Tabs from a 60° March Day

All of these tabs are from yesterday. It was a busy evening, reading all of this, let me tell you. I didn't even get a chance to go outside when it hit 60, although it seemed like 60 when it was 57, so I guess I didn't miss much.

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It's hard to believe, but David Wong of Cracked (of all places!) has written the definitive essay -- punctuated by rambunctious photo/caption combos -- explaining why those of us who are better off didn't get that way on our own. Yes, even the 1%. Now I have to read cracked.com every day. Jeez, thanks a lot, David.



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"And she goes --" , "So I go --," "And then she went" ... Guess what? Those alternates for says, say, and said are a lot older than you'd think, and that usage may have a different meaning than plain old say/said.

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A fine piece of journalism about the little-heralded Supreme Court case, Lawrence v. Texas, which finally struck down sodomy laws throughout the U.S. in 2003. The defendants were far from perfect, from the point of view of legal activists -- and worst of all, they weren't even guilty of the crime they were charged with.

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You know how Fox News has been going wild about Obama causing the recent increase in gas prices? Here's what Fox News had to say about gas prices back in 2008 when the president belonged to that party whose name begins with R. Both sides should declare a moratorium on trying to use this issue to score points with voters.

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The economic impact of the Pill (over the past 50 years) was written up in the New York Times. "...a number of studies have shown that by allowing women to delay marriage and childbearing, the pill has also helped them invest in their skills and education, join the work force in greater numbers, move into higher-status and better-paying professions and make more money over all."

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More Jonah Lehrer goodness from Wired, this time on why some people learn faster or better than others.

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The huge release of test data within New York City schools, purporting to show which teachers are most and least effective, despite margins of error between 30 and 50 percent, had one upside: It allowed blogger Gary Rubenstein to analyze the 4th grade scores of kids in charter schools vs. the public schools. His finding: students at charter schools are not the kids who need help the most. Instead, they're at the middle of the pack. The kids in the deepest holes are in the public schools, left behind by charters who don't want them.