Wasilla, Alaska, gadfly goes viral

Anne Kilkenny's e-mail criticizing Sarah Palin was supposed to help inform 40 of her friends. 

More than 13,700 e-mail responses and half a million Google hits changed all that.

Why Good Manners Can Make You Svelte

Spotted on Glamour:

Think of all the things our mom told you about manners when you were a kid: Chew with your mouth closed. Keep one hand in your lap. Yada, yada. 

Well, as it turns out, her advice may not have only taught you about etiquette, it may also have set you up for staying slim. Here's why ...

Charles Stuart Platkin, AKA the Diet Detective, posted an interesting article on his Web site today about how the benefits of good table manners can extend to your waistline. 

In short, the more polite you are, the slimmer your bod. Fascinating, eh?

Here's the scoop:

Chew with your mouth closed: "When you eat with your mouth closed you typically take smaller bites, and as result you probably will not eat as much," writes Platkin.

Have good posture at the table: It's an etiquette "do," of course, but it can also make you a more conscious and aware eater, notes Platkin.

Keep one hand in your lap: Use this age-old etiquette tip to help you slow down your eating, he explains.

Gay Families Find the Bronx Is a Place to Call Home

It is a statistic surprising even to those it describes: Same-sex couples in the Bronx are more likely to have children than those in any other New York City borough, according to a study released last month, and perhaps more than any county in the country.

Indeed, a new church geared toward gays and lesbians, In the Life Ministry, recently opened at Tremont and Westchester Avenues, and there is a growing, if small, number of gay-oriented bars and businesses.

Gary J. Gates, a demographer and a senior research fellow at the Williams Institute, said the Bronx stood out nationally as one of few places “where the percent of same-sex couples raising children is virtually the same as different-sex couples raising children.”

In the Bronx, 55 percent of married couples are raising children under 18.

Christmas gift ideas

And also for me: vegan soaps, scrubs and other body treats, with names that pay homage to the gods of punk and rock n' roll.

They're sold at Blue Cloud Gallery in Ball Square, which is right near my house!

And online at StellaMarieSoap.com.

yum! Can you say stocking stuffers?

Whoa

Everett football lost last night.

That hasn't happened since 2001, much to the dismay of every other high school in the GBL.

What's next for Everett?

Just when I'm starting a new job ...

Naturally, the T is going to slow down due to a union conflict.

The president of the Boston Carmen's Union Local 589, Steve MacDougall, said yesterday that his guild has a plan to "impact service" if the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority board fails at its October meeting to find a way to pay back wages the union won in a July arbitration decision.

MacDougall stopped short of saying workers would deliberately slow service down, which would be illegal under collective bargaining rules. 

But the effect could be the same if workers decided to take advantage of all rights they have under their contract and to follow often-overlooked regulations: by calling in sick en masse, refusing overtime shifts, obeying speed limits that require significant slowdowns in advance of subway platforms, and holding buses at every stop until all passengers are seated.

Montserrat immigrants thriving in Boston

While other Caribbean countries such as Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, and H

aiti are more widely known and have significantly larger communities in the United States, Montserrat is a relative unknown and has just a few thousand of its native sons and daughters living in Boston, sprinkled anonymously in Roxbury, Mattapan, and Dorchester.

"We're just a little island, and nobody seems to know about us," said Jean Lee, 56.

But they have found a larger, and seemingly unlikely, immigrant group with which they share a historic bond, the Irish.

A group of Irish settled on the island in the early 1600s, and Thomas Keown, spokesman for the Irish Immigration Center of Boston, said the Irish influence is strong.

"There are plenty of folks to this day with Irish last names and a bit of an Irish twang," Keown said.

Montserrat, a British overseas territory, is the only country outside of Ireland that recognizes St. Patrick's Day as a national holiday, he said.

"In Montserrat, the celebration lasts for a week," he said.

Meet the Mandarin

When the Mandarin Oriental, Boston, a $300 million luxury hotel and residential complex, opens next week, the city will see an overt expression of wealth like it's never seen before - and something that seems immune to the financial crisis bedeviling most Americans. It's not only an entirely new level of opulence in luxury housing, but also a manifestation of a profound change in the way this city expresses its wealth.

The least expensive of Mandarin Oriental's 49 condominiums runs $2 million; the priciest is $14 million. All sold when they were but a glint in the developers' eyes, to buyers who saw nothing more than floor plans. The residences are like 49 urban versions of Weston mansions that somehow fit into two 14-story towers that rise above the hotel and a retail arcade. The developers, Robin A. Brown and Stephen R. Weiner, believe that the arrival of Mandarin Oriental - a fixture in such cities as New York, Geneva, London, and Tokyo - is a sign that Boston has hit the big time.

"We're right in with the major cities of the world," Brown said during an exclusive tour of the 490-foot-long complex before he hands over the keys to the new owners.

Scooter sales skyrocket 66%

Well, I wanted one 5 years ago and everyone laughed. Who's laughing now! Maybe I'll just buy one!

With pain at the pump still real, Americans are jumping on those two-wheeled get-ups that Europeans have been riding for generations.

Would you pay $2.25 to go from Brighton to Weston?

The likelihood of a substantial toll hike on the Massachusetts Turnpike gained significant momentum today as officials discussed drastic measures needed to dig the roadway out of a deep financial hole.

One proposal floated by Turnpike Authority board members today at their monthly meeting would increase the charge for passenger cars on the eastern portion of the roadway by $1, increasing the cost at toll booths at Allston-Brighton and Weston from $1.25 to $2.25. Another alternative would raise the fare for tunnels by $5, from $3.50 to $8.50. The four-member board also seemed to agree that tolls will have to be reinstated for passenger cars on the western turnpike for Exits 1 through 6.

Stealing bleachers? That's just sad

What next,  a resurgence in rag picking?

The Globe says:

To some, they are a fine place to spend a summer afternoon, rooting for a favorite team and chatting with neighbors. To others, bleachers are large chunks of valuable metal sitting in the grass, waiting to be stolen and sold as scrap.

The recent thefts of bleachers in two Massachusetts towns suggested that the state has joined a national trend.

Spencer police arrested two men last week and said they planned to summons a third to court after aluminum bleachers were reported stolen from the fairgrounds on Sept. 12. In a separate incident, two men were arrested Aug. 26 in Abington after they allegedly stole bleachers from an elementary school and began cutting them up in one of the men's backyards.

Bleacher thefts have also been reported in places such as Buena Vista, N.J., Rockford, Mich., and Chesapeake City, Md.

hilarious

Umbrellatoday.com.

You go there. 

You punch in your zipe code.

It tells you if you need an umbrella today.

The end.

GW Alumnus turns the Bible green

With his biblically inspired message of conservation, alumnus J. Matthew Sleeth does not seem like the typical environmentalist.

But the 1984 graduate of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences and author of the introduction to the first-ever "Green Bible" encourages people to change their lifestyles and fulfill the biblical ideal of protecting the earth.

"Have you ever heard a sermon about trees?" asked Sleeth, who also wrote "Serve God, Save the Planet."

"Most haven't."

The Green Bible, released last Friday, highlights the more than 1,000 scriptural references to the environment.

Printed with soy-based inks on recycled paper, the book also includes essays from such religious figures as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Pope John Paul II and Jewish environmentalist Ellen Bernstein.

Find it here.

Pat is BACK

Yes, there were nerves.

But butterflies were well within Patrice Bergeron's rights last night. He hadn't seen NHL action since Oct. 27, 2007, when an ugly hit by Philadelphia defenseman Randy Jones nearly closed the door on the Bruin center's career.

During his recovery, all Bergeron wanted to do was play. Last night, he finally got his chance.

When did Flemmi get so old looking?

Longtime FBI informant Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi told a Florida jury today that his former handler, retired FBI agent John J. Connolly Jr., warned him and his sidekick, James "Whitey" Bulger, that a Boston business consultant who could implicate them in murder "wouldn't hold-up" if questioned by the FBI.

That tip was enough to seal the fate of the businessman, John B. Callahan, according to Flemmi.

Within a week, Bulger summoned hitman John Martorano to a meeting at a New York City hotel and told him that he had to kill his good friend, Callahan, Flemmi said.

The changing face of abortion

The face of women who have abortions has shifted significantly in the past 30 years, with relatively fewer white childless teenagers and more mothers of color in their 20s and 30s opting to terminate their pregnancies, according to a report being released today.


In the first comprehensive analysis since 1974 of demographic characteristics of women who have abortions, researchers found that the overall drop in the abortion rate has been marked by a dramatic shift, declining more among white women and teenagers than among black and Hispanic and older women.


"Birth control is the best way to prevent unwanted pregnancies," said Laurie Rubiner, vice president for public policy at the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. "Unfortunately there's a large number of uninsured people in this country, and if you are uninsured you are less likely to have access to affordable health care, including affordable birth control."

What the fluff?

It's a Marshmallow world in Union Square!

 Archibald Query invented Fluff right here in Somerville in 1917 so every year we host a madcap festival. Join us this weekend -- Saturday, September 27 from 4 pm to 7 pm on Union Square Plaza. 

Raindate is Sunday, September 28. The event is free.

Join musical and theatrical performers, inventors, culinary wizards and humorists as we pay yummy homage to this great American foodstuff.

YUP, this is for real.

Recipe: Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Cider Cream

For cooking, use small, sweet pumpkin varieties with a thick flesh and a fairly small seed cavity, such as the Sugar Pie, Baby Bear or Cheese pumpkin. Field pumpkins have a fibrous flesh that is not good for cooking. Instead of pumpkin, you can use kabocha squash, which has bright green skin marked with paler green stripes and pale orange flesh.

Ingredients:

4 baking pumpkins or kabocha squash, each about 2 lb., quartered and   seeded

Olive oil as needed

Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

4 carrots, peeled and thickly sliced

6 shallots, thickly sliced

2 celery stalks, thickly sliced

4 garlic cloves, minced

3/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

1 Tbs. minced fresh sage

12 cups chicken broth

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup apple cider, reduced to 2 Tbs. and cooled

Directions:

Position 1 rack in the upper third of an oven and 1 rack in the lower third, and preheat to 425°F.  Divide the pumpkins among 2 baking sheets. Drizzle the pumpkins with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place the pumpkins, cut side down, on the baking sheets. Roast, turning the pumpkins occasionally, until they are tender and beginning to brown, about 45 minutes; rotate the baking sheets halfway through the roasting time. Let the pumpkins cool, then scoop the flesh into a bowl.  In a large stockpot over medium-high heat, warm 2 Tbs. olive oil. Add the carrots, shallots, celery, salt and pepper. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to soften, about 7 minutes. Add the garlic, nutmeg and sage and cook, stirring frequently, for 1 minute. Add the pumpkin flesh and broth, cover the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 minutes. Using an immersion blender, puree the soup until smooth.  In a bowl, whisk the cream until slightly thickened. Whisk in the reduced apple cider until blended. Ladle the soup into warmed bowls and drizzle with the cider cream. Serve immediately. 

Serves 12 to 14.

-- Williams-Sonoma Kitchen.

NOOOO!

GW to phase out hippo mascot

The hippo, the University's unofficial mascot for almost a decade, is set to become a footnote in GW history.

Administrators said Wednesday that the hippo - made popular by former University President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg - is being phased out of merchandise and University events for legal and branding reasons. GW will continue to be represented by its other mascots, George and Big George.

"We are trying to get better brand recognition in the national collegiate market as GW," said John Och, the University coordinator for licensing and trademarks. "The hippo is not a registered mascot and it's better for us to put forward one unified brand."

I literally cannot wait for this book

REVIEW: Dennis Lehane's long awaited new book.

From the New York Times.

No more thinking of Mr. Lehane as an author of detective novels that make good movies (“Gone, Baby, Gone”) and tell devastatingly bleak Boston stories (“Mystic River”). He has written a majestic, fiery epic that moves him far beyond the confines of the crime genre.

I'm so there

"Show Tunes Tuesdays" at DBar.

Order dinner and drinks while serenading your friends — and fellow patrons — to show stopping dance numbers from Broadway musicals. 

"There's nothing out there like it," says Brian Piccini, Dbar's general manager.

Host R.D. Grow puts together clips from classical musicals and live feeds from old Tony Awards show broadcasts from the '50s and '60s and shows them on a projection screen.  Occasionally, Piccini invites burlesque dancers and (pro) singers to add flavor to the mix. 

He recommends getting there early — the 240-person space usually fills up by 11 p.m.

BEST PART: NO COVER!

Go Summy

I knew they had to be from Boston when I heard their accents last night, but it turns out they live in Everett and drive for Green Cab in Somerville!

Last night's show was good. I'm rooting for them for sure.

Read more about it.

Best obit ever

Right here.

Another go for Bergeron

After his on-ice workout, Patrice Bergeron entered the Ristuccia Arena dressing room to face his usual line of questioning.

"Don't have anything new for you guys," Bergeron said with a laugh.

The one piece of news was that Bergeron visited Dr. Robert Cantu, the neurologist who's been consulting with him since the injury, and that everything is fine.

But other than that, nothing has changed for Bergeron, who's been 100 percent for a long time and is looking forward to the start of camp. Bergeron said it's up to Claude Julien how many preseason games he'll be featured in prior to the regular-season opener.

Bergeron weights 191 pounds, right around his usual playing weight. Along with the rest of his teammates, Bergeron will take his physical on Friday.

"Seeing through Obamanomics"

This is too bad, because usually I like Jeff Jacoby's column. But I don't agree with his criticism of Barack Obama's economic proposals, which -- like Bill O'Reilly -- he seems to insinuate feature "socialist tenets." Oy.

Here's the column.

But I think he's missing a few key points. He says the Obamas' charitable contributions only spiked to 5 percent of their income in 2005, ostensibly when they started looking toward the White House. However, 2005 is also the year that Barack Obama's book became a bestseller, which (it's well publicized) allowed him to pay off his student loans for the first time. I'd say that would affect your ability to give to charity.

Jacoby also says you "dont' have to be rich" to realize that it's a bad idea to tax the top tier of taxpayers -- 1 percent of whom  pay 40 percent of the taxes in America. 

HELLO -- you're missing the obvious caveat that this indicates how lopsided income distribution is in this country!! And you think it's a BAD idea to give poor people a tax break?

"Packable" rain coat

Okay, I get that it's "packable." Their whole idea is that the hood's removable and there's a pouch to pack the whole thing into itself on the side.

But, that aside, we're basically looking at a standard issue raincoat here - except that it costs $250. 

Granted, this is one of the most stylish casual rain coats I've ever seen, but isnt' that a bit much for something whose whole selling point is that it's "packable?" 

To me, that means efficient in my luggage and my wallet.

Still, this thing is pretty cute.

Obama campaign rolls out new 'faith merchandise'

The Obama campaign is preparing rolling out a new line of “faith merchandise” – the latest move in an ambitious effort to win over religious voters.

“Check out the Believers for Barack, Pro-Family Pro-Obama, and Catholics for Obama buttons, bumper stickers and signs….” says Obama Deputy Director of Religious Affairs Paul Monteiro in an e-mail obtained by the Beliefnet Web site

Phoenix review: Follies

A pretty girl is less like a melody than like yesterday’s news in Follies, the New York Drama Critics Circle Award–winning 1971 musical that lost money but became the stuff of legend.
An amalgam of showmanship, nostalgia, and nostalgia for a certain kind of showmanship, the show is set in a faded New York theater about to be razed for a parking lot.
The original production was inspired, in part, by a photo of Gloria Swanson standing in the rubble of what had been the Roxy Theatre.
And the musical about former showgirls reuning at the scene of their one-time “follies” — both Ziegfeldian and romantic — features a fair share of emotional wreckage as well, the rubble of the heart raked by composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim into a dizzying, dissonant swirl of moxy, heartache, and homage.
There is no actual debris on stage at Lyric Stage Company of Boston, which fields a heroic revival (through October 11).
But the sense of lives lived amid the grit of regret is very much present.

Height Linked With Prostate Cancer Risk

A man’s risk for prostate cancer appears to increase with his height, a new study shows.

A woman’s height also is associated with breast cancer risk. Women who are 5-feet-9 or taller have a small increase in risk of both premenopausal and postmenopausal breast cancer compared to women 5-feet-3 or shorter.

Another Iraqi casualty of war: Their waistlines

Sectarian violence has kept many people indoors for years, and now they're fighting the battle of the bulge.

BAGHDAD -- In a land where just staying alive is a challenge, Haider Kareem Said's problem might seem trivial. He's overweight.

But that isn't a mere annoyance or something Said can fix with diet and exercise -- he's 5-foot-4 and weighs 495 pounds.
So last month, Said had a band surgically strapped around his stomach, an operation relatively new to Iraq that is proving to be a godsend for people facing an unusual consequence of the war: obesity.

who knew turtles could move that quickly?

With homeowner in doghouse, bobcats move in

A family of feline squatters has moved into a foreclosed home in Lake Elsinore. Residents of the Tuscany Hills development first noticed the bobcats about a week ago.

Bobcats are not known to attack humans, said Monique Middleton of Animal Friends of the Valley, which provides animal-control services.

"But are they pussycats? No. Can they do a lot of damage? Yes," she said. "They usually look for a food and water source, and there is an old koi pond in the backyard and that's where they are headed."

What's your visualDNA? Take the quiz! View mine first!

No, I will never own it....

But that doesn't mean it's not the most gorgeous cookware I've ever seen.

RIP Don LaFontaine, voiceover legend

About Death, Just Like Us or Pretty Much Unaware?

Last week the Internet and European news outlets were flooded with poignant photographs of Gana, an 11-year-old gorilla at the Münster Zoo in Germany, holding up the body of her dead baby, Claudio, and pursing her lips toward his lifeless fingers.

Claudio died at the age of 3 months of an apparent heart defect, and for days Gana refused to surrender his corpse to zookeepers.

Nobody knows what emotions swept through Gana’s head and heart as she persisted in cradling and nuzzling the remains of her son.
But primatologists do know this: Among nearly all species of apes and monkeys in the wild, a mother will react to the death of her infant as Gana did — by clutching the little decedent to her breast and treating it as though it were still alive.

Everywhere in nature, biologists say, are examples of animals behaving as though they were at least vaguely aware of death’s brutal supremacy and yet unpersuaded that it had anything to do with them.

In Maine, hope for answers in haunting death

Villagers fund autopsy on teen slain in 1980

East Millinocket, a quiet mill town on the edge of Maine's northern wilderness, has not been the same since it buried Joyce McLain 28 years ago.

The brutality of the slaying horrified residents in this close-knit hamlet of 1,800, where only one other homicide has been recorded since it was incorporated in 1907.
Worse, a killer was never found, and something seeped into the consciousness of the town.

"You just don't know, is that person still here?" said York, who is now a 60-year-old grandmother. "You could be passing by them any time of day. You could be talking to the person in the grocery store. You just don't know."

Zoo Babies!

The Oregon Zoo's new baby elephant takes a bottle as the zoo veterinarian examines him. He weighed 284 pounds.
But wait, there's more!

Vogue’s Fashion Photos Spark Debate in India

An old woman missing her upper front teeth holds a child in rumpled clothes — who is wearing a Fendi bib (retail price, about $100).

A family of three squeezes onto a motorbike for their daily commute, the mother riding without a helmet and sidesaddle in the traditional Indian way — except that she has a Hermès Birkin bag (usually more than $10,000, if you can find one) prominently displayed on her wrist.

Elsewhere, a toothless barefoot man holds a Burberry umbrella (about $200).

Welcome to the new India — at least as Vogue sees it.

Vogue India’s August issue presented a 16-page vision of supple handbags, bejeweled clutches and status-symbol umbrellas, modeled not by runway stars or the wealthiest fraction of Indian society who can actually afford these accessories, but by average Indian people.

Perhaps not surprisingly, not everyone in India was amused.