Do you like Mad Magazine? How many have you seen? How about all of them?

That’s right. Doug Gilford has every single Mad Magazine cover online. You can look at each cover or you can look at thumbnails of entire years. Or, if you’re really into it, look at all the thumbnails on one page.

This collection starts with the Oct-Nov, 1952 issue and continues right up to this very month. Even if you’re not a Mad fan, you’ve got to be impressed with Doug’s massive collection and the time it took to put them all online. Nice job, Doug!

Huh? Yes, you read that right. I know it’s confusing, but so are most eggcorns. And just what is an eggcorn? Well, I guess you could say it’s a very creative, albeit incorrect, way of hearing and repeating a common word or phrase. As you may have guessed, “eggcorn” had been used in place of “acorn” which led to the term.

The Eggcorn Database is filled with the most wonderful, entertaining word blunders online. The database is searchable and you can even add your own eggcorns via the Contribute thread at the forum. Just do a quick search for your eggcorn and if it isn’t listed, register at the forum and contribute. Here are my contributions, still waiting to be added to the DB:

Snow squirrel instead of snow squall. As far as I know, this is still be used because I don’t think anyone ever told him it was incorrect.

Move One’s Valves instead of move one’s bowels. Same guy that gave us the snow squirrel.

Out of Content instead of out of context. My former boss used this one so often I finally told him it was wrong but he kept using it anyway. And he used it in the wrong context, too! I wish I’d written down all his eggcorns. Every time he tried to sound intellegent, he laid an eggcorn.

If you enjoyed those then you’ll want to browse through the Eggcorn Database. There are over 500 of these gems listed.

Enjoy!

With the husband away, working in Hawaii and the snow falling outside my window, I can’t help but search for a warmer climate. After one trip to the Carolinas I was hooked. Southern charm, mild weather and not too far from the extended family make North Carolina very appealing.

I was really impressed with the Cary NC Real Estate listings I found. The prices on 4 or 5 bedroom houses were within our budget. I love that despite its growth, it’s maintained its small town feel. And being near a bigger city like Raleigh would offer the same as advantages as our current proximity to Pittsburgh.

I’m even more interested in the housing market there, given the fact that we overbuilt for our first neighborhood, losing consderably in resale value. At least with a home in Cary, that isn’t likely. All in all, Cary North Carolina seems like a perfect town for my family.

I don’t straighten my hair anymore. I let my daughter straighten it once in a while but I do prefer it curly. And I guess I’m not the only one. An entire website is devoted to curly heads just like me.

At NauturallyCurly.com you’ll find the best products for your curls, great ideas for styling, pictures of curly heads and a friendly, helpful community of fellow curlies.

So just say no to the flat iron and join the naturally curly, naturally proud.

I love cosmetics. I always have. I love making myself look different. It isn’t so much about not liking who am I as it is loving to use my face as canvas to create something different. It’s about having fun.

And yet there are many young girls who use makeup, plastic surgery, extreme dieting, etc. to try to conform to some mythical “ideal” as proclaimed by our media driven society. Our daughters are not simply trying to be better; they’re trying to achieve something that doesn’t even exist.

The beauty that fills the pages of the fashion magazines is not real. It’s computer generated. Don’t believe me? Well check out this post from my friend Cass. Now go show that to a young girl needing to learn the truth about the beauty industry.

For a more interactive experience, take a look at Greg Apodaca’s photography website. Pay special attention to the beautiful, exotic, bikini-clad woman and the young, perky, blonde girl. Look closely at the picture, then hold your cursor over the picture to see it as it was originally taken. There are additional photos on the right side giving close ups of the photos.

Now isn’t that amazing? And wouldn’t that be great if all young girls could see the truth about beauty in the media? For that matter, wouldn’t it be just as good for our sons to see it, too. They need to know that most of what they see as desirable is a fantasy. Maybe if we can show our kids this truth they’ll finally start liking themselves enough to respect and care for their bodies. Maybe a healthy self-esteem in adolescence wouldn’t be so rare.

I love blogging. Apparently, many others love blogging, too. That’s great. It gives me more to read online. I’ve found some really interesting and entertaining blogs on a variety of topics. They do all have one thing in common: better than average spelling and grammar.

Unfortunately, a number of bloggers either don’t take the time or simply never learned how to spell or how to construct a proper sentence. I’m not talking about the occassional typo or momentary brain freeze; I’m pointing to those who need some serious help.

To that end, I have found two excellent resources.

First, Big Dog’s Grammar is exactly what it claims to be: A bare bones guide to English. Starting with Subjects and Verbs and working through the list to modifiers and pronouns, Big Dog steps yo through with an easy to understand text. Explanations and examples drive the lessons home. I actually go to this guide often, simply to verify my writing.

Next, an excellent source for parents, teachers and students as well as bloggers is Grammar Bytes. Not only are there Tips and Rules for quick look-ups, but Grammar Bytes also offers interactive exercises to test your knowledge as well as printable handouts in pdf format. Oh, did I mention that this is all free?

Whether you’re a blogger or just love the English language, these are two great sites. Absolutely worth a bookmark.

Have you heard of the hipster PDA? It’s inexpensive, cusotmizable and never loses power.

I know, we’ve all moved past the paper PDA and onto Blackberries and whatever else is out there now. My HP iPaq is still running fine. I like that I can carry it around the house easier than my laptop. But really, it’s so much easie to use a pen and paper to jot down notes and make lists.

The best version of the hipster PDA has got to be the one posted at Full Contact Geek. This guy definitely takes his hipster seriously. I particularly like his docking station.

I think I’ll throw a hipster together for the husband to take to Hawaii. He’ll thank me.

If you look over to the right of this post and down just a bit, you’ll see the picture of the pretty pit bull on the button on my first sidebar.

I love Pit Bulls.

I know some people are afraid of pit bulls, probably because they believe the negative propaganda and horror stories about this noble breed. The fact is, Pit Bulls are not human aggressive. At least that’s not their natural tendency. Pits may be small animal aggressive because of the Terrier in them, but they love people and want only to please.

If you know or hear of a human aggressive pit bull, it was trained to be that way. Don’t believe me? Or maybe you do believe me but know someone who thinks the breed is bad. If so, or if you just care about animals, check out Off The Chain. This documentary shows the real aggressor: bad people. If anyone can watch this and not realize that the American Pit Bull Terrier is the victim I’d be surprised.

I challenge anyone who loves animals to send one of these DVDs to their local library with an invitation to their local government to watch it at the next council meeting. Before another locality passes breed-specific laws, become educated. Don’t execute or ban the victims. Arrest and incarcerate those who are truly evil: the people who abuse these loyal, loving dogs.