Solutions and "Solutions"

I thought this was an interesting look at fatherhood.

Did you realize that Kate Upton was a controversial figure?  I'm posting this mostly because I figured you had some insight both as a woman and as someone who follows fashion.  The male take: she's pretty and seems chill.  That's pretty much it.

Le Diplomate is apparently the place to be in DC.

This is how you deal with cyberbullying.

Here's an interesting wrinkle on the link between divorce and cohabitation.

Poor baby bear!  This happens to me when I wake up early from naps too...

I keep seeing Jitlada in the media.

Yes, Olive Garden, because your logo was the problem.

Here is the real solution to my morning wake-up woes.

As nice as bear hugs are, it doesn't appear that the point is effectively being made here...

Responses:

1. Finally!

3. I'm trying this tonight.  Also, this possibly explains why you order tomato juice on airplanes!

4a. This sorta reminds me of media arguments for why we should be able to access athletes all the time.  The main difference, though, is that, with the exception of the specific contract clauses or league rules that say which media appearances an athlete is required to make (this was a mini-scandal during the run-up to the Super Bowl, for example), the better argument is that athletes are paid to put their bodies on the line in athletic competition, not to reveal their private lives to anyone who is interested.  I suspect that the Bachelor/Bachelorette contract has language (however apparently unenforceable) about appearances and participation in interviews and such, and even if it doesn't, it seems obvious to me that signing up for a primetime reality TV show where you find your "true love" and then talk about it on the postgame show or whatever is pretty clearly the idea here, and if he has a problem with that, then I don't understand how he didn't have a problem with appearing on the show in the first place.

4b. That said, I thought your comments were spot on.  It baffles me that the show ends with a ring rather than the way this one did, especially in light of all the failed relationships from the show.  But the thing I'm most glad about is that I'm saying all of this from first principles or comments from late night shows.  I'd rather claw my own eyes out and shove them into my ears than watch this show.  It sounds awful on so many levels: quality of people involved on the show, destruction to the institution of marriage, creation of pages and pages of inane internet commentary (I tried to look up the comment to which you referred and almost started the eye-clawing process before closing the webpage), the fact that this nonsense is the biggest comment on either of our postings...

R2R:

3-4. I have a problem with the resignation culture.  I think it's analogous to the shunning/silencing culture that many liberals have adopted.  Actually, I think it comes from the same place.  I rarely think someone should resign when they do.  I actually make it a point never to weigh in on whether someone should resign or retire (in the case of athletes) because so many of the people who call for this are doing so for their own ends, not because the resignation will improve anything.  (In the case of sports, it's often because the people (usually the media) want to report a storybook ending, not realizing that quitting your life's passion at age 40 or younger is an incredibly heart-wrenching decision that, for most players, is made for them by injury or just being fired by the team.)

11. It seems sinister to me.  To bring back the Jeopardy example, if the producers decided to change the rules to forbid what Chu is doing, I'd understand because it's a TV show first and foremost.  But if the whining came from competitors, I'd suspect sour grapes.  In the case of Obamacare, it's funny that liberals often have this problem of wanting something (universal healthcare, higher taxes, amnesty) but having no democratic support for it, but proceeding anyway because they are "enlightened" and know best.  My problem with it, however brilliant (but more likely accidental), is that it's anti-democratic.

That last bit in the article was funny.  Mostly funny in that being offended now appears to be a sport to find the most innocuous things and then claim the most offense from them somehow.  Nobody's winning.  But as for the name of our blog, I think you know what I like. :)

B