Facebook

I succumbed to the applications crazed on Facebook. Well I guess it's not too bad since I only have four. I have both Ilike and Last.fm in there, I love the latter but on Facebook Ilike is king.

The other one I added was Flixster, which is pretty fun. I like the 5-star rating, it's not overwhelming. Here is my movie rating system.

3 stars Good but do not plan to watch again
31/2 stars Good and may watch once again
4 stars Good and I would watch occasionally (depends on my mood)
5 stars Good and I'm willing to watch it anytime

Fettucine with Vodka Sauce and Grilled Shrimp

I've been meaning to cook this dish for a while, and I just got around to doing it a few days ago.

Grilled Marinated Shrimp, LINK
Vodka Sauce, LINK

I of course took the easy way with the sauce, but it was certainly good enough for me.

Digital Photography

I've been neglecting my digital photography hobby, but I do keep tabs of the RSS feeds on the subject.

One of my favorite sites is this: The Digital Photography School, LINK

They discuss the technical aspects, plus they give out weekly assignments on their forums:
LINK

I do hope to participate at least once this month, fully aware that I'll be putting myself on the spot. In the same vein here's a satirical take on how Internet commentators would react to some of the great photographers' works, LINK

Art and Dessert

I think the two links should be viewed side by side

I'll start with this link. Dangerously beautiful photos of glasses and liquids:
LINK

I finally got around to baking Peach Cobbler, I used this site's recipe:
LINK

It comes close to the one I tasted a few years ago, the first time I had a peach cobbler. I think I did something wrong, because the dough didn't look as translucent as the pictures on the site.

Anyway this upcoming month should be relatively stress-free so I'll try out some more recipes.

Meet TED

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design- its mission, Spreading ideas. The conference started out as an annual event in California, attended by a select group who first had to be invited and then had to pay thousands for the pleasure of it. What's special about TED is that they invite the top speakers from various fields, and it is really quite informative. What's more is that we the commoners can now enjoy the best talks for free!

About TED
TED on Wikipedia

Here's a presentation I just saw today!

Interesting Articles

LiveScience article, Brain Scans Reveal Why Meditation Works. LINK

NYTimes article, Mommy Is Truly Dearest. LINK

AP article on The Pew Research Center's survey on marriage and parenting in the United States. LINK

MTV article, 'Sicko': Heavily Doctored, By Kurt Loder. LINK