Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Tuesday evening roundup

Development in Afghanistan comes with trade-offs.

If you've always wondered why we call soccer, "soccer," Hendrik Hertzberg has your answer. And remember how I thought the stupid $hit people say on the radio had hit a new low? So silly of me.

Some people are just not nice people, and it's not the parents' fault.

Setting aside the debate over which eggs to buy, the bigger issue here is that I'm sick of sloppy, deceptive food journalism. In other food news, Emiril just says yes to factory farming, and a lifelong defender of the oceans has a new, passionate book out.

Men in New York have taken to an unfortunate fashion trend.

This article on our overemphasizing the small stuff in relationships made me smile, since there's a specific reference to proselytizing about sunscreen, which my mother does (only in the opposite sense). My irritation stems less from the content of the discussion and more from being put in a position to constantly justify the smallest and most personal decision. Mom engages in the same behavior with regard to food, which is why this article also hit home:
"We shouldn't need therapists to tell us that food cuts to a very basic issue of identity. It's no coincidence that one of the earliest ways we demonstrate our independence is by asserting our food preferences. By demanding that others respect what we eat, we are demanding that they see us as individuals."
I wonder whether mom's refusal to respect my food choices is a more-conscious-than-I'd-thought reach for control. Also, could RM's insistence on giving me chocolate after I'd asked him not to (politely at first) reflected a similar attempt to exert control, conscious or otherwise?

I'll take this kind of funny-looking toilet over the musical ones in Japan anyday. Oh, speaking of Japanese toilets--I'd thought that the warnings and instructions on them were the funniest I'd ever seen, but this beats them all. Enjoy it while it lasts (although that one is not from Asia), as China is cracking down on funny signs.

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