Entries Tagged as ‘news’

July 1, 2008

a visual newsreader

As a news junkie, I was excited to see this tool (surprisingly created by MSNBC) with exceptional design and UI.  You can select the type of news you want fed, and colorful tagged headlines spin around the screen in a merry-go-round fashion. As you click on a headline, it spins down and you have the [...]

June 12, 2008

Business Week Online took my previous post, a list of five reasons why gen Xers don’t like corporate America, and turned it into one long-winded paragraph.  Although it appears that I’m just rambling off reasons why corporate america sucks, my thoughts are a bit more coherent and organized.  Would it have been that hard to [...]

May 22, 2008

my favorite site, reddit.com, is powering a public tv show. this is a fantastic idea, there surely will be more to follow.

May 2, 2008

the most boring vacation of the summer: the “US gas tax vacation”

You may have been watching the politicians pointlessly argue about the Gas Tax Vacation— McCain’s idea to lift taxes on gas for the summer.  Clinton endorses this idea, while Obama calls it a “short-term, quick fix”.  It’s not like either of these candidates will actually be in office to make this decision, but it’s one [...]

March 29, 2008

“Stop at nothing to become the reigning bimbo!”

that’s on the home page of MissBimbo.com, the most appalling new casual game / social network aimed at young girls.  Players buy their avatars diet pills, plastic surgery, and slutty clothes to “score that famous hottie” and become “the rising star bimbo”.  Gag.
abc article here

March 19, 2008

protests in SF

today I was stopped by the commotion of a protest. it’s the 5-year anniversary of the war.

non violent protesters laid down across market street– stopping traffic for the afternoon. many people were arrested, including the nun pictured below.

March 12, 2008

bad names not so bad after all?

A while ago, I wrote about baby names and the Venezuelan legislation to regulate naming in an attempt to “preserve the equilibrium and integral development of the child”.
But a great NY Times article today suggests that bad baby names may not be as bad as previously thought.
The authors also interviewed adults today who had survived [...]

February 17, 2008

It’s pretty unbelievable that they have created such a following for competing pretty dogs.
Dogs should be celebrated for being playful and rugged, not manicured and  courtly.

December 31, 2007

outsourcing pregnancies to india

“Suman Dodia, a pregnant, baby-faced 26-year-old, said she will buy a house with the $4,500 she receives from the British couple whose child she’s carrying. It would have taken her 15 years to earn that on her maid’s monthly salary of $25.”
I figured the time would come.  It started with textiles, then IT and BPO.  [...]

December 18, 2007

research reveals my insecurity

Researchers learned that while people perceive someone who has a high number of friends [on facebook] as popular, attractive and self-confident, people who accumulate “too many” friends (about 800 or more) are seen as insecure.  - NY Times
I have 859.

December 17, 2007

I just read an article titled “Lab Rat?” about a growing group of cancer patients (or their parents) who refuse to wait for new treatments to be tested, proven, and FDA approved.  Instead, they attempt to fight cancer through “alternative treatment cocktails” that are self prescribed.
The story focuses on one father who has his 7-year [...]

December 12, 2007

UPS trucks to make fewer left turns

UPS, long notorious for their agile process flow and operations, have taken another creative stab at becoming more efficient: a software that navigates their trucks to take fewer left turns.
That’s because time spent in left-turn lanes leads to more engine idling, fuel consumption and traffic delays. The new route-mapping has even reduced delivery mileage [...]

December 10, 2007

scientists make flies gay

“The sexual preferences of fruit flies have been switched from gay to straight and back again with drugs and genetic engineering.
Scientists in the US found that a mutation in a gene known as “gender-blind”, or GB, can make flies bisexual, and that manipulating its activity can switch this sexual trait on and off.
The findings, from [...]

November 28, 2007

not your typical gangsters

these women dress in pink and go by the name “gulabi gang” (pink gang)

From the India Daily: “The gang not only fights for women but also for the untouchables and the poor who can’t afford to fight for justice. They shun the lousy officials, corrupt politicians, and even the lecherous and money hungry husbands who [...]

November 15, 2007

no beach this weekend (and for a while)

Just three days after we enjoyed my birthday at beautiful Land’s End, which snuggles between the Bay and the Pacific, an oil ship hit the Bay Bridge and spilled 58,000 gallons of toxic bunker fuel. At the height of bird migration, the spill has caused severe ecological effects, sickening and killing local wildlife. [...]

November 15, 2007

another journalist covering religion quits

In July, William Lobdell of the Los Angeles Times, quit and explained in his letter of resignation:
I wanted to report objectively and respectfully about how belief shapes people’s lives. Along the way, I believed, my own faith would grow deeper and sturdier.  But during the eight years I covered religion, something very different happened.
Now [...]

November 14, 2007

walmart: cutting costs in all the wrong places

Despite numerous tweaks to their health plan, Wal-Mart simply cannot offer an affordable plan to cover its workers. Lagging behind industry averages, Wal-Mart’s employees are subjected to unnecessary charges and fees; wait longer for coverage eligibility, and are forced to seek out public health programs to fulfill their health care needs. With less than 50% [...]

October 16, 2007

federal law puts college women at a disadvantage

Because of the Deficit Reduction Act, signed by Bush in 2006, women who depend on university health care have seen a sharp rise in the cost of birth control. The federal law, designed to save taxpayers money on Medicaid reimbursements for drugs, requires pharmaceuticals to stop selling drugs to university pharmacies at a discounted [...]

October 10, 2007

on being 20-something today

I recently read a David Brooks article in the NY Times about the new stage in life cleverly coined as the Odyssey Years. He defines this time as “the decade of wandering that frequently occurs between adolescence and adulthood”. He notes with confusion that those in the Odyssey Years are pushing back marriage, [...]

October 9, 2007

violence is evil, unless your target is Comcast

Comcast is one of my least-favorite companies, just behind the ever-so-perfidious Sprint. My roommates and I bounce around e-mails professing our hate of their product’s poor quality and the subsequent lack-of customer service.
We’re not the only ones who share this resentment. A 75-year old woman decided to take things into her own hands [...]

October 5, 2007

Man jailed over Facebook friend request

Be careful who you friend.   When a UK man joined FB, he chose the option which automatically invites your friends via your e-mail account.   One of those invites went to the inbox of his ex wife, who had a restraining order against him.  In this article, he said he was confused by the [...]

October 3, 2007

President Bush hates children

Today he vetoed an extremely critical bill that would have subsidized medical care to low-income, but not impoverished, children. The program aims at a particularly neglected group who are not qualified for Medicaid, but still without access to free health care. From talks with my step-mom, a pediatrician, this group of children is [...]

September 25, 2007

a new name for the list

A while ago I wrote about parents torturing their children with crazy baby names. I think I’m going to start a list of these names.
This month the Fields– a Chicago couple– named their baby [insert gag here] Wrigley Fields. I wonder if he’ll be a Cubs fan?

September 14, 2007

free health care for all (San Franciscians)!

I have always thought of San Francisco as the most European US city, and now we have another reason to boast our coolness factor: the right and access to health care for any citizen.
It’s pretty sad that our country is the only industrialized nation without universal health care, but the process and magnitude of shifting [...]

September 12, 2007

the Emmy awards are ripping you off

Only an “abbreviated version” of Kathy Griffin’s Creative Arts Emmy acceptance speech will be aired on Saturday. According to the NY times, here’s the part you’ll be missing:
“A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with [...]

September 5, 2007

what’s in a name?

It seems as though some of us have become bored with traditional baby names. The 1,000 Baby Names! books just aren’t enough inspiration for some couples…
There was that couple in China who tried to name their baby “@”. Why? The father explained ‘the whole world uses it to write e-mails.
Then [...]

August 28, 2007

the best of south carolina

Thank you, Miss Teen South Carolina, for substantiating the level of cultural fluency and intelligence of U.S. Americans to the rest of the world, especially in South Africa and the Iraq.

August 17, 2007

good news for my closet!

It’s a disservice to the world to keep high-end designer clothes only available to the richest .01%. Fashion is our daily opportunity for expression of individualism and creativity. My generation has been fortunate to benefit from the paradigm shift in fashion. In the past 5-10 years, “high-concept” clothes have been produced [...]