21 de noviembre

By Michael Behr and Meghan Brown

All today’s biggest headlines, fast and snappy.

Attributions

• LucVanBraehe@flickr
• World Economic Forum@flickr
• marcn@flickr
• kpmark@flickr
• byranv2@flickr
• A4Aaforarchitecture@flickr
• rockfota@flickr
• stuartcaie@flickr
• Tim duncan
• Philipfossie@flickr

Fii curajoasa!

O pata de culoare e mereu bine venita in vestimentatia noastra, face bine la moral!

Vedete precum Rihanna, Fearne Cotton, Fergie, Hilary Duff, Cameron Diaz, Alicia Keys au indraznit sa fie altfel si au imbracat blugi in culoarea turquoise.

Incearca si tu!

This week French President Sarkozy called for a ban to be placed on Muslim women who choose to express their faith by observing hijab and donning a burkha.  The French have been the most vocal and active in the arena of attacking religious freedom.  In 2004 they outlawed the use of headscarves, Sikh turbans, large Christian crosses and Jewish skullcaps in their state schools.  The French defend their law which is designed to strictly adhere to their ideas of separation of church and state, but French liberalism is coming dangerously close to ending religious freedom.  Even worse it seems to be spreading to other parts of Europe.  Italy, Turkey, three Belgian towns and seven of Germany’s 16 states have banned headscarves.  While speaking in Cairo President Obama said it clearly, “it is important for Western countries to avoid impeding Muslim citizens from practicing religion as they see fit – for instance, by dictating what clothes a Muslim woman should wear. We cannot disguise hostility towards any religion behind the pretence of liberalism.” Members of the French Parliament, from both the left and right called the burkha an “oppressive dress that breaches individual freedoms”.

Individual freedoms?  According to whom?  There are many in the world who would consider Western women oppressed because they feel compelled to don a style of dress that is made to entice and attract men.  Indeed, upon hearing the new French policy the spokesman for the Muslim Council of Great Britain said, “Unfortunately, there is a pressure on women to dress skimpily in the West.”  I agree.

Perhaps the burkha could provide greater freedom than a skimpy bikini ever could.  It can be said that the burkha is a tyrannical and repressive piece of clothing forced on the women who wear it, but the same could be said of a bikini. Both the burkha and the bikini are worn to indulge the whims of men in the society they represent.  The burkha is worn to mask and conceal that which belongs or could belong to the men, and the bikini is worn to expose and display the same.  Both articles of clothing find their impetus in their effort to control and subjugate women.

Women long to adopt a carefree and liberating expression in their choice of clothing.  There are few women that can wear a bikini and feel comfortable in it.  Even supermodels lament because they feel their thighs or behinds are more ample than they should be.  Donning a large black covering in the morning could provide a liberation few Western women have experienced.  To arrive at work, school, or social occasion without first applying makeup, dressing the hair, and fussing over clothing would be a dream come true!

One need only to read the comments and remarks made about Hilary Clinton’s appearance to long for this type of freedom.  During her run for the democratic presidential nomination, what Mrs. Clinton said was never as important, as how she was dressed when she said it.  The criticism made about Mrs. Clinton’s hair, makeup, body type, and clothing took precedence over what she was saying.  Her legs were compared to tree trunks, her clothes called frumpy, and her hair and makeup was the topic of many water cooler gatherings.  In the same vein, such discussions did not take place about Benazir Bhutto or Indira Gandhi when they were Prime Ministers of their countries.  The political pundits debated their political agendas and viewpoints, not their choice of clothing or makeup.  Perhaps this was because the males in their countries were conditioned to view respectable women in a non-sexual way, and therefore these women were taken more seriously than Hilary Clinton.

Men will be unable to view women as equal—as long as women continue to exercise their right to seduce men, and therefore objectify themselves.  If women will dress in a manner that does not engage a man’s libido and instead engages his mind, they will be able to experience true freedom and liberation.  Both women and men should be disturbed by this fact: the American voting public is unable to elect a woman even as a vice-president.  While India, in 1966 and Pakistan, in 1988—countries thought by the West to have little equality for women, had already elected women as Prime Ministers!

Monday 11/09: Today I had my History class where I got my mid-term back. Got a B+, which isn’t bad, but it’s not great. I hadn’t had coffee all day b/c we ran out the day before so I was already in kind of a dull, tired, and I had a huge headache. We had a break at the middle of class and Claudia and I went to the vending machine to get some coffee. I had remembered that she was leaving for El Salvador, where she has family, the next day so I wanted to hang out with her before she left. She said that we could for sure get together so that made my day a lot better. She needed to go home and pack and stuff so she left and asked me to sign the sign-in sheet and get her papers that she left on her desk. So we said goodbye and she left and I went back to class and finished listening to the old guy talk about american history that I learned three times.

Tuesday 11/10: Today I woke up once again without coffee so I was once again tired and groggy so I just stayed in my room until I had to take a shower and get ready for my Astronomy class. I went to class and listened to yet another boring old man speak to me about the moon. I had texted Claudia twice about meeting up and she hadn’t texted back so I figured we weren’t gonna get the chance to hang out before she left the country . This made me a little sad, but I understood that she needed to pack and spend time with her family so I didn’t really make a big deal about it. Bee usually comes on Thursdays for the Napa T.E.A. Party and I had asked her if she worked day or night on Wed. she said day so I asked her if she could come up early and we could go out to dinner and spend the night like old times. I had found a letter she wrote me when she moved which made me really sad cause I missed her a lot. She said she didn’t think she would be able to come on Wed. because Monica, her sister, worked with her and probably wouldn’t want to go. When my dad picked me up from class he said the mom wanted him to pick up togo’s and jamba juice for dinner. This made my day it was delicious.

Wednesday 11/11: My new phone was supposed to come yesterday or today, but it’s apparently still in Texas so It probabaly won’t come until tomorrow or the next day. Bee had told me she might not even get to come on Thursday because Hilary, her other sister, wasn’t feeling well so she might not be up to coming. I have a 5 page Research Paper to write for my career class next week and I have to write a 3 page essay for English class on Saturday. Yup hasn’t this week been awesome so far *sarcasm*. The only good thing about today is that my dad went to the store and got me coffee

Thanks for listening

Sara

A happy sounding name for a girl or boy is one the ‘doubles’ and so can be confusing. On seeing a reference to a Hilary in the news or as the signature to the Editor, one wonders about the sex of the person in question. But, either way, it is natural to visualise a sanguine and serene character.

(Ivor Brown, A Charm of Names, 1972)

Couldn’t have asked for a better day for this – sunny and almost 70!  I do wish that there was one more day in the weekend however, I’m not ready for another full week starting tomorrow.

We hit up three new-to-us vineyards:  Piedmont, Three Fox Vineyard and the Winery at La Grange.

Piedmont

Three Fox Vineyard

Winery at La Grange

No rest for the weary this Friday.  Up and at ‘em  early as usual.  Was pretty excited to come home for lunch (I love getting out earlier on Fridays!) because the cauliflower pasta leftovers from last night were waiting for me in the fridge.  Pinot & I set out to meet Melanie & Snowball at the Wheaton Dog Park this afternoon.  It was Snowy’s first time, and she handled herself pretty well, but there was definitely a point when you could just see her thinking ‘I’m too old for these young pups to be running around at me’ and began hiding under the table/on-in Melanie’s purse.  At that point, we decided to go for a walk.

Pinot & Snowball eagerly await Melanie's return from el bano

It was a nice afternoon for a walk, and hopefully the pups were very tired out as we all had a big evening planned, courtesy of Doug, beginning with Korean BBQ in Annandale at Honey Pig!  Yes, you will notice that this is a big steaming plate of meat.  I did not eat it all by myself, I promise.  Melanie stuck to her guns, but my lack of officially declaring to be veg and Nick’s convincing argument that I didn’t order it and it just would go to waste (Ok I admit it – with 23 people at dinner, I was lazy and didn’t want to make a big deal out of ordering noodles) – alas, yummy food.  (In a random side note, there were a couple articles – one and two -today that got me to thinking about the food stuff.  It’s enough to make your brain explode if you think about it too much.)

After dinner, we all packed up and moved over a few blocks to a private room for kareoke!  Never had a private kareoke room before, and the experience was a lot more fun and less nerve wracking than my last kareoke experience with Kamy in Alabama all those years ago.  Crooning out hits considered oldies, to show tunes, to today’s top 40 – the hours flew by and we rolled back into the house a bit before 3AM.  Great night!

Lo mejor de los nanales de cable y tv de todo el mundo

Happy Halloween!

Relaxing day today for the most part.  The 6 mile run this morning was not as enjoyable as it was last week.  Not sure if it’s due to the fact that I’ve been trying to do more hill workouts on the treadmill mid week, or if it’s because last week I took Friday off and yesterday I got stuck to the schedule and got a workout in (late albiet, but in!).  I guess we’ll see how next week goes.

The Huskers won against Baylor (! finally after the past two weeks of insanity), which set the day off on a good note.  Roasted some pumpkin seeds while Nick was at the airport picking up Nikhil….  made them in three flavors this year:  salted, curry, and smoked paprika.  Tried to brine them before roasting (based on this post I found last week), but I didn’t notice a difference at any rate. The flavored seeds were good, but I think good ol’ sea salt and olive oil is still my favorite.

And we were off to Patterson’s Happy 30th/Halloween festivities!  I’m still not a huge fan of our point and shoot camera, so the pictures taken on it were minimal, but alas – for your viewing enjoyment.  I do with we had a before picture of Julie as a bunch of grapes – what a brilliant costume!  Melanie may be posting more pictures at some point today – hers are sure to be more complete than ours!

Nick & Colleen as German Folk

Mehul & Liz as Cash for Clunkers

Hilary as Swine Flu, Christy as a Redskins Fan, Patterson & Lee as Star Trek folk

Greg as Dan Snyder, Nikhil as the Big Bad Wolf

Julie as a bunch of (here, deflated) grapes

Haylie Duff re-tweeted Miguel Karam’s update on Twitter as part of his HDBnow account. You can follow him www.twitter.com/miguelkaram or www.twitter.com/HDBnow

Here’s how MIGUEL KARAM reacted:

“God you guys! HAYLIE DUFF just re-tweeted my TWITTER update! I am so happy! I was shaking first and my heart was beating really fast!!! I am famous!!! lol kdn I just wrote: “Watch the trailer for Haylie Duff’s film “Fear Island” here: http://bit.ly/2uPwIs It looks really good! @HaylieK” and then she re-tweeted: “RT @HDBnow: Watch the trailer for Haylie Duff’s film “Fear Island” here: http://bit.ly/2uPwIs It looks really good!” I love Haylie Duff. ♥ She’s so sweet! http://hilaryfan.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2522738#post2522738″

Thinking of a theme for a group of friends this Halloween?  Well, we did some research and found some really cool ideas to share with our readers.  If you are ordering your costumes, make sure to read your delivery options!  Feel free to comment and leave more ideas.

1. The Flintstones

2. The Spice Girls

3. The Adams Family

4. The Sopranos

5. Kate and John Gosslein

6. Harry Potter and cast

7. Star Trek cast

8. The Brady Bunch

9. Playboy Bunnies and Hugh Hefner

10. 300 – Greek Goddesses and Lords

11. The Simpsons

12. Wizard of Oz

13. The Beatles

14. Kim Kardashian and Reggie Bush

15. Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez

16. David and Victoria Beckham

17. Medical staff – Doctors, Nurses, Dentists

18. Political Candidates – Obama, G.W. Bush, Hilary and Bill Clinton, Sarah Palin

19. Fairytales – ex. Alice in Wonderland – (Alice, Caterpillar, Cheshire Cat, Jabberwock, Mad Hatter, Queen of Hearts, White Rabbit

20. An era theme – 20s, 60s, 80s

Origin: Latin
Meaning: “cheerful.”
(HIL-uh-REE; hih-LARE-ee-uh).

Hilary is the medieval English form of the Latin name Hilarius which is derived from hilaris meaning “cheerful.” It is also said to be from a Greek name Ιλαροσ (Hilaros) which also means “cheerful.” In ancient Roman tradition, the Hilaria were a series of festivals celebrated during the vernal equinox in honour of the goddess Cybele.

The name was borne by St. Hilaire of Poitiers (c.300-c.368) a Catholic theologian and bishop who is referred to as the Hammer of the Arians (Malleus Arianorum) as well as the Athanasius of the West. It is borne by several other male saints including, St. Hilaire of Arles (403-449), St. Ilaro of Galatea (476-558). It is also borne by Hilarius an English poet who wrote in Latin (1125). It is name the name of a few places, one is a town in Cornwall and the other is a village in Glamorgan Ireland, both of which were named for St. Hilaire of Poitiers.

The name was used as a male name all the way up to the early 20th-century (this does not stop the name from being unusable for a male It was especially popular in Medieval Britain. In the 1930s, the name seemed to have become prevalent among females, though its true feminine version should be Hilaria in English. It is borne by former First Lady and current Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (b.1947). Other forms of the name include (male versions first):

• Hilar (Czech/Slovak)
• Hillar (Estonian)
• Ilari (Finnish/Russian)
• Hilaire (French)
• Ilarion/Ilarionas (Greek Modern)
• Hiláriusz/Hilár/Ilárion/Lárion (Hungarian)
• Ilaro/Ilario (Italian)
• Hilarius (Latin)
• Hilaras/Hiliaras (Lithuanian)
• Hilary (Polish)
• Hilário (Portuguese)
• Ilarie/Ilarion (Romanian)
• Hilario (Spanish)
• Ilarion/Larry (Ukrainian)
• Ellery/Ilar (Welsh)

Female versions are:

• Hilarija (Croatian)
• Ilaria/Ilariada/Lariada (Greek Modern)
• Ilaria (Italian/Romanian)
• Hilaria (Latin/Romansch/Spanish)
• Hilária (Portuguese)

After three years of gestation, this is what we have: a van, a bunch of gear, 80-some-odd shows of one kind or another, a few inside jokes, a little bit of momentum, a one-of-a-kind, state of the art mobile listening/merch module, a web presence, a lot of good press, a whole lot of good friends and about 25 finished songs, 13 of which came out last Friday at T.T. The Bear’s Place on our new record, Color Machine.  We had people there from California and Hong Kong, and just about every music blogger in Boston, including Ryan, Sooz, Ashley, Bryan, Debbie and Sophia. We talked to Hilary from TeaParty Boston about what kind of cheese everyone would be (a very Barbara Walters line of questioning).  Jonas got some footage before the show.  Township was there.  Roman Traffic and Reverse were there.  Just about everybody I know in Boston, and some people I’d just about forgotten I knew, were in the room.  It was a big, buzzing show, with a cloud of Tweets orbiting like a haze burning off a lake in the morning sun.  And if I’m being honest, it kind of went by in a big blur.  Maybe birth isn’t the right metaphor.  Think of it like a wedding, or just being the host of a big party.  So many people, so little time with each one, so much to think about throughout the night.  A very happy day, but it kind of runs together in the mind.  I have snippets, like Township singing “lights out tonight” at soundcheck (and later in their set).  Nice touch guys, thanks!  Roman Traffic always blows people away with their hairpin turns and massive guitar assault and wailing vocals.  Reverse continue to be one of the truest voices in the scene, sounding like no one else but themselves. Mike, Mick and Gabrielle snapping away. JustBill givin’ up his house for the afterparty!  Which we didn’t get to until around three a.m.  JustBill, you’re the best!  Thank you to Randi for taking a chance on us with a prime night. Thanks to Joel for making us sound absolutely pro out front.  Especially, thanks to Jason Dunn at Mad Science Studios, who in addition to making the record with us did a great job on our light show this night.

And of course, thank you to everybody who came down and helped make it the raging success it was!  When we sat around with the CD for the last listen before duplication, we gave ourselves the goose bumps pretty well, and we feel like maybe some other people will hear it and get goose bumps too.  And judging by the crowd that night, I’d say we’re off to a pretty good start.

The Phoenix

• MP3 of the Week: The Lights Out, “Gottagetouttahere”

The Music Slut

• TMS EXCLUSIVE: THE LIGHTS OUT – FIVE SEVENTEEN

Ryan’s Smashing Life

• The Lights Out – ‘Red Letter Day’
• Tonight, turn on The Lights Out

Boston Band Crush

• MP3 Crush: Download The Lights Out’s “Stormy” from their upcoming release!
• Show Crush: The Lights Out’s big CD-release at TT’s with Township, Roman Traffic & Reverse
• Show Recap Crush: The Lights Out CD Release!

Playground Boston

• PGB Exclusive: The Lights Out – “Danny Partridge”

Rock On Boston

• the lights out cd release party. be there.

The Deli Magazine

• The Lights Out CD release – 9/25 TT the Bears

Enough Cowbell

• lights out tonight

Cheap Thrills-Boston

• FRI 9/25: Film, Art, Rock, Comedy

TeaParty Boston

• Guitar Attacks! The Lights Out on Egos, Inspiration and New Music

The Boston Globe

• Colored Lights

The Metro

• Dreaming in ‘Color’ with The Lights Out

I just want to know what each one is thinking. Any ideas?

I know politics are boring, but this could affect everybody. And I just have to butt in a word or too about this issue.

Obama claims that children in America are “behind” other students in other countries. His plan? To shorten summer and make school days longer.

There’s a few problems I have with this plan.

1) Children are children. You can’t make them study all day. Most of my family live in China, and they study until eleven every day. What’s the point in that? That’s not what life is about.

2) There will be too much stress. I am, in fact, doing a research paper on stress in health, and I know that too much stress is B-A-D. Too much stress = more health problems. Not good. Isn’t health first?

3) It’s QUALITY, not QUANTITY (I know you’ve heard this so many times). Even if you make the school days longer, if the children are getting poor education, what’s the point? There is no point! I think that we should strengthen the curriculum and challenge kids more. If you make the school years longer, you’ll still get the same material — just in a longer period of time.

4) I’m saying this as a kid and as a teenager. Everybody needs a break once and a while, even from studying. I know that if I had to go to school for what seems like forever, I would not be able to take it. Too much work and no play = unhappy children. And that’s not what we want, do we?

5) Last complaint. We need extracurriculars. If you have so much school and no time outside of school, you can’t do other things, like play a sport or practice an instrument. Studying is a good skill to have, but we need other skills too; a variety in fact. That will help us in the future.

I think he’s focusing on the wrong aspect of education.

**NOTE: This is based entirely on my opinion. You may not agree with any of these comments.

I carried this book around my school as I read it. When they saw the front cover, people gave me interesting comments. “That’s a really good book!” or “I’ve met Sarah Dessen. Do you know she actually lives in North Carolina?” I had heard so much praise for this book, and I had really high expectations for it, but when I read it, I admit, I wasn’t that impressed.

Basically, it’s about this girl called Ruby who lives with her mother. Then, one day when she comes home, her mother isn’t there anymore. She starts to live by herself in her house, doing her mom’s old job and paying off the bills. But then, her secret is found out and she is forced to live with her long-lost sister (who apparently hasn’t contacted her in a while) and her sister’s wealthy husband. She is given luxury and a chance to go to college. But, she somehow can’t accept any of it. People try to help her, but she pushes them away – all except Nate, the hot guy who lives next door. I guess this was the part when the book got a bit cliché and I could guess the ending.

I’m not saying that everything was predictable. There was a surprise in the middle about the guy named Nate that I didn’t expect. And I adored the different characters and their personalities, like Olivia and Gervais. Dessen’s writing style is amazing – it’s just the story that I was a little disappointed about. But I really liked the whole underlying theme of the lock and the key, and I loved how she tied it into the story–very creative.

I would rate this book maybe a 3 out of 5 stars, not to be too harsh. It was content that mostly got a low score. The book seemed to go on forever…it was just day after day after day. I got a bit bored in the middle, but overall it was okay.

To request this book from the Wake County Library system, click here.

Killah

The Co-founder & Creative Director of Sixty Group and Killah’s Designer, Wichy Hassan, was in the prestigious jury Triumph Inspiration Award 2009 Grand Final. With other famous and expert judges such as the actress Hilary Swank, the Editor in Chi…ef of Vogue Italy Franca Sozzani, the Hong Kong’s international model Qi Qi and the legendary fashion photographer Giovanni Gastel decided which lingerie showpiece created by fashion students from around the world deserves to be called the most inspired and inspiring. The winner was James Nolan from the UK with the piece called “Odette and Odile”.
Take a look at the pictures.

ENERGIE

The Co-founder & Creative Director of Sixty Group and Energie’s Designer, Wichy Hassan, was in the prestigious jury Triumph Inspiration Award 2009 Grand Final. With other famous and expert judges such as the actress Hilary Swank, the Editor in Ch…ief of Vogue Italy Franca Sozzani, the Hong Kong’s international model Qi Qi and the legendary fashion photographer Giovanni Gastel decided which lingerie showpiece created by fashion students from around the world deserves to be called the most inspired and inspiring. The winner was James Nolan from the UK with the piece called “Odette and Odile”.
Have a look at the pictures.

http://www.energie.it/home.asp

I just watched the trailer for Amelia and I must say that this film looks absolutely amazing. Hilary Swank and Richard Gere are going to light up the silver screen in this epic motion picture event of the year. I have always been fascinated by Amelia Earhart and her story, I am so glad to see that it has been made into a major motion picture for a new generation of Americans.

Hilary Swank is the perfect choice to play Amelia and I believe she will wow critics with her unbelievable acting in this film. In fact, I predict that Hilary Swank will be nominated for a Golden Globe and an Oscar for her portrayal of Amelia Earhart. The visual effects in this film also look stunning and are sure to wow audiences. I honestly can’t wait to see this film when it hits theaters on October 23rd. Not to mention Richard Gere looks amazing in this film.

One thing is definitely sure about Amelia, it’s going to be an emotional roller coaster. As I was watching the trailer I could already feel the rush of emotions going through me. Even though it’ll be an emotional roller coaster of a ride, you should definitely get out there and go see Amelia. I guarantee it’s a film you won’t want to miss. Check out the trailer below and don’t forget to go see it when it hits theaters on October 23rd.

North Korea called Hillary Clinton a funny lady. Then it agreed to pardon the two American journalists and hand them back to the funny lady’s husband Bill Clinton!!

It’s possible that North Korea doesn’t know Billary is still married to Hillary and that makes their decision look kind of funny. It’s also possible this little Dear Leader of North Korea thinks having Billary over for drinks is funnier than having Hillary. As a young man he said he smoked marijuana but did not inhale it. As President, he said he did not have a sexual relationship with Monika Lewinsky. Maybe he entered but she didn’t inhale. And maybe that’s a very funny thing to say in North Korea where illegal entry gets you 12 years in a labor camp. Kim Jong ill and dying so maybe his last wish is to meet funny people. Chris Rock, Jon Stewart, Robin Williams should join the North Korean diplomatic corps and ready themselves for the next mission!

http://www.thinkaloo.com

Todo mal hondureño que se alegre por lo que suceda que mejor abandone el país, nadie tendrá misericordia con ellos, los insurgentes tendrán que ser reducidos a cenizas, aplastando de una vez por todas.

Honduras esta mejor preparada que lo que cualquiera pudiese pensar, sea cual sea la causa, que es obvia, Manuel Zelaya tendrá que pagar con su sangre tantas felonías, y si Dios es justo, también la pagarán todos aquellos que han arruinado el prestigio de esta nación.