Blogs on More

What would you take if your house were burning down? Well there’s a pictorial meditation for that. (Brain Pickings)

I’m not going to thank ESPN The Magazine for this, but I will share it with you: Sex in the Olympic Village. I think it’s a sign of my age & stage that my reaction wasn’t Wow, wish I were an athlete but Note to self: If either of my boys ever qualifies for the Games, discuss respect.

100 years of fashion photography, from historyextra.com. While you’re there: Bras have been around since the 14th century. (No, that wasn’t the back of my closet.)

I know we’re all tired of shootings. But for careful journalism and excellent writing check out GQ‘s piece on the Norway Massacre. Bring tissues and a cup of tea.

Three ten-minute power walks may be better for your blood pressure than one 30-minute walk. (The Well/NYTimes.com)

I’ve changed Fabulous Fridays to Fabulous Links so that I can share them with you on other days, like Thursday!

I hope you enjoy Victoria Day weekend as much as I plan to!

And it wouldn’t be right to leave out The Victorian Web.

Speaking of that era, are you going to see Hysteria? It seems apropos. I loved this interview with star Maggie Gyllenhaal, particularly the last line. (Huffington Post)

Love this piece by Jennifer Allford, who has written for More, about watching men watch her daughter. (Calgary Herald)

People are awesome: Crowd-sourced gifts for a dying man. (GOOD)

Best news all week: Coffee might help you live longer.

I’m starting the 100 pushups programme and I invite you along, if you want (I’ll report Fridays.) I may be stuck on week 1 for a while. On a purely unrelated note (ahem), the piece I personally call: Non-frumpy ways to cover the arms I inherited from my grandmother.

And a link you missed from Facebook (if you haven’t liked us, why please do!): Michelle Mirsky’s award-winning column No Fear of Flying: Kamikaze Missions in Death, Sex, and Comedy. Warning: Amazing writing, tears and laughter ahead. (McSweeney’s Internet Tendencies)

I know, we all shouldn’t mess with perfection but this week I happened across a few links pertaining to self improvement. So in case you want to tweak…

Can you make yourself smarter? The answer may be yes. (New York Times Magazine)

How to look good in pictures. (This one has stayed in my bookmarks mostly due to the first paragraph. The Washington Post)

How to remember a person’s name (and what to do when you can’t) (yes it’s on a site for men – and maybe a good one to pass on to your sons: The Art of Manliness).

Self-improvement through travel: 10 places to see before they disappear (GOOD)

Most directly: 42 practical ways to improve yourself (Lifehack)

The classic: On the limits of self-improvement by the late Christopher Hitchens (Vanity Fair)

And our own: 10 reasons you’re not getting your work done (and how to address them)

Tell us your best tip for self-improvement in the comments!

No editor likes to have missed a mistake, as I did this week. So today I bring you links about mistakes, serendipitous and otherwise!

(Re-open your More.ca newsletter and play spot the grammatical error, if you want to play along. By the way, if you’re not signed up, you really should be!)

“I make mistakes; I’ll be the second to admit it. ”
― Jean Kerr

If you have friends like mine, “spot the continuity error” is a common party game. Funny mistakes in our favourite movies:

And also from Cracked.com: 6 Baffling Mistakes Every Movie Criminal Makes.

“Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”
- Napoleon Bonaparte

From Photoshop Disasters: The missing thigh. I remember that one!

One of my favourite ethics – and Joe Morgenstern – stories regarding an engineering mistake made in building the Citicorp tower in New York: “‘I had information that nobody else in the world had,’ LeMessurier recalls. ‘I had power in my hands to effect extraordinary events that only I could initiate. I mean, sixteen years to failure–that was very simple, very clear-cut. I almost said, thank you, dear Lord, for making this problem so sharply defined that there’s no choice to make.’” (The New Yorker via Duke University)

Wired‘s Stupid Engineering Mistakes.

The Business Insider‘s 15 Life-Changing inventions that were created by mistake.

Flickr’s Beautiful Mistakes group.

And no mention of mistakes is complete without a mention of Canada’s own Craig Silverman‘s website.

“The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.”
- Elbert Hubbard

And of course, More.ca sincerely regrets the error.

A lot of what’s caught my eye this week relates to work, so I declare it a theme:

From Inc.: 8 qualities your best employees must have. Or that you can develop.

10 amazing office designs from around the world from Coolist.

From Style at Home: a Mad Men-inspired home office.

Money, work and self-worth: From the Globe and Mail last Friday but I thought it was worth bringing forward in case you missed it.

Beat information addiction from Zen Habits. But beat it after you click.

What’s a challenge for you in your work? In mine it’s balancing the crazily amazing possibilities of the web with the reality that I don’t have a time machine in my cubicle to make more hours in the day…yet.

A whole collection of proof that style and grace often develops with age – I love this slideshow of Supermodels: Then and Now from – of all places – NBC Chicago.

Hope this will be fabulous: J.K. Rowling’s signed a deal for a grown-up book.

We’re talking about Wanderlust and Jennifer Aniston on our Facebook page. And this weekend I’ll be posting on Facebook during the Oscars, and Linda will be tweeting from her party, so don’t miss those!

Meanwhile Marlo Thomas asks, at the Huffington Post, whether women are breaking new ground in this year’s Academy Awards. (So far commenters don’t seem to think so.)

The Guardian‘s excerpt from Rachel Cusk’s upcoming divorce memoir (and at the left side, a link to an interview with her): “The first time I saw my husband after our separation I realised, to my surprise, he hated me.”

And for something light: Browse the New Yorker cartoons. While you’re there don’t miss In defense of Liz Lemon.

What’s caught our eyes on the web this week:

If the Grammy (gramophone) Awards got you nostalgic for vinyl this week, check out this burn-carved art. Hmmm I might have a copy of Olivia Newton-John’s Physical still somewhere…

No, it’s not your great-aunt: The Oldest Living Things in the World. (Pretty pictures.)

How Carrots Became the New Junk Food. (I ate three while linking to this article from Fast Company.)

If you’re rooting for The Iron Lady at the Academy Awards, don’t miss this Telegraph piece on how Thatcher’s style was remade.

Embrace your inner girl:

What happens if you write and draw on everything? It becomes part of an awesome archive. If you’re poet Shel Silverstein, anyway. (Poetry Foundation)

In the U.S. anyway – but let’s hope this trend continues in Canada – teens are making better choices than historically. (The Well blog at the New York Times, via 11d)

Our editor-in-chief, Linda Lewis, tweeted this article as possibly the best she’s read all year: Animals, by Chris Jones, for Esquire.

On a lighter note, 7 epic videos of gadget destruction. In case your phone is driving you crazy this afternoon.

Real estate eye candy at Flavorwire: 15 famous authors’ beautiful estates.

The power of female friendship, over at The Rumpus.

Tissue warning: This blog post by pharmacist Carlene Oleksyn about wanting to dispense more than medication advice – and not being able to do so – is powerful.

Is a blog good for your teen’s mental health? (One thing the article doesn’t ask: Even if it is, will it be bad for yours?)

And on our Facebook page the hair-challenged among us (that would be me) got this bit of advice: “Jenn, I believe that when a ponytail is becoming a staple, it may be time for a hairstyle.”

The More.ca post of the month award goes to Alice Bradley at Finslippy for her look at the impact gray hair’s had on how men treat her: On being an object, and then not being an object.

A close second is DoctorMama’s post on research into muscle mass and masters-level athletes. The three pictures tell the whole story. I think I am going to set some kind of crazy fitness goal for the year I turn 45.

A trip from your desktop: Love these pictures of Arizona’s Vermilion Cliffs

In Utah, the Corner Canyon high school rejected the cougar as a mascot so as not to offend. Aw, that’s sweet, but…