Love and disdain talks about opportunity sets.
Eco Cat Lady talks about turning a feral outdoor kitty into a pet using a heating pad.
Leight PF explains the pros and cons of ETFs vs index funds.
Windy City Gal explains what’s up with wordpress comments.
Delagar talks about rereading l’engle. She was my first science fiction, unless you count James and the Giant Peach, which is really more fantasy.
We continue to love Scalzi. Here’s why he’s glad he’s a white heterosexual male. We’re glad too because when people like him say things, people listen who wouldn’t otherwise.
We would like to tell Academic Cog to fly like the wind, but we can’t because blogger won’t let us.
Laura Vandekam talks about false dichotomies.
We were in this week’s carnival of personal finance.
Grumpy Rumblings (of the formerly untenured) 
March 24, 2012 at 1:51 am
Thank you for the EcoCatLady link. I am so happy to know about other people who are as crazy as we are.
March 24, 2012 at 2:09 am
Thanks for the mention!
March 24, 2012 at 8:38 am
Hurrah for false dichotomies!
March 24, 2012 at 4:41 pm
I cannot praise that cat heating pad more highly for older kitties. Our 15/16ish (she was a pound rescue, no known birthday) cat with arthritis in the back and hips spends ALL DAY on her pad. I bought her one for Christmas. Yes, I still get the cat presents even though I have kids. I think she deserves them more now.
They are available on Amazon or Overstock. To buy it cheaply, get an Overstock voucher and sign up for their email deals; wait for one offering free shipping or stack with a percent off deal. And cat barf washes out nicely, I must say.
March 25, 2012 at 4:17 pm
Thanks for the mention, guys! I didn’t even realize I had been speaking about opportunity sets until I saw this post. You learn something new every day.
March 25, 2012 at 5:49 pm
Yes, white males are listened to! When I was in undergrad and grad school as a 40+ white woman,I was shocked how many times I would offer a fact about whatever subject I was studying, only to be shot down. I am not talking about personal opinions. The professor, whether white male, white female, or black female (never had a black male prof) would nicely or rudely tell me how wrong I was. EVERY time, some young white male would speak up, defendig me and my statement. THEN, the professor would turn to the male and ask him to explain. I felt vindicated after the insult, but very keenly felt the discrimination of the professor smiling on the young white man and allowing him space and time to talk in class. I could never figure a way to regain the floor the professor had allowed me to have in the first place. And, a sarcastic remark would have been the most I could have offered during or after the young, white male was speaking.
Since I live in a rural area and the university was in a large city, sometimes I was considered not up on big city subjects like oppression and science and did not know how to research and find primary sources. Not true. Hey, I don’t even have a Southern accent. I was old and female and living in the country, so how could I ever know the truth of any matter. However, the English Lit professors soon learned that I was sharp and knew what I was talking about. Of course, they had me for more classes over a longer period of time. Sociology and Women’s Studies (cross-listed) professors listened to me.
In about eight years of getting two BAs and one MA, this happened about a dozen times. The sting made quite an impression.
At 42, for some reason my earlier history classes did not count toward the core requirements, so I ended up in 101–History from the Reconstruction until the Present. Yuck. A funny thing happened–all of a sudden we were discussing history I lived, from Eisenhower on. I politely opposed the 32-yr-old professor on how the people of the South were stupid during the Vietnam War because of our voting history and how we made decisions. We politely debated for 30 minutes. Since this was a 100 level class when I was a junior, most students were around 18. One was 28. Professor was livid while I was determined. Not one student had any opinion or even looked they agreed with me or professor. They were all petrified, stone-faced. They even ceased their chatter that they kept up during his monotone lectures.
Overnight, I had many friends who continued to look up to me. I suppose they went home and conferred with parents about the Vietnam Conflict. Surprisingly, the young men were the ones who were most impressed and wanted to talk with me. Or, maybe they just out-talked the young women. Oh, I just had a horrifying thought–maybe I listened to the males more and sort of ignored the females. If so, I would want to beat my head against a wall.
I read Scalzi’s article over the weekend and I am a fan of his blog now. I appreciated his acknowledgment of men’s privilege.