Thursday 13: Link love

hat to do with a Thursday, but share links of things I've found recently that piqued my interest...

1. So I finally fell head over heels into Instagram not all that long ago, and now there are all kinds of things to do WITH Instagram. And of course, Mashable put together a list of photo editing apps... so I've obviously got some work to do. And if you like Instagram, of course you're an expert. Of course. Or so this blogger says.

2. Letters of Note always delivers, and this letter from F. Scott Fitzgerald to an aspiring writer has some golden nuggets.

3. This article on friendship in the NYT has all the earmarks of that Newsweek piece from the '90s about a single woman over 40 having the same shot at marriage as getting hit by terrorists, or some such statistic; remember that piece? Broad, generalized statements, lumping everyone into the same bucket. The Newsweek piece was debunked, more or less, over the years since, but it was still controversial and thus, able to garner readers. Likewise, I've seen this friendship piece shared fairly widely. I can appreciate that making friends can be a challenge as we get older, but it felt very sweeping, very general and (in my experience) false. Friendships from high school and college have some really strong ties and catching up can often happily take place in shorthand. But I also know that friends I've made in my 30s and 40s (especially) know me in a whole other way, as the person I've become in the past couple of decades, and the connections are no less strong and true. But, that's just me.

I can't help but share a couple of the statements that set off my bells, putting all mid-life individuals in the same pool: "...people have an internal alarm clock that goes off at big life events, like turning 30. It reminds them that time horizons are shrinking, so it is a point to pull back on exploration and concentrate on the here and now." At 30? Seriously? Whose time horizon is shrinking at fricking 30? Yes, best hunker down and get ready for your golden years, you old person, you 30-year-old...

And for those of you who've made good friends in the workplace? Nah, not really: "Work friendships often take on a transactional feel; it is difficult to say where networking ends and real friendship begins." Say, what? I disagree with that sentence, pretty much full stop. Maybe it's a part of the small-town working life, but I can't say I've seen a lot of network going on in the workplace. How about just getting work done, and enjoying the people you do it with? Sounds a lot more real. And less sensational.

4. Speaking of controversial, a blogger wrote a post recently about how every social media manager should be 25--no older. Ha ha ha. Check out the comments for the pile-on. Yowza. But, if it was reader attention she was after...

And because I always appreciate Six Pixel's take on an issue, I had to see how they weighed in on it. This topic might make a few more flops around the deck before it passes (that's my fish committing suicide by jumping out of the lake and onto your boat analogy. Get it? I know, a bit of a stretch).

5. Anyone remember Bob Ross? I used to make fun of him (the hair), but this video actually brought back some fond-ish, affectionate memories. And, the guy could paint. Might not be your (or my) style, but he can paint.

 

6. Oswald Patton's two-part speech at a comedy conference (is that what a gathering of comedians would be called?) has gotten some good press. Interesting how pretty much every industry and every job has been changed by technology.

7. Some pretty cool pictures from a blogger lucky enough to be at the London Olympic Opening Ceremonies. Me, not so crowd-loving, but I do appreciate that others will go, and take pictures!

8. A blog post about divorce and grief caught my attention. Very good to be so long past that particular event, but I can empathize with those going through the grit of just-come-apart-at-the-seams. The sentence that resonated for me: "Divorce has changed me, matured me, perhaps more than marriage did." In my case, I would eliminate the "perhaps."

9. I haven't checked the veracity of this information (famous last words on the internet, eh?), but take a peek at this statistic from Disqus: "The most important contributors to online communities are those using pseudonyms. These account for 61% of total comments." Yikes. I see that in the more public arenas--comments on news stories, YouTube, popular blogs--but I will chose to believe that YOU, dear reader, are real.

10. Missing Downton Abbey just a bit? I am... I keep hearing little bits and bobs about the upcoming season and Shirley MacLaine as Cora's mum, etc.... all well and good, but sure wish we got to see the next season at the same time as the UK...  The thing to do now, is to avoid spoilers, so stopping myself from searching YouTube will be critical during the fall. I enjoyed this interview with Anna (Joanna Froggatt) in Vanity Fair. Lots of Emmy nominations for the show, hope a number of them win!

11. I don't have any weddings to go to this year (that I know of right now!)... but, I found this post quite amusing (it links to this wedding website). To me, the whole wedding industry is somewhere between annoying and amusing most days (much as I may adore certain individuals who make their living by way of this tradition). Looking at the number of sites and blogs and pins on Pinterest related to weddings (and I don't even follow wedding people or boards), it's a crazy-making venture.

12. 30 Traits Happy People Share. Yes, yes and yes (30 times over).

13. Last, and probably should be least, I read this piece aloud to a couple of girlfriends on a girl getaway/eat great food/lay in the sun. Because deep issues such as the incredible swiftness of the whole Holmes-Cruise undoing need to be dissected, am I right? Hmmm. But some good writing here, and I love a theory that puts Holmes in the less-golden role, just because. Cruise, weird though he may be... well, I'll just leave it there. No doubt he's an odd duck. But did he deserve that public trouncing? No real winners here, especially Suri... Good thing she's got a lifetime of Scientology audits ahead of her. Who me, judge?

I hope there's a link or two there to entertain you! Happy Thursday.

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