November 24, 2007

Post-Thanksgiving Mini-Roundup!

Why So "Mini?"
So it's traditional at Cranky Fitness to throw a few random links together at the end of the week--sometimes health-related, and sometimes... not so much. But as it's a holiday weekend, a lot of you may not actually be here reading this at all!

Instead you might be out braving crowded department stores in search of Perfect Christmas Gifts (muttering and sweating and cursing the lines, vowing that next time, you will simply use the handy search box of your favorite Amazon Affiliate). Or perhaps at this very moment you are in transit from a family visit, on an airplane--smiling serenely and reading a great novel, or downing cocktails from cute little miniature liquor bottles, or pulling your hair out in huge clumps as a sacrifice to the airplane Gods so that the plane won't crash--however it is that you choose to fly.

In any event, you may not be here. So this will be a much smaller bunch of randomness than usual. In fact, Crabby wasted a bunch of space apologizing last week for slackiness, which in retrospect, was totally jumping the gun.

But since these are great sites that could take some time to explore, fewer is better! And, coincidentally, way easier for the Crab to round up.


Word Power!
So first up is Free Rice, a totally addictive web site that Terrie from Women of Mystery featured on her blog. It's a vocabulary test, a learning device, and an easy way to donate to charity without actually spending any money. Got a great vocabulary and want to feel smug? Don't know any words and want to learn some? You can do all that while donating tiny grains of rice to hungry people! Of course you'd probably make even more of a difference by writing a large check--but, well, then you'd have to write a large check. Should that not be affordable, a few grains of rice are better than no grains of rice and it all adds up.

(And by the way--Terrie has a story featured in the mystery anthology "Murder New York Style," a compilation (available at Amazon) that looks awesome. If you're way behind on your reading like Crabby is at the moment, check it out and order it up for yourself or your favorite mystery buff for Christmas. (An ad would logically appear here now if Crabby could figure out how to do it (they've changed the instructions). But you can go to Women of Mystery or just type the title into the handy sidebar search box!)


Boomer Health & Silliness
So next is a cute little animated cartoon about baby boomers that Marijke found. And by the way, her health blog is packed with actual health information--something that has been scarce of late at Cranky Fitness.


More Teen Sex!
Already dreading all the wholesome family entertainment on tap for the holiday season? Encouraged by the news that Teen Sex may not be the Road Straight to Hell our parents warned us about after all? Well, for those of us who don't do much wholesome, here's a great viewing alternative: The Midwest Teen Sex Show.

Warning: oh, hell, do we really need a warning? It's a funny show about SEX! Dirty words are mentioned and some of the advice is sarcastic and twisted, though informative nonetheless. You can get it as a podcast or watch it on their site. And don't worry, there is something there to offend almost anyone, because it's HILARIOUS. (And thanks to Feministing for alerting us to the site).


Half-Naked Men!

And finally (speaking of wholesome), as a special present to one of our very favorite commenters, Holly*, Cranky Fitness directs your attention to Undies Drawer. Yes, it is--a whole website dedicated to Good Looking Men Posing in their Underwear!

And yeah, as you might expect, it seems pretty much gay. But lots and lots of Beefcake for admirers of the male physique, whatever gender those admirers may be.

*Note: Poor Holly made the mistake of mentioning once, in a comment, that the content-generated ads at Cranky Fitness were no longer featuring handsome men in their underwear. She is not, to our knowledge, battling any sort of male underwear ad-viewing addictions.

Hope you all are having a great weekend, wherever you may be!

15 comments:

  1. I wouldn't mind having content-generated ads about hunks in trunks. All I get are links to books by Flannery O'Connor :(

    Aren't most people still in the stores knocking down other people in line so they can get to the best deals? I'm trying to psych myself up to go run. It's 28 degrees outside. How cold is too cold to run?

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  2. Flannery O'Connor beats what I get--often an ad for some group called Crabby Appleton. For a while, I was getting some humor book that mentioned Dog Poop in the title and it was grossing me out. And I swear I never go on to Amazon searching for Dog Poop!

    And being from California my idea of cold is 55 degrees--but I do kinda like running in actual cold weather when I'm back east. Somehow feels like I should get special bonus points and I feel all virtuous!

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  3. that free rice (and i just accidently typed sex rice before writing that-freudian slip or new fetish???)

    anyways, starting over. that free rice site is soooo addictive! i love it. and i feel smarter after i play ;)

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  4. Sex rice! I can't even imagine what that would be, but it sounds like a great new perversion--and you could be famous for inventing it, mamacita!

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  5. Crabby,

    I am delighted that you are enjoying and spreading the word about FreeRice. ( Crabby has been getting some pretty high scores, folks.) It is addictive but so much healthier than my addiction to ice cream.

    Thanks so much for the link to women of mystery and the plug for the Murder New York Style anthology but most of all THANK YOU for putting me in a post with Half Naked Men!! Got this grandma feeling good. ;)

    Terrie

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  6. The Bag Lady commends you...you have excelled at putting some of her favourite things all together in one post! Now if we could figure out how to get the half-naked men over on the free rice site...of course, the Bag Lady's score would probably plummet due to the distraction. Sigh.
    (And where was mamacita's sex rice site...?)

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  7. Thanks for the heads up on teens and Texas - Do folks know about the stranglehold the Texas state government has on textbook contents throughout the USA?

    In case you don't know, the classroom texts used in Texas must be approved by the state government. If they don't like the contents (they tend to be VERY conservative), the reject the text and NO school in the entire state gets the book. That makes publishers VERY cognizant of the Texas priorities/limits. Publishers tend to either require texts to conform to Texan taste or flat out turn down texts which have contrary points of view. There aren't all that many text book publishers, so the impact is nation wide. Yuck.

    And, thanks, too, for mentioning the MYSTERY NEW YORK STYLE anthology. I'm in it, too! (Yay!)

    Write On!
    Nan Higginson
    WomenOfMystery.net

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  8. I've been playing the rice game since it first came out - it's fun. I had to watch that I didn't become as addicted to that game as I am to scrabulous and bogglific. Man, I can't stop playing any of those three games.

    Thanks for mentioning my blog. :-) Every time I think I'm running out of ideas, a bunch more just happen to come up!

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  9. um, i see a majority of your stuff is geared towards females. wheres the love for the dudes?

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  10. Terrie--I'll try to remember, "Whenever linking to Terrie, be sure to throw in some half-naked men!"

    Thanks Teena!

    And Bag Lady, what a great idea to combine charity, vocabulary building, and buffed bodies! Perhaps they could design it to start off with fully dressed models, who shed clothes as one's vocabulary level increases. They'd be raking in the rice.

    Thanks Nan--and I didn't know that about Texas textbooks, that's really depressing! The idea that kids in more enlightened parts of the country end up with the same far-right approved texts is really disturbing. I hope some of the many great teachers out there are able to overcome the crappy texts.

    Marijke, hmmm more new ideas? I must go over to your blog and steal... er... read all about them!

    So sorry, Israel--I know there's a terrible shortage of scantily clad female models on the net. Everywhere you go, they're using hot men to sell things, as though the only people who ever went online were women! Gosh, is there anywhere one can go to see things from a male perspective occasionally? :)

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  11. Oh yes. . I love your blog. Did you know you were featured in Women's health. I bet you did! ;-)

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  12. The FreeRice site is great, its a fun place to spend some time.

    home rehab

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  13. Boy, those links sure were random. HA!

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  14. After much thought, all I have to say is...WOW! I know that may seem like an underwhelming response, however, the fact that it is all I can come up with speaks volumes! Thanks for the "fix". Now your Amazon ads can promote what-ever-the-hell they want. I doubt I will have any time to notice ever again! ;-)

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