Joan's Squidoo Blog

My Thanksgiving lens, “The Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” just won a purple star!  I’m tingling all over.

I’m still in the middle of some very busy times, but I did make the time look at some cool-but-under-appreciated lenses that some of my friends have made.  I’m sharing a whole bunch of lenses this time to make up for two weeks of being unable to do it.  Enjoy!

All of these are the current lowest-ranked lenses for their respective lensmasters:

• Maxxamillion has a very informative lens about best practices for traveling with your dog.  It’s clearly written from personal experience, and it has great pictures.

• Katinka, aka spirituality, has really been getting into using the new Squidoo Quiz feature, including this quiz lens about the Dalai Lama.

• MissBat gives us a wealth of information about the band Nine Inch Nails, with videos and links to more NIN lenses.

• LotusPetalYoga has a very pretty lens about holiday votive holders.  There are links for buying them ready-made as well as instructions for making your own.

• JPTanabe introduces us to Yerba Mate tea (even though it’s not really tea; she’ll explain why).  She gives us the history and cultural significance of the drink along with preparation instructions.  You can almost smell it when you look at the pictures.

• One of the biggest fans of this Lowest-Ranked Lens Spotlight series is Treasures-by-Brenda.  And today she is our gateway to get our hands on a copy of the Beatles Stereo Box Set.  She’s got the links to pre-order it from Amazon as well as some ebay listings.  (You KNOW there’s somebody on your gift list who wants that box set!)

• CherylK has an extensive knowledge of diets and diet books, and she shares with us some of her favorite recipes from them.  And it’s not wheat grass and protein shakes, they’re all recipes for real food!

• And this lens I fell madly in love with. Paperfacets has made a Pictolens, where she showcases (using picture galleries) original photos that she is using in the Introduction modules on her lenses.  Then she links where you can click to be taken to the lens that corresponds with the picture.  It’s a very original idea and all of the photos are gorgeous.  This one is a must-see!

For myself, I’m going to cheat.  My current lowest-ranked lens is one that I would expect to be ranked low because it was dealing with a news event, the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to our President.  That story is over and I don’t expect people to have a huge interest in debating it any more.  So I’m going to share my second-lowest-ranked lens.  It’s about homeschooling, my Not Back To School lens.

My book review “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis” received a purple star AND has been nominated in the “Best Book/Author Lens” category in the 2009 Giant Squid Awards!  Check out the book review lenses and consider voting for me!

Here’s the voting link: Vote for Best Book/Author Lens

Just some lenses I’ve seen around that I really liked.

• I dig history, and Ramkitten has some history on a personal level on her “On The Day I Was Born” lens.  It’s an in-depth look at 1969, with a special focus on March 28, 1969.  Ramkitten is encouraging the rest of us to do similar lenses, and I am definitely going to do one (so I have dibs on October 24, 1964).

• What better platform than Squidoo to showcase the work of M. C. Escher?  Check out some of his beautiful and intriguing art, courtesy of Kinnally.

• I’m also a big fan of the Dihydrogen Monoxide scare, so I’m glad to see that there’s a lens about it.  Speak out on the Duel and tell triathlontraining whether the risks of this chemical compound outweigh the benefits.

• And a lot of you probably already knew Debra (dc64), but I just discovered her.  As you know, I’m always looking for lenses that make good homeschooling resources for my SquidooSchooling page and Debra’s lensography is a jackpot.  She also just seems like my kind of people.  She even likes Bach.