NYO - Observatory

NYO - Observatory: "These days, the Upper East Side and the Lower East Side have both become the forward positions of what can no longer be reasonably called the bridge-and-tunnel crowd. No point in dressing in rags and belting out lyrics from Rent, because every block of the East Village looks like frat row at the University of Michigan. In Manhattan the successful can�t afford homes, while the impoverished stay healthy, well-fed and drunk on their parents� credit cards."

CNN.com - Western resorts spruce up for ski season - Nov 15, 2005

CNN.com - Western resorts spruce up for ski season - Nov 15, 2005: "Tamarack, in its second year of operation, is adding a third high-speed quad, 10 new alpine trails and 1,700 additional vertical feet. Sun Valley has replaced its grooming fleet with 10 new machines, while Northern Idaho's Schweitzer Mountain is opening 400 new acres of terrain including five new runs for advanced, intermediate and expert skiers and riders. Schweitzer Mountain has also been chosen to host the World Cup Telemark Finals March 10-12, the first World Cup Telemark event to be held in the United States in three years."

BBC NEWS | Technology | Google extends searching offline

BBC NEWS | Technology | Google extends searching offline: "Google may already be dominant on the web but now it is stretching its wings to the physical world as well.
Google Space, at Terminal One of London's Heathrow airport, will allow people to log onto the net and check e-mail while they wait for flights.
For Google, the space will be used to test its myriad product launches on the public. "

Vegas Stripping L.A. of Its Luxury Luster - Los Angeles Times

Vegas Stripping L.A. of Its Luxury Luster - Los Angeles Times: "This year, more restaurants opened in Nevada than any other state in the nation, according to the National Restaurant Assn., thanks in large part to the competition among Las Vegas' luxury hotels. Once there, restaurateurs often find the city provides a near nonstop supply of big spenders."

New York Post Online Edition: gossip

To spend your thanksgiving at a nightclub sounds pretty damn depressing.

New York Post Online Edition: gossip: "THAT club queen Amy Sacco is hosting her fourth annual Wild Turkey Shoot soiree with a bevy of bold-faced buddies at Bungalow 8 tonight"

A Party Girl Leads China's Online Revolution - I am a dance girl, and I am a party member

A Party Girl Leads China's Online Revolution - New York Times: "SHANGHAI, Nov. 23 - On her fourth day of keeping a Web log, she introduced herself to the world with these striking words: 'I am a dance girl, and I am a party member.'
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Pictures from the Web log of a self-described Communist Party member from Shanghai who goes by the pseudonym Mu Mu. One expert says China's new bloggers talk back to authority, 'but in a humorous way.' 'I don't know if I can be counted as a successful Web cam dance girl,' that early post continued. 'But I'm sure that looking around the world, if I am not the one with the highest diploma, I am definitely the dance babe who reads the most and thinks the deepest, and I'm most likely the only party member among them.'"

A Party Girl Leads China's Online Revolution - I am a dance girl, and I am a party member

A Party Girl Leads China's Online Revolution - New York Times: "SHANGHAI, Nov. 23 - On her fourth day of keeping a Web log, she introduced herself to the world with these striking words: 'I am a dance girl, and I am a party member.'
Skip to next paragraph
Enlarge This Image

Pictures from the Web log of a self-described Communist Party member from Shanghai who goes by the pseudonym Mu Mu. One expert says China's new bloggers talk back to authority, 'but in a humorous way.' 'I don't know if I can be counted as a successful Web cam dance girl,' that early post continued. 'But I'm sure that looking around the world, if I am not the one with the highest diploma, I am definitely the dance babe who reads the most and thinks the deepest, and I'm most likely the only party member among them.'"

Tommy Lee Hotel Suggestions

Independent Online Edition > Profiles: "'Mind you, four days ago, I stayed in a hotel in Dallas, Texas, and - you are gonna love this - it was called The Notorious Suite. It had a raised stage and stripper pole in it.'"

CNN.com - Tyson dinner ends in mass brawl - Nov 16, 2005

Drink and Fight. A proper British Supper.

CNN.com - Tyson dinner ends in mass brawl - Nov 16, 2005: "LONDON, England (CNN) -- Guests at a British boxing dinner for former world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson launched into a mass brawl.
Police said they were called to a 'large fight' at the Heritage Hotel in Derby, central England, where Tyson had appeared to launch a four-date promotional tour of Britain.
Around 20 people were involved in the brawl Tuesday evening, which saw chairs hurled, tables tipped over, glasses smashed and punches thrown."

BBC NEWS | Technology | US retains hold of the internet

BBC NEWS | Technology | US retains hold of the internet: "The US has won its fight to stay in charge of the internet, despite opposition from many nations.
In an eleventh-hour agreement ahead of a UN internet summit in Tunis, Tunisia, negotiators agreed to leave the US in charge of the net's addressing system. "

Young, Assured and Playing Pharmacist to Friends - New York Times

Young, Assured and Playing Pharmacist to Friends - New York Times: "Prescriptions to treat attention deficit disorder in adults age 20 to 30 nearly tripled from 2000 to 2004, according to Medco, a prescription management company. Medications for sleeping disorders in the same age group showed a similar increase. "

How to Sell a Movie (or Fail) in Four Hours - New York Times

How to Sell a Movie (or Fail) in Four Hours - New York Times: "In today's world of computerized supply chains, the whole process of releasing a movie on DVD has become one in which success can be measured nearly instantly. At 8 a.m. Tuesday, you arrive in the Southern California office of Universal or Sony. Already, Wal-Mart stores in the East have been open for four hours; based on the number of sales in that short time frame, their computer programs will calculate projections, accurate to within 5 percent, of how many total units of 'The Skeleton Key' or 'Stealth' will be sold in the first week, the first month, the first six months.
If your movie is performing below expectations, by the time you arrive at work Tuesday morning, already the unsold units are being loaded onto trucks to be returned. Something like this happened with DreamWorks Animation's 'Shrek 2.' The movie was a hit by any measure, but last May, when DreamWorks reported that it had sold fewer DVD's than it anticipated, its stock tumbled 17 percent over two days."

The Ghost in the CD - New York Times

The Ghost in the CD - New York Times: "In a PowerPoint presentation before the National Association of Recording Merchandisers in San Diego in August, Mitch Bainwol, the chief executive of the Recording Industry Association of America, underlined the urgency: 'Key point: Burning and ripping are becoming a greater threat than P2P,' a reference to peer-to-peer file sharing. "

CNN.com - Entertainment

CNN.com - Entertainment: "It is among the least likely of musical marriages: Neil Diamond, pop-rock hitmaker of the '60s, '70s and '80s, has paired with producer Rick Rubin -- known for his work with the Beastie Boys and Rage Against the Machine, among others -- for his newest album, '12 Songs.' The result: Diamond's best album in years, say reviewers."

CNN.com - Entertainment

CNN.com - Entertainment: "It is among the least likely of musical marriages: Neil Diamond, pop-rock hitmaker of the '60s, '70s and '80s, has paired with producer Rick Rubin -- known for his work with the Beastie Boys and Rage Against the Machine, among others -- for his newest album, '12 Songs.' The result: Diamond's best album in years, say reviewers."

Pitching a New Cellphone as a Reason to Live - New York Times

Pitching a New Cellphone as a Reason to Live - New York Times: "The new wireless companies, known as mobile virtual network operators, will provide consumers with Internet speeds comparable to those of broadband. Amp'd Mobile uses Verizon Wireless's high-speed network, which allows users to download information much faster than they could on a standard Verizon wireless network. "

Stars and Checkbooks Come Out to Set Records for 18 Artists, and One for Christie's - New York Times

Stars and Checkbooks Come Out to Set Records for 18 Artists, and One for Christie's - New York Times: "Yet Edward Dolman, the company's chief executive, said 82 percent of the buyers last night were American, in a radical shift from last week's Impressionist and modern art sale, where 47 percent of the buyers came from Europe.
'It's an interesting reversal,' he said, 'to see how Americans have so drastically shifted to this part of the market.' "

Just Googling It Is Striking Fear Into Companies - New York Times

Just Googling It Is Striking Fear Into Companies - New York Times: "'Google is the realization of everything that we thought the Internet was going to be about but really wasn't until Google,' said David B. Yoffie, a professor at Harvard Business School."

World's Most Expensive Cars 2005 - Forbes.com

World's Most Expensive Cars 2005 - Forbes.com: "These days, however, for those looking to dabble in the world of ultra-expensive cars, a million doesn't go as far as it used to. In fact, if one bought the awesomely fast, incredibly sexy Saleen S7 Twin Turbo in Europe for $670,000, the change from that million would just about pay for gas and insurance. "

CNN.com - Tech billionaire�revises mansion plans - Nov 2, 2005

CNN.com - Tech billionaire�revises mansion plans - Nov 2, 2005: "ALAMO, California (AP) -- Billionaire and former PeopleSoft Inc. owner David Duffield plans to revise blueprints to build a mansion larger than the Hearst Castle after neighbors complained the hotel-sized home was out of character with the area.
Duffield, the founder of the software company, released blueprints last month for the proposed 72,000-square-foot house in Alamo, California, a suburb east of San Francisco. It would have been bigger than Microsoft chairman Bill Gates' mansion and the White House."

TIME.com: The 2005 Global Health Summit Blog - Virgin Buys Tamiflu

TIME.com: The 2005 Global Health Summit Blog - Virgin Buys Tamiflu: "Richard Branson, Chairman of Virgin Group Ltd. said today that his company is looking into machines and new technologies to put on aircrafts to kill germs in anticipation of a bird flu pandemic. He said his company has purchased 10,000 doses of the drug Tamiflu for his staff.
In response to questions about companies hording Tamiflu, Branson said, 'We've bought [Tamiflu] because our staff is on the front line.'
Branson also said that despite Virgin's best efforts to protect staff and passengers, if the flu starts spreading person to person, 'it will most certainly affect the airline industry.'"

WSJ.com - Google Opens Its Online Library

WSJ.com - Google Opens Its Online Library: "Google Inc. is making available thousands of public-domain works through its search engine today, the first large-scale results of a program to scan books and documents at several university and public libraries.
Users will be able to search for keywords in the text of the works Google is putting online and read the entirety of the texts -- at print.google.com -- through digital images of the book pages. They can also save individual pages and cut and paste selected content drawn from the collections of the University of Michigan, Stanford University, Harvard University and the New York Public Library."

CNN.com - Three stabbed�in park near White House - Nov 1, 2005

Crime in DC? Nah, you don't say. Pathetic.

CNN.com - Three stabbed�in park near White House - Nov 1, 2005: "WASHINGTON (AP) -- Three people were stabbed Tuesday in Lafayette Park, across from the White House, the Secret Service said.
'One individual has been detained,' said Eric Zahren, a spokesman for the agency. 'There are three apparent stabbing victims.'
Zahren said the attacks took place in the northeast corner of the park.
There was no immediate word on what prompted the attacks, investigators said.
Another person might have had their shirt slashed,' said Sgt. Scott Fear, a spokesman for the U.S. Park Police, which was also investigating."

Independent Online Edition > This Britain

Independent Online Edition > This Britain: "While American commanders expressed concern that their troops were catching venereal disease as they consorted with the 'hordes' of young women who congregated outside troop hostels and West End hotels, the Foreign Office and senior Army officers worried that wartime sexual liberation was sending the wrong image of Britain abroad and could hand the Nazis a propaganda coup.
In one particularly intemperate memo, the officer in charge of London's civil defence complained that Leicester Square had been turned into an open-air den of vice. Admiral Sir Edward Evans wrote to the head of Scotland Yard, Commissioner Philip Game: 'Leicester Square at night is the resort of the worst type of women and girls consorting with men of the British and American forces, with the latter predominating."