6.12.2011 … summer wind by Frank Sinatra … I love old Frank Sinatra tunes …

PT, humerus break, followup:  Yesterday, I commented that PT (physical therapy, not poptarts :)) is addictive.  On the days I go to PT I feel better all day … even though it hurts while I am there.  Maybe it is the ice wrap with electrode therapy!  Woo hoo …

slime bags, women in politics, good question:  I wondered the same thing …

There was a collective rolling of the eyes and a distinct sense of “Here we go again” among the women of the House of Representatives last week when yet another male politician, Representative Anthony D. Weiner, confessed his “terrible mistakes” and declared himself “deeply sorry for the pain” he had caused in sexual escapades so adolescent as to almost seem laughable.

“I’m telling you,” said Representative Candice Miller, a Michigan Republican, “every time one of these sex scandals goes, we just look at each other, like, ‘What is it with these guys? Don’t they think they’re going to get caught?’ ”

Ms. Miller’s question raises an intriguing point: Female politicians rarely get caught up in sex scandals. Women in elective office have not, for instance, blubbered about Argentine soul mates (see: Sanford, Mark); been captured on federal wiretaps arranging to meet high-priced call girls (Spitzer, Eliot); resigned in disgrace after their parents paid $96,000 to a paramour’s spouse (Ensign, John)  or, as in the case of Mr. Weiner, blasted lewd self-portraits into cyberspace.

It would be easy to file this under the category of “men behaving badly,” to dismiss it as a testosterone-induced, hard-wired connection between sex and power (powerful men attract women, powerful women repel men). And some might conclude that busy working women don’t have time to cheat. (“While I’m at home changing diapers, I just couldn’t conceive of it,” Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, the New York Democrat, once said.)

But there may be something else at work: Research points to a substantial gender gap in the way women and men approach running for office. Women have different reasons for running, are more reluctant to do so and, because there are so few of them in politics, are acutely aware of the scrutiny they draw — all of which seems to lead to differences in the way they handle their jobs once elected.

via Why Women Don’t Get Caught Up in Sex Scandals – NYTimes.com.

e-mail, technology:  I hope no one thinks I fall in this category …

Three years ago this week, I posted this checklist, in the naive hope that it would eliminate (or perhaps merely reduce) the ridiculous CC-to-all emails about the carpool, the fake-charity forwards, the ALL CAPS yelling and the stupid PR spam.

A guy can hope, can’t he?

Feel free to send this to those that need to read it:

via Seth’s Blog: Email checklist (maybe this time it’ll work!).

music, Frank Sinatra, summer: YouTube – Frank SINATRA – Summer Wind Reprise® 68.

business cards, technology, end of an era:  Yes or no to business cards?  I agree … “I think, culturally, you’re real and you have a real job if you have a business card,” Ms. Trapani said. “There’s something about that card that means you’re kind of official.”

Not everyone has given up tradition. FedEx Office, the office services chain, still sees a “steady growth” in business card sales, a spokeswoman said.

One explanation could be the status attached to the company card. “I think, culturally, you’re real and you have a real job if you have a business card,” Ms. Trapani said. “There’s something about that card that means you’re kind of official.”

Image notwithstanding, the business card has a logistical advantage: universal ease of exchange. Swapping information mid-conversation or in a noisy crowd can be more cumbersome than pressing paper to palm. And not everyone owns a smartphone, or has the same applications for sharing.

The paper business card is evolving to bridge those gaps. The modern card may contain only a name with a Twitter handle; so-called smart cards are emblazoned with quick response (or QR) codes that can be scanned with a smartphone using applications like CardMunch.

The Hashable site integrates social networking functions similar to some of those on Facebook and Twitter along with digital calendars and more versatile features for easier face-to-face sharing. Users can scan QR codes into the Hashable network or, with some phones, exchange contacts by holding phones together (much like the traditional handoff).

It may prove the closest thing to a business-card killer yet. Erick Schonfeld, an editor of TechCrunch, a popular blog, said the ideas behind Hashable seem to be resonating with its users, and that he had stopped using business cards.

via Paperless Business Cards – Noticed – NYTimes.com.

twitter, hashtags, culture:  I am so behind on this one…

With a simple Twitter phrase, #winning, known in the parlance of social media as a hashtag, Mr. Sheen underscored one of the newest ways technology has changed how we communicate.

Hashtags, words or phrases preceded by the # symbol, have been popularized on Twitter as a way for users to organize and search messages. So, for instance, people tweeting about Representative Anthony D. Weiner might add the hashtag #Weinergate to their messages, and those curious about the latest developments in the scandal could simply search for #Weinergate. Or Justin Bieber fans might use #Bieber to find fellow Beliebers.

But already, hashtags have transcended the 140-characters-or-less microblogging platform, and have become a new cultural shorthand, finding their way into chat windows, e-mail and face-to-face conversations.

This year on Super Bowl Sunday, Audi broadcast a new commercial featuring a hashtag, #ProgressIs, that flashed on the screen and urged viewers to complete the “Progress Is” prompt on Twitter for the chance to win a prize. Then, in Canada’s English-language federal election debate in April, Jack Layton, the leader of the New Democratic Party, set the Canadian Twitterverse aflame when he attacked Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s crime policies, calling them “a hashtag fail.”

…

To deftly deploy a hashtag, after all, you need to understand the culture, said Susan Herring, a professor of information science and linguistics at Indiana University-Bloomington.

…

There is also the unofficial Hashtag Mafia, people who flash one another the hashtag sign — crossing their index and middle finger of one hand over the same two fingers of their other hand to create a physical hashtag. #IronicGesture #WeHope

“I have pictures of people actually using the actual hashtag symbol, and it’s like they’re flashing a gang sign, but they’re doing a hashtag,” Ms. Wilcox said. “That gets really geeky.”

Mr. Messina takes a more philosophical, albeit lighthearted, view. “The great thing about hashtags is that anyone can join the Hashtag Mafia by using hashtags,” he said. “You’re not really in the mafia unless you do air hashtags.”

via Hashtags, a New Way for Tweets – Cultural Studies – NYTimes.com.

google doodle, Les Paul, followup:  There are some creative folks out there.

The interactive instrument, created to honor what would have been the 96th birthday of electric guitar legend and innovator Les Paul, was such a hit, Google even gave the doodle an encore and left it up on its website for an extra day.

Not so musically inclined? If your guitar chops are in need of a little tuning, take a few lessons with our quick tutorial on how to master this digital instrument.

Or maybe you already have what it takes to rock out with the best of the best? Here’s a round-up of the best Google guitar licks from around the Web.

via The Les Paul Google Guitar Greatest Hits: Hear The Best Songs (VIDEO).

Leonard Stern, Mad Libs, RIP,  Conan O’Brien, LOL, followup:  OK, Conan is just funny.

Conan O’Brien (@ConanOBrien) 6/11/11 4:30 PM R.I.P. the _________creator of the always__________ Mad Libs.

6.10.2011 … ‎… and the movie was … The Help … I liked the movie MUCH better than the book. Emma Stone was Skeeter … she was also very good as Wichita in Zombieland, a recent Teague favorite. Thank you, Joni for including me as your guest at the sneak preview!

The Help, film/lit, followup:  I liked the movie better than the book … and I will tell you why.  I felt that a white person could not get the voice of a black person correct.  I did not trust the narrator Skeeter.  When you put it in movie form, I trusted the actresses playing the roles of the blacks and the whites.  Go see the movie when it comes out in August.  It will bring up a lot of good conversation.  Oh, and I found this blog post interesting –  It’s okay not to like The Help « A Critical Review of the novel The Help.  I find myself feeling guilty or at least defensive for not adoring the book.

My friend and host for the sneak preview had these things to say … ” I loved it too! It is interesting how many different slants there are in the story and what a good job the movie did with all of them – growing into an adult, changing social mores, being black and white in the sixties south, women and social power, intimidation as a way of reinforcing the status quo, early feminism. Ten people could see it and take away 10 different “big ideas”. I think it will be a big hit… ”

We often acknowledge and argue that our perspectives are different, but I respect her opinion and I agree … I think it will be a big hit.

Three Cups of Tea, bookshelf:  ‎… and I did finally finish Three Cups of Tea!    I enjoyed it very much despite the controversy.

Here are several reasons I like and recommend the book:

1.  epigrams:  The authors do a great job of using epigrams (a quotation set at the beginning of a literary work or one of its divisions to suggest its theme) to reveal their themes.

2. title:  I liked the title and thought it perfect for an understanding of Mortenson’s journey ..

The title “Three Cups of Tea” refers to the way business is done in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The first time you have tea with someone, you are a stranger. Then the second time you are a friend, and the third time you are family (150; ch. 12). This is very important to the story, because Greg feels that he is at home in Asia, so it is his responsibility to build schools for them.

via Adam’s English 10 Blog: Three Cups of Tea Top 10 List.

3. quotes:

“Educate a boy, and your educate an individual. Educate a girl, and you educate a community.”

— African proverb, quoted by Greg Mortensen in Three Cups of Tea

“Once you educate the boys, they tend to leave the villages and go search for work in the cities, but the girls stay home, become leaders in the community, and pass on what they’ve learned.”

— Greg Mortensen, Three Cups of Tea

“You can hand out condoms, drop bombs, build roads, or put in electricity, but until the girls are educated a society won’t change.”

— Greg Mortenson, Three Cups of Tea

“I’ve learned that terror doesn’t happen because some group of people somewhere like Pakistan or Afghanistan simply decide to hate us. It happens because children aren’t being offered a bright enough future that they have a reason to choose life over death.”

— Greg Mortenson, Three Cups of Tea

via Good quotes from three cups of tea? 10 points best answer!!2? – Yahoo! Answers.

The Sweetest Thing, Elizabeth Musser, bookshelf: … now to read Elizabeth Musser’s new book The Sweetest Thing!

The Swimming Hole, Davidson NC, places, Davidson College, memory lane:  What a great place … nothing snooty about it … we were members for 6 years!  Happy 50th!  And of course, one of my all time favorite stories as a Davidson College student is of two friends getting arrested for skinny dipping … actually underwear dipping … after hours … along with a professor who had climbed the fence too to talk with them.  They all three had to go to court!

Back in 1960 or even before, Ed and Carol White were visiting friends out of state and heard about their community swimming pool.  Back in Davidson, Ed and Carol gathered Shaw Smith, Bill Ward and Bob Currie in their living room to discuss the possibility of having a community pool in Davidson.  Carol White remembers suggesting the name, “The Swimming Hole,” so people would not think they “were being uppity.”

The pool opened in 1961.  Ed and Carol White’s daughter, Susan, was an early life guard.  Reading the following “pool notes,” it is clear that a group of energetic citizens made the pool a reality … but just who they were and where they met to make this momentous decision?  Like so many events 50 years ago, there seems to be some embellishment of the facts and quite a bit of disagreement about whose living room, den or deck provided space for these early discussions.  No amount of phone calls could shed light on the land purchase (probably from the college), how it was initially financed, or when the construction began.  And just who is Agnes Kuentzel?  Do let us know – but in the meantime, smile and read on…

via The Swimming Hole at 50, and the Class of ’61 | DavidsonNews.net.

Amelie’s, restaurants, the law, trade dress:  One of my favorite places … and from a legal perspective, “trade dress” is an interesting concept. Thank you, NB, for introducing me to Amelie’s.

Fans of Amelie’s, the bakery and hip hangout open 24-7 in Charlotte’s NoDa neighborhood, have always touted its idiosyncrasies: eclectic décor (those striped walls! those zany light fixtures!) and distinctive offerings (those layered tortes! that salted caramel brownie!).

Now its owners are suing a Florida bakery that opened as an Amelie’s, in partnership with the Charlotte people – but has since renamed itself Sophie’s. The question is: What makes Amelie’s Amelie’s?

Trademarks, trade secrets and something called “trade dress” – essentially the look of a place – are at hand.

Here’s what’s undisputed from both sides: Todd and Carole Binkowski were longtime Amelie’s fans when they lived in Charlotte. When the couple moved to Tampa, they and the Amelie’s owners – Lynn St. Laurent, Bill Lamb and Brenda Ische – agreed to go into partnership to see if an Amelie’s could work in the Hyde Park neighborhood there. People from Amelie’s worked on the new space’s look and food, and it opened in late February.

Then versions diverge.

The Amelie’s owners’ suit says the Binkowskis knew Amelie’s wanted to franchise, while Todd Binkowski said the goal was only to “prove” the business model, and that he did not expect to be treated like a franchisee.

via What makes Amelie’s Amelie’s? | CharlotteObserver.com & The Charlotte Observer Newspaper.

Heat Burst, weird, weather, random:  Never heard of this one ….

WICHITA, Kansas — Last night Wichita experienced a very rare weather phenomenon known as a “Heat Burst.” At 12:22 a.m. the temperature at Wichita’s Mid-Continent Airport was 85 degrees. At 12:44 the temperature spiked to 102 degrees. This was a 17 degree increase in only 20 minutes. Winds also gusted between 50 and 60 MPH. The heat burst winds and temperatures rapidly dissipated as they spread across Sedgwick and Southern Butler Counties.

A heat burst is caused when rain falls into very dry air, high up in the atmosphere. The rain quickly evaporates as it falls through the dry parcel of air and that parcel cools rapidly. This dense mass falls rapidly toward the ground, heating up as it compresses. When this hot ball of air hits the ground it spreads out in every direction creating very strong, warm and dry winds.

About an hour before the heat burst, wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour battered the Wichita metro area. This was due to outflow winds from severe weather south of the city, and not related to the heat burst.

via Wichita experiences rare ‘heat burst’ overnight – KSN TV, Kansas News and Weather.

Leonard Stern, Mad Libs, RIP:  I never knew who created them, or even thought about them, but I loved them as a kid and my daughter still gives her brother one for Christmas every year.

Leonard Stern — a prolific television writer, producer and director — died Tuesday at age 88. Among his credits: a writer for The Honeymooners, Get Smart and McMillan and Wife — to name a few. Yet, his most enduring contribution may not be found in punch lines for the small screen — but rather in blank spaces. Stern co-created the popular word game Mad Libs with fellow comedy writer Roger Price in 1958. At the time of the game’s 50th anniversary, more than 110 million copies reportedly had been sold. Melissa Block and Michele Norris remember Leonard Stern.

via ‘Mad Libs’ Co-Creator Dies at 88 : NPR.