Oakland Police Critically Injure Iraq War Vet During OCCUPY OAKLAND March

1st NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

From Huffington Post

Scott Olsen, the 24-year-old Iraq War veteran and Occupy activist suffering from a head injury after being hit with a police projectile in Oakland, has had his condition upgraded to fair and is now breathing on his own.

His roommate, Keith Shannon, who is also an Iraq War veteran, first reported the progress in an email. Olsen will still need surgery, Shannon wrote. "The neurosurgeons have decided he needs surgery to relieve the pressure on his brain.

1st NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

From Coveteur by Daddy Kroenig

Hudson Kroenig is the adorable toddler who walked with his dad, Brad Kroenig—the inimitable muse to  Karl Lagerfeld—in the Chanel S/S ’11 show. Matching from head-to-toe in a Canadian tuxedo and white ,Hudson’s runway debut with daddy was only the beginning to his booming modeling career.

Taking cues from dad—the Abercrombie & Fitch model-turned-Lagerfeld legend—little Hudson’s resumé reads like that of fashion’s veterans: he’s been shot by The Kaiser (numerous times!), graced the pages of German Vogue and posed as the face of Fendi alongside his dapper dad, Anja Rubik and Baptiste Giabiconi. And it’s no surprise that as the face of Fendi, Hudson is repping hard—jacket, sweater, jeans, hat, shoes… you name it, he’s got it! Uncle Karl—who shot the Fendi campaign—really is like an uncle to Hud- gifting him stuffed mini Karl’s to cuddle with at night, visiting him in NYC and hanging with him in Europe.  From catwalks to clothes, little H definitely knows a thing or two about style.

The father and son team wowed Chanel's s/s 2011 audience in matching 'Canadian tuxedos'

Obsessed Ashton Kutcher Fan Gets ‘I Love You’ Tattoo

4th NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

From E by Bruna Nessif

A woman, named Jessica Khushi  from Brazil tweeted this picture of her latest ink to the Two and a Half Men star saying,  "This is a way of expressing my love for @aplusk."

The tattoo reads, "Ashton Kutcher I love you, love is forever fan love you," which doesn't exactly make sense, but there's no point in trying to fix that now.

So what does one superfamous actor say to such an extreme gesture? "All i can say is wow," he tweets.

Wow is right.

Kelly Osbourne Slams Christina Aguilera: She's a "Fat Bitch!"

4th NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

From  Hollywood Gossip by Free Britney

Kelly Osbourne really does not like Christina Aguilera. She's come out hard against the singer's weight again, saying she was never as fat as Christina is now.

Just two months ago, the E! Fashion Police co-host blatantly called Aguilera a fat bitch and the c-word to boot. Osbourne has never been one to mince words.

When co-host George Kotsiopoulous defended Christina's get-up at the Michael Jackson tribute concert, saying she's "still probably a size 2/4," Kelly scoffed.

"Trust me," she sniped. "I'm a 2/4. That is not a 2/4. I was never that fat."

The Voice judge has been the source of criticism for pairing a tight-fitting black bodysuit with fishnets, heavy-handed makeup and massive hair at the show.

It's unclear exactly why Osbourne hates her so much, but this summer, she said, "She called me fat for f*cking years, so you know what? You're fat, too."

Lauren Conrad’s Hair: Pretty — and Peach!

3rd NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

From Style News

 Lauren Conrad's   hair color matches her perky personality. The former reality starlet dyed the ends of her hair peach , after asking her Beauty Department readers if she should take the pinky plunge.

The designer (and soon-to-be beauty mogul) Tweeted some pictures of the process Wednesday, showing the results on her website Friday. Her look was inspired by an orange hue she saw on the runway, and jokingly, a peach-haired My Little Pony.


This change caps off a year of major hair changes for Conrad: in January she went brunette, returning to her golden hue in June. In July, she made another change, dip-dying the ends of her hair in shades of pink, blue, green and purple. A few weeks later she made the look more subtle, showcasing just a few hints of blue. Then after a return to blonde, she picked the current peach shade.

Cyclops Shark Discovered In Sea of Cortez

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From NT by Steve Tarlow

At 22 inches long, the cyclops shark fetus may not be large enough to inspire deep sea nightmares, but the fact that it has just a single eye at the front of its head – a product of the congenital condition cyclopia – makes it no less unsettling. Several species, humans included, are susceptible to the birth defect.

On sight, León knew he’d found something amazing. Biologist Felipe Galván-Magaña of the Interdisciplinary Center of Marine Sciences in La Paz, Mexico, told National Geographic that he first heard of León’s discovery on Facebook. He immediately contacted the fisherman to ask permission to borrow the one-eyed shark for research.

X-rays and a review of previous research confirmed that the spawn of León’s catch was indeed a cyclops shark, one of the very few cases ever documented. According to University of North Florida shark biologist Jim Gelsleichter, the only recorded cases have been as embryos, which suggests that cyclops sharks don’t survive in the wild for long.

MAPS by Paula Scher

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From Amazon

In the early 1990s, celebrated graphic designer Paula Scher (Make It Bigger, 2002) began painting maps of the world as she sees it. The larger her canvases grew, the more expressionistic her geographical visions became. Displaying a powerful command of image and type, Scher brilliantly transformed the surface area of our world. Paintings as tall as twelve feet depict continents, countries, and cities swirling in torrents of information and undulating with colorful layers of hand-painted boundary lines, place-names, and provocative cultural commentary. Collected here for the first time, Paula Scher MAPS presents thirty-nine of Scher's obsessively detailed, highly personal creations.

John Jeremiah Sullivan'S PULPHEAD

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From Amazon

- In Pulphead, John Jeremiah Sullivan takes us on an exhilarating tour of our popular, unpopular, and at times completely forgotten culture.

In his native Kentucky, Sullivan introduces us to Constantine Rafinesque, a nineteenth-century polymath genius who concocted a dense, fantastical prehistory of the New World. Back in modern times, Sullivan takes us to the Ozarks for a Christian rock festival; to Florida to meet the alumni and straggling refugees of MTV’s Real World, who’ve generated their own self-perpetuating economy of minor celebrity; and all across the South on the trail of the blues. He takes us to Indiana to investigate the formative years of Michael Jackson and Axl Rose and then to the Gulf Coast in the wake of Katrina—and back again as its residents confront the BP oil spill.

SENNA

2nd NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

From IMDB
 Senna - A documentary about Brazilian Formula One racing driver Ayrton Senna, who won the F1 world championship three times before his death at age 34.

 

Pepper Spray Cop Tony Bologna Punished With More Work

1st NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

From Gothamist by Jim Kieman

As punishment for pepper-spraying two penned-in Occupy Wall Street protesters without provocation, Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna will... pick up some extra shifts. The Internal Affairs Bureau reviewed the infamous incident (which was caught on video and eventually spawned a Daily Show parody cop show, The Vigilogna) and determined that Bologna violated NYPD rules. As punishment for spraying a couple of women in the eyes and walking away, he loses ten vacation days! But he already had his hotel booked for next year's Chile Pepper Fest in Bowers, PA!

In case you're wondering exactly how Bologna went wrong, the NY Times reports that the department’s patrol guide says pepper spray "should be used primarily to control a suspect who is resisting arrest, or for protection; it does allow for its use in 'disorder control,' but only by officers with special training." The head of the Captains Endowment Association tells the paper that "Deputy Inspector Bologna is disappointed at the results of the department investigation. His actions prevented further injury and escalation of tumultuous conduct. To date, this conduct has not been portrayed in its true context."

Bologna, a 29-year veteran makes $154,300 a year, could contest the ruling, but then he risks an even stiffer penalty. And he could still face criminal charges.

Controversy Erupts Over Sex-Segregated Brooklyn Bus

1st NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

From NPR by Barbara B Hagarity

It's been a few decades since Americans were engaged in a back-of-the-bus controversy. Now a popular bus route between two New York City neighborhoods is reviving the issue.

Last Wednesday, Melissa Franchy boarded the B110 from Williamsburg to Boro Park, two Hasidic Jewish neighborhoods in Brooklyn. She was accompanying her friend, Sasha Chavkin, a reporter for The New York World, a Columbia Journalism School publication. Their mission: Find out what would happen if Franchy sat at the front of the bus.

At first, nothing happened. Then she was approached by another passenger, a Hasidic Jewish man.
"And he said, 'OK, you should sit at the back because women sit at the back on this bus and men sit in the front.' And I looked at him and said, 'OK, why?' And he said, 'Well, that's the rule because this is a private Jewish bus.' "

Franchy asked the driver if this was permitted. He didn't speak enough English to respond. Then she noticed two Hasidic women at the back of the bus.

"One of them was rolling her eyes; the other one said, 'Just move, I mean, that's the way it is. You don't ask.' And then the man said, 'When the Lord gives a rule, you don't question it.' "

The rule, says Shulem Deen, who spent the first 29 years of his life as a Hasidic Jew, is steeped in ultra-Orthodox tradition.

"Essentially, it's based on the idea that men and women should generally be separate, should inhabit different spheres of life in public in particular," Deen says.

The B110 bus runs through the sections of the borough of Brooklyn that are heavily populated by Orthodox Jews.

Guy Surfing on The J Train in New York City

4th NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

Did Francona’s Marriage Issues, Use of Painkillers Affect Job Performance?

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From Sport Of Boston by KC Downey

Former Red Sox manager Terry Francona had a tumultuous eighth and final season with the Red Sox. His team was on pace in late August to win 100 games, but as we know, there was a lot of trouble in the Red Sox clubhouse. The fact that certain starting pitchers didn’t really care whether the team won or lost if they weren’t pitching shows Francona was losing grip on the team.
Now, we may know why. According to the Boston Globe’s bombshell report, team sources had expressed concern that Francona’s marital and health issues may have negatively affected his performance as manager.

“It makes me angry that people say these things because I’ve busted my [butt] to be the best manager I can be,” Francona told the Globe. “I wasn’t terribly successful this year, but I worked harder and spent more time at the ballpark this year than I ever did.”

The paper said Francona spent the season living in a Brookline hotel after he moved out his Chestnut Hill. He and Jacque, his wife of nearly 30 years, were having some serious marital issues. He “adamantly denied” his marital problems affected his job performance.

The team source also expressed concern about Francona’s excessive use of pain medication. Francona furiously denied that to the paper, saying he has taken pain medicine for years due to recovery from multiple knee surgeries, with the most recent coming last October.

Evan Van Der Spuy, South African Cyclist, Hit By Antelope While Mountain Biking

3rd NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

From Huffington Post

Evan van der Spuy, a mountain biker on team Jeep South Africa, was hit by a buck while riding in a race at Albert Falls Dam in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa.

In the video, we hear his team mate, Travis Walker, warning van der Spuy to "watch the buck." And while van der Spuy looks to his right, there's nothing he can do. Moments later...well, you'll see what happens.
According to Global Post, van der Spuy was taken out by a red hartebeest, a type of antelope that can weigh as much as 330 pounds.

Shockingly, the visibly shaken -- and audibly groaning -- van der Spuy didn't suffer any serious injuries, although his helmet was shattered. He tweeted later that he's "stable with nothing more than a very stiff neck," thanking his team mates for their help.

METAMAUS by Art Spiegelman

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From NPR

When cartoonist Art Spiegelman published his epic Holocaust graphic novel, Maus, 25 years ago, a lot changed. He received a special Pulitzer Prize and became a contributor and cover artist for the New Yorker.
Maus blends the stories of Spiegelman's trying relationship with his father and a horrifying tale of Auschwitz, as seen through his father's eyes. Spiegelman drew the Jews as mice and the Germans as cats.
But Maus has continued to haunt him.

But Maus has continued to haunt him.

MetaMaus: A Look Inside a Modern Classic, Maus is the story behind Spiegelman's signature work, complete with interviews, answers to many persistent questions and examples of his early drawings.

LIMITLESS Starring Bradley Cooper

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FOR NOW by Nick Cave @ The Mary Boone Gallery

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From Mary Boone and Daily Beast

The “Soundsuits” of Chicago artist Nick Cave are some of the most exuberant, peculiar objects now circulating as contemporary art. A big sampling of recent ones is on view in New York in a two-part show, split between the Jack Shainman Gallery and the Mary Boone Gallery, and sampled in this slideshow. Cave’s trademark objects are bodysuits that can be made of anything from rainbow-dyed human hair to found welcome mats. They can be cut like straight-ahead enlargements of a toddler’s sleeper, or can have bizarre extra arms or giant steam funnels where the wearer’s head should be. They are called Soundsuits because some of them make noise when they are worn, but also, more metaphorically, because they change the most basic features of the environment for anyone wearing or witnessing them.

September 10th- October 22nd, Tuesday-Saturday 10am-6pm
FREE
Mary Boone Gallery (541 W. 24th St. btn 10th and 11th Aves)
[Chelsea]

Somerville, Mass Resident, Joon Pahk, Wins Big On JEOPARDY!

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From Jepordy

Joon Pahk, a 32-year-old physics teacher at Harvard University from Somerville won a total of $199,000 during his eight-day appearance on “Jeopardy!”  His impressive performance secured a spot in the Tournament of Champions, airing Nov. 2-15.

White House site has Dayton Space Shuttle Petition

1st NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

From WDTN by Joe Cogliano

The effort to wrangle a Space Shuttle for Dayton has made its way to The White House Web site.
A petition asking the Obama Administration to revisit its decision on the final display sites for the shuttles — New York, Washington D.C., Florida and Los Angeles — went on the site last week and has garnered nearly 200 signatures.

Click here to see the petition.

The petition says NASA Administrator Charles Bolden’s decision was based on a flawed assessment of applications and that NASA also ignored the intent of Congress to consider regional diversity when determining shuttle locations.

“Even more insulting to taxpayers is that having paid to build the shuttles, they will now be charged to see them at some sites. New York, which received the decommissioned Enterprise space shuttle under the premise that it would house it in the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, now plans to build a separate museum for the Enterprise,” the petition said.

NASA gave Dayton the shaft in April when it placed retired shuttles at the four other sites, leaving out the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

Camden County, Georgia Considers Employing Inmates As Fire Fighters

1st NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

From Huffington Post by Jillian Berman

States and localities across the country are looking for ways to cut costs amid budget shortfalls, and one county is taking an approach that many residents find controversial: hiring prison inmates as fire fighters.

Camden County, Georgia is considering an “inmates-to-firefighters” program as one way to keep residents’ fire insurance costs from more than doubling, according to The Florida Times-Union. The program is one of multiple options Camden’s Board of County Commissioners are considering, but officials say hiring inmates as firefighters would be more cost-effective than the other options, saving the county more than $500,000 per year.

43,381 New Virues Found In Sewage

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From Yahoo! News by The Week's Editorial Staff

It's a dirty job, but, in the name of science, someone has to do it. Sifting through raw sewage may sound disgusting, but it's actually a "goldmine" for scientists charged with discovering new viruses, as evidenced by a new study [PDF] published by the American Society for Microbiology. Here's what you should know:

Scientists really studied sewage? Yep. Only about 3,000 known viruses had actually been documented by scientists — just "the tip of the iceberg," says the study's editor, Michael Imperiale of the University of Michigan. To identify more, researchers studied sewage from Pittsburgh, Barcelona, and Addis Ababa, Ethiopa.

What did they find? An incredible number of viruses: At least 43,381 so far. Don't freak out though. There were plenty of known pathogens in the sewage — including viruses that can cause cervical cancer and the stomach flu. And only a small percentage of the sewage viruses were bugs that can cause human disease. Indeed, 80 percent of the newly discovered unknown viruses are only interested in bacteria, and of the remaining 20 percent that attack multi-celled organisms, 9 in 10 infect only plants. "That's because humans eat plants and plant viruses dominate the types found in human excrement," says Richard Knox of NPR.

Deaf Girl Hearing Her Voice For The First Time

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WHEN THE GARDEN WAS EDEN by Harvey Araton

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The late 1960s and early 1970s, in New York City and America at large, were years marked by political tumult, social unrest—and the best professional basketball ever played. Paradise, for better or worse, was a hardwood court in Midtown Manhattan.

When the Garden Was Eden is the definitive account of how the New York Knickerbockers won their first and only championships, and in the process provided the nation no small escape from the Vietnam War, the tragedy at Kent State, and the last vestiges of Jim Crow. The Knicks were more than a team; they were a symbol of harmony, the sublimation of individual personalities for the greater collective good.

THREE AND OUT by John U. Bacon

3rd NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

Three and Out tells the story of how college football’s most influential coach took over the nation’s most successful program, only to produce three of the worst seasons in the histories of both Rich Rodriguez and the University of Michigan. Shortly after his controversial move from West Virginia, where he had just taken his alma mater to the #1 ranking for the first time in school history, Coach Rich Rodriguez granted author and journalist John U. Bacon unrestricted access to Michigan’s program. Bacon saw it all, from the meals and the meetings, to the practices and the games, to the sidelines and the locker rooms. Nothing and no one was off limits. John U. Bacon’s Three and Out is the definitive account of a football marriage seemingly made in heaven that broke up after just three years, and lifts the lid on the best and the worst of college football.

The 100-Year Starship: US Agencies Ponder Interstellar Travel

2nd  NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

From Space

Warp drives. Artificial gravity. Terraforming planets. These concepts might sound as though they're ripped from the pages of science fiction, but they're the topic of serious scientific presentations at a symposium this weekend sponsored by DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Called the 100-Year Starship Symposium, the public event will run Sept. 30 to Oct. 2 in Orlando, Fla. For three days, scientists from universities, NASA centers and private institutions will discuss far-out ideas for building a spaceship to visit another star.

MARCEL THE SHELL by Jenny Slate and Dean Fleischer-Camp

2nd  NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

From Huffington Post

Once just a shell with just a lentil for a hat and a Dorito for a hangglider, Marcel is now the proud owner of a new book and a television development contract. Not too shabby for a tiny animated creature who skis on a man's toenail.

Brought to life in a stop motion animated YouTube video made by Dean Fleischer-Camp and former "SNL" actress Jenny Slate, who gave him his squeaky, lovable voice, Marcel has been watched nearly 12 million viewers. The national attention earned Slate and Fleischer-Camp a deal for a series of children's books, with the first title slated for release on November 1st.

Deer Rescued from Verrazono-Narrows Bridge

1st NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

 

View more videos at: http://nbcnewyork.com.

Exorbitant Bank Fees

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The Approval Matrix: Week of October 17, 2011

2 BROKE GIRLS

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Dane Cook's Superfinger Entertainment Pairs with NBC

4th NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix
From Digital Journal

Stand-up comedian Dane Cook is working on a new comedy show at NBC. The network signed Cook for a deal for a half-hour comedy show for the network's next season lineup. This will mark the comedian's first major role on national TV.

The 39-year old-comedian-actor will headline the sitcom, but will also be part of the development through his own production company Superfinger Entertainment. NBC aims for a fall 2012 debut of the still untitled program. Cook will join his other contemporaries like Whitney Cummings, Chelsea Handler and Sarah Silverman at the peacock network.

Artist Amy Shackleton "Gravity" Paintings

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Dean Winters Allstate Mayhem Ads

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Saudi Arabia Gives Women Voting Rights

2nd  NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix 

From Guardian UK

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has said women will have the right to stand and vote in future local elections and join the advisory Shura council as full members.

"Because we refuse to marginalise women in society in all roles that comply with sharia, we have decided, after deliberation with our senior ulama [clerics] and others … to involve women in the Shura council as members, starting from the next term," Abdullah, 87, said in a speech.

"Women will be able to run as candidates in the municipal election and will even have a right to vote," he added.

Liberal activists in the country have long called for greater rights for women, who are barred from travelling, working or having medical operations without the permission of a male relative and are forbidden from driving.

BLACK SWAN Interns Sue Over Fetching and Cleaning

1st NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix 

From Gawker

A couple guys are suing Fox Searchlight Productions, claiming they were exploited during the production of "Black Swan." Basically, they claim that the studio used them as free unpaid labor. One plaintiff found that his duties were mostly coffee-related:

One plaintiff, Alex Footman, a 2009 graduate of Wesleyan University who majored in film studies, said he worked as a production intern on "Black Swan" in New York from October 2009 to February 2010. He said his responsibilities included preparing coffee for the production office, ensuring that the coffee pot was full, taking and distributing lunch orders for the production staff, taking out the trash and cleaning the office.

Nefertiti and the Nephra Kids

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From The Daily News

The Manhattan couple who abducted their eight kids from a foster-care facility claims they did it because some of the children were being sexually abused.

Nadal, 28, and Payne, 34, were nabbed late Monday in Harrisburg, Pa., a week after they spirited the children away from a supervised visit in Queens.

 

The eight kids - seven boys ages 4 to 11, all named Nephra, and an 11-month-old girl.

 

 

Nadia Habib Avoids Deportation

1st NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix
From The L.A. Times

A college student who grew up in New York has won a temporary reprieve from immigration officials who had threatened to deport her to her native Bangladesh, which she left as an infant when her mother brought her to the United States.

Nadia Habib and her mother, Nazmin, had appeared before immigration officials Thursday with their passports and luggage ready to go after Nazmin Habib's illegal status caught up with them. Nadia, who has lived in the United States since she was 20 months old, had not realized that she was an illegal immigrant until she qualified for financial aid for college and was asked to produce identity papers.

At Thursday's hearing in Manhattan, the mother and daughter were ordered to give up their passports but told they could remain in the country while the case is reviewed further. They were not told when a final decision would be made.

The Approval Matrix: Week of October 10, 2011