cleolinda | (no subject)

Firstly, happy birthday to the Lovely Emily!

Secondly: I just fell up the stairs with a bowl of cereal in one hand and a glass of tea in the other. The good news is that I took it hard in the shin to avoid spilling anything. The bad news is, my shin hurts like a motherfuck now.

notjo on JF has a Star Wars icon with Ewan McGregor asking, "Isn't anyone else going to act?" Someone requested an Eragon version. Good Cleo always helps.

(Note: You have to have an actual JournalFen account to log in over there. The code was taken from LJ [open source], but the two systems are unconnected. Anything you want to say about the icons would probably be more easily said over here.)

kosher_jenny explains the Libya headline from the other day:

That Libya case is just depressing. I imagine a lot of people aren't going to go beyond the initial shock of "deliberately infecting hundreds of children with HIV" but with further reading shows that what Libya has created here is basically a hostage situation: "Dear Bulgaria, give us $2.7bn* or we'll kill these doctors. Love, us". These doctors have been turned into scapegoats for the real problem, the poor hygiene in Libyan hospitals that most likely caused the infections in the first place, and several international experts on the virus have stated so. Luc Montagnier (co-discovered HIV) being one of them. Of course if these doctors do get executed not only will it do nothing to solve the problem, but make matters even worse as fewer foreign medical workers will want to visit, and people will continue to get infected and die.

Nature has a section collecting their news articles and editorials related to the case, including a study released this December showing that the HIV strains that infected the children were already present in the hospital prior to the foreign medical staff's arrival. It's all full access right now, so you don't need to pay to read them. The BBC also have a Q&A section that summarizes the situation and has links to their previous coverage at the bottom.

*Which, by the way, is the same amount of money that Libya paid in compensation to the families of the victims of the PAM 103 bombing. Odd, that.

FBI releases last of secret John Lennon files (Reuters)

Wall Street bonuses flood NYC's economy.

Most Americans have had premarital sex: "More than nine out of 10 Americans, men and women alike, have had premarital sex, according to a new study. The high rates extend even to women born in the 1940s, challenging perceptions that people were more chaste in the past. 'The data clearly show that the majority of older teens and adults have already had sex before marriage, which calls into question the federal government's funding of abstinence-only-until-marriage programs for 12- to 29-year-olds,' Finer said."

Mexico troops find hybrid marijuana plant. Mexican. Does saving an extra letter really mean that much to you people? Mexican troops.

Fire destroys home of 'Lost' star Lilly.

Eminem divorces wife for second time.

MADD severs ties with Miss Teen USA for allegedly partying with disgraced, now-forgiven Miss USA Tara Conner. To be fair, if they were bar-hopping in New York, they probably weren't driving per se.

Cast of "Grey's Anatomy" tops entertainer list.

McConaughey leads "Marshall" mishap.

Harry Potter enters Rowling's dreams for first time.

Procol Harum member wins "Whiter Shade" court case.

There's a new Nancy Drew movie?

New stills from A Bridge to Terabithia, The Darjeeling Limited, Dreamgirls, Spider-Man 3, Ocean's Thirteen, and hi-hi-res versions of last week's stills from The Golden Compass.

Lloyd Webber dreams of finding new "Joseph" star.

Rome is coming back on January 14th!

http://cutethingsfallingasleep.blogspot.com/. Does what it says on the tin.

Constipated muse? You need LAXAMUSE. (I'll take a case, please.)

China director's "eye-popping" scenes arouse debate: "Chinese director Zhang Yimou's latest martial arts blockbuster Curse of the Golden Flower has been nicknamed 'Curse of the Golden Corset' by the country's Internet users transfixed by the actresses' bodice-ripping gowns. The $45 million epic set in the Tang dynasty features bloody battles, ornate sets and an 'eye-popping' role from Gong Li, "whose breasts are so tightly wrapped that they appear ready to pop out of her costume," Xinhua news agency said on Thursday." To be fair... they kind of do look that way, yeah.