France has removed transsexualism from an official list of mental illnesses, according to an order issued by the French Ministry of Health reported Friday by French news media. The order issued Wednesday removed “gender identity disorders” from an article of the social security code related to “long-term psychiatric diseases.” According to media reports, France is the first country in the world to do so…[nytimes.com]
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/18/opinion/l18brooks.html
To the Editor:
Re “The Tel Aviv Cluster” (column, Jan. 12):
David Brooks correctly points out that the unique religion, culture and history of the Jewish people have contributed to Israel’s economic success. By underscoring Israel’s financial dominance in the Middle East, Mr. Brooks raises an interesting possibility.
While Israel’s political and military leaders have been unable to end the violent conflicts with the Arabs that have plagued their nation since its birth, perhaps Israel’s private sector can bridge this longstanding divide.
Israel’s increasing number of entrepreneurs and technological innovators should seek partnership opportunities to engage the Palestinians and the surrounding Arab countries economically (instead of militarily), with the goal of establishing a shared purpose that could lead to stability and peace.
Ivan R. Novich
Summit, N.J., Jan. 13, 2010
Very apologetically, I am belatedly posting this guest contribution from David Rothenberg, a philosopher, musician and author of fascinating books on whales, birdsong and a host of other facets of the natural world. The piece is essentially a “Postcard from the Arctic” similar to dispatches I filed in 2004 from Greenland and a recent contribution here from a Siberian river. Click on the sound sample while you read…[nytimes.com]
The poor image is a copy in motion. Its quality is bad, its resolution substandard. As it accelerates, it deteriorates. It is a ghost of an image, a preview, a thumbnail, an errant idea, an itinerant image distributed for free, squeezed through slow digital connections, compressed, reproduced, ripped, remixed, as well as copied and pasted into other channels of distribution…[e-flux.com]
On September 4, 1972, the novelist and futurist Fereidoun M. Esfandiary published an editorial on the op-ed page of The New York Times concerning the Arab-Israeli conflict. Titled “A Plague on Both Your Tribes,” it announced that the situation had become a “monumental bore”: that the leadership had failed, and the antagonists, “acting like adolescents, refuse to resolve their wasteful 25-year-old brawl,” even as other nations of the world were “rapidly patching up their differences.” Esfandiary decried the violent stalemate over territory, especially since the world was, in any case, “irreversibly evolving beyond the concept of national homeland.” Citing a recent United Nations study on global youth, he extolled a “new kind of population, more resilient and adaptable than their elders,” with a “feeling of world solidarity and a sense of common responsibility to achieve peace.” In a future that was just around the corner, today’s youth would take care of the Arab-Israeli problem—in part by realizing that it was already obsolete. He concluded the piece with an exasperated injunction: “Let us get on with it.”
ISRAELI bigwigs may not be visiting Britain much in the months ahead following the near arrest on December 13th of Tzipi Livni, the leader of the opposition, for alleged war crimes. A London judge issued an arrest warrant for Ms Livni for her role as foreign minister in Israel’s “Operation Cast Lead”, the assault on the Gaza Strip earlier this year. The order was withdrawn when the judge learned that Ms Livni would not be in Britain as planned…[economist.com]
Saab: 1947-2009? Gavin Green pays tribute to Saab @ carmagazine.co.uk
by Dan Schiller [mondediplo.com]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Copenhagen Spoof Shames Canada; Climate Debt No Joke
African, Danish and Canadian youth join the Yes Men to demand climate justice and skewer Canadian climate policy
Le Canada victime d’un canular @ courrierinternational.com
Deux faux communiqués ont mis la représentation canadienne dans l’embarras lundi 14 décembre. Le Canada y annonçait un très ambitieux plan de réduction de ses émissions de gaz à effet de serre. La révélation de la supercherie vient souligner le manque d’engagement de ce pays sur ce dossier.
In Marseille, unease over mosque project
Plans stoke debate about identity and assimilation in French city with growing number of Muslim immigrants…[washingtonpost.com]
Marseille, son Vieux-Port et sa grande mosquée
Inch’Allah, la cité phocéenne disposera, en 2011, d’un vaste lieu de culte pour les musulmans. La polémique que le projet a suscitée est révélatrice du malaise de certains Français quant à leur “identité”, relève The Washington Post…[courrierinternational.com]
A savoir absolument avant de commander (from Sport-Auto and bugatti.com):
- 4 pneus à changer tous les 4000 km, ou de suite à une session en mode high-speed (dépassement des 400 km/h – Topspeed key) = 28.000 Euro
- 4 jantes à changer tous les 12.000 km = 34.000 Euro
- 0 à 400 km/h en moin de 56 secondes, 400 à 0 km/h en moin de 10 secondes: je fais juste un p’tit 0-400, 400-0, j’en ai pour une minute…
Audi TTS to Take on Pikes Peak, Without a Driver !!!
More Employers Screening Candidates via Social Networking Sites
Five tips for creating a positive online image
Rosemary Haefner, Vice President of Human Resources at CareerBuilder
Here are five tips for job seekers to keep a positive image online:
1. Clean up digital dirt before you begin your job search. Remove any photos, content and links that can work against you in an employer’s eyes.
2. Consider creating your own professional group on sites like Facebook or BrightFuse.com. It’s a great way to establish relationships with leaders, recruiters and potential referrals.
3. Keep gripes offline. Keep the content you post focused on positive things, whether it’s related to professional or personal information. Make sure to highlight specific accomplishments inside and outside of work.
4. Be selective about whom you accept as friends. Don’t forget others can see your friends when they search for you. Monitor comments made by others and consider using the “block comments” feature. Even better, set your profile to “private” so only designated friends can view it.
5. If you’re still employed, don’t mention your job search in your Tweets or status updates. There are multiple examples of people who have gotten fired as a result of doing this. In addition, a potential employer might assume that if you’re willing to search for a new job on your current company’s time, why wouldn’t you do so on theirs?
