Thursday evening roundup

Turkey may be prone to conspiracy theories, but it's not alone. Kim Ghattas, at a book reading earlier this week, talked about how that mentality pervades the Middle East.

Primates have feelings, too. Cats are more aloof.

How Detroit's industry contributed to the demise of the city. More on the math of cities here.

I have to admit that Kate Roiphe's piece on accusing writers of misogyny based on their characters was too boring for me to read in full, largely because I haven't read the writers she mentioned. I felt that I should try to understand her point, since I've slammed Junot Diaz more than once in that way, and I maintain that his later work is somewhat misogynistic even if he isn't, but more importantly, it's just "so what?" because it all runs together.

Ladies, are you really spending $4,000, even over a lifetime, on mascara? Really? In any case, you do know that the people selling you your insecurity have a stake in maintaining it?

Winstead on Perry:

Hey Rick Perry, I think the 3rd agency you couldn't remember in that debate was The Department of Shut The Fuck Up
— Lizz Winstead (@lizzwinstead) June 27, 2013

Yeah, tell your friends when they're dating a turd. I rolled my eyes when people who had encouraged me to overlook my issues with F. later said, "yeah, that was concerning" after the breakup.

I didn't know that Amazon tracked its funniest reviews. Mizuno sneaker reviews are up there, and they're getting lots of attention in general.


Food (and liquor) fraud is rampant.

See how the Times headline implies that "carbs," writ large, are the problem? Good for Time magazine for specifying that it's refined carbs in the article and acknowledging as much even in its tweet on the matter:

How certain carbs may trigger food addiction | http://t.co/8NFvyTmGZA
— TIME Healthland (@TIMEHealthland) June 27, 2013

The science of pearls.

Another reason to eschew Facebook (though I have wondered how LinkedIn knows that I was once in touch with people no longer in my contacts).