Raised by a single mom

Meg is a young doctor in NYC whose blog is one of the highlights of the whole wide internet for me, usually because it’s really funny. The other day she wrote a particularly lovely, heartwarming, thought-provoking post about her work in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit:

I say things that sound important at my job all the time:

We’ve found the mutation that is causing your child’s lung disease. I’ll need DNA from every living relative so we can see who else might be a carrier. I’m sorry. We still don’t know why your baby can’t breathe on her own.

Those are all important-sounding things. And they are, in fact, important things to the family and to the medical team, and there is a lot of science involved and research and papers and that is the reason I can say those words, and that is the reason people care about them.

But sometimes at my job, without anyone’s permission or direction, without any papers in hand or abbreviations or acronyms or any right except a self-imposed one, I say something that feels very, very important to me. It’s this:

It’s going to be okay. I was raised by a single mom, and I turned out just fine.

Go read the whole post, it’s so great. Then add her blog to your RSS feed and get ready for a great post every week or so.

Serious baby is serious.

I predict that this baby develops into a funny adult.

Unhappy Hipsters

Unhappy Hipsters is a collection of photos depicting stylishly joyless hipsters, cadged from design magazines and accompanied by snide captions.

Everyone always leaves.

Thanks to Yao for the tip.

Protocol Droids aren’t always helpful

But what if I wanted Vanilla Ice?

Dik-Dik baby

The dik-dik is a tiny, delicate species of antelope found in Angola and Namibia. They’re smaller than a housecat, usually just over a foot tall, and if you scare them, they yell “dik dik dik” in a tiny voice. Stoppit.

One was just born in a zoo in the UK. Its hobbies include standing, staring, and having an adorable rump.

o hai! i iz tu smal to uze capitle lerrerz wen i yellz!

Here are some more dik-dik photos.

Here is what I would do all day long if I had a dik-dik. I would pet it over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over.

And here is a video of a dik-dik being accosted by peeping toms.

Based on the name, you wouldn’t think it, but it turns out that the dik-dik is a rather prim little sort.

Thanks to Peneycad for the tip-tip.

I am disliked by a cat

I like this dude. He’s like a Japanese John Krasinski. And that cat is dee ranged. The English translations really made this one for me.

I am disliked by a cat. The name of the cat is “Sashimi”. She attacks me at the risk of life. The fear! The seriousness of the animal!

Thanks to Steve from GracingTheStage for the tip.

Conan does expensive comedy

Conan’s mad at NBC and he’s making them pay. Literally.

Umbrella Today

(Photo source)

Umbrella Today is a website that will send you an email only on days when you should bring an umbrella. Customize by your location and the time of day you’d like the emails to arrive. There’s also an iPhone app.
Via AskMe.

Elliott Malkin – Mother’s History of Birds

My friend Elliott made a really great documentary short (7.5 minutes) about his mother, Roberta Malkin, and her pet birds. I really like it. It’s online here.