commit to compromise

The Washington Post interviews Suzanne Riss, the editor of Working Mother magazine, about the issues involved (I would say for all parents) in juggling parenting, working and maintaining an identity.

In terms of practicalities, this interview annoyed me. Buy yourself a new pair of shoes? How trite is that?

I did like this quote about expansionist thinking though:

But try to think of it in an expansionist way. That juggling these multiple roles provides enormous benefits to our emotional health and financial well-being. That's not to say our lives aren't complicated, but they're more fulfilling. More is better and gives me more.

fox news network edits wikipedia

Check out the diff on all the Wikipedia edits coming the Fox News IP. Al Franken is particularly funny. In case you thought nobody knew what you were doing online...

women penalized for being angry at work

Angry women lose out according to this study. Most interesting part: these are not women who lost their tempers, or were in any way out of control; they were just women who SAID they were angry. Calmly.

And, this difference was reflected in the hypothetical compensation assigned to these women by study participants.

Participants conferred the most status on the man who said he was angry, the second most on the woman who said she was sad, slightly less on the man who said he was sad, and least of all by a sizable margin on the woman who said she was angry.

It makes me wonder what about angry women is so threatening to people... unresolved mother issues?

Also interesting: men were penalized for being sad, so it seems as though some of this is about culturally acceptable gender roles and emotional expression.

when moms unite...

..or not...or just whine a lot...or not..

Check out this very boring article. Looks like she wrote it because she had a deadline and just couldn't think of anything better to say.

Now, check out this not-so-boring response. I love this chic.

Please pardon this post if you're not a mom, or are a mom, and don't give a crap :)

global military spending: check this out

If this chart is accurate the US spends so much more than any/every other country in the world on their military, the only question I can think of to ask is, why? If, compared to Russia and China, in particular, we spend so comparatively much, who exactly are we competing with, anyway?

It seems like a more intelligent expenditure of resources (as opposed to just throwing more money around) would provide a much greater return on investment.

Wired, a love story

One of the most moving pieces I've ever read was in the NYT this week.

She was a heroin addict, living with another man. He was in prison serving time for gang-related homicide. They didn't even see photos of each other until two years into their relationship. She abused him and rejected him and seemed determined to live a wasted life, but he continued to believe in her and refused to surrender. And now, at 50 and 53, they are a testament to what love can do.

Weekly World News printing presses abducted by aliens

The Washington Post reports that the Weekly World News, the black and white supermarket tabloid that "reported" news such as Bigfoot's wife-stealing tendencies before The Onion was even a spark in Tim Keck and Christopher Johnson's neurons, is dying.

The newsroom in its heyday sounds like it was, if not quite as wonderful as being Queen of Atlantis, the closest thing to a perfect workplace I can personally imagine. I love the description of the paper's evolution from celebrity stalking to weird-but-true news to sidesplitting fiction.

RIP.