Life

I'm not talking about what bloggers are wearing when they sit down at their computers or blogging about states of undress, but rather a blogger's willingness to peel back their onion and reveal layers of their lives. We've been talking about naked blogging at BlogHer since the very first conference yet I remain fascinated. Recently I wrote about hitting bottom and I admired how many bloggers were willing to share their stories. And I wondered, how do bloggers decide how naked they are willing to get?

Guilt doesn't just eat parents of kids with special needs alive -- it disembowels us, especially when we think about taking time for ourselves. How can we go away? What if we're the only ones who can take care of our kids' needs? Or our absence would be a very big change, and any change results in air raid siren-volume tantrums? Or we know so many other parents who never get a break, who have no ability to take a break, who need a break worse than we do? How can we even think of getting away when ours lives are so intertwined with our children's? How can we possibly be so self-indulgent, so cavalier?

The new law, which for the first time creates a national tourism advertising campaign targeted at foreign markets, is a boon for the industry after three years of hard lobbying efforts. The up to $200 million to be spent on the effort each year will come from two sources: Up to $100 million collected in fees from foreign visitors who do not require visas and as much as $100 million in private dollars and in-kind donations from private business.Orlando Sentinel with a hat tip to Gadling

Do you know your neighbors? Annie Leonard, creator of the viral video The Story of Stuff thinks you should.

There used to be four of us. Birthdays, vacations, anniversaries –- two parents, two children. Now it’s different. Four has become seven. Two sons, two parents, one wife, one girlfriend and one mother-in-law. When your kids find worthy life companions, you don’t argue or complain about the normal being other than the old configuration, almost never hanging out – just the four of you.