GeekSugar

Miss Manners Says It's Cool to Ignore Friend Requests

GeekSugar — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:00:45 PDT

Take it from Judith Martin, Miss Manners herself, that when it comes to friend requests on social networking sites like Facebook or MySpace, you don't have to feel obligated to accept these invitations - especially when it involves mixing business with pleasure. The columnist in the Chicago Tribune recently said this about turning a blind eye to certain invitations:

Miss Manners is not one to suggest ignoring invitations, but this is more of a commercial solicitation. Even messages such as these from people you know socially are so widely distributed as to resemble the sort of open invitations that teenagers post on trees when their parents are out of town.

So there you have it. You can ignore those little invites and not feel guilty about it. Why? 'Cause Miss Manners said so.

Holiday Wish Lists: Practical or Tacky?

LearnVest — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 00:15:58 PST

We're thrilled to present this smart LearnVest story here on Savvy!

Ah, the wish list.

It made a lovely debut when we were little, often addressed to a certain Mr. Claus. It had a good run for a few years, but retired itself in adulthood as the stuff of kids and dreams (with the exception of weddings and babies, when they take on the adult guise of “registry”).

And now that we are adults, wish lists (outside of those socially acceptable registries) are at best silly and at worst mercenary, right? That’s what many think.

Are We Becoming More Mercenary?

A recent New York Times story discussed the recent trend of the wish list-it’s back, along with more mercenary attitudes towards gift-giving, like a desire for gift cards instead of actual gifts. (According to the story, for the last five years, gift cards have been the most requested gift, according to National Retail Foundation surveys.) A study released earlier this year showed that people who receive gifts they had requested actually derive more pleasure from them and appreciate them more.

Read on for more on wishlists.

IACP Announces Cookbook Award Winners

Katie Sweeney — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 09:36:52 PDT

The International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) are currently gathered in Austin, TX, for their annual weeklong conference. Last night, Dave Arnold, the director of technology for The French Culinary Institute and Chris Young, the co-author of Modernist Cuisine, hosted the 2011 Cookbook Awards Gala.

Among the winners? The New York Times and Food52's Amanda Hesser and French cooking pioneer Dorie Greenspan. Interested in checking out the entire list of winners? Read more.