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Russian oligarch-funded Trump Jr.'s wedding sparks fresh questions and defenses
23 days ago•Source: Slate
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15.9 min•1 month ago
Calorie Counting Forever: A Personal, Complicated Chorus with MyFitnessPal
A Slate Life essay chronicles the author’s decades-long habit of counting calories with MyFitnessPal, weighed against a recent redesign and a shifting cultural stance on dieting. She reflects on how the app has become an intimate record of her life, the nuanced debate about whether calorie counting “works” in the long term, and how experts view it as a short‑term tool rather than a forever habit. The piece also explores how different people experience tracking—as a helpful habit, a crutch, or something to be avoided—while acknowledging that personal mindset and goals largely determine whether counting calories feels empowering or disordered.
12.97 min•1 month ago
Women’s Wit Shines in This Week’s Funniest Tweets Roundup (Aug 22–28)
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Reclaiming Focus: Strategies to Repair a Broken Attention Span
vox.com•1 month ago
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Pittsburgh Zoo unveils Kiazi, its new lion cub
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette•2 months ago
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Shay Martin Finds Love Again While Bearing Tanner’s Memory
Shay Martin, who documented her husband Tanner Martin’s battle with stage 4 colorectal cancer, reveals that she remarried about a year after his death in an intimate ceremony where Tanner’s memory was honored in their vows. Her new husband, Hunter, welcomed Tanner into their lives and bonded with Shay’s daughter AmyLou, showing that it’s possible to grieve deeply while moving forward and to love again without replacing a lost partner.
The Ariana Grande Body Debate Reveals a No-Win Culture
Slate’s Scaachi Koul argues that Ariana Grande’s body has become a public pressure test: fans and media flip between concern and judgment, drawing painful parallels to Karen Carpenter, while Grande insists she’s healthy and plans a break—leaving society with an unhelpful “silence or shaming” dilemma and highlighting a broader, toxic trend in how female stars are scrutinized.
A Survivor's Wake-Up Call on Postpartum Psychosis Amid Lindsay Clancy's Trial
Meghan Cliffel, a postpartum-psychosis survivor, reflects on Lindsay Clancy’s triple-murder trial and argues that maternal mental illness is a real, treatable emergency that demands better diagnosis and care, while highlighting support resources like the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline and Postpartum Support International.
Bubble-sheet Freedom: The Double-Edged Joy of Endless Sandwich Customization
A Slate essay examines the rise of bubble-sheet, multi-option ordering at sandwich joints like Which Wich, celebrating the freedom to customize while warning that too many choices raise expectations and can lead to disappointment. Psychologists say more options fuel comparisons and regret; some chains counter with guided signatures to simplify decisions. The piece questions whether this era of customizable menus truly enhances dining or just increases decision anxiety.
The Explosive Diet Trap: Why People Chase Illness for Weight Loss
Slate’s Mallary Tenore Tarpley examines a Cyclospora outbreak-driven trend where social-media users jokingly or earnestly pursue illness to slim down. She argues the “diarrhea diet” reveals how diet culture valorizes thinness, even at the cost of health, while experts warn that diarrhea mostly causes temporary water loss, not fat loss. The piece weaves in her own history with eating disorders and calls readers to name and resist the normalization of illness as a shortcut to weight loss.
Vance Family Welcomes Alec Neel as Trump Joins the Celebration Online
J.D. and Usha Vance welcomed their fourth child, Alec Neel Vance, ending a 156-year streak as the last baby born to a sitting U.S. vice president and second lady; Trump posted a photo of Alec with his siblings the next morning, adding a splash of presidential attention to the news as the Vance family plans to split time between Washington, D.C. and rural Virginia amid ongoing political visibility.
Trump, Extradition, and the Tate Brothers: A Global Legal Tightrope
The Tate brothers, facing new sex-trafficking and rape charges in the U.K. and Romania, await extradition from the U.S. in a high-stakes collision of international law and politics. The case probes whether Trump-era influence and media networks can shape a legal process that spans multiple countries, with a U.S. judge weighing the extradition and the secretary of state ultimately determining the outcome.
Parkside European flair meets city living in Foster Square townhouse listed at $470K
A 1,920-square-foot, four-bedroom Foster Square townhouse on Pittsburgh’s North Side—co-op, listed at $470,000—offers park views, European-style brick design, private patios, a renovated cherry kitchen with custom cabinets and a sunken living room with a gas fireplace; the top-floor primary suite has a balcony. HOA of $1,318/month covers heat, AC, water, taxes and maintenance; short-term rentals are not allowed and pets are permitted.
Creator of Scary Mommy Jill Smokler dies at 48 after brain cancer fight
Jill Smokler, founder of Scary Mommy, died at 48 after a glioblastoma diagnosis, two years after sharing her battle; her obituary lauds how her honest, humorous take on motherhood helped millions feel less alone and resist pretending, and she is survived by her three children, Lily, Ben, and Evan.
Century-Old Ligonier Home Gets a Fresh Look for Community Tour
Florida couple Matt and Ruth Redmond moved to Ligonier to restore a century-old brick house (built 1903–1906) and spent two years on a major renovation—replacing rotted porch stairs, reworking wiring, refinishing an original clawfoot tub, adding a 1,500-square-foot third-floor media room, renovating the carriage house, and upgrading landscaping—now featured as a stop on Inside Ligonier: A Home Tour to benefit the Ligonier Valley Historical Society on Saturday, June 27 (10 a.m.–4 p.m.). Tickets are $50 in advance at compassinn.org or 724-238-6818, and $55 the day-of at 121 East Main St. in the Diamond.