Book Review

This weekend, I finished "Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin's Theory Can Change the Way We Think About Our Lives" by David Sloan Wilson.

Wow. If I could choose one book to recommend to everyone this year, it would be this book. I don't think I'll ever think about culture and the natural world the same again. I enjoyed it so much, and it blew my mind so much, it actually has me considering going back to grad school for another master's and/or a Ph.D....and I swore last year that I was done with college (it helps that almost every kind of library has some form of tuition reimbursement).

So...READ IT!! We'll never evolve as a culture until our leaders can understand HOW and WHY culture evolves....

Images that changed the world

Check out this amazing post I found on the "Weird World" blog.

Where have you been all my life?

Yay. I've just discovered the amazing Rilo Kiley. I've heard the band name many, many times, but have never slated the allotted listening time they deserve. Today, I did just that.

Strangely, however, I was recently turned on to Jenny Lewis with The Watson Twins by our friend Virginia. I loved it. Well, Nick is on the Rilo Kiley listening spree, as well (he started before me), and he read that Jenny Lewis is the lead singer of Rilo Kiley. Derp. How funny that I love the both?

Here's a sample from Last.fm of "The Moneymaker," a kick-ass track off of Rilo Kiley's new album, "Under the Blacklight."

Rilo Kiley – The Moneymaker

And here's their new video for yet another kick-ass song, "Silver Lining."



This is where it gets fun. After watching the video, I thought Jenny Lewis looked awful familiar. What do you think?


It's no wonder. She's also an actor who has been, since a child, in many projects I recognize, such as Foxfire with my beloved Angelina Jolie, Pleasantville, and many 80s sitcoms - yeah, you watched them.

This girl does it all! Therefore, I'm kicking off my Jenny Lewis infatuation. That's all iTunes and Last.fm will know about me for the next few days. And to kick off the celebration, I think I'll curl up on the couch and watch Foxfire. Yay!

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Rilo Kiley on Last.fm
Rilo Kiley on Foxy Tunes Planet
Rilo Kiley on Wikipedia
Jenny Lewis on IMDB
Jenny Lewis on Wikipedia

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Now playing: Rilo Kiley - Dejalo
via FoxyTunes

Sweet Site of the Day: Rapleaf

Oh. my. wow. I just discovered the freaking craziest web site ever. Well, I'm moved by it, obviously.

I was searching for a Facebook application to display my networks on my home page. You see, I just joined the Ohio University network, and I'm eager to show it off. Well, I found an application called "Social Networks by UpScoop." Its description: "An easy way to display which social networks you are on." Great. Perfect. I'll take it. Until...

I browse through the application homepage, and see this post (obviously directed at the application's creator) in the user comments:


Alexander List (Austria) wrote at 6:56am on August 21st, 2007

Dan, you are confusing people with your posting, instead of clarifying the situation.

I have never registered with Rapleaf, I just entered my e-mail address to some initial dialog of the Upscoop application.

Now, there's a Rapleaf profile for me, that, by chance, exactly dates back to when I installed (and subsequently removed) the Upscoop application. To summarize the facts:

You are collecting e-mail addresses here. You are adding users to Rapleaf without their consent.

IMHO, you are violating Facebook policy.

I will *not* register with Rapleaf just to have *my* address removed - this is a matter of principle. You are damaging the web of trust that Facebook users expect here on Facebook.

Alex


I was instantly interested in what Rapleaf was. So I Googled it, of course. And this is what I saw.


Rapleaf: Online Reputation Lookup. This site allows you to search your email address to see what kind of an internet footprint you leave, more or less. It shows you everything your address is associated with - profiles, social networking and all. I thought of it as a credit report for your email address. Well, intrigued, I entered my addy and clicked "Look It Up." And then this is what I saw:


Notice the box that says, "Profile Stats?" It says, "Hey, we haven't seen this email before, come back in an hour and we should have more information for you, thanks!" Crap. Did I just get spammed? Did I just sell my email's soul to the devil? I'm not really sure. I can't even decide if I like this site.

On one hand, it tracks everything you do, and perhaps, all your personal information that goes with each of the accounts it tracks. On the other hand, it is a social networking tool, and you can rate your friends' addresses and give testimonials based on their credibility. Essentially, in the end, the more I use my address for satisfying purposes, the more credibility jennslone@gmail.com has.

The purpose of this particular blog was to let you decide whether or not you want to log onto Rapleaf and risk giving your email address to a site in an attempt to see how much of your account information is being watched. If Rapleaf doesn't have it now, they will for sure an hour after you search for your address. You have the power now. You decide.


EDIT: I just checked out Rapleaf's Terms of Service agreement. It gives much more credibility and explanation to the concept.

Gracie's Birthday Wishlist

Our darling Gracie, who will celebrate her 4th birthday September 19, has a wishlist online at www.walmart.com. Those interested in buying her a gift can do so online or at the store through their registry. Just go to the web site and search either for "Jennifer Slone" or "Grace Cooper." :)

Hooray for Edumacation!

Yay for me! I'm registered for classes for the Fall Quarter at Ohio University - Chillicothe! Classes begin September 4, and I am so ecstatic my belly turns every time I think about buying school supplies! :)

This quarter, I'll be indulging in: Techniques of Group Discussion, Writing and Reading: Gender; Foundations of Photography, Aerobics, and The Theater Experience.

I also received my award letter, and it looks as though financial aid has been very good to me. Score!

Sweet Site of the Day: ICHC

Today's Sweet Site of the Day: ICanHasCheezburger.com

I can't get enough of the funnies on this site. The LOLCats gained popularity a short time ago, and I'm proud to say I've recently made ICHC a shortcut on my bookmarks toolbar.

If you're a cat lover, and likely, even if you're not, you'll get a kick out of what ICHC has to offer: funny photos of kitties with captions based on internet lingo and stupidity. It's exactly what you'd picture your cat saying in each situation.

I've sat for hours with my sides splitting looking at this site.

A bonus? Facebook has an ICHC application so you can display the LOLCat of your choice.

Some of my faves:


And, occasionally, a special guest makes an appearance:

Sweet Site of the Day: Lifehacker

According to Tyler Durden, "Self-improvement is masturbation." Well, let's just say that lately I love to spank the metaphorical monkey.

After discovering the informational efficiency of using RSS feeds, I subscribed to a blog for the website lifehacker.com. Their motto is: "Tips and Downloads for Getting Things Done." Not only has it been one of the catalysts for my internet renaissance...it's also made work and play more efficient and fun in general. In addition to technology tips, the good folks at lifehacker also offer a variety of how-tos and tips for hacking your life. I wonder if that's where they got their name...DERP!

Sweet Site of the Day: Bloglines

How many web sites do you visit each day? Five, ten, twenty? Imagine how much simpler it would be if you could visit just ONE site, and receive the content from all the rest right there.

Now visit Bloglines, and you're all set.

Bloglines is a web-based news aggregator, which funnels all of your favorite feeds into one place via a technology called Really Simple Syndication (RSS). You can tell if a site uses RSS if you see any of these images:


Even if you're not a heavy net surfer, Bloglines makes it much easier to digest a variety of news sources in a very short amount of time. Everyone should be in-the-know about a little bit o' everything, and Bloglines helps make that happen.

Before I learned about Bloglines, I mindlessly wandered around the web, desperately trying to find interesting sites to look at and new things to keep my mind occupied with. Now, with new sites popping up each day, Bloglines introduces me to the coolest things the net has happening.

Here's what the site looks like. Imagine it as an email client for your web sites. Your sites are listed in the left column. When you click on a site link, the site's content pops up in the right column. Many sites come with both full stories and images, others provide a headline and brief, and all supply a link. You subscribe to the news feeds you want to read, and the rest is history.


I would highly suggest a few sites, which are ideal Bloglines subscriptions: BoingBoing, Lifehacker, and of course, Blabbling with Nick and Jenn.

If you are further interested in setting up a Bloglines account, Nick or I would be happy to help. We can even export our news feeds to your new account so that you have a place to start. From there, you can delete sites we are reading and add your own.

Don't let your internet experience be wasted! Try out Bloglines and see just how much more enjoyable your surfing can be!


Don't like my explanation? Need further information? Check out Bloglines on Wikipedia.

Religion

I've been having a lot of interesting discussions about religion recently, and this is a recent message that I sent to someone. I think I'm somewhere between being an agnostic, a deist, and a gnostic christian. Just thought I'd post it and hopefully see some comments:

Ok, here are my religious views....and I'll warn you that they've changed and shifted based on events in my life....and they'll probably change again. I'm agnostic because I think that most religion is guess work. You see signs, you get signals, you hear the voice of something spiritual, and then you do your best to interpret those messages. The reason why there are so many different religions, divisions amongst the religions, and divisions in those divisions, is that everyone interprets these messages in a different way. Just try having a group of people write down their descriptions of the exact same event and notice how differently they remember it.
So, God, who is unknowable, sends messages to us. They might be misunderstood, but the really important messages come in huge events, from people that can't be ignored. An angel is considered a messenger...but the word "angel" actually means "message." So angels are themselves messages. Jesus was a message to humanity..."This is how you should live your life." "Love is more important than all of these rules and regulations." Love to the point where you would sacrifice yourself to save other people. And if you look at the heart of most religions, the golden rule is at the center...although many religious fanatics like to ignore it....they think it's too obvious to pay attention to, saying "Well, of course you should love thy neighbor, but what about gays in the military?" But, loving your neighbor is the same as saying "love everyone." That's a lot more difficult than it sounds. If more churches focused on themselves and asked "am I doing my best to love everyone?" rather than saying "are THEY following the rules?!" our world would be in much better shape. As soon as Jesus died, everyone split into different factions.....that's the whole reason why Saul/Paul had to write so many letters....to try to unify the church. They were still arguing over whether you had to be a Jew....or if you had to be circumsized.
I think that there have been other messengers from God....Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jr., and countless others that we may never hear about....because they aren't out seeking attention. I think it's hard enough to focus on loving thy neighbor. So, my plans for eternity are to believe in the power of love and the potential for good in other human beings. That's my faith. That, and I believe that God can figure out where to put me after I die. I hope : ) Whether it's heaven, hell, or just a nice beach with internet access...

I love talking about this stuff. I almost went to get a master's in religious studies instead of library science...