BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

My blogger sista Layla, wrote such a good post in July 2007 about a subject which I have discussed with many bloggers during the last 7 years which I have been fiddling around with blogs. Blogging was a great way to keep my mind active, now that I am unable and diagnosed unfit to work. I am teaching myself CSS and other coding little by little. Old horses do learn new tricks! When I started blogging I refused to talk politics.  According to my therapists I still lack a lot of self-esteem. Over the years I was told by far too many people I was stupid, ugly, worthless, too intense, had a big mouth and ended up saying 'yes' to things any rational person would have said "NO WAY" too.   Undiagnosed PTSD had me doing irrational things that no one would accept an apology for.  I went out of my way to make people happy, to my own detriment. So my blog was a mishmash of this and that. Stuff I had written on a good day and so on. I helped out 2 websites for a ...

I have had experienced this four times in the eight plus years I have been blogging. I had my computer hacked twice since 2004 and my IP address misused.  I was phished in 2010 -- twice and also had my IP address spoofed.  I (and a number of other people) had my hotmail account hacked by Nigerian Scammers and then sold for people to use for spam or proxies. (I've gotten emails from people I don't know and have never heard of - all of which I have reported to the proper outlets) It's frustrating. Like someone scrawling "for a good time call [your name or phone number]" on the bathroom wall back in school. (I will not count comment spam, etc.) Also, like many disabled bloggers, I am able to keep my sanity and learn new things by blogging. It puts me in touch with other 'adults' ( since I have long periods where I can't go out or very far ) as well as putting the news and fresh ideas right in my living room. I was lucky enough to have a coupl...

by Steven Stosn y The proliferation of blogs and emails may be partially responsible for the increase in anger of recent years. We can learn a lot about the emotions that motivate many blogs and emails, as well as reactions to them, from, believe it or not, a few observations of animals. Anger, for instance, is the fight part of the primitive fight/flight/freeze response common to all mammals. It functions primarily to protect self and juvenile offspring from harm. Activation of the fight/flight/freeze response requires a dual perception of threat and vulnerability. Animals respond to lesser threats with greater anger, fear, or submission (freeze) when they are wounded, starving, sick, or recently traumatized. The activation of fight over flight/freeze is determined by the annihilation potential of the threat. A raccoon will ferociously fight a rat to defend her newborn pups but not a cougar. Thus more anger is observed in powerful animals, which tend to be predatory. Powerful animals...

...for mentioning my abuse victim's advocacy blog and this blog. Carnival Against Sexual Violence 63 very thought provoking and enlightening articles, as always. Kudos to you Marcella !

'no names' edition SnoopytheGoon at Simply Jews did a very interesting job with this week's Haveil Havalim. He doesn't include the names of the blogs/bloggers with the posts. You don't know until you click on the link. Which makes reading them all the more interesting! No favoritism or clique mentality - just insightful, great reading for a Sunday. My opinion, a very good idea for a Haveil Havalim! Thank you again, SnoopytheGoon for my mentions and once again, every single week - no matter who is hosting - I find a new blog or fresh outlook I would have missed had it not been for H.H. Give it a read! CLICK HERE

Lisa Emrich's blog, Brass and Ivory has quietly been an on & off read for me. She writes with clear strength about living with disability, chronic illness, the state of healthcare and the realities of life for people like her & I. To that end - I ask everyone who wants to help to just use a little bandwith, and spread the blogging word about Multiple Sclerosis : MS Awareness, Blogging Friends, and a little Link Love There are at least 137 MS Bloggers out there actively discussing whatever suits their fancy. Below you will find many of these suspects....wait... I mean lovely blogger friends who happen to have multiple sclerosis. Remember how I mentioned a group project was in the works? Well here it is. As the founder of the Carnival of MS Bloggers, I'd like your help in spreading the word, and in doing so we will strengthen the bonds of our own little Multiple Sclerosis Blogging Web (and share some linkie love with each other). If you are not an MS Blogger, but are a ...

On the national A Day To End Sexual Violence scheduled for Thursday April 3rd, 2008 as part of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Marcella Chester will, for the second year in a row, be coordinating a Blog Against Sexual Violence (BASV) event . The goal is to get as many bloggers as we can to participate. Last year we had 79 participants. I would love to see the number of participants reach the triple digits this year. That's where you can help. Keep reading to learn how. The 2008 Sexual Assault Awareness Month campaign national slogan for this April is: Prevent Sexual Violence… in our Workplaces. This is an important area which often gets neglected until a report of rape by a coworker ends with murder or gang rape becomes a matter for employment arbitration. Often in the workplace, it is the person targeted for sexual violence who is expected to give up everything if their workplace becomes sexually hostile. If you plan to participate in the Blog Against Sexual Violence event on Thur...

Criticism or Blogging? Q. One employee maintains a blog which has made some unflattering remarks about the company. Can I take action against the blogger? A. Blogs are basically diaries which are made available through the Internet to all cyberspace. Some have a tight focus; others comprise an unstructured pastiche of personal, professional, and social commentary. The most popular ones are read daily by hundreds of thousands of readers and further clipped by other blogs, and so reach audiences in the millions; the majority are seen by a few hundred people each day. Recent months have seen a number of high-profile cases of bloggers who were fired for crossing the line of what was acceptable to their employers. In turn, a simmering debate has developed over the appropriate ethical parameters. Employer objection to blog content takes a number of forms: Content is unseemly. For example, a flight attendant was fired for posting photos that lacked the modesty and reserve which the airline n...

HEADS UP ON ANNAPOLIS FROM THINK-ISRAEL & THE BLOGSPHERE A few days ago I got an email from Dr. Lipkin at Think-Israel who asked bloggers to contribute their postings about Annapolis to be consolidated and publicized. Here are the results. Scroll over the posts and click for embedded links: ------------------------------------------- "An invitation to Annapolis," by Ellen W. Horowitz. EllenWrite@bezeqint.net "Munich 1938, Annapolis 2007" by Chaim Szmidt. Read it at Freedom's Cost . [Submitted by me - Chaim's always worth a read!] "The Libel Tourist video", Rachel Ehrenfeld speaking. See this documentary at The Libel Tourist blog . Also viewable at astuteblogger.blogspot.com . [Saudis fund terrorists; ultimate objective -- to impose Sharia (Muslim Law) on everyone.] "Mandate for Palestine: The Legal Aspects of Jewish Rights" by Eli E. Hertz. Download it at Myths and Facts website . Or download it directly by clicking here. A Hebrew ...

FELLOW BLOGGERS: HELP REMEMBER 9/11! Last year Project 2996 helped bloggers across the world remember individuals killed in the horrible actions of terrorists on 9/11/01. This year, D.C. Roe who ran last year's program, has had some personal issues that kept him from devoting his time to the project. BUT - he did put up a website for those who'd like to make this happen again this year. CLICK HERE The best way to help is to sign up to tribute a victim of the attacks. Go visit the current list, and select a name. Then research the life of your victim. For most, this step won't be as difficult as you think--there's a lot of public information available. Search their name and 9/11. Then, on September 11 post your tribute to your own blog or website. But most important is to remember their lives. Their deaths are common knowledge, but we shouldn't let it define who they were. Let the world know we haven't forgotten. And please feel free to pass this on! WHEN LOVE...

Haveil Havalim # 129 Is Up! Kudos to Jacks Shack over at Random Thoughts for the great job in sifting through 126 posts and giving us this great round up. ( and for my mentions as well !) CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ROUND-UP AND CHECK OUT SOME GREAT BLOGS! Submit your blog article to the next edition of Haveil Havalim using the carnival submission form (CLICK HERE FOR FORM). Past posts and future hosts can be found on the blog carnival index page (CLICK HERE FOR INDEX) . PLEASE CLICK HERE TO JBLOG ME

THANKS TO THE DISABILITY BLOG CARNIVAL Thanks to ANDREA'S BUZZING ABOUT for my mention in the Disability Blog Carnival. “ON HOLIDAY!” : Disability Blog Carnival #20 "Ah, the crowd’s starting to build up … the hurry-up-and-wait part of events makes me nervous, and there’s only so many times I need to check my To Do list, or line up the dishes and flatware on the serving buffet (but look, I lined up the napkins in rainbow order!)..." To check out her blog and her links to all the great blogs about being disabled and living with a disability - CLICK HERE. Thanks again Andrea! PLEASE CLICK HERE TO JBLOG ME

LET'S TALK ABOUT SEX Oh, not me!! No. No. No. That's a taboo subject with me. But not Yehuda , obviously, in this week's edition of Haveil Havalim. Great work, Yehuda . (Barbara avoids all possible connotations of the word "JOB"... ahem). And thank you for the mention, of course. OY! (by the way - for those of you married or partnered - you might enjoy this one: 237 Reasons You Did Not Get Laid Last Night PLEASE CLICK HERE TO JBLOG ME

A LITTLE LIBERAL READING Many thanks to THE RICHMOND DEMOCRAT for giving me a mention in the 44th Edition of the Carnival of the Liberals. I love this quote from Moral Courage on this carnival: In order to be morally courageous, you have to honor each of these three components. You have to have principles, and really value them, and be astute enough to apply them and prioritize them in the ambiguous real world. You have to recognize the risks, and look honestly at the consequences of action and inaction. And you have to draw on your character and your experience to give you the faith that allows you to take risks for your principles. Some good finds on this carnival. CLICK HERE TO GIVE IT A READ I love these blog carnivals because I always find fresh views, new blogs & resources. Just about as much as I love a decent aggregator! CARNIVAL OF THE LIBERALS PLEASE CLICK HERE TO JBLOG ME

CARNIVAL AGAINST CHILD ABUSE Summer, over at Wired For Noise did a great job . Carnivals are a lot of work and those who do them regularly are to be applauded. Summer's i ncluded some terrific posts (including mine) so go g ive her a read and pass it on! PLEASE CLICK HERE TO JBLOG ME

DEEP THOUGHTS HAVEIL HAVALIM #126 is up REB CHAIM HAQOTON did a great, great job! Please click this link for his wonderful handiwork: Reb Chaim HaQoton: הבל הבלים #קכ"ו As I told the Reb, I sometimes can't believe my blog is among such other great thinkers. Who'd have thought such deep thoughts were running around in the heads of moms, dads, businessmen, students and everyday Jews! PLEASE CLICK HERE TO JBLOG ME

IF NO ONE READS YOUR BLOG, DOES IT REALLY EXIST? One thing about blogging is how selfish it is. You assume people are genuinely interested in you, what you have to say or what you are interested in. Yeah, yeah - we all want to "educate & enlighten." We also ask our friends, family, coworkers and people we brush on the street to read our blog. We sign them up for blog catalogs, lists, aggregators, Technorati ... ad infinitum. We check our Sitemeters . We cajole people to get on our mailing list or subscribe to our feed. We look to see our latest position on the TTLB Ecosystem . I have been blogging for 4 years. Until this year I was very quiet about it. Just for fun. The majority of my energy went into my children and my anti-abuse work. I didn't want to think about myself. But as I am working on healing from years of mental & emotional abuse - my therapist told me to start taking my strong opinions to the web. I was systematically taught to squelch th...

OY! I'VE BEEN TAGGED. My friend at Nuch Epes A Chosid tagged me. Now I have to talk about myself. Dang. Apparently, there's this thing called being tagged. Basically, if you get tagged, you have to list eight facts about yourself. Then, you have to tag eight other folks, go to their blogs, and let them know they've been tagged... I have to post the official rules, which are: 1) Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. 2) The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. 3) At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog. I know, I already told you before I posted the rules what the rules are, but rules are in fact rules. Here goes... 1. I was born one late February during a blizzard in Buffalo, New York at Children's Hospital. I am very sensitive, altruistic and hav...

HIT ME SOCCERDAD, ONE MORE TIME SOCCERDAD, the ultimate Haveil Havalim host - has HH #119 up! This blog is mentioned as well as the many other terrific Jewish Blogs that participated. There's a little something there for everyone so please go take a look by CLICKING HERE. Thank you SoccerDad! Outstanding job!