March 5, 2005

Robert B. Reich, the secretary of labor from 1993 to 1997, has written a
magnificent essay about the Faustian bargain consumers make with big corporations that hurt workers and local economies with their questionable business practices.

As someone who debates this issue every time I purchase an item on the Internet or step foot in a Wal-Mart, I was delighted to read Reich's sensible economic solutions of how consumers can balance their need for lower prices goods with their desire to purchase goods with a social conscience.

"These provisions might end up costing me some money," Reich said, "But the citizen in me thinks they are worth the price." I wholeheartedly agree.

* The Chinese Physician's Association recently studied 1,182 reporters in Beijing and found that only 2.4% of them were healthy. Their most common ailments were: stomach problems, chronic exhaustion, stress, insomnia, bad eyesight and chronic pain. (China Daily)

* Rumaisa Rahman is the smallest surviving baby in the world known in medical literature. At her birth on Sept. 19, 2004, she weighed 8.6 ounces. (Reuters)

* The television remote control is the dirtiest items in Tucson, Ariz., hotel rooms. (Netscape)

* The shortest war in recorded history lasted 45 minutes. (Guinness World Records)

* Steve Fossett, a 60-year-old investment executive, completed the first solo flight around the world (without stopping or refueling) last week. He covered about 23,000 miles in 67 hours. (The New York Times)

March 3, 2005

A new Jaded Writings column has been posted. This week, I describe my own view of heaven.

"When I die, I don't want wings, a golden halo or a harp that sings. Give me a book, a fire and someone who brings me chocolate chip cookies all day."
--The "Chocolate Chip Cookies" song

* Patricia MacLachlan - 3/3/38
* Milla Charles - 3/3/55
* Johann David Wyss - 3/4/1743
* Caryn Rose - 3/5/64
* Elizabeth Barrett Browning - 3/6/1806
* Ring Lardner Sr. - 3/6/1885
* Gabriel Garcia Marquez - 3/6/28
* Tabatha Yeatts - 3/6/70
* Sabina C. Becker - 3/8/67
* Mickey Spillane - 3/9/18
* Claire Boothe Luce - 3/10/1903

February 28, 2005

Iranian blogger Arash Sigarchi, who was arrested in January for using his blog to criticize the detention of other bloggers, has been sentenced to 14 years in jail for spying and aiding foreign counter-revolutionaries.

"The authorities are trying to make an example of him. By handing down this harsh sentence against a Weblogger, their aim is to dissuade journalists and Internet users from expressing themselves online or contacting foreign media," Reporters Without Borders, an organization that tracks press freedom across the globe, said in a statement.

Iranian authorities have arrested nearly two dozen online journalists in recent weeks.

Actor Zach Braff ("Scrubs"), who wrote and directed the indie hit, "Garden State" keeps in touch with his fans through this amusing Weblog. Braff doesn't update on a regular basis, but his missives are always fun to read. (I wish more celebs did this.)
 

February 27, 2005

Wheeler Lipes, 84, was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal for an act of heroism he committed 61 years ago.

The Raleigh, N.C., resident was only 23 in 1942 when he performed an emergency appendectomy inside a submarine 120 feet below the Pacific Ocean. Using bent spoons for retractors and alcohol from the torpedoes for sterilization, he and his assistant helped save the life of sailor Darrel Dean Rector.

Although a news report on the seaman's feat aboard the USS Seadragon earned Chicago Daily News reporter George Weller a Pulitzer Prize, Lipes was not honored until last week.

"I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end."
--Margaret Thatcher

Past Afterthoughts