Is it just me, or are the Dems campaign ads outdoing themselves in sleazy ads?

Last updated on: February 26, 2015 at 11:12 pm By Jane the Actuary

Case One: Bob Dold. Republican candidate for the north suburban Chicago House seat; he had won election four years ago, and was defeated by Democrat Brad Schneider two years ago. Now he’s trying to get his seat back. Conventional wisdom for that district is that it’s voters are Republican, but very liberal on social issues, so Dold’s campaign commercials have been emphasizing that he’s pro-gay-marriage and abortion-rights. But the Democrats have decided that the best way to wage their campaign... Read more

Parking a link: Preteen sex?

Last updated on: February 26, 2015 at 11:12 pm By Jane the Actuary

Slate, from last week (missed it at the time) has a story (by Amanda Marcotte, of course) on a study done of a Planned Parenthood sex-ed curriculum which claims that, being realistic, you can’t persuade kids to wait until marriage for sex, so they won’t bother delaying at all, but that if you just tell them to wait until their late teens, they’ll understand and defer sex as desired. Which all sounds reasonable enough. But the study itself is about preteens... Read more

Today’s readings: usury

Last updated on: February 26, 2015 at 11:12 pm By Jane the Actuary

(I really, really need to get a start on putting labels on my blog posts. For a while, it worked reasonably well to just google myself, e.g., “jane the actuary” Social Security, but this doesn’t seem to work as well; I’m pretty sure I’ve written on this general topic before, but I can’t find it.) Here’s an except from today’s first reading at Catholic churches worldwide, and other denominations that follow the same schedule: If you lend money to one... Read more

What would you do?

Last updated on: February 26, 2015 at 11:12 pm By Jane the Actuary

Say you were, oh, I don’t know, 75 or so, and aging hasn’t treated you well. Let’s say that you’re recovering from an injury and you can make it short distances but can’t drive — for the next several months for sure, and maybe longer, because even once you’re medically cleared by your doctor, how are you going to walker your way to the car, and put the walker in the back seat, and then hop back into the car?... Read more

Can we just break the AP monopoly?

Last updated on: February 26, 2015 at 11:13 pm By Jane the Actuary

The National Review has been reporting on the controversial changes to the AP US History syllabus, and its new emphasis on race and class themes, and its abandonment of the notion of just learning “straightforward” history, with the rationale that, after all, an introductory college-level history course presumes that you’ve learned all the names and dates back in high school and moves on to bigger weighty issues and Grand Themes. See here and here for background. A couple weeks ago,... Read more

Reihan Salam was having an off-day yesterday

Last updated on: February 26, 2015 at 11:13 pm By Jane the Actuary

Usually I like his pieces, in National Review and in Slate; they’re thoughtful and well-written. But his piece in Slate.com yesterday, “The End of Pregnancy, and the inevitable rise of the artificial womb” just felt a little flat. Perhaps he drew the short straw and was assigned the task of writing clickbait, but isn’t as practiced at it as Amanda Marcotte. The core idea of his article is that, as technology progresses, the artificial womb will be seen by top... Read more

What are your “life skill” must-haves?

Last updated on: February 26, 2015 at 11:13 pm By Jane the Actuary

Megan McArdle was mixing personal finance with well, impersonal finance today, discussing rent-to-own retailers and their customers, who purchase their goods at an inflated price because they neither have the ready cash to buy the couch they want, nor do they qualify for a traditional loan or a credit card — and her commenters nearly uniformly observed that someone who’s poor enough to be looking at a rent-to-own couch really ought to be paying a visit to the thrift shop... Read more

“Learn more at rethinkchurch.org”

Last updated on: February 26, 2015 at 11:14 pm By Jane the Actuary

One element of my morning routine is exercising — no, not going out on a pre-dawn run, just a few minutes on the exercise bike in the basement while watching a cooking show on the On Demand app on the iPad. (Too few minutes, really — I was in a better routine last year, but now I got into the practice of making sure my oldest caught the bus first, and now that he’s reliably doing so, I haven’t been... Read more

Daydreaming a little . . . the Steven Sandell Grant Program

Last updated on: October 21, 2014 at 11:00 pm By Jane the Actuary

So the Center for Retirement Research tweeted about this yesterday: $45,000 grants available to researchers to support a year’s worth of research. And I thought: “just on a lark, it would be fun to write up a proposal and try to talk my way into a year’s sabbatical from work!” — but then I read the fine print: this is only for academics. Bleh. But I’ve been playing around in my head with the question of, “if I were able... Read more