Favorite Podcasts

Lately I've been enjoying podcasts on my commutes to and from work, using the PocketCasts app on my Android.

Check out this list of some of my favorites, and see if any could potentially be of interest to you:

• Milk Street Radio - (Foodie) Introduces world cuisines and basic kitchen best practices while also entertaining caller questions. Hosted by Chris Kimball from America's Test Kitchen fame

• Ladies Who Lunch - (Society and Culture, Women) Introduces a variety of women's topics including society, lifestyle, mental health, gender, sex, and more. Hosted by Ingrid Nilsen of YouTube fame, and one of her BFFs Kat.
  
• TED Radio Hour - (Society and Culture) If you know TED, then this needs no introduction. Hosted by NPR.
  
• HBR Ideacast - (Business) Introduces business, lifestyle and societal trend coverage based on the best and latest HBR articles.
  
• Fresh Air - (Society and Culture) An NPR program introducing a variety of topics and celebrities/famous individuals in a usually personal interview format.
  
• Euromonitor International - (Business) International business and commerce trends and market drivers coverage by regional and subject matter experts.

I'm Going Cruelty Free!

this logo is the cutest

A couple of weeks ago I reached the decision to be completely cruelty free when it comes to consumer products for the home and personal hygiene/beauty. My intent is to do my small part to ensure that there's a little bit less hurt out there.

At first glance a philosophical change of this caliber seems complicated, but in reality there are many resources out there, and great companies to choose from, to make this a sustainable effort.

First of all, what does cruelty free mean? It's when a product or its ingredients are NOT tested on animals in a laboratory. Some companies don't require any tests of their suppliers, but the suppliers may still test the ingredients or products on animals. It's actually difficult for a company to qualify for a cruelty-free label on their product because of these various requirements.

DID YOU KNOW? Some countries, like China, require products to go through animal testing to ensure the safety of the product prior to it being sold in that market. Other countries, like India, have a complete ban on any animal testing.

The term cruelty free is different from the term "Vegan" which means that a product is completely free of any animal-sourced ingredients - such as honey or carmine (ground red cochineal beetle).

this European logo is my 2nd fave

One of the surprising findings thus far is that there are actually many, very popular brands which are already cruelty free. Two such companies are is Burt's Bees or Urban Decay. We have to thank the EU because they beat the US and passed a ban on animal-testing in 2009 and a ban on selling animal-tested products in 2013. Yet there's still much to be done.

My initial step in going cruelty-free was to educate myself and read as many different resources as possible to get a broad perspective. I looked up my favorite brands to see whether they were cruelty free or not. Many websites announce it proudly, others it's harder to find out - so you might need to email their customer service. If a favorite product is not cruelty free, I can then look up a duplicate or dupe on Google or on MakeupAlley.com. If I can't find any duplicates, I can start looking for a new company and product in the same category that could fill my requirements.

who doesn't like bunnies?

In the short time of two weeks, I'm already 99% cruelty free when it comes to nail care and color
products. Next on my list are personal care and beauty products. My biggest challenges thus far have been a good silicone free face primer, oil free/non-comedogenic face lotion and foundation, and home-use boxed hair color. That just means I have a little more reading to do.

In reviewing various sources of information, I've come to trust some over others. For example, if I want to learn more about the cruelty free movement in general, I can search Google News or the PETA website. If I want an updated list of various products, I can look on the Cruelty Free Kitty and Leaping Bunny websites.

Overall I find this a fun challenge for myself, that's helped me expand my thinking in new ways and makes me feel like I'm making a bit of a difference, in my own way.

If you are located in the United States and would like to learn more about cruelty free products or how to transition to a cruelty free lifestyle, please see the following links that I've found especially helpful:

• The Leaping Bunny Program
• The difference between cruelty free and vegan products
• Beauty Without Bunnies
• Alternatives to Animal Testing and NAVS
• Leaping Bunny Approved Brands
• The Ultimate Guide to Cruelty Free and Vegan Makeup
• Cruelty Free Drugstore Brands
• Cruelty Free Sephora Brands
• Cruelty Free Brands List (Australia)
• The Independent: Today the EU Goes Cruelty Free
• Wikipedia: Animal Testing of Cosmetics
• Humane Society Fact Sheet: Cosmetic Testing
• The cruelty free logo

My Youtube Minecraft Avatar

adventure girl jeda22

Apparently you can have two IDs on YouTube now.

I'm using my Mindcraft adventure girl skin paired up with my nickname (jeda21) to look at YouTube Let's Play for the Mindcrack guys.

I feel weird having my "old lady" pic while posting to vids where 10 year olds post.

It was fun downloading the Minecraft Skin Studio app (for Android) and personalizing one of the adventure girl skins I found there (shorter hair of course). It was incredibly easy to use the app, they did a really great job. It's too bad that it's only a mobile app with no browser client, but that's ok.

Mind you, my phone swype keyboard wrote down jeda22 instead of jeda21 and I didn't spot the typo in my excitement, so that's how the skin got named. Good times :D

adventure girl jeda22

Minecraft Update

Back in February or March I discovered the world of Minecraft. I've played it on and off. It took me a while to get acquainted with the ins and outs, and used YouTube videos to learn the ropes as I was playing.

The mobs used to give me anxiety attacks at the very beginning. Now, I prefer playing it in creative to develop interesting structures.

The first YouTube channel that I started watching regularly was Haydz. His tone of voice and narrative aren't the best, but I love his creativity and ingenious blend of other creators' work into his own creations. It's really funny when he makes a mistake and he calls himself a n00b or derp. Best of all, he doesn't talk down to the viewer.

I keep watching YouTube Let's Play and other Minecraft related videos. I have quite a few favorite channels:

• Etho's Lab
• VintageBeef
• PauseUnpause
• GuudeBoulderfist
• NoobSniper

I've gotten to know Etho's Lab from watching other people's videos and heard them mention Etho. Etho's calm voice and ingenuity are inspiring. I've watched all his Let's Play videos from the very beginning. He's one of the Minecrafters who doesn't swear, kind of a tiny tribe of Minecrafters that make watching their vids enjoyable despite not swearing.

After watching Etho, I learned about VintageBeef and PauseUnpause. These two are my second favorites after Etho. Pause swears like a sailor but is hilarious when he gets irritated at the maps and mobs. 

VintageBeef is what I would call the most approachable, happy medium between Etho and Pause. I love Vintage's Wild West town project on Mindcrack. 

I learned about Guude from watching the Mindcrack competitions these guys have among themselves. Each of the players uploads a perspective of their competition. They're a ton of fun to watch. They're great commentators. You feel the thrill with them as they explore a new cave, escape a zombie spawner in the dark, and hit and run back from a creeper.

I especially love the camaraderie between a few of the players, like Vintage and Pause. I've actually started watching these videos much more than I spend time playing Minecraft. It's that much fun.

New Blog Feature

Just for grins and giggles I added a new page tab to this blog called Professional Inquiries.

I developed a little slideshow--that I'm sure I'll tweak with time and as I get ideas--about my professional background that I've uploaded there, it ends with a link to my LinkedIn profile.

I made a little how-to blog post on my Interwebs blog to explain how I posted the Google Drive Presentation file into Blogger. Since I had no idea I could do that when I first started developing the little presentation. Good times.

Pining for...Pinterest

I have fallen deeply in love with Pinterest. My fascination started earlier this year when the service was finally opened to the masses, rather than just being a beta which required a recommendation from a current member to join.

One of the first ever pics that I pinned, was of a cute puppy sleeping belly up. I thought he had a cute belly button. After about 10 seconds worth of closer inspection, the next day, I was shocked to realize that wasn't his belly button ^_^* He's still cute tho. I'll spontaneously laugh remembering that instance, and am sure to do so for years to come.

In my early teens I used to be obsessed with cutting out fave TV show images from Entertainment Weekly and TV Guide and putting them up in my dedicated album. It seemed like the years between 1990 and 1994 were especially ripe with new television series. Alas, they would disappear from the airwaves just as soon as they'd start. Mann and Machine and The Young Indiana Jones are two examples. There were some good shows. I wonder what ever happened to my clippings album?

I used to also collect catalogs from retailers such as Crate and Barrel, NAPA Style, and This End Up. I fantasized what decor and artifacts would decorate my home once I was grown up. I used to leaf through those and then go to the basement to fire up the 3D Architect software and play around with home designs based on what I saw and what I dreamed.

Pinterest is a great way to exercise one's clipping mania, or O-C behavior, without creating a storage issue at one's residence. It's a spectacular tool. I love the layers of photographs that can help divulge and decipher people's inner personalities and hidden dreams. It's a lot of fun to follow friends and acquaintances for just this purpose--and for repinning their cool stuff as well, of course!

Say No to SOPA

Check out the post on my Computing and Interwebs Blog: Say No to SOPA

New Favorite Blog: This is Naive

I have no idea how I happened upon it, but I absolutely love, love, love This is Naive. The photo essays take me to places I haven't been, but wish I was in right now.

The author is amazingly skilled at composition, either written, photographic, or food wise. Accompanying her on her adventures is one of life's little pleasures for me lately. Thank you.

I Wish...

I knew how someone can get this sort of education/experience:

• knowledge of instructional design for online environments
• understanding of Web usability methods, Web architecture concepts
• Web courseware (Moodle)
• Web 2.0 tools/technologies - social media and blogs?
• MediaWiki software - online posting and use of wikis?
• experience working with content management systems (CMS)
• Collage preferred - huh?

Content Scrapping Online

I posted on online content scraping on my jedasinterwebs.blogspot.com blog.

Is your online content being scraped and used without attribution by third parties? Learn how you can turn the tables on scrapers and make it work for you with a few tricks.

The Social Media Beast

I've overrelied on Facebook and Twitter to get my creative beast exhausted and off to bed. I was told today by someone I don't know, who friended me four months ago on Facebook, that I post way too much. He's probably right. But so does everyone else I am friends with. I am friends with 73 people on Facebook, and I follow 367 people on Twitter. I'm used to high volume and I can keep up with it. Not everyone can. I told this "friend" to unfriend me on Facebook and to have a nice day.

What else can I say? It's a little upsetting to get negative feedback. I should stick to sharing my thoughts more on this blog because I can pretty much go overboard and no one will ever read it or complain that I post too much. It's not as exciting as keeping up with 367 people or 73 friends, but it'll save me from sour pusses. The same type of sour pusses that make an ugly face when I answer them where I'm going on vacation when they ask me two days before I leave. Dudes! Don't ask me if you don't want to know. But most of all, don't act like I don't deserve to go there. I deserve everything I work towards with my own sweat and hard work.

So there.

Fox Valley Twibe

Tweeples interested in mingling with fellow Fox Valley residents don't be scared and dive on in!
Sign up at http://www.twibes.com/group/FoxValley and remember to use #FoxValley when posting.

Thoughts from the DarkSide

UPDATE: to create a writing portfolio of sorts that can benefit my writing endeavors in the future, and to collect my writing-related thoughts, I've decided I will upload all my writing tagged posts from this blog onto my WordPress writing blog--that's also the future repository for any upcoming writing and writing-related posts on there.

So I was thinking today that to optimize both SEO and monetization of my blogs I should really become more disciplined in the types of topics I post. I already achieved a comfortable discipline/balance with my other 2 blogs (beautyessentials and interwebs) but this, my oldest (circa 2005) and truest friend, has gotten a wee little bitty out of hand...maybe...

So how to remedy? Well, I could begin two or three other blogs to take up some of these other, more prolific topics (70-some car-related entries!!) ...but that's a heck of a lot of blogs to keep track of...and of course, to have to SEO and monetize.

So I decided this is gonna stay as is. Schizophrenia can be lovely sometimes, and my predilection for perfection/anal retentiveness does not extend to the uber-clinical approach many are embarking on their own voyages on the Interwebs. This philosophy of mine, may very well change soon enough, if I spot and become enveloped in some sort of overly persuasive article or bit of news, but I don't estimate it will change in the very near future.

And I pretty much am officially disregarding my WordPress space for now, as I really don't like their interface at all. Whatsoever. I guess the four years of indoctrination into the Blogger world may be tinting my perspective...either way I'm a blogger's...er...blogger. ^_^;

aight that's all, better get some zzzs or suffer tomorrow morning @ work

Blog Trifecta and Revamp

(this has also been posted on my Interwebs blog)

Starting this past Thursday I revamped my two blogs (this one you're reading and, this other one) and added a third. My third blog will focus on Internet, related book reviews, and other assorted andrelated matter I run into on my cyber-wanderings.

If you look at the right-hand side of any of these three blogs, you'll notice:

• a chiclet to add this to your technorati favorites
• a chiclet to share this blog to any amount of social sites
• you can subscribe to my blog RSS or via email updates
  
• my adsense box
• my Google Associates store link -- check out my store and suggested items!
  
• the about me blurb and pic
  
• Each blog varies in the content from here on down: and a number of links, favorite blogs, RSS feeds ofinterest, my twitter feed (@jeda_21), etc.
  

I'm very proud of myself for having figured out how to add adsense to blogger, how to create an amazon associates store **and** link it to the blogs, and for having figured out how to add an RSS feed or email option for subscribers (courtesy of Feedburner). This is an achievement for someone who has moderate-to-high old skool HTML skills and a lot of persistence and investigative skills... if I do say so myself ^_^

*pats self on back* ^_^;

Facebook Update

So I recently discovered the Facebook app iLike because I saw a couple of my friends using it. It's a Facebook version of Lastfm or Pandora, where you iLike songs and bands. There's also a petition area where you can petition your favorite band to come do a concert in your locality. If enough people from a location post a request, the band may very well come do a concert. My friend Mary suggested we vote for U2 to come to Chicago... though I know they were here this past week at some point because WXRT was promoting the heck out of the band.

Well the iLike Facebook app helped me discover yet another song that I now love by The Killers. So here's two MVs that I borrowed from the iLike app:

The Killers - When You Were Young


This is a recent song of theirs that I like as well:

The Killers - Human


In regards to Facebook's much pre-announced revamp, that was supposed to happen yesterday...er... I don't see it. Perhaps I have the pleasure of counting myself on the late rollout list lol.

My Internet Addiction Began When...

1996 -

• signed up for email and online access at Northern Illinois University's Founders Library computer lab in the Spring
• *first website I visited was X-Files related, and learned there were 1000s of fans like me in the world
• created my first e-mail account (outside of school's Eudora) via hotmail
• signed up for school internet access from home...using a dicey dial up connection...proceeded to rack up the highest phone bill for a particular week, in our family's history before and since
• first e-mail went to looking up my best friend in Mexico, Nancy, with whom we'd been writing letters (through postal service) since 1989 after I moved away
• finally connected via email with Nancy in the Fall of 1996
• signed up to studentnet.com a student chatting and social networking site, met a really cool Russian guy in Seattle through this, good philosophical friend

1998 -

• signed up for an HTML class August-December
• October 30 1998 I signed onto GeoCities.com to start my first website, logged onto chat to obtain clarification on some questions I had about the system. Happened upon GeoCities en Espanol chat room...oh oh
• Reconnected with some people via e-mail in Mexico, from school. Went to visit my friends in Veracruz in December of 1998
• Began visiting GeoCities en Espanol chat daily and began befriending people from all over the spanish-speaking world...noticed people coming online in something like shifts, depending what time zone they lived in

1999 -

• by then I had acquired EVERY instant messenger available (Microsoft Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, AIM, ICQ) and IRC chat software - 100s of contacts
• began downloading music and programs (warez, codez, etc.) using Napster and another download manager (Gozilla?)
• completed my certificate in Multimedia and Graphic Design, began taking online classes in Internet programming, PC and file maintenance, PERL, Java, JavaScript...realized I had no skills whatsoever in programming ^_^
• spent approximately 20 hours a day online on GeoCities en Espanol and IM
• GeoCities en Espanol chat was shut down by Yahoo when they bought GeoCities
• the chat room moved to Yahoo! en Espanol, but many didn't want to ordidn't know how to sign up to Yahoo!
• we moved to Latinchat.com/verde and elistas.com
• became a shut-in hermit during the Summer and early fall of '99... most times I woke up at 3-4 pm, went to sleep at 8am
• got my first online hacker and stalker victim experiences...not fun, not many LOLz on this side of the fence
• made some amazing online friends w/ whom I'm still active with today (luv u guys!)

2000 -

• decided I needed a job and a life ^_^
• woke up at regular, grown-up hours
• got a job, and began making friends (got a life)
• signed up for Yahoo! Personals (more friends and life)
• e-mailed online friends vs. going into chats, made more use of IM now (balanced friends and life)
• got another job
• moved away and started fresh

Blog Cleanup

I spent a total of approximately 6 hours over two days cleaning up the labels on this blog... they'd gotten WAY out of hand.

I removed approximately 100+ labels, and many of my blog posts are now leaner because of it...but it shouldn't really matter in the searchability department because of the search box at the top, left-hand corner or the blog post archive link on the bottom, right-hand column.

In order to NEVER AGAIN (!) have to go through this de-labeling exercise, I've decided to only use labels for a handful of posts related to the following major categories or topics:

• beauty (11)
• books (2)
• cars (2)
• Chicago (6)
• food (27)
• Internet (2)
• movies (40)
• music (19)
• news (28)
• Quotes (11)
• Rant (4)
• review (12)
• social media (1)
• social science (6)
• tv (5)
• word of the day (12)
• writing (3)

This list may be pruned further as time goes on. Any possible, future entries related to beauty, if any, will be posted on my jedasbeautyessentials.blogspot.com blog rather than here.

Good riddens.

Fascinating Convo on Twitter

So this movie "He's Just Not That Into You" really got tons of people talking. This is certainly a whole new "morning after" folks.

Right now I'm watching this fascinating conversation as it happens, on Twitter. It is hilarious and illuminating at the same time. Here's a summary of Bruce Wagner's flame against women, very catty of him all of a sudden, but you may benefit from knowing that he's a talk show host and knows how to create a buzz. Therefore you wonder if he's getting paid by the promotional fiends for the movie...

@brucewagner (1) There's no need to analyze men at all. We ARE as simple as puppies. Not complex. The book/movies gets THAT part right.

@brucewagner (2) The only game men play is to lie to you. However, men have a VERY VERY VERY very good reason to lie to you. ... continued

@brucewagner Women can't handle, & really don't want, the truth. They'd prefer to live in the fairytale they've been brainwashed to believe... cinderella

@brucewagner There IS such a thing as 'forcing' someone to lie. Back someone into a corner sooo far... that lying is the only way out. He WILL lie to you

@brucewagner If Nazis came to your home & asked you where your family is hiding... would you lie? Yes, you too can be 'forced' to lie... or lose it all!

@brucewagner If it makes you feel any better... Straight men don't have a clue about understanding women either. (But women understand men even less!)

@brucewagner (3) Approx 99.999% of men will pretend to be who you want them to be... their whole lives... to get what they want. But

@brucewagner Before you get all indignant about that deceit... DON'T PRETEND women don't do the same thing! Women practically invented manipulation! :)

@brucewagner (...and you know I'm right about that!)

Facebook's Daily Tarot Card Application

I recently became aware that there's an application on Facebook for the Daily Tarot Card. I saw it on my friend Suzie's profile and so I just had to try it and add it to my own profile. It's been about a week since I installed it on my profile, and it's been a lot of fun to check it. Today I got a special kick out of it:

The Chariot
The Chariot is the representation of victory and a reminder that, through dedication and perseverance, great obstacles can be overcome. This card indicates that you are in control of your destiny and that your will is strong. Your refusal to surrender is your great attribute at this time. You will soon find yourself in a difficult situation that requires you to be in complete control of your actions and confident in your abilities.

Who doesn't like hearing that, right? ;o)

I own my own set of real cards, your average, run-of-the-mill Rider Waite set, but have not been using them in a very long time, because I haven't felt like the energy required was there. I may visit with them soon, though.

Word of the Day: Attention Black Hole

attention black hole: as in something online...a blog, your blog, twitter, facebook, myspace, a new website, an article, google reader rss feeds, etc... that will sap the time right out of your day, particularly when there's a deadline or project that's waiting impatiently, quickly drumming its imaginary fingers while glaring, for your attention to refocus on it.

Via Wil Wheaton's (yes of Star Trek The Next Generation fame) Twitter timeline...of all places.