Tinkerty TonkTinkerty TonkCurrent events, pop culture, writing, fashion and anything else I feel like
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Lose weight or lose your kids
2008-03-29 00:38:00 Social workers in the UK have threatened to put six fat children into foster care if they don't lose weight.Social workers have warned they will intervene if three of the youngsters – including a 12-year-old boy who weighs 16 stone – do not shed several pounds in three months.The parents have been told they risk losing all their children if there is no improvement in the 12-year-old or two of his sisters aged 11 and three – who weigh 12 stone and four stone – by June. The family have also been ordered to send their children to dance and football lessons to help them lose weight....Ironically, the family, from Dundee, first came under scrutiny by the authorities when they called asking for help managing their children, including their three-year-old daughter, who suffers from developmental problems.Good to know the Dundee City Council has solved all their other problems facing the city. More About: Kids , Weight , Lose Weight
I'm a monotasker
2008-03-28 16:05:00 Or is it unitasker? Anyway, I'm not a multitasker. Now if you had asked me a year or so ago whether I was a multitasker, I'd have answered with a resounding YES. I always pictured myself with one ear on the phone, editing a story while reading about the season's hottest shoes. Now I feel grateful when I accomplish one thing. Doing two things at once is out of the question. And it takes me forever to switch gears from one task to another.Am I getting old? Has working from home diminished my multitasking skills? Is there even such a thing as multitasking? And if there is, does it work?Inquiring minds want to know.
Demi Moore uses 'highly trained leeches'
2008-03-26 16:44:00 To "detoxify" her blood.“I’ve always been somebody looking for the cutting edge of things that are for optimizing your health and healing, so just a week ago I was in Austria doing a cleanse and part of the treatment was leech therapy,” she told Letterman.“These aren’t just swamp leeches, these are highly trained medical leeches,” she said. “These are not just some low-level scavengers; we’re talking high-level blood-suckers.”Yeah, those highly trained leeches make all the difference. Be sure your leeches are board certified before undergoing this therapy. More About: Demi Moore , Moore , Demi , Trained
Breasts are out
2008-03-26 16:04:00 The fashion world has never had much use for them. Luckily, they're not completely obsolete. In addition to their traditional function, you can also use them to make soap. More About: Breasts
Me, elsewhere
2008-03-26 15:28:00 Tax tips on the Web.Tips for going on a volunteer vacation.Explore the Mexican Riviera.How to buy shoes online.How to choose a moving company.Spend a weekend with the girls.
Viagra turns 10
2008-03-26 15:19:00 "The scourge of email" has also ruined more than a few marriages.Viagra has been blamed for promoting a scourge of unnaturally horny older men, whose newfound sexual prowess can throw a spanner into previously placid marriages.'I am 62 years old and the mother of six grown children, and I was thrilled when my 64-year-old husband began to slow down about two years ago,' one woman wrote to US advice columnist Ann Landers.'So now what happens? A pill called Viagra is invented, and the old goat is back in the saddle. I do love my husband, but I believe I have earned a rest. Besides, these pills cost 10 dollars apiece. Last week he had four.'New York divorce lawyer Raoul Felder recently represented the wife of a 70-year-old who began cheating on her within days of first taking Viagra.'Older men are more able to perform again, so they're going elsewhere - to younger, greener pastures,' Felder recently told the British newspaper, the Observer. Possibly related news story: 1 Of 2 93-...
Miscellany
2008-03-25 18:00:00 Best little country in the world: The Vatican.Why don't we take our medicine?Newsboys: NYT stories from the 1890s.Still fighting the last war: The Democrats.America's cleanest cities. More About: Miscellany
War is never the answer
2008-03-25 17:20:00 That's the message of Nicholson Baker's book, Smoke, which lays the blame for World War II on Winston Churchill, Roosevelt and the Chinese (they drove the Japanese to violence), among others. Does Baker really believe that? Or is he using World War II as a stand in for Iraq? In a riposte to an unfavorable review in the NY Sun, Baker argues:Nobody expects a man like Adolf Hitler to do the right thing — he was a rage-prone, vengeful, suicidal madman. I do think, though, that we might legitimately and fruitfully question, as Herbert Hoover did at the time, the good sense and compassion of two of the leaders whom we now hold up as saviors of civilization.Whatever you may believe about the advisability of the Battle of Iraq, surely you will concede that it isn't perverse to try to wring from the catastrophe of World War II some balm of moderating wisdom and instruction.The writer of the Sun's response has it right.On the eve of American entry into the Battle of Iraq, Nicholson Bake... More About: Answer
Leave it to "Law & Order"
2008-03-20 13:16:00 To take an art gallery owner about to run a controversial show about women and Islam. An art gallery owner who was stoned to death. And make her murderer a band of Christian fundamentalists, led by a man who runs a camp (aka "a school for fanatics"). And to let him get off because one of the jurors consulted a Bible during deliberations. More About: Leave , Order
Miscellany
2008-03-14 17:05:00 Jindal for VP?Candy Stohr & River Jordan: More bad names.If celebs moved to Oklahoma, via Ace.Fawning over Fallon: Not the first time.The "Will and Grace" vote. More About: Miscellany
Yes
2008-03-13 17:46:00 Fausta:In his video, Hitchens says that "For most men, if they can't make women laugh, they're out of the evolutionary contest. They'll never going to get laid... If you can't make them laugh, you'll never have a chance."Is he right?More here.
In case you were wondering
2008-03-13 12:05:00 I finally got around to choosing the shoes I won for this contest. In the end, I didn't choose any of these shoes. Instead, I chose this pair:Because I needed something to go with this dress:Which I'm wearing to a wedding this weekend. The shoes came yesterday (free overnight shipping, yay!) and they're fabulous: High, high heels, rich color and nice shiny bits along the heel and hanging from the strap. More About: Case
Bring out the hookers
2008-03-12 14:06:00 What a boon this Eliot Spitzer thing is to the media. Right now I'm watching "New York's highest paid escort" giving relationship advice on "Today."Monday, the show devoted its Spitzer coverage to talking to psychologists. Tuesday, it was about political wives, starring the former Mrs. Jim McGreevy, one-time wife of the country's favorite Gay American. Today it's hookers. I can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring. More About: Hookers
Me, elsewhere
2008-03-12 13:56:00 Tips for planning a girls' getawayPerfect prom hairReal estate tax tipsHow to plan a romantic weekendTop cities with St. Patrick's Day celebrationsTop websites for going green
Most Americans don't read political blogs
2008-03-12 00:47:00 And the ones who do are older than dirt.While blogs are largely considered the realm of young people who are most Internet-savvy, only 19 percent of people ages 18 to 31, and 17 percent of those ages 32 to 43, regularly read a political blog, the poll said.The generation most likely to read such blogs are those age 63 or older, 26 percent of whom said they do so. Also, 23 percent of those ages 44 to 62 read them, the poll said.Of course, they're the people who are most likely to vote, too. Barack Obama, take note. More About: Political , Blogs , Read , Americans
The genius of Iowahawk
2008-03-12 00:39:00 Amid Charges of Spitzer Tryst, Embattled Prostitute "Kristen" Expected to Resign:The embattled prostitute did not mention Spitzer by name, and stopped short of offering an official resignation. But longtime sex industry insiders say that it will be difficult for Kristen to return to her post in light of mounting federal wiretap evidence that she had sexually serviced the Governor on at least two occasions."It will be hard for her to spin her way out of this," said Destinee Rizzo, editor of the trade journal Executive Concubine."After taking on clients like that, her days as a five diamond, high-roller suite call girl are over. Frankly, with all the press coverage she'll be lucky to get a job as a $5 truck stop lot lizard in Kentucky." More About: Genius
The horror
2008-03-10 19:49:00 I spent the better part of my weekend without TV, Internet or phone service. This isn't supposed to happen. I know because of all those commercials where the cable company talks about how much more reliable cable is than satellite. More About: Horror
Miscellany
2008-03-06 22:14:00 They heart Hezbollah: Usual suspects.Criminal paraphernalia: Ziplock bags.MySpace for the menopausal: WOWOWOW.What's so funny about the 70s?Understanding the Bible--with Barack Obama. More About: Miscellany
Ptolemy, Heaven Rain and E-
2008-03-06 19:43:00 Are three of the 10 worst baby names of 2007.Ptolemy: The only other one we know of is an ancient Greek astronomer, mathematician, and man extraordinaire. Actress Gretchen Mol reached a little too far back in history for this Mediterranean-inspired choice. No one will be able to pronounce it, and what happens when the kid studies his namesake in school?...E-: E...what? You'd think if you had to name your kid after a letter, Jay would be much better than this one, which was selected by parents in Washington. And while we're (grudgingly) willing to accept the use of apostrophes in baby names, we can't say the same for the hyphen. At least not when there isn't any more name to follow it....Heaven Rain : The only good news here: Brooke Burke's two older daughters are named Neriah and Sierra Sky. Though little Heaven's got a pretty lofty title to live up to, she'll fit right in at home.At least Ptolemy is a name, albeit an old one with a confusing extra consonant. Perhaps little Pt...
German GI fights war on terror
2008-03-06 15:49:00 Jeffrey Jamaleldine is committed to fighting the war on terror--despite taking a bullet to the face in Iraq.As a teenager, Jamaleldine subscribed to the same knee-jerk anti-Americanism as the rest of his friends, protesting America's involvement in the first Iraq War. But after 9/11, the bombings in Bali and the Madrid train bombings, he decided it was time to step up.The events of Sep. 11, 2001 happened far away from his home, and yet they were very close to his life. Zuhaira, who grew up in the New York borough of Brooklyn, was working as a flight attendant on the day of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.At the time, Jamaleldine didn't feel the sense of outrage and personal assault that he would later experience. Like the rest of the world, Jamaleldine was horrified by the terrorist attacks and felt shock as he watched the images of the collapsing Twin Towers. But he managed to keep 9/11 separate from his own life -- a life of selling cars, waiting tables and help... More About: War On Terror , Terror , German , Fights
Heartbreak
2008-03-05 21:23:00 If a "good liberal woman" loses out to a man--even a black man. More About: Heartbreak
Miscellany
2008-03-05 19:13:00 Latest eating disorder: Drunkorexia.Imperial treasures: Faberge eggs.Sliderules and eight tracks: Childhood gadgets.Not for Obama: The Deer Hunter and Hannah and her Sisters classes.Mmm, mmm good: MSG. More About: Miscellany
Little pieces of perfection
2008-03-05 18:42:00 The first cup of coffee in the morning.A perfectly ripe melon.A freshly washed body sliding into freshly washed sheets. More About: Perfection , Pieces
The case of the missing liver transplant
2008-01-11 19:04:00 Scott Gottlieb looks at the story of Nataline Sarkisyan, a 17-year-old girl who was denied a liver transplant by her health insurer and subsequently died.John Edwards used the girl's story as a morality tale in which the big, bad insurance company allowed an innocent child to die out of greed. The implication being that the poor girl would have been saved had we the single-payer plan Edwards supports. Not so, says Gottlieb, who looks at data from the US and the UK, which has a single-payer system.A study published in 2004 in the journal Liver Transplantation compared the relative severity of liver disease in transplant recipients in the U.S. and U.K. The results were striking. No patient in the U.K. was in intensive care before transplantation, one marker for how sick patients are, compared with 19.3% of recipients in the U.S. Additionally, the median for a score used to assess how advanced someone's liver disease is, the "MELD" score, was 10.9 in the U.K. compared with 16.1 in th... More About: Case , Missing , Missi
Get over it
2008-01-10 17:32:00 Mahatma Gandhi's grandson has some advice for the Jews.Jewish identity in the past has been locked into the holocaust experience -- a German burden that the Jews have not been able to shed. It is a very good example of a community can overplay a historic experience to the point that it begins to repulse friends. The holocaust was the result of the warped mind of an individual who was able to influence his followers into doing something dreadful. But, it seems to me the Jews today not only want the Germans to feel guilty but the whole world must regret what happened to the Jews. The world did feel sorry for the episode but when an individual or a nation refuses to forgive and move on the regret turns into anger.Just like grandpa, who didn't think a war against Germany was necessary in 1938.The calculated violence of Hitler may even result in a general massacre of the Jews by way of his first answer to the declaration of such hostilities. But if the Jewish mind could be prepared for...
Miscellany
2008-01-09 19:41:00 Worst dressed: Posh wins.In the flesh: Dinosaur find.Can MoDo cry her way back to the top?Must have accessory: iTaser.Design for living: Noel Coward's letters. More About: Miscellany
I would have put Rudy higher
2008-01-09 17:29:00 83% John McCain77% Mitt Romney72% Fred Thompson71% Rudy Giuliani70% Mike Huckabee63% Tom Tancredo52% Ron Paul46% Bill Richardson40% Chris Dodd37% Barack Obama37% Hillary Clinton35% John Edwards34% Joe Biden25% Mike Gravel23% Dennis Kucinich2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz More About: Higher
Congratulations, John McCain
More articles from this author:2008-01-09 15:49:00 He wouldn't be my first choice, but he ranks high above Huckabee on my list.McCain's win--and Hillary's--make this whole race a lot more interesting. So whaddaya think:Did Hillary's tears give her the edge?Will Edwards drop out before Super Tuesday?Will Thompson?What about Rudy? More About: John , John McCain , Congratulations 1, 2 |
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