Various & Sundry, September 16

A quick update on Harper's Cone of Shame: I am now sporting a great many arc-shaped bruises on the back of my calves from where Harper has been ramming me with said cone.  I am also very glad to report that she is no longer wearing said cone.

All right, a few tidbits:

From the world of Social Media, I loved this article listing 5 signs your organization is ready to use social media--and 5 signs it isn't.  The article says it's about healthcare, but I say substitute, oh, church, for example, for healthcare, and it works just as well. (The "it isn't" list is particularly helpful.)

Although for the most part I am feeling some serious 9/11 fatigue, I was still moved by this book of photos that reports on the lives of the now-elderly dogs who took part of the rescue efforts in 2001.

Also in books, I loved this snippet of history about the man behind the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, the Bobbsey Twins, and Tom Swift, among others. He himself apparently wrote more than 1,300 books.  Now, that's prolific.

I don't know if you heard the story about the three passengers detained after a flight to Detroit because they were "suspiciously" Indian and/or Israeli. Both James Fallows and TaNehisi Coates at The Atlantic had some sharp stuff to say about the incident, which is good because all I have to say is pretty vulgar.

Continuing in this cheerful vein, the Internet Monk asks why people are angry at the poor? I draw attention to this because if we want to change people's attitudes towards the poor, I think it helps to understand what is driving the current attitude.

I found this article about how Whole Foods primes you to shop fascinating--down to what shade of yellow makes a banana most appealing. The author has written a book called Brandwashed that may have to go on my list. Not to buy, though. Why would I want to do that?

Let's pick up the mood a little bit with this report from the World Health Organization, announcing that malaria deaths have declined by almost 40 percent over the last 10 years--and may be zero by 2015, at the time when the Millennium Development Goals are set to expire! Wouldn't that be fabulous? Let's keep that going!

I have a new blog I follow called Confessions of a Funeral Home Director.  He had a great post yesterday asking "Which funeral home wins the title of 'Worst funeral home name ever?'"  It was a tough call.

Finally, get your Kleenex back out to watch this video about Sherrie Gahn's amazing work with the kids at her elementary school:

Have a terrific weekend!