Cartoons: going for the humor

Looks to me like cartoonists are getting as snarky as the politicians and news reporters at Fox.  So today's mix is an attempt to find the humor in it all.

Ben Carson, a Tea Party candidate for president in 2016, is not particularly popular with voters, according to poll results at I Side With... Tom Toll's cartoon below paraphrases Ben Carson's statement, quoted from the Huffington Post, "that being gay was a choice "because a lot of people who go into prison go into prison straight -- and when they come out, they're gay. So, did something happen while they were in there? Ask yourself that question." The paraphase makes much more sense to me.

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Tom Toles, The Week

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Republican's denial of climate change has made them a laughingstock to many. I Side With asks "Should the government increase environmental regulations to prevent global warming?" You can check the poll answers.

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Mike Luckovich, The Week

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I hope Chris Christie is unable to overcome Bridgegate--in my eyes, it says clearly what his values and methods are. We're still allowed to laugh, though.

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Walt Handelsman, The Week

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Unfortunately this cartoon may be too true in depicting what will happen in November 2016, if the political scene continues to unravel.

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Gary Varvel, The Week

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-- Marge

DIY: just say no to a dysfunctional Christmas

Jen from Sales: "That guy in Engineering gave me this bracelet for Christmas... I think it's expensive!"

Lisa, also in Sales: "Give it back; it's a trap."

Jen: "What's not to love about an engineer?"

Gift-giving at the office can be tricky, but sometimes the gift is clearly attached to some intent not in the spirit of Christmas.

Christmas is hands-down my favorite holiday, but it comes with a lot of baggage, much of it added by people who want to celebrate it their own way or who are just being their clueless selves. I'm not going to get into current Christmas controversy, but do offer some viewpoints on aspects of the season that can be problematic.

Personal safety and practical self defense.

Holiday shopping.

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And perhaps most of all, family dysfunction.

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If your family is problematic (and whose isn't?), here's some help: "Rules of Engagement: Dealing With Your Family During the Holidays." And this is an interesting piece about "How Self Love and Boundaries Mix."

Finally, if you've just heard your mother/stepmother/mother-in-law (father/stepfather/father-in-law) use the same phrase for the 23rd time, remember: things could be a lot worse.

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Justin Sullivan/Getty Images. The Lede.blogs.nytimes

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-- Marge

Communal Living 2014

What with recent graduates and young families in need of financial help moving back in with parents, and many sharing apartments to help with expenses, the concept of communal is becoming attractive again.  In the U.S. communes were big in the '60s and '70s, but fell out of favor.  The article on communes at Wikipedia notes:

Andrew Jacobs of The New York Times wrote that, contrary to popular misconceptions, "most communes of the '90s are not free-love refuges for flower children, but well-ordered, financially solvent cooperatives where pragmatics, not psychedelics, rule the day." There are many contemporary intentional communities all over the world, a list of which can be found at the Fellowship for Intentional Community (FIC).

Huffington Post has a section on Communal Living.  The video below was found there.

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BBC's article, "Living the communal life," gives some interesting insights into why people decide to share their living space.

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Living the communal life, BBC (Julius Schrank/www.juliusschrank.de)

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This Washington Post article also has some good insights:  A new generation of 'Golden Girls'. And this thread at Reddit caught my attention: Want to live in eco-village/hippie commune.. help!

Lisa Law's history the '60s counterculture and  of communal living at Smithsonian's site gives a detailed account of how and why they lived on that frontier.

-- Marge

Cartoons: Paycheck fairness

On April 9th, the Huffington Post ran this article:  Senate Republicans Block Paycheck Fairness Act For Third Time. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 (Wikipedia version) was the first effort to make pay levels more fair.  So what's taking so long?

Cartoons seem almost inappropriate here, but sometimes humor helps us see more clearly.

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Pat Bagley, Cagle

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Bill Day, Cagle

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Rick McKee, Cagle

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Dave Granlund, Cagle

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Bill Day, Cagle

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-- Marge

DIY: Mother's Day

Well, I started out with the idea of showing some fun projects for making Mother's Day gifts.  After pages of cheesy fur-like necklaces and tin cans punched with holes and planted with who-knows-what, I began to ask what moms really want for Mother's Day.  Here's what I found.

At Huffington Post (2013) there's this graph, first published at Rants from Mommyland.

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As you know, Mother's Day is a favorite of retailers everywhere.  They would love for you to spend big bucks.  A good example of this is Forbes.  BuzzFeed suggests wine (an idea I like a lot) and alone-time.

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Many of the articles about what Mom really wants for Mother's Day emphasize time off and time alone. Older moms and grandmas, on the other hand, may have all the alone time they wished for in years past.

Looks like it's up to you on this one. 

-- Marge

Cartoons: Net what?

Frankly, I gave up on net neutrality years ago. In this polarized world increasingly ruled by greed, both corporate and individual, and big-money power, a delicate thing like neutrality doesn't have much of a chance. Of course this is just my point of view. For a survey of what's happening in net neutrality, take a look at the Huffington Post section on the topic.  CNN recently reported in "New chapter begins in net neutrality fight:"

The Federal Communications Commission faced a big setback on this front in January, when a court struck down its "Open Internet" rules. The FCC had barred ISPs from blocking or "unreasonably discriminating" against Web content, but Verizon (VZ, Fortune 500) successfully challenged the regulations on the grounds that the so-called "net neutrality" rules had overstepped the commission's legal authority.

Interesting that this was reported in CNN's money section.

Here's how some leading editorial cartoonists view the topic.

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John Cole, Cagle

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Nate Beeler, Cagle

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Milt Priggee, The Week

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--Marge

Cartoons: Republicans, the Koch brothers, and hope

It's pretty clear that the Republicans have no real concept of what's on the minds of the majority of Americans.

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Dan Wasserman, US News

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What's on the minds of the Koch brothers is pretty clear:  control.

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Mike Luckovich, The Week

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Jeff Danziger, Huffington Post

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Matt Wuerker, about.com

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Meanwhile hope for a balanced and responsive political system dies.

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Paul Combs, US News

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And on the horizon there's this:  "The CIA likes to write its own rules, but spying on Congress crosses a new line."

-- Marge

Cartoons: Boehner and fellow Republicans

A recent poll, sponsored by NBC and the Wall Street Journal, places House Speaker "John Boehner's Favorability Rating Just Above George Zimmerman's, Edward Snowden's" according to a report by Ariel Edwards-Levy in the Huffington Post.  According to NBC New's First Read the poll shows "Faith in DC hits a low; 83 percent disapprove of Congress."

According to Michael Grunwald, writing for Time Magazine, Republicans have become the "The Party of No."

Since it's hard to take such childishness seriously (even though what's done in the Capitol can be serious business), let's have a laugh on it.  What else is there to do?

From the Times-Tribune by John Cole, "Adult Supervision:"
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From Stuart Carlson's website, "On Immigration:"
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From The Week/cartoons by Mike Keefe, "John Boehner's Sob Story:"
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Also from The Week by Mike Luckovich, "A Grand Old Accusation:"
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Found in the Boston Globe archives by Mike Luckovich, "Herding Cats:"
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One last note: on July 17 the Washington Post reported "House to vote, yet again, on repealing Obamacare."  This will be the 38th vote.

-- Marge

Tracking the tracker

With Snowden, the federal government's current policy of hiring temporary contractors whenever possible essentially backfired.  According to an article at Bloomberg Businessweek, "Snowden's Access to NSA's Deepest Secrets Disputed."  Quoting from the article --

Snowden, who leaked a PowerPoint deck on the NSA’s secret Prism spying program and a trove of other classified information that he stole from the agency, has depicted himself as a highly skilled mole who exposed the NSA’s deepest secrets to the world. News coverage of the leaks has helped promote this storyline. Yet current and former intelligence officials familiar with his role within the agency present a different picture—one of a 30-year-old outsider with a talent for self-promotion, whose junior position kept him at a distance from the NSA’s most sensitive spy operations.

With that in mind, let's take a look at the fun editorial cartoonists are having with Snowden's current situation: he was last seen 'hiding out' at the Moscow airport.

From Jeremy Nell at Cagle, "Where's Snowden:"
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Jeremy Nell, cagle.com

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From Chip Bok, also at Cagle, "Snowden in Moscow:"
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Chip Bok, cagle.com

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From Christopher Weyant at politicalhumor.about.com, "NSA Like Me:"
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Christopher Weyant, politicalhumor.about.com

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From Scott Stantis at the Chicago Tribune, "With 'Friends' Like These:"
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Scott Stantis, Chicago Tribune

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And my personal favorite, from Walt Handelsman at USNews:
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Walt Handelsman, US News (July 19, 2013)

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According to Huffington Post, 38% of those polled at first said Snowden did the right thing, and later said it was wrong (not necessarily the same people, just the same percentage).

-- Marge

DIY to celebrate life

I thought about a tongue-in-check do-it-yourself post for Mother's Day, but it kept going dark on me.  The Huffington Post article, "Mother's Day vs. Stepmother's Day: Who Owns It?," explains some of the darkness.  Realities of mothers who, in one way or another, for one reason or another, chose not to be motherly add to the mix.  So, moving on...

Life is indeed a you-it-yourself project.  And sometimes we need to be reminded of how joyful life can be.  Here are a few ideas for reminding ourselves.

Hang something in or near a window where the light can catch it.  It could be a crystal, or a stained glass panel, a glass fishing float, or beads on a string.  Something to catch your eye when you walk by.  Etsy's blown_glass category has literally thousands of ideas.  Be sure that what you choose has an eyelet for hanging.

Make a mobile and hang it where the air currents in the room will make it shift and catch your eye.  For inspiration, try "50 Fabulous Mobiles To Make, Buy Or Hang In The Sky" at the site Apartment Therapy.  For instructions, try "How to Create a Calder'esque Mobile" by morgenlandfahrer at the instructables site.  Here's an Alexander Calder mobile:

Hang a wind-chime inside your house or apartment.  The lighter the material you use, the more easily it will be moved by air currents.  I've used brass rings in a variety of sizes and something to catch the air like paper.  A good collection of ideas for making them is at Squidoo.  If you really want to delve into the mechanics of windchime sounds, try Chuck's Chimes.

Another way to celebrate life is to put a mirror where you catch a glimpse of yourself from time to time.  If you're always frowning, it's time to lighten up and do something fun.

The Droste Effect shown in an image by Tiago Sozo Marcon, Flickr

--Marge

DIY publishing

If you google "diy publishing book," it looks like everyone in the world wants to help you do it -- for a fee.  That aside, more and more authors are electing to self-publish.  The story quoted below -- about author Theresa Ragan -- is from an article in Huffington Post and explains why authors choose to self-publish.

 For nineteen years she was mostly a stay-at-home mom raising four children -- all the while penning romance novels. But she got nowhere with a few agents and was turned down over a hundred times by publishers. Although she knew about self-publishing she dismissed it as a vanity club. In 2010, while surfing the web for a job to help pay the bills, she stumbled on an article by a successful self-published author which prompted her to give it a shot ("what do I have to lose?"). She hooked up with CreateSpace, the self-publishing arm of Amazon.com and self -published her first book in March 2011 in both paperback and e-book formats. Within the first two months she was stunned by the sale of over two thousand copies -- and the sales continued to rise. To date, she has self-published four romance and two thriller novels with sales exceeding three hundred and fifty thousand copies. Theresa expects to cross the million dollar mark in royalties by March 2013. And the good news doesn't stop there. Several top-line publishers are pursuing her.Thomas and Mercer, Amazon's "traditional" mystery and thriller line, will now republish her two thrillers. In my interview with Theresa Ragan on August 21, 2012, she said that prior to venturing into self-publishing, "I would have gratefully signed with any traditional publisher with no advance and a six percent royalty." Lucky for Theresa that all the publishers passed on her.

This article in Forbes reports on the first self-published no.1 best seller, Wait for You by J. Lynn.  It also gives some pointers on how to sell your book successfully, that is, make money at it.

Many of the guides available about self-publishing cost -- sometimes in the hundreds of dollars.  But you can find good information for free on all aspects of writing at Authonomy.  It's interesting to note that Amazon's CreateSpace offers all the information on self-publishing.  Nook has also entered the market for self-publishing e-books with NOOK Press.

An intriguing and informative approach to writing could be something like Wattpad, where you can "Discover a World of Unlimited Stories."  At this site you can --

Find your audience on Wattpad! Write one chapter at a time, or share your full novel. Introduce us to great characters; explore new genres, entertain us and make us laugh... or cry.

Similar sites are Figment, WritersCafe,  weBook, and FictionPress.

-- Marge

DIY + Easter

Easter is fast approaching (March 31 this year).  While you may not be one who celebrates this religious event, who can resist celebrating the profusion of color and renewed spirits of spring.  So get your food coloring out and gather any other crafty items you might need and give one of these do-it-yourself projects a try.

At Curbly, a "DIY design community for people who love where they live," user CapreeK has posted a Roundup of  "12 Modern Easter Egg Ideas."  Below is a sampling of the ideas offered:

At Babble, a Disney blogging site, contributor kenziepoo offers "6 DIY Easter Ideas for 2013."  My favorite is this paper mache (vs. papier-mache) bunny:

Scraphacker, "the hub for 'scrap-cycling' innovation & D.I.Y. innovation 'scrap hack' inspiration," is offering Easy Easter DIY tutorials.  This is the perfect site for pack-rats (like me).  How about chocolate birds' nests or edible placecards?

Divine Caroline, part of the Ladies' Home Journal Real Girl Network,  offers "A Completely DIY Easter Party" by user FaveCrafts.  Links that are associated with the projects suggested in this article  take you to a FaveCrafts site.  While the ideas are good ones (Wild Misted Easter Eggs by Terri Sproul are shown below), I felt I was trapped in someone's sales campaign.

Even the Huffington Post is has DIY articles.  Huff Post blogger Kathryn Kattalia writes about Sock Bunnies from A Creative Cookie, a blog at Blogspot:

Arggh! Blogs, blogs everywhere.  My apologies if it got confusing.

-- Marge