Tag: Recently Read

Some companies give workers a fixed sum of money and let them pick a plan from an online marketplace.

via WSJ.com: Lifestyle http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324906304579038661121699366.html?mod=WSJ_GoogleNews

“[W]e all recognize that the list[icle] is the signature form of our time” – A New Yorker magazine blogger considers the meaning of the rise of the listicle and mediates on The ListiClock, which really is a real thing, and will actually be happening to you right now when you click on that link, in a way that it’s possible that you may never look away from the computer screen again.

via MetaFilter http://www.metafilter.com/131600/10-Paragraphs-About-Lists-You-Need-In-Your-Life-Right-Now

Earlier this summer when Jennifer Lopez was getting all that flak for performing for Turkmenistan leader Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov’s 56th birthday celebration, Kanye West was busy becoming a father and releasing a new album. That might be the only (barely acceptable) excuse for him not realizing the international criticism he’d face for accepting a reported $3 million to perform at the wedding of Kazakhstan president Nursultan Nazarbayev’s grandson, Aisultan Nazarbayev, over the weekend. But because celebrities are who they are and several million dollars for a couple hours’ work is almost always hard to turn down, that’s just what happened.

West reportedly showed up at the Hotel Royal Tulip in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s former capital, to celebrate the nuptials of Aisultan, 23, and Alima Boranbayeva, 20. Photographer Alyona Gadjilova attended the wedding and took the Instagram video of Kanye now seen round the world. According to the New York Times, she refused to comment.  

Yeezy was quickly called out for his trip to the land best known as “that place Borat came from.” Per the Independent: “Human Rights Watch has singled out Kazakhstan for its ‘serious and deteriorating human rights situation’ which includes ‘credible allegations of torture, the imprisonment of government critics, tight controls over the media and freedom of expression and association, limits in religious freedom, and continuing violation of workers’ rights.’” Indeed, Nazarbayev’s “repression and crackdown” against striking oil and gas workers is why Sting refused an invitation from the Kazakh government to headline their official Astana Day festival in 2011, and likely why Kanye should have said “thanks but no thanks” too.

Read more posts by Delia Paunescu

Filed Under: international affairs
,kanye
,kazakhstan
,nursultan nazarbayev

via Vulture http://www.vulture.com/2013/09/kanye-criticized-for-kazakhstan-performance.html

SEATTLE (AP) — For at least six years, federal drug and other agents have had near-immediate access to billions of phone call records dating back decades in a collaboration with AT&T that officials have taken pains to keep secret, newly released documents show.

via Yahoo! News – Latest News & Headlines http://news.yahoo.com/drug-agents-plumb-vast-database-call-records-201650149.html

A “very special” Diff’rent Strokes that’s terrifying for all the wrong reasons. The AV Club looks at a “very special” episode of Diff’rent Strokes as part of their TV Roundtable, which lately has been focused on controversial episodes: Ellen, Amos & Andy, South Park, I Love Lucy

Mental Floss on 12 Very Special “Very Special” Episodes.

The TV Tropes rabbit hole of Very Special Episodes.

via MetaFilter http://www.metafilter.com/131192/What-might-be-right-for-you-may-not-be-right-for-some

Gay couples rushed to a courthouse in Las Cruces on Wednesday after the county clerk decided to issue same-sex marriage licenses in a surprise move that came as several legal challenges on the practice make their way through the courts.

via Yahoo! News – Latest News & Headlines http://news.yahoo.com/nm-county-issues-same-sex-marriage-licenses-205850830.html

Michael Jackson’s only daughter looks healthy and happy in the first photos of the troubled teen to surface since her suicide attempt last June.

via NYDN Rss Article only http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/paris-jackson-healthy-photos-suicide-attempt-article-1.1433433

Lying to the world about the Guantanamo inmates being huge Fifty Shades of Grey fans is one of the least disturbing things to happen at the prison, but it still isn’t cool. On Sunday defense attorney James Connell said he suspected military commanders told members of Congress about the prisoners’ passion for the smutty novel as “a joke or some kind of disinformation.” His client, Ammar al-Baluchi, says the next night guards put the book in his cell. “He says, ‘No thank you.’ He does not want the book,” said Connell, whose client gave him the book. “It’s in my safe and as soon as I am able I will return it to Joint Task Force Guantanamo.” Connell said of the apparent taunting, “If this is a practical joke it has gone too far.” 

Read more posts by Margaret Hartmann

Filed Under: guantanamo
,fifty shades of grey

via Daily Intelligencer http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/08/guantanamos-alleged-fifty-shades-love-is-a-joke.html

His campaign website covers Corzine’s face.

via POLITICO – TOP Stories http://www.politico.com/story/2013/08/cory-booker-95785.html

The percentage of newborns who are circumcised in the United States declined to 58.3 percent in 2010 from 64.5 percent in 1979, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

via NYT > Most Recent Headlines http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/22/u-s-circumcision-rates-are-declining/