Sweetpea’s Garden

What is RSS? No, not some dread disease — it’s Really Simple Syndication, and it will change the way you use the Internet. You choose a newsreader site (like netvibes or iGoogle), sign up for syndication feeds from the sites you like, and whenever there is new information posted it comes to your personal page. I’ve sung the praises of RSS in the past, but since there is now a “holiday” for it, it seems worth doing again.

The folks putting on RSS Awareness Day have created a handy page where you can watch a video about what RSS is and how it works. I was just explaining RSS to my brother in a bar yesterday, and this site would have come in handy — I think he thought I was making it up.

I’m too tired after my trek to and from Charlottesville yesterday for yet another Springsteen show to have much energy for writing, so will instead offer up a few random things that have caught my eye over the past few weeks. (The Alex Ovechkin and Jon Stewart links are both videos, so put your headphones on if you’re at work.)

• A pair of unknown underwear in her toddler’s purse is a sign of a much bigger problem for a friend of mine (and it isn’t anything creepy, though I realize I just made it sound that way). If you know the person in question — and some of you do — it’s actually pretty hilarious.
• It looks like the Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin has truly made it to the big time.
  
• I should have posted this a couple of weeks ago, when it was more timely, but I didn’t get a chance. Jon Stewart taking the moderators of the Pennsylvania debate to task for their vapid questions is just one of many reasons I couldn’t make it through life without The Daily Show.
• Need some virtual stress relief? Try this. And use the manic mode; it’s much more fun.

And other random thoughts on an uneventful Thursday in an unremarkable week:

» Several times over the course of the morning, I was informed by the radio meteorologist that I should bring my umbrella because it was going to start raining around noon. The thing is, it was already raining, and had been since I woke up. Look out the window, dude. That water you see coming from the sky? That’s rain.

» I’m sure that any of you who have been reading this blog for a while will be thrilled to see this update: it took nearly six months, but the horrible-smelling restroom “air fresheners” at my office have finally been replaced. Fruity freshness has, at last, replaced the scent of 70s-esque men’s cologne. So, at last, I can stop worrying that Magnum P.I. or Johnny Fever are lurking behind the stall doors.

» My friend Karen is running a marathon (her second) and has decided to use it as an opportunity to raise funds for charity. She has selected a small group in Mali called the Joliba Trust, which (among other things) promotes sustainable development, offers midwifery training, and educates about the dangers of female genital mutilation. Her goal is to raise $2,000, which can make a tremendous difference in the developing world. You can make a donation and read more about the organization — as well as Karen’s training — at her new blog, rungasperrun.blogspot.com.

» I’m late to the blogosphere party on both of these items, but I feel I’d be remiss if I didn’t pass along two of the funniest things I’ve seen on the Internets in a long time. First is the Sarah Silverman “I’m F***ing Matt Damon” video, which cracks me up every time I watch it. (The rebuttal video, I’m F***ing Ben Affleck isn’t as good, but is still pretty amusing.) Second, the blog Stuff White People Like is a dead-on, wickedly funny satire of 21st century yuppiedom.