The connection between narcissism and eating disorders. It’s important to remember, though, that it is very much possible to have any kind of an eating disorder and not to be a narcissist or to be a narcissist and have the healthiest eating habits in the world.
A dumb-ass journalist with zero understanding of drug use chides Nancy Reagan for. . . having zero understanding of drug use. All in all, this fixation of wives of famous people screams Mommy issues. Which, of course, places one at risk for – guess what? – drug use.
How environmentalists become climate science denialists.
Instead of paying huge amounts of money to people for having children (like governments do in European countries including Russia and Ukraine), measures should be taken to making caretaking easier for women: “A policy that lowers the child care burden specifically on mothers can be more than twice as effective at increasing the fertility rate compared to a general child subsidy.”
What everybody needs to understand about Bernie’s “Free College for Everybody” plan: “Sanders’s own summary of his College for All Act makes it pretty clear that the act would not, in practice, eliminate college tuition. What it would do instead is offer federal matching funds on a 2-to-1 basis to states that want to increase higher education spending in order to eliminate tuition.” And since most states want the exact opposite, the plan is dead already.
Of all the dumb ideas I have ever heard, this one definitely makes top ten: “We have known for some time that one of the reasons the US was unable to build a socialist welfare state like western Europe was our history of slavery and attendant racism. (It seems many Americans would rather be poor themselves than allow the government to provide any breaks to African Americans.)” I mean, it’s OK to be stupid, I guess, but what I can’t stand is triumphant, unapologetic stupidity.
Have you heard of “sapiosexuality”? It’s one of many products of a puritanical society.
Busy brag and failure brag get on my nerves, too. Busy brag, especially.
“So when you’re in a voting booth in November, wondering if you should maintain your purity and not vote if your preferred candidate isn’t on the Democratic ticket, know that you’ll have the potential bodies of women stacked up on your conscience.” A tad dramatic but true.
Clarissa's Blog 
I found “Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense” by Laurence Perrine (Southern Methodist university) and really enjoyed the experience. Each chapter says a few words about short stories, poetry or drama and then gives numerous examples of them. A few comments / recs:
A – In the second chapter of the book “Plot” (regarding short stories), Perrine talks at length why unhappy endings are common in interpretive fiction and how only immature readers demand a happy ending (as opposed to discriminating readers). You once mentioned your students putting such demands, so I thought about them while reading the above and wondered which effect would reading this Perrine’s chapter have on them. 🙂
B – I LOVED Sinclair Lewis’s short story “Young Man Axelbrod” about an old former immigrant to America going to Yale. If you read it, I would love to hear your opinion. The story is online here:
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0301161h.html#s08
C – I found many good poems, but decided to mention two which may be aren’t the best poetry, but are effective in describing still relevant issues.
Sterling Brown (b. 1901) wrote “Southern Cop” about a cop shooting an innocent black person and the poem is still relevant. I especially liked “if we cannot decorate” and “rabbit-scared,” which brought to mind your previous posts.
Southern Cop
By Sterling Brown
Let us forgive Ty Kendricks.
The place was Darktown. He was young.
His nerves were jittery. The day was hot.
The Negro ran out of the alley.
And so Ty shot.
Let us understand Ty Kendricks.
The Negro must have been dangerous.
Because he ran;
And here was a rookie with a chance
To prove himself a man.
Let us condone Ty Kendricks
If we cannot decorate.
When he found what the Negro was running for,
It was too late;
And all we can say for the Negro is
It was unfortunate.
Let us pity Ty Kendricks.
He has been through enough,
Standing there, his big gun smoking,
Rabbit-scared, alone,
Having to hear the wenches wail
And the dying Negro moan.
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Sound and Sense is a classic– a wonderful primer to poetry written in English. I’m happy to hear you enjoyed it. 🙂
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The second poem is by Stephen Dunn, from New and Selected Poems, 1974-1994:
On Hearing the Airlines Will Use a Psychological Profile to Catch Potential Skyjackers
http://wwnorton.tumblr.com/post/2055118294/on-hearing-the-airlines-will-use-a-psychological
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http://jpohl.blogspot.com/2016/03/new-article-on-crimean-tatars.html
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The second poem is by Stephen Dunn from New and Selected Poems, 1974-1994:
On Hearing the Airlines Will Use a Psychological Profile to Catch Potential Skyjackers
http://wwnorton.tumblr.com/post/2055118294/on-hearing-the-airlines-will-use-a-psychological
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My second comment with the second poem hasn’t appeared for some reason. Last attempt:
http://wwnorton.tumblr.com/post/2055118294/on-hearing-the-airlines-will-use-a-psychological
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I also loathe the “busy brag.” Ugh. I could go on and on. But I’ll spare you the rant and just say I heartily agree and wish academics would stop doing it.
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Oh, I can do better than that … 🙂
The “busy brag” is a symptom, in effect someone saying, “Oh please kind sir, would you help a poor lad out with this affliction of having a lot of work to do in a short amount of time? Could you spare a bit of change for this poor lad?”
[… NB: it definitely helps to read the above with the intonation and accent of one of those irritating boys in “Nicholas Nickleby” by Charles Dickens, with all of the mockery and irony this implies …] 🙂
Indeed, you should help and you should offer change — you should change things by adding even more work!
The reasons why to do this are three-fold:
Because the person will naturally assume that any further attempts to complain about workload will result in more work, or at least more stress;
Because the excess load on the person may cause a minor break-down that should be sufficient for a partial or full review of bad time management skills;
Because it establishes that you are toward the top of the pecking order in terms of actual power, and that you are capable of ensuring that the merde continues to flow downhill to this person.
The natural state of things should be “enough work” or “a little too much work”, and anything else indicates there’s a problem that needs to be addressed.
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Uri’s latest column:
SO IS Hezbollah a terrorist organization?
Of course not.
So why has the Arab League decided that they are?
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1458312541/
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Книга американского журналиста, бывшего редактора Economist и Washington Post Энн Эпплбаум «Gulag: A History» впервые вышла в США в 2003 году, в 2004-м автору присудили Пулитцеровскую премию за нехудожественную литературу, а на русском языке семисотстраничное исследование системы советских лагерей было опубликовано спустя еще 11 лет – в переводе Леонида Мотылева и под названием просто «ГУЛАГ».
В предисловии Эпплбаум пишет, что к написанию книги ее подтолкнул «дефицит отвращения» к сталинизму и его тюремной системе в западноевропейской культуре: если нацистские концлагеря в ней принято осуждать строго и безоговорочно, то советский террор чаще пытаются оправдать как «историческую необходимость». Несмотря на то что «Архипелаг ГУЛАГ» Александра Солженицына уже в 1970-е был переведен на несколько языков, западный мир в целом сохранял равнодушие к последствиям коммунистического режима.
https://slon.ru/posts/65424
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Why Israelis should not go to Turkey:
Irem Atkas, a member of President Erdogan’s party, posts tweet wishing for the death of Israelis wounded in a terror attack Saturday morning in central Istanbul.
…
the Foreign Ministry expressed concerns that three Israelis may have been killed and confirmed that nine or ten Israelis were wounded and transferred to local hospitals. The Foreign Ministry added that at least ten Israelis were considered missing, and an MDA plane will take off for Istanbul to aid Israeli victims and bring them back to Israel.
The attack took place just after 11:00 AM on Istiklal Street in the center of Istanbul. All in all, it was reported that four people were killed and 36 wounded, most of them tourists from Israel, Ireland, Germany, Iceland, and Iran.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4780356,00.html
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What Happens When Millennials Run the Workplace?
Spoiler alert: It’s all funeral scamming, tree house building, tuna fish eating fun for these crazy zany 20 somethings on their social media!
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Свершилась.
Федерализация Сирии начлась.
Курды объявили автономию, Турция готовится к войне
http://trim-c.livejournal.com/964214.html
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Legalize It All
How to win the war on drugs
…
“The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”
I must have looked shocked. Ehrlichman just shrugged. Then he looked at his watch, handed me a signed copy of his steamy spy novel, The Company, and led me to the door.
https://harpers.org/archive/2016/04/legalize-it-all/
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Btw, today was Purim.
IN PHOTOS: Israelis celebrate Purim
Countless of Elsas, Fireman Sams, and a whole slew of superheroes take over the streets of Israel for the Adloyada – the annual Purim carnival.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4782720,00.html
In other news:
Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, published in London, reported Wednesday that the process involved in Israel’s operation to bring in 17 Jews still living in Yemen may have involved bribing local militants.
…
The group’s departure was not quietly accepted. According to information received by Ynet, Houthi authorities have arrested several people who are suspected of being involved in the operation. The arrests were not due to the mere fact that Jews were snuck out of the country, but because they managed to sneak out the antique Torah scroll, which Houthi leadership considers “the property of the Yemeni people.”
After the group’s departure, there are no longer any Jews in Yemen who live as part of an organized Jewish community. About 40-50 Jews in Yemen refuse to leave. Most live in Sana’a, although a few remain in Raydeh. Yemini Jews have been increasingly harassed in recent years by radical Muslims.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4782212,00.html
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It must be genetic memory that made me organize a celebratory feast for no particular reason at home. 🙂
Happy Purim! Or whatever one is supposed to say.
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Sarah Palin has found a new job:
Sarah Palin to be judge in TV courtroom reality show
Former Alaska governor and US presidential candidate will be cast in similar role to Judge Judy despite holding no law degree
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Well, you don’t need a law degree to be appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, either.
But then, members of the Supreme Court are called “justices,” not “judges.”
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I think this will be the perfect job for Palin. As long as she’s out of politics, I’ll be happy.
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Thought you would be interested in John McCain writing regarding the death of “the last known living veteran of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.”
John McCain: Salute to a Communist
“For Whom the Bell Tolls” was my favorite novel, and its hero, Robert
Jordan, my literary idol. Like him, Delmer Berg fought in Spain, for love.
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