Another installment of things that I find entertaining or interesting. Yay!

• A reading meme from someone named Eva (not me). I’ll be writing up my version later tonight.

• Hey, Mac users with Netflix accounts! Soon you, too, will be able to take advantage of the Netflix instant-viewing feature on your computers! That’s right - Netflix announced that they’re working on a Mac-compatible version of the online instant-viewing service. Not surprisingly, the thing holding it back has been that Netflix uses a Microsoft-based DRM service that only works with Windows. Gizmodo said it best, “only holdup is/has been the lack of a Mac-native DRM system that Hollywood approves as sufficiently draconian.”

• “Loneliness is marked by a sense of isolation. Solitude, on the other hand, is a state of being alone without being lonely and can lead to self-awareness.” That’s what I’m talking about. Thank you, Psychology Today, for this little article about the difference. I’ve been accused of being “lonely” - but I think my friends would disagree. I like my alone-time, truly, and sometimes I may feel lonely (that goes with the depression, I think) but overall, I think I’m far more of a lover of solitude than a sad and lonely person.

• Cookthink.com: A very cool idea for a site: “To find a recipe based on what you’re craving, plug up to eight tags into our Cookthink search tool.” Some more info in the little screen portion below. I was craving scallops and dill. So I popped those in. It brings up a little cloud of additional foods/ingredients you can click - or not. Submit those and voila - a recipe for Spicy Scallops With Bell Pepper, Fennel and Dill (that does sound quite good. Too bad I’m going to dinner at a vegetarian restaurant with friends tonight.) If it’s not quite what you want, you can click on a “show me more recipes” link, and you get other things in the same “family” - Barley, Zucchini And Tomato Salad With Mint was one of the secondary results for the shrimp and tomato search.

• Smart kids read “Lolita”? - Books That Make You Dumb [site]

Ever read a book (required or otherwise) and upon finishing it thought to yourself, “Wow. That was terrible. I totally feel dumber after reading that.”? I know I have. Well, like any good scientist, I decided to see how well my personal experience matches reality. How might one do this? Well, here’s one idea.

Amusing, if nothing else. Their “methodology” is pretty interesting, too.

• YouAreBeautiful stickers - a cool community art/social commentary project. Their artists/mission statement is:

You Are Beautiful is a simple, powerful statement which is incorporated into the over absorption of mass media and lifestyles that are wrapped in consumer culture.

The intention behind this project is to reach beyond ourselves as individuals to make a difference by creating moments of positive self realization. We’re just attempting to make the world a little better.

Intention is the most important aspect of the You Are Beautiful project in its idea of purity. Nothing is sacred. Everything that has a perceived value becomes commodified. We work extremely hard that this message is received as a simple act of kindness, and nothing more.

Advertising elicits a response to buy, where this project elicits a response to do something. The attempt with You Are Beautiful is to create activism instead of consumerism.

You Are Beautiful uses the medium of advertising and commercialization to spread a positive message.
Projects like these make a difference in the world by catching us in the midst of daily life and creating moments of positive self realization.

Send an SASE (and maybe a few dollars - though they’re not required) and they’ll send you some stickers that say “you are beautiful.” Or you can download and print your own. Adhere them to things, take pictures, and send them in for posting on the site. They’ve done huge wall and billboard installations of the same sentiment.

There. I just revealed the tree-hugging hippie portion of myself.