Kate Fridkis is the voice of Eat the Damn Cake, a blog about "being a woman in a strange, sometimes hostile, sometimes subtly weird, often mysterious and always fascinating world."

This week Kate wrote a fabulous post entitled "Stop Analyzing Your Single Friends." My favourite nugget: "For people in relationships to stop analyzing our single friends, we need to admit that what happened to us maybe had a lot to do with randomness and luck." Amen to that. 

I found this on imgur.com and it cracked me up. Some guy who works at a doughnut shop was taught how to program the cash register and then used his newfound power to have a bit of fun. The result? Receipts with a hilarious bit by comedian Mitch Hedberg printed at the bottom. Well-played, dude. And well-said, Mitch.

The Nation published a great article on climate change this week. Written by Naomi Klein (No Logo, The Shock Doctrine), its premise is that, "the climate crisis has such bad timing, confronting it not only requires a new economy but a new way of thinking." We human beings have some hard truths to face, but there's no denying that they are just that: truths.

“Optimist: Someone who figures that taking a step backward after taking a step forward is not a disaster, it's a cha-cha.” 
Robert Brault
Source: goodreads.com

Shots of Awe is a video series on the TestTube network featuring "performance philosopher" Jason Silva. 

From the TestTube site: "Every week Jason freestyles his way into the complex systems of society, technology and human existence and discusses truth and beauty in science. Follow (him) in this journey as he unearths the wonder and awe that surrounds us in his trademark existential jazz."

Check out the videos on TestTube, or on YouTube. 

Funny-man Patton Oswalt is quite active on Twitter, and yesterday he sent out a hilarious string of tweets he affectionately entitled "Things my daughter says that would make excellent post-punk lyrics." I wholeheartedly agree with his assessment. Here are my favourites:

• "Say hello to the things we're eating."
  
• "Nobody here has a nighttime face."
  
• "You keep telling me what to do but you're just eating crackers."
  
• "I eat dreams."
  
• 'Everybody has secret pockets."
  
• "I found my mind in the toilet."
  

I think she has a very bright future.

Thanks to my friend Cynthia Lee for the heads-up that Austin Kleon has a new book out. You can read an excerpt here. My favourite passage:

"We all love things that other people think are garbage. You have to have the courage to keep loving your garbage, because what makes us unique is the diversity and breadth of our influences, the unique ways in which we mix up the parts of culture others have deemed 'high' and the 'low.' 

"When you find things you genuinely enjoy, don’t let anyone else make you feel bad about it. Don’t feel guilty about the pleasure you take in the things you enjoy. Celebrate them."

From the George Stroumboulopoulos website:

"Louis Elphage Wynn Jones Bernard was the son of Newfoundland writer and actor Andy Jones (of CODCO fame), and the sister of Republic of Doyle's Marthe Bernard. He recently took his own life at the age of 28 after a long battle with mental illness.

"At Louis's funeral last week, Mary Walsh, who performed with Andy Jones on CODCO and babysat Louis as a child, gave this moving eulogy, which turned into a call for action to help those suffering from mental illness."

Please listen here.

Photo source: insidehalton.com

“Books are no more threatened by Kindle than stairs by elevators.” 

"Taste every fruit of every tree in the garden at least once. It is an insult to creation not to experience it fully. Temperance is wickedness."

"You can't reason yourself back into cheerfulness any more than you can reason yourself into an extra six inches in height."

"I shouldn't be saying this - high treason, really - but I sometimes wonder if Americans aren't fooled by our accent into detecting brilliance that may not really be there."

Photo source: davidhigham.co.uk

You've probably already seen this, but it's so good, I think you should watch it again.

If you are viewing this post via email, click here to see the video.