Men! What are they thinking? We can't always answer that, but we'll be posting our favorite glimpses into their world in this space every Thursday.

* You don't have to be a sports fan to appreciate the Flannel of the Month blog which tells the stories behind historical baseball shirts. [Flannel of the Month]

* On this week's Moth podcast, TV on the Radio's Kyp Malone tells the sweet, funny story of using a traumatic event from his childhood to shield his daughter from the world's impatience. [The Moth]

* "When I read about people of great character like this, I am inspired to stay true to my own values, give back to the world, and be thankful for the freedoms we all take for granted."—Gary Sinise on Unbroken, the story of Louis Zamperini, a juvenile delinquent turned Olympic runner turned World War II POW. [O Magazine]

* "Raise the aesthetic standard—the public is more perceptive than you think."—Walter Allner, the art director famous for getting everyone in the Time Life building to leave their lights on to spell out 500 for a Fortune cover, who died this week at 97. [NYTimes.com]

Smiles have accents

In her new book, Lip Service, Yale psychology professor Marianne LaFrance, PhD, draws on the latest research—in fields from biology to anthropology to computer science—in an effort to shed some light on the happy face. One of the facts that made us smile:

"When reading facial expressions, different cultures home in on different parts of the face. In the United States, we focus on mouths; the Japanese, by contrast, search for feeling in the eyes. These emoticons say it all."

Photo: Thinkstock

The Easy-Bake Oven has been around since 1963, turning out tiny cookies and cakes with the heat from a 100-watt bulb, and inspiring future foodies such as Bobby Flay and pastry chef Gale Gand.

When Congress decided to ban the energy-sapping bulb, though, Hasbro engineers were faced with a challenge. But kitchen-minded kids (and their parents) can relax: The oven isn't going the way of the Atari 2600. It's evolving--something that's actually very much in the spirit of the Easy-Bake, which has spawned a gourmet Easy-Bake cookbook with recipes from famous chefs, recipes sites that include such creations as Wild Mushroom Flan, and even a PC that let you cook pancakes at your desk (okay, that one isn't real, but wouldn't it be fantastic?).

The latest incarnation of the Easy-Bake, which goes on sale this fall, has a fancy internal heating element instead of a light bulb, and doors on the left and right sides instead of in front. Such innovations--plus a larger cooking chamber and baking pan--blow the menu of baking options wide open to  include cookies, red velvet cupcakes, pizza, pretzels, cinnamon twists and brownie sticks.

As much as I love the idea of an almost 50-year-old toy getting a modern makeover (and we're nothing if not fans of constant evolution), I think Michelle Paolino, VP of global brand strategy and marketing for Hasbro Girls Brands, put it best. She has strong ties to the Easy-Bake, having played with one as a kid in the early '80s, and she was excited work on the update:  "A lot has changed," she says, "but that feeling of creation is still really relevant today."

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It's Summer Reading Week at Oprah.com! This week we're profiling the writers and books that you love, as well as some unexpected tidbits about all things literary. Today's homage: A love letter to the paperbacks we've left behind.

Photo: Thinkstock

I've always been a messy eater and a messy reader. After years of practice, I can finally sit down to a meal and keep my food (mostly) between my plate and my mouth. Sadly, my reading habits have not developed with the same ladylike maturity. In fact, it seems the older I get, the more likely my books are to look like they've done battle in both hemispheres by the time I'm finished with them.

I love a book by cramming it into a handbag even when it clearly doesn't fit, by holding it close to my chest when I'm sopping wet from a swim, by eating my dinner over it (I said mostly between my plate and my mouth), by turning the pages with so much enthusiasm that they have been known to rip. I can't help it, but I also cannot blame my mother for flat out refusing to lend me anything she hopes to reread in the future.

Photo: Thinkstock

And no, I'm not talking about a whole barbecued octopus with two equally out-there sides. These three dishes are just a little beyond the norm, but doable. I came across them in a new food quarterly from chef David Chang called Lucky Peach. While the issue focuses on ramen, there are some hidden, non-ramen gems, inside. Among them:

Sauteed lettuce. This is part of a ramen-crusted skate recipe, but I'd skip the fish (leave dredging skate in instant-ramen breadcrumbs to Chang) and go straight to the vegetable: Add a head or two of iceberg or butter lettuce, torn, to a skillet that's already sizzling with a tablespoon of grapeseed oil and a "nice big knob of butter." Toss in a pinch of salt and cook, stirring, until the lettuce is wilted but not completely slack, one or two minutes. Chang gives bonus points if you season it with a dash of vinegar or a squeeze of lemon.

Photo: Thinkstock

When we're blasting out of town for vacation, we like to know three things: where's the closest beach, pizza parlor and pit-stop motel. What we rarely think about are the locations of the nearest trauma centers, hospitals and base helipads. Still, it might not be a bad idea to keep these in mind, especially since summer makes us more likely to try activities we might normally shy away from (who goes skydiving in winter?).

We were happy to find the American Trauma Center's interactive map that allows us to spot "safety zones" at a glance--because a skilled medical professional is more valuable in a health emergency than an expert pie-maker (unless a margherita pizza is your dying wish). The purple splotches denote areas where advanced trauma care is just 45 minutes to an hour away. Looking at the map, we were startled to see that some popular summer destinations fall into the country's most unsafe areas.