The JustB Reading List : Newsy Snacks & The Best Links Of The Week

Friday
Ptch: Dreamworks, the studio responsible for Shrek and Kung Fu Panda (among others) has been incubating a cool new app for smart phones and it’s due for release next month in the US.  Ptch (pronounced PITCH) is a social camera with photo and video editing plus  slideshare capabilities. It seems that the beauty of Ptch is that it allows users to upload videos, which can then be ‘pulled apart’ and edited and reimagined by their followers (if the user allows it) to create unique content mashups (apparently Dreamworks are calling this ‘Living Media’.) SO interesting. I think we are going to see HUGE leaps and bounds in online content, with innovations such as this. More here.

Grub With Us: Have you heard about this? It’s so cool! Taking online social networking offline, Grub With Us is a US based web platform which curates family style dinners for groups of strangers at neighbourhood restaurants. Users register online and can choose from existing dinner choices at a restaurant near them, or they can create their own dinner at a Grub With Us registered eatery.  The dinners are sometimes themed around a certain kind of group or genre (entrepreneurs, tech types, singles, young people) and sometimes they are not, and users can browse and choose the dinner group that suits them most.  Restaurants provide a family style menu which can be viewed on Grub With Us, and users can book their place online, meaning the restaurant gets paid no matter what. Win! I love this idea! I think it’s totally got legs and will spread globally. More here.

Skype: Change is afoot for Skype users with free accounts or no credits, with ‘conversation ads’ being shown during Skype calls from today.  Although it’s probably a far less enjoyable experience having an ad appear on your call screen, it’s kind of understandable given how useful and far reaching Skype is. The ads don’t have audio, and I’m thinking this new revenue stream will help to make Skype even better! More here.

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Thursday
Mini-Breaks: Australians are taking overnight mini-breaks and sticking close to home, reportsNews.com.au.  Budget restrictions and other commitments are seeing more than two-thirds of travellers remaining in their own state when they take a well-earned break. Research tells us that we took 73 million overnighters, compared to 7 million overseas trips. Apparently we’re bunking in with friends and relatives when we travel locally and we’re generally travelling by car, rather than by air.  Read on here.

Kerri-Anne: Ah. Gosh. There’s a new thing to critique people on now. How they manage their own personal medical treatment. Not content with taking stabs at KAK’s appearance, work, age etc, she’s now being stung for finishing Dancing With The Stars before she launches into (no doubt) gruelling treatment for her recently diagnosed breast cancer.  I think how someone deals with a serious illness is NO ONE’S BUSINESS. It’s not up to strangers to assume they know what’s best or the done thing.  Send her your best wishes, support her recovery and shoosh with the judgements.  More here.

Animals and Healing: I love this story. It’s from one of my faves, NPR, and details how similar we are to animals and how many behaviours and health ills we share with the animal kingdom.  Plump dragonflies and stoned wallabies are the tip of the iceberg. Read on here.

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Wednesday:
Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton and Family: Were you watching TV yesterday when the Coroner tearfully announced the final verdict, that baby Azaria was taken by a dingo, in the final inquest into Azaria’s death? I started to sob, because what they’ve been through is unimaginable and the Coroner’s empathy spilled off the screen and into my lounge room.  It has taken 32 years for the family to see justice served, and Lindy was beaming calmly after the verdict was announced, because of course she knew all along what had happened.  You can read more about the family’s reaction to the verdict here.

NSW First Homebuyers:  The NSW government has announced that the first homebuyers grant will be more than doubled from $7 000 to $15 000, but this boost will be offset by changes in stamp duty concessions for homes over $550 000.  Do you think this will stimulate the sluggish housing market? Read on here.

The Vanity Fair Paramount Class Photo: Vanity Fair magazine assembled a cast of 116 actors to celebrate Paramount studio’s 100th Birthday. It seemed a couple of the class were not as chipper as the rest. Click here to see who (and the photo too!)

Obesity: The Guardian features a piece on obesity and examines our diet since the mid seventies and why SUGAR is the main culprit in the rise of obesity. Starting with the development of High Fructose Corn Syrup (which was then tipped into every processed food-stuff you can imagine) and moving on to Low-Fat (high sugar!) products, the piece tracks the obesity epidemic and the cost to the UK’s health service (NHS).  It discusses the idea (FACT?!) that food companies count on our sugar addiction and thus add sugar to everything to boost sales (at any cost, it would seem) and talks about legislating AGAINST unhealthy processed foods as an effective way of fighting obesity.  Read on here.

Tuesday
Vitamin D:  A symposium in Melbourne today will discuss the faltering Vitamin D levels of many Australians, and whether it’s a good idea to fortify foods (like milk and butter) to boost our Nation’s health and wellbeing. Vitamin D levels are lowest in those in the southern states, reports News.com.au and while it can be found in eggs, fish and margarine, it’s looking like we might follow Canada’s example and think about Vitamin D fortified milk, too.  Read on here.

Nicole Kidman: Our Nic has spent time manning the phones at the Sydney Children’s Hospital Telethon, as well as donating $100 000 to the cause. Noice. We like. And she didn’t even do a cheesy dance. Morehere!

Facebook Trolls: A ground-breaking case in the UK has seen a court order Facebook to provide the details of those who trolled an English mum.  When Nicola Brooke’s sent a message of support to an ousted X-Factor contestant “Keep your chin up, Frankie, they’ll move on to someone else soon” : she received hundreds of abusive messages to her own personal Facebook account. When police fobbed off Brooke’s complaints about the incident, she took the case as far as the High Court and has WON. Good for her. She says she’s now going to use the details provided by Facebook to take legal action against her abusers. I think this sets an amazing precedent and perhaps those nasty internet trolls might cease and desist?  More here.

Child Mental Health Checks: The Australian Government imposed (voluntary) Healthy Kids Check which will screen children as young as three years old for early signs of mental illness is not a good idea, according to highly regarded US psychiatrist, Dr Allan Frances.  The scheme is backed by the AMA (Australian Medical Association), but Dr Frances is concerned about ‘medicalizing normalcy’ and labelling kids. ‘There can be lots of unintended negative consequences to labelling children who essentially are normal and will grow out of whatever problem they have at that moment.’ Hm. As a mother of three, I’m not convinced this is a good idea either. What do you think?  Read more here.

Monday was a holiday!

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Useful and Interesting Links:

Make a Green Smoothie  like me!
Maggie Gyllenhaal looks beautiful.
How to wallpaper a dollhouse. Cute idea!
How to blow up your Instagram photos so they are BIG!
Please join in with my Instagram Look Book project?
Ashton Kutcher is pretending to Steve Jobs.
Bungling Lara Bingle : Helen Razer on Lara’s new show.
A Beginner’s Guide To Pinterest
DIY natural face wash at Cakies
Grilled Vegetables With Romesco Sauce at Love & Lemons.
Drew Barrymore (avec bump!) post-wedding.
Cute hairdo alert : vintage Veronica Lake style waves at The Beauty Department.
‘My child isn’t standing up for friends who are being bullied. What should I do?’ via Start Empathy Blog.
Make a photo dot journal with A Beautiful Mess.
Make Broccoli and Parmesan Fritters with Smitten Kitchen.
Wow. Tiger Lily Hutchence is fifteen.
The most adorable pictures of Peaches Geldof and Thomas Cohen with baby Astala.
Naomi Campbell in Ibiza.
A rainy day road trip to Avoca Beach. Nice!
I love this photo of Michelle Williams. SO lovely.
Amazing cardboard creations! Oh MY!
Apparently Dannii and Kris are back togeths. Totes.
Ben Affleck took his girls to Fashion Camp. What is that?!
Marc Jacobs out with his boyfriend and his ex too. Good for them.
Breakfast Pie at Village Voices
Here’s one for the bloggers. How to compile a Media Kit.
Cooking with parchment paper (via Joy The Baker)

Have a great weekend, people!

xx Pip