Happy Amish Thursday

In honor of Amish Thursday I thought I'd share a bit of information about the midwestern natives that seem to be growing at unbelievable rates. Even though they seem rare and fascinating to us, their population is growing at 130 percent and has expanded to a total of 28 states (new states include Arkansas, Colorado, Maine, Mississippi, Nebraksa, Washington, and West Virgina).

This is exciting for a number of reasons, the most important being that more people will be exposed to their communities and culture. My favorite part of Amish culture is the delicious cheese and dairy products. Ohio has a large Amish population and much of our dairy in Oberlin was bought from Amish farms.

Let us know if there's an Amish enclave near you and how they are incorporated in the greater community!

we are valueless

So, on JDB's blog he posted about his blog's worth. Apparently, this site allows you to put in your blog's URL and find out how much it's worth. JDB's was worth around $10K, so I was interested to find out what this one is worth. Well, here are the results....

I was really curious as to how this could be, so I tried to read up on this site to see how a value is determined. Initially I assumed it had to do with traffic and/or number of comments(ers); then I thought, well maybe it's that plus how often (or not) one updates the blog. When I finally found the site's "research", I admit, I was pretty confused. I think, but am not sure, that it simply has to do with how often (or not) you link to a set list of other sites and blogs, which seemed kind of lame. Maybe because the sites on that list have a certain value according to their advertising base...? The page says mostly techy words that I don't understand at all, but this is just the assumptive conclusion I came to. If anyone can read this research page and come to another conclusion, let me know. Anyways, just thought it was interesting. I can't decide if I'm disappointed or pleased that we are worth nothing, because, technically, couldn't that also mean we're priceless?

Mooney in the Blogosphere

I met Kate Mooney on the plane coming to Oberlin as freshman back in '04. Then in '06 we went abroad on the same program in Cordoba, Spain. Over the years I've begun to realize what a creative genius she is and now that I live 3,000 miles from her it pains me to have to witness that genius through the world wide web. But I will endure it and read her blog with dedication, because not only do I have a fondness for her, but also because the girl makes me laugh.

Kate also has a couple of successful brothers, one of which wrote The Republican War on Science and has his own blog that can be found here.

Lastly, her version of "New Soul" was better than Yael's. Just sayin'.

Overheard in Berkeley

This dress would be perfect for Burning Man

- Woman to man as they check out a tattered dress on a mannequin used as a sign for a garage sale.