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Disagreeing vs Trolling

Among the 500+ sites I subscribe to on Google Reader, there has been much talk about trolls as of late. While I firmly believe that true trollers consist of mean-spirited persons who have nothing better to do, I have also been noticing a trend toward labeling commenters as trolls and jumping all over them simply for disagreeing with a post or giving their honest (but often unpopular) opinion on a topic. That ticks me off. Having blogged for almost a decade, I have certainly gotten my share of mean comments. And I would be lying if I were to say that when someone chooses to publicly berate me via a comment, I never get hurt. However, the internet is open to all (save for...

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25 Weeks

Things are progressing slowly but surely. I am feeling more and more movements above my belly button, whereas before most of the kicks and punches stayed in the lower regions. I have also started to feel simultaneous jabs this week (ie, one on my upper right side and the other on the bottom left) which can only mean that she is getting stronger and starting to really explore my belly. My weight gain is now at 25 lbs. With 15 weeks left in this pregnancy, and estimating that I will gain the recommended 1 lb per week, it is very likely that I will hit — and possibly go over — the 40 lb mark. Even the additional 25 lbs is...

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Swype for Android

Last week, the ingenius text input system Swype opened its beta for the Android platform — for free — and so I immediately downloaded a copy. image source Swype eliminates the need to tap out individual letters when typing on a touchscreen device. Instead, you glide your finger from letter to letter, forming words without your fingertip ever leaving the screen. It’s so elegant and fast that one Swype user even broke the Guinness World Record for fastest text messaging, a move that was famously documented in a recent Samsung commercial. I've always preferred physical keyboards to their touchscreen counterparts, but after playing around with the Swype input system for a few days I've gotten hooked. I even demonstrated the new system to a few of...

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“Sookie…”

I know we're only two episodes in, but I'm loving the new season of True Blood so far. As someone who owns, and has read all the Southern Vampire Mysteries books, I can confidently say that the HBO series is significantly better than the books. There are, of course, some digressions and cast choices with which I disagree. (How exasperating was the Maryann plotline last season? Nevermind the piss-poor choice of casting Evan Rachel Wood as Sophie Anne.) But as a whole, the series is a typical Alan Ball hit: dark yet humorous, unexpected, and quite addicting. While the first season of the television show was almost exactly like the first book, I was glad to see that the show started deviating from the books last season...

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Social Gaming & Zynga [Infographic]

Even when my Facebook account was still active, I never got into the likes of Mafia Wars, Farmville, and Restaurant City. However, J was — and still is — into his Facebook games and often spends his free time trading weapons, planting veggies, re-decorating his restaurant, and whatnot. While I have never played these games, I can certainly see their appeal and see firsthand how social gaming has infiltrated our culture (ie, South Park's "You Have 0 Friends" episode — if you haven't watched it yet, I highly recommend that you do!). It is precisely for this reason that I found the following infographic by OnlineSchools particularly interesting. For example, did you know that Zynga has become the second largest PayPal...

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