Boss. (Photo: flickr.com/jurvetson)

Did you think you were going to be able to escape talking about Lean In if you just kept quiet for a few days? How wrong you were! Sheryl Sandberg's kinda-sorta manifesto is everywhere this week: 60 Minutes, Cosmo, and Time have all run big, splashy features on the Facebook COO. The latest to join the love-fest: USA Today.

But in her interview with the USA Today, Ms. Sandberg took the time to push back on one common assumption about her plans for the next few years:

She also denied the book is a springboard to a run for political office, as some recent reports suggest. "Absolutely not."

In her 60 Minutes appearance, she admitted it frosts her cookies there's been no female president of the United States, but said, "I feel like I'm doing all the leaning in that I can do right now."

That's not exactly a "no," now is it?

We'll grant that Lean In isn't some sort of cynical attempt to cash in on the world's fondness for feminism. The topic is one she's been discussing for a couple of years now, rather than something she ginned up as a way to introduce herself to the citizenry. Besides, it's not like packaging yourself as a modern-day Betty Friedan is the best way to write your own ticket in American politics, circa 2k13, when we can barely get the GOP to agree that rape is bad, period.

But what else is she going to do? The odds of Mark Zuckerberg checking out of Facebook aren't great. She could take the helm at another company, sure, but this is someone who once worked with the Treasury Secretary and still professes a little surprise she ended up in corporate America as opposed to the non-profit world. Why wouldn't she be considering an eventual run?

If I was a betting woman (and InTrade still existed) I know where I'd put my pennies.

(h/t Callie Schweitzer)

(Photo: Alley Cat Allies)

A group of cats rights activists are decidedly not amused by the recent backlash against the Internet's favorite mascot. Last week, the New York Times ran a story called "That Cuddly Kitty Is Deadlier Than You Think" based on a Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute report, which set off a firestorm of “Cats are killers!” stories--angering cat ladies everywhere.

Cat advocates refuse to stand for this breed of anti-cat propaganda, and they intend to do something about. In a newsletter sent out by the Maryland-based cat charity Alley Cat Allies, the Times and its ilk are taken to task for publishing "junk science" that was "authored by researchers with an anti-cat track record." They maaaaad, bro.

Alley Cat Allies relies on a system called “Trap-Neuter-Return," which they say has lead to a reduced number of feral cats being trapped and sent to kill shelters. The group claims the recent stories decrying murderous felines are based on "biased research that could lead to more outdoor cats being rounded up and killed." They also claim the study cites a researcher who was "convicted and fired for trying to poison cats." Yikes.

"We cannot stand for cats to be scapegoats," reads the outraged newsletter, which directs readers to a link where they can sign a petition asking the Smithsonian to disavow the study. Hey now, let's not bring the goat lobby into this.