Xenoglaux Design Bureau

Cell Phone Rudeness: I Don't Think We Needed a Study for This!

 

As we use smart phones to stay more connected, it seems many of use have become, well, jerks to the people around us. Rebecca Jarvis and James Brown speak with author Thomas P. Farley about how to avoid becoming a smart phone jerk.

Note from the Gentleman Agitator: There was once something called a public phone booth where people made phone calls in public, in a small enclosed room. Why? Because we wanted our conversations kept private. Private! Smart phones, dumb phones, users have inflicted their lives and revealed their private lives in public for a few decades now. The phones are not smart or dumb, but the user can be. Remember, we can hear your voice. You should worry about that. One because of privacy and second because your added noise is not helping get the rest of us through the day. We are bombarded by environmental sound of all kinds. A lot of that is unpleasant. Everytime I see someone in public talking on their cell phone, oblivious to the world or people around them I am wishing they had this:

Tight Ties, Killer Heels: Clothes Make the Fashion Victims

by Melinda Beck, The Wall Street Journal

Baila Steinman first noticed the numbness in her leg on a trip to Israel in December. "From the knee to the pelvis, it was numb to the point of being painful," recalls the 52-year-old occupational therapist.

via online.wsj.com

Note from the Gentleman Agitator: This story tells women how we can do harm to our bodies for the sake of fashion. It tells men about the hazards of their ties and their collar size. Well, I like ties, both regular and bow ties. I will tell you. Instead of you whining about them, "Oooh, it's sooo tight," all you have to do are two simple things. Don't tie the sucker so tight, number one. And second, next time you purchase a dress shirt, have a clerk measure you collar and get the right size. The correct collar size is really the key. You might remember the size, but you can change with age. I have. So, make sure you get that tape measure out.  It is possible to be stylish and comfortable at the same time. Really! The resurgence of bow ties is also good for the tieophobic. Pre-tied bow ties that go around the back and clip on have a ready made scale and notches. Like a belt, you can fit it to a good size. And if you only wear ties for work, because you have to, you can still at least be comfortable. Remember, it is just a tie and not a noose.

Ex-Senators Graham and Kerrey See Possible Saudi 9/11 Link

By ERIC LICHTBLAU, New York Times

Published: February 29, 2012

WASHINGTON — For more than a decade, questions have lingered about the possible role of the Saudi government in the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, even as the royal kingdom has made itself a crucial counterterrorism partner in the eyes of American diplomats. Now, in sworn statements that seem likely to reignite the debate, two former senators who were privy to top secret information on the Saudis’ activities say they believe that the Saudi government might have played a direct role in the terrorist attacks....

via www.nytimes.com

Russia Presidential Election Panel Session: Council on Foreign Relations, March 5, 2012

via www.youtube.com

"On the eve of the Russian elections, Masha Gessen, journalist and author of The Man Without A Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin, and Stephen Sestanovich, CFR's George F. Kennan Senior Fellow for Russian and Eurasian Studies, sat down to discuss Putin's strategy and public response."

Putin Past, Putin Present, Putin Future, Author Masha Green on the "Charlie Rose Show."

SEE INTERVIEW HERE I was not able to insert the video from Charlie Rose's site. At Charlie Rose's site, click inside this image and the interview will begin.

Some of the points I found interesting:

KGB archives that were once opened to shed light on the Soviet past are now closed.

Did he aid the overthrow attempt of Gorbachev in 1991? It seems he might have had a play in it, but I would like to hear more evidence. But how young was he then? Did he have a rank high enough then to be involved in KGB decisions?

Gessen predicts the protest movement will make Putin step down, one way or the other.

Some evidence that police in Moscow and St. Petersburg have sympathy for the protest movement. 

Oligarchs is a murky term in Russia any more.

Putin was just a faceless bureaucrat amongst a number that Yeltsin chose as his successor. I wonder, was it, "Eeeney, meaney, miney, moe?"

He wishes to make Russia into one large KGB organization, because that is what he knows of power.

Gessen claims there was never a true de-Stalinization.

Despite the uncertainty, Gessen is optimistic.

I had never heard Gessen interviewed before the recent presidential election. I cannot say she is my favorite Russian observer, but she is none the less interesting to listen to for the information she brings.

________________________________________

Masha Green's new book is called, "The Man Without a Face: the Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin."

Prince Harry visits Jamaica Pictures - CBS News

Prince Harry poses with Olympian Usain Bolt at the Usain Bolt Track at the University of the West Indies on March 6, 2012, in Kingston, Jamaica. Harry is touring the Caribbean as part of a Diamond Jubilee tour in honor of Queen Elizabeth II as she celebrates 60 years on the throne. The trip also brought him to Belize and the Bahamas. Pictures: Prince Harry in Belize and the BahamasPictures: Prince Harry

via www.cbsnews.com <--------Follow the link for the whole photo essay.

Reflections on the Tornado Outbreak, March 2, 2012: Henryville, Indiana

 

Above is footage from the tornado that swept through Friday, March 2, 2012 in Henryville, Indiana. A customer inside a Shell gas station recorded this footage. One of the torandoes was an EF4 with 175 mph winds. The video shows the torandoes moving across and destroying a Marathon gas station across the street from the Shell station. The customer, Mike Kaiser, says there were actually three and at times four funnel clouds from this system.

Below is an image of the wreckage of the Marathon station. It gives me pause since I am a loyal Marathon customer. I probably would have chosen the Marathon over the Shell that day. I have not seen any word on the status of the employees or any customers that were at the Marathon at that time.

The next video has a woman, in West Liberty, Kentucky, appealing to God to let the storm pass by her home without harm. She speaks or I would say babbles in  tounges, which I find not of God. I am all down with the praying though.  However, I would have been down in the basement, praying there instead, I think.  Note that in this video you see a funnel cloud aloft, not yet touching the ground. When it touches the ground, that makes it officially a tornado. West Liberty is in the same geographic area, east of Henryville, Indiana.

 

The next video shows Henryville, Indiana, resident and loving pet owner Marilyn     Walden around her destroyed home in search of Bear, her five-year-old black cat.   The Weather Channel's otherwise good report has a typo of "Henryville, Kentucky," not Indiana.

Most tornado stories do not have happy endings. Most are about lives lost, or lives torn apart by what I call one of  nature's "doomsday machines." If you are a Trekkie, you know how I make that comparison and phrase from. Everyone, please learn tornado safety. Learn what to look for and what to do when the warning is given. I have a feeling that areas of the United States that saw a mild winter, may just mean a very active severe weather season.

Stuxnet: Computer worm opens new era of warfare - 60 Minutes - CBS News

via www.cbsnews.com

Zakaria: Putin's "return" – Global Public Square - CNN.com Blogs

Zakaria: Putin's "return" – Global Public Square - CNN.com Blogs

 

"....He doesn’t seem to understand that he is the source of many of those problems. He is the architect of the system that he is creating, and that’s where you wonder if there’s some kind of strange self-delusion where he doesn’t understand that he is at the heart of the reasons that Russia can’t progress in the way that he is describing...."

Zakaria: Democracy takes time – Global Public Square - CNN.com Blogs

Zakaria: Democracy takes time – Global Public Square - CNN.com Blogs

Zakaria: Democracy takes time

Editor's Note: Make sure to tune in Sunday at 10a.m. or 1p.m. EST for Fareed Zakaria GPS on CNN.

By Fareed Zakaria, CNN

Dozens of Egyptians were killed in a soccer stadium brawl this past week. This was the deadliest outbreak of violence since Hosni Mubarak was ousted one year ago. The violence didn't stop at the stadium and it begs the question: What has Egypt gained since its revolution? Take a step back and ask: What has the Arab Spring achieved in the last year? Has people power failed the people? What in the world is going on?