Ms., 40 Years On

With Ms. magazine about to celebrate its 40th anniversary in December (its first issue was a supplement to New York magazine), this seems a good time to tip Lingua Franca’s collective hat to the magazine’s and its allies’ remarkable success in deliberately insinuating a new word—Ms.—into the language. To appreciate the difficulty of that, consider the hundreds of unsuccessful attempts to come up with a gender-neutral third-person pronoun that Dennis Baron has tracked at his invaluable Web site.

One of the few other successes I can think of along this line is homophobic, which the OED reports as first being used in a general context in 1975. The word deftly psychologizes hostility toward homosexuals as springing from fear of them. Well played. However, Ms. is a bit more impressive in that, unlike homophobic, it was offered as a substitute for two already well-established words, Miss and Mrs.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2011/10/20/ms-40-years-on/?sid=wb&utm_source=wb&utm_medium=en 

A Silicon Valley School That Doesn’t Compute

LOS ALTOS, Calif. — The chief technology officer of eBay sends his children to a nine-classroom school here. So do employees of Silicon Valley giants like Google, Apple, Yahoo and Hewlett-Packard. 

But the school’s chief teaching tools are anything but high-tech: pens and paper, knitting needles and, occasionally, mud. Not a computer to be found. No screens at all. They are not allowed in the classroom, and the school even frowns on their use at home.

Schools nationwide have rushed to supply their classrooms with computers, and many policy makers say it is foolish to do otherwise. But the contrarian point of view can be found at the epicenter of the tech economy, where some parents and educators have a message: computers and schools don’t mix.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/technology/at-waldorf-school-in-silicon-valley-technology-can-wait.html?_r=1 

Some Supermarkets Shunning Ben & Jerry's 'Schweddy Balls'

“No one can resist my Schweddy Balls!”  Sorry, Ben & Jerry's, but apparently some people can.

A rather suggestive Saturday Night Live sketch from 1998 features baker Pete Schweddy, played by Alec Baldwin, proclaiming the undeniable appeal of his Schweddy Balls creation on NPR.

Ben & Jerry's has come out with their own limited-edition ice cream flavor, calling it an “ode” to the classic sketch that “you won't be able to resist.”  The flavor is described as Fair Trade vanilla ice cream with a hint of rum, “loaded with fudge covered rum and milk chocolate malt balls.”

That sounds pretty delicious, right?  However, the ice cream's name is a little too provocative for certain grocery store chains and the American Family Association affiliate group One Million Moms.  The Mississippi group has been vocal about their disdain for the flavor, calling for a boycott  because of its “vulgar” title.

Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/10/23/some-supermarkets-shunning-ben-jerrys-schweddy-balls/#ixzz1bgK5mgAk

Watch Your Mouth: The Protest Food of Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street is entering its fourth week of protesting corporate greed from New York City’s Zuccotti Park. Last week, the movement’s ranks swelled above 10,000. That’s a lot of mouths to feed. From the start, Occupy Wall Street’s Food Committee has taken on the logistical challenge of feeding its ever-growing participants by calling for donations, encouraging newcomers to bring food to share, and extolling the virtues of the quick and portable peanut butter sandwich. But the movement has yet to find its signature dish.
The history of countercultural movements can be told through their stomachs.

http://www.good.is/post/watch-your-mouth-the-protest-food-of-occupy-wall-street/ 

Will Walmart Shoppers Buy Ethically-Branded Products?

When Project 7 started up in 2008, it launched an ethical branding strategy familiar to Whole Foods shoppers everywhere: Simply chewing a piece of Project 7 gum, popping a Project 7 breath mint, or downing a bottle of Project 7 water would help fund nonprofits that "Feed the Hungry," "Save the Earth," and "Heal the Sick." Soon after it released its charity-minded line, Project 7 landed in that king of crunchy retail outlets. This fall, Project 7 made its way to more unexpected shelves: Walmart's.

http://www.good.is/post/will-walmart-shoppers-buy-ethically-branded-products/

Jay-Z and Warren Buffett Team Up to Teach Kids Financial Literacy

One is worth $39 billion, while the other has a comparatively meager $450 million but significantly more street cred with young people. So Warren Buffett and Jay-Z are teaming up to teach kids about financial literacy. Buffett's animated series Secret Millionaires Club is set to move from the web to television this month, and an animated Jay-Z is the guest star for the first episode on October 23.

http://www.good.is/post/jay-z-and-warren-buffet-team-up-to-teach-kids-financial-literacy/ 

Americans Don't Care About Climate Change—And That's OK

“Whatever happened to global warming?” wonders Elisabeth Rosenthal in this week’s New York Times Sunday Review. Apparently Americans don't regard climate change as a pressing issue anymore. In 2006, 79 percent of us believed that the planet is warming. Today it’s just 59 percent. Meanwhile, An Inconvenient Truth has been largely forgotten, and Rick Perry insists the science "is still not settled."

 http://www.good.is/post/americans-don-t-care-about-global-warming-and-that-s-ok/?utm_content=headline&utm_medium=hp_carousel&utm_source=slide_1

It's Tintin Time!

In the beginning, there was the word, and the word was Tintin. Steven Spielberg didn't know what it meant. "Raiders of the Lost Ark had just opened overseas," he says, "and all through the French reviews, which I couldn't read, there was a smattering of Tintin everywhere. I didn't understand what Tintin meant in French, or what that was referring to."

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2097373,00.html#ixzz1bajz4JbS

What Your Supermarket Knows About You

The global financial crisis of 2009 hit consumers hard. Two years later, and they’re still reeling. Spending is down across the board, and even the more affluent are watching their pennies. In this fearful climate, retailers are applying ever more scientific and psychological tactics to lure them back. This was made clear to me on a memorable day in 2010 when I visited the laboratory outside of Chicago of one of the world’s largest consumer goods manufacturers.

Read more: http://ideas.time.com/2011/10/21/what-your-supermarket-knows-about-you/#ixzz1baj6NN5o

Shopping by phone at South Korea's virtual grocery

Online shopping is nothing new, especially in plugged-in South Korea. But one company says it's going further. It's testing out a virtual supermarket in a public place.

At Seolleung underground station in Seoul, there's a row of brightly lit billboards along the platform, with hundreds of pictures of food and drink - everything from fruit and milk to instant noodles and pet food. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15341910 

Is reading on the loo bad for you?

Filthy habit or blameless bliss? A public health study by Ron Shaoul lifts the lid on toilet reading once and for all.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2011/oct/21/reading-on-the-loo-study 

Is the US Declaration of Independence illegal?

In Philadelphia, American and British lawyers have debated the legality of America's founding documents.

On Tuesday night, while Republican candidates in Nevada were debating such American issues as nuclear waste disposal and the immigration status of Mitt Romney's gardener, American and British lawyers in Philadelphia were taking on a far more fundamental topic.

Namely, just what did Thomas Jefferson think he was doing?

Some background: during the hot and sweltering summer of 1776, members of the second Continental Congress travelled to Philadelphia to discuss their frustration with royal rule.

By 4 July, America's founding fathers approved a simple document penned by Jefferson that enumerated their grievances and announced themselves a sovereign nation.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

When a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security”

The Declaration of Independence

Called the Declaration of Independence, it was a blow for freedom, a call to war, and the founding of a new empire.

It was also totally illegitimate and illegal.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15345511 

Is Occupy Wall Street bad for the American Dream?

Conservative groups responding to Occupy Wall Street argue that hard work, not protests, will bring people out of poverty. Is that true?

As the Occupy Wall Street movement has grown, more and more Americans are stepping up to share their stories and air their grievances.

But not everyone is angry at Wall Street. Conservative reaction to the movement has resulted in counter-protests and new memes, like conservative columnist Erick Erickson's new site, We Are The 53%.

The site is a reaction to We Are The 99 Percent, a website that allows citizens to upload photos of themselves holding a sign with their story - such as too much student debt, trouble getting a job, or no health insurance.

Contributors claim they stand in opposition to the 1% of Americans who control the majority of the country's wealth, as well as the big business and government systems they say allowed the economy to flounder.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15301200 

Being slightly poorer might actually enrich our lives

I was one of the luckier ones. My BlackBerry never actually collapsed in The Great Global Catastrophe last week – it just staggered a bit. But I was, nevertheless, absolutely furious. Not at the service disruption, which was a minor irritation, but because the public relations fiasco might push my favourite electronic device into extinction. And then I would be forced into buying one of those over-hyped, over-priced toys which the newly canonised Saint Steven of Apple had convinced people that they wanted.

The relentless pressure to upgrade, to keep up with the latest state-of-the-art innovations, may be at its most obvious and ruthless in the electronic gadget business. But that competitiveness (and the brilliant manipulation of public perceptions that it involves) is just a function of a wider cultural change: people could not be persuaded or bullied into buying things they did not know they needed if they were not quite so rich. (Or if society didn’t offer them so many simulacrums of personal wealth in the form of easy credit.) 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8829120/Being-slightly-poorer-might-actually-enrich-our-lives.html 

Occupy Wall Street protests stepped up around the world

Protests against corporate greed and cutbacks have stepped up across America as protesters in London inspired by the "Occupy Wall Street" movement continued their demonstration through the night. 

Thousands of anti-capitalist protesters returned to New York's Times Square on Saturday, buoyed by a global day of demonstrations in support of their month-long campaign against corporate greed.

In Chicago, more than 2,000 people marched from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago to Grant Park before setting up tents. Police said they arrested more than 200 protesters who refused to leave this morning.

The Occupy Wall Street movement has been gathering steam over the past month, culminating with the global day of action yesterday.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8829838/Occupy-Wall-Street-protests-stepped-up-around-the-world.html 

 

Mystery condition makes woman age 50 years in just a few days

Vietnamese woman Nguyen Thi Phuong now looks like a septugenarian after the rapid aging affliction took hold following an allergic reaction to seafood.

Her sad story began in 2008, when her youthful beauty began to fade over the course of just a few days, leaving her with sagging, wrinkled skin all over her face and body.

Until now she has been forced to wear a mask in public to hide her appearance from prying eyes, but now doctors are attempting to establish what caused her sudden and horrifying aging.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8826277/Mystery-condition-makes-woman-age-50-years-in-just-a-few-days.html 

These days, we all need a housewife to hand

The British housewife is on the way out - and more's the pity. 

The British housewife is fast disappearing, it emerged last week: in a survey of 2,000 women who gave up paid work to look after their families, two thirds rejected the label outright, saying that it had “negative connotations” or was even “insulting”. They preferred the title “stay-at-home mother”, which they felt hinted less strongly at domestic drudgery.

The shift is rather telling. If the ancient word “housewife” suggested a person defined chiefly by her place in the home and marriage to her husband, then “stay-at-home mother” abandons the word “wife” altogether: it junks the husband in favour of the children. “Listen, honey,” it whispers. “The sofa cushions might be plumped, and the casserole is bubbling, but it’s not really for you, it’s for them. Now, could you pop on a wash and take the rubbish out?”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/8829161/These-days-we-all-need-a-housewife-to-hand.html 

Frost and snow to hit Britain as October heatwave comes to abrupt end

Temperatures peaked at an unseasonably high 18.3C (64.94F) in Gravesend, Kent, on Saturday, but temperatures are set to drop in the coming days.

Andy Ratcliffe, a forecaster at MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said: ''A cold front will start across Scotland and Northern Ireland tomorrow, giving some heavy outbursts of rain, which will turn to snow over the mountains in Scotland.

''The rain will spread further south into northern England and Wales by the end of tomorrow.''

Winds of up to 65 miles per hour are expected across north-western England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and the odd rumble of thunder is possible.

''We will definitely feel a chill in the air,'' Mr Ratcliffe said. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/8829800/Frost-and-snow-to-hit-Britain-as-October-heatwave-comes-to-abrupt-end.html 

One more time: Can we please have Canadian arts on Canadian TV, please?

Why do I vote? You didn’t ask, but I’ll tell you anyway.

I vote because I care about where I live. When I came to this country decades ago I was well pleased with where I had landed, pleased enough to feel tied to it in the best possible way. That meant never taking it for granted. So I vote because I care about the neighbourhood, the city, the province and the country where I live and work. 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/television/john-doyle/one-more-time-can-we-please-have-canadian-arts-on-canadian-tv-please/article2192167/ 

Interview with John Doyle, Author of The World is a Ball

John Doyle’s book The World is a Ball: The Joy, Madness, and the Meaning of Soccer is an account of one man’s travels around the world following soccer.  The journey begins in 2002 and takes readers through European qualifying and World Cup matches.  Doyle not only gives a recap of the contests, but he also puts the reader in the stadium to experience the emotion and pageantry that goes along with international soccer. In this interview, Doyle, who also writes for The Globe and Mail, discusses the book, his travels around the world, and soccer. 

http://www.epltalk.com/interview-with-john-doyle-author-of-the-world-is-a-ball-36016 

Grilled Chicken, That Temperamental Star

THE sauce will not behave. 

It is supposed to drip twice, on cue, from the bottom right-hand corner of a forkful of tortellini — first as the fork is lifted above the plate and, second, after the fork pauses briefly in the air and starts to rise again.

Two drips. A sequence that lasts a second and a half, tops.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/09/business/in-food-commercials-flying-doughnuts-and-big-budgets.html?_r=1

Elizabeth Eckford and Hazel Bryan: the story behind the photograph that shamed America

One was trying to go to school; the other didn’t want her there. Together, Elizabeth Eckford and Hazel Bryan starred in one of the most memorable photographs of the Civil Rights era. But their story had only just begun. 

On her first morning of school, September 4 1957, Elizabeth Eckford’s primary concern was looking nice. Her mother had done her hair the night before; an elaborate two-hour ritual, with a hot iron and a hotter stove, of straightening and curling. Then there were her clothes. People in black Little Rock knew that the Eckford girls were expert seamstresses; practically everything they wore they made themselves, and not from the basic patterns of McCall’s but from the more complicated ones in Vogue. It was a practice borne of tradition, pride, and necessity: homemade was cheaper, and it spared black children the humiliation of having to ask to try things on in the segregated department stores downtown.

In the fall of 1957, Elizabeth was among the nine black students who had enlisted, then been selected, to enter Little Rock Central High School. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/8813134/Elizabeth-Eckford-and-Hazel-Bryan-the-story-behind-the-photograph-that-shamed-America.html 

New Auto Technology Can Tell When You're 'Driving While Drowsy'

In the age of multilingual GPS devices, driver seat massages and cruise control navigation, it was only a matter of time before manufacturers developed drowsy driver alerts.

That's right – technology to tell you when you're in danger in nodding off behind the wheel, bringing you back to full attention through dashboard icons and warning alarms.

Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/10/06/new-auto-technology-can-tell-when-youre-driving-while-drowsy/#ixzz1aH9VeVYU

Are Debit Card Fees Meant to Get Consumers to Use Credit Cards More?

Why are Bank of America and other financial institutions charging new monthly fees for debit card usage? The move has predictably caused a backlash, and the net result may be that fewer customers will keep using debit cards at all. Could that be the point?

Read more: http://moneyland.time.com/2011/10/07/are-debit-card-fees-meant-to-get-consumers-to-use-credit-cards-more/#ixzz1aH8rdngo

Why the Washington Establishment is Heeding Occupy Wall Street

The running critique of the Occupy Wall Street protests is that they have too many bongo drums and not enough message coherence. But that hasn’t stopped Washington’s elite–Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and President Barack Obama–from all hearing the same, singular message loud and clear.

“I think people are quite unhappy with the state of the economy and what’s happening,” Bernanke said at a Wednesday hearing on Capitol Hill. “They blame, with some justification, the problems in the financial sector for getting us into this mess, and they’re dissatisfied with the policy response here in Washington. And at some level, I can’t blame them.”

Read more: http://swampland.time.com/2011/10/07/why-the-washington-establishment-is-heeding-occupy-wall-street/#ixzz1aCoKVZB4

Twitter Breaks Tweets per Second Record In Response to Steve Jobs' Death

The sad news of Steve Jobs' death quickly passed around the internet after it broke on Wednesday, with millions taking to social media to share the story as well as their memories of the man and his legacy. Perhaps unsurprisingly, what resulted was the largest online reaction to any event in recent history, according to new figures just released.

Jobs' death resulted in around 10,000 tweets per second immediately following the news;

Read more: http://techland.time.com/2011/10/07/twitter-breaks-tweets-per-second-record-in-response-to-steve-jobs-death/#ixzz1aCnpJIO4

Tom Stevenson: Finding the next Apple may well be impossible for investors

Maybe it's pushing it to call it a JFK moment. But the airline flying me back from a trip to the Middle East on Thursday considered the death of Steve Jobs significant enough to flash it up on the seat-back screen I was watching.

I guess I'm likely to remember that I was directly above Baghdad when I learnt that the founder of Apple had died.

It was appropriate that I should hear about Jobs's untimely death on a commercial flight because the remarkable success of Apple is a counterpoint to the idea that world-changing inventions can often make poor investments

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/tom-stevenson/8814608/Tom-Stevenson-Finding-the-next-Apple-may-well-be-impossible-for-investors.html 

Swedish poet Transtroemer wins Nobel Literature Prize

Swedish poet Tomas Transtroemer has been awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize for Literature.

The Royal Swedish Academy named him the recipient "because, through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality".

The 80-year-old is the 108th recipient of the prestigious prize, given last year to Peruvian Mario Vargas Llosa.

Presented by the Nobel Foundation, the award - only given to living writers - is worth 10 million kronor (£944,246).

A trained psychologist, Transtroemer suffered a stroke in 1990 that affected his ability to talk.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15200547

Tributes flood in for Steve Jobs

World and business leaders pay tribute to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who has died at the age of 56 from pancreatic cancer.

US President Barack Obama and Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev said Mr Jobs had changed the world.

Microsoft's Bill Gates said it had been "an insanely great honour" to work with him. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg remembered his "mentor and friend".

The Twitter microblog site struggled to cope with the traffic of tributes.

Apple itself said Mr Jobs had been "the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives" and had made the world "immeasurably better".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15202484