All about me

The best arrogantly self-pitying whine I've read all month: "I tried to escape my privilege with low-wage work. Instead I came face to face with it":

Never mind Christian bakers not wanting to cater gay weddings. Do tattoo artists have the right to refuse to ink someone? A delicate flower at the Jezebel site doesn't think so. She asked tattoo artist Dan for a neck tattoo of her daughter's name and went ballistic when he refused:

Dan: “It’ll look tacky. It’s just tacky.”

This essay about couples who are childless by choice doesn't come right out and call them selfish. But it throws around the term "hedonists" a lot, suggesting that the couples put their own pleasure ahead of everything else in life. But what if they're wrong, and in the end realize there should be much more to life?

Well, now we should feel special, guys. Michelle Obama thinks we are "useful."

During a conversation with students in the United Kingdom, First Lady Michelle Obama told them that men were “useful” for promoting the idea of more education for girls.

“We’ve got to send different messages about the importance of educating our girls.”

Man, oh, man:

On my usual post-election sabbatical. Back on Tuesday, May 19.

Juxtaposition of the day.

First up, the "myth of retirement."

61% of Americans expect to continue working past the age of 65

Only 21% of Americans say they plan to stop working at the age of retirement, according to a new survey.

Interesting words I encountered while wandering through the blogosphere.

synecdoche (si-NEK-duh-kee). n.  -- a figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole or the whole for a part, the special for the general or the general for the special. "Nice set of wheels" to mean "nice car" is an example of synecdoche, as is "you ain't no Einstein" to impugn someone's intelligence.

We all know about Dear John letters. Now we have the Dear John Facebook post:

A Brooklyn woman scored a judge’s approval to legally change her relationship status to “single” via Facebook.

In a landmark ruling, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Matthew Cooper is allowing a nurse named Ellanora Baidoo to serve her elusive husband with divorce papers via a Facebook message.

The times, the are a changin':

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — A newly revised tattoo policy that will remove the limit on the number and size of soldiers' tattoos is coming very soon, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno said Wednesday.