I was once again alerted by the fabulous NY Mag programmers that the new look is coming to ALL of the NY Mag pages, one of which was the slideshow for the Chanel Couture Spring 2009 collection. This being the prettiest collection I have seen this year, I had to post. 

I also applaude NY Mag for picking up the story of Shaun Ross, a super hot albino model, just as NYT did last year.  I follow the albino threads in the news since my studies on South Africa. I hate the stupidity that arises in people because of the basic lack of education. Maybe Ross and other visible people like him could be an answer?

Shaun Ross is hot

According to some blogs, back in 2007 Connie Chiu of Hong Kong used to the world’s only albino model. 

Connie Chiu

Is it me, or the hotels’ concerns are ridiculous?

“Our goal is to make sure guests in medical distress are treated by trained personnel, such as EMTs or paramedics”

Hmmm… Swimming pools across the country manage to go by for years now with a whole bunch of trained 18 year olds performing CPR, but the hotels can’t train their personnel? Ridiculous! It must be a money issue, since it costs whole $105 to train one person and $45 to maintain that training with American Red Cross, which I hear is at the top plank of this business, both in training and pricing. 

Hotels worry that if they have the devices, which cost about $1,200 to $2,000 each, they could be sued for failing to have enough units, failing to put them in the right places, or failing to replace batteries or maintain them properly.

18 year old lifeguards at the pools must have at least twice the IQ and common sense of the hotel managers since they can  place units in the right places and replace batteries. Again, I suspect a money issue here, since placing 1 AED on each floor might make the multimillion Marriott go bankrupt. <tear>

I am very upset that the hotels did not whine about the difficulty of using an AED.

——–
CPR/AED class. Section on AED. Reenactment.

Instructor: this is an AED. You turn it on, and listen to the instructions that the machines gives you. Now practice.
——–

I love this country.

Goya, Francisco. "The Third of May, 1808." 1814. Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain.

Goya, Francisco. "Great Deeds! Against the Dead!" The Disasters of War, plate 39. 1810-1820

Goya, Francisco. "Not Either." The Disasters of War, plate 36. 1810-1820

You can look up all of these 80 aquatint prints HERE.

The curtain was a zoom-in on a detail of “Pilgrimage to San Isidro’s Fountain.”

Goya, Francisco. "Pilgrimage to St. Isidro's Fountain." 1821. Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain.

this is what my berry saw

Cassatt, Mary. "Woman with a Pearl Necklace in a Loge." 1879. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, USA.

Just like the woman depicted in the paining, I did lots of double-edged people  watching: endlessly beautiful hedgefund wives, old men with bright scarves in a breastpocket, old women with “perfect hair” and inch-thick gold chains, sophisticated talk in German, French, Russian, etc… I saw many people coursing amongst expensive orchestra seats, “Oh hello, so wonderful to see you!” Looks like opera remains what it has always been – a social event, participation in the fancy ways of the higher society.

The following have been found in Manhattan. Weirdos and no-English speakers of New York, I love you. Keep speaking up!

I am not in the business of making fun of the sick people, but after a friend who saw this asked me whether there is People without AIDS Plaza in New York, I had to post the pic online.

As many of you know, I am a dedicated follower of the kidney and love markets…

Clearly the economic slump is hitting even the most ancient of the professions.

Reading news headlines this morning and then locating this sign on one of the sidewalks of East Village I wondered if they might be related.

Now, happy living to all!

Fine, fine, here is a silver and gold lining.

Aside from the Halloween scary things: the city is on a gigantic sale.

Jokes aside, I recommend to see the four beasts driving on the FDR or riding the Q train. I will spare you of the blackberry pictures of the project, since it is best seen live or on the pictures by the pros.

Two things that cought not only my eye, but also lots of my attention this week were the “Big Brain Theory” and a BBC article about genetic experiments in Taiwan. It appears that the cosmologists are having a Hylas-Philonous dialogue all over, and the Taiwanese will soon enjoy a new barn lighting system.

Indeed, the world is a fascinating place. I am not intelligent enough to carry a conversation with any peer or student of Mr. Hawking, but the NYT article gave me acute flashbacks to “The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” Boltzmann brains seem like something one would definitely find on the Heart of Gold, however probable the cosmologists think they are :)