Linkety
Another review of the Women and Surrealism exhibition: What happens when a muse is left to her own devices, when an object becomes a subject, when a woman is free to be herself?
The boundary between The Observer Magazine and Observer Woman becomes yet more permeable: this was in the former, am surprised it wasn't in the latter, and am generally, and I am supposed to care about this exactly why? After 20 years, two children and one affair, Sandra Tsing Loh finally called a halt to her marriage. It was too much work and too little sex. Bored now.
OW irritating as ever but in a general what-is-the-point way rather than with particular sources of annoyance, though wouldn't it be lovely if they did a piece on some philanthropist who didn't have celebrity accoutrements - the fabulous friends, the fabulous houses in Mayfair and Malibu, the fabulous parties?
More on marriage: US study says divorce is linked to age and education: Feeding data into a special 'calculator' suggests the best guarantee for a long-lasting relationship is to marry later and have good schooling behind you.
Stuff about age issues: Britain's ageing population is staying younger for longer, say medical experts. Though there are far more people in their 80s and 90s than ever before, many remain cheerfully independent; Female 'cougars' are on the prowl. Or are they just a male fantasy?.
And futher on dubious research on women: Ruth Sunderland: Stop telling me I'd be happier in the kitchen: Women may still not be exactly full of joy, but we're definitely better off than our mothers:
The very idea the women's movement has won a hollow victory is ludicrous for the simple reason that there hasn't yet been anything remotely resembling a feminist triumph. We still bear the lion's share of childcare, housework and looking after elderly relatives, and we still only earn around 80 pence for every male pound, even if we work full time.
Sing it.
David Mitchell on the pointfulness of apparently pointless research:
The government isn't going to pay for clever people just to sit in universities indulging their curiosity. No, they should be allocated something useful to discover and then research as hard as they can in that direction. Nothing good ever got invented by accident, apart from some silly fun stuff like the slinky, post-it notes, penicillin, warfarin and X-rays.
That breakthroughs often come by accident rather than design, from a desire for knowledge rather than a gap in the market, is so well established it's a cliche - it's one of the things that every schoolboy used to know. Why doesn't anyone at the Department of Education?
And link I forgot to post during the week and rather to my surprise haven't seen anyone else posting:
Google Books deal postponed after avalanche of criticism.
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