460th Friday Blog Roundup

Passing along two cool things I learned about this week that both were told to me because I blog.  Which means that if I didn’t blog, or if I had chosen to write about a different topic that day, I would not know of either of these things.  Isn’t that a strange idea; not just the roads not taken, but the information not known.  Anyway, mind blown and onward.

The first is Coursera.  Did you know that you can take classes online for free?  Another Dreamer told me about it in a comment.  You can go peruse the course listings, decide what you want to learn, and then take a class without ever leaving your home.  For someone who likes to learn for learning’s sake, this is the most brilliant, wonderful thing I’ve ever found.  And yes, I am probably going to sign up for one of the computer programming classes to complement what we’re learning from the book.

The second is The Room.  A friend mentioned it in a comment on GeekDad, and I decided to download it because he described it as similar to a text-based game (my favourite kind of game) upgraded with graphics.  And that is exactly how I would describe it too.  You feel as if you are in the room, actually touching each safe, picking up the various items you find and using them to solve the puzzles.  The Wolvog and I are working on it together (though I accidentally found one of the keys when I was trying to show the game to Josh, and I feel majorly guilty that I did it without him).  Would have paid a lot more for this game but was grateful that it was only 99 cents (and there is a free version for iPhone with in-app purchases).  Gorgeous graphics, sort of creepy music (but we keep the sound off).

Passing on the love since I was grateful to learn about both these things.

*******

Akismet saves me from a lot of spam — upward of 300 pieces on a regular day.  But it also sometimes yanks in perfectly normal comments that don’t discuss Viagra.  When it pulls them into the moderation folder, I see them and approve them immediately.  When it pulls them into the spam folder, well, I have to admit that lately I’ve gotten lazy and hit “delete all” without looking closely at the spam folder.  Looking closely means scrolling through 300 comments that are gibberish strings of random words, ads for sexual aids or… well… actually they’re pretty much all ads for sexual aids.

Bea noticed that her last few comments weren’t on the blog, so I dove into the spam folder and found two comments underneath one for “medieval fuck screens dragonball.”  So… while Akismet is catching the dragonballs, it’s also catching perfectly normal non-dragonball comments.

Please let me know if your comments are not going through.  I know Akismet sends a few to moderation each day, and I haven’t been able to get that to stop.  But I will dive into the dragonball-filled spam folder and pull out comments because I don’t want your words to go missing after you took the time to write them.

*******

And now the blogs…

But first, second helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week.  In order to read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• “Selling the Fantasy of Cancer Survival” (Stirrup Queens) — thank you, A!
• “Outing the Single Hussy” (Knocked Up by a Test Tube)
• “Dear Writers: Success is Mattering to Somebody” (BlogHer)
• “The Bitch in My Head” (Where the Bleep is Our Stork?)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Project Sweet Pea has a post about BFPs in the ALI blogosphere (as opposed to the face-to-face world).  I loved this post because it tells the whole picture.  Sure there is envy, but there is also the fact that she writes, “I need to read about these BFPs. I need to know that this can work for people. That there is a possibility this might work out one day for me too.”  It’s a sweet post.

Persnickety Chickadee writes about how before she started trying to become pregnant, she had never had an overnight in a hospital.  Infertility has made her practically blase about surgery.  She writes, “Look, growth as a result of infertility. Not sure I wanted it in this way, but it is here.”  Sending her good thoughts for a quick recovery from the surgery this week.

Lastly, Two Adults, One Child has a gorgeous post about a run she took to quiet her mind.  You seriously need to read this post in full, but here is a taste: “Street lights overhead, casting a pattern of light, then dark, then light, then dark — not unlike the recurrent pattern of hope and despair with which I am so familiar.  Month after month.  Year after year.  I am comfortable here.  I know this place.”  The final line will break your heart.

The roundup to the Roundup: Coursera and The Room.  Are your comments in my spam folder?  And lots of great posts to read.  So what did you find this week?  Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between September 13th and September 20th) and not the blog’s main url. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week?  Read the original open thread post here.