Random links
- The Fat Trap
- Seems like even a while after losing weight bodies still recall the former set point - "While researchers have known for decades that the body undergoes various metabolic and hormonal changes while it’s losing weight, the Australian team detected something new. A full year after significant weight loss, these men and women remained in what could be described as a biologically altered state. Their still-plump bodies were acting as if they were starving and were working overtime to regain the pounds they lost."
- East European Women and the Battle of the Sexes in American Culture
- A study of Eastern European immigrant women's views on gender relations. One brief excerpt: "Even though these expressions of politeness [opening doors, etc.] seem trivial, they fulfill a very important role in the culture because they validate gender identities of women in everyday life. Men treat women with distinction, and this allows them to fulfill the appropriate masculine role. Women invite such politeness by behaving in a feminine way, and when they accept privileged treatment they fulfill the appropriate feminine role. The validation of femininity that these gestures provide is one of the things that East European women miss most after moving to the United States. They feel unnoticed and unappreciated without them. Many women also miss compliments about their physical appearance, which are common and are not regarded as sexist in Eastern Europe."
- Muslim Brotherhood Plans to Cancel Peace Pact with Israel
- An Israeli site: "The Muslim Brotherhood comes up with a neat trick to break the peace treaty with Israel without formally doing so: Let a referendum do it." Guessing that the Egyptian people would probably vote in favor of exiting that treaty.
- Elisabeth’s Barrenness and Ours
- " So Greece has a spending problem, a revenue problem, something along those lines, right? At a superficial level, yes. But the underlying issue is more primal: It has one of the lowest fertility rates on the planet. In Greece, 100 grandparents have 42 grandchildren — i.e., the family tree is upside down. In a social-democratic state where workers in “hazardous” professions (such as, er, hairdressing) retire at 50, there aren’t enough young people around to pay for your three-decade retirement. And there are unlikely ever to be again."