Today's News Filtered Through Food Coma

So I crawled out of bed at 9:30am this morning to find a living room in chaos with Charlie seriously considering calling the National Guard to help wrangle a child wired from not enough sleep. I've been trying to play with her since, but am still feeling moderately brain dead, so I am having trouble coming up with a topic today. This means I turned to Google Trends to discover what the internets are talking about this morning.

Apparently, according to Google, people are shopping or thinking about shopping. Look at this list of things and you will be reassured that consumerism is in fine shape this Christmas season.

And no, I have no fucking idea why Pam Dawber is the number one thing on Google trends today. As far as I can tell, she hasn't died. Odd. I mean, it's not odd that she hasn't died, it's just that I can't think of any other reason that the star of Mork & Mindy is suddenly the hottest ticket on Google today, you know, unless she'd died. OK. Um, moving on.

I did find this rather hilarious story of a judge in Colorado sentencing repeat noise ordinance violators to an hour of either Barry Manilow or the theme song to Barney. I really hope none of those offenders are mothers, because we have steel eardrum and can withstand anything, am I right?

But all Google Trends aside, I am still topic-less for the day. My brain is officially mush, so... what to do.

I did have one tiny idea; I have decided to institute a new policy for the rest of the Holiday season. From now until New Year's Day, I am going to scan the news to find a positive story to bring you every day. I cannot give you a gift, my lovely internet friends, so I am going to attempt to bring some good cheer. M'kay?

First up, this awesome story that was featured on NBC News about Malawi, a nation in Africa. In both 2002 and 2005, severe droughts left the country with over a third of it's population malnourished. This is a familiar story, of course--we Americans are constantly battered with images of starving Africans, and it seems to be a situation that doesn't get any better.

But Malawi--against the advice of Western advisers and Aid groups, who swore Malawi would destroy its entire economy--decided to hand out $60 million worth of fertilizer and drought-resistant seed to its farmers. Not only did this simple act eliminate hunger completely--really--it has also galvanized the economy, with many farmers now exporting their excess crops for a tidy profit.

Imagine that. Compared to the bailouts currently being handed out here in the USA (currently exceeding a TRILLION dollars), this tiny bailout of $60 million is barely a drop in the bucket, and it WORKED. Can you imagine?

Such a wonderful, happy story. Good for Malawi.

Now, off to continue in my child wrangling duties. Happy Black Friday, people (here in the USA, I imagine to the rest of the world today is just another Friday. Ahem).

Comments

[Michelle]

1.

That is a great story!

We are adopting a family for the holidays and I keep thinking that what we will do is so insignificant in the grand scheme of things. But I suppose when things suck as bad as they do right now for a lot of folks, a tiny bit of light can make a difference.

And because I am freaking out here, yet afraid to tell anyone just yet. My Thanksgiving gift? A positive pregnancy test this morning. Yay! And OMG what now.

[BookMama]

2.

Thanks for sharing that story about Malawi. Talk about empowering poeple, and teaching/enabling them to help themselves! I wonder if this can or will be duplicated in other countries where drought is common.

[Paige]

3.

The Mork and Mindy thing is odd, I came out to check the dvr to see what to watch and my husband is recording hours and hours of the show today.

[Ninotchka]

4.

I love your good news idea. A great gift indeed!

[Jennifer]

5.

I have a friend who worked briefly in Malawi to do an assessment of local AIDS/HIV education and prevention programs. I'm typing this at the end of a long day with two kids and from memory so I could be making it up but I want to say Malawi has also been very impressive and proactive in addressing AIDS and HIV and has one of the lower transmission rates on the continent.

[Jen K]

6.

Yeah, Mork and Mindy is on a SciFi channel marathon today is all I can think of for the Pam Dawber thing.

[Jennis]

7.

Ohhhh... I'd forgotten... over here, since we don't have Thanksgiving, our black shopping day is Boxing Day, the day right AFTER Christmas. We went into the city last year (so we could say we've done it once) and the queues for the escalator themselves were 60 people long!

It was fun to watch, but... no one needs sale stuff THAT bad. ;)

[Chickenpig]

8.

Yeah for Malawi! That's really incredible. Having a good news post is a great idea. Thanks for sharing this.

A tentative congrats to Michelle :) and a very Happy (belated) Thanksgiving to everyone. Tomorrow my twin boys turn a whopping 3 years old! It seems like it was just yesterday and a million years ago both at the same time. Now if I could just get them potty trained, finally *sigh*.

[Kerrie]

9.

I love the Malawi story...

In a similar vein, this year we are giving immediate family (parents, siblings, siblings in law) gifts as part of Oxfam's Unwrapped program...all "couples" will have a pair of breeding goats bought in their name. The family receiving the goats will be provided with milk & fertilizer immediately and future goats for either meat or to trade. All of the children in the family (nieces, nephews, grandsons) will receive a gift but will also have a duck or chicken purchased in their name. I feel so much more at ease with giving in this way, we have truckloads of "stuff"...we don't need more.

Hope the rest of your day passes gently for you...two year olds have such unlimited energy...!!!

[Laura]

10.

I so love the positive post each day THANK YOU ! I find black friday to be insane... I would not be out in the insanity for anything.
Have a great day ... I feel a nap coming on!

[sara]

11.

Awesome story about Malawi. :)

The Mork & Mindy thing... If you click her name in the top results window it brings up exactly what people are searching for in regard to her.

Apparently they want to see her naked.

So while shopping is on people's minds, apparently Mork & Mindy porn is the hot topic of the day. Gotta love the internet.

[Cultural Insurrectionist]

12.

Compared to the bailouts currently being handed out here in the USA (currently exceeding a TRILLION dollars), this tiny bailout of $60 million is barely a drop in the bucket, and it WORKED. Can you imagine?

Bailouts only "work" in the short-term and certainly are not sustainable over time. I doubt that whatever positive effects from this $60 billion bailout that are currently manifested will actually last for very long and bring that entire country out of poverty. It's never worked anywhere else, so why should it work there?

To be sure, what's happening here in America is extremely different compared to what's going on there, but the basics are the same. The bailout of CitiGroup certainly caused the stock market to jump, but is that jump considered a sustainable sign of growth that will bring us out of a recession? Of course not.

Only the creation of real wealth (i.e. actually manufacturing something) will bring any economy out of the ditch. Bailouts are like the candy bar you eat for quick energy that only lasts for a brief time and then actually drags you down further later. Not only are these latest Federal bailouts unconstitutional, but it scares me to no end that the government is taking de facto control of such a huge sector of the economy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcOwoYghxTw

I often wonder why so many of my friends on the Left supported this and other bailouts. This is the biggest extension of corporate-welfare we've ever seen in the history of our Republic. At the end of the day, this isn't a Left vs. Right issue so much as it is an issue of whether we want to see a continuation of the corporation-government merger.

[Kerri]

13.

Please forgive my ignorance but why is it called 'black friday'? I always thought that was a Friday the 13th thing....
cheers and Happy Post Thansgiving Day.

[Chickenpig]

14.

From what I understand it is called "Black Friday" because in our consumer based economy the Christmas season can make or break a store..a good one is needed to keep a company "in the black", hence black Friday.

[Lara]

15.

A guess on the Pam Dawber thing?

There was a story about Mark Harmon in the latest People mag. It mentioned his wife Pam Dawber.
I confess - I wondered at the time what had happened to her. Maybe a bazillion people asked the internet?

Great idea on spreading good news / good cheer!

[melissa]

16.

Love the happy story today, thanks!

[Renee]

17.

Hiya Cecily, it is always such a treat to read your blog...

if you are ever stuck for topics, I'd love to hear more about:

1. your education ideas for Tori--I live in Pittsburgh, but have friends in Philly (well, now OH) but homeschooled cuz the public schools were soooooo bad.

My son is a few months older than Tori, but really, really verbally precocious and we are dying to give him a language--I mean a second one--I mean, make him bilingual as a great gift while he's this age and it will be easy to learn--unlike middle school or high school, which is when all the schools do it. so, we are flirting with homeschooling...

2. your carving out time to write that book proposal. I am a SAHM with a law degree, but I never took the bar exam and am thus unemployable. I made a deal with myself that I would take the bar this July if I don't have a book contract and guess what--I spend my days toddler wrangling and cooking and cleaning and I haven't written a thing.

AACCKKK. I need inspiration--I really don't want to practice law! You were grooving in a big way for awhile on networking etc. I guess you've heard the big thing these days in publishing is building your "platform"--anyway, anytime you write about writing and the struggle to do it, etc I am motivated.

Love your voice, I really do. It's my treat to read you when i get a break in the day.

tata, Renee

[Angela]

18.

I broke my "black Friday cherry" today. I've never gone out on black Friday before, and I may never do it again, but it was fun. The goal of the day was Dora and Diego Color Wonder sets for my niece (3 yo in Jan) and my son (2 yo in Jan). They're normally over $20, and Toys R Us had them for $7.99. I also snagged some 50% off toys for my nephew and my son, and I took my girl (12 yo) along so she could help pick out her X-Mas/Hanuka gifts (yep, we do both. I'm a Cashew, after all). We had a really great time, left the house at 4:30 am, had breakfast at 6:30, finished up shopping and returned home before 10 am. My husband took the boy to daycare so that we could take naps while he enjoyed his day of working retail (ha ha). All and all, it was fun. More of a bonding experience with my daughter than a shopping experience, well, for me anyway.

I definitely can see why people make a ritual out of it, more for the experience than the deals.

[Hetty Fauxvert]

19.

Good on Malawi! Seems a very commensensical approach to their problem. (But where'd they get the $60M? Just curious.)

Re musical punishment: I had a major crush on ol' Barry when I was a teen (no, really, I swear -- I hadn't developed any gaydar yet!) so that would just be a trip down Memory Lane for me. But the Barney Song ... I hate that thing. They sing it at the music class I've been taking our twins to, and I sit there with my mouth glued shut. I am NOT teaching that dreck to my kids. "This Old Man" is good enough for us. (Though I did have an amusing experience once: I was in line at the grocery store behind a man who was holding his toddler and singing to him, trying to keep him amused. He sang, "I love you, you love me, let's hang Barney from the old oak tree...." Heh. I should sing that version in class!

[Di]

20.

I'm surprised you didn't run into the story from our small town, where good samaritans thwarted a potential carjacker by beating him over the head with the three frozen turkeys the victim had in her cart!

[Carrie Jo]

21.

This website will help you find good stories: http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/

[Lee]

22.

Ha ha...I was at my in-laws and up at 4:45 with the baby. You know what's on TV at 4:45? You got it: the Mork & Mindy marathon.

[Manda]

23.

Love the happy news linkage gift idea! To help you get started, would you consider linking a beautiful friend of mine?

His name was Spencer Bell, and he passed away from Adrenal Cancer 2 years ago on the 3rd December.

He left behind a legacy of beautiful music and if he had survived you would all know about him by now anyway.

You can find his music here:
http://www.last.fm/music/Spencer+Bell
Or here:
http://www.spencerbellmemorial.com/music.html

His family would be ecstatic to know his music is still finding an audience even now :)

[Hilary]

24.

Thank you for the positive news story! I love the idea and have often wondered if the lack of any "good news" EVER in the media is intentional! Seems like it sometimes, thanks for breaking the cycle! Hope your holiday was great.