Sprinkles Around the Web 9/24-9/30/10

Sprinkles from around the web

Yes, it’s back. Here are links that I’ve enjoyed in the past week from around the web. Your mileage may vary.

• First, go nominate @geekgirlcon for the best non-profit over on the Mashable Awards.

• Second, Happy Queer History Month! Or LGBTTIQQA (did I miss anyone?) History Month, if you prefer that.

Me

I bruised the heck out of my foot. Sprained it or something. I had to walk with a cane all last week. Ouches.

Books

A review of Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation. Kate Bornstein and S. Bear Bergman have edited a book about young people who are transpeople and gender queer and RJ’s review just makes me want to read it more.

Writer Greg Rucka gives a preview of Chapter 2 of his new Queen & Country book. I love Queen & Country and am so excited that Rucka’s writing it again.

Feminism

Startups: An “Alpha Male Pissing-Contest?” Startups that involve women and are funded by women tend to do better on average than ones just by men. However, those startups are few and far between. And it just might be the stereotypes of how startups should operate that are leaving women behind.

Health

Ben & Jerry’s to drop ‘All Natural’ from labels. I’m really glad that someone is finally cracking down on the all-natural labeling of food stuffs. No, things with HFC in them is not natural. Maybe it once was an ear of corn, but science has warped it.

Religion

How Ignorant About Religion Are Religious Americans? I find religions fascinating, and unlike apparently most Americans, I do know quite a bit about them. Of course, I do fit the stereotype of being educated and I consciously rejected my family’s religion and sought a path of my own.

Religion chart by Colin Purrington
The flow of religions and how they evolved. Not included, atheism. (Which is not a religion anyway.) Photo by Colin Purrington.

Science

11 Astounding Sci-Fi Predictions That Came True. I have to say that I’m a little disappointed they didn’t mention how star Trek really made automatic doors popular. (The doors on the original series were pulled by people behind the scenes.) Only because I’m a dork who likes random Trek trivia.

Seattle

Magnolia best place to retire? Forbes.com declares my neighborhood one of the best places to retire to in a city. Gag me and add it as #458 on my list of reasons that I want to move neighborhoods. Right next to bad walkability and nothing to do.

Jesus Christ Made Seattle Under Protest. A great article about Seattle and why coffee and grunge make/made sense for us Seattleites. (I may wear flannel, but I’m a tea drinker.)

Flannel. Coffee. Seattle. by Claire L. Evans
Flannel. Coffee. Seattle. What more could you want? Photo by Claire L. Evans.

SEO

7 Simple SEO Tasks to Complete for a New Site. I find list like this one extremely helpful. I don’t know about you, but sometimes, when you’re spending a ton of time creating a new site, you forgot to tie your site’s shoes. So simple. So easy. So basic. But then your site trips over it’s own feet. (And I think this metaphor is spent.)

Links, Content, & Traffic: Piecing It All Together. Putting together linkable pages is hard work, but in the end, it will pay off. This article gives encouragement with a look at your slice of pie. Mmmm…pie.

Social Media

Social Networking Users are Creating Less Content. Content creation is down as people use social media and share all the same articles. Also, we spend less time blogging, which means fewer voices are being heard as sometimes social media can turn into an echo-chamber. Go out and create content.

Pew Study Finds 58% of Americans Research Online First Before Buying. This doesn’t surprise me. And as more and more people use technology, it will keep rising. Just don’t forget to help the herd knowledge by reviewing the products you buy.

Web Design

Google URL Shortener Opened To The Public; Comparing To Bit.ly & Twitter. Finally, Google’s letting everyone use its shortener. Since Google is the king of analytics delivery, I would like to see easier to view analytics attached with clicks for social media and I just might have to use this.

Google Wants to Kill the JPEG: Meet WebP. Google’s come up with a new and “improved” graphic format to use on the web. But I just upgraded my Photoshop!

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