CK Friday Links--Friday July 24, 2009

Here's yet another selection of particularly interesting links from around the internet. As always, I welcome your thoughts and your feedback.

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The Size 10 Girl's Dilemma at What I Weigh Today
Joy tries to reconcile her ideal weight with the idea of feeling good about herself. This is a thought-provoking article on what it really means to want to be thin.

Faux Pho Consciousness at 30 Bucks a Week
Phil watches the watchers, and calls out one blogger for sanctimoniously criticizing another for wasting food. I love blogger controversies like this because they help us all think a little bit more before we type.

Spending on Food Reaches A New Historical Low at Carpe Diem
A stunning chart shows the shocking decline in household food expenditures as a percent of disposable income from 1929-2008. This is good news, and it belies all the complaints out there that food is too expensive these days. (via Abnormal Returns)

Gourmet and Bon Appetit's Meltdown at Eat Me Daily
Everybody knows that the dead-tree publishing industry is in trouble, but it's shocking to see Bon Appetit's ad pages down 40% year over year, and Gourmet's pages down 52% year over year. And that doesn't even include any likely declines in ad pricing. (PS: Here's the source data--almost every Conde Nast magazine, from Allure to Wired is badly negative.)

Paris in Six Days at BitterSweet
Hannah shows off her amazing photography in a six day food and sight-seeing pictoral of Paris. If you've been there before, these posts will bring back vivid memories, and if you haven't been, this will make you want to go! (Here are the posts in order: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6).

Chocolate Mousse Pie at Eats Well With Others
Joanne (briefly) gives up her hardline approach to healthy foods and bakes an easy and sinfully delicious chocolate mousse pie. Must. Make. Take a look at the ingredients and see if you don't agree.

DIY Ginger Beer at Dispensing Happiness
A laughably easy and laughably cheap recipe for one of summer's great thirst quenchers.

Going to Extremes at The Art of Nonconformity
Chris writes a great post on why it pays to say "yes" to the universe. PS: An interesting and provocative debate emerges in the comments.

Fat Bottom Bloggers: Is Your Blog Killing You? at Awake at the Wheel
Jonathan Fields writes a really good post on balancing blogging, fitness and health, and he decrees "never accept physical decline as your inevitable demise."

Predictions About Immigration and Attractiveness at Marginal Revolution
Preposterously off-topic. One of my favorite economics blogs posts some laughably misogynistic (but nonetheless fascinating) musings about male vs. female immigration. Be sure to read some of the testy exchanges in the comments.

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