Yay, free market!!!

http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2009/11/apartments_are_available_but_r.html

Apartments are available, but too costly for many, study finds
Rents went up 44 percent between 2004 and 2007

Baguettes and black holes

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/11/11/lhc.large.hadron.collider.beam/index.html

Huge $10 billion collider resumes hunt for 'God particle'

Lovely

Further evidence that testosterone has deleterious effects.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33832513/ns/health-cancer/

Men more likely to leave spouse who has cancer
Divorce rate is 21 percent, compared to 3 percent when husband gets sick

Wah

OK, regular working folk - here's your cue! You all should now stomp out of your offices because raises are limited for regular working these folk these days to 2 or 3%, if you even get a raise at all. I feel so for these poor, impoverished CEOs. And they had nothing to do with causing these regulations.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheat-sheet/?cid=hp:cheatsheet4#cheatrow_10935

AIG Chief Threatens to Resign

What I'm reading

Wild Swans, Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang. I can't put this book down. I'm only on page 30, but it's absolutely amazing that someone who was born in this century, around the same time as my Grandmother, had to be sold at the age of 15, to a warlord as a concubine and had her feet bound at age 2. These women were probably less valued than cattle.

I used to tell people, "When they go on sale"

Some of these are just plain silly, but the argument about overpopulation and mass of the planet is the most important reason.

http://www.alternet.org/sex/143846/9_silly_things_people_say_when_they_hear_you_don%27t_want_kids_(and_ways_to_counter_them)?page=1

9 Silly Things People Say When They Hear You Don't Want Kids (And Ways to Counter Them)
Wanting kids isn't just the social norm, it's said to be a biological imperative, the only supposed "duh" of evolution. But yet, some of us choose not to -- and for good reason.

Unacceptable, part II

http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2009/11/weekly_call_from_7-year-old_da.html

Soldier-father of slain 7-year-old learns her fate during overseas call

Unacceptable

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-13/1257747711116120.xml&coll=1

Girl, 7, killed by stray bullet
It pierces the wall while she slept

Lee Brothers' book signings (for the best cornbread in the world!)

November 13th, Friday
Page & Palette Bookstore
Fairhope, Alabama 6PM book signing held at Fly Creek Restaurant. 831 North Section St., 251-928-5295

November 14th, Saturday
Crescent City Farmer’s Market
New Orleans, Louisiana Morning event
Octavia Books
New Orleans, Louisiana 3PM book signing. 513 Octavia St., 504-899-7323

November 15th, Sunday
Williams-Sonoma
New Orleans, Louisiana 12 – 2PM demonstration and book signing. 333 Canal St., 504-523-3993

How to deal with people with whom you disagree

Priceless!

http://www.salon.com/life/since_you_asked/index.html?story=/mwt/col/tenn/2009/11/04/attorney_in_the_next_office

The attorney next door holds views I detest
He denigrates gays and Muslims while I grit my teeth

They are swine, so they need the swine flu vaccine before heart patients

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/33651691#33651691

Wall Street gets swine flu vaccines

Once again, Republicans help the little guy

http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheat-sheet/?cid=hp:cheatsheet9#cheatrow_10760

GOP Caves on Unemployment Bill
While the bill was stalled, 200,000 people actively looking for work lost their unemployment benefits.

Poor little CEOs

http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheat-sheet/?cid=hp:cheatsheet9#cheatrow_10760

Bank Bonuses Up 40 Percent

Please come to NOLA!

http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/11/03/2117748.aspx

Cuban musicians get U.S. encore

The Bookfair is back!

http://www.nola.com/books/index.ssf/2009/11/nola_bookfair_showcases_indie.html

NOLA Bookfair showcases indie publishing

Also featured on Facebook under the Ed Blakely, Former Recovery Buffoon page

http://www.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2009/11/ed_blakely_the_czar_that_had_n.html

Ed Blakely, the czar that had no clothes: An editorial

I wasn't a daytripper

In my last lifetime (pre-K), Wonderful Hubby and I went to Italy for our honeymoon. We stayed for two nights in Venice, and it is now my favorite city. As a matter of fact, after all the tourists leave at night is the best time to be in Venice. You feel like a local, can take in the sidewalk trattorias, and have the city to yourself. It is safe to walk around, there are no cars to worry about, and there are no hucksters. The fact that it's not overcrowded (at night) is what endeared Venice to me. I would move there in a heartbeat if I won the Powerball.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/220748/page/1

Ciao, Ciao, Venice
Venice may be engulfed by the ocean in the next century. But will any locals be around to see it happen?

This guy has nailed it

http://www.alternet.org/politics/143684/our_produce-or-die_culture_is_killing_us_--_and_we%27re_idiotically_grinning_and_bearing_it?page=1

Our Produce-or-Die Culture Is Killing Us -- And We're Idiotically Grinning and Bearing It
We've been reduced to "human assets" in a relentless economic machine. And we can't even complain: appearing cheerful is vital when all of life is monitored by an employer.

No wonder our recovery is not further along

While I have heard similar statements from other people who have come here to do a job, and left (so some of this may be true), I don't agree with Blakely making such broad generalizations about New Orleanians. I think everyone would admit that the government that we have in place is, for the most part, ineffectual (with the exception of Arnie Fielkow, and a few others), and perhaps will be found to have done some things even worse than being ineffective. But I think I can be fairly objective in my assessment of Blakely's statements, and granted, I don't hang out with a large group of New Orleanians, but the people that I know in this city are extremely interested in helping the city recover, are DOING, not just talking about it, and are doing it to help everyone.

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2009/11/post_112.html

Ed Blakely lambastes New Orleans, saying its residents are racist, lazy