Meet me on CNET for a Xanadu discussion!

The Broadway reincarnation of Xanadu starts today. I feel like a love for Xanadu is a good marker for a Gen-Xer of a certain age--tween or early teen in 1980.

I wrote about this over on our new (parent . thesis) blog on CNET today. There has been so much Transformers coverage over there I couldn't resist injecting a little estrogen into the pop culture discussion. I don't know how the CNET readership will respond. So you'd be doing me a big favor if you'd stop by and leave a comment on my Transformers fanboys, meet Xanadu fangirls posting. (It sounds like there's a potential Meetup dating event in there, doesn't it?)

The CNET blog is an interesting opportunity. It's taking me out of my comfort zone but it's also allowing me to communicate with a whole new audience. Writing the blog with my husband Michael has been a lot of fun. I invited him on as my co-author and he is taking it really seriously. He spent all last weekend following up on a bat-recording project he'd started with our daughter, and had written about on the blog. This wasn't an easy feat, since bat echolocation chirps are out of the range of human hearing. With the help of a high-frequency-sensitive microphone and some powerful audio-processing software he got the job done. He ended up writing new code for an open-source software program to make it work. That's commitment.

Even the conflicts we've had with CNET readers have been productive. I wrote a post about the child-abuse risks inherent in low-cost laptop projects that distribute machines to kids in the developing world. Among the comments I received some of the harshest flames I've ever experienced. It kept me up at night thinking that people could infer that I had bad intentions with that post. It is so tempting to stay within the comfortable, friendly bounds of the Mojo Mom community. Yet I do think it's a valuable opportunity to also write for a high-tech audience that might not think of parenting issues the way I do. I am doing my best to make both work, and don't worry, I'll still be here on the Mojo Mom blog--as my for my sake as for yours!

(parent . thesis) The 4-Hour Workweek, for parents

One of my favorite things is to tell parents about non-parenting books that will be interesting or helpful to them. These crossover hits can cover any topic. For example, Made to Stick is still one of my favorite books of 2007, as it can help us all be better communicators.

Now I hope you'll surf on over to my latest posting on (parent . thesis), my new CNET parenting & technology blog, to learn how the hot new book The 4-Hour Workweek can help you create the life you've always wanted. You'll love seeing flexible work bring presented as a brilliant business tool, rather than a favor to busy Moms!

Welcoming (parent. thesis), our new parenting & technology blog on CNET

As my work as Mojo Mom has continued to evolve, I have become even more interested in parenting as a joint project, in additon to the topic of motherhood on its own. I have learned a lot from my husband Michael and his approach to fathering. We'll never be the same, so it's not that we try to copy each others' styles, but we have both come to appreciate the complementary nature of our strengths.

So when the technology news website CNET.com approached me to create a new parenting and technology blog as part of their new topical CNET blog network, I jumped at the chance. I signed on and recruited Michael as a co-author. His 20 years of experience in the software industry informs his perspective. Together we'll cover both sides of the the mothering/fathering, Mars/Venus, techie/humanities points of view. I think it's great that through our work together I have become a tech news journalist and he has become a parenting writer. We received a nice shout-out on InfoWorld.com from fellow CNET blogger Matt Asay, and it was great to feel welcomed in to this community of writers.

I invited Michael to suggest a name for the blog, and he came up with (parent . thesis). This is a multilayered pun based on the LISP programming language--definitely something I never could have come up with.

On (parent . thesis) we'll cover the latest news and musings about life raising kids in today's 24-7, hyperconnected world.

Yesterday I wrote a post I am really proud of, examining the child exploitation risks inherent in the distribution of "$100 laptops" to children in the developing world. It is sad to consider that this potentially wonderful technology has a dark side, but when you give video-enabled, networked computers given to kids, especially those who live in a culture that is not even familiar with computers, it's a crucial set of issues to think through.

This aspect of safety and security has not been adequately adressed by the organizations who are already beginning to distribute the computers. It appears to me that they need to take a major step back and add a common-sense parenting perspective to their UNIX security point of view. This is an important story that now has a chance, through CNET.com, to reach an audience who would not typically read parenting blogs.

I hope you'll stop by (parent . thesis) and read what we're talking about. And I'll still be here as well, writing as Mojo Mom.