Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi turned 75 yesterday. The AC Milan soccer team sent greetings to the embattled billionaire — he owns the franchise — but he got brickbats from most Italians. His biggest gift was a new sex scandal: former Miss Montenegro Katarina Knezevic says she had an affair with him.
The U.S. General Services Administration tested a prototype nuclear composting toilet in the GSA regional headquarters lady’s room on Monday. Unfortunately, the maiden voyage did not go as planned, and two brave test pilots were injured.
Details:
“WASHINGTON—Brandishing shotguns and semiautomatic pistols, members of the 112th U.S. Congress took a class of visiting schoolchildren hostage today, barricading themselves inside the Capitol rotunda and demanding $12 trillion dollars in cash.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), who has emerged as spokesman for the bipartisan group, informed FBI negotiators this morning that the ransom was to be placed in stainless-steel suitcases and left on the Capitol steps by 4 p.m. sharp. If their demands are not met in full, the 11-term representative announced, ‘all the kids will die.’”
“Congress Takes Group Of Schoolchildren Hostage,” The Onion
Twitter: #CongressHostage
It’s Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Happy holiday to our friends (Facebook and otherwise) who observe it. Party like it’s 5772.
(There’s a nice summary of holiday customs by Yonah Bookstein in a Washington Post blog.)
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Image (“Moses Gets Friended, after Rembrandt van Rijn”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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September 24 — October 1, 2011 is the thirtieth annual observance of Banned Books Week. The freedom to read what we will is firmly rooted in the First Amendment, yet many who rant about upholding the Constitution would restrict our access to written art, enlightenment, and information. Celebrate liberty and literacy — read a banned book today.
The White House Soup of the Day for September 26, 2011 via MSNBC and FishbowlDC:
Chicken Noodle was served at the Executive Mansion on September 23rd, 14th, and 9th. Left-overs? Federal austerity begins at home.
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Former pizza exec, energy investor, and DC lobbyist Herman Cain won the Florida Straw Poll . Headlines trumpet how he trounced the other Republican presidential candidates, and so does Mr. Cain’s campaign. The media and the Pizza King have been talking percentages, which look pretty impressive:
A recent expedition to Manhattan Island revealed that New York City Health Department inspectors now grade the sanitary condition of restaurants. In order to guide potential customers, each eatery is required to display its grade in its front window. Here is the range of grades:
Only three years after a poisoned baby food scandal, the Food Industry Council of China has instituted strict measures that will award grades to food and wine companies. Presumably, executives of companies that poison people will now have to stay after school.
The Economic Observer article by Zhang Xiangdong is summarized here.
Related: “‘Gutter oil’ dirties China’s food reality,” Li Hongmei, Xinhuanet English News
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Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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“Lunchtime on Top of a Skyscraper,” by Sergio Furnario. Based on a 1932 photograph by Charles C. Ebbets.
Don’t know why it was on a truck on Bleecker Street last Sunday, but we enjoyed it immensely.
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Cellphone photo (of a Sergio Furnari sculpture) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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