Tuesday roundup

Children are increasingly targets, not just incidental victims, in conflict.

Let people read horrible, inflammatory books and see for themselves that they're horrible.

Read this instead of the Post piece on surveillance.

I don't have a link for the following--it came to me in Foreign Policy's Situation Report newsletter--but it is so amazingly resonant that I have to share it:

Stepping back: Shin Shoji, a Washington-based producer with NJK, Japan's Broadcasting Corporation, is returning to Japan. But we asked him what his best and worst moments were during his experience here over the last few years being a reporter in Washington. His best moment in DC reporting:  "As an international affairs professional, it is a huge dream come true for anyone to be in the frontlines where global events develop and evolve on a daily basis. To be able to witness huge policy developments and to develop relationships with real people who are hands-on on those issues is a huge privilege that people outside of Washington will not get so easily. Washington is in a league of its own, well above any cities in that regard, including New York, Paris, Tokyo, and Beijing."

His worst moment in DC reporting, and he even uses the term "this town": "Information asymmetry at its worst. People in this town are assessed on being at the right place at the right time, with the right person for a particular information significantly more often than knowing the significance or long-term implication of that information as an analyst. If anyone complains about a bell curve grading in undergraduate exams as being unfair, information asymmetry in Washington reporting makes pre-med science exams a cakewalk." It was good to get to know Shin and we wish him well.

Everything you ever wanted to know about Saturn's rings (courtesy of Emily Lakdawalla).

What's the Large Hadron Collider doing now (courtesy of the Onion).

If you're still eating animals... why?? If you don't have celiac's and you're not eating gluten, why not??

Wait, women can actually... depend on themselves?

All about boundaries (courtesy of Carolyn Hax). And respect (courtesy of Miss Manners). Spoiler alert on the second one: dressing up for a special occassion doesn't amount to pretending to be someone you're not.