Remember that Ralph Lauren ad that got a lot of criticism for going crazy on the photoshopping? The ad resulted in the model looking unbelievably thin (her head is bigger than her pelvis). Well, now the model has been fired. She says they fired her because she was supposedly too fat. (Full Story)
I wonder if Ralph Lauren's logic was 'If she wasn't so ridiculously fat at 120 pounds, we wouldn't have had to photoshop the picture so much. This is obviously her fault.' No word as to whether the photoshop editor was fired.
Nothing creepier than 1,250 garden gnomes giving the Hitler salute. I don't care if it's satire. (Full Story)
Foreign Policy had an article on how the Obama administration should be careful that their strategy in Afghanistan doesn't result in a situation like Somalia. The (hopefully) unintentionally insensitive title of the article: A Recipe for Somalia.
The Albanian government wants Mother Teresa's remains to be dug up in Calcutta and moved to Albania for burial. India rejects the demand. (Full Story)
Her parents are from Albania. She lived in Macedonia the first 18 years of her life. She arrived in India at age 19, she was an Indian citizen, and she lived and worked most of her life in India. I can't imagine too many people will be wearing "Team Albania" t-shirts. And does Albania realize that Mother Teresa died way back in 1997?
An interesting and heartbreaking story on how people, especially children, with HIV/AIDS are treated by their community in Vietnam. (Full Story)
The annual report of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that 1.02 billion people are undernourished. That is one-sixth of the world's population. "This represents more hungry people than at any time since 1970 and a worsening of the unsatisfactory trends that were present even before the economic crisis." (Full Story)
This is one of the many dangers of relying on charity/donor aid to feed the hungry. In a downturn, the poor are the last thing on people's mind. A more sustainable and humane way of approaching world hunger is clearly necessary.
The Saudis' absurd stance on the global climate summit scheduled for December: If countries reduce their oil consumption to combat global warming, these countries should compensate oil producers for their losses. I think this quote from the article sums it up best: "It is like the tobacco industry asking for compensation for lost revenues as a part of a settlement to address the health risks of smoking." (Full Story)
"Thanks for the great idea," says the tobacco industry.
Hybrid cars are too quiet and pose a threat to pedestrians as they can't hear the car approaching. Some hybrid car makers are working with Hollywood special-effects technicians to come up with an artificial "vroom" that would be pumped out of speakers in the bumpers. Another possible idea is that car owners could choose their own noise, like a cellphone ring tone. (Full Story)
Yeah, that's exactly what we need -- some jerk's car playing Sweet Child O' Mine or Disco Stick through the bumpers. I'd rather get hit by a silent car.
Barack Obama is unknowingly teaching Japanese people how to speak English. CDs of his speeches are widely being used as a language resource. It helps that he speaks at a relatively slow pace. Some of these Obama-language programs include "Speech Training: Learning to Deliver English Speech, Obama Style", "Learn English Grammar From Obama", and "Yes, I Can With Obama: 40 Magical English Phrases From Presidential E-mails." (Full Story)
I'm really curious what these 40 magical phrases are...
Luckily the George W. Bush language program didn't ever catch on in Japan. It would take a lot of re-training to break Japanese people of pronouncing "nuclear" as nu-cu-lar or using words like "misunderestimate" and "subliminable" (or the Will Ferrell classic "strategery").
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