The Week: Most Recent Home Page Posts

The 'morning-after' pill: A guide

The Week — Sat, 18 May 2013 14:40:00 -0400

What is emergency contraception?
It's a means for preventing pregnancy after an episode of unprotected sex or sexual assault. Throughout the ages, women have resorted to various ineffective — and often desperate — methods to avoid pregnancy, from postcoital douching with Coca-Cola to drinking hot mercury. The search for a safer, more effective "morning-after" pill can be traced back to the 1920s, when veterinarians realized that a dose of estrogen could prevent pregnancy in female dogs and horses who had mated against their owners' wishes. Doctors adopted the use of estrogen to prevent...

Why Facebook makes breaking up even worse

The Week — Sat, 18 May 2013 13:30:00 -0400

Before you gleefully change your status to "in a relationship" and post photos with your new love for all of Facebook to see, consider this: A new study suggests that photos, posts on Facebook, and other digital reminders of an ex-love may prolong the pain of a break-up. Corina Sas of Lancaster University in the United Kingdom and Steve Whitaker of University of California Santa Cruz have researched how having to "dispos[e] of digital possessions" — posts, blog entries, videos, photos, even songs — hinders people's ability to move on after a relationship.

The authors interviewed 24...

Learn Klingon in 6 steps

The Week — Sat, 18 May 2013 12:15:00 -0400

Ha! So you think you have the fortitude to learn Klingon? Yes, yes, go on with your "clever" jokes about "geeks" "wasting time" in their "parents' basements" or whatever the weak and insecure do when they realize they do not have what it takes to master the language of Wil'yam Shex'pir. Do you know what the very first lines of the very first Star Trek movie were? It was back in 1979 and some of you may not have been born yet, so I will tell you. They were "wIy cha'! HaSta! cha yIghuS!" The subtitles read "Tactical… Visual… Tactical, stand by on torpedoes!" But much was lost in the...

Therese Anne Fowler's 6 favorite books

The Week — Sat, 18 May 2013 10:15:00 -0400

Save Me the Waltz by Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald (out of print). A modernist, semi-autobiographical novel about a tormented ballet dancer and her tormented artist husband. Published by Scribner's but heavily edited — first by F. Scott Fitzgerald, in order to "control the message" — it has moments of brilliance and begs for further care and development.

Loving Frank by Nancy Horan (Ballantine, $15). To be a woman of passion and ambition in the early 20th century was to invite scandal, scorn, and personal anguish. Horan's 2007 novel gives us the real characters Martha Borthwick and her lover...

10 things you need to know today: May 18, 2013

The Week — Sat, 18 May 2013 08:14:00 -0400

1. CONGRESS GRILLS IRS OFFICIAL
Congress heard testimony from Steven Miller, the acting IRS commissioner who was forced to resign by President Obama after it was revealed that the agency flagged Tea Party groups for extra scrutiny. Miller told the House Ways and Means Committee that while the agency's actions were "obnoxious," they weren't motivated by partisanship. [New York Times]
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McDonald's increasingly enormous menu: By the numbers

The Week — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:46:00 -0400

The shifting tastes of American consumers are as hard to pinpoint as the chicken parts of a McNugget. Which may be one reason why McDonald's offers such a wide range of choices — from the specialty McRib to a diet-friendly walnut salad. But while variety is a plus for picky eaters, it has become a headache for America's biggest fast food chain. Since 2007, the size of McDonald's menu has swelled by 70 percent, which has reportedly come at a cost of quality and service, according to emails obtained by Bloomberg.

"It's gotten to the point where the operation has kind of broken down and that...

The daily gossip: Beyonce Knowles is pregnant again, and more

The Week — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:28:00 -0400

1. Beyonce Knowles is pregnant again
Another baby for Bey-Bey? Apparently so. According to E! Online, "multiple sources" have confirmed that Beyonce Knowles is pregnant with a second child, confirming speculation that her "dehydration and exhaustion" was pregnancy-related (and not just being-a-famous-globetrotting-performer-related). Now that the Beyonce's second baby is officially on the horizon, fans can begin speculating about possible names for it. (We're pulling for Green Sumac.)
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The week's best of the internet

The Week — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:14:00 -0400

1. The most beautiful man in the world
"Ahmed Angel must've been sent down from heaven to model for us, and he is 100 percent perfect," writes Buzzfeed. Hot fire.

2. Bandz-a-make Stephanie Tanner dance
If you knew an obscure Full House clip could sync up perfectly with one of last year's best rap tracks, shame on you. How rude, indeed. (Via Vine)

3. Recurring developments
This interactive single-serving site does a neat job of tallying all of Arrested Development's inside jokes and what episodes they appeared in. It's the perfect refresher course before the series comes back.

4. The best...

Party foul: Is PBR making cheap beers more expensive?

The Week — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:00:00 -0400

We've already heard how millenials are so egocentric that they're ruining the nation. And we've seen how cute their Brooklyn-inspired lifestyles are.

But these whippersnappers may have finally crossed the line. A new report finds that the price of cheap beer is rising at a faster clip than that of more expensive, craft beers. The culprit? Pabst Blue Ribbon and its resurgent popularity with young hipsters, say the report's authors.

According to the study from Restaurant Sciences, a research group that tracks changes in the food and beverage industry, the cost of lower-priced beers has gone up...

WATCH: The grim full-length trailer for Dexter's final season

The Week — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:34:00 -0400

The first full-length trailer for the final season of Showtime's Dexter is finally here, and things are looking worse than ever for the Morgan family. Season 8 opens with Dexter's sister Deb in a downward spiral after shooting and killing LaGuerta to protect her brother in last year's season finale. Dexter finds Deb shacked up with a sleazy guy and a laundry list of prescription meds. "You made me compromise everything about myself that I care about and I hate you for it," says Deb. "I shot the wrong person in that trailer."

But as bad as things are for Deb, they're not going any better for...

Should the U.K. leave the European Union?

The Week — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:25:00 -0400

British lawmakers are considering a bill that would authorize a popular vote by 2017 on whether the U.K. should leave the European Union.

If put up for a vote, there is a decent chance the measure could pass, considering that only 43 percent of Britons have a favorable view of the E.U.

What's at stake? Pro-exit politicians say that leaving the union would eliminate high membership fees, limit immigration, and free the U.K. from E.U. legislation. Many skeptics of a possible exit focus on what it would mean for trade.

"Let's be clear. Being a member of a reformed E.U. is the best way to preserve...

5 highlights from the House's first hearing into the IRS scandal

The Week — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:24:00 -0400

In a nearly four-hour-long hearing on Friday, the House Ways and Means Committee grilled outgoing Internal Revenue Service chief Steven Miller over the agency's targeting of Tea Party and conservative groups that had applied for tax-exempt status.

The IRS has admitted to singling out such groups for extra scrutiny, leading Republicans to accuse the agency of a partisan bias.

While Miller deflected many of the questions posed by members of the committee, saying he either did not know or was unprepared to provide detailed answers, the hearing still shed some new light on the scandal.

Here, five...

Will Russia's advanced missiles prevent U.S. intervention in Syria?

The Week — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:35:00 -0400

Russia has sent advanced antiship missiles to Syria in what U.S. officials called a "show of force." Moscow is one of embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's last allies — and his most powerful. Moscow long ago admitted that it had supplied arms to Syria — including missiles — but insisted it only sent defensive systems. The sophisticated, radar-targeting these Yahkont antiship missiles have, however, would give Assad the ability to go on offense if the U.S. and other foreign countries try to intervene on behalf of the rebels in Syria's civil war.

The immediate fear is that...

Why the GOP dropped its boycott of Obama's Labor and EPA picks

The Week — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:14:00 -0400

Senate Republicans last week blocked committee votes on President Obama's picks to lead the Department of Labor and the Environmental Protection Agency, infuriating Democrats who have long complained about the GOP's obstructionism.

Yet this week, Republicans suddenly dropped their opposition, finally allowing Democrats to send both nominees on to the the full Senate.

On Thursday, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved the nomination of Gina McCarthy to head the EPA on a party-line vote, 10-8. On the same day, the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) committee voted...

How Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. can be a success

The Week — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:11:00 -0400

Earlier this week, ABC unleashed the first full-length trailer for this fall's much talked about Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., offering our first significant glimpse at how Marvel plans to adapt its multibillion-dollar superhero franchise for the small screen. With a storyline set after the earth-shattering events of The Avengers, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is resurrecting Agent Coulson — Clark Gregg's fan favorite character, who was killed off in The Avengers — as the leader of a group of lower-level S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in a newly superheroic world.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is one of the buzziest...

Will the GOP's attempt to tie the IRS scandal to ObamaCare backfire?

The Week — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:45:00 -0400

House Republicans voted Thursday to repeal ObamaCare — for the 37th time. But this vote was slightly different, with the GOP framing the legislation as a means to prevent the Internal Revenue Service from interfering in private health decisions.

It's part of a concerted effort by Republicans to tie ObamaCare to the ongoing IRS scandal, in which low-level employees have been accused of flagging Tea Party and other conservative groups that applied for tax-exempt status. The connection? The IRS is responsible for implementing and enforcing aspects of President Obama's health-care reform law...