Green Card!It arrived when I was at ICFA. It is, in fact, green! Apparently I'm supposed to keep it on me at all times. I'm going to ask other immigrants about this, because I don't like taking important, hard-to-replace documents with me to the gym ( Read more... )

From the NYT, an article about defining productivity by work produced, not hours spent: They Work Long Hours, but What About Results?"...a measurement system based on hours makes no sense for knowledge workers. Their contribution should be measured by the value they create through applying their ideas and skills."
It's aimed at a different work ( Read more... )

An unusually sweet and reassuring piece for the Chronicle of Higher Ed. A lot of it rang painfully true for me, particularly the "I felt as if I had no future" part.

Turning 'Plan B' Into a 'Plan A' Life

"Perhaps no one who knows of me as an Oxford editor would think that is the case, but virtually everything in my life since my high-school ( Read more... )

I thought this profile piece was interesting:

A High-Profile Executive Job as Defense Against Mental Ills

Researchers have conducted more than 100,000 studies on schizophrenia since its symptoms were first characterized..... Now, a group of people with the diagnosis is showing researchers a previously hidden dimension of the story: how the disorder ( Read more... )

Texan freed after DNA clears him in wife's slaying

The case in Williamson County, north of Austin, will likely raise more questions about the district attorney, John Bradley, a Gov. Rick Perry appointee whose tenure on the Texas Forensic Science Commission was controversial. .... the Innocence Project has accused him of suppressing evidence that ( Read more... )

There's an interesting analysis of the country-but-country media portrayal of Amanda Knox  over at -- of all places -- Yahoo News. This is the second long, intelligent analytical piece I've seen at Yahoo News this week. What gives?

So I never mentioned Sady Doyle's George R.R. Martin piece in part because I didn't think it warranted the attention. Doyle clearly wanted to skewer the series. She makes some good points, she makes some funny points, and she also misses the mark.

Alyssa Rosenburg had a thoughtful response. To this I'd add that I have a problem with Doyle's pre- ( Read more... )

Here's an interesting article: Do you suffer from decision fatigue?

The idea that willpower is finite was familiar to me, but other parts were not:

To establish cause and effect, researchers at Baumeister’s lab tried refueling the brain in a series of experiments involving lemonade mixed either with sugar or with a diet sweetener. The sugary ( Read more... )