Strange bedfellows

The New York Times reports that "in nominating a respected Harvard economist as one of his top advisers, President Bush has now replaced nearly everyone from his original economic team with people who at one time spoke out against the kinds of policies Mr. Bush is prescribing."

The article is here.

Bernard Loiseau

"All these people, all these exceptional beings who give you the impression of so much assurance, they are all very fragile, they all have such strong moments of doubt."

The above quote was attributed by cbsnews.com to the wife of a world-reknowned French chef, Bernard Loiseau.

CBS News reported that "Loiseau, 52, was found dead in the bedroom of his home in Saulieu, near his three-star "Cote d'Or" restaurant in France's Burgundy region east of Paris. A rifle was at his side."

There have been reports that Michelin Red Guide, the publishers of the benchmark rating system for restaurants, was in the process of lowering the rating of Mr. Loiseau's restaurant, Cote d'Or, from three stars to two.

Loiseau did lose two points, going from 19 to 17, in the 20-point rating system of the GaultMillau. That guide has gained in prestige and power in recent years.

A chorus of top chefs castigated the rating system of which they all are captive.

"He said, 'If I lose a star, I'll kill myself,'" said another three-star chef, Jacques Lameloise, who has a restaurant in Chagny in the Saone-et-Loire region.

Paul Bocuse, who said he spoke with Loiseau three times a week, predicted the chef's death would raise longer-term questions about the ratings system.

"I am sure that Bernard was very affected by the loss of these two points. We should not allow ourselves to be manipulated like that — I give you a star, I take one away," Bocuse said. "These critics are like eunuchs: They know what to do but they can't do it."

The whole report from CBS News is here.

Here's something for a Friday
The New York Times, in an article attributed to The Associated Press, reports that "most patients treated for depression with medication should continue taking it after their gloom has lifted."

Over the last decade, scientists have discovered that depression recurs repeatedly in four of five patients. But many doctors deal with it as an episode, prescribing drugs for no more than two or three months.

A review of 30 years of studies, which is to be published today in the British journal The Lancet, suggests that this is the wrong approach. In the analysis, led by researchers at Oxford University in England, patients who stayed on antidepressants were half as likely to have another bout of depression as those who stopped taking medication.

The 31 studies reviewed in the new research involved a total of 4,410 patients who had done well on short-term antidepressant therapy and were then randomly assigned either continued drug treatment or fake pills.

The article is here.

Green Cars and not-so-green SUVs

The Enviromental Protection Agency's web site has an extensive list of enviromentally friendly--and not-so-friendly--cars, trucks and SUVs.

The list is here.

To prevent or not to prevent, that is the question

"If you thwart jumpers from an immediately accessible site, you will save some lives" said Alan L. Berman, executive director of the Washington-based American Association of Suicidology.



The New York Times' Clifford Krauss reports today that Toronto, in an attempt to prevent suicides by jumping from the Prince Wiliiam Viaduct (pictured above), is actually having a debate between the life of mentally ill/suicidal people versus the aesthetics of architecture.

The city, mainly due to the lobbying of a couple of mental health therapist, has elected to erect a barrier that will prevent people from jumping off the bridge. The purpose of the barrier is to give a suicidal person another chance to think about their predicament, and with the additional time, experts believe a person may hopefully reconsider their choices and elect to seek help.

The article is here.

"Wealthy Democratic donors are planning to start a liberal radio network to counterbalance the conservative tenor of radio programs," according to an article in The New York Times.

21 Die in Chicago Night Club Stampede, an article from The New York Times

The Chicago Tribune is reporting that "the nightclub where 21 people were killed and 55 injured early today in a stampede was operating in violation of a months-old court order meant to close it down, authorities said.

'The owner knows damn well that he is not to open that second floor facility,' Chicago Fire Commissioner James Joyce said late this afternoon."

The Chicago Tribune published two revealing articles on postpartum depression and psychosis. In the articles, the writer follows two women whom eventually committed suicide after delivering their babies and then facing the dark abyss of depression.

The first article focuses on the life of Melanie Stokes, a bright and bubbly professional working woman, who took her own life by falling out of a 12-story window at a Days Inn across from Lincoln Park.

The second article examines the life and death of Jennifer Mudd Houghtaling, a college-educated woman with a lust for living, who took her own life by placing herself in front of a 11:45 A.M. Red Line subway train at the Chicago and State Street Subway Station.

Danny Hakim wrote in an article for The New York Times that "the auto industry, acknowledging that sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks pose serious dangers to cars, has agreed for the first time to cooperate in an effort to do something about it."

Months earlier the head of NHTSA, The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, made statements that were critical of the safety records of sport utility vehicles and pick-up trucks. The auto industry, most-likely, took NHTSA's remarks as a warning shot and decided to address the issue prior to any goverment mandate.

For years, industry executives refused even to acknowledge a problem. In a 1997 interview, Alexander Trotman, then chairman and chief executive of Ford, likened a collision between a car and a sport utility to two rocks smashing together; the bigger rock would come out ahead, he said, and little could be done.

But engineers at auto companies have for years been aware of the problem of compatibility, as the study of collisions of different vehicle types is called. And the issue has become more visible as sales of light trucks — a category that includes S.U.V.'s, pickups and minivans — have grown from a fifth of the market in 1980 to more than half today.

Full New York Times article

There are just a very special few with the abilities enabling them to compete with the best in the world. It's rare.

A long-time friend to this blog qualified for a P.G.A. event, The Buick Invitational Tournament at Torrey Pines G.C., La Jolla, California; Marcus Meloan of San Diego is that friend.

Michael Jordan has been involved in a civil proceeding with a former lover. I'm not exactly sure why and for what the two parties are fighting. Regardless, the photo from the Tribune catches my interest.


Jordan and Karla Knafel

The Chicago Tribune reports that "Jordan sued Knafel last fall, alleging she attempted to extort $5 million from him to keep quiet about their past relationship. Knafel countersued, saying Jordan offered the money as payment for her silence and for her agreement not to file a paternity suit, even though she had no child from him."

The Tribune article

Total Budget-less Awareness

Total Information Awareness, a Pentagon program that uses personal information in an attempt to stop domestic terrorism before it happens, was dealt a halting blow by a Congressional committee, as reported in the New York Times.

In Washington, as is in every conceivable corner of the Earth, the best way to stop anything is to take away its funding; that's exactly what the joint committee did, and it put the clampdown on a program headed-up by former Iran-Contra perpetrator, Adm. John Poindexter (Ret.).

This is good news (for now) for many of us in fear that many of our individual rights and freedoms--post 9/11--had "open season" declared upon them. It's good news that the committee approved this agreement in conference with very little opposition amongst the political parties. It's good news for now because there are a few scenarios which could derail the optimisim made possible by this decision, and it's here in this New York Times article.

Blare rocks worlds



Blare Bitch Project, a hard-rocking quartet from Los Angeles, played the Double Down Saloon in Las Vegas last Friday, and since then my existence on Earth seems more clear than ever.

Formerly Betty Blowtorch prior to a couple of out-of-this-world-events, BBP reformed, reloaded its punk energy, re-aimed and then proceeded to rock-out the assembled Sin City-ites with a vengant force.

Blare N. Bitch, (pictured above and below on far left) the lead guitarist par excellence, was in full control of the night's hearts and ears, delivering maximum riffage and boss toneage as she wheeled her road-hardened Gibson SG (played through a Marshall half stack) like the new sheriff's in town.

Blare is an exceptionally gifted artist and this blog believes that she's absolutely purty. (Judging by the fluttery feeling my heart gets when its strings are so throughly pulled, it would seem so easy to fall into great fondness for Ms Bitch.)


Blare N. Bitch interview.

In education news, an article written by Erika Hayasaki of The Chicago Tribune reported that the national teacher shortage is abating. However, Ms. Hayasaki wrote, recruiters should not let-up on efforts at attracting new candidates to its systems because when the economy eventually picks-up many teacher candidates may not be as interested in the field as in the current economic state.

The article outlining more of Ms. Hayasaki's point is here.

I'm listening to John Lennon's Woman on Moontaxi's Just Love—songs for lovers on Valentine's Day, including soft rock favorites and ballads—and I'm feeling the love. Boy, am I feeling the love.

Miss Caroline, a friend currently residing in Chicago, is visiting me here in San Diego. Tonight we're flying to Las Vegas for a quick romp thru Sin City. Read about Las Vegas' neon lights graveyard here. (now playing on Moontaxi "You Make Loving Fun" by Fleetwood Mac)

The Quaker Oat building in Chicago had a little mishap with fire this morning.

Chicago: tops for job losses in 02


The Chicago Tribune, in an article in today's online edition, is reporting that Chicago and its "nine-county region lost 57,400 jobs last year, outpacing every other major metropolitan area. New York, the runner-up, lost 45,100 jobs." Chicago has been

bruised by the economic slowdown, major employers including United Airlines, SBC Communications Inc. and Motorola Inc. all made deep cuts last year. The death of Andersen, wracked by accounting misdeeds, also didn't help.

Chicago was hard hit in the aftermath of Sept. 11 in industries that have yet to recover--air travel in general, business travel in particular, convention business and business services, said Paul O'Connor, executive director of World Business Chicago, a not-for-profit corporation that promotes investment in the region.

The full article is here.

Hearts out to the families of the killed astronauts