An important article from Slate about the strings that are attached to IMF loans and the corner into which they back a lot of small countries & their economies.

Quoted: Question: The International Monetary Fund often attaches strict conditions to its loans, hoping to help the economies of the recipient countries grow and become stable. For example, in order to tamp down inflation, countries have been required to limit expenditures for education, social services, and health.

The source of the salmonella is still unknown, and officials are saying that consumers should now avoid hot peppers...

Quoted: The U.S. government has declared it’s OK to eat tomatoes again, lifting its salmonella warning amid signs that the outbreak may finally be slowing.

I think this article does a good job of pointing out that the benefits of yoga still far outweigh the risks, and that it's a very individual activity that requires listening to your own body rather than trying to "compete" with other students.

Quoted: Sloppy teaching and growing numbers of overly competitive students are giving yoga lovers serious and scary injuries: slipped disks, torn tendons, even strokes.

Eek, scary that a simple illness could affect one's sense of smell and taste so drastically! Must be hard...

Quoted: There was nothing remarkable about the cold I caught. But a few weeks after I was otherwise back to feeling normal, my sense of smell and taste hadn't returned. I went to my doctor, and he said I had a sinus infection, prescribed antibiotics, and told me not to worry. That was three years ago.

Fascinating! These distinctions rely so much on state laws and statutes...

Quoted: As people across the country fête their fathers this weekend, Thomas Beatie, who's male according to state law but who retains his female reproductive organs, will enter the final weeks of his first successful pregnancy. Will the baby's birth certificate register Beatie as the father or the mother?

Update: looks like Ted Kennedy is out of surgery and doing relatively well.

Quoted: Surgeons on Monday performed brain surgery on Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, and his doctor said the procedure to treat his cancerous brain tumor “was successful and accomplished our goals.”

I really hope Ted Kennedy's brain surgery goes well. Sounds like he's at one of the leading medical institutions in the world for this type of procedure...

Quoted: Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was at Duke University Medical Center on Monday for a risky six-hour surgery for his cancerous brain tumor, and faces chemotherapy and radiation treatment following the procedure.

I hadn't realized that Mark McEwen (CBS morning weatherman) had a stroke. Glad he's doing better.

Quoted: A Conversation with CBS' Mark McEwen on life after a stroke, battling the bulge and his second act.

Haha we all have an inner Homer Simpson. For example, it took every ounce of energy this morning to overcome my impulse to eat the free donut (which would make me feel crappy later) and have healthy cereal. Mmmmm, free donut.

Quoted: The real trick to understanding how to approach Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness, the new book by Cass R. Sunstein and Richard H. Thaler, lies in recognizing the limitations of your inner Homer Simpson and opting out of your own stupid choices.