Funny

Personal aides: Worth it?

The friend's birthday gift, unmailed for weeks. The dental appointment, put off one month, then two. The Jiffy Lube sticker on my windshield, telling me my engine was 2,000 miles overdue for an oil change.

Kinda want these

(From Daily Candy):

"Simply toss them in the dryer where they’ll tumble around, lifting and separating fabrics and relaxing fibers so the air can get in and do its thing more efficiently. Each pair of balls does the trick for at least two years. Plus, they’re toxin free, so you’re doing good for the environment. They also rid your garments of wrinkles, so clothing doesn’t need to be ironed."

nellieslaundry.com.

Adorable Sandhill birth

Captured in my aunt's neighborhood in Sarasota.


http://groverphoto.phanfare.com/album/304621#imageID=18463143

Genital cutting in Egypt

From the New York Times:

I'll be honest, I didn't even know Egypt practiced female genital cutting, or circumcision. It turns out 96 percent of women there claim to have undergone the procedure.
Am I the only one who didn't realize this wasn't confined to parts of Africa?

Hub on wheels

From today's Globe:

"Riding a bicycle in Boston is something akin to combat. Cyclists routinely rank the city America's worst.
Stung by national criticism and hoping to take a bite out of traffic and air pollution, Mayor Thomas M. Menino is vowing to change that. A newly converted cyclist himself, Menino will announce today the hiring of a bike czar, former Olympic cyclist Nicole Freedman, and a first phase of improvements to include 250 new bike racks across Boston and an online map system."

This weekend is also the Hub on Wheels ride.

Iran keeps Picassos in basement

For a 2005 exhibition, authorities issued an order to remove the central panel of Francis Bacon’s triptych “Two Figures Lying on a Bed With Attendant” because of its purported homosexual overtones.

"Ruled by one of the most vehemently anti-Western governments in the world, Iran is, by many assessments, home to the most extensive collection of late 19th and 20th century Western art outside the West. It is a treasure trove of masters that is all but forgotten outside knowledgeable art circles because, for all but a few of the last 30 years, it has been virtually unseen."

'The Pidge' -- I could make these

Literally. But man, they are beautiful. I may have to copy it as Christmas gifts this year.

the Web site says: "The Pidge is luxury at its finest. Composed of premium Italian cashmere and accented with elegant Olivewood buttons, the Pidge is unique and refined. The short design complements any outfit gracefully without the bulk of a traditional scarf."

Rose Bowl cyclists on rough road with officials

For 60 years, riders have trained in packs around the Rose Bowl. Now the city is addressing rising concerns about safety.

From the L.A. Times

China frees New York Times researcher

Zhao Yan was jailed for three years as after the newspaper ran an exclusive article on a government figure.
(LA Times)

Mouse envy

http://www.mousenvy.com/collections/all

Don't you just need one for your desk at work?

Making college more affordable

I think this guy is on to something, from today's Globe:

"Amherst College President Anthony Marx, 48, is commanding attention by making the $45,000-a-year school affordable to more students."

From today's Globe

"For years, the makers of birth control pills have supplied them to college health services at greatly reduced prices. A 2005 federal law, however, eliminated an incentive the drug companies had for discounting the pills for colleges and other health clinics. So, the price for a month's supply has risen from an average of $7 to between $25 and $50. Some colleges are stopping sales of the pills altogether, advising students to buy them through private health insurance. "

The real problem here is that, to get pills through private insurance, you must go to a doctor first. If you go to school out of state from where your parents insurance is based, you have to pay out of pocket for the appointment just to GET the pills!

Manipulation on Storrow Drive fix

This doesn't seem like the state is giving residents real options:

(From the Globe)

Yankee or Dixie?

< http://www.angelfire.com/ak2/intelligencerreport/yankee_dixie_quiz.html>

This is a funny quiz. I only scored 48% Yankee!!

A quest to ease the pain of dying

A remarkable audio slideshow of pain management around the world.

"Use time wisely - by slacking"

I support this - a four hour work day? Waste more time to be more efficient? I agree.

Dying in pain

From the New York Times:


The World Health Organization estimates that 4.8 million people a year with moderate to severe cancer pain receive no appropriate treatment. Nor do another 1.4 million with late-stage AIDS. For other causes of lingering pain — burns, car accidents, gunshots, diabetic nerve damage, sickle-cell disease and so on — it issues no estimates but believes that millions go untreated.
Figures gathered by the International Narcotics Control Board, a United Nations agency, make it clear: citizens of rich nations suffer less. Six countries — the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Britain and Australia — consume 79 percent of the world’s morphine, according to a 2005 estimate. The poor and middle-income countries where 80 percent of the world’s people live consumed only about 6 percent.

There is video, audio and more here.

And in a related story....
"Japanese Slowly Shedding Their Misgivings About the Use of Painkilling Drugs."

'Microfinance loans' can change the world

With full credit to today's "Al's Morning Meeting," this Web site is amazing.

http://kiva.org

The group finds people around the world who need small loans to start or improve their businesses. The loans, as little as $25, are coupled with other small loans from people just like you. This is not a handout -- it is a real loan, and the borrowers from Kiva almost never default.
This MSNBC.com blog says:

I went to the site and picked a few small businesses to support, including two medical clinics in Kenya, a blacksmith in Ecuador, a flower store in Cameroon, a grocery in Ivory Coast and a grocery in Paraguay (five of the six entrepreneurs are women). Within 24 hours, I had already received a note that the grocer in Paraguay had received the loan.

Here is a video from The New York Times, in which a journalist actually traveled to Afghanistan to meet a baker who needed a few hundred dollars to improve his small bakery business.

The Wall Street Journal explains how micro-finance loans and social networking Web sites can make a big difference.

You can't beat 'em, but don't join 'em

I hate to be such a stereotypical hometown Bostonian, but I really don't remember acting as disrepsectfully as the students around here do where I went to school. Perhaps there are too many schools and undergrads feel entitled; perhaps it comes from the fact that Boston schools are chronically low on housing, pushing increasing numbers of students into area apartments that in turn become overpriced for the rest of us. But having been a victim of loud partying neighbors, theft and damage of my belongings during said parties, rudeness on the trains and jostling by arrogant students flipping bookbags and shopping totes around, i have to agree that the problem is getting worse around here. I don't plan to stay - but this poor older woman can't say that.