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Daily Bafflements

• We’ve really got to stop giving the New York Times such a hard time for being out of touch with the financial realities of most of its readers’ lives. In a section of the paper on Wednesday that was literally entitled “Your Money,” an article explained that buying a horse for one’s daughter “is not easy, though it may not be impossible.” Sure, there are a lot of costs involved, but “At least the animals make the expense of boat ownership look reasonable.” And how!

• Today in Labor Strikes: Housekeepers at the Harvard-owned Doubletree hotel are on strike today; it is the first housekeepers’ strike in Boston history (Via Rosa Greenberg.)

• San Francisco lawmakers are considering a Retail Workers Bill of Rights, which would regulate hourly employees’ work schedules so they are less erratic, reports Ned Resnikoff for Al-Jazeera America.

• The California-based company that produces the “Skinny Mirror,” which curves to make a person appear up to ten pounds lighter than he or she actually is, is about to make bank from retail stores looking to fool and flatter their customers into buying more clothes. According to the Business Insider, “In response to critics who call the mirror deceptive, [the company’s founder] notes that the Skinny Mirror logo is visibly displayed on every mirror. (She has had requests from retailers to remove the logo, however).”