So you think you can nuke

There really isn’t a better way to spend a workday than marrying your own passions in an article about someone else who’s blending those very same passions. Forget the Brothers Karamazov. If you’re looking for artistic expression, passion and the bonds of brotherhood — plus a healthy dash of World of [...]

On having fun vs. being relevant

Fun assignments make me grumpy. On the surface, it’s all good—anything an editor could possibly characterize as “fun” generally ends up being a quick, simple wrap. Easy money, right? If I get too many of these assignments at once, though, I wind up in a sulky, obstinate huddle on the couch. It’s not that I [...]

Black Jelly wiggles its way back into my heart (and deadlines)

I was more than a little wistful when my WoW.com column Well Fed Buff came to an end last fall. But a little patience goes a long way. To my delight, Well Fed Buff has wiggled its way back onto my plate with a bowl full of  Black Jelly.
World of WarCrafts, a broader version of [...]

GMOs and food allergies: The Unhealthy Truth

The peanut butter scare, the pistachio scare, the ground beef scare … People seem awfully scared of food these days. Yet a potentially even more alarming food scare has been building for years, rarely reported and often dismissed as too “radical” to be true: Is there a link between the dramatic rise in childhood allergies [...]

This planet means the world to me

Today is launch day at my newest home base, Super Eco. I’ve always been a “midstreamer,” writing for parents who are somewhere in between crunchy-granola green and conventional over-consumers. At Super Eco, we’re working to build a site dedicated to addressing environmental concerns and presenting environmental information in a way meant to meet readers wherever [...]

Fluoride: Too much of a good thing?

There may be more questions about fluoride — the white knight of cavity prevention — than we’ve assumed over a half-century of fluoridating city water and toothpaste. The National Research Council (NRC) has determined that the level of fluoride allowed in community drinking water is too high. Children who consume the highest level of fluoride [...]

Noor story reaches Top 10 all-time posts at WoW Insider

“15 Minutes of Fame,” the player profile column I write over at WoW Insider, is by far one of my most enjoyable and rewarding projects. Let’s get real — there’s nothing more intriguing for a writer than poking around in someone else’s passion. The players we’ve looked at over the past year have opened a [...]

When the trolls (don’t) come out to play

Anyone who blogs or visits internet discussion forums knows that flame wars and trolling are an inevitable part of internet publishing. Flamers can find a way to bring down even the most mundane topic, making the prospect of posting anything out of the mainstream a terrifying proposition. If you write on the internet, you can [...]

What do you do all day, anyway?

Most people are simply fascinated by the idea of the life of a freelance writer: lounging at the keyboard in pajamas, coffee or tea in hand, jotting a few notes and inspirations before before leaving the house to accomplish some interesting errand or fulfilling personal activity.
Riiiiight.
While blasting through my morning rounds of the RSS feeds, [...]

Well Fed Buff: Baked Salmon

As a gamer and a writer and a mom, I definitely relish contributing to the cooking column at WoW Insider. Several of us braver staff members take turns presenting WoW-inspired recipes — either “conversions” of an in-game cooking recipe or an interpretation of an in-game food or drink.
I’ve had even more fun with it since [...]