Amid worsening economic news flying at us almost constantly, there is some good news and it’s coming from a surprising corner of the globe: Africa. The continent that has been the metaphor for human misery because of continual wars, poverty, and famine in some respects is recording healthier economic growth than in the industrialized world according to the International Monetary Fund.

The IMF estimates that Africa’s economy may expand by 5 percent this year and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reports that a bigger portion of money entering Africa since 2006 has been investment rather than aid. Even more optimistic is that the Mo Ibrahim Foundation found that 31 out of 48 sub-Saharan African countries, governance is improving. Most improved over the past year was Liberia which saw more than a quarter of a million of its own citizens perish in two civil wars between 1989 and 2003, but has now risen six places to 38th.

To see why some conditions are improving and the 10 best governed African countries, read more

Yesterday Jezebel wrote about an article from the New York Post in which Lori Uscher-Pines, the author of The Get-Your-Man-to-Marry-You Plan: Buying the Cow in the Age of Free Milk, offers five dos and don'ts for getting your man to pop the question. Disappointingly, some of her advice seems to promote guilt-inducing tricks, including the following:

Do create some dependency, you scheming bitch. Ha ha, kidding. But really, do this. "Get him to depend on you a little bit," [Uscher-Pines] says, "and then show him what life is like without this benefit." Cook him a gourmet meal every night and then stop. Pay bills and then stop. Get his car inspected and then stop. You're so bad, you're good!

Jezebel's commenters concluded that if you really want to get married and your boyfriend doesn't, then it's best to just end the relationship instead of trying to trick him into it. I wholeheartedly agree, except that I do believe there's a difference between a man who never wants to marry his girlfriend and a man who's just not ready to get married yet. But even still, the question remains: Do you wait?

What's your experience? If you loved someone who didn't want marriage, could you sacrifice your own desire in order to stay with him? Or would you try to get him to change?

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This is an odd story, the mysterious disappearance of an SNL sketch on the Bailout. Since $700 billion is pretty big doin's, naturally the Lampooners in Chief wanted to get in on the action — regardless of whether Congressional hearings/press conferences lend themselves to comedy (uh, they don't.) The sketch trained a carefully pointy eye on the possible Democratic roots of the Bailout plan.

Why then has the sketch, which skewered everyone from the 99th richest person in the world, George Soros to philanthropists Herb and Marion Sandler, disappeared? The rumor is, the skit got zapped because it tweaked the above, who happen to have well-known liberal leanings. It also happened to identify the Sandlers as "people who should be shot." Despite their best efforts, it's the internet — you can still watch the whole clip and see a full script, if you know where to look.

What was SNL up to? To find out, read more