Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Mark Morford: How to Die Long Before Christmas (SF Gate)
Halfway through my excursion (just the Kombucha and the deodorant, in truth), I noticed it. Just up there, near the wall of Halloween candy, next to the stuffed animals and the dried soup, right across from the Hello Kitty lamps and the cartons of adult diapers, a huge pile, a row, a stack of shiny boxes three feet high and ready to tumble down onto your innocent and unsuspecting worldview. Candy canes.
How do I apply for Marketplace coverage?
You can apply for health coverage in the Marketplace 4 ways: with a paper application, online, by phone, or in person with an assister.
Ana Samways: Sideswipe (New Zealand Herald)
A reader writes: "We had ideas that our previous neighbours were drug dealers so I changed our wi-fi name to NZ Police Drug Detection Unit 5. They moved out less than a week later. Speaking to the landlord when they were cleaning the property, he said they left with no notice but paid up all their rent they were overdue on and there was drug paraphernalia all over the place. Problem solved."
Charlotte Church: I'm Charlotte Church. And This Is How Women Are Routinely Demoralized by the Music Industry… (digitalmusicnews)
From what I can see, there are three main roles that women are allowed to fill in modern pop music. Each of them restrictive for both artists and audience. They are mainly portrayed through the medium of the music video, you'll find them very familiar. I call them One of the Girls' Girls, the Victim/Torch Singer, and the Unattainable Sexbot.
Adam Todd Brown: 10 Great Songs By the Worst Bands of All Time (Cracked)
#10. Paris Hilton -- "Stars Are Blind"
Why Generation Y Yuppies Are Unhappy (Wait But Why)
Happiness + Reality - Expectations.
Leo Benedictus: "I do NOT like sex with old, obese men: the perils of being a stock-shot model" (Guardian)
No one was more surprised than model Samantha Ovens when the Guardian used her image to illustrate a sex advice column.
Stuart Jeffries: Think digital distractions have killed our attention spans? Think again (Guardian)
The rise of complex TV series and vast novels shows we still prefer commitment to a quick fix.
Conceptis Logic Puzzles
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is communing with nature.
wrote:
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
The roots of lovely trees that line the streets have heaved the curbs and sidewalks, so the city has been tearing up the 'hood for about a month now.
This week, work started on our side of the street. There is a trench where the curb used to be, and a steel plate across the trench so we can access the garage.
Most of the sidewalk has also been ripped out, too.
The kitties are delighted that the street has been transformed into what they think is a giant cat-box.
Works To End Trachoma
Jimmy Carter
As Jimmy Carter approaches 90, he is reaching for victory in a 15-year war against an infection spread by houseflies that blinds millions in developing countries and posed a threat to his own family and neighbors as a child on a Georgia farm.
"Our goal is to eliminate blinding trachoma from the face of the earth by 2020," the former U.S. president said during a visit on Tuesday to the New York headquarters of Pfizer Inc, which donates the antibiotic Zithromax used to treat the disease.
Trachoma, the world's leading cause of preventable blindness, affects more than 20 million people worldwide, of whom about 2.2 million are visually impaired and 1.2 million are blind, according to the World Health Organization.
The disease is caused when houseflies, attracted to the moist eye, spread Chlamydia bacteria. It is spread further through contact with eye discharges on towels, fingers or other infected surfaces.
After years of untreated trachoma infections, the eyelids turn inward and scrape the cornea, causing blindness. The disease was eliminated in the United States in the 1970s but is still a threat to an estimated 320 million people worldwide, especially in developing nations, according to Pfizer.
Jimmy Carter
Seeks Latvian Citizenship
Garry Kasparov
Former world chess champion turned Kremlin critic Garry Kasparov has asked Latvian politicians to grant him citizenship to help him pursue his political activities in Russia.
In a letter seen by Reuters, Kasparov, 50, said Latvian citizenship would give him the security to work "in Russia and in other countries across the world where civil rights are denied and democratic norms are trampled on".
Kasparov, a veteran opposition leader in Russia and a well-known critic of President Vladimir Putin, has in recent years spent much of his time abroad. He said the mother of his son, Vadim, was a Latvian citizen and he had won an important chess victory in the former Soviet state when he was 14 years old.
Latvian citizenship can be granted by parliamentary vote to a person who has done something exceptional for the country, but some politicians were lukewarm to the idea of allotting such status to Kasparov.
Garry Kasparov
Former Lobbyist/New Chief Sets Path
FCC
A fresh era started at the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday with a 30-minute speech to staff by the agency's new chief, who promised a more current and more nimble regulatory body.
"The industries with which we work are always taking reasonable risks; I hope we won't shy away from a similar approach," FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said in his first public comments since sworn into office a day earlier.
The new regulator, a Democrat and industry veteran, called the FCC an "optimism agency" and promised a pro-competition approach that fosters innovation, helps along the revolutionary transition of networks but continues to protect consumers.
"As networks change, those charged with the responsibility of overseeing those networks must also evolve," Wheeler said in the speech that was later posted as a blog titled "Opening Day at the FCC: Perspectives, Challenges, and Opportunities."
Wheeler is a close ally of President Barack Obama and in the past lobbied for cable and wireless industries.
FCC
Ebony Gala
Berry Gordy
Motown founder Berry Gordy recalls that when he first signed The Jackson 5, he sent them to live in a house in California - and the rowdy kids ended up getting kicked out and had to move in with him.
Joked Gordy: "Be careful what you wish for."
On Monday, Marlon Jackson thanked Gordy for "letting us come to your house and tear it up," as well as for putting them on the path to a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame career in a tribute to Gordy at the Ebony Power 100 gala.
Gordy danced along with the rest of the crowd as the Jacksons - Marlon, Jermaine, Jackie and Tito - performed hits such as "Shake Your Body Down to the Ground" and "I Want You Back."
Berry Gordy
Partner In Legal Bid
Glenn Greenwald
Lawyers for the partner of journalist Glenn Greenwald are challenging the lawfulness of his detention at London's Heathrow Airport, arguing Wednesday in Britain's High Court that the police's use of counterterrorism powers violated their client's fundamental rights.
Greenwald's partner, David Miranda - a 28-year-old university student - was held and questioned at Heathrow for nearly nine hours in August under U.K. terrorism legislation. Miranda had been traveling home to Brazil after visiting Germany, where he met with Laura Poitras, a U.S. filmmaker who has worked with Greenwald on the NSA stories.
Lawyer Matthew Ryder, acting on behalf of Miranda against the British government, told a packed room that the case hinged on the lawfulness of Miranda's detention under Schedule 7, which gives officers the power to stop, question and detain people at ports such as airports even if wrongdoing is not suspected. Authorities also seized electronic devices from Miranda such as his computer and cellphone.
Miranda had unsuccessfully sued to stop police from combing through material seized from him during the search. The government says police required access to his computer files on national security grounds and feared material seized from Miranda could compromise its counterterror operations.
Glenn Greenwald
Alleged Attacker Confronted In Court
Bolshoi
The artistic director of Russia's Bolshoi ballet Sergei Filin on Wednesday confronted the former male dancer accused of plotting to blind him with acid, rejecting allegations of an affair with a top young ballerina.
Filin, who nearly lost his sight in the acid attack earlier this year, took to the witness stand in the trial of former Bolshoi soloist Pavel Dmitrichenko who is charged with planning the assault.
In a stunningly frank testimony and breaking down in tears at one point, Filin denied favouring ballerinas based on any "intimate relations" and said he cannot forgive anyone behind the attack.
Filin told the court he had undergone 23 operations and doctors had warned him that "this is just the start". He said he would be returning to Germany next week for a major operation on his eye.
Bolshoi
Apologizes To Norwegian Journalists
Russia
Russia apologized on Wednesday to two foreign journalists who were repeatedly questioned and detained by police during a trip to report on the 2014 Winter Olympics preparations in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
Norwegian broadcaster TV2, the country's official games broadcaster, said its journalists Oeystein Bogen and Aage Aune had been questioned, detained and searched by police who claimed that one of them had been using drugs.
Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement sent to Reuters that local law enforcement officials abused their posts in the incidents last week, leading to "a series of unwarranted actions towards the citizens of Norway".
Russia said that a technical mistake had provided false information about the journalists to law enforcement officials.
Russia
$ Über Alles
Harley-Davidson
A former Marine is suing a Harley-Davidson dealership in Orange County, Calif., for allegedly taking advantage of his post-traumatic stress disorder to sell him an expensive bike.
Brett Smith, 25, filed a lawsuit against the Irvine dealership over a sale in early April. Smith's family tried to return the $17,000 bike two days after he bought it because he said he had made the purchase after five days of insomnia and wasn't thinking straight, according to court papers.
Smith was a member of the Special Forces deployed in Afghanistan and was discharged in 2010 after which he was diagnosed with PTSD and traumatic brain injury, said his attorney, Daniel Gilleon.
Smith, who is unemployed, entered the Harley-Davidson dealership on a whim to buy a motorcycle, according to the lawsuit filed on Oct. 30. While there, he told the employees that he had PTSD, while pacing, sweating profusely and acting jittery.
"At one point, the salesperson even gave him water so that he could take his Xanax," said Gilleon. "He took three while he was there."
Harley-Davidson
Insert Your Own Lawyer Joke Here
Stephen Glass
Several California Supreme Court justices expressed skepticism Wednesday that a disgraced former journalist who fabricated dozens of articles for well-known publications is morally fit to practice law.
Stephen Glass applied to practice law in California after passing the state's bar exam in 2007. But State Bar officials have been grappling with his application since, finally appealing to the California Supreme Court to decide.
Every member of the seven-person court had tough questions for Glass' attorney during an hourlong hearing in Sacramento. The court has 90 days to decide whether Glass should be allowed to practice law in California.
Glass says he made up all or parts of 42 magazine articles published in the New Republic, Rolling Stone and elsewhere in the 1990s when he was in his mid-20s and a rising literary star.
He then tried to cover up his deceit by creating business cards, a fictitious Web site and having his brother pose as a source when editors began scrutinizing his work. Two years after he was drummed out of journalism in 1998, Glass graduated from Georgetown University's law school.
Stephen Glass
Always A Class Act
Oh, Silvio
Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi said his children feel persecuted just as Jewish families did in Nazi Germany because he is being hounded by the country's magistrates who want to eliminate him politically.
Berlusconi's comments came from an advance excerpt, released on Wednesday, of an interview with him by Italian television journalist Bruno Vespa for his latest book.
Replying to a question about whether his five children had asked him to sell his media empire and leave Italy to escape his legal troubles, Berlusconi said: "My children say that they feel like Jewish families in Germany under Hitler's regime. Truly, everyone is against us."
Berlusconi, who protests his innocence in a series of court cases which he blames on left-wing magistrates, is well-known for making controversial remarks, such as calling President Barack Obama "suntanned" after he was first elected in 2008.
Berlusconi, 77, and his family rank among the 200 wealthiest billionaires in the world, with an estimated fortune of 6.2 billion euros ($8.35 billion) according to Forbes magazine.
Oh, Silvio
Rush To Complete
GED
Americans who passed part, but not all, of the GED test are rushing to finish the high school equivalency exam before a new version rolls out in January and their previous scores are wiped out. About 1 million people could be affected.
With the new version, test takers must use a computer instead of paper and pencil. The test itself will be more rigorous and cost more - at $120, the price in some states will be significantly higher than previous versions. Some places may subsidize all or part of the cost.
Some critics have challenged the price increases and the mandate that test takers use a computer - issues that affect many people living in poverty.
This is the first upgrade since for-profit Pearson Vue Testing acquired a joint ownership interest in the GED Testing Service. For 70 years, GED Testing Service has been run by the nonprofit American Council on Education.
GED
In Memory
Editta Sherman
Photographer Editta Sherman, dubbed the "Duchess of Carnegie Hall" while living in a studio over the famed auditorium for six decades, has died. She was 101.
Known for her photos of celebrities, Sherman died Friday in her sleep, a friend, Billy Lyons, said. Her funeral was held Tuesday, just as Bill de Blasio was elected mayor.
Sherman had met de Blasio in 2007 - a New York City Council member fighting to keep artists from being evicted from century-old studios above Carnegie Hall. The future mayor visited her there and they spoke Italian, learned from their immigrant families, Lyons said.
A muse of Andy Warhol, Sherman was known for her portraits of musicians, actors, sports stars, dancers and writers taken in the cavernous space where she partly raised her five children - in one of two towers 19th century industrialist Andrew Carnegie had built above the hall as an affordable artist enclave.
Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly and Robert Redford studied acting there, Lucille Ball had voice coaching, and Leonard Bernstein wrote music.
Sherman was "the big Italian mamma who was always making a pot of chicken soup in her darkroom," said Lyons, an actor a third her age.
A native of Philadelphia, she was married to Harold Sherman, who was a sound engineer as well as her business partner. He died at 50, blind and diabetic, leaving her with their young children.
In 2010, she and others were forced out in a landlord-tenant battle. Carnegie officials argued they needed the space for educational purposes and found new apartments for them.
The number of her penthouse studio was 1208, with clients ranging from Elvis Presley and Joe DiMaggio to Tilda Swinton.
Last year, Sherman added another famous name to her roster: President Barack Obama, whom she met at the White House as part of a group of supporters.
Sherman is survived by her children, plus 31 grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Editta Sherman
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