the ladybug and the lion

Woman Power.

I loved this article in the Guardian about women in Iceland playing a role in the country's recovery from economic failure. 

A snippet:

Waagfjörd points a finger at young, inexperienced men who, she says, became too dominant in the boom. "I was in the US for six years, and when I came back 10 years ago, at the age of 40, things had really changed. Suddenly there were a lot of young men about 35 or 30. They used to call to try to sell me derivatives which were really complicated. They thought they were really clever, but they were still living at home with their parents."

From Sex To Food.

Interesting piece in the WP on the transfer of attitudes from sex to food.

Middleness.

Middleness has entered the blogosphere.  It is a place for rants and thoughts by those caught in the stage of life between graduating from college and entering the real world.  My first post went up today, and I relate to almost everything the other writers have to say.  I was really excited when this blog launched because I think many of us 20-somethings are facing similar questions and anxieties.  What better way to share and channel these feelings than through a blog?

Ted Talks.

I can't stop watching these.  A few of my favorites so far are Elizabeth Gilbert on creativity, Dan Gilbert on happiness (I have no idea if they're related), and Jonathan Haidt on the differences between conservatives and liberals.

Financial Stability.... Coming Soon.

Because this is just hilarious.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I received this from my friend Sarah:
I love the cards from this site.  Many of them are deliciously passive aggressive and hilarious.

Movies.

I love Ingmar Bergman's movies.  Here is one of his short films.

Incentives.

Robin Williams and Alex Tabarrok discussing economics on public radio at TED. Robin Williams is, of course, entertaining.  But I found Tabarrok's discussion of organ donations, bounty hunters, and voting to be especially interesting.  In short, he's talking about incentives to get people to do things for the public good: applying capitalistic principles to do-gooder ideals.  I've seen similar discussions arise with regard to non-profits and charities: the idea being that they'd function more efficiently if they were allowed to use donated money for things like adventising and qualified leaders.

Please, Don't Divorce Us.

A video put to a Regina Spektor song. It's heartbreaking.

Standardization.

An English professor retakes the GRE and decides it is relatively worthless.  As someone who abhors standardized testing, I thought this article presented an interesting perspective.