Chart of the Day

Love this chart from the NYT about who is well-rested.  There main point is that poor people are less likely to be well-rested, I find it much more intriguing that the keys to being well rested seem to be 1) being male; 2) not having any kids in the home.  I feel pretty rested– I guess they balance out for me :-).

There was some variation among demographic groups, however:

 

 

DADT

Big news in Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy this week as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen has come out in favor of ending DADT and allowing gay men and women to serve openly in the Armed Services.  It's not over yet, but this is a big step and is an important victory for gay Americans, but mostly I'm just pleased that the military is now on the way to abandoning such a clearly wrong-headed policy.  I accept that there are serious issues to address when you have openly gay soldiers serving in very close quarters in combat situations, e.g., a tank crew, but it is asinine to make a service-wide policy based upon the most extreme conditions.  Presumably, you've heard by now the ridiculous dismissals of Arab linguists (does it get any dumber?!) for being gay, as well as fighter pilots.  Surely, there's no issues of "unit cohesion" and personal privacy, etc., here, yet off they go.  Regardless of whether troops in infantry combat units, etc., are homophobic or not, there are obviously issues with having openly gay soldiers, but I suspect those largely resolve themselves, and where they do not, there's no reason the Army cannot have clear guidelines on the matter.  In a discussion with my "real" class today and in my on-line class, despite some concerns, not a single person actually believed it is a good idea for the military to keep DADT.  It's a bad idea who's time has passed.  The political scientist in me is quite looking forward to the fight play out in the year ahead, but with Mullen and SecDef Gates on board, not to mention Obama, it really can only be a matter of time.