Friday Links: The Stalin ruins Women’s Day edition

Once upon a time, I used to post Monday links. I’m bringing them back, but on Friday. Because I actually have time to think of smart posts on the weekend. Not so much on Fridays.

It is a weird week when the 60th anniversary of Stalin’s death rolls around and it’s also (almost) International Women’s Day. I guess that’s how it played out the first time around too.

1. Speaking of Stalin’s death…

Lots of cheery reading to be had. Like how half of all Russians still think he’s a swell dude. In fact, his approval ratings are soaring proving that the only good dictator is a dead dictator.

Or you could read Vicki Boykis’s take on Stalin and in the Facebook era (though you may find yourself drowning yourself in chocolate after – consider yourselves warned):

how did people let Stalin happen? And the answer is, people let Stalin happen the same way that you pass by a piece of litter on the street without throwing it out, or see a car stranded on road and don’t slow down to help.

And then in a fit of optimism, she broke the cardinal rule of the internet and started arguing with the crazy. Want to know what happens when you try to tell a bunch of Stalin supporters that he was a murderer?

Like I said, lots of chocolate.

2. It’s Women’s Day – let us all bash women together

That Marissa Meyer – can’t do anything right. First she dared to come back to work after two weeks. Which, I might add, is only four weeks sooner than the US mat leave, so really. Then she refused, refused, to call herself a feminist. And when she finished pissing off the women, she turned her attention to the geeks, having the audacity to tell Yahoo staff they had to stop working from home. Good thing she’s too busy running an empire to read our opinions. (Also, why do people care so much about Marissa Meyer’s mat leave? Let’s just check back in with the kid in 18 years or so. Now that’s an opinion that matters.)

Here’s the one piece you really should read on the Meyer backlash, from Hanna Rosin, who thinks that a high-powered woman’s refusal to identify as a feminist is worth thinking about. Aside from debate over who and what is a feminist these days, it’s about our obligations to the collective vs. to ourselves.

Now, what was I just saying about good old Soviet Russia…

3. More horsemeat!

If you’re still in mourning about all the IKEA meatballs you’ll never eat again, this will make you feel much better. Plus, it’s from journalist Julia Ioffe (who reported from Moscow for a few years and is now based in Washington) with a footnote to the Leningrad Siege. You can’t go wrong – “On the pleasures of horse meat”

4. If life were a Libyan prison

While we’re talking food, here’s a guy who was tortured in a Libyan prison and all he wants to talk about is the cuisine. He’s like an episode of Portlandia on steroids, except it’s tragically real. But now you can wash down those meatballs with some Libyan chow.

5. The manvolution cometh

Low-hanging fruit, but come on, how could I ignore the broghurt? Boys, you need to start buying more yoghurt and spare us the agony of man-marketing. It’s time to step up.