WTF(?)

After 30 years of this:



Good job, guys:


[http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10365240-71.html]

Happy 140th Birthday, Gandhi!

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."
"You must be the change you want to see in the world."
- Mahatma Gandhi

"In my life, I have always looked to Mahatma Gandhi as an inspiration, because he embodies the kind of transformational change that can be made when ordinary people come together to do extraordinary things. That is why his portrait hangs in my Senate office; to remind me that real results will not just come from Washington - they will come from the people."

- President Barack Obama (in an article for India Abroad during his campaign, Feb. 2008)

Oh, Dave.

Late-night host David Letterman acknowledged on Thursday's show that he had sexual relationships with female employees and that someone tried to extort $2 million from him over the affairs. CBS says an employee has been charged with attempted grand larceny in the case.


Stephanie Birkitt has been identified as one of the women involved in the David Letterman extortion plot.

Wii Bowling Is Pretty Fun (Though...)

Florida police were caught on surveillance playing Wii bowling for hours during a drug raid.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Special Bonus: Ann Curry to Al Roker, "I'm gonna strike you."

[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/22/police-play-wii-bowling-d_n_294405.html]

You Said It, Not Me

"From a technical perspective, the recession is very likely over at this point."
- Ben Bernanke

The Ultimate Cougar

Name: Wok Kundor
Age: 107

Husband: Mohammed Boor Che Musa
Age: 37

Place: Malaysia
Issue: Husband is in rehab and she is afraid he is going to leave her, so Wok is looking for husband No. 23.

[http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/09/15/malaysia.old.bride/]

(Bento) Box Lunches

A new/old-school craze:









[http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/dining/09bento.html]

Green House

Dan Phillips and his construction company, Pheonix Commotion, build low-income housing out of discarded materials that would normally go to a land-fill.








[http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/garden/03recycle.html?8dpc]

"Instantaneous Euthanasia"(?)

Can't bring myself to watch it, but here it is:


An undercover video shot by an animal rights group at an Iowa egg hatchery shows workers discarding unwanted chicks by sending them alive into a grinder, and other chicks falling through a sorting machine to die on the factory floor.

Chicago-based Mercy for Animals said it shot the video at Hy-Line North America's hatchery in Spencer, Iowa, over a two-week period in May and June. The video was obtained Monday by The Associated Press.

Hy-Line said in a statement it has started an investigation "of the entire situation," adding that it would have helped their investigation "had we been aware of the potential violation immediately after it occurred."

The video, shot with a hidden camera and microphone by a Mercy for Animals employee who got a job at the plant, shows a Hy-Line worker sorting through a conveyor belt of chirping chicks, flipping some of them into a chute like a poker dealer flips cards.

These chicks, which a narrator says are males, are then shown being dropped alive into a grinding machine.

In other parts of the video, a chick is shown dying on the factory floor amid a heap of egg shells after falling through a sorting machine. Another chick, also still alive, is seen lying on the floor after getting scalded by a wash cycle, according to the video narrator.

Hy-Line said the video "appears to show an inappropriate action and violation of our animal welfare policies," referring to chicks on the factory floor.

But the company also noted that "instantaneous euthanasia" – a reference to killing of male chicks by the grinder – is a standard practice supported by the animal veterinary and scientific community.

According to Mercy for Animals, male chicks are of no use to the industry because they can't lay eggs and don't grow large or quickly enough to be raised profitably for meat. That results in the killing of 200 million male chicks a year.

The United Egg Producers, a trade group for U.S. egg farmers, confirmed that figure and the practice behind it.

"There is, unfortunately, no way to breed eggs that only produce female hens," said the group's spokesman, Mitch Head. "If someone has a need for 200 million male chicks, we're happy to provide them to anyone who wants them. But we can find no market, no need."

Using a grinder, Head said, "is the most instantaneous way to euthanize chicks."

Hy-Line says on its Web site that its Iowa facility produces 33.4 million chicks. Based on that figure, Mercy for Animals estimates a similar number of male chicks are killed at the facility each year. Hy-Line did not comment on that estimate.

Mercy for Animals says it will call on the nation's 50 largest grocery chains to include labels on their eggs that say, "Warning: Male chicks are ground-up alive by the egg industry."

Head called that proposal "almost a joke," saying the group had no credible authority, and had questionable motives. "This is a group which espouses no egg consumption by anyone – so that is clearly their motive." The video does in fact end with a call for people to adopt a vegan diet, which eliminates all animal products – meat, eggs or dairy.

Nathan Runkle, executive director of Mercy for Animals, said most people would be shocked to learn that 200 million chicks are killed a year.

"Is this justifiable just for cheap eggs?" he said.

As to more humane alternatives to disposing of male chicks, Runkle said the whole system is inherently flawed.

"The entire industrial hatchery system subjects these birds to stress, fear and pain from the first day," he said.

[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/01/chicks-being-ground-up-al_n_273652.html]

U.S. Open

Go Venus, it's your birthday.

Go Andy, it's your birthday.

Cyber Coupons

No more clipping (those annoyingly-thin) paper coupons, thanks to:
- Cellfire
- Zavers
- 8coupons (For NYers)
- Yowza!! (For iPhone or iPod Touch)

[http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/29/technology/29coupon.html?em]

The Fastest-Growing (and Loneliest) Group in America

"Many are aging parents of naturalized American citizens, reuniting with their families. Yet experts say that America’s ethnic elderly are among the most isolated people in America. Seventy percent of recent older immigrants speak little or no English. Most do not drive. Some studies suggest depression and psychological problems are widespread, the result of language barriers, a lack of social connections and values that sometimes conflict with the dominant American culture, including those of their assimilated children.

The lives of transplanted elders are largely untracked, unknown outside their ethnic or religious communities. 'They never win spelling bees,' said Judith Treas, a sociology professor and demographer at the University of California, Irvine. 'They do not join criminal gangs. And nobody worries about Americans losing jobs to Korean grandmothers.'"

Learning to Love Reading

Lorrie McNeill, 42, a teacher at Jonesboro Middle School in Georgia, allows her students to choose their own reading materials.

"In New York City many public and private elementary schools and some middle schools already employ versions of reading workshop. Starting this fall, the school district in Chappaqua, N.Y., is setting aside 40 minutes every other day for all sixth, seventh and eighth graders to read books of their own choosing.

In September students in Seattle’s public middle schools will also begin choosing most of their own books. And in Chicago the public school district has had a pilot program in place since 2006 in 31 of its 483 elementary schools to give students in grades 6, 7 and 8 more control over what they read. Chicago officials will consider whether to expand the program once they review its results."

[http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/books/30reading.html]




R.I.P. Reading Rainbow

[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112312561]

Are You a "Normal" Eater?

By Tara Parker-Pope

Given that 60 percent of the population is overweight, our view of normal eating has changed over the years. For some eaters, “normal” means eating fast food on a regular basis. For others, “normal” means regular failed efforts at calorie restriction in an endless cycle of yo-yo dieting.

The article cites a broad definition of normal eating by registered dietitian Ellyn Satter. Here are some of the highlights:

- Normal eating is going to the table hungry and eating until you are satisfied.
- Normal eating is being able to give some thought to your food selection so you get nutritious food, but not being so wary and restrictive that you miss out on enjoyable food.
- It is leaving some cookies on the plate because you know you can have some again tomorrow, or it is eating more now because they taste so wonderful.
- Normal eating is trusting your body to make up for your mistakes in eating.
- Normal eating takes up some of your time and attention, but keeps its place as only one important area of your life.

[http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/26/what-is-normal-eating/?em]

The 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare

1. Barack Obama
President of the United States,
Washington

2. Kathleen Sebelius
Secretary,
HHS,
Washington

3. Nancy-Ann DeParle
Director,
White House Office of Health Reform,
Washington

4. Max Baucus
U.S. Senator (D-Mont.)
Chairman, Senate Finance Committee,
Washington

5. Chuck Grassley
U.S. senator (R-Iowa),
Ranking member, Senate Finance Committee,
Washington

. . .

13. Bill Gates
Chairman, Microsoft Corp.;
co-founder, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,
Redmond, Wash.

. . .

14. Arnold Schwarzenegger
Governor, State of California,
Sacramento

15. Nancy Pelosi
(D-Calif.), speaker of the House,
U.S. House of Representatives,
Washington

. . .

17. Steve Burd
President and CEOz,
Safeway stores, Pleasanton, Calif., and an early advocate for national healthcare reform

18. Sister Carol Keehan
President,
Catholic Health Association,
Washington

. . .

64. Paul Tang
Vice president and chief medical information officer,
Palo Alto (Calif.) Medical Foundation

[http://www.modernhealthcare.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Site=CH&Date=20090824&Category=FREE&ArtNo=811009998&Ref=PH]

Law School = Mistake(?)

Derek Fanciullo.

"Downturn Dims Prospects Even at Top Law Schools"
By GERRY SHIH
Published: August 25, 2009

This fall, law students are competing for half as many openings at big firms as they were last year in what is shaping up to be the most wrenching job search season in over 50 years.

For students now, the promise of the big law firm career — and its paychecks — is slipping through their fingers, forcing them to look at lesser firms in smaller markets as well as opportunities in government or with public interest groups, law school faculty and students say.

The frenzy has even pushed the nation’s top firms, a tradition-bound coterie, into discussing how to reform the recruitment process with an earnestness that would have been unthinkable just years ago.

Even if the economy is beginning to pick up, the legal profession has been pummeled over the last year, with some firms closing and survivors often asking associates to take leaves of absence.

How bad is it? Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, the juggernaut of New York, has slashed its hiring by more than half. For the first time in 136 years, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, a respected Philadelphia firm, has canceled its recruiting entirely. Global firms like DLA Piper and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe have postponed recruiting for several months to see if the market improves.

At Yale, students accustomed to being wooed by Big Law’s glittering names — like Baker & McKenzie; Milbank, Tweed, Hadley, & McCloy; and White & Case — were stunned when those firms canceled interviews in New Haven this month.

New York University, Georgetown, Northwestern and other top universities confirm that interviews are down by a third to a half compared with a year ago, while lower-ranked schools are suffering more. What is more, when interviews finish in a few weeks, even fewer offers will be extended, said Howard L. Ellin, the chairman of global hiring at Skadden, Arps, because many firms are interviewing students for slots they may not fill.

After he lost his job as a television reporter two years ago, Derek Fanciullo considered law school, thinking it was a historically sure bet. He took out “a ferocious amount of debt,” he said — $210,000, to be exact — and enrolled last September in the School of Law at New York University.

“It was thought to be this green pasture of stability, a more comfortable life,” said Mr. Fanciullo, who had heard that 90 percent of N.Y.U. law graduates land jobs at firms, and counted on that to repay his loans. “It was almost written in stone that you’ll end up in a law firm, almost like a birthright.”

With the cost of law school skyrocketing over the years, the implicit arrangement between students and the most expensive and prestigious schools has only strengthened: the student takes on hefty debt to pay tuition, and the school issues the golden ticket to a job at a high-paying firm — if that’s what the student wants.

“Students came in with a certain sense of what the compact was going to be,” said Irene Dorzback, the assistant dean for career services at the New York University School of Law. But with the system crumbling in recent months, Ms. Dorzback said, “people are now accepting this notion of a lost year.”

The timing is worst for the class of 2011, the second-years now looking to get into firms, because of a unique logjam created last year. After the September financial crisis, firms chose to defer their new hires at the price of steeply cutting recruiting this year.

But students who miss the brief window of opportunity to land an offer this fall may struggle to break into firms once next year’s class rises. When Julia Figurelli, a second-year student at the University of Pennsylvania, decided to enter law school a year ago, she expected to find a lucrative law firm job in three years — if not collecting the $160,000-a-year associate salaries at one of the uppermost partnerships. By the time she obtains her J.D., she says, she will have around $200,000 in debt.

“Had I seen where the market was going, I would’ve gone to a lower-ranked but less expensive public school,” she said. “I’m questioning whether law school was the right choice at all.”

[http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/26/business/26lawyers.html?pagewanted=1&em]

Texting Toddlers

The Text and Learn from Leapfrog(leapfrog.com) for $22. Learning programs for 3-6 year olds. Cannot actually text, but does have an LCD screen.



The LG Rumor from Kajeet (kajeet.com) for $180 (plus monthly calling plan). A fully-functional cell phone, which includes texting and GPS.

[http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/technology/personaltech/27basics.html?_r=1&hp]

(Fellow) Bloggers Beware

Fashion Student Blogger Sues Google for $15M

Rosemary Port.

Rosemary Port launches counter-suit against Google after her identity was released to Liskula Cohen, the model she attacked on the web
By Casey Chance
FIRST POSTED AUGUST 25, 2009

Rosemary Port, the New York blogger whose identity was revealed by Google after she called a Vogue model a "skank", is planning to sue the internet giant for $15 million for defamation.

This is the latest twist in a saga which began when Port had used her anonymous blog 'Skanks of NYC', hosted by Google's blogger.com, to call the Canadian model Liskula Cohen the "skankiest in NYC", an "old hag" and a "psychotic, lying, whoring... skank".

Liskula Cohen.

Cohen, 37, then sought the blogger's identity so she could pursue a defamation case against her. Last week, Google took the unprecedented step of releasing Port's details, something it had initially refused to do.

Port, a 29-year-old fashion student [at FIT], originally defended her actions in court, claiming blogs "serve as a modern-day forum for conveying personal opinions, including invective and ranting", and should not be treated as factual assertions, but her claim was rejected by the judge.
Yesterday Port said that Cohen had "defamed herself" by going to the press. "This has become a public spectacle and a circus that is not my doing," Port told the New York Daily News. "Before her suit, there were probably two hits on my website: one from me looking at it, and one from her looking at it," she added. "That was before it became a spectacle."

Port said that in releasing her IP address, Google had put her on a "silver platter for the press to attack me". Her lawyer Salvatore Strazzullo said Google had breached a legal and ethical obligation to protect her expectation of anonymity. "I'm ready to take this all the way to the Supreme Court," he said.

[http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/52702,news,anonymous-blogger-sues-google-after-being-named-rosemary-port-liskula-cohen-skanks-of-ny]


Can we?

"Free Your Breasts, Free Your Mind(?)"

"Topless women march in Central Park for right to bare breasts"

By Joe Jackson (no, not that one)
Monday, August 24, 2009

Some were shocked. Others disgusted. But for some, it was the breast day ever!

Dozens of semi-nude women gave the city a Double-D eyeful Sunday when they bared their boobs in Central Park and then marched through the streets. The daring display was part of "National Go-Topless Day" - indeed, there is such a thing - and stunned jaded New Yorkers and wide-eyed tourists alike.

"This is unbelievable - and super," said Dalvin Jan, 21, who rents bicycles for a living on Central Park South. "I'm going to tell my wife to join in."

With Chaka Khan's "I'm Every Woman" blaring from speakers and chants of "free your breasts, free your mind," the troupe of bare-breasted women - and their enthusiastic male supporters - paraded their way along Central Park South.

"We're all here for the same reason - to allow women to be free in the park like men," organizer Sylvie Chabot, 54, of Montreal, told the crowd at a midday rally at Columbus Circle.
Motorists honked their horns in support while bemused tourists took photos from passing tour buses.

"I'm pretty surprised," said Carolyn Meierjugen, 49, of New Jersey, who was taking a horse carriage ride in the park. "If they want to do it, let them do it. I couldn't," she admitted.

Several unhappy onlookers complained to cops who were powerless to intervene.

New York is the only state in the country where women can be topless legally, after a 1992 ruling in the state's highest court. That means any woman can walk around the city at any time with no shirt on.

Among the speakers was Ramona Santorelli, of upstate Rochester, who was the plaintiff in the 1992 case.

"It's not about baring your breasts," she said. "But the true meaning is to normalize women's bodies."

Yesterday's protesters noted that is not always the case.

Artist Jill Coccaro, who goes by the name Phoenix Feeley, tested the New York law in 2005 after cops arrested her for exposing her breasts on Delancey St. She cited the 1992 ruling when cops grabbed her, but was held for 12 hours. She sued. The city later settled for $29,000.

Topless events took place across the country, from Los Angeles to Columbus, Ohio.

Organizers gathered signatures for a petition asking Congress to relax nudity laws, which they plan to hand over on Go-Topless Day next year.

Most passersby were amused by the sight of scores of half-naked people.

"It's nice for them," said unfazed Swedish tourist Birgitta Asplin, 58. "It's the human body - nothing more!"

But others said it was all a very bad idea.

"This is extreme liberalism and why America's in decline," shouted one woman, who said she was a doctor but declined to give her name. "It's degrading to women to tell them to expose their breasts publicly."

"I'm not shocked - we're in New York City," said Lindsay Hall, 28, of Maryland. "But speaking from a woman's perspective, I disagree with them. There's something to be said for modesty," she added.

[http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/08/24/2009-08-24_halfnude_women_march_by_park_for_right_to_bare_breasts_ya_cant_top_this.html]