Dith Pran, a photojournalist for The New York Times whose gruesome ordeal in the killing fields of Cambodia was re-created in a 1984 movie that gave him an eminence he tenaciously used to press for his people’s rights, died on Sunday at a hospital in New Brunswick, N.J. He was 65 and lived in Woodbridge, N.J.

More than 100 staffers leave Newsweek

The staff of Newsweek will shrink dramatically, after 111 staffers on its news and business sides accepted a buyout last week. Among those leaving are some of the magazine's best-known, most-admired and longest-service critics, including David Gates, David Ansen and Cathleen McGuigan.

Letting Red have his way

Changing street names, especially in a town like this one, which professes to care deeply about history, is a slippery slope.

But if we really care about history, then we need a street named after the late Arnold Jacob Auerbach.

Before anyone suggested creating a Red Auerbach Way, there was a Red Auerbach way. It produced a series of championships for the Boston Celtics that was unprecedented and, given the nature of free agency and the business that is pro sports today, probably will not be duplicated by any franchise, in any city anytime in the future.

Home sweet Gelman

Home sweet Gelman

This is so typical of GW. A kid living in the library due to pure bureaucracy on the college's part.

Will Tibet go the way of the American Indians?

Instead of reforming Tibetan society and culture, the Chinese communists wrecked it, says the LA Times. As a culture, are they now on the way to being little more than a tourist attraction?

Couldn't agree more

Drawing a sharp distinction between himself and the two Democratic presidential candidates, Senator John McCain of Arizona warned Tuesday against vigorous government action to solve the deepening mortgage crisis and the market turmoil it has caused, saying that “it is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers.”
“Some Americans bought homes they couldn’t afford, betting that rising prices would make it easier to refinance later at more affordable rates,” he said. Later he added that “any assistance must be temporary and must not reward people who were irresponsible at the expense of those who weren’t.”

Shabu Shabu

Boston.com:
Shabu Shabu combines the fun of fondue with the flavors of Japan, China, and Korea. (Though different countries have slightly different hot-pot styles, in Boston the idioms tend to blur.) It's interactive. It's great for kids, it's great for dates. It's healthy, unless you're watching your sodium intake. There is something for every taste - you can eat light, springy fish paste and tofu puffs and beef tongue in a spicy, numbing Sichuan broth, or you can have rib eye and chicken and mixed vegetables in bouillon.

Round about midnight

I already have blue nail polish, but it's old and it cost $1. This is infinitely more enticing.

Natick cheers for its Redmen

Voters approved a nonbinding ballot question Tuesday asking the Natick School Committee to reconsider last year's decision to scrap the longstanding Redmen sports moniker.

However, the $3.9 million override PASSED by a margin of 55 percent. What is WRONG with that town?? Nobody I know there was in favor of it. And, to be honest, I don't know how my mother can survive that kind of tax hike.

Soot may play big role in climate change

LA TIMES:
Unlike carbon dioxide, which traps solar energy radiating back from Earth's surface, black carbon particles absorb solar radiation as it enters Earth's atmosphere, increasing its heat.

Bush Says War's Outcome 'Will Merit the Sacrifice'

Washington Post: Gen David Petraeus reiterated his plan Monday to halt U.S. troop withdrawals, begun late last fall, at the end of July. At that point, he has said, he will "evaluate" whether Iraqi forces and a reduced number of U.S. troops can maintain the lower levels of violence.


I would encourage him to read this War Widows feature in Glamour.


Killeen, Texas, has been home to more widows whose husbands lost their lives in the Iraq war than any other place in the United states.

France considers Olympics boycott

Finally someone has the balls:

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Tuesday that he cannot rule out the possibility he might boycott the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics if China continues its crackdown in Tibet. An official from France's state television company said the broadcaster would likely boycott the games if coverage was censored.

Second annual Washington Post 'Peeps Show'

See the rest of the Peeps diorama contest finalist here!

Like I didn't feel lame enough

I worked with this kid at the Hatchet, next desk over -- he was the police beat editor and I did regular campus news editing. Somehow our career trajectories have taken, um, different paths.

Sublet clothing -- eco apparel

Beautiful, eh? Cute story behind how this design duo came to be (the name partly gives it away).

Subletclothing.com.

Check out this color!

I'm loving this Banana skirt -- you can't be shy in a bright green thing like this!

Ha!

Compact fluorescent light bulbs, long touted by environmentalists as a more efficient and longer-lasting alternative to the incandescent bulbs that have lighted homes for more than a century, are running into resistance from waste industry officials and some environmental scientists, who warn that the bulbs’ poisonous innards pose a bigger threat to health and the environment than previously thought.

Addendum

That paisley one, though gorgeous, would look pretty stupid on Horseneck Beach. Which is why I'm thinking one of the other two -- especially the bottom one -- would be more New England appropriate. And I think they'd look cooler in white than the colors shown. Though the green one is kinda cute.

Bathing suit coverups I sweat (from JCrew)

The Fat Pack Wonders if the Party’s Over

After years of gluttony, many food journalists, chefs and others who appreciate skillful cooking and gluttonous feasting are finding that their bodies can’t keep up.


Curious what the worst foods in America are? New York Times has a list for you.

Noir thriller plays in public bathrooms

For most visitors to Central Park, the public bathrooms are a facility of last resort, visited only in desperation after consuming one too many cups of coffee. They're dark and creepy, filled with spiders, foul odors and puddles of questionable origin. But for Irish director and playwright Paul Walker, the damp, the chill and even the smell are all part of the experience -- the theatergoing experience.

Won't you be my sweater buddy?

Tomorrow, Mr. McFeeley is asking people to wear a cardigan, cable knit, or turtleneck to celebrate what would have been Fred Rogers' 80th birthday.

This is where I want to go

For my 10 year wedding anniversary.
Hawaii? Please. So overdone.

In fact, I think this could have made a cool honeymoon, too.

But this looks like a place I'd want to go when I actually have money, not as a broke newlywed twentysomething!

Good thing the exchange rate is three to one. Who needs Europe?

China tightens grip on Tibetan areas

Things are going downhill here, and fast.

BEIJING—Soldiers and police tightened their hold on Tibetan areas Wednesday in a clampdown on scattered protests against the Beijing government, which insisted that the unrest would not deter plans to take the Olympic torch to the top of Mount Everest.
Chinese officials launched new broadsides at the Dalai Lama Wednesday, describing Tibet's exiled Buddhist leader as a "wolf" and "devil."

Homeless in Ontario have to prove residence

Ontario is sorting out who may stay and who must leave "Tent City."

The city issued wristbands – blue for Ontario residents, who may stay, orange for people who need to provide more documentation, and white for those who must leave.
The move to dramatically reduce the population curtails an experiment begun last year to provide a city-approved camp where homeless people would not be harassed.

Unrest in Tibet: Years of grievances erupt into rage

(Pictured: The Qinghai-Tibet rail line, billed as the highest in the world. Tibetans say it has only brought more Chinese entrepreneurs, migrant workers and tourists into their lands, further diluting their culture.)

Public schools Tibetans attend give short shrift to the Tibetan language, emphasizing Chinese instead. Ethnic Chinese hold most jobs, and Tibetan civil servants can be fired if their homes contain the traditional Buddhist shrine: a Buddha statue with incense sticks in front. Portraits of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan leader who has been in exile since 1959, are prohibited.

Less than half of what Tibetans consider their historic homeland lies within the bounds of what is now called Tibet in western China. The rest of these lands are within China's Sichuan, Qinghai and Gansu provinces, where Tibetans are a minority and treated as second-class citizens.

"It is not a genocide like World War II, but there is just no attempt to preserve our culture," said a 29-year-old student living in Beijing, who asked that her name not be used for fear that she could lose her residency permit.

Perez says

The Raconteurs are releasing a second album NEXT WEEK. They purposely didn't pre-market the disc at all.........which is cool, except I can't find anything, anywhere about its release. Where can I buy it?

Minghella dead at 54

Oscar-winning director Anthony Minghella, who turned such literary works as "The English Patient," "The Talented Mr. Ripley" and "Cold Mountain" into acclaimed movies, died Tuesday of a hemorrhage following surgery. He was 54.

Yeah, I want this shoe.

Pillows: the inside story

Repositories of body moisture, dead skin and drool, pillows offer irresistible digs to dust mites and fungi. A 2005 medical study of pillows -- said to be the first since 1936 -- found up to 16 species of fungi in a single pillow.
A minute's soak in hydrogen peroxide can kill the toothbrush spores; not so with a pillow.

So what's a side sleeper to do?
The Washington Post offers some advice.

New restaurant to try

"Hungry Mother" is right near my gym -- not that I'd dine in workout clothes (except perhaps my favorite LuLus) -- but this could be conducive to a healthy lifestyle, with offerings like cornmeal catfish for $16. Date night here we come.

Check out the dinner menu here.

Three great stories

Days after part of the Dachau concentration camp was recreated in Taunton by Hollywood director Martin Scorsese for scenes in his upcoming film “Ashecliffe,” Israel Geller of Canton man recounts the time he spent there as a young man.
See the article here.

Here, A World War II veteran from Halifax survived the front lines, but says the scenes at the concentration camp were “the hardest to deal with.” Roy MacDonald, 82, was among the U.S. soldiers who liberated the German concentration camp.


Finally, Jim Shiels was with armored battalion that knocked down the wire fence to liberate the Nazi concentration camp. Shiels, then 19, was among soldiers in the 19th Armored Infantry Battalion, Combat Command C, 14th Armored Division.

It was only a matter of time...

Before someone got killed at this intersection. Pedestrians who cross when it says "Don't Walk" are invisible to people rounding that corner, especially a truck.

My favorite newspaper article, probably ever

I had to dig this up because I've never been able to forget about it, even almost two years after I originally picked it up.
It's about elephants, which are one of my favorite animals. They are fascinating, yet they face an uncertain future. It's about how they profoundly mourn their dead,

Read all about it, in the New York Times Magazine.

Big Dig online

A very cool multimedia feature on the New York Times Web site, with a "before and after" look at the Big Dig, plus analysis of how the greenway will actually turn out. It's very critical of how the city is planning to make the most of the pedestrian walkways.
Does anyone else get vaguely nostalgic for the old Boston sometimes? I kind of liked all those sketchy little dives under the highway near North Station, and I miss the big red pagoda thingy. Martignetti's closing seemed the death knell for the old North End earlier this year, too -- to say nothing of the stupid high end clothing boutiques popping up over there.

The new South End

Boston.com:
Long a domain of edgy urbanity and sophisticated funkiness, the South End is increasingly a homey hub of babies perched in Bugaboos.
For some , the injection of nesting parents has rendered the South End a blanched version of its former self. The South End, the lament goes, is increasingly a closer and closer cousin of the scrubbed Back Bay or pristine Beacon Hill.

NENA to merge with NEPA

The two leading trade associations for newspapers in New England are talking about merging into one organization.
The directors of the New England Newspaper Association (NENA) and the New England Press Association (NEPA) have created a joint steering committee.
Members of the committee include: chairwoman Patrice Foster, Foster's Daily Democrat; vice-chair David Solomon of the Telegraph Publishing Co.; Tom Brown, Newspapers of New England; William F. Lucey III, The Newport (R.I.) Daily News; and Robert H. Laska from the Connecticut Post of Bridgeport, Conn; Marlene Switzer, CNC North Division; Lynn Delaney, The Milton (VT.) Independent; and Mary Pat Rowland of Foster's Daily Democrat.

"We are keenly interested in any input or opinions from the working newspaper men and women of New England about this proposed merger," said Foster and Solomon, "from possible names to services."
They urged anyone with opinions or recommendations to contact either NENA Executive Director Morley Piper at mlp@nenews.org; or NEPA Executive Director Brenda Reed at b.reed@nepa.org.

In baby business, what are the rules?

Boston.com:

Europe is beginning to ban the transfer of more than two embryos into a woman and recommending the transfer of only one, according to Harvard Business School professor Debora Spar, who is leaving this summer to become president of Barnard College.

She would allow children produced by technology to be told their genetic parents' identity, after her research found that many want that information. Finally, she would treat infertility as a medical condition, meaning that health insurers would cover certain treatments while defining those that would not be paid for.

"The the reality is our society hasn't thought this through and [has allowed] the desire for children to steamroll" ethical considerations, said the Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, the Catholic bioethics center's director of education, who would like to see IVF outlawed, but knows that a generation after the first test-tube babies, no ban will be forthcoming. As a result, he supports Spar's proposed restrictions and regulations.

http://www.astronautdinosaur.com/

Weak dollar limits students studying overseas - News

Weak dollar limits students studying overseas - News

ROck it

Recipe, from Williams Sonoma

This is a new source of recipes for me. Who doesn't love fried chicken? This sure beats the colonel.

Ask Southerners to name their favorite dish and the answer is inevitably fried chicken. There are probably as many recipes for this Southern specialty as there are folks to enjoy it. My version uses buttermilk and Tabasco to tenderize and flavor the chicken, and cornmeal for a crisp crust.

Ingredients:

2 cups buttermilk

1 tsp. Tabasco or other hot-pepper sauce

1 chicken, about 3 1/2 lb., cut into 8 serving
pieces

1 cup yellow cornmeal

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. freshly ground pepper

1 tsp. chopped fresh sage

1/2 tsp. paprika

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. onion powder

2 cups solid vegetable shortening

Directions:

In a large bowl, stir together the buttermilk and Tabasco. Slip the chicken pieces into the mixture. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or as long as overnight.

In a shallow baking dish, stir together the cornmeal, flour, salt, pepper, sage, paprika, garlic powder and onion powder. Remove each piece of chicken from the buttermilk, allowing the excess to drip away. Coat the pieces evenly with the seasoned flour and place on a large baking sheet.

In a bistro pan or a large, deep fry pan over medium-high heat, melt the shortening and heat to 360°F on a deep-frying thermometer. Arrange the chicken, skin side down, in the pan, placing the pieces of dark meat in the center and the pieces of white meat around the sides. Allow the pieces to touch slightly, but do not overcrowd the pan. Reduce the heat to medium and cook until golden brown, about 12 minutes. Using tongs, turn the chicken, cover and continue to cook for 10 minutes. Uncover, turn the chicken again, and cook until crisp and cooked through, about 10 minutes more.

Using tongs, transfer the chicken to paper towels to drain. Serve piping hot, at room temperature or even chilled, straight from the refrigerator. Serves 4.

Adapted from Williams-Sonoma New American Cooking Series, The South, by Roy Overton (Time-Life Books, 2000).

LA TIMES: In rural England, the mail's bad news

A plan to cut many post offices where villagers gossip and sip tea as well as buy stamps sparks turmoil.

In all of England, there is little so central to village life as the rural post office: The cheerful corner shop stuffed to the brim behind its battered oak counter with tidy rolls of stamps, express mail folders, and jars of gumdrops and homemade jelly. It is, aside from the pub of course, the principal destination for just about everyone just about every day, even if it's for just about nothing.

Promising young jazz players, from the Promised Land

Last year an unexpected wave of exceptional Israeli musicians seemed to emerge suddenly from the New York jazz scene, sweeping at least a half-dozen performers into national prominence. In many ways, that tidal surge emanated from Boston.

"If I had three days to find 10 really hot jazz musicians I'd go to Tel Aviv before any other place on the planet," said Saxophonist Larry Monroe, Berklee College's vice president for academic affairs/international programs.

(Here's a great example -- thirdworldlove.com).

Free menu planner tool

This is cool. The Department of Agriculture launched a new Web tool today that helps plan a personalized menu full of healthy food. There's a quick registration process involved, but otherwise it's free and very useful. Check it out:

My Pyramid Menu Planner.

Natick changes team name (BOO)

The Natick High School Task Force voted to change the school's mascot from Redmen to the Red and Blue, the name used by the school until 1956, when it was changed to Redmen.

Easter gifts to give, from Williams-Sonoma

Bunny taper holders? Might have to buy for my mom. Same goes for the candles.

Carrot cookies!

Personalized totes -- I think this is sending me a message.

Sour gummy bunnies and Easter Jelly Beans. For me, not to give.
Personalized

More Ashecliffe photos

What can I say, I'm proud!

Kevin Cullen's Irish film picks

Some indie, some lengendary. All about Ireland and the Irish.
I'm not Irish -- Mantone, hello! -- but I do have that 1 percent in there that's laced through everyone who grew up in Boston or greater New England anytime, well, this century. I don't get evacuation day off (Mark does, bum of a Somerville employee that he is) but I'm never one to miss a good St. Patrick's Day celebration.
This year? I'm thinking of picking one of these flicks to rent while I consume (read: make my mom cook) as much corned beef and cabbage as possible. With mustard, of course.