The fur is flying
"Fashions [in Washington] change with each administration," Amy Chozick writes in The Wall Street Journal. "Ronald Reagan ushered in an affinity for dark blue Brooks Brothers suits, and during George W. Bush's tenure, the town embraced cowboy boots. With the Obama administration, fur is flying. Residents are sporting mink jackets, shaking the mothballs off their chinchilla coats and pulling sable stoles out of storage. Sales of fur are up, too, some Washington retailers say. ... Helping drive the style in D.C.: A number of administration appointees are from Chicago, which has long embraced fur to fight off the biting cold winter wind." Some critics feel the fashion is at odds with the socially conscious Obama administration. "The administration is all about understanding and caring, and there's no place for fur in that," says Ingrid Newkirk, president of Norfolk, Va.-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. The first lady, Michelle Obama, doesn't wear fur.
Making do with old gadgets
"Ignoring what you want. Recycling the old. Fixing what can be saved. Is this the new American way when it comes to tech toys and electronics - an industry in which new gadgets can become outdated within months?" Jessica Ravitz writes for CNN.com. "Many consumers are hoping to make products last longer, which is keeping businesses that repair and refurbish computers and other gadgets and electronics as busy as ever. ... Scott Steinberg, publisher of DigitalTrends.com, said that function, in fact, 'is the new fad.' People may need their cellphones and computers to work, so they can simply get by, but they don't necessarily need the highest-resolution screens, the sleekest designs and all the technological bells and whistles."
Orgy etiquette
A tourist who refused to take his clothes off at a swinger sex party has been blamed for sparking a "mini-riot" at a north Queensland, Australia, nudist colony, The (Brisbane) Courier-Mail reports. Police were called and ordered the man and his wife to leave the adults-only "anything goes" sex party. Tony Fox, owner of the White Cockatoo resort, said the trouble erupted after four naked female guests protested when confronted by the fully clothed man. "They felt uncomfortable with him eyeing them off and I asked him to show some respect and take his clothes off," Mr. Fox said. "He then threatened to bash me ... and I ordered him off the premises and police were called."
Fish faces
"Fish with human faces are making waves in South Korea," The Daily Telegraph reports. "The 'humanoid' carp are attracting attention in the town of Cheongju in the centre of the country where they live in a small pond. They are believed to be hybrid descendants of two carp species - the carp and the leather carp, also known as a tangerine fish. Both fish are females and more than [a metre] long. They appear to have distinctive human noses, eyes and lips. The fish live in a pond behind the home of a 64-year-old South Korean man and have been there since 1986 although their looks are only just starting to attract attention."
A tinny ear for music?
"Many people complain that pop music was better in the good old days," Murad Ahmed and Kaya Burgess write in The Times of London. "... Older fans also insist that songs heard through iPods just don't rock as they used to, compared with the clarity of CDs and the crackling charm of vinyl. Research has shown, however, that today's iPod generation prefers the tinnier and flatter sound of digital music, just as previous generations preferred the grainier sounds of vinyl. Computers have made music so easy to obtain that the young no longer appreciate high fidelity, it seems. The theory has been developed by Jonathan Berger, professor of music at Stanford University, California. ... He suggests that iPods may have changed our perception of music, and that as young people become increasingly familiar with the sound of digital tracks the more they grow to like it."
Conquer that inbox
Over the years, Farhad Manjoo has tried many methods to deal with his e-mail load, he writes in The New York Times. The tips that have worked for him include:
Limit your time with it. Turn off all auto-notifications that alert you to incoming mail and don't dip into your inbox more than three times an hour.
Set aside an hour or two and clear out your inbox by responding to every important message. Your inbox should now be empty; think of this as its optimal state.
Respond to e-mails that call for easy answers; if responding is going to take two minutes or less, you're better off doing it now than procrastinating.
Thought du jour
"Many promising reconciliations have broken down because, while both parties came prepared to forgive, neither party came prepared to be forgiven."
- Charles Williams, English
novelist and Anglican theologian
