One tough lady

Slate's grumpy Jack Shafer approves of Jill Abramson's promotion to executive editor at the New York Times: "How tough is Jill Abramson? In 2007, she was hit by a truck at Seventh Avenue and 44th Street. Oh, she broke her femur and fractured her hip and spent three weeks in Bellevue Hospital. But you shoulda seen the damage to the truck. Her appointment to the executive editorship of the New York Times, announced Thursday and effective in September, makes great sense. The Times is a place where truck-size egos constantly careen past newsroom cubicles and down the aisles, so her superheroine powers as both immovable object and unstoppable force will come handy."