The Rat
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
      ( 6:39 PM ) The Rat  
SEX SUPERBUG COULD BE 'WORSE THAN AIDS.'
Yikes.

# Posted by The Rat @ 6:39 PM


      ( 6:33 PM ) The Rat  
LIVING IN U.S. RAISES RISK OF ALLERGIES.

"Children born outside the United States had significantly lower prevalence of any allergic diseases (20.3 percent) than those born in the United States (34.5 percent)," said the study led by Jonathan Silverberg of St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York.

"However, foreign-born Americans develop increased risk for allergic disease with prolonged residence in the United States," it said.

Children who were born outside the United States but came to live in the United States for longer than 10 years showed "significantly" higher odds of developing eczema or hay fever but not asthma or food allergies, said the research. "These data indicate that duration of residence in the United States is a previously unrecognized factor in the epidemiology of atopic disease"...

# Posted by The Rat @ 6:33 PM


      ( 6:20 PM ) The Rat  
"THE QUESTION WHICH ALL LOVERS EVENTUALLY FIND THEMSELVES FACING."


# Posted by The Rat @ 6:20 PM


      ( 3:12 PM ) The Rat  
THE PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE RAVEN, via JM.

# Posted by The Rat @ 3:12 PM


      ( 11:14 AM ) The Rat  
HOW NOT TO DIE, via TT.

When doctors try to predict the goals and preferences of their patients, they are "highly inaccurate," according to one summary of the research, published by Benjamin Moulton and Jaime S. King in The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics. Patients are "routinely asked to make decisions about treatment choices in the face of what can only be described as avoidable ignorance," Moulton and King write. "In the absence of complete information, individuals frequently opt for procedures they would not otherwise choose."

Though no one knows for sure, unwanted treatment seems especially common near the end of life. A few years ago, at age 94, a friend of mine's father was hospitalized with internal bleeding and kidney failure. Instead of facing reality (he died within days), the hospital tried to get authorization to remove his colon and put him on dialysis. Even physicians tell me they have difficulty holding back the kind of mindlessly aggressive treatment that one doctor I spoke with calls "the war on death." Matt Handley, a doctor and an executive with Group Health Cooperative, a big health system in Washington state, described his father-in-law's experience as a "classic example of overmedicalization." There was no Conversation. "He went to the ICU for no medical reason," Handley says. "No one talked to him about the fact that he was going to die, even though outside the room, clinicians, when asked, would say 'Oh, yes, he's dying'"...

# Posted by The Rat @ 11:14 AM


      ( 11:01 AM ) The Rat  
TUNISIA-BORN BAKER WINS BEST BAGUETTE CROWN IN PARIS.


# Posted by The Rat @ 11:01 AM


      ( 10:52 AM ) The Rat  
22 GENIOUSLY DEFACED TEXTBOOKS AND EXAM PAPERS, via MM. You'll never think about your cervix the same way again!

# Posted by The Rat @ 10:52 AM


      ( 10:51 AM ) The Rat  
WHEN EMOTION OVERTAKES YOU, via AP.

# Posted by The Rat @ 10:51 AM


      ( 10:49 AM ) The Rat  
I suppose I must really have been rather nervous, otherwise I should not have opened the conversation by saying affectionately, 'Hallo, catfish!' It was hardly, in the circumstances, a lover-like greeting.
The Moving Finger

# Posted by The Rat @ 10:49 AM



Monday, April 29, 2013
      ( 9:33 PM ) The Rat  
SATURN HURRICANE HAS 1,250 MILE-WIDE EYE.
Neato.

# Posted by The Rat @ 9:33 PM



Sunday, April 28, 2013
      ( 8:52 PM ) The Rat  
I WONDER WHAT BECAME OF ME, a lovely short piece from TT.

I wonder how I would have felt had it suddenly been made known to me that I would someday look back and realize that 

nothing I imagined for myself when young has come to pass: everything is different, utterly so... Nor am I the person I expected to be, calm and detached and philosophical: I still cry without warning, laugh too loud, lose my head and heart too easily, the same way I did a quarter-century ago. The person I was is the person I am, only older. Might that be wisdom of a sort?


# Posted by The Rat @ 8:52 PM


      ( 4:24 PM ) The Rat  
THE MOST UNUSUAL RESTAURANTS IN THE WORLD, via IKM.

# Posted by The Rat @ 4:24 PM


      ( 3:04 PM ) The Rat  
THERE'S A FRUIT SALAD BOATING LAKE at Kew this summer.

# Posted by The Rat @ 3:04 PM


      ( 1:05 PM ) The Rat  
FDA OFFICIAL: "JUST EAT A GODDAMN VEGETABLE," from a couple of years back.

# Posted by The Rat @ 1:05 PM



Saturday, April 27, 2013
      ( 5:05 PM ) The Rat  
USDA ROLLS OUT NEW SCHOOL BRUNCH PROGRAM FOR WEALTHIER SCHOOL DISTRICTS.


# Posted by The Rat @ 5:05 PM


      ( 3:12 PM ) The Rat  
22 UNBELIEVABLE PLACES THAT ARE HARD TO BELIEVE REALLY EXIST, via WKO.

# Posted by The Rat @ 3:12 PM


      ( 12:43 PM ) The Rat  
SONGBIRDS 'POSSESS A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT MORE COMPLEX THAN ANYTHING FOUND IN AN ORCHESTRA,' from January.

# Posted by The Rat @ 12:43 PM


      ( 12:42 PM ) The Rat  
I CONFESS I was one of the up votes on the "Grow up, and stop being so horrible" comment on this.

One lunch, I was dragging myself around the playground when I saw my mom standing by the fence, waving big and calling my name. I wanted so badly to ignore her. She was supposed to be at work and I didn't have physical therapy that day so I was immediately suspicious. As confusing as her presence was, my curiosity did not outweigh my desire to be left alone. Especially by her. I began to back away so she started shouting loud enough to be heard over the playground din. I shuffled towards her with every intention to roundhouse-bludgeon her with my plastered arm. She held out a paper box. It was a McDonald’s happy meal: a cheeseburger one, which was my favorite. The offering was so out of character that I considered it a bribe. I wondered if my parents were getting a divorce since that was huge at my school at the time. I asked her what was going on. She mentioned something about how she wanted me to have a lunch that I liked.

I then did what any normal kid would do and yelled and yelled about how embarrassing it was to have her at school with me during lunch of all times. She presented me with a sack of cheeseburgers that I could give out to my friends. I refused the damp bag and screeched about how it was so cheap that she didn't spring for bright red boxes with toys for them as well. I made her take the burgers back with her. If I were an actress and had to think of something sad to make me cry in a scene, I would think about this moment. This and the time I was 13 when I kicked my mom across a room and ran away for two days because she tried to ground me—for breaking curfew after my friend Jacinta stole money from her dying grandmother so we could rent out a nightclub and write the names of those blackballed on the sign outside...

# Posted by The Rat @ 12:42 PM


      ( 12:04 PM ) The Rat  
THE TOLL BROS. MATINEE BROADCAST of Giulio Cesare is about to start!

# Posted by The Rat @ 12:04 PM



Friday, April 26, 2013
      ( 2:11 PM ) The Rat  
"WHY THE INTERNET WAS INVENTED," via AB.

# Posted by The Rat @ 2:11 PM



Thursday, April 25, 2013
      ( 9:40 PM ) The Rat  
GIRL ON SHROOMS PROVIDES BORING SKI TOWN'S POLICE BLOTTER WITH REPORT OF KILLER GIRAFFES ON THE LOOSE.

# Posted by The Rat @ 9:40 PM


      ( 8:58 PM ) The Rat  
PINK MOON!

# Posted by The Rat @ 8:58 PM


      ( 5:26 PM ) The Rat  
31 TIPS FOR TAKING THE PERFECT WEDDING PHOTO, via AB. AKA, 31 arguments to just elope, people.

# Posted by The Rat @ 5:26 PM


      ( 4:05 PM ) The Rat  
KOALA CHLAMYDIA: THE STD THREATENING AN AUSTRALIAN ICON. By the time you get halfway through this article, the sentence "In a eucalyptus wood outside Brisbane, he unfurls an antenna" sounds weirdly dirty.

# Posted by The Rat @ 4:05 PM


      ( 3:43 PM ) The Rat  
OPERA DRESSERS: QUICK: MY HOT TOWELS!

The funny/great thing about this story is how it's pretty much exactly how you'd imagine it.
Valantasis finds he has to be part cheerleader, part coach and part confidant. "You listen," he says. "I'm not necessarily a conversationalist and I'm not trying to figure them out. But, as I'm standing there putting them into something, they say things. They're fearing for their health, the weather, the run – all sorts of things. You learn what they want. Once in a while, there's a panic. You have to throw yourself into it and say, 'It's you and me, babe, we're gonna do this thing.'"

For much of the performance, Gomez-Pizzo perches on some steps in the wings, half in darkness, and looks out on to the stage holding a huge bottle of water ready for Dessay. She was once left literally holding the baby, she says, when a soprano's nanny cancelled...


# Posted by The Rat @ 3:43 PM


      ( 3:40 PM ) The Rat  
ARE CHILDREN'S BOOKS REINFORCING MATERIALISM? Just leave me alone so I can finish my Oreo Cookie Counting Book.

Franz used 50 indicators across 10 categories to analyse the books, from "emphasis on looks" to "desire for more 'stuff,'" looking at the different ways in which stories can promote and discourage the "consumer socialisation" of their readers. One of the worst example she found was in Pinkalicious by Victoria and Elizabeth Kann, in which the main character, Pinkalicious, "lives in a home with a crystal chandelier in her bedroom, is surrounded by a plethora of toys, desires instant gratification, and exhibits unmistakable vanity."

"The book's dialogue illustrates how relationships are centred around products in many of the picture books," says Franz. "For example, Pinkalicious constantly begs her parents for more pink cupcakes, even after they have caused her skin and hair to turn pink. She reflects, 'After dinner, I ate more cupcakes. Then I refused to go to bed. 'Just one more pink cupcake, and I'll go to sleep,' I promised.' Scholars argue that marketers encourage children to nag their parents, and this sort of pressure from kids is an equivalent reason to price for why parents actually purchase things. If this is reiterated in picture books, it provides just one more avenue by which children might become irresponsible consumers"...

# Posted by The Rat @ 3:40 PM


      ( 3:35 PM ) The Rat  
AID POLICY: HELPING WHOM, EXACTLY? via WC.

Scandalous barely covers it. Since America began donating surplus wheat, corn meal, vegetable oil and other farm commodities to the world’s hungry six decades ago, the programme has been captured by an "iron triangle" of farm interests, shippers and voluntary organisations, with plenty of help from Congress. Rules state that most food aid must be bought from American farmers and processed in America. At least half must then be carried on American-flag ships. With competition severely curbed, ocean shipping eats up 16% of the budget for the largest food-aid programme, Food for Peace.

Under a system called "monetisation," charities and non-governmental outfits get a cut from non-emergency aid (which represents about 30% of Food for Peace). Voluntary outfits receive American produce, sell it on local markets abroad and then use the proceeds for good works. On average this "inherently inefficient" system wastes 25 cents of every dollar of taxpayers' money sent, according to the Government Accountability Office. And the food supplied often floods fragile markets, hurting local farmers it is meant to help...

# Posted by The Rat @ 3:35 PM



Wednesday, April 24, 2013
      ( 10:41 PM ) The Rat  
One adult patient had a mother who had died when the patient was thirty. The patient had not married because her mother had told her that you could only love one person at a time. Since she felt that she loved her mother, she assumed that she could not marry until her mother died. [...]

If patients from an enmeshed family try to marry, the sabotage can be intricate and complex. Often, the mother succeeds in subverting the relationship and the marriage never takes place. This may be done by encouraging sons or daughters to date other people after the engagement has been announced. If she cannot dissuade her child from the relationship, she may become so overly involved that the couple begins to fight and break apart under the stress of her intrusion.

Dan's mother cried when he announced his intention to have a birthday party for his girlfriend. She said, 'I don't believe that you are not going to take care of me.' When this strategy failed, she created the party list for her son's party and would repeatedly review the list guessing what his date would be given for birthday presents. In her fantasy she managed to take the place of his girlfriend in opening the presents. The couple argued because of the stress created by the mother's behavior and began to think of the party as a chore.

There are many versions of what happens what patients announce engagement plans. They all report feeling extremely uneasy about breaking the news to their parents but don't understand why. On the surface, the parents may even feign support.

Dan was told that if he found a woman he felt was right for him but whom his parents didn't like, he should marry her anyway. When he actually brought his fiancée home, he faced strong opposition. He reminded his mother of her comment and she stopped speaking to him. Dan's uneasiness prompted him to tell a lot of other people first, to practice and see if he received supportive responses. When his parents learned that they were among the last to hear about the engagement, they were furious.

The patients always hope that their parents will be pleased and supportive. However, the parents seem to come up with one of four responses:

1. Genuine support followed by blatant sabotage.
2. Pretended support that they know they should give which tends to be falsely sweet.
3. Direct sabotage presented with disturbed emotion.
4. Silence. There is no joy and celebration.

—Dorothea S. McArthur, The Birth of a Self in Adulthood

# Posted by The Rat @ 10:41 PM


      ( 6:02 PM ) The Rat  
ISLAMIC EXTREMIST GIVES UP ON RADICALIZING DIM-WITTED FRIEND. I bet this is exactly what it's like, too.

# Posted by The Rat @ 6:02 PM


      ( 5:18 PM ) The Rat  
THE HIDDEN POETIC GENIUS OF AN OLD, ENGLISH NURSERY RHYME.

The story didn't end there, because we'd take the damsons back home. My mom would bottle them—and all through the winter we'd have damson pie. In our generation in England, you'd have damson pie for Sunday lunch. You'd get your portion of pie, and as you'd get through it, the pips—the stones in the center of the fruit—would end up in your mouth. You'd take them out and place them on the tablecloth in front of you, and they'd remain on the table before you throughout the meal. Then at the end, you could make a little rhyme:

Tinker, Tailor
Soldier, Sailor
Rich man, Poor Man
Beggar man, Thief.

We used this around the table to tell our fortunes. Eight men—and you'd count off for each pip you had, stopping when you ran out, looping around to the beginning if you had more than eight. Every single one of the choices would be invite you to have a little imaginative spree. If you had five of these stones, you could think for a few minutes think about being a rich man. And how close you'd come to being a poor man...

# Posted by The Rat @ 5:18 PM


      ( 8:20 AM ) The Rat  
SWOON... via Londonist.

# Posted by The Rat @ 8:20 AM


      ( 2:28 AM ) The Rat  
MORMON BISHOP WITH SAMURAI SWORD RUNS OFF ATTACKER, via JM.

# Posted by The Rat @ 2:28 AM



Tuesday, April 23, 2013
      ( 11:57 PM ) The Rat  
WE'RE NO. 1! WE'RE NO. 1! America No. 1 in Fear, Stress, Anger, Divorce, Obesity, Antidepressants, etc., via AB. And yet people look at me like I have two heads when I say I'm just about always happier when overseas.

# Posted by The Rat @ 11:57 PM


      ( 2:29 PM ) The Rat  
THE LAST-PLACE BOSTON FINISHER.

It bothered her a little when a newspaper story described her as the slowest runner in the marathon, since nearly 5,000 others were behind her, unable to complete the race, when she finished. "But that's not my biggest problem in the world."

Mostly, she avoided the news. "I watched enough to know what was going on, but I don't think there’s a need to try to watch a horrific event and just relive it."

Still, says Shaw, speaking about 8-year-old victim Martin Richard, "I was so angry when I heard that little boy died. I wanted to go out and find the guy who did this." Nor did it escape her notice that spectators like the ones who'd given her the will to finish were among the maimed and dead...

# Posted by The Rat @ 2:29 PM


      ( 2:26 PM ) The Rat  
40 CREATIVE AND UNUSUAL STATUES AND SCULPTURES, via JM.

# Posted by The Rat @ 2:26 PM


      ( 12:33 PM ) The Rat  
"RIGHT NOW YOU HAVE ON A VERY FANCY DRESS. ARE YOU GOING ON A BIG BOWLING DATE?" Isabel Leonard visits Sesame Street.

# Posted by The Rat @ 12:33 PM


      ( 12:05 PM ) The Rat  
I'M NOT BROKEN BECAUSE I'M NOT A MOM, via AB. Someday, we'll have a society where people are raised well and know better than to say stupid/condescending shit like this. Ha, ha!—I'm such a kidder.

Things people have said to me, actual real, live things:

—That I will always be a child because I am not a parent.

—That I do not fully know how to love, because I am not a parent.

—That she just did not know how I went home at night to a house without a partner or children, because if she did that, she’d find no meaning in life at all. (This, stated as she was dumping more work on my desk at the end of the day, after another 9-5 she spent doing the Washington Post extra-hard crossword puzzles online, JUST SAYING.)

Look. If you need to validate your adulthood, your ability to love, and your ultimate purpose in life via your parenting status? That may be a deeper problem...

# Posted by The Rat @ 12:05 PM


      ( 11:08 AM ) The Rat  
"NOT TO SAY THAT THIS IS A GIANT METAPHOR, BUT..." 14 Engagement Photos That Will Make You Happy You're Single, via AB.

# Posted by The Rat @ 11:08 AM


      ( 11:04 AM ) The Rat  
"I CAN'T IMAGINE HOW PEOPLE IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD LIVE LIKE THIS EVERY DAY WITH ALL THE BOMBS, GUNS AND UNCERTAINTY." Via Harper's.

# Posted by The Rat @ 11:04 AM


      ( 10:59 AM ) The Rat  
FOR CHINESE WOMEN, MARRIAGE DEPENDS ON RIGHT 'BRIDE PRICE,' via AB.

Just a few weeks have passed since the wedding, and they're already expecting their first child. They hope it will be a girl.

"We wouldn't have to buy her an apartment," Wang says, "and she'd cost us less than a boy."


# Posted by The Rat @ 10:59 AM


      ( 10:58 AM ) The Rat  
SCAMS BLOCKING CHINESE INVESTORS' PATH TO U.S. GREEN CARDS.

# Posted by The Rat @ 10:58 AM


      ( 10:57 AM ) The Rat  
"DAILY LIFE FRUSTRATES ME HUGELY. MUSIC GOES RIGHT PAST THAT, RIGHT TO THE CORE..." Terrific as the rest of the cast also were, Ratty's mind was blown by Alice Coote, who sang Sesto last night. Giulio Cesare will be the Toll Bros. matinee this Saturday.

# Posted by The Rat @ 10:57 AM



Monday, April 22, 2013
      ( 6:14 AM ) The Rat  
I prayed for freedom for twenty years, but received no answer until I prayed with my legs.
—Frederick Douglass

# Posted by The Rat @ 6:14 AM



Sunday, April 21, 2013
      ( 4:49 PM ) The Rat  
THE DAILY LIFE OF A GRANDMA AND HER ODD-EYED CAT, via IKM. Cute, but I don't get why she's in a bathtub with a bunch of citrus fruit...?

# Posted by The Rat @ 4:49 PM


      ( 2:32 PM ) The Rat  
WHY DO BABIES CALM DOWN WHEN THEY ARE CARRIED? via JM.

# Posted by The Rat @ 2:32 PM


      ( 2:29 PM ) The Rat  
I NEVER TALK ON THE FIRST DATE.

Besides, when you start off a date right away by saying "Hello" and immediately giving her 10 minutes of back-and-forth that shows that you're both intelligent and entertaining, that's all you're ever going to be in her mind: a great talk. A guy she could just call up whenever she feels like it for some no-strings-attached conversation. It's like my father always said: Why buy the cow when you can talk to the cow for free?

# Posted by The Rat @ 2:29 PM


      ( 9:34 AM ) The Rat  
"THE FIRST THING I NOTICED WAS THAT I COULD BARELY SEE..." The story behind that rhino costume at the London Marathon.

# Posted by The Rat @ 9:34 AM



Friday, April 19, 2013
      ( 1:59 AM ) The Rat  
IS THIS THE SWEETEST RESIGNATION LETTER OF ALL TIME?

# Posted by The Rat @ 1:59 AM


      ( 12:26 AM ) The Rat  
"I WOULD SAY I HAVE A BALANCED FACE... ALMOST LIKE A WHITE DENZEL WASHINGTON." Dove Experiment, Parodied: How Men See Themselves, via TG.

# Posted by The Rat @ 12:26 AM



Thursday, April 18, 2013
      ( 10:07 AM ) The Rat  
"WHEN HE VISITS THE FAMILY OF THE DECEASED, THEY ALMOST ALWAYS ASK ABOUT THE ENGINEER. 'THEY KNOW HOW DEVASTATING IT IS,' SULLIVAN SAYS." Los Angeles article about suicides on L.A.'s rails, from last summer. Eek.

In his third year as an engineer, Salazar and his co-engineer were moving at 60 mph through an industrial swath of El Monte when they ran into a homeless woman (many trespasser strikes involve homeless people) walking on the tracks with her back to the train. A short time later Salazar was in almost the same place when he saw a man in his forties sitting on the tracks. He blew the horn and pushed the brake so hard, he almost broke his hand. "I knew I was going to hit him, and I knew he was going to die," Salazar says. "You know it's not your fault, but the guilt is terrible. 'Could I have done something different? Could I have seen him earlier? Could I have blown the whistle earlier?'"

Salazar started getting calls from other engineers at once. The fellowship circled around him. His dad told him to expect some post-traumatic stress. "He said, 'You don't think that's what's giving you headaches or not letting you sleep at night or making you irritable. But it is.' I've got friends who are police officers. In 15 years on the job they've never drawn their weapons or shot anyone or even seen a dead body"...

# Posted by The Rat @ 10:07 AM


      ( 8:53 AM ) The Rat  
"BABY OIL, BEER, COKE, PETROLEUM JELLY, LEMONADE, FRUIT JUICE, AND BUTTER ARE AMONG THE MOST UNCONVENTIONAL AND DAMAGING ALTERNATIVES TO CONTACT LENS SOLUTION THAT CONTACT LENS WEARERS CONFESSED TO USING IN A STUDY RECENTLY CONDUCTED IN THE UNITED KINGDOM." I don't actually wear contacts, but that hurts just to read about...

# Posted by The Rat @ 8:53 AM


      ( 8:36 AM ) The Rat  
POTTERY THERAPY FOR THE TREATMENT OF DEPRESSION AND BIPOLAR DISORDER. I hadn't read this when I signed up for the wheel throwing class I took at this terrific little Long Beach studio yesterday, but I will say that Clay's staff may be their own best advertisement: You'll seldom walk into any room anywhere and meet such kind, open people. Definitely going back for more.

[P]ottery therapy promotes the use of care, attention to detail, and the use of both water and heat to create a final product. For individuals who live with depression or bipolar disorder, pottery therapy alleviates perceptions of pain and seems to promote a sense of calmness and slows blood pressure and heart rate...


# Posted by The Rat @ 8:36 AM


      ( 8:23 AM ) The Rat  
PHOTOS CAPTURE BEAUTY OF WATER FROZEN IN TIME.

# Posted by The Rat @ 8:23 AM


      ( 8:02 AM ) The Rat  
27 SIGNS YOU WERE RAISED BY ASIAN IMMIGRANT PARENTS. Several accurate ones in here, though the Facebook commenters tearing up at no. 27 1) have clearly only met a certain subset of Asian immigrant parents and 2) need to start asking themselves why U.S.-born Asian-American women have an elevated risk for suicidal thoughts, if "family cohesion and support," which are protective against ditto, are really such a given among all Asian-American families.

That being said, I knew plenty of the Asian-American kids this list was written by and for, growing up. They were the B students.

# Posted by The Rat @ 8:02 AM


      ( 1:56 AM ) The Rat  
META-WHALE!

# Posted by The Rat @ 1:56 AM



Wednesday, April 17, 2013
      ( 1:23 PM ) The Rat  
INEQUALITY AND NEW YORK'S SUBWAY, an interactive infographic. Highlights here; link via WC.

$191,442: The largest range in median household income on a single subway line (for the 2, which includes Chambers Street/Park Place, in Lower Manhattan, on the high end, and East 180th Street, in the Bronx, on the low end).

$84,837: The smallest range in median household income on a single subway line (for the G, the only non-shuttle subway line that doesn’t pass through Manhattan).

$142,265: The largest gap in median household income between two consecutive subway stations on the same line (between Fulton Street and Chambers Street on the A and the C lines, in Lower Manhattan).


# Posted by The Rat @ 1:23 PM


      ( 1:21 PM ) The Rat  
By the time I met Beaumont, the sheen was off the fashion industry for me. It was clear that trends are industry-determined, created and destroyed arbitrarily in the interest of turning a profit. The fashion industry has gotten too large and is competing too fiercely on low price, and the only way it is able to run now is by creating new product cheaply and constantly. The quality of our clothing has been chipped away. The reason why so many of us have no kinship with or respect for anything in our closets and why fashion can seem so self-indulgent and pretentious nowadays is because fashion has become a slick, industrialized, heavily marketed industry. Loving most clothes sold today would be like loving a fast-food sandwich.


# Posted by The Rat @ 1:21 PM


      ( 12:19 AM ) The Rat  
I REALLY DO HAVE A CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT OF SHAME about being such an Ira Glass fangirl, but I'm just going to say it: The new TAL, No. 492, "Dr. Gilmer and Mr. Hyde," may be the best I've ever heard... and I've listened to approx. 185 of the 492 episodes to date. A plot like my favorite Christie novel, some of the pathos of Tolstoy or of Lear ("As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods..."), and it actually happened. Easily one of the best-spent hours of my life. Listen to it—seriously, don't just read it—here.

# Posted by The Rat @ 12:19 AM



Tuesday, April 16, 2013
      ( 11:49 PM ) The Rat  
"I RUINED HIS LIFE WHAT DO I DO NOW," "MY LIFE IS RUINED WHAT DO I DO NOW," and other searches that took Googlers to Passive-Aggressive Notes this week.

—using avocado pit as anal bead
—are my neighbors cock fighting
—how to kill your neighbors rooster
—hireing a dungun master in vancouver
—invisibel latex catsuit
—is not texting immature
—is it illegal to tamper with your own lunch?
—clipart used tampon


# Posted by The Rat @ 11:49 PM


      ( 10:08 AM ) The Rat  
HOW ATTRACTIVE ARE YOU TO THE OPPOSITE SEX? ESQUIRE'S 1949 QUESTIONNAIRE, via WC.

Do you ever embarrass a man by telling him he's good-looking or has big muscles or is too, too intelligent? Try it! Almost any man can stand almost any amount of flattery, however obvious, without embarrassment or surprise...


# Posted by The Rat @ 10:08 AM


      ( 10:03 AM ) The Rat  
CLICHES COME TO LIFE...

# Posted by The Rat @ 10:03 AM



Monday, April 15, 2013
      ( 8:33 PM ) The Rat  
"THE COURSE WAS CHOSEN TO HUMBLE YOU." Explosions and the Meaning of the Boston Marathon.

There's something particularly devastating about an attack on a marathon. It's an epic event in which men and women appear almost superhuman. The winning men run for hours at a pace even normal fit people can only hold in a sprint. But it's also so ordinary. It's not held in a stadium or on a track. It's held in the same streets everyone drives on and walks down. An attack on a marathon is, in some ways, more devastating than an attack on a stadium; you're hitting something special but also something very quotidian...

# Posted by The Rat @ 8:33 PM


      ( 8:29 PM ) The Rat  
CALIFORNIA SCHOOL BANS LEGGINGS BECAUSE THEY WERE DISTRACTING TO BOYS.

# Posted by The Rat @ 8:29 PM


      ( 1:52 PM ) The Rat  
TIDE WOWS WITH COMMERCIAL THAT TREATS DAD LIKE A NORMAL PERSON.

He's an ordinary dad. I'll let that sink in. He's not a buffoon, the butt of a joke, a clueless child who needs his wife to take care of him. He's not afraid of washing his daughter's clothes, or even a guy who has to supplement his masculinity by doing pull-ups and crunches after he handles a princess dress, like Tide's overcompensating dad-mom from 2011...


# Posted by The Rat @ 1:52 PM


      ( 1:36 PM ) The Rat  
There used to be more of a direct connection between high-end clothing and quality. Now a designer name is no guarantee of craftsmanship. As early as 1994, Consumer Reports was finding that designer clothing at Barneys, in the case of a rayon chenille sweater, often offered no better quality than Kmart.

I found myself back at Bergdorf Goodman a few months after my price-comparison trip on a different mission. What seemed to be absent in the prestige versus low price wars was the actual tangible clothing itself. Beyond the designer label or the outrageous deals, is there any remaining clothing that is just plain beautiful and made well? Of course there is. A close friend of mine recently dropped $550 on a wool silk-lined Helmut Lang blazer, and she had to pry me out of it. The difference in quality between the jacket and anything I owned was visceral and obvious. The jacket felt amazing. It looked amazing on.

I conscripted wardrobe consultant Joan Reilly to go on my quality-finding mission. She and I walked all over Bergdorf, where she once worked, running our hands over ethereal fabrics, lifting up seams to study the stitching, and asking salespeople to explain different grades of cashmere and the like. 'It's all about detail and the garment construction,' Reilly explained, as we stuck our faces next to an exquisite handstitched $4,400 gown by Ralph Rucci. [...]

We then moved on to another collection where the saleswoman wouldn't even indulge my questions about quality. She walked over to a bright orange cotton shirt with an embroidered neckline and pulled it off the rack. '$700 for a freaking tunic?' she sad in a thick Long Island accent. 'I don't think so.' This Bergdorf saleswoman told me directly that quality was not at all what was motivating her consumer. It was prestige. They were after the designer's name. Reilly agreed that many consumers and even her own clients are more name obsessed and status motivated than anything. One client asked for help in planning an outfit around a pair of Jimmy Choo heels, having never shown her the shoes. 'There wasn't even a description of the shoe,' Reilly recalled. 'I said, How is that going to help me help you pick out an outfit?'

Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion

# Posted by The Rat @ 1:36 PM



Saturday, April 13, 2013
      ( 3:06 AM ) The Rat  
"MADBL FINDS THE DOUCHEBAG IN INCREDIBLE PLACES: ABOARD THE VOMIT COMET, IN A COCKPIT MID-FLIGHT, ATOP MOUNT EVEREST, JACKING OFF A THOROUGHBRED, WHATEVER." What Your Profile Picture Says About You.

# Posted by The Rat @ 3:06 AM



Friday, April 12, 2013
      ( 1:11 AM ) The Rat  
"'MEDICALLY, PHYSIOLOGICALLY, ANATOMICALLY—BREASTS GAIN NO BENEFIT FROM BEING DENIED GRAVITY,' HE SAID." Of course it was a French study. Also, don't miss the last para.

# Posted by The Rat @ 1:11 AM



Wednesday, April 10, 2013
      ( 12:58 PM ) The Rat  
8 IMAGINED RECIPES FROM GWYNETH PALTROW'S NEW DIET COOKBOOK, IT'S ALL GOOD, via AC.

# Posted by The Rat @ 12:58 PM


      ( 12:48 PM ) The Rat  
GOOGLE STREETVIEW HYPERLAPSE ANIMATES IMAGES TO SHOW YOU WHERE YOU'RE GOING. Pretty soon it won't be necessary to go anywhere, ever...

# Posted by The Rat @ 12:48 PM


      ( 4:12 AM ) The Rat  
SO FYI, pretty much the entirety of "What Doesn't Kill You" is really fantastic—one of the best TALs I've yet heard.

# Posted by The Rat @ 4:12 AM


      ( 4:10 AM ) The Rat  
"GENGHIS KHAN BATHED IN SHERBET ICE CREAM," via The Oatmeal. Mind blown.

# Posted by The Rat @ 4:10 AM



Tuesday, April 09, 2013
      ( 9:20 AM ) The Rat  
CURIOUSLY, though Agatha Christie and Joseph Conrad have little obviously in common besides tending to wind up on adjacent shelves under LC classification, the other thing I know them to have shared is that they chose the same epitaph, from Book I of The Faerie Queene. When I mentioned Christie's epitaph to HB years ago he looked appalled and said, "But that is Despair speaking!"—but I can think of few better ones.

Sleep after toyle, port after stormie seas,
Ease after war, death after life, does greatly please.

You can view Conrad's grave marker here, and Christie's here. I visited the latter in late 1991, when I was 15—it's rather out of the way, in the most peaceful countryside I've ever seen to this day—and though nobody had said a word to us through any of the rest of our journey, when a local spotted me paying my respects he smiled and said, "Not many people know that's there." 

# Posted by The Rat @ 9:20 AM


      ( 8:30 AM ) The Rat  
GOD NEVER GIVES YOU MORE THAN YOU CAN HANDLE. The link to Tig Notaro's set is broken, but you can also find it here (transcript here).

What's nice about all of this is that you can always rest assured that God never gives you more than you can handle.

[Pause.]

Never.

Never.

When you've had it, God goes, 'All right, that's it.'

I just keep picturing God going, 'You know what…? I think she can take a little more.'

And then the angels are standing back, going, 'God, what are you doing? You're out of your mind!'

And God was like, 'No, no, no, I really think she can handle this.'


'Why, God? Like, why? Why?'

'I don't know, I just, you know, trust me on this. She can handle this'...


# Posted by The Rat @ 8:30 AM


      ( 8:12 AM ) The Rat  
'RUSTY AND OLD': SINGAPOREAN GOVERNMENT TELLS WOMEN TO GET PREGNANT BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE. Here's a fun little exercise: Read the article above, and then read this Yahoo Answers question, and the "Best Answer—Chosen by Asker" (I wasn't carefully selecting this, it's just the first hit when you Google the subject), bearing in mind that one or two of the crowdsourced answers did point out that the girl in question might be facing biological realities—the asker just didn't prefer that answer (and plenty of the answerers didn't even think of it). Mull over the implications of these two things taken in conjunction, and you'll eventually come up with the answers to 1) why arguments even—or especially—among women about how they should or shouldn't be living their lives, are so vicious and 2) why it's been my belief for some years that the best advantage you can give your children is to have them be born boys. (Bonus reasons: Boy babies are still preferred, particularly by fathers, and "Fathers are less likely to be living with their children if they have daughters versus sons"—even in the West.)

# Posted by The Rat @ 8:12 AM


      ( 7:23 AM ) The Rat  
...she was still drinking herself to death for her two unchallengeable reasons: because of all that had not happened and because of all that had.
Sabbath's Theater

# Posted by The Rat @ 7:23 AM


      ( 7:03 AM ) The Rat  
URBAN SUNSET, via Londonist. Wow.

# Posted by The Rat @ 7:03 AM



Monday, April 08, 2013
      ( 5:43 PM ) The Rat  
MARGARET THATCHER HELPED INVENT SOFT-SERVE ICE CREAM, via JWB. For some reason this is being overshadowed by some of her other activities in all the obits...

# Posted by The Rat @ 5:43 PM


      ( 4:15 PM ) The Rat  
"AND WHILE IT'S ENORMOUSLY REFRESHING AND EXHILARATING TO FEEL LIKE YOU CAN BE ANYONE YOU WANT TO BE AND COME WITHOUT THE BAGGAGE OF YOUR PAST, YOU REALIZE JUST HOW MUCH OF 'YOU' WAS BASED MORE ON GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION THAN ANYTHING ELSE." What Happens When You Live Abroad, via IKM. I still remember KD remarking that in any event, I surely didn't want to become an expat: "Nobody's unhappier than those people." For those of us who were born immigrants, though, and thus in a sense in exile, much of what's described in this lovely little essay comes with everyday life in our adopted country anyway.

So you look at your life, and the two countries that hold it, and realize that you are now two distinct people. As much as your countries represent and fulfill different parts of you and what you enjoy about life, as much as you have formed unbreakable bonds with people you love in both places, as much as you feel truly at home in either one, so you are divided in two. For the rest of your life, or at least it feels this way, you will spend your time in one naggingly longing for the other, and waiting until you can get back for at least a few weeks and dive back into the person you were back there. It takes so much to carve out a new life for yourself somewhere new, and it can’t die simply because you’ve moved over a few time zones. The people that took you into their country and became your new family, they aren't going to mean any less to you when you’re far away.

When you live abroad, you realize that, no matter where you are, you will always be an ex-pat. There will always be a part of you that is far away from its home and is lying dormant until it can breathe and live in full color back in the country where it belongs. To live in a new place is a beautiful, thrilling thing, and it can show you that you can be whoever you want—on your own terms. It can give you the gift of freedom, of new beginnings, of curiosity and excitement. But to start over, to get on that plane, doesn't come without a price...


# Posted by The Rat @ 4:15 PM


      ( 3:52 PM ) The Rat  
MORE WOMEN MOVING IN BEFORE MARRIAGE. Since making the commitment is practically the only masculine act that a woman can still require from a man, it's so good to see that in due course, in keeping with everything else about the spirit of this age, it will have been wiped out too. And f— you, Ms. Spearnak ("Neither of us feels a need to put a ring on it... We know we are solid. We survived the bar, assembling IKEA furniture and moving")—my last relationship included multiple moves and the other party's 13-month deployment to a goddamn war zone. Since even these things are still hardly fungible with a real commitment, you'll pardon me for being unimpressed that you and your boyfriend survived a bar exam.

# Posted by The Rat @ 3:52 PM


      ( 3:50 PM ) The Rat  
FREEZING, COATLESS WOMAN HAS DECIDED IT IS SPRING. Some of us actually do this every year...

# Posted by The Rat @ 3:50 PM


      ( 3:47 PM ) The Rat  
I have been married to one of the greatest women the world has ever produced. All I could produce, small as it may be, was love and loyalty.
—Denis Thatcher, quoted here

# Posted by The Rat @ 3:47 PM


      ( 1:48 AM ) The Rat  
SEA LION DEFIES THEORY AND KEEPS THE BEAT. Just in case anybody still hasn't seen this. (Do click through on the video!)

Currently, her favorite track seems to be Earth Wind & Fire's "Boogie Wonderland"...


# Posted by The Rat @ 1:48 AM



Sunday, April 07, 2013
      ( 9:20 PM ) The Rat  
AFTER YEARS OF STRUGGLE, VETERAN CHOOSES TO END HIS LIFE.

# Posted by The Rat @ 9:20 PM


      ( 7:57 AM ) The Rat  
"HOW MANY GUITARS DOES A MAN NEED?" "HOW MANY DO YOU WANT?" Rick Nielsen Plays Not My Job, from yesterday.

Sagal. I want to ask you about your family because my understanding is you still live here in Rockford. You've been married to the same woman for 40 years.

Nielsen. Forty-three long agonizing years.

Sagal. I'm sure. So you traveled the world as a rock and roll star and you live in the same midsize city you grew up in and you're married to the same woman for 43 years.

Nielsen. I took a lot of drugs earlier.

# Posted by The Rat @ 7:57 AM



Friday, April 05, 2013
      ( 3:47 PM ) The Rat  
NO COMMENT.

# Posted by The Rat @ 3:47 PM


      ( 11:01 AM ) The Rat  
KARAJAN CONDUCTS THE OVERTURE TO DON GIOVANNI. I've heard him so many times but never actually seen him conduct. Today is the 105th anniversary of his birth.

"Some compared the sheen and elegance of the so-called 'Karajan sound' to a Rolls Royce," from 2008. (Also don't miss the lovely quote from James Galway.)

There's enough drama in Karajan's life to make a movie. In Hollywood, the pitch might go something like: "Ingenious young conductor from Mozart's hometown joins Nazi Party to further career, then bulldozes his way to the top, conducting Europe's powerhouse orchestras."

"There's this wonderful joke," violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter says, "where apparently Karajan landed in Berlin, and he took a cab and the cab driver asked him, 'Where to, maestro?' And he answered, 'Oh, it doesn't matter. They need me everywhere.'"

Mutter had read all about Karajan's glamorous lifestyle by the time she auditioned for him in 1977 at age 13—the fast cars, yachts, airplanes and his immense musical empire. Karajan had a keen nose for talent, and he launched Mutter's international career...


# Posted by The Rat @ 11:01 AM


      ( 10:59 AM ) The Rat  
HOW DO YOU PRONOUNCE THEYDON BOIS? via Londonist.

# Posted by The Rat @ 10:59 AM


      ( 1:41 AM ) The Rat  
CONFUSING ROADSIDE MEMORIAL FEATURES BICYCLE, ROTARY TELEPHONE, JUG OF SOME KIND.

# Posted by The Rat @ 1:41 AM



Thursday, April 04, 2013
      ( 10:30 PM ) The Rat  
SNITCHING IN THE U.S.A., a documentary from Assignment. Related article here.

But Florida is one state where the snitching system has attracted criticism—and where attempts to reform it have begun.

These were largely sparked by the case of Rachel Hoffman, a 23-year-old college graduate.

In 2008, she was caught with marijuana and ecstasy in her apartment. To escape charges that could have resulted in a five-year prison term, she agreed to become an undercover informant for the Tallahassee Police Department.

The police sent her out on a sting operation with $13,000 (£8,600) in cash to buy cocaine, ecstasy and a gun from two convicted criminals.

But despite the presence of 19 undercover officers, and a surveillance plane circling overhead, police lost track of her.

"She never had any police training, they never did a dry run of this, there was no tracking device in her car," says her father, Irv Hoffman, a mental health counsellor.

Rachel Hoffman was murdered with the gun the police had sent her to buy when the suspects found a police recording device in her purse...


# Posted by The Rat @ 10:30 PM


      ( 9:02 PM ) The Rat  
"HOOTERS DIDN'T WANT TO TALK ON CAMERA, BUT IN A STATEMENT SAYS: 'THE RESTAURANT MODEL THAT OTHERS HAVE DUBBED 'BREASTAURANTS' IS A MONIKER TOO SHALLOW TO DEFINE HOOTERS.'" At 'Breastaurants,' Business Is Booming. Best parts are in the last minute and a half or so...

# Posted by The Rat @ 9:02 PM


      ( 8:08 PM ) The Rat  
GUERLAIN CHICHERIT'S FULL MINI BACKFLIP.

# Posted by The Rat @ 8:08 PM


      ( 1:45 PM ) The Rat  
A MEMORABLE HEADLINE...

# Posted by The Rat @ 1:45 PM


      ( 11:30 AM ) The Rat  
VISUAL GUIDE TO PLANT-BASED PROTEIN, via URP. Pretty!

# Posted by The Rat @ 11:30 AM


      ( 11:27 AM ) The Rat  
"I'D LOST MY IPOD IN THE FOREST ON THAT LOOP, SO MY MOTHER HANDED ME HERS AND FOR THE FIRST HOUR I WAS LISTENING TO SOME CRAZY TECHNO AND THINGS WERE A LITTLE WEIRD FOR A WHILE..." Interview with Barkley finisher Nick Hollan.

But first of all, a little bit of background on Nick. He's not a global superstar name or someone you may have come across before. He's no Anton Krupicka, Kilian Jornet or Tim Olsen, the guys who dominate the 100 mile scene. So how does a typically ordinary guy get to win one of the most coveted races in the world against guys who knock off 15hr 100 mile runs for breakfast?

Nick started running at the age of 13 after seeing his mother complete her first marathon. It was that moment of inspiration that led him to want to don his trainers and complete his own first marathon aged 15.

At 18, he saw a dear friend suffer with an acute form of leukemia and Nick wanted to help. So he ran 100 miles around the school race track, picking up dollar donations along the way...


# Posted by The Rat @ 11:27 AM


      ( 10:33 AM ) The Rat  
"A SEXUAL DABBLER, SOMETIME CROSS-DRESSER, VAGRANT HUSBAND AND MAN WHO WHEN HE HIT ROCK BOTTOM BOUGHT A $22,000 GUCCI COAT ON A WHIM..." Vov—though I'm fully on board with Ms. Benson's point about this being "an extreme case, but [...] only in terms of amount." Via IKM.

After that noontime Gucci fall-winter 2013 show, Mr. Bissinger kept the party going, dressing for a night on the town with some of his new best friends from fashion on a clubbing bender that began with orders of Veuve Clicquot and Cristal and ended with him swigging from a bottle of Patrón while dressed, he wrote, in "tight black faux-leather stretch pants, a black Gucci T-shirt and a black leather Gucci jacket lined with shearling." By his own account, Mr. Bissinger looked "so hip that the owner of the club put us in the special V.I.P. section overlooking the jammed dance floor," although in the photographs accompanying the article he bears an uncanny resemblance to Gene Simmons of Kiss.

What matter? As addicts often do, Mr. Bissinger felt helpless, caught in the grip of a compulsion that fuels not only Gucci’s bottom line, Dr. Benson said, but also global economies. "Don't forget we had a president who, after 9/11, said 'We cannot let the terrorists stop our nation, so I want you to go shopping,'" she said. "He didn't tell us to go out drinking or taking drugs."

It was the window Mr. Bissinger opened on addiction that made it an easy decision to publish the tale, said Jim Nelson, the editor in chief of GQ. "You just don't see pieces like that very often, where someone is writing so close to the bone, wrestling with the truth about themselves, about their compulsions and their identity and doing it with a startling, unflinching clarity," he said. And identity, ultimately, is at the core of Mr. Bissinger's shopping addiction, a sense that the lists and tallies and purchase history will ultimately explain Mr. Bissinger to himself. "There is this thing called completion theory, where there's a discrepancy between who we are, who we would like to be and how we would like to be seen," Dr. Benson said. "The next purchase is always the one that will unlock the secret."


# Posted by The Rat @ 10:33 AM


      ( 1:05 AM ) The Rat  
INSIDE THE SEX-OFFENDER CLUSTER OF ONE LONG ISLAND TOWN, from 2007.

Over the months I spent visiting this house in Coram, I found myself ricocheting between a sense of revulsion and concern. It was impossible to meet these men and hear their stories and not find myself awake at 3 or 4 a.m., wondering which of them had truly reformed themselves and which were merely trying to convince me of this. But it also seemed obvious that turning these men into modern-day untouchables and relegating them to the fringes of society is not the best idea, either for the men themselves or as a strategy for improving public safety.

A 2007 report by Human Rights Watch found no evidence that residency restrictions reduce crimes against children, and further noted that the sex offenders who are most likely to stay out of jail and not reoffend are those who are not segregated but have 'positive, informed support systems—including stable housing and social networks.' This is one of John's concerns about relegating sex offenders to one particular area. 'Isolation is not a good thing,' he says. 'One of the things that creates a lot of sex-offender behavior is isolation.'

Mickey has tried to foster a sense of community among the sex offenders in his home, but it's not always easy. Mickey and Bill rely on each other's support and friendship, but John, who leaves the house at 5:30 a.m. and goes to bed early, doesn't have much time for conversation. As for the newer tenants—Larry, Stephen, and Hop—Mickey has tried to befriend them, but Bill keeps more distance, not knowing how long they'll be around.

Close friendships or not, the men in the house are linked by a shared sense of vigilance. One of the fears about sex offenders living in such close proximity is that they'll encourage each other’s worst tendencies. But nobody in this house has to be reminded that just one tenant's committing another sex crime could bring so much negative publicity to their residence that they'd all be homeless once again. The recidivism rate for sex offenders is lower than one might imagine—less than the odds that a car thief or drug dealer or burglar will reoffend. (A 2003 Department of Justice study found that 5.3 percent of sex offenders were arrested for a new sex crime within three years of leaving prison.) And although plenty of tenants have been taken back to jail for violating parole rules, nobody can remember anyone here getting arrested for a new sex crime. Still, the roommates keep an eye on each other...


# Posted by The Rat @ 1:05 AM



Wednesday, April 03, 2013
      ( 9:25 PM ) The Rat  
HEH!

# Posted by The Rat @ 9:25 PM


      ( 3:42 PM ) The Rat  
PHOTOS OF CHILDREN FROM AROUND THE WORLD WITH THEIR MOST PRIZED POSSESSIONS. Sent by GV, who thought I would be particularly interested in "Pavel," from Kiev.

# Posted by The Rat @ 3:42 PM


      ( 9:52 AM ) The Rat  
FABLED 'GATE TO HELL' UNEARTHED BY ARCHAEOLOGISTS IN TURKEY. Fine, so maybe I was wrong about its being in either New Jersey or Chicago...

# Posted by The Rat @ 9:52 AM


      ( 9:21 AM ) The Rat  
FOX 13 WEATHERMAN GETS APRIL FOOL'S DAY SURPRISE, via EG. OK, I love this one.

# Posted by The Rat @ 9:21 AM


      ( 9:01 AM ) The Rat  
CONEY ISLAND: BACK IN BUSINESS, via Planet Money.

# Posted by The Rat @ 9:01 AM



Tuesday, April 02, 2013
      ( 8:26 PM ) The Rat  
"HE'S SORT OF BEYOND STORY AND WE'RE LEFT TO CREATE A STORY." Parenting a child with no future, via IKM.

Parenting.com: Is there anything you wish parents of healthy children would take away from this book?

Rapp: I wish parents of healthy children wouldn't be smug about it. There's something about smug parents that really hacks me off.

Parenting.com: Smug how?

Rapp: I hear this a lot from parents, and it's like how is this in any way helpful? "Looking at your life makes me feel blessed." Which is another way of saying "I'm glad I'm not you."

Parenting.com: What a horrible thing to say.

Rapp: It's disgusting. And what I want to say but don't say is "you don't know what's going to happen." I don't wish anyone ill. But you don't know what's going to happen to your children, so you better enjoy them now. They could drown in a pool or get leukemia or shoot themselves in the head when they're 30.

People don't want to hear that. But don't look at me and put that sympathy on me, because you don't know when chaos will hit you. And it will. I have a great life. It's a sad, complicated, beautiful, strange life. It's mine.


# Posted by The Rat @ 8:26 PM


      ( 7:10 PM ) The Rat  
EARLY PUBERTY LINKED TO POOR MENTAL HEALTH.

Children are going through puberty at an increasingly early age, and the changes to their bodies are also affecting their mental health, new research says.

Biological changes are happening earlier in children around the world—in 1860, the average age for European girls to develop breasts was 16.6 years. In 2010, the average age was 9.9 years, according to a United States study.

Other recent studies out of the U.S. have found boys as young as 6 and girls as young as 8 showing the first signs of puberty.

An Australian study published yesterday has found that early puberty is associated with poorer mental health. It could also be why more people were suffering mental health problems later in life...

# Posted by The Rat @ 7:10 PM


      ( 2:50 PM ) The Rat  
OBESITY IN 1950S AMERICA: EARLY DAYS OF A NATIONAL PLAGUE, via AB. Whoa.

# Posted by The Rat @ 2:50 PM


      ( 2:39 PM ) The Rat  
APRIL FOOL'S DAY: THE TOP 10 PRANKS OF ALL TIME. Several good ones here, though no. 4 will probably always be my favorite.

# Posted by The Rat @ 2:39 PM


      ( 1:18 PM ) The Rat  
BONNET RIPPERS: THE RISE OF THE AMISH ROMANCE NOVEL, via SG.

# Posted by The Rat @ 1:18 PM



Monday, April 01, 2013
      ( 10:26 PM ) The Rat  
P.G. WODEHOUSE ON FAILED LOVE, via TT.

# Posted by The Rat @ 10:26 PM


      ( 8:09 PM ) The Rat  
"WHY ARE YOU RUNNING THE BARKLEY?" "I DO NOT KNOW, SERIOUSLY." Photo gallery of some Barkley runners.

Nick Hollon—who was the youngest-ever finisher at Badwater at age 19, in 2009, and who therefore is about 22 (!) now—has become the 13th-ever finisher of the Barkley Marathons.

'He's a different type runner than I am,' Konya said. 'I'm kind of yelling (at his crew). I'm kind of mean when I'm running. Nick, he was always smiling.'

Inside, Hollon often was hurting and fueled by anger.

At about Mile 25, with dark opera music playing on his iPod, he said he went on an 'anti-God high.' One friend has battled leukemia. His girlfriend was diagnosed with epilepsy in February.

'My grandmother says bad things happen to good people because God knows they can handle it while bad people would sooner perish,' Hollon said. 'I was (mad) at that quote.'

With the temperature climbing to 122, he yelled, 'Bring on the heat! Make it hotter.'

In the weeks before Badwater, Hollon, a geology major at Northern Arizona University, acclimated to the heat by driving to the desert with the heater blasting in his Jeep. He took two jugs of room-temperature water with no ice, ran 15 miles one day, slept in a mud cave, then ran 20 miles the next.

'Is that smart?' Hollon said. 'Probably not. I lived.'

He figured if he could survive the Spartan conditions, he'd feel pampered by his crew.

By Mile 92, past Panamint Pass, at about 2 a.m., Hollon battled blisters on the bottom of his feet. He said he welcomed the pain.

'The suffering that I go through is voluntary,' he said. 'The pain my girlfriend goes through, that's involuntary suffering'...



# Posted by The Rat @ 8:09 PM


      ( 7:29 PM ) The Rat  
"I DON'T THINK I'D EAT ANYTHING IN THAT BASKET."

# Posted by The Rat @ 7:29 PM


      ( 7:07 PM ) The Rat  
DEFENSIVE EATING: FIVE WAYS TO AVOID SHARING.

# Posted by The Rat @ 7:07 PM


      ( 5:30 PM ) The Rat  
"USUALLY, PEOPLE LEAVE MORE THAN FOOTPRINTS. ALWAYS, PEOPLE SCREAM." Regulating Adrenaline Sports on Public Land, via Outside.

# Posted by The Rat @ 5:30 PM


      ( 3:25 PM ) The Rat  
OVERWEIGHT CHILD STAR OF NIKE AD FINDS 'GREATNESS,' LOSES 30 POUNDS.

# Posted by The Rat @ 3:25 PM


      ( 1:27 PM ) The Rat  
I KNEW I HAD THE RIGHT WRITER. From Bernard J. Paris's Conrad's Charlie Marlow: A New Approach to 'Heart of Darkness' and Lord Jim.

The narrator [of "Youth"] looks at his earlier self with a mixture of condescension and envy. He sees how foolish he was but feels a great nostalgia for the sense of glamour and the conviction of strength he has lost. He is a disenchanted romantic, a man who no longer has the illusions of youth and feels that life is empty without them. His tale is an expression of his sense of loss and of the bitter wisdom he has gained—he mocks his earlier folly to show that he will never again be deceived. But his tale is also an effort to recapture his youth, to remember and to savor once more its delicious enchantments. He wants somehow to undo the work of time and experience, to replace the East he has come to know with the one contained in his original vision: "I came upon it from a tussle with the sea—and I was young—and I saw it looking at me. And this is all that is left of it! Only a moment; a moment of strength, of romance, of glamour" (153). Such moments contain what we are looking for in life, but they pass and never return. Although we keep hoping to find them again, they, like the illusions that produced them, are gone forever. Our plight is that we go on living after the death of the dreams that have given meaning to our existence. This is not only a preoccupation of Marlow's, of course, but is from the very beginning a recurrent Conradian theme...


# Posted by The Rat @ 1:27 PM


      ( 12:36 PM ) The Rat  
A REVERSE APRIL FOOL'S from The Londonist.

# Posted by The Rat @ 12:36 PM


      ( 12:13 PM ) The Rat  
ANNOUNCING GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM EXPANSION! via JZ. Heh.

# Posted by The Rat @ 12:13 PM


      ( 12:11 PM ) The Rat  
OSTRICH PILLOW.

# Posted by The Rat @ 12:11 PM


      ( 5:52 AM ) The Rat  
But what we call our despair is often only the painful eagerness of unfed hope.
Middlemarch

# Posted by The Rat @ 5:52 AM




A page I'm starting to get the overlords at EveTushnet.com to stop $#@! bugging me


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