Ana

"CLEVELAND—Despite having no other household responsibilities to occupy their time, none of the residents of the Cleveland YWCA Battered Women's Shelter can prepare a decent hot meal by 6 p.m., sources at the shelter reported Tuesday. "If it's not burned or under-seasoned, it's the same goddamn thing they made yesterday," said group counselor Devon Martin, who doesn't work all day long in the shelter's therapy sessions to microwave his own leftovers. - Ana via Bookmarklet

Well if you say so Ana. :) - EricaJoy

Yay, done... it's growing fast :) - Susan Beebe

Long live the three martini lunch! (Click through to SmugMug for the rest of the photos from the day.) - Ana

whoa! that looks amazing!! - Susan Beebe

"The other thing that struck me as interesting and somewhat surprising was the geographic distribution of my former classmates. Let’s see whether the distribution is surprising to the blog readers by running a contest. The first person to correctly identify the five cities in which the greatest number of my classmates currently reside wins a signed copy of Freakonomics." - Ana via Bookmarklet

More love over here please, thanks: "Amazingly, there are almost as many of my classmates in Oakland (14) as there are in Chicago, and yet not a single person in the first 250 guessed Oakland." - Richard Chen

Nicely-made electronic "stationery" that also gives you tracking capabilities like Evite. What I can't believe is that it's $5 to invite 60 people. I guess it's much much cheaper than real wedding/party invitations, but I just don't expect those kinds of costs for an online site :) - Ana via Bookmarklet

"According to a groundbreaking new study by the Department of Labor, working—the physical act of engaging in a productive job-related activity—may greatly increase the amount of work accomplished during the workday, especially when compared with the more common practices of wasting time and not working." - Ana via Bookmarklet

Well, then I guess the FFers are going about it all wrong with these 3 martini lunches and margarita Fridays. :) - April Buchheit

"During three months of planning, organizers had a rough idea of the limitations: no Chinese-language advertisements, no banners, no parades. Ms. Miller, 30, who helped start Shanghai’s first gay Internet mailing list in 2006, explained why the event’s main organizers were almost entirely not Chinese. “As a foreign passport holder, I think we’re less easily intimidated,” she said." - Ana via Bookmarklet

Of all the sports, basketball has always been the one where I've been the least interested in Bill Simmons's analysis (football is my favorite, and I even like his dissection of boxing). But I had to share this just for the last paragraph alone. I completely agree w/ his sentiments on MJ: "My buddy Gus said it best via e-mail: "Thriller is the only album I ever owned where I remember where I was and my reaction to hearing it for the first time. Your basement." Of course, I e-mailed him back by joking, "That's the first time Michael Jackson has landed in a positive story about two teenage boys and a basement in about 20 years." But Gus was right. Before he went off the deep end, Jackson was definitely one of those rare, "I specifically remember moments of my life that he was involved in" celebrities. I'm going to miss him. I wish the 2009 NBA draft had happened on another night. Alas." - Ana via Bookmarklet

"Lastly, I apologize to the makers of Pilsbury refrigerated buttermilk biscuits, that your fine product will be associated in the minds of so many customers with with what I am about to use them for is highly unfortunate and unforgivable." - Brian Johns

Reshared courtesy of Jim's post. This book seems fascinating. This quote stuck out, since I've wondered this myself when thinking about my friends from Hong Kong: "When Bernstein writes of Western men who'd never dream of visiting a prostitute back home but regularly do so in Asia, he says it's because Asian prostitutes are "sweet, affectionate," and "unmarred by the businesslike qualities of common sex-for-sale workers in the West," who are supposed to be "sleazy, mercenary, cold, depraved, and vaguely intimidating" (though how the men would know this having never visited them is unclear -- it seems to be the way they view all Western women)." - Ana via Bookmarklet

Personally, I think the reason why Western men engage Asian prostitutes when abroad and don't do so with prostitutes at home is because 1) they're in developing countries where the legal consequences are either de facto laxer or something they just don't really respect, 2) because they see the women of that country as more of an other, making them easier to objectify, and 3) because, in developing countries, they can maintain the internal fiction that they are not simply a john, but also a benefactor. - Chester

More #3martinilunch repercussions, I knew it! - Stephen Mack

TW 2010 is great Angus, but the putting takes a while to get used to. Also, it feels like they took the "luck" aspect out of the game. - Ross Miller

"Every human culture studied makes music, and human babies are born loving music, yet the old saw notwithstanding, music will do nothing to soothe the average nonhuman beast. Emerging evidence suggests that many of our fellow mammals, including dogs, cats, rodents and monkeys, are indifferent to music and may even dislike it. [snip] “They’re in a room with nothing else to do, and they could be listening to a nice, soothing lullaby,” Dr. McDermott said. “But if you give the monkeys a choice between music and silence, they choose silence pretty strongly.”" - Ana via Bookmarklet

"When combined with other moves to cut expenses, such as the salary freeze, limits on hiring, slowing the pace of Allston construction and other capital projects, and so on—all driven primarily by the projected 30 percent decline in the value of endowment assets—these staff-workforce reductions will make an impact on the looming budget pressures in several of the schools and allied institutions. But they do not nearly close the biggest gaps, such as the $220-million deficit looming over FAS." - Ana via Bookmarklet

Harvard's endowment is still at $25 billion. I'm surprised that these universities don't simply dip into their enormous endowment to smooth out bad times like this. Of course, I have no doubt that Harvard like most universities could use a leaner staff to begin with -- but that's a decision that should be made irrespective of the economic environment. - Nelson Cheng

Q: Harry Potter and Twilight star Robert Pattinson was hit by a cab while trying to avoid fans in New York City. What do you think? ... A. Anthony Karrenbauer, Cab Driver; "Listen, I'm sorry I hit him, but I thought he was that asshole Shia LaBeouf." - Ana via Bookmarklet

Doesn't look like many people were lined up for SYTYCD auditions yet? Or maybe they were all inside. Did you get to meet anyone? Someday I'd like to be a tourist in LA, its hard with lots of family there, but it always looks like fun! - Rachel Lea Fox

The thing I find interesting is that there has been so much more news about the Iran contested elections than the similar thing that happened in Kenya at the end of 2007. Is it because Iranian citizens are much more tech-savvy and the Twitter/FriendFeed/internet blocking/etc. has made this a much bigger news story? I mean, the violence in Kenya was far more deadly and shocking. - Ana

Plus There are large quantities of Iranians that have spread themselves World wide, in many nations. Not sure of Kenyans ability to pull this off. - Brent:Too Cool for School

As a fellow Long Islander, I still find this hilarious. - Darren Lewis

I love the fact that the first guy had guns tattooed on his biceps. Classy. - Joel Webber

"Look at me! Now I'm boarding the water!" - Ana via Bookmarklet

"Like almost every dieter in America, Wendy Bassett has used all sorts of weight-loss products. Nothing worked, she said, until she tried Sensa: granules she scatters on almost everything she eats, and which are supposed to make dieters less hungry by enhancing the smell and taste of food. “Every time I touch a piece of food, I pour it on,” said Ms. Bassett, 34, an accountant in Tyler, Tex. She has been using Sensa since February. So far, she said, she has lost 30 pounds." - Ana via Bookmarklet

"Still, the prime time for murder is clear: summertime. Indeed, it is close to a constant, one hammered home painfully from June to September across the decades. And the breakdown of deadly brutality can get even more specific. September Saturdays around 10 p.m. were the most likely moments to produce a murder in the city." - Ana via Bookmarklet

Hehe. - Kol Tregaskes

Depends what's the gender? - Matt

Awww...how cute! - Helen Sventitsky

This is so funny! Heineken would be one of my selections for my walk-in beer closet but I'd have others like Youngs, Guiness, and others :-) - Jason Cronkhite

Walking fridge? http://www.youtube.com/watch... - Jérôme Flipo

Excellent "checkmate" http://www.youtube.com/watch... - Jérôme Flipo

I like his hair :) - Benjamin Golub

کچل چاغال .. نازیییییی. - ‎‎Emad

Myles? - Gabe

I've seen this little guy in action! Awesome hair. - Louis Gray

wow this caught me off guard! i thought I saw my kid! lol... - Eric Nakagawa

"Universal won’t discuss the filmmaking process, but the studio insists that the vast majority of the people who appear with Mr. Baron Cohen had no idea they were being filmed for a Hollywood movie. Ads for “Brüno” trumpet, “real people, real situations.” That was at least true of Representative Ron Paul of Texas, the former Republican presidential candidate. In a scene filmed in early 2008, Mr. Paul sits for an interview with the Baron Cohen character. (Mr. Paul has said he was told the topic would be Austrian economics.) When lighting trouble delays the interview, Mr. Baron Cohen strips to his underwear. Mr. Paul storms out muttering, “This guy is a queer.”" - Ana via Bookmarklet

I have a feeling that mainstream America is going to be a lot less accepting of this movie than it was of Borat. SBC's work is interesting on several levels. - Stephen Mack

He iz l33t hax0r - Johnny Worthington

Man, how lame; what a hater. - Rob Schonberger