Today's news round-up, Part 1

Good News

• Boston traffic reporter comes out as a woman
• Minnesota college system bars team travel to North Carolina
• ECB scraps 500 euro note
• U.S., allies target Islamic State in Mosul with 10 strikes: statement

Bad News

• Apple loses China trademark case for 'iPhone' on leather goods
• Big data breaches found at major email services : expert

Recent news round-up, Part 2

Good News

• California man gets 18 years for US 'revenge porn' site
• IBM uncovers new, sophisticated bank transfer cyber scam It's good they discovered it.
• Groups aim to further expand gay rights at state level
• Romania to expel seven for recruiting for Al-Qaeda, IS
• California court issues ruling about out-of-control kids
• Justice Department sides with transgender inmate in Georgia lawsuit

Bad News

• Egypt police raid radio station, detain rights advocate
• Boko Haram kill four in NE Nigeria village raid
• Boko Haram 'kills 9 Chadian troops, one Niger soldier' in ambush

Recent news round-up, Part 2

Good News

• Gay Men Could Soon Donate Blood UPDATE: US panel fails to lift ban on gay blood donors So it's no longer good news.
• Glenn Beck must face Saudi's lawsuit over Boston Marathon bombing
• Utah man gets maximum sentence in hate crime case
• Albuquerque policeman who shot woman fired over camera lapse
• The Arrest of the ISIS Leader's Wife and Son
• District ordered to pay transgender student $75K
• U.S. leads 25 more air strikes against Islamic State militants: CENTCOM

Bad News

• Ohio bill would shield doctors who say 'My fault' If the idea is to give patients or their next-of-kin more information there are far better ways of doing it.
• Egypt to criminalize 'insulting revolutions'
• Pakistan singer-turned imam accused of blasphemy Blasphemy should not be a crime.

Today's news round-up

Good News

• Iraqi Kurds join fight against Islamic State in Kobani
• Some 100 march in conservative Montenegro's gay pride parade
• Egypt journalists defy editors on freedoms
• Justice Department issues use of force reforms for Albuquerque Police

Bad News

• IS jihadists carry out mass killings of Iraqi tribe A bunch of bloodthirsty thugs.
• Ferguson no-fly zone aimed at media
• Nigerian extremist says kidnapped girls married
• Gays fear new law will drive them out of Kyrgyzstan
• British-Iranian volleyball woman gets one year in jail
• Russia's top radio station slapped by government

Today's news round-up

Good News

• SiriusXM fires 'Opie & Anthony' host over tweets

Bad News

• Google criticised for BBC takedown Deliberate strategy or not, Google's action shows how flawed the EU's order to it is. The ones who they should have ordered to take down this material were the sites actually controlling it--in this case, the BBC. 
• Fake Job Applications Prove There’s Real LGBT Discrimination in Hiring
• Russian lawmakers pass new bill restricting Internet

Semi-random thoughts

• When I get a phone call, and I don't recognize the number, I'm going to let it go to voicemail. So if anyone really wants to talk to me, they have to leave me a message.
• It would be impossible for my wife and me to ever break up--we're such a good team. Tonight she asked me to remind her to put more Tylenol in her pill case when we got home. When we did get home all I could remember was that I was supposed to remind her of something. But that was enough for her to remember what it was.
• Retired WQXR host Lloyd Moss died last weekend. I loved listening to him. I wrote a post when he retired.

Recent news round-up

Good News

• Iowa Supreme Court rules that birth certificates must name both same-sex parents
• Boycott appears to hit Rush Limbaugh's mega-deal 
• Lauryn Hill gets 3 months for failing to pay taxes

Bad News

• Workers Claim Racial Bias in Farms’ Hiring of Immigrants

Recent news round-up

Good News

• Mother of 3-year-old injured by bobcat at Carlsbad zoo facing child abuse charges She didn't know what a barrier was? She is incompetent to be in charge of children.
• Rick Ross apologizes for pro-rape lyrics It's about time. I signed one of the petitions the article mentioned. But I have to wonder about his statement that using date-rape drugs "is not only a crime, it's wrong." He seems to be implying that some? many? criminal acts are not wrong.
• Abstinence presentation causes stir at GW (Also this, though I'm sometimes skeptical of this news source.) It's good to know there are kids who are smart enough to see through one-sided propaganda in their schools, and brave enough to try to do something about it.
• BBC in hot seat as anti-Thatcher song climbs chart
• French Senate Passes Same-Sex Marriage Bill
• Rare Accord in Gun Debate on Fixes to Mental Health System I hope this will reduce the number of mentally ill people who become homeless because they're not getting treatment.

Bad News

• Alabama governor signs law tightening rules for abortion clinics
• 6-Year-Old Shot by Playmate, 4, in Critical Condition I tend to doubt the 4-year-old loaded the gun by him- or herself. A gun in a home, especially one with children, is extremely dangerous. UPDATE: 6-year-old boy dies after NJ accidental shooting
• Emirates’ Laws Trap a Doctor Just Passing Through One more reason not to fly on Emirates Airlines. I don't care how good their service is.
• Virginia becomes latest state to tighten abortion rules

Sort of Good, Sort of Bad, News

• Republicans approve resolution reaffirming opposition to gay marriage It's bad that anyone is opposed to marriage equality, but it's good that the Republicans are continuing a position that will lose them more and more votes.

Recent news round-up

Good News

• Federal judge blocks Missouri law to deny birth control coverage
• UK prosecutors consider charges over royal hoax call

Bad News

• Gun enthusiasts pack shows to buy assault weapons
• Dental Assistant Fired For Being 'Irresistible' Is 'Devastated'
• Judge says Oklahoma can end Planned Parenthood contract

Recent news round-up

Good News

• D.J.’s in Prank Call Over Royals Forced Into Hiding
• Oregon Governor Declares December “Transgender Youth Awareness Month” Yay, Oregon!
• Many single women, a key bloc, are avoiding GOP

Recent news round-up

Good News

• Australian DJs Behind Royal Prank May Face Police Probe I hope they are prosecuted, and I'm glad to see the radio station is facing an advertising boycott.
• North Carolina barred from issuing "Choose Life" license plates
• Hasidic Man Found Guilty of Sexually Abusing Girl
• Feds rule on health care law's Medicaid expansion

Bad News

• Michigan Legislature OKs separate "right-to-work" bills to curb unions
• Egypt’s Leader Prepares a Plan to Impose Martial Law How is this an improvement over Mubarak?

Happy Beethoven Awareness Month!

It's Beethoven Awareness Month at WQXR.

Let's hear it for Carbonite

I have been using Carbonite for years to automatically back-up my hard drive. It works great. But for a while I've been troubled by the fact that it advertises on right-wing idiot commentator Rush Limbaugh's radio program.

Now I can feel better about using Carbonite--it is pulling its ads. Carbonite is one of several advertisers to drop Limbaugh after he branded a law student a slut and a prostitute because she called for birth control coverage under the health plans of religious institutions like her university. After several days, Limbaugh has issued a semi-apology, but that was not enough for Carbonite to reconsider.

Yay, Carbonite!

Semi-random thoughts

Some of these thoughts occured a while ago.

• Serena Williams is just plain obnoxious. She's the one who's "out-of-control" (her description of a referee who applied the verbal interference rule against her). No matter how many titles she wins, she'll never be a champion to me. 
• Five Napkin Burgers, with half-a-dozen restaurants along the east coast, is guilty of false advertising. They give you only one napkin--which is all that is necessary for its excellent hamburgers.
• WQXR, the classical music radio station of New York City, is now a listener-supported public station. Like all public radio and television stations they have periodic fundraising drives, which interrupt their regular programming. Nobody likes to tune in to hear music and get people asking for contributions. WQXR, though, has come up with a way to capitalize on this dislike--they offer to cut their on-air drive by one hour for every $8,000 they raise before the drive starts. 
• I went to refill my back-up Metrocard, and the machine informed me my card would be expiring shortly, and offered to transfer the money I had on it to a new one. As far as I know, this is something new. In the past, I always went to an agent to do this--though I only remember doing it a couple times. When you got 20% additional for purchases over a certain amount, it was pretty easy to keep your card at an even amount of $2.25 fares. (It was even easier when the fare was only $2.00.) When a card was close to expiring, I just used it until it was empty, and then bought a new one. Now that you only get 15%, it's practically impossible to do this--there's always some odd amount left of the card.   

Semi-random thoughts

• It was great hearing Clayelle Dalferes' sultry voice on WQXR last Saturday. This was the first time I had heard it since WQXR was bought by public radio station WNYC about a year and a half ago. She was not retained as a disk jockey host after the change. Apparently she started back as a substitute announcer last fall, but this was the first I knew of it. I blogged a bit about her before, here and here.
• Bing's map directions leave a lot to be desired--at least the public transit ones. I was trying to figure out how long it would take to get from the Empire State Pride Agenda's office on 22nd St. in Manhattan to a certain bar in Brooklyn. When I asked for directions on Facebook, it sent me to Bing. Its suggested route had me getting on an express bus for the 8 block trip to the L train! Google Maps told me to walk 1 block in the opposite direction to 23rd St. and take the N train to the L. 
• It was quite nice to see that the lowly Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Miami Heat, getting some revenge on defector LeBron James and his new team. 

Quote of the day

"Dear Lord – in the past year you have taken away my favorite actor (Patrick Swayze), my favorite actress (Farrah Fawcett), my favorite musician (Michael Jackson) and my favorite pitchman (Billy Mays).

"Just wanted to let you know my favorite TV and radio personalities are Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Sarah Palin."

--Lawrence Eisenberg via Liz Smith

Semi-random thoughts

● I did some internet research on satellite radio for a friend. Immediately after that I got ads for Sirius radio on my Excite news pages. These targeted advertisements really watch your internet usage--and they are fast.

● A Facebook friend (whom I don't really know) wrote that she "wants to learn to speed read so i can read 2-4 books a month." Sad.

● 'Unfriend' Is Dictionary's 2009 Word of the Year, beating out "sexting" among other neologisms. I generally don't unfriend Facebook friends. Mostly I just hide them on my feed. There have also been a few really obnoxious people I've blocked completely, but I don't think any of them were friends.

Semi-random thoughts

● I've always hated the milk-mustache ads.

● I find it very curious that the Patriot Act adopts the view directly contrary to that of the patriots who said "Give me liberty, or give me death." The Act requires Americans to give up chunks of our right to be free of government interference and scrutiny of our lives, in order to be (allegedly) safer from terrorists.

● I'm amused when I get identical letters addressed to my male and female names. Sorry, Ms. Magazine, I'm not going to subscribe under either one.

● Bloomberg for Mayor ads appeared alongside a news story I was reading (about elections) on Excite.com. I get them on videos on Fail Blog. I got them on WQXR, before it became a listener-supported station. Flyer after flyer appears in my mail. I hate how he wins elections simply by drowning out the messages of his opponents with his billions.

● It's "très," people, not "trés." Merci beaucoup.

Semi-random thoughts

● I added the Wall Street Journal's Pictures of the Day to my daily internet read. Some of the pictures are just stunning. It reminds me of Life Magazine back when it was my primary source of news photography.

● I blocked someone on Facebook who said "voting is for suckers." There's a limit to how much stupidity I will tolerate.

● Utah has granted 80,000 NON-residents permits to carry concealed weapons? Idiocy.

● My box of Shredded Wheat tells me that the cereal has been around for 117 years. This is very impressive. Then I remember that I have been around for over half that period.

● I notice the radio ads for a couple of Broadway plays mention the length of the shows: 80 or 90 minutes. Both of the plays are serious dramas. I guess they figure people might not come if they thought they had to sit through a more normal length performance.

● And speaking of radio ads, this evening WQXR, NYC's classical music station, changes frequencies and becomes a public radio station, owned by WNYC. No more commercials! Yay! But I have to wonder what other changes are in store. Apparently some of its announcers will not be moving over--including Clayelle Dalferes, who is a continuing source of traffic to this blog. They are being replaced by a couple from WNYC (and one other starting next month).

● One evening last week I stopped for a quick bite at The Modern, the excellent Danny Meyer restaurant in the Museum of Modern Art. There is a row of small, round tables parallel to the bar, with a banquet on one side and a chair for each table on the other. There was a vacant one, right next to a pillar. The chair was missing, so I sat on the banquet, at a 45 degree angle to get away a bit from the adjacent table, which was crowded with four people. I placed my order, and a bit later a bus-person? a bus-man? a busser? (I don't think bus-boy is politically correct these days) brought my place setting. But it seemed to offend his sensibilities that I wasn't sitting on the banquet at a 90 degree angle--which is where he put the setting, instead of directly in front of me. I moved it over. Listen, bus-whatever, the place setting is for the diner, not for the furniture.

A small step for Clayelle

Back in 2005 I blogged about being surprised that Clayelle Dalferes, the sultry-voiced WQXR weekend announcer, said over the air that she couldn't pronounce the names of religious holidays for which the NYC alternate-side parking regulations would be suspended. She replied in an e-mail (which I added as a comment to my post) that she was routinely criticized for her pronunciation of the Jewish holidays, so she just refrained.

But yesterday I heard her announce that the parking regulations would be suspended for Purim on Tuesday. She pronounced "Purim" just fine. So I sent off a little e-mail to congratulate her for her progress in holiday pronunciation.

Clayelle replied,

Hi -- thanks for the note and congratulations. "Purim" is about as easy to pronounce as religious holidays can get -- even so, I checked with Bill Jerome this morning! You've no idea how offended people can get -- my bad Hebrew has led to charges of anti-Semitism, or of poking fun at Religion in general. Since I can't be Kosher or Halel with pronunciation, I think I'd best stick to "religious holidays" for anything not translatable, don't you?

Thanks again for the note -- all the best for "Printemps qui commence" , and none too soon.

Clayelle

So I guess we can't look forward to hearing "Idul-Fitr" from her any time soon.