as I read about heroic people rescuing babies from car wrecks, men surviving bee swarms, anabolic steroid use (it would be a few years before I understood this one fully), silly jokes, and an unnameable cornucopia of other interesting tidbits.

So - back to the present. Standing at that checkout counter, staring at that Reader's Digest, even as my academically-conditioned brain rejected it, some part of me protested, and convinced me to buy the magazine - if only to verify that the Greenwash article was a crappy load of corporate propaganda.

I took my little magazine home.....and now, three hours (and much procrastination) later, I've looked up to realize that Reader's Digest has once again left me enchanted and fascinated. Not only was the Greenwash article intelligent, well-balanced, and very useful, but I also discovered a brilliant two-sided examination of the harm reduction vs. abstinence drug abuse debate (with reference to impressive amounts of scientific data), a moving article on the disappearance of greasy spoon diners from the restaurant world (focused on a review of "The Stem" in Toronto, one of the few survivors, which I intend to visit once I'm there), an article urging readers with mental health problems to get help (which supplied useful information about what sorts of help were available), a heartwarming tale of a woman who fought to protect her small chicken coop from the wiles of a meddlesome and property-value-obsessed neighbor (and made a few great neighbor-friends in the process), and even a few really funny jokes mixed in with the corny puns and proud-grandmother-generated "kids will be kids" anecdotes.

I am never one to refuse to admit I am wrong. Reader's Digest, I have wronged you! I have lost my perspective, and left you unfairly behind with other supposedly childish pursuits. I pledge you this - I will never disparage you as rubbish again, even in my own head!

In closing: Reader's Digest (Canada) is a damned fine magazine, and I am not nearly as smart as I think I am.

http://Isadore.stumbleupon.com/review/23225654/

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:03:29 -0700

http://Isadore.stumbleupon.com/review/22671931/

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 10:38:22 -0700

Which Horror Killer are You?
created with QuizFarm.com
You scored as Jason Voorhees
You are Jason Voorhees. You werent liked much as a child. All you wanted was to let your Mom raise you right. However after you died a watery death in Camp Crystal Lake, your Mom tried to take revenge, in which she too died a horrible decapitation. Now you will go on forever, seeking revenge! You may have the highest kill count in horror, but you arent all bad. You just love your mother!

Jason Voorhees 70%
Jigsaw 55%
Hannibal Lecter 55%
Pinhead 50%
Freddy Krueger 45%
Candyman 40%
Leatherface 35%
Michael Myers 30%
Buffalo Bill 5%
Captain Spaulding 0%

Compliments to Ggirl21 for finding this quiz