Saturday, January 11, 2014

Saturday morning roundup

Things are up in the air in Turkish politics.

If indeed “One thing is clear from this: If this country, with 1.2 billion people, if they come together for a cause, justice is inevitable,” this being the Khobragade case, maybe people in India could turn that passion for justice to the gang-rape-as-sport epidemic? I mean, who am I to question another country's priorities, but I'm just sayin'.

West Virginia can't use its water, or coal: the gift that keeps on giving.

Carolyn points out that emotionally unhealthy people take things that are none of their business--such as your choices--personally.

WTF, Gates Foundation? Who decided that what Africa needs is KFC?

Wonkblog on the chicken and kale markets (chicken is consolidated; kale is not as much of a rising star as the hype makes it out to be--it was bigger, earlier).

Most of these are eye-rolling, but HuffPo nicely sums up the environmental case for eating plants:
The massive number of domesticated animals that have to be raised every year contributes to severe ecological problems including rising temperatures, the mismanagement/depletion of Earth's resources and the destruction of water supplies. The meat industry also uses up massive amounts of oil, as the process requires "more than eight times as much fossil-fuel energy than production of plant protein while yielding animal protein that is only 1.4 times more nutritious." On top of these things, the super-viruses caused by pumping mass-produced domesticated animals with antibiotics are also no fun.
Just sayin'. But what the HuffPo gets wrong is its characterization of "The Kind Diet," and it's wrong in a pernicious way. It would be one thing if they just didn't like the recipes, but it's not fair to dismiss the book as only of interest to vegans. The whole points of the book is to show everyone how to include more plant-based foods in their diet, and to show how tasty these foods are.

WTF, society? Girls are internalizing bull$hit, early. Bikini bridges may or may not be a thing here, but alphabetization does seem to be a thing in Korea.

I've never liked "Girls"--either the show or the characters--so I'm glad I have official permission to ignore it. But let's continue the conversation about whether female characters have to be or should be likeable.

The latest evidence that we really do believe what we want to believe, in Jesse Meyerson's and Dylan Matthews' policy advice for millennials.

In space, water will boil before it freezes.
You can ride the subway in your underwear tomorrow without sweating the health implications.

Few will miss the Times' pagebreaks; would the New Yorker please follow suit?

Two awesome LOLmythesis entries:

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