I thought this little article on Slate was interesting. The shortness of February has always been a curiosity to me, as logically it would make more sense to take a day off two of the months that have 31 days and make each of those months be 30 days. But that’s not the way it is.

The length of February apparently goes back to Roman times. January and February were added on later than the other months. The calendar was based on the lunar year at the time, and so fell behind regularly. It wasn’t until Julius Caesar ordered it changed to the solar year that the current 365 day calendar with a leap year every 4 years came into being.

I love little bits of trivia like this. It’s just interesting seeing how some oddities come into being.

Technorati Tags: February, calendar, length of year

What can I say? It takes time to recover from a toddler’s birthday party, not to mention the preparation time.

Believe it or not, I’m not the kind of mom to go all out for her children’s birthday parties. It really does just take a lot of time anyhow. We don’t even get the bouncies that just about seem to be a must at children’s parties these days, and I make and decorate the cake at home. That’s one of the fun parts really, since the birthday child gets to help do the decorative frosting. Messy, but you name a young child who won’t be proud of that.

I’m dealing with a bit of motherly worry too. My husband spotted a lump near my son’s collar bone while we were at his 2 year checkup. The doctor was good, had us get an xray, but nothing showed there, so it’s a watch and see kind of thing. I used to do medical transcription, so I know too well that these things can be nothing. Or they can be a really big something. And being a mother means worrying too much sometimes.

So we’re watching that. With any luck it will vanish soon. If it gets any bigger we have to have it looked at in more detail.

Technorati Tags: parenting, toddler birthday

Whee! If you have the money, technology can sure make the kitchen much more convenient! Less cooking time, easier cooking timing, all for way, way more than normal appliances.

Like I said, it takes money.

The Speedcook oven from TurboChef is not only supposed to cook faster, it’s supposed to make the food taste better. They say up to 15 times faster, while maintaining excellent flavor. Read the rest of this entry »

But you really have to wonder what’s going through her head these days. Of course, there’s a much better view of her head now that she’s shaved her hair off… did I really just say that?

You just really have to wonder… the partying, the possibility of post partum depression or something like that… what’s going on in her mind? Because she really seems to be in a bad spot right now.

I hear people have even been selling “her hair” on eBay. Lots of fakes, no doubt, and right now I see someone claiming to have the shaver she used.

As you may have noticed, I don’t go blogging about entertainment figures very often, but I figured I’d go ahead today. It’s a Link and Blog challenge, you see…

Technorati Tags: britney spears hair, link and blog

In the United States, we take freedom of the press and freedom of speech pretty much for granted. Some may argue that we are more limited than we should be, but that’s an entirely different arguement than the one I’m looking at today.

There’s a report on Wired about an Egyptian blogger, Abdel Kareem Nabil, being sentenced to 4 years in prison for insulting Islam in his blog. To any self respecting blogger, that’s a pretty terrible thing to see.

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know anything about what he actually said or the accuracy of his statements. But he should have the right to express his opinion! Read the rest of this entry »

No, really. It does happen. Just one of those strange things you wouldn’t expect.

There’s a kite flying festival in some countries that can turn deadly. It seems some people get really competitive and use wire instead of string, so that they can use their kite’s wires to cut the strings of competitors. That it can also slice open throats is a nasty side effect. 

In Pakistan, where this has been a major problem at the Basant festival, they’ve tried banning kite flying, regulating manufacturers and other steps, unfortunately with little result. This leaves them in a difficult position - give in to Islamist factions in the country who would like the festival banned anyway as un-Islamic, or let it go on and allow people to die. Not the most comfortable of situations in a country that is trying to be moderate. Read the rest of this entry »