3rd\SE Quadrant: The Approval Matrix
A 44-pound feline was found waddling around Saturday without a collar in Voorhees, and officials at the Camden County Animal Shelter hope she gets a nice — hopefully, diet-friendly — home.
"She's built like a quarterback," said Deborah Wright, a shelter volunteer and current foster owner of the kitty. "I mean, how do you lose a 44-pound cat?!" Shelter officials are calling the porky cutie "Princess Chunk."
The largest tabby on record weighed 46 pounds, 15 ounces. That cat, who lived in Australia, died in the 1980s. The Guinness World Records has since dropped the category, fearing cat owners might harm their animals in an attempt to break the record.
-- Rocky Mountain News
Friday, August 8, 2008
Nas Protests Outside Fox News
3rd\SE Quadrant: The Approval Matrix
By Laura Leebove and Evan Lucy, Billboard
On the day Nas' untitled Def Jam album hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200, the rapper joined political groups Color of Change and Move On, along with fans and protesters, outside of the Fox News building in New York to protest the network's portrayal of blacks.
Nas briefly spoke to the crowd of nearly 100 people and urged them to "stop the racist smears on the Obamas and black Americans." In his speech, he cited examples of remarks made by Fox reporters that he and supporters found to be racist, including a reference to Michelle Obama as Barack Obama's "baby mama," and a fist bump between the couple as a "terrorist fist jab."
Even though Nas said he supports Obama and his vision, he hasn't officially endorsed the candidate and claims no political party has approached him for further support.
By Laura Leebove and Evan Lucy, Billboard
On the day Nas' untitled Def Jam album hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200, the rapper joined political groups Color of Change and Move On, along with fans and protesters, outside of the Fox News building in New York to protest the network's portrayal of blacks.
Nas briefly spoke to the crowd of nearly 100 people and urged them to "stop the racist smears on the Obamas and black Americans." In his speech, he cited examples of remarks made by Fox reporters that he and supporters found to be racist, including a reference to Michelle Obama as Barack Obama's "baby mama," and a fist bump between the couple as a "terrorist fist jab."
Even though Nas said he supports Obama and his vision, he hasn't officially endorsed the candidate and claims no political party has approached him for further support.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
"Get Your War On" Comic Strip by David Rees
2nd\NE Quadrant: The Approval Matrix
You've read the "Get Your War On" comic strip by David Rees. They've probably caused you to puke on yourself due to involuntary laughter. Now "Get Your War On" is an animated video, and 23/6 has it exclusively. Check out this promo, and look for new GYWO videos on here every week.
David Thomas Rees (born June 22, 1972) is a cartoonist whose best-known work combines bland clip art with outrageous "trash talk" to incongruous effect. The comic strips, often overtly political, have achieved wide popularity, while baffling or disgusting some readers. Of Rees'comic series, the best known and most controversial is "Get Your War On".Since May 2005 he has been a contributing blogger at The Huffington Post.
-- Wikipedia
You've read the "Get Your War On" comic strip by David Rees. They've probably caused you to puke on yourself due to involuntary laughter. Now "Get Your War On" is an animated video, and 23/6 has it exclusively. Check out this promo, and look for new GYWO videos on here every week.
David Thomas Rees (born June 22, 1972) is a cartoonist whose best-known work combines bland clip art with outrageous "trash talk" to incongruous effect. The comic strips, often overtly political, have achieved wide popularity, while baffling or disgusting some readers. Of Rees'comic series, the best known and most controversial is "Get Your War On".Since May 2005 he has been a contributing blogger at The Huffington Post.
-- Wikipedia
Kay Ryan Begins Reign as Poet Laureat
2nd\NE Quadrant: The Approval Matrix
By PATRICIA COHEN\New York Times
When Kay Ryan was a student at the University of California, Los Angeles, the poetry club rejected her application; she was perhaps too much of a loner, she recalls. Now Ms. Ryan is being inducted into one of the most elite poetry clubs around. She is to be named the country’s poet laureate on Thursday.
Known for her sly, compact poems that revel in wordplay and internal rhymes, Ms. Ryan has won a carriage full of poetry prizes for her funny and philosophical work, including awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and in 2004, the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, worth $100,000.
Poets, editors, critics and academics around the country offered advice to James H. Billington, the librarian of Congress, about whom to choose to succeed Charles Simic as the nation’s 16th poet laureate, who was appointed 2007. Ms. Ryan’s work has “this quality of simplicity; it’s highly accessible poetry,” Dr. Billington said. “She takes you through little images to see a very ordinary thing or ordinary sentiment in a more subtle and deeper way.”
Ms. Ryan likes to take familiar images and clichés and reincarnate them in a wholly original form. “The Other Shoe” reads:
Oh if it were
only the other
shoe hanging
in space before
joining its mate.
By PATRICIA COHEN\New York Times
When Kay Ryan was a student at the University of California, Los Angeles, the poetry club rejected her application; she was perhaps too much of a loner, she recalls. Now Ms. Ryan is being inducted into one of the most elite poetry clubs around. She is to be named the country’s poet laureate on Thursday.
Known for her sly, compact poems that revel in wordplay and internal rhymes, Ms. Ryan has won a carriage full of poetry prizes for her funny and philosophical work, including awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and in 2004, the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, worth $100,000.
Poets, editors, critics and academics around the country offered advice to James H. Billington, the librarian of Congress, about whom to choose to succeed Charles Simic as the nation’s 16th poet laureate, who was appointed 2007. Ms. Ryan’s work has “this quality of simplicity; it’s highly accessible poetry,” Dr. Billington said. “She takes you through little images to see a very ordinary thing or ordinary sentiment in a more subtle and deeper way.”
Ms. Ryan likes to take familiar images and clichés and reincarnate them in a wholly original form. “The Other Shoe” reads:
Oh if it were
only the other
shoe hanging
in space before
joining its mate.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Astor Place Redesign
2nd\NE Quadrant: The Approval Matrix
A conceptual draft of “Village Plaza,” a new pedestrian public space that would replace a confusing and dangerous merging zone between E. Fourth and E. Sixth Sts.
By Gabriel Zucker\The Villager
A traffic redesign of Astor Place and Cooper Square in the works for decades seems finally ready to start moving fairly soon, with construction expected to begin as early as this winter. The city’s Art Commission is scheduled to consider a conceptual design for the project next month.
The latest version of the plan, which largely dates back to 2005, involves reclaiming large amounts of street space for pedestrian use. The renovation includes a realignment of Cooper Square from Sixth St. to Astor Place, with the street being thinned and made one-way northbound. The thinner avenue will provide new space alongside Peter Cooper Park, and will create a two-block-long plaza space almost the same size alongside the Bowery, extending down to E. Fourth St.
In addition, Astor Place will be closed to cars between Fourth Ave. and Lafayette St. where it passes “The Alamo” cube sculpture. On the opposite side of Fourth Ave., Astor Place will also be realigned with Eighth St., creating even more pedestrian space. The traffic island for the northbound No. 6 train will be doubled in size.
As part of the capital project, the city Department of Transportation will also be installing medians along Third Ave. to facilitate pedestrian crossings on the blocks between Fourth and Ninth Sts.
According to a D.O.T. document on the plan, “the proposed design will improve outdoor public spaces, expand green spaces, reduce conflicts between pedestrian and vehicular traffic, and add a traffic median along Third Ave.”
A conceptual draft of “Village Plaza,” a new pedestrian public space that would replace a confusing and dangerous merging zone between E. Fourth and E. Sixth Sts.By Gabriel Zucker\The Villager
A traffic redesign of Astor Place and Cooper Square in the works for decades seems finally ready to start moving fairly soon, with construction expected to begin as early as this winter. The city’s Art Commission is scheduled to consider a conceptual design for the project next month.
The latest version of the plan, which largely dates back to 2005, involves reclaiming large amounts of street space for pedestrian use. The renovation includes a realignment of Cooper Square from Sixth St. to Astor Place, with the street being thinned and made one-way northbound. The thinner avenue will provide new space alongside Peter Cooper Park, and will create a two-block-long plaza space almost the same size alongside the Bowery, extending down to E. Fourth St.
In addition, Astor Place will be closed to cars between Fourth Ave. and Lafayette St. where it passes “The Alamo” cube sculpture. On the opposite side of Fourth Ave., Astor Place will also be realigned with Eighth St., creating even more pedestrian space. The traffic island for the northbound No. 6 train will be doubled in size.
As part of the capital project, the city Department of Transportation will also be installing medians along Third Ave. to facilitate pedestrian crossings on the blocks between Fourth and Ninth Sts.
According to a D.O.T. document on the plan, “the proposed design will improve outdoor public spaces, expand green spaces, reduce conflicts between pedestrian and vehicular traffic, and add a traffic median along Third Ave.”
Iraq to Compete in Olympics
2nd\NE Quadrant: The Approval Matrix
By Gina Chon\The Wall Street Journal
On Tuesday [July 29, 2008], the International Olympic Committee said it will let Iraq participate in the games in Beijing after Iraqi government officials vowed that its Olympics committee would be independent and free from political influence.
The lifting of the ban on Iraq’s participation in the Olympics came with just enough time to let Iraq meet today’s [July 30, 2008] deadline to submit the names of athletes competing in the track and field events. That means Iraq will be sending two competitors to Beijing. Other potential participants in the fields of judo, rowing, weightlifting and archery will have to sit this one out, because the deadline for name submissions for those events passed last week.
The IOC banned Iraq from the games after the Iraqi government dissolved the country’s national Olympic committee in May. The government said the committee hadn’t had a quorum for several years, ever since several members of the group were kidnapped, and alleged that the committee was mired in corruption.
By Gina Chon\The Wall Street JournalOn Tuesday [July 29, 2008], the International Olympic Committee said it will let Iraq participate in the games in Beijing after Iraqi government officials vowed that its Olympics committee would be independent and free from political influence.
The lifting of the ban on Iraq’s participation in the Olympics came with just enough time to let Iraq meet today’s [July 30, 2008] deadline to submit the names of athletes competing in the track and field events. That means Iraq will be sending two competitors to Beijing. Other potential participants in the fields of judo, rowing, weightlifting and archery will have to sit this one out, because the deadline for name submissions for those events passed last week.
The IOC banned Iraq from the games after the Iraqi government dissolved the country’s national Olympic committee in May. The government said the committee hadn’t had a quorum for several years, ever since several members of the group were kidnapped, and alleged that the committee was mired in corruption.
Viagra Helps Women Reach Orgasim
2nd\NE Quadrant: The Approval Matrix
By Chatter Shmatter
Women who are taking anti-depressants may benefit from the use of viagra, as in a small study it has been proven to increase their likelyhood of reaching orgasm during sex.
The study featured just under 100 premenopausal women and also found that women although enjoyed a heightened orgasm opportunity, did not have an increase in sexual desire or other sexual feelings.
The women were divided into groups with some receiving viagra and some receiving a dummy pill. Up to 72% of women taking viagra reported an increase in their sex drive, with 27% of the placebo group reporting an improvement.
Many women and men for that matter taking anti-depressants have a hard time enjoying sex, and researchers have been trying to figure out what can be done to reverse this fact. The drugs work by increasing the production of the chemical Serotonin in the brain, thus diminishing sex drive.
The study is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
By Chatter ShmatterWomen who are taking anti-depressants may benefit from the use of viagra, as in a small study it has been proven to increase their likelyhood of reaching orgasm during sex.
The study featured just under 100 premenopausal women and also found that women although enjoyed a heightened orgasm opportunity, did not have an increase in sexual desire or other sexual feelings.
The women were divided into groups with some receiving viagra and some receiving a dummy pill. Up to 72% of women taking viagra reported an increase in their sex drive, with 27% of the placebo group reporting an improvement.
Many women and men for that matter taking anti-depressants have a hard time enjoying sex, and researchers have been trying to figure out what can be done to reverse this fact. The drugs work by increasing the production of the chemical Serotonin in the brain, thus diminishing sex drive.
The study is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
HBO Cancels "Tell Me You Love Me"
1st\NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix
By Nellie Andreeva\Huffington Post
HBO has opted not to renew racy drama "Tell Me You Love Me" for a second season.
By Nellie Andreeva\Huffington Post
HBO has opted not to renew racy drama "Tell Me You Love Me" for a second season.
The decision was made almost a year after the sexually explicit series premiered on the pay cable channel.
"Given the considerable amount of time that has passed and despite the best efforts of everyone involved, we were unable to find the direction of the show for the second season," "Tell Me You Love Me" creator/executive producer Cynthia Mort said in a statement.
"Tell Me You Love Me," a look at marriage through the stories of couples in therapy, drew a lot of attention with its sexually graphic content.
Hasbro Shuts Down Scrabulous
1st\NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix
By Eric Auchard\Reuters UK
Word-wise game players lost a popular online diversion on Tuesday [July 29, 2008] as the creators of a knock-off of the game Scrabble cut off service in North America in the face of a lawsuit by game maker Hasbro.
By Eric Auchard\Reuters UKWord-wise game players lost a popular online diversion on Tuesday [July 29, 2008] as the creators of a knock-off of the game Scrabble cut off service in North America in the face of a lawsuit by game maker Hasbro.
Scrabulous, an online version of the classic board game created by two brothers in India, cut off the service for U.S. and Canadian Internet users on Tuesday after Hasbro filed suit in a New York federal court last Thursday.
Scrabulous, introduced on Facebook a year ago, has become a phenomenon, sucking productivity in offices and schools around the globe. The game has become one of Facebook's dozen most actively used programs, attracting 500,000 daily players. It pits online opponents who compete to come up with clever words using the most exotic letters to score points.
Hasbro owns the rights to Scrabble in North America, while rival Mattel owns the rights to the popular board game in the rest of the world. Mattel filed a suit against Scrabulous several months ago and is awaiting a decision on its complaint by an Indian court.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Gov. Paterson Suggests Selling Bridges and Tunnels
1st\NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix
By BRENDAN SCOTT and FREDRIC U. DICKER\NY PostWarning of an approaching economic calamity, Gov. Paterson yesterday called an emergency session of the state Legislature - and raised the specter that New York may have to sell off roads, bridges and tunnels to close a massive budget deficit.
In a rare televised address, the Democratic governor cited "private-public partnerships" involving the sale of state assets - widely condemned by critics as fiscal gimmickry - as one way to stem a tide of red ink brought on by the sagging economy and woes on Wall Street.
By BRENDAN SCOTT and FREDRIC U. DICKER\NY PostWarning of an approaching economic calamity, Gov. Paterson yesterday called an emergency session of the state Legislature - and raised the specter that New York may have to sell off roads, bridges and tunnels to close a massive budget deficit.
In a rare televised address, the Democratic governor cited "private-public partnerships" involving the sale of state assets - widely condemned by critics as fiscal gimmickry - as one way to stem a tide of red ink brought on by the sagging economy and woes on Wall Street.
China to Censor Websites During Olympic Games
1st\NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix
(Gero Breloer / EPA)
By Nick Mulvenney\Yahoo! News
Some International Olympic Committee officials cut a deal to let China block sensitive websites despite promises of unrestricted access, a senior IOC official admitted on Wednesday.
China had committed to providing media with the same freedom to report on the Games as they enjoyed at previous Olympics, but journalists have this week complained of finding access to sites deemed sensitive to its communist leadership blocked.
Attempts at the main press centre to access the website of Amnesty International, which released a report on Monday slamming China for failing to honor its Olympic human rights pledges, continued to prove fruitless by mid-week.
Other websites, including those relating to the banned spiritual group Falun Gong, are also inaccessible.
Beijing organizers said censorship would not stop journalists doing their jobs in reporting the Games.
"We are going to do our best to facilitate the foreign media to do their reporting work through the Internet," BOCOG spokesman Sun Weide told a news conference.
(Gero Breloer / EPA)By Nick Mulvenney\Yahoo! News
Some International Olympic Committee officials cut a deal to let China block sensitive websites despite promises of unrestricted access, a senior IOC official admitted on Wednesday.
China had committed to providing media with the same freedom to report on the Games as they enjoyed at previous Olympics, but journalists have this week complained of finding access to sites deemed sensitive to its communist leadership blocked.
Attempts at the main press centre to access the website of Amnesty International, which released a report on Monday slamming China for failing to honor its Olympic human rights pledges, continued to prove fruitless by mid-week.
Other websites, including those relating to the banned spiritual group Falun Gong, are also inaccessible.
Beijing organizers said censorship would not stop journalists doing their jobs in reporting the Games.
"We are going to do our best to facilitate the foreign media to do their reporting work through the Internet," BOCOG spokesman Sun Weide told a news conference.
Visitor at London Exhibit Smashes $12,000 Sculpture
1st\NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix
A 9-foot-tall sculpture by Costa Rican artist Tatiana Echeverri Fernandez was destroyed when a visitor fell into it at a London exhibit.
The BBC said the totem titled "Christina" was broken into hundreds of pieces when a visitor fell into the cordoned-off piece, causing it to crash to the floor at the Royal Academy.
The sculpture, estimated to have been worth about $12,000, was one of five totems by the contemporary artist on display. The gallery closed after the weekend incident, but later reopened, the BBC said Tuesday.
-- UPI
One witness, Clare San Martin, did not see the accident but heard it. "It was an enormous crash," she said. "Like pottery smashing. Everyone was standing around, and one woman, who I assumed had knocked it over, was standing with her hand on her head.
"After a while a person ran off to get help and someone came in with a dustpan to clean it up. Before that people were still coming in to the room and thought it was part of the exhibition. They were taking pictures. I think they thought it was meant to be like that.
-- The Guardian
A 9-foot-tall sculpture by Costa Rican artist Tatiana Echeverri Fernandez was destroyed when a visitor fell into it at a London exhibit.The BBC said the totem titled "Christina" was broken into hundreds of pieces when a visitor fell into the cordoned-off piece, causing it to crash to the floor at the Royal Academy.
The sculpture, estimated to have been worth about $12,000, was one of five totems by the contemporary artist on display. The gallery closed after the weekend incident, but later reopened, the BBC said Tuesday.
-- UPI
One witness, Clare San Martin, did not see the accident but heard it. "It was an enormous crash," she said. "Like pottery smashing. Everyone was standing around, and one woman, who I assumed had knocked it over, was standing with her hand on her head.
"After a while a person ran off to get help and someone came in with a dustpan to clean it up. Before that people were still coming in to the room and thought it was part of the exhibition. They were taking pictures. I think they thought it was meant to be like that.
-- The Guardian
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