Aunt Mabel Suggests…

Ever notice that the NYTimes.com most-emailed list is slanted toward an older demographic? Maybe because only folks over a certain age—like our Aunt Mabel—still use the email tool. Here’s a quick, annotated guide to what grandma and grandpa thought you might be interested in from NYTimes.com …

1. Frank Rich doesn’t think Sarah Palin will get to the White House. Mabel finds this reassuring.

2. Well, this one’s no shocker. Tara Siegel Bernard’s piece from Friday about when, exactly, one should collect social security has rocketed to the top two. We know Mabel’s been collecting her check for a while–that’s how she can afford all those striped socks we get for our birthday!–but we bet she’s emailing this one around to her slightly younger friends.

3. Whales, they’re just like us!

4. Yes, you should go to Maryland’s Eastern Shore to eat crabs. We grew up near there, so we know. Also, cute B&B’s!

5. Kristof on “Clean, Sexy Water.” Slightly overblown headline, but…. Mabel loves a column about a party boy gone good, like this one, about a club promoter from Manhattan who started a charity to provide clean water to people in Africa and Asia.

6. Dowd. Twitter. Palin. McCain.

7. The iPhone Apps you must have list sticks around through the weekend. We’re surprised: Mabel doesn’t even have a cell phone!

8. Online videos that show you how to do stuff.

9. What Mabel Knew: Cheney ordered the CIA to hide a counter-intelligence program from Congress. 

10. Ah, Aix-en-Provence! We’ve always wanted to go. Maybe Mabel will take us.

Final Tally:

Sports: 0
Health: 0
Politics: 1
Money: 1
Columnists: 3
Technology: 2
Travel: 2
Science: 1

Overall Tally:
Columnists: 50
Health: 40
Op-Ed contributors: 12
Food: 13
Travel: 13
Money: 10
Technology: 11