Links for 2007-07-27 to 30 [del.icio.us]

• Corrections: The Bread Bible - Real Baking with Rose Levy BeranbaumA handy link for me. I've had this book for a year or two now (having got it out of the library and baking lots of bread during my first pregnancy). I've made some of my most succesful sliceable loaves from this book. I'm feeling like baking more bread again (perhaps because I've been eating more bread because of frequenting our local bakery) so the book is coming out again.
• BBC NEWS | Health | Sunshine 'protective' against MS
• BBC NEWS | Programmes | From Our Own Correspondent | When suffering gets personal
  
  "On his return from Afghanistan, BBC world affairs editor John Simpson reveals how his attitude to covering stories about violence and suffering has changed."
• BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Veteran, 109, revisits WWI trench
  
  "The last known surviving British soldier to have fought in the trenches of World War I has revisited the site where he fought 90 years ago."
• Vinnland socks -- ¡The AntiCraft!
  
  I saw a pair of these in some striking yarn at flickr. Nice cable pattern for warm socks.
  
• David Lebovitz: Making Ice Cream Without A Machine
  
  Definitely want to have a go at doing this sometime. I think maybe we tried something similar once when I was a child. Anyway, ice cream is very popular in this house so it seems as though it would be a fin thing to try.

Links for 2007-07-25 & 26 [del.icio.us]

• BBC NEWS | Health | Many 'believe myths' on epilepsy
• 101 Child Safety and Childproofing Tips for Parents - ParentWonder.com -
• Gene Discovered For Type 1 Diabetes In Children | Scientific Blogging
• Pediatric Ritalin Use May Affect Developing Brain | Scientific Blogging
  A new study says Ritalin use by young children may cause long-term changes in the developing brain. The study is among the first to probe the effects of Ritalin (methylphenidate) on the neurochemistry of the developing brain.
• Young Children's Defiance Toward Mothers Part Of Healthy Development
  At very young ages, children's defiant behavior toward their mothers may not be a bad thing. This defiance may in fact reflect children's emerging autonomy and a confidence that they can control events that are important to them.
• Happy Being Unhappy: Why We Like Negative Feelings | Scientific Blogging
• Renewable Energy Wrecks The Environment | Scientific Blogging
  Ausubel has analyzed the amount of energy that each renewable source can produce in terms of Watts of power output per square meter of land disturbed. He also compares the destruction of nature by renewables with the demand for space of nuclear power. "Nuclear energy is green," he claims, "Considered in Watts per square meter, nuclear has astronomical advantages over its competitors."
• Study Links Manic Depression With Brain Tissue Loss | Scientific Blogging
• Sex discrimination rife and equality will take generations, says axed commission | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited
  Sex equality will take generations to achieve at the current "painfully slow" rate of progress, the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) said today in a final report before being wound up by the government after more than 30 years fighting gender bias across British society.
  It found discrimination is still rife in politics, employment and public services, and stark gender gaps at work and at home.
• Bedtime stories a problem for many parents | The Guardian | Guardian Unlimited
• Lucy Atkins on the NHS's most talked about midwives | Health and wellbeing | Life and Health
• Redcurrant muffin recipe -- Horticultural: Your redcurrant recipes, please
• Diabetic and Determined - New York Times
• BBC NEWS | Americas | US cat 'predicts patient deaths'
• BBC NEWS | Health | Diesel pollution 'clogs arteries'

I've been slowly catching up with my backlog of links (they're showing up in the past here because they're automatically generated posts that I edit a bit so they're all backdated). Meanwhile a new backlog is building and I haven't been good about blogging about what I'm actually doing.

This has not a little to do with the death of a friend which I mentioned in a previous post. I feel as though I'm doing so little to help, but even what I am doing (mostly relaying email messages) seems to be taking up most of the writing time that I have at the moment. As usual I am very behind on household tasks. (Sigh.)

Tomorrow I'm going to be cooking lots of food for the potluck lunch at the memorial celebration. (Well, I will assuming my delightful daughter co-operates. It seems she's often happy to amuse herself in the corner of the room until I'm actually trying to get stuff done and then she NEEDS me. Oh well, that's the way it goes! Hopefully my husband will be able to look after her for a lot of the day.)

I'm actually in a bit of a cooking phase at the moment. Have been for a while actually, I think it's partly where my need to be creative finds an outlet in these days when I have no opportunities to get into my sewing room (I have been knitting too, even have some finished objects I should blog about sometime). Now with grief and the desire to do something to help (even if that's only providing comfort food for us) on top of general frustrated creativity the cooking's necessary. The other day I made a cake even though we still had leftover birthday cake to finish and at the best of times cakes tend to end up moldy in our house (we enjoy them and then forget about them before they're gone, I don't know how we manage this). It came out very nicely.

It's a banana bread recipe I hadn't tried before, I came across it drifting around the internet (as I do in all the spare time I don't have) at Orangette, it's got coconut and rum in it plus I added chocolate chips because I can't let well enough alone! It's very tasty.

Also I'm entering a bread making phase I think. I have them now and then. Someone got me The Bread Bible a while back and I haven't used it much since for various reasons. I've been starting to itch to make bread again so for one of the parties we had for my daughter's birthday I made the cheddar loaf (very tasty) and some crumpets (slightly disappointing but I have some ideas about how to do better next time). I also made a sandwich loaf a few days ago which came out so-so, it tastes yeasty and I'm thinking I let it go too much in at least one of the risings. It's good toasted with butter and marmite though.

Links for 2007-07-24 [del.icio.us]

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Nerve gas antidote made by goats

Multi Grain Rolls Recipe at Mothering.com

Wendy Cooling: I want to get every child in the country reading for pleasure - Independent

Identity theft: parents who steal from their kids - ParentDish
Well this is horrible to contemplate; sabotaging your own child's life.

The peace of paper » Little Boxes
A tutorial for making a cute little gift box.

Medical Imaging News Articles | Cholesterol-lowering diet can modify fetal Doppler velocimetry in mid-pregnancy | Radiology News

Links for 2007-07-23 [del.icio.us]

Everlasting Bagstopper - Knitty: Spring 2007

Baklava Loaf | Baking Bites

Parent's survival guide: How to entertain a brood of bored kids during the summer holidays - Independent

Jemima Lewis: You can't beat a traditional liberal education - Independent
"I am seized with jealousy of my husband, who had the closest thing to an old- fashioned liberal education that money can buy. He learnt Latin and Greek at eight, speaks fluent French, knows the Old Testament backwards and can still recite the Periodic Table. Life skills come easily to him because the basics are already there: if you can do Latin grammar, you can learn new languages in a jiffy; if you understand physics, you can (and will) wire up a digital surround-sound home entertainment system."

Andrew Franklin: The real reason why publishers miss good books - Independent

Jemima Lewis: We've created a genealogical nightmare - Independent

MOO | Stickers - Print stickers using your images
seen at howaboutorange

Sock it to me!
"[Mezzodiva] decided to self-publish [her] Campanula sock pattern (...) and offer it here for a nominal charge: To get the pattern, all you have to do is CLICK HERE and SPONSOR [HER] for the 2007 Weekend to End Breast Cancer."

nonaKnits: Sidewinders: The Prologue
links at end of each post to the next until you've knit yourself a sock, sideways!

Apron/Sunbonnet Combination - April 2001 Free Monthly Project
Saw an example of this pattern made up at flickr it's an intriguing idea; a garment that can be worn as an apron or a bonnet!

Links for 2007-07-20 & 21[del.icio.us]

joybucket: Peek-a-Boo Bunting Tutorial
found via Craftzine, a tutorial for a baby quilt that attaches to a stroller so the baby can't kick it off. Excellent idea!

Mandela turns 89 and launches 'a robust force for good' | Guardian Unlimited
Nelson Mandela marked his 89th birthday today with the launch of a group of world-renowned leaders who plan to use several Nobel peace prizes and "almost 1,000 years of collective experience" to tackle global crises that governments are unable or unwilling to confront."
Using their collective experience, their moral courage and their ability to rise above nation, race and creed, they can make our planet a more peaceful and equitable place to live," said the former South African president.

perfect pikelets ~ My Way or the Highway » Wear it. Eat it. Deny you are responsible.
Mmmm, pikelets.

By request. on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
A great knitted top (cardigan/jacket) seen at flickr. I think this would make a great garment for a nursing mother -- may need to make myself one!

Your Gamete, Myself - Egg Donation - Reproduction - In Vitro Fertilization - Infertility - Women - Peggy Orenstein - New York Times
An interesting look at the implications of egg donation.

Magazine Box Tutorial - a photoset on Flickr
found via Craft

Snicket Socks - MagKnits, your friendly online knitting magazine
"These socks were inspired by the dress Violet Baudelaire (Emily Browning) wears in the movie Lemony Snicket – A Series of Unfortunate Events. I wanted to translate the net-like sleeves into knitting.

BBC NEWS | From Our Own Correspondent | Losing the taste for China's delicacies

BBC NEWS | Health | Healthy weight link to longevity
"Keeping a healthy weight may help people live longer by limiting brain exposure to insulin, say US scientists."

Celtic Braid Socks: Tuulian omia juttuja:
Another sock pattern, this one with a nice celtic looking cable pattern

Black Dog Designs
A collection of knitting patterns from the blogger of the blog Black Dog Knits
. Quite a few I would like to try sometime, probably going to stick with the socks for now (and there are several sock patterns that caught my fancy there.

Shetland Lace Rib Sock Pattern: Stitches of Violet
And, yes, another knitting pattern for socks!

What's New

I've not even been manage to keep up with editing and posting my links this last week or so. Firstly there was my daughter's first birthday so I was baking cakes and preparing other party food (for two parties no less, one with friends near home and one with my husband's family at his parents' house).

Then last Sunday we got a call to tell us that a dear, wonderful friend had died that morning. It was such a shock to us, we knew she had had some health problems but had no idea that this was coming. Although I can't jump in the car and go help out with her little ones or do errands I have been spending more time than usual on the phone (I hate the phone) and emailing people announcements and updates and so on in an effort to do something helpful. My daughter has started having play phone conversations, and is more than ever determined to help me type and steal my mouse (I have one with a tracking ball thing, she likes to take the ball out and roll it along the floor, then pull down the mouse and stand on the buttons). I think she's looking forward to things settling down a bit.

I have been keeping up with writing my 10 things (as I talked about a couple of weeks ago now) most nights before heading for bed. Sometimes when something so sad happens finding those 10 things can actually be easier. Certainly it has brought home once again how lucky my husband and I are to be part of a wonderful community of singers. They sent cards and email and sang and brought food to our first daughter's memorial service just over two years ago and sustained us through those hard times. Now we can be part of the community helping our friends husband and two small children as best we can.

Amidst all of this I have another thing to add to my things to do. Another thing I came across at happythings blog in fact, her Year of Color group. I noticed it a little while ago, but the year was almost up. However she's just launched A Year of Color 2 (a flickr group) so I decided to join in. It's about time I remember to take pictures of things other than my daughter a little more often!

The first week just ended, and being rather preoccupied this week I just snuck my pictures in rather late in the day. Technically it's Sunday, but I still think of it as being Saturday still because I haven't gone to bed yet, and she didn't post colours for week 2 yet so hopefully I'm alright. For A Year of Color 2 "we will enjoy photos focusing on a DIFFERENT COLOR COMBINATION every week for a year." The colours for Week 1 are pink+green. Here are my pictures:

The first is a lone flower fallen on the side of the path which I noticed when walking home from the store the other day. I don't know where it came from, somebody carrying flowers home perhaps since there were none growing anywhere near that I could see.

The second picture I took the other evening sitting on the couch knitting. I'd pulled up a prayer shawl I'm knitting for our church's prayer shawl ministry. I haven't worked on it in ages but have felt drawn to this week. Caught on it somewhere was this yarn end from knitting soakers for my daughter. There it was on my green stripey pajama trousers.

I think I'm going to enjoy this project!

Links for 2007-07-19 [del.icio.us]

• No-Knead Bread - OregonLive.com
  I made some of the no-knead bread after it was in the NYTimes a while back and the second batch came out really nicely and I've been meaning to make more. It's a great way to make bread for someone like me who doesn't have much time to bake, but plenty of time to let things hang around to mature for a day! And I'm entering a bread baking phase at the moment.
• BBC NEWS | UK | Education | The dead parrot curriculum
• Guardian Unlimited | A precious provision
  "We were unlucky in the tragic hand dealt to our son, but blessed to have had British healthcare "
  This article resonated with me. It made me remember after my first daughter died at birth (I had a 40% placental abruption at 23 weeks) getting the hospital bill for the delivery and the autopsy and everything: Obviously those people who took care of us and our baby and were doing there jobs so well deserve to be paid, but (especially as someone who grew up in the UK and still hasn't got used to the way it works in the USA) it seems unthinkable that I should have to look at a bill for that when my baby just died. And thankfully we have good health insurance, but what if we didn't? In the midst of that experience or some other unexpected turn your life upside-down event I think people should be able to focus on the very real things happening in their lives and not have to worry about what their insurance will cover, and how to afford the rest. The money wasn't really a headache for us in our situation, but it could have been, and it certainly made me think.
  
• Knitty: Spring 2007 - Clessidra Stockings
  I think my mum would love these, she likes nice long socks. The question is should I just send her the link to the pattern or should I attempt to make her some for Christmas?
• Summer Express: 101 Simple Meals Ready in 10 Minutes or Less - New York Times
• Warming Report Warns of Increased Flooding - New York Times
• Dewey? At This Library With a Very Different Outlook, They Don’t - New York Times
• V-Neck Hippie Dress w/ 6 Strips - theElektron
  found via :Craft
• Top 7 Tutorials for Making Your Own Shopping Tote
  found via :Craft
• Tickle Turdle Wool Wrap Pattern
  I've been knitting wool soakers for my daughter since before she was actually here to wear them but I've never tried to crochet one. I'm definitely much more of a knitter, but I do crochet sometimes and I hear the crochet soakers make up faster and may be a bit denser too. (Of course I should also work on my ripple blanket again one of these days.)

Links for 2007-07-18 [del.icio.us]

• Sew,Mama,Sew! Blog » Tutorial ~ Zippered and Slip Pocket Tutorial
• Sew,Mama,Sew! Blog » Tutorial ~ Lining Tutorials
• BBC NEWS | Health | Breech birth women 'choice call'
• BBC NEWS | Health | Right foods 'may help drugs work'
  "Combining medicines with the right food could improve the effectiveness of drugs and reduce the costs of treating patients, experts say."

Links for 2007-07-17 [del.icio.us]

• The authors every teenager should read - Independent
  I'm not sure I agree with how they've classified some of the authors. Still, lots of people I haven't read (or even heard of) so lots of ideas for my overflowing booklist!


• Instructables The Book Apron
  "Keeps your cookbooks or other how-tos clean! Clear plastic, polyester ribbon and rickrack can be wiped clean of batter with a damp sponge."
  I definitely need one of these for cooking (also a good book stand) since I'm plenty messy in the kitchen.


• Instructables : Green" Re-usable Grocery Bags
  "These re-usable grocery bags will help you answer the question "Paper or plastic?" from your grocer, and help save waste and those landfill stuffers you're accumulating. The bags have handles to allow them to be placed on a grocer's plastic bag holder, i
  I like the idea of being able to slip them onto the bag holders in the grocery store (although I don't think that the place I shop at most often has bag holders... maybe I just never used them because I always have my own bags there).


• morsbags sociable guerilla bagging
  I love the idea of guerrilla bagging as a means to reduce the use of plastic bags, not sure I have the right personality for it though. I'm loving all these tutorials and patterns for making bags I've been coming across though because more bags are always useful in my opinion!


• Instructables Sewing Organizer
  "This is a great organizer for any tailor/seamstress and also it's kind of an art on the wall."
  I've seen something like this on a blog somewhere before (blanking on where right now), a wall mounted spool holder. This one's extra fancy with places to store other bits and bobs. too.
  

Links for 2007-07-16 [del.icio.us]

• Suburban CEO - Think outside the cubicle.
  linked to in this post at ParentDish
  Apparently "[t]his site is for every woman who wants to stay at home with her children but has had to reluctantly admit that she often feels frazzled, overwhelmed and not totally fulfilled. This site will help you identify the five missing pieces from modern life as an at-home mom and become CEO of your own life." That sounds interesting to me (although I'm not sure I'm going to agree with everything there) so I'm planning to go back and read more.
• Effect of spearmint (Mentha spicata Labiatae) teas on androgen levels in women with hirsutism. Herbal Science Research
• Instructables Toasty slippers"These slippers are made from recycled woolen blanket, recycled fleece fabric and scraps of brightly coloured fabric from my stash! I have a pair with red polka dot binding, they are so comfortable and keep my feet nice and warm."

Links for 2007-07-15 &14 [del.icio.us]

• camera case interior on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
  A sewn padded digital camera case with zippered interior pocket for batteries! I need one of these (been using my old 35mm film camera case with batteries loose in the bottom for oh two and a half years now, ho hum...)
• Sew,Mama,Sew! Blog » Tutorial ~ Bag Straps
• Sew,Mama,Sew! Blog » Tutorial ~ Bag Straps, A Variation
• ColorBlender.com Your free online color matching toolbox

Links for 2007-07-13 [del.icio.us]

• Psychology Today: Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature
  I saw the link at the new mom blog
  "Human behavior is a product both of our innate human nature and of our individual experience and environment. In this article, however, we emphasize biological influences on human behavior, because most social scientists explain human behavior as if evolution stops at the neck and as if our behavior is a product almost entirely of environment and socialization. In contrast, evolutionary psychologists see human nature as a collection of psychological adaptations that often operate beneath conscious thinking to solve problems of survival and reproduction by predisposing us to think or feel in certain ways."
• Blossom dress on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
  While looking at knitting pictures on Flickr I saw this incarnation of a Magknits pattern I'd thought of knitting in the past and forgotten all about. It's a cute wrap dress/top for infants. The sizes only go up to 6-9 months and my daughter's one now but perhaps if I fiddle with the gauge or something I can make one that would still fit her.
  
• Humpty Dumpty falls from favour - Times Online
  "now the traditional nursery rhyme, in all its gruesome, bloody detail, is in danger of dropping out of modern culture. A survey suggests that 40 per cent of parents with young children cannot recite a single popular rhyme all the way through."
  While I'm not always reciting or singing nursery rhymes to my daughter my husband and I can certainly remember plenty. Actually, when reading through Mother Goose we found we knew extra bits for some I seem to remember! I know my mum sings nursery rhymes to my little girl while she's here too. Of course we're fans of traditional music, crafts etc. around here so that's not entirely surprising.
  
• Raspberry chocolate verrine - vegalicious -delicious vegan food and more
  Chocolate and Raspberry, how can you go wrong?
• How Prevalent Are Antibiotics In Organic Foods? Scientific Blogging
An article reporting on a study looking at plant uptake of antibiotics.
"Plant uptake was evaluated in a greenhouse study involving three food crops: corn, lettuce, and potato. Plants were grown on soil modified with liquid hog manure containing Sulfamethazine, a commonly used veterinary antibiotic. This antibiotic was taken up by all three crops. Concentrations of antibiotics were found in the plant leaves. Concentrations in plant tissue also increased as the amount of antibiotics present in the manure increased. It also diffused into potato tubers, which suggests that root crops, such as potatoes, carrots, and radishes, that directly come in contact with soil may be particularly vulnerable to antibiotic contamination."
And because organic crops use manure for fertilizer this raises potential problems for organic foods.

Links for 2007-07-12 [del.icio.us]

• Dominic Lawson: From Pentecost island to modern Britain, the futility of trying to measure happiness - Independent
  "Nobody has yet come up with an entirely satisfactory definition of what constitutes happiness - although I think that Sydney Smith's "To love and to be loved is the greatest happiness of existence" will do to be getting along with. A state of unhappiness could be described as the opposite of that, but we might also define it as a life whose reality falls far short of its owner's expectations.

  That is perhaps at the heart of the modern malaise, which has resulted in an unprecedented growth in clinical depression in countries such as the USA and the UK. We have increasingly allowed ourselves to think that happiness is ours by right - it's written into the American constitution - whereas in fact we can't find it: it finds us."

• Knitting Pattern Central - Free Pattern - Amy Doll
  Cute pattern I saw in a post on knitting dolls at V's blog, (you have to go look at the knees!).
  
• Dismay and anger as Pope declares Protestants cannot have churches | Guardian
  "Protestant churches yesterday reacted with dismay to a new declaration approved by Pope Benedict XVI insisting they were mere "ecclesial communities" and their ministers effectively phonies with no right to give communion.
  "Coming just four days after the reinstatement of the Latin mass, yesterday's document left no doubt about the Pope's eagerness to back traditional Roman Catholic practices and attitudes, even at the expense of causing offence."
• Mom Puts Family on Her Meal Plan - New York Times
  "The pitfalls of the modern family meal are well chronicled: the varying schedules, the demanding diets (low carb, no wheat, no meat) and the fact that all too often the dinner so proudly displayed is greeted by a cheerful “Oh, that looks disgusting.” For most working parents, even a 30-minute meal seems like a June Cleaver-era indulgence. By the time I walk in the door at 7:30 my children are off-the-wall hungry, even having had snacks. Ideally, dinner will take 15 minutes or less to put on the table.
  
  "But despite the challenges, I tell you it can be done. I committed to cooking a family meal when my first son was born, in 1997, not because of any psychology study about the well-being of children, but because it gave me comfort.
  
  "Every working mother has to draw the line somewhere. Maybe my children would take their first steps with a babysitter, or perform in school plays with only their grandparents in attendance. But mom would cook their dinners."
  I stay home with one child and still have trouble getting dinner "on the table" (dining room table is currently inaccessible) at a reasonable hour, so glad a I don't have to work full time outside the home, commute and then make dinner.
• Sarah Churchwell: Why can't British students write like Americans? - Independent
  "An impoverished understanding of their own language combined with an inflated sense of their own talents doesn't merely result in smug graduates with a beggared ability to express ideas. Sophisticated ideas cannot flourish in a linguistic vacuum. Expression and thought are inextricably linked: crude language permits only crude thinking. It's bad enough that these university students can't communicate their thoughts intelligibly; but those thoughts are themselves constrained by embryonic language skills."
  This is a great article. I still feel as though I really need to go back to school and take English Language classes. We did have some grammar "lessons" at middle school (we had a text book there was time set aside to work through). I would say my vocabulary is not too shabby, but my grasp of how the language works is not so good. And I have a degree in Women's Studies and English Literature! When I spent a year at college in the US one of my professors took me aside and asked if I thought I might be dyslexic because of my bad use of punctuation, I said no I just never really learned how a semi colon is supposed to work (and I am queen of the run-on sentence). I am better than I used to be, but have a long way to go and (besides blogging) not much space for working on my writing skills. I really wish we had been taught more at school. At least my primary schools taught handwriting, I think it's so sad that that doesn't happen so much any more.
• The Knitting Circle Shows Its Chic - New York Times
  "Formerly neglected domestic arts like knitting, quilting, sewing and embroidery are being eagerly embraced, especially by the young. Their passion kindled by the abundance of handcrafted looks on the runways, they are blowing the dust off these folksy skills and lending them the bright sheen of style.
  "“It wasn’t that long ago that people would cringe at the word ‘craft,’ ” said Melanie Falick, who developed a crafts imprint at Stewart, Tabori & Chang. “Ten or 20 years ago, there were far fewer crafters and knitters, certainly fewer who ‘outed’ themselves. Now it has become a badge of honor.”
  "And an insignia of chic. The new generation of needle hobbyists, nimble-fingered women in their 20s and 30s, is growing ever more sophisticated, seeking out novel yarns imbued with bamboo or fur, working confidently with elaborate patterns, swapping tips online and emulating styles by fashion designers like Marc Jacobs, Nicolas Ghesquiere of Balenciaga and Michael Kors."
• The World’s Best Candy Bars? English, of Course - New York Times
  "it would be easy to take a long, clichéd side trip into a discussion of the relative inferiority of British food. But for the rarefied palate that can appreciate the soft, immediate pleasure of an inexpensive candy bar, it's not difficult to give the edge to sweets from the realm of the queen."
  I'm totally biased on this subject of course, growing up with the sweets in England and then moving to the USA where I can be very dissatisfied with the candy on offer over here and wallow in nostalgia thinking about my favourite sweet things that I can't get here. Of course I can find good dark chocolate here (organic and fair trade and mighty tasty) so that keeps me happy mostly. When we visit England I come back with Cadbury's milk chocolate and licorice allsorts for me, and sherbert lemons and kendal mint cake for my husband. My husband is very distressed at the change to natural flavourings and no longer hoards fruit pastilles. The thing I miss most even when I'm back in the UK is the sweet shops with shelves of sweets in jars that were weighed and put into paper bags (cinder toffee, rhubarb&custard, cough candy, bon bons), and the case of penny sweets where I spent my pocket money as a small child (shrimps, bananas, flying saucers, the cigarette and pipe sweets that I loved but which never made me remotely interested in smoking). Sigh.
• Digital Cameras: The Top 10 Things You Need to Know - Unbiased reviews, prices, and advice from DigitalCamera-HQ
  Seen in a list of links at Not Martha, looks like a useful list to hold onto. Also love the link to the discussion how many is a few? as my husband holds very strong opinions on this subject.
  
• Organic Farming Can Feed The World, Says Study | Scientific Blogging
  "Organic farming can yield up to three times as much food as conventional farming on the same amount of land---according to new findings which refute the long-standing assumption that organic farming methods cannot produce enough food to feed the global population."

Links for 2007-07-11 [del.icio.us]

• Easy Grocery Bag Shopping Tote From 2 Pillowcases - Instructables
  
  I wonder whether these would be sturdy enough in the long term for heavy groceries. Fun tutorial, and of course you could use the tote for lighter groceries, or other stuff!
• Easy as ABC: Asian-style Baby Carrier or Mei Tai - Instructables
  
  There are quite a few good online tutorials for making an ABC which I've read and taken direction from already. However, since I like to read as many as possible and then use all I learn to figure out how to make mine I'm adding this to my collection of bookmarks!
• The healthy heart guide - Independent
  
  " Heart attacks are our biggest killer – yet many are preventable. Julia Stuart on the simple changes that could save your life"
• Move to cut methane emissions by changing cows' diet | Climate change | Guardian
  
  "Experts at the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research in Aberystwyth say the diet of farmed animals can be changed to make them produce less methane, a more potent global warming gas than carbon dioxide. Farmed ruminant animals are thought to
• UK needs a two-child limit, says population report | SocietyGuardian.co.uk
  
  "While most of Britain's annual population rise of nearly 300,000 people is from immigration, only 21.9% of new births were last year to non-UK born mothers, says Prof Guillebaud. Each woman in England and Wales, he says, can now be expected to have 1.87 children, the highest total fertility rate for 26 years."
  
  Not sure I entirely agree with the logic of this article. I'm not sure it's getting to the root of the problem it brings up of the level of consumption of the earth's resources (really we need to work on that as much as human population). (Not to mention addressing the need to care for the older generation that would presumably become more of a problem than the baby boomers.)
• Top 10 eccentric British days out | Guardian
  
  "Is the weather raining on your holiday parade? The Far from the Sodding Crowd team come to the rescue with their pick of humorous, curious and downright ludicrous British tourist attractions"
• The yuck factor: How scientific research into revulsion is shaping our supermarkets - Independent
  
  "Rozin's research says that if something we perceive to be dirty or disgusting (such as a cockroach) touches something harmless (such as orange juice), in our minds the latter becomes "contaminated", even if the rational side of our brain knows there is n
• The Health Benefits of Journaling - Psych Central
  
  "There is increasing evidence to support the notion that journaling has a positive impact on physical well-being. University of Texas at Austin psychologist and researcher James Pennebaker contends that regular journaling strengthens immune cells, called T-lymphocytes. Other research indicates that journaling decreases the symptoms of asthma and rheumatoid arthritis. Pennebaker believes that writing about stressful events helps you come to terms with them, thus reducing the impact of these stressors on your physical health."
  
• Wake up. Feminism is more than just capitalism with tits | Guardian
  
  "Enough of the numbers game. The issue is not how many women are in power, but how many fight for collective rights "

Links for 2007-07-10 [del.icio.us]

• Fish oil may save preemies' vision
  After a study in mice discovered that the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish and other oils may protect against blindness in premature babies, researchers at Children's Hospital Boston are ready to test the results in a clinical trial.

• Do Sunscreens Have You Covered? - New York Times
  '"Most sunscreens are deceptively and misleadingly labeled, most perniciously to give consumers a false sense of security," Mr. Blumenthal said last week. "In my view, the F.D.A.'s failure to act is unconscionable and unjustifiable in any public sense.”

• Williams syndrome - Social Inhibition - Personality - Developmental Disorders - Brain Disorders - David Dobbs - New York Times
  "If a person suffers the small genetic accident that creates Williams syndrome, he'll live with not only some fairly conventional cognitive deficits, like trouble with space and numbers, but also a strange set of traits that researchers call the Williams social phenotype or, less formally, the “Williams personality”: a love of company and conversation combined, often awkwardly, with a poor understanding of social dynamics and a lack of social inhibition. The combination creates some memorable encounters."

• Crazy Kiwis « BitterSweet
  Fun blog post with a pattern for a knitted kiwi bird!

• DollQuiltFront on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
  Cute little quilt with appliqué.

• Björk interview: 'I didn't like being a celebrity. It's a service job. Like washing toilets' | Woman | The Observer

• Johann Hari: Free speech must apply even to the odious - Independent

• BBC NEWS | Health | Sausage additive linked to cancer

• BBC NEWS | Europe | Vatican text angers Protestants
  "Pope Benedict has approved a new text asserting that Christian denominations outside Roman Catholicism are not true Churches in the full sense of the word."

Links for 2007-07-09 [del.icio.us]

• vegalicious » Banana walnut pancakes with maple syrup - delicious vegan food and more
• Could Pumpkins Mean The End Of Insulin Injections? | Scientific Blogging
  "Recent research reveals that pumpkin extract promotes regeneration of damaged pancreatic cells in diabetic rats, boosting levels of insulin-producing beta cells and insulin in the blood, reports Lisa Richards in Chemistry & Industry."
• 'Mouth' Bacteria Found In Amniotic Fluid | Scientific Blogging
• BBC NEWS | Americas | Woman jailed for 'neglected' lawn
  This must be especially bizarre to read in the UK where people are often not able to water their lawns because of hosepipe bans!
• Instructables Cashmere Patchwork Quilt
  This is a tutorial for making a quilt/blanket from old wool sweaters. I have a bunch that I thrifted to make soakers for my daughter. Haven't had much time for sewing up things like that lately though. Perhaps as a first attempt at this I'll make one of these to lanolise and use for my daughter to sleep on in case of accidents when she's potty training.
• BBC NEWS | UK | Librarians 'suffer most stress'
  "Fighting fires may sound taxing, chasing criminals demanding, but a new study says that working in a library is the most stressful job of all." Interesting. I've thought that being a librarian might suit me, being a book lover who enjoys filing things!
• Why the World Service still matters - Independent
  "It was a lifeline to Alan Johnston, and it's a trusted friend to millions of other people around the globe. Robert Hanks on the enduring importance of the World Service."

Links for 2007-07-07 [del.icio.us]

• The Big Question: As Bush spares Libby, what is the history of presidential pardons? - Independent Online
  
• BBC NEWS | Technology | Warning of data ticking time bomb
  "Unless more work is done to ensure legacy file formats can be read and edited in the future, we face a digital dark hole."
• Unpartisan campaigner: Alan Bennett, the rebel with a lot of causes - Independent Online
  
• In his own words: Alan Johnston on his release - Independent Online
  'You have to have been a prisoner to know how good freedom is'
• Robert Fisk: The forgotten art of handwriting - Independent Online
  "I find something painfully human about reading the letters of long-dead heroes"
• Piece of cake | Food and drink | Life and Health
  "British summer fruit is so damned tasty, it's easy to end up buying far more than you can ever hope to eat fresh. But there's no need to turn all those berries, cherries and currants into jam or, worse, let them go to waste..."
• Get a cutting edge | Homes and gardens | Life and Health
  "Many gardeners, even experienced ones, are intimidated by the idea of taking cuttings. Yet it's such fun, as well as a great way to save money."
• A shocking act of disrespect - Independent Online
  Another article about Bush pardoning Libby -- this one is (angry) opinion on this case rather than looking at presidential pardons in general like the first link in this post.
• Baking Dish and Pan Size Conversion
• Vegan Low-Fat Chocolate Applesauce Cake Recipe - Vegan Chocolate Cake Recipe
  I'm making this for my daughters first birthday party.
• Jemima Lewis: The lessons of George Melly's final years - Independent Online
  Wonderful thought provoking, challenging article about ageing, caring, family, duty and death.
  "At the age of 80, and despite creeping deafness and dementia, [George Melly] had not succumbed to the clichés of old age: he was sociable, funny, energetic and still much in demand. ...
  It takes luck and a certain kind of temperament to navigate your way through old age so successfully. You need to be open-minded enough to keep enjoying the world without resenting the young who have inherited it; physically mobile (and fearless) enough to keep going out into that world; financially secure enough to live at home, or at least in a comfortable spot of your own choosing; and sufficiently lovable that your friends and family want to keep you company."

Accentuate the positive

In my Thursday links post I mentioned :10 Things (there's a blog and a flickr group too) which I found via a post at happythings. I seem to often finish the day grumpy and stressed. There's never enough time in the day to do all that I want, and feel I need to do. Not enough time to finish the laundry and leave the kitchen clean. Not enough time to be alone with my thoughts, to write about my day (especially all those things my daughter has done that seem so novel and precious right now but will get lost in the fog of memory if I don't record them), to work on my craft projects, to read, to sleep...

So I think that this would be a good way to end my day as often as I can. I can record snatches of my day, and go to bed with positive things on my mind: happy thoughts, things accomplished, moments enjoyed.

Here comes my first list (for yesterday). (I don't think I'll be posting them all here, although they may give me jumping off points for posts I guess.)

1. Fresh Pineapple and Chocolate Bread (these first two things I got as treats for my birthday but didn't actually get to eat any of until today)
2. My daughter giggling (lots of sustained giggles and laughs today!)
3. Being at home (it feels restful rather than confining after a few days away with lots of bustle and noise among my husband's family)
4. Getting to take a relatively unhurried shower without worrying about the baby.
   
5. Hugs from my daughter (along with some of the laughing she was snuggling up backwards, sideways, high and low today at times -- often she would be jumping around, exploring, playing and turn to give a hug and then go back to what she was doing)
6. The Hogfather on DVD (my mum sent for my husband's birthday -- we watched the first of the two parts)
7. Not having to cook dinner (we got pizza, not the best pizza unfortunately)
8. Knitting some more on my Monkey socks (just a few more pattern repeats and the toe to go before I have this pair finished)
9. Blood Orange sorbetto (my husband got this to try when he went to pick up milk at the co-op, very tasty. Our daughter insisted she should be allowed to try some too so we gave her some little tastes. She would make a face that looked quite displeased and then immediately start to insist she have some more)
10. Our little girl sleeping in the co-sleeper (rather than between us in the bed) for some of the night (just a few hours, but that's more than she's done in a long time).
    

links of the day

Links for 2007-07-06 [del.icio.us]

ON THE JOB / Life at the intensive care nursery: Making a living amidst parents' worst nightmares

Two-Hour Tote Bag - BeSewStylish

This looks like a simple sewing project that results in a nice, fairly roomy bag to use to carry supplies to the beach or park.

hedgie bias tape bag on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Another cute tote bag (this one's a little smaller), there's a link to a tutorial. I love the hedgehog embroidery on this one, it's what initially caught my eye.

Instructables - Ice Cream Pint Cozy

One of those things that I could totally make myself but it's so nice to find someone else has done the thinking and written it up so I don't have to! A good gift idea for my husband too as he eats straight from the pint tubs more often than me.

Instructables - Gift Bags for Bottles

Another one of those projects I could have figured out for myself, but someone's made it that bit easier for me! So nice not to have to think more than necessary when there's a baby draining your brainpower.

What I've learned about what to do when your wallet is stolen. - not martha
A very informative blog post which I hope never to need to use. But just in case....

It's Easy Being Green: playhouses with a conscience - ParentDish

Need to come back to this link when my daughter's a bit older. Although for inside the house my brother and I used to do very nicely with the clothes horse and sheets and blankets quite often!

Links for 2007-07-05 [del.icio.us]

BBC NEWS | Health | Organic food 'better' for heart

"A ten-year study comparing organic tomatoes with standard produce found almost double the level of flavonoids - a type of antioxidant."

del.icio.us links of the day
Posted: 05 Jul 2007 12:00 AM CDT

Bubbly Ployes (Buckwheat Pancakes) on Flickr - Photo Sharing! - These look a little like pikelets crossed with pancakes, this makes me want to try the recipe sometime. Also need to try to make pikelets again sometime since I can't get them where I live.

CEREAL BOX GIFT BOX: Craft projects from recycled, reused and natural materials.

:10 Things is a place for gratitude.
Found this blog via a post at "happythings" blog: " 10 Things is a place for gratitude. To be thankful for all sorts of things... big, little and medium." "10 Things features writers and photographers, exploring life's little joys through their lens."

The Validity ( Or Not ) Of Cognitive Tests | Scientific Blogging
"Timothy Salthouse, PhD, a noted cognitive psychologist at the University of Virginia, has demonstrated that giving a test only once isn't enough to get a clear picture of someone's mental functioning. It appears that repeating tests over a short period may give a more accurate range of scores, improving diagnostic workups."

BBC NEWS | Health | Yawning may keep us 'on the ball'
"Yawning may appear the height of rudeness, but in fact your body is desperately trying to keep you awake, according to research from the US."

Mommy Is Truly Dearest - New York Times

Success (sort of)

Well I did some looking around on the internet and it seems the automatic posting thingy that del.icio.us offers just isn't compatible with blogger. However I did come across this blog post which includes a tutorial on a way to get a daily update posted almost automatically using FeedBurner. Yay!

No time to say much else at the moment. This is possibly our busiest week of our year, and this year it's more so because sadly we have a family funeral to go to. So figuring this out is timely -- as long as I have enough time to surf the net a little there should be something to post most every day! Anyway, here's the first of the new links of the day posts:

Links for 2007-07-03 [del.icio.us]

Posted: 04 Jul 2007 12:00 AM CDT

• stacking rings on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
  Fabric version of the rainbow coloured stacking rings that every baby I've ever known has (we certainly did), they're more usually plastic/wood. I think making them like this, fabric with different textures/smells/sounds, is such a great idea especially as I want as few chewable plastic toys. I've been wanting to get a wooden set for my daughter, but maybe I can have a go at making something like this, (or maybe I'll wait to see whether this lady will make them to sell - after all when am I going to find time to try?)
• Why we learn from our mistakes | Scientific Blogging
  "Psychologists from the University of Exeter have identified an 'early warning signal' in the brain that helps us avoid repeating previous mistakes."
• Chocolate Chewies for chocolate lovers on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
  These look so mouthwateringly good, I want some!
• BBC NEWS | In pictures: Cathal McNaughton's award-winning year
• Raspberry Chocolate Ice Pops Recipe at Epicurious.com
  Another ice-lolly idea to try out. Raspberry and chocolate, so must be good right?!