Link: CNN.com - Texas House�to cheerleaders: Don't shake it - May 5, 2005.

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) -- Texas lawmakers sent a message to the state's high school cheerleaders Wednesday: no more booty-shaking at the game.

U.F.R.   (First word utterly, last word ridiculous.)  Isn't this something that, um... the PARENTS should be monitoring?  If its such a big issue, why don't the parents talk with the coach?  Why doesn't the school talk to the coach?  The idea that elected politicians are censoring cheerleader dance routines in 2005 is just plain sad.  If I lived in Texas now, I'd throw myself in front of a bus.  Then, I'd move.

Link: AFB's Blog Home.

Last week, the NYT published an article where a restaurant owner, Gabrielle Hamilton, interviews a blind man for a cooking position.  Now, I don't know if you've ever had any interaction with many blind people, but with the right tools around them, they can accomplish some pretty amazing stuff.  At GM Asset Management, there's a Canadian bond trader that is blind.  (Can you imagine all those quotes wizzing by on braille!  Amazing!) 

Anyway, so it seemed like this applicant had some trouble in these surroundings...  The article rips the guy apart with stuff like "His eyes wandered around in their sockets like tropical fish in the aquarium of a cheap hotel lobby..."?

I mean...   how do people get away with stuff like that?  The whole piece is basically making fun of this visually impaired job applicant.  How do you run a customer facing business with that kind of attitude?  I don't think would stand for an article like that if the owner was making fun of the applicant's race or even if the applicant was in a wheelchair.  How would Gabrielle feel if we made fun of a smaller female chef who couldn't carry a heavy item?

The article is here.

Gabrielle's restaurant is called Prune.  You know what's really ironic?  I checked out some reviews and I found these two:

From Dine.com...   "Prune Restaurant & Bar... opened it's doors to the discriminatingly hip east village crowd one year ago."   Yes...  definitely discriminating.

From Gayot.com...   "Prune may not be the most appealing name for a restaurant (it’s for the owner’s childhood nickname, not the fruit), but once inside any prejudice disappears."    Obviously hasn't been there lately...

If anyone knows Gabrielle Hamilton, I'd say they should urge her to write a public apology.

I've joked around with people about how the best way to get on the del.icio.us popular list is to come up with a top ten list...

...which means the ultimate del.icio.us popular item would be a Top 10 list of top ten lists.

Makes sense, no?

So, if anyone of you know of any great top ten lists, no matter what they're about, tag them in del.icio.us with for:ceonyc and I'll try to compile a list.

While I'm doing an address change for a misdirected order:

Customer Service Person:  "I do apoligize as I am from Canada myself...  Broadway is spelled B-r-o-a-d-w-a-y, is that correct?"

My question is, was she apoligizing because they don't have any Broadways in Canada or because Canadians are poor spellers, which would be news to me.

"...intimacy is a space that exists between people, and once you enter it...  from once place (from physical to emotional or vice versa) it makes it easier and more natural to get to the other parts of the space."

Someone bailed on me, so now I'm scrambling.   

I need a good stenographer this Thursday to record a 35 person discussion group on 21st bet 10th and 11th in NYC.

Basically, each participant will have a name card in front of them and all have an opportunity to contribute to the discussion.  We will try to avoid anyone speaking over each other.

The topic is related to technology, but the jargon will be minimal, because it will be more about how people use technology and what business opportunities there are around user-centric tech. 

They have to be really responsible, show up on time, look professional, etc.  There will be a one hour lunchbreak at the session and they must have all their own equipment.

Please contact me right away either by e-mail:  charlie.odonnell@gmail.com

Click to see Video

I found this on the del.icio.us Mustang+cars tag. 

Need some market testing here.  Has anyone taken out an auto loan in the past 6 months?  What rate did they get?  Leave an anonymous comment with just the number...  :)

I just got quoted 7.8...   was hoping for more around 7.

I guess resale value is why autoloans are so much more expensive than mortages, huh?

Fuckin' scary...

Link: CNN.com - Jet Blue plane readies for emergency landing - Sep 21, 2005.

LONG BEACH, California (AP) -- A Jet Blue airliner was dumping fuel over the ocean Wednesday afternoon as officials tried to determine how to make an emergency landing with the plane's front wheels turned sideways and unable to retract.

Link: del.icio.us/tag/steak.

Link: New York Daily News - City News - Man sues landlords for $13M.

An 87-year-old upper East Side man who says he was callously tossed out of his rent-controlled apartment filed a $13 million lawsuit against his landlords yesterday.

There isn't much I can add to all the discussion over New Orleans, but I just watch a CNN video that is probably the saddest thing I've ever seen.  It annoys me that I can't link to it, but just go to CNN.com and look for the clip about the man who lost his house and his wife. 

Now if only we could divert some of the manpower and $191 billion being spent in Iraq right now to right here at home, perhaps we could actually help these people.

No, this isn't a reference to Mike Tyson's Punchout, the Nintendo Game, but extra points to anyone who can, off the top of their head, name all of the opponents in the game in order.

No, I just got a copy of the latest NYSSA newsletter and there's a picture of Ralph Acampora in it.

He looks a little different now and a lot better:

Before

After

Bald:  Leave home without it.

I have a feeling no one will top this for the week.   This guy exposed himself to a girl on the subway and she snapped a photo of it, posting it on flickr.  Do you know this guy?

Link: pervert081805 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!.

Not only is this hilarious, but its also a good use of distribution...   the website gives let's me create HTML to blog their t-shirt with. Good tradeoff.  They give me funny I give them traffic.

They should just take this guy's house away and all his stuff, and let the Chinese cook live there...

Link: New York Daily News - Home - Busted in rent-control tenant toss.

I'm fully supportive of this:

WALKEN FOR PRESIDENT IN 2008

A message from the next President of the United States:

walken2008 (comedy_not_real).wav
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I don't know wheather this is a quote or Elyssa wrote it, but its pretty cool.

Link: lispsugrl: RIP Common Sense.

Quality quotes from Evelyn

Link: Crossroads Dispatches: Friday Thoughts on Art, Brands, Perfection in Blogs and Business.

In large measure becoming an artist consists in learning to accept yourself, which makes your work personal, and in following your own voice, which makes your work distinctive.

What veteran artists know about each other is that they have engaged the issues that matter to them.

To make art is to sing with the human voice. To do this you must first learn that the only voice you need is the voice you already have.

On September 11, 2001, after the first tower fell, it was time to go home.  I watched it live from the trading room television at GM, and we were all kind of dumbstruck until then.  I don't remember standing there for as long as I did, but I remember watching the smoke clear and realizing the building wasn't there anymore. 

Time to go home.

I had only been in my apartment for a little over two months.  Many of my friends were still up at Fordham, and there wasn't really any getting up there.  The subway and Metro North was shut down.  So, when I arrived, there wasn't much to do but watch...   and when I turned on the television, there was Peter Jennings. 

He came on and he stayed on.

I distinctly remember IMing with Brian saying how unbelievable it was how much time he was on the air.  It just seemed like anytime you turned the television on, there was Peter Jennings.  Amazing.  Comforting.  I watched.  I checked the internet every now and then, but for the most part, I was watching TV.  I needed to see it and I needed to hear someone talking to me... and not just some talking head.  This was someone we all knew. 

The disaggregation of media and television probably means that there will never be another bigtime network news anchor.  Brian Williams?  Charles Gibson?  Not quite so much.  Good, but not great.  I'm glad, though, that for what I hope to be the most dramatic and tragic moment in my life, I had one of these guys to sit down to and watch.