How do you manage?

Q: How do you know if an engineer is outgoing?
A: They look at your shoes.

How do you manage?

Shamelessly Stolen from andrewducker

Leprosy spreads by reprogramming nerve cells into migratory stem cells

The bacterium that causes leprosy spreads through the body by converting nerve cells into stem cells with migratory properties, according to research published today in the journal Cell. The new findings could improve treatments for leprosy and other infectious diseases caused by bacteria, and help clinicians to diagnose them earlier. They may also provide a safe method for developing stem cell treatments for a wide variety of other conditions. Moar

Shamelessly Stolen from jaylake

Consider, for example, the case of Social Security

Consider, for example, the case of Social Security. There was a case for paying down debt before the baby boomers began to retire, making it easier to pay full benefits later. But George W. Bush squandered the Clinton surplus on tax cuts and wars, and that window has closed. At this point, “reform” proposals are all about things like raising the retirement age or changing the inflation adjustment, moves that would gradually reduce benefits relative to current law. What problem is this supposed to solve?

Well, it’s probable (although not certain) that, within two or three decades, the Social Security trust fund will be exhausted, leaving the system unable to pay the full benefits specified by current law. So the plan is to avoid cuts in future benefits by committing right now to ... cuts in future benefits. Huh? Moar

Ain't No NYT Critics' Pick Movies This Week

When They Hammered Out Justice in the ’60s
‘Greenwich Village: Music That Defined a Generation’

It is striking how many of the 1960s folk music pioneers in Laura Archibald’s entertaining documentary, “Greenwich Village: Music That Defined a Generation,” are still earnestly plugging away 50 years later. If rock stars often burn out, folkies tend to slowly fade away. Moar

Dear Abby: Pauline Phillips, Flinty Adviser to Millions as Dear Abby, Dies at 94

Pauline Phillips, left, who wrote an advice column as Dear Abby, with her twin sister, Eppie Lederer, who wrote a column as Ann Landers, in 1986 at their 50th high school reunion.
By MARGALIT FOX
Published: January 17, 2013 94 Comments

Dear Abby: My wife sleeps in the raw. Then she showers, brushes her teeth and fixes our breakfast — still in the buff. We’re newlyweds and there are just the two of us, so I suppose there’s really nothing wrong with it. What do you think? — Ed

Dear Ed: It’s O.K. with me. But tell her to put on an apron when she’s frying bacon.

Pauline Phillips, a California housewife who nearly 60 years ago, seeking something more meaningful than mah-jongg, transformed herself into the syndicated columnist Dear Abby — and in so doing became a trusted, tart-tongued adviser to tens of millions — died on Wednesday in Minneapolis. She was 94. Moar