10 From The Back Room

You get the random again, oh yes you do! Don't tell me to stop. You can't make me.

OK, you probably can but not before I hit publish.

1. I find I'm equally interested in and afraid of this well-reviewed book by a birthmother and her daughter.

2. Chili linked to this fun venture from the folks at I Can Haz Cheezeburger. It's renaissance portraits of current celebs. Some of these folks look like they belong in the era they've been painted into, much fun.

3. I love Tina Fey so of course I want to read Bossypants but the excerpt that Amber chose to use in her review convinced me that it would be not just OK but wise to spend money to read it.

4. Hockey gets a rap for being populated by thugs, idiots and fools but, if you've followed even a couple of hockey players closely you know that's a bunch of bullshit. Hats off to Sean Avery for being a mensch among men with his pro Marriage Equality video. (Feministing)

5. MAB on presidents who preen (or don't).

6. Misti wrote a piece on Mothers' Day about not being a mother but also about mothering. You should not miss it. Go now. I'll wait.

7. A lot of the time, even when I'm laughing, the xkcd comics are going straight over my head. This week one strip was a lesson right up my alley about women in science.

8. Especially pertinent this month is a reader submission for a favorite children's book over at Better Book Titles.

9. Indiana became the first state to defund Planned Parenthood. So, you know, Go (somewhere else) Indiana. (Feministing)

10. One night many years ago I was out about 11pm walking Emily and Oscar, two moderately sized dogs. Two doors down from where the dogs were sniffing, securely leashed and paying not one bit of notice to anyone but me, a pair of cops mounted a stoop to knock on a neighbor's door. From the top of the stairs one cop said to the other, clearly enough for me to hear, "If that dog comes at me I'm shooting it." I have not trusted a cop since. It takes that little bad behavior toward a dog to turn me. So, let's be perfectly clear, no matter how ill-behaved a dog is or how clueless or evil its owner, when you throw a dog you become the bad guy. You may have a lot of company in the situation but you will be the bad guy. No amount of belly aching or lawn clean up is going to change that. (Gothamist)

And on that note, Happy Tuesday!