Some tabs I need to close in browsers make for great reads…I keep meaning to share them and haven’t gotten to them yet! Thankfully today’s snow day gives me a chance to clean up the browser windows and share some of what I’ve been reading lately.

Get kids to eat more vegetables by moving recess. Easier said than done in an age of part time staffing but I agree, it makes a difference. So does serving well prepared veggies, of course!

Letterpress printing at its finest.

R is for Robot is just plain adorable! Adafruit is awesome to offer this as a CC download, too.

These are some stunning photos of owls.

I really liked Alastair Humphreys thoughts on becoming an adventurer – not so different than self employment!

I am thinking a lot about what does and doesn’t constitute “making” these days, so I enjoyed hearing another educator’s take on maker culture. I am still muddling through some thoughts on that which I’ll hopefully get posted by the next snow day!

It’s been an interesting fall so far, and I thought I’d share at least the feel of it with a few videos:

There have been snakes:

Fire (from an earlier event but similar):

Franco-Canadians:

and Horns:

I’ve got at least 40 tabs open to things I wanted to share with you, so here is a sneak peek into a few of the things I’m thinking about:

Dave wants to know when do you have enough money. He starts with Bill Simmons and it only gets better from there. I have been thinking about this a lot lately – as presidential campaigns heat up I will have some hard choices to make about where I spend my time.

In the same vein, being poor (or with limited resources) is expensive. I’m getting a first hand look at that right now and I can’t believe the hidden fees on things I take for granted. Women are disproportionally poor.

Gina’s whole post is a must read (and it sounds as though xoxo should be on my radar) but this line kicks a$$:

Somehow, some way, your worst moments feed your best work, and it might well take a decade to see it.

Sadly, being female online continues to be a problem for men.

That makes me hesitant to tell stories in public and brings me back around to why I enjoy Folk Festival and First Friday so much. I have a lot of respect for people fearless enough to perform for an audience. More on that soon!

Mondays, I tell you – tons of great things to read, and no time to read and write about them:

• Is Mobile Affecting When We Read?: This means you also need to be thinking about the hours of support you provide – if your customers are coming after 8pm are they going to be willing to wait until the next “business” day for a response, or will they shop someplace that will? This is the #1 area I see companies cutting corners – failing to staff the hours their site traffic is heaviest.
• Idea to Market in 5 Months: Making the Glif: This is an awesome dissection of the tools and processes Dan Provost and Tom Gerhardt used to bring The Glif to market. I’d like to see more of these cases broken down so succinctly so others can follow in their footsteps. An article I want you to read so badly that I’m posting it a second time so it doesn’t get lost in other weekend links.
• Venture Capital and the Decline of the Start-up Middle Class: There are some opportunities in the middle of the VC field. The question is who will pounce on it first.
• The Commons: the commons are our cumulative national treasure. Who should decide how it’s used?

Happy Monday!

It was one of those weeks and although I really wanted to blog about some of these items in more depth, they have to go on my longer to do list. You shouldn’t miss reading about them, though!

• What’s Your Personal Data Worth?: Somewhere north of $3.00. Given that I routinely pay my data company $3 for this information, I suspect we value it too little.
• Idea to Market in 5 Months: Making the Glif: This is an awesome dissection of the tools and processes Dan Provost and Tom Gerhardt used to bring The Glif to market. I’d like to see more of these cases broken down so succinctly so others can follow in their footsteps. If you read only one thing off this list, this should be it!
• The Phantom 15 Million: Between 2001 and 2008 the U.S. economy should have generated 15 million new jobs. We didn’t, and even the experts aren’t entirely sure why not (perhaps they’re asking the wrong experts).
• Richmond Type Map: When people tell me print is dying, I’m going to point to projects like this. Artists, are you asking your printers to back these projects or doing them independently?

Happy weekend!

Some more lovely things to read and enjoy:

• Matthew Inman, the Interview: Andrew Warner scores an all access interview with Matt Inman, creator of The Oatmeal, a web comix earning better than $1,000 per day. Hear the inside details on his $70,000 black Friday rush.
• How Online Pizza Delivery Makes America The Best Country In The World: I am not a fan of Domino’s but this type of manufacturing transparency is intriguing – I’ll be keeping an eye open to see if it spreads beyond fast food.
• Dan Goods, information strategist, NASA: What is the best way to present research from NASA astrophysicists to everyone else? Enter Dan Goods, who uses everything from fog machines to aquariums to wine bottles to convey information.

Happy Tuesday!

Today is a special link edition full of beautiful things I think you should go see:

• Pantone Calendar: Derek Bowers painstakingly hand placed 1,440 images to create his Pantone 2011 Calendar. It’s absolutely gorgeous and I’d happily pay for a print of this in case he’s listening 😉
• Nicole Aptekar’s Photo Stream: I’ve been following Nicole via Google reader (you should too, it’s a visual rollercoaster) for quite some time and just realized I hadn’t linked to her work yet. Bad me, lucky you! Get ready for a lush, occassionally psychadelic but never, ever boring range of photos. Don’t miss her iPhone experientation set!
• Drowning Beautiful: Sean Kernick has a lovely photo set featuring Jason de Caires Taylor’s underwater landscapes.

Happy Monday!

Looking for something a little more meaty? Here are some good reads to get you through the rest of the weekend:

• Have We Reached A Tipping Point Where Self-Publishing Is Better Than Getting A Book Deal? Certainly from a technology perspective, it’s now as easy and certainly significantly faster to self publish, but without a list, many authors will not see the revenue they hope for.
• The Web Is a Customer Service Medium: If you read nothing else this weekend, this should be it. Paul Ford takes us into the psychology behind Why Wasn’t I Consulted and covers how customer service is the new killer application.
• Best Time for Sales Calls: I would not have guessed these days and times so I’m glad David took the time to read the whole report.
• Inspiring Women: It’s quite subtle, but with their 1 year anniversary Pictory launches a whole new ad model that 1. isn’t an interruption and 2. takes us beyond the banner. If you’re not following Pictory you’re missing one of the best new sites of 2010 – Laura has done a great job with this concept.

Have a great weekend!