For L.A. people with brain

I knew it! The Californian sun doesn't destroy the brain cells of all locals! The proof? The website L.A. Brain Terrain. It is a Southern California based blog "recording upcoming intellectual activities for Angelenos interested in more than just driving, flirting and (net)working". There one can find entries about interesting events happening around the Los Angeles metropolitan area - including monthly cultural, literary, politics and science events.

Sluggish economy doesn't stop immigrants

Despite a weak job market, immigrants continue to come to the United States by the millions, breaking historic patterns in which immigration levels rise and fall with the economy. From 2000 to early 2004, the country's population of legal and illegal immigrants grew by 4.3 million people, adding to a record total of 34.2 million foreign-born in the country, found the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, About half of those newcomers were illegal immigrants, the report estimated. Immigrants now account for 12 percent of the country's population.

Some film facts

- Revenues for movie theatres by screening traditional advertising: $ 356 million a year.
- Revenues for selling refreshments: $ 1.5 billion.
- The entertainment industry's contribution to the Los Angeles economy: $ 38 billion a year.
- Total employees in the entertainment industry in California: 120,000 people .
Source: Los Angeles Times

Operation Truth

A veteran of the U.S. war in Iraq has created Operation Truth, a weblog for soldiers to share their stories from the front lines with people back home. A great website!

Reader's Circle

What a great idea! The website Reader's Circle is for anyone who has been looking for a way to connect with book-related groups. It offers a public directory that specializes in listings for book clubs and reader's circles. Anyone may post a listing or search for a group by zip code — all for free.

Bush's perception management plan

From the great website Consortium News:
George W. Bush has been criticized for disdaining fact in favor of faith in his own instincts. But he is savvy about the dangers that information can present to his authority over the government and the American people," writes Robert Parry. "That is why the first priority of his second term has been the elimination of the few government sources of information that could challenge the images he wants to project to the public. Bush doesn’t want the State Department or the Central Intelligence Agency portraying his Iraq and other foreign policies as abject failures or reckless adventures. So, by attacking these remaining pockets of analytical resistance, Bush is moving to ensure that his administration can keep much of the U.S. population seeing a near-empty cup as almost entirely full, a concept known in the intelligence world as 'perception management.'(...) The end result will almost surely be that Bush will hear even fewer contradictions to his judgments, while Congress and the news media will be cut off from internal government sources of information that could be used to question Bush’s decisions.

Future of U.S. economy: from 'crisis' to 'armaggedon'

While Bush administration announced that it will have to ask Congress to raise the debt ceiling - currently at $ 7.384 trillion - in order that it can organise the government’s massive borrowing needs, economic experts all over the country express their deep concerns about Bush's handling of the sorry-state of the U.S. economy.
Princeton economics professor and NYT columnist Paul Krugman told Reuters that the "U.S. economic crisis a question of when, not if". Crisis might take many forms, he said, but one key concern is the prospect that Asian central banks may lose their appetite for US government debt, which has so far allowed the United States to finance its twin (current account and fiscal) deficits. “So if you ask the question do we look like Argentina, the answer is a whole lot more than anyone is quite willing to admit at this point. We’ve become a banana republic,” he said.
Stephen Roach, the chief economist at investment banking giant Morgan Stanley - famous for being bearish - predicted that America has no better than a 10 percent chance of avoiding economic "armageddon". In a meeting with fund managers he argued that the U.S.' record trade deficit means the dollar will keep falling. To finance its current account deficit with the rest of the world, he said, America has to import $2.6 billion in cash every working day. That is an amazing 80 percent of the entire world's net savings. He also notes that household debt is at record levels. Twenty years ago the total debt of U.S. households was equal to half the size of the economy - today the figure is 85 percent.
Plus: Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and Pete Peterson make suggestions how to fix the mess.

Sexual assistant to hire

Found again an 'interesting' ad on Craigslist. It's titled "Sexual Executive/Personal Assistant to hire". The description:

As my resume below reflects, I am a professional Executive/Personal Assistant. I am also an attractive detailed oriented, efficient individual with impressive multitasking and people skills. I am very sexual and would enjoy an employer who was also so inclined. Salary is negotiable. Although, only serious and verifiable opportunities will be explored. Only those able to offer a minimum starting salary of at least 40k annually with medical should respond. Discretion is of the utmost importance.

What's to say? Sex is the new Harvard degree. Oh yeah, but dont' forget there is a salary minimum. Why calling a prostitute when you can call it a nice work relationship. "Working Girl" meets "Deep Throat" - I'm sure Paul Verhoeven would make a fantastic movie out of it...

Democratic states carry U.S. economy

Interesting article in the Boston Herald. It says: "To an investor it must come as a surprise to hear all this talk of the 'red states', which voted Republican last week, as the 'real America' or the 'heartland'."
Why? The newspaper lists some stunning facts:

• The blue (Democratic) states remain the engine of the American economy. All in all they produced $5.4 trillion in goods and services in 2001 (the last year for which reliable data is available). That's about $700 billion more than the red states, according to the government's Bureau of Economic Analysis.
• Per person, blue America outproduces red America by 21 percent. That's $6,700 per person per year.
• The blue states pay much more in federal income tax, and receive far less in Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security - not to mention farm subsidies, highway funds and infrastructure grants.
• The tax money is coming from the blue states, but it's being allocated to the red states because they have lower than average incomes. In 2002, according to a Tax Foundation study, the transfers amounted to $136 billion.

Ohio Presidential Results to be Challenged

Ohio's 2004 presidential vote will be challenged as soon as next week in the state Supreme Court, a coalition of public-interest lawyers announced Friday. The lawyers have taken sworn testimony from hundreds of people in hearings in Columbus and Cincinnati, and will use excerpts as well as documents obtained from county election officials and Election Day exit polls to make a case that thousands of votes were incorrectly counted or not counted on Election Day.
Update: A US federal judge has denied a request by third-party presidential candidates David Cobb (Green Party) and Michael Badnarik (Libertarian Party) who wanted to force a recount of Ohio ballots even before the official count was finished.

Values gap: red states love 'Playboy'

From Editor and Publisher:

Much of the post-election analysis in the press has centered on so-called red state values and the alleged 'values gap' in America. Perhaps with that in mind, The New York Times presented two stories which seemed to give lie to some of the post-election chatter concerning superior values in the red (Republican) states. On Monday, an article by Bill Carter showed that network TV execs remain unworried about any backlash to racy dramas in red states. In fact, the sex-obsessed 'Desperate Housewives,' which now ranks second nationwide, is doing very well indeed in Tulsa, Okla, where it ranks 3rd; Orlando, Fla. and Salt Lake City, Utah, where's it's 4th, and in Atlanta, Ga., where it's no. 1. 'We say one thing and do another,' said Kevin Reilly, president of NBC Entertainment.
On Sunday, the New York Times presented a map and chart ranking states in what it called 'random' categories, again throwing doubt on red state piety. For example, the states with the three highest divorce rates are all red (Nevada, Arkansas, Wyoming), while Massachusetts has the lowest rate.
Top three states for readership of Playboy magazine? Again, all red (Iowa, Wyoming, North Dakota), and they all top heathen New York by 2-1 margins.
Suicide rate? Once again, all red (New Mexico, Montana, Nevada), with the lowest rates all-blue (New Jersey, New York, Massaschusetts).
Murder rate? Again, reds in the lead, with two of the three the worst (Mississippi, Maryland, Louisiana).

"Get the UN out of the U.S."

The rightwing Republican group 'Move America Forward' has launched a television campaign calling for the United Nations (UN) to be kicked out of the United States (US), alleging the world body is a 'safe harbour' for terrorism. California-based 'Move America Forward' wants the UN's New York headquarters shut down and its officials expelled from the country because it failed to support the US-led war on Iraq. The organisation claims to be a "non-partisan, not-for-profit organisation" committed to backing the US war on terror and supporting its troops.

Let's mix a drink

Out of cocktail recipes for the holidays? Check this out.

Seeking fight with Bush supporter

Just discovered this ad on Craiglist:

I would like to fight a Bush supporter to vent my anger. If you are one, have a fiery streek, please contact me so we can meet and physically fight. I would like to beat the shit out of you.

Monkey Shakespeare Simulator

If you need a distraction, go to the Monkey Shakespeare Simulator. Every time you display this website, you are automatically participating in the Monkey Shakespeare project. Your computer is put to work to simulate a number of monkeys typing randomly on typewriters, and each page typed is checked against every play Shakespeare ever wrote.