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Bucking the trend of technology that allows people to tell everyone that they’ve checked into their local restaurant, caf or bar, the creators of the National Day of Unplugging have developed a smartphone app that helps users “check out” of the internet altogether. The app ironically will use technology to shut down technology.
Think of it as rehab for the smartphone. By using technology, Reboot’s “Sabbath Manifesto” app is intended to spur a massive movement away from technology on the National Day of Unplugging, March 4-5, 2011, and beyond, and a return to the values inherent in a modern day of rest: reconnecting with family, friends and the world around them.
The inverse of tools like FourSquare that allow you to check into a venue or location and notify friends where you are, the new Sabbath Manifesto app, for the iPhone, Android, Blackberry and other smartphones, announces to your social networks and online community through Facebook and Twitter that you are unplugging and will not be available online. Users can also sign up for text alerts that will remind them on Friday to unplug.
Reboot, a non-profit organization that aims to reinvent Jewish rituals and traditions, developed the National Day of Unplugging (NDU) to encourage young, hyper-connected, and frequently frantic people of all backgrounds to re-embrace the ancient beauty of a day of

I have always been terrified of the idea of reporting in Tunisia. Living and working in
Morocco, where press freedoms are pretty restricted, I couldn’t imagine what is was like
for reporters there. I just knew it was worse. Over the years, I heard countless horror
stories about the situation for reporters there: prison, torture, all sorts of harassment and
deportation for the foreign journalists.
And then, finally, the dictator

At The HSUS we employ a devoted team of undercover investigators who document and expose cruelty and abuse that is hidden in the shadows, and unknown to most Americans. For more than a year, our investigations department has infiltrated numerous cockfighting pits in Texas, uncovering abuses at locations where fights are held from border towns like McAllen to cosmopolitan cities like Dallas.
Today we released shocking video footage from our investigation at the state capitol in Austin, in the company of Rep. Wayne Christian and Patricia Stepp of the Texas Animal Control Association. Together we are working to pass

The Shadow of What We Were by Luis Sepulveda is exquisite, a deeply affecting story of old friendships, long-tested loyalties, and undeniable bonds. Set in Chile decades after Pinochet’s bloody 1973 coup, three comrades who survived the horror meet one last time to carry out a final mission. The leader of their mission, anarchist Pedro Nolasco, is unexpectedly delayed, setting off a cascade of missteps by the remaining old radicals and allowing for perfectly placed reminders — and reminiscences — from the past. What results is an amazing book, a mixture of heartbreak and humor, bringing me both to tears and to laughter, and finally, in an absolutely unexpected but consummate conclusion, to fist-pumping joy.
Sepulveda educates us in the history of Chile while entrancing us with his plot of secrets hidden, treasure stashed, and comrades

*Scroll down for photos from the show*
The last time I went to the Marc Jacobs show–which happened to be my first time at a Marc Jacobs show–I was pretty dazzled.
This time was a little more tame, maybe because the event is so overwhelming that your system just sort of shuts down. There must be a medical term for this condition.
On my way in, I ran into Marc’s ex Lorenzo Martone.
a) It’s nice that they’re still

In advance of his upcoming book, The Unfinished Global Revolution: The Pursuit of a New International Politics, I interviewed Mark Malloch-Brown on the challenges and opportunities of globalization in the 21st century. Lord Malloch-Brown served as a Minister in Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s cabinet, where he had particular responsibility for strengthening relationships with Africa and Asia and the international system. In addition, Lord Malloch-Brown has served as Deputy Secretary General and Chief of Staff of the United Nations under Kofi Annan and, for six years prior, as Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), where he led UN development efforts around the world. He has also served as Vice-President at the World Bank, Vice Chairman of the World Economic Forum, and Vice-Chairman of George Soros’ Fund and Foundation.
An excerpt of the interview is published below, while the full transcript can be found at World Affairs Commentary.
Rahim Kanani: You argue that the central global predicament of the 21st century is that in becoming more integrated; we have also become less

Government budget proposals, it is said, are reflections of political leaders’ values. Truer words were never spoken, and in the recent budget proposals, we can see enormous differences in values. We also are seeing a sadly limited range of political values being debated: a choice between a classic D.C. centrism represented by Barack Obama’s budget, and a truly far, far, far-right, extreme conservatism represented the list of proposed budget cuts released by House

Tim Duy at Tim Duy’s Fed Watch liked Felix Salmon’s piece in The New York Times Monday about shrinking public equity markets. Duy takes off from Salmon to mull over the old chestnut of whether the tech bubble was “good” or “bad.” In the end, he gives the tech bubble a qualified thumbs-up, admitting that there were spectacular failures, but also arguing that “the bubble-driven intensity of activity in information technology almost certainly accelerated its development and adaptation.” In this regard Duy is joining an argument that then-BusinessWeek economist Michael Mandel made in Rational Exuberance in 2004 and that then-Newsweek columnist Daniel Gross offered in Pop! Why Bubbles are Great for the Economy in 2007. Their case for bubbles promptly got washed under when the larger subprime crisis burst.
Does this pro-bubblestance make sense? The real problem with the all-bubbles-are-bad (or good) is that it’s unrealistically broad and

In a landmark reversal, the I.R.S. announced that breast pumps are now a tax-deductible expense.
Under this ruling, women will now be able to use pre-tax Flex Spending Accounts (FSAs) to buy breast pumps and related accessories. For those without FSAs, the cost of pumps will be tax-deductible if their total medical costs meet the required percentage of adjusted gross income.
For some families, this will be a nice way to save some money. But for the moms who struggle to pay for a quality breast pump, this policy will make it possible for them to continue breastfeeding their babies while they work and for the full 12 months recommended by the American Academy of

The reason Volkswagen’s Darth Vader ad scored such a hit at the Superbowl is our popular longing for powerful, heroic action. In the ad, the six-year-old, dressed as Darth Vader from “Star Wars,” wants to be heroic and do something big. Even dressed as a villain, he is the hero of his own story. His force is frustrated until he attempts to start the family

Other people are flawed — they’re badly flawed. They’re selfish, they’re mean, they’re cheap, they’re sloppy, they’re lazy and, in most cases, they’re completely unwilling to even acknowledge they’re doing anything wrong — no matter how many times we point it out to them.
People are hopelessly flawed. They always good and bad, and they probably always will be.
The only real hope we have for creating peace is for us to start seeing people for who they really are, both the good and the bad, and to not let their flaws keep us from enjoying them.
I know why we get frustrated: “But you don’t know my in-laws; they’re awful”; “The guy who cheated me on that business deal, he can never be forgiven; that was my life savings!”; “You have no idea how much my spouse has hurt me.”
I’ve been there myself, and I have no doubt that you’ve been wronged. I’m not suggesting that you put up with

A year ago, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made unrestricted open Internet access a top foreign policy priority for the United States. In the months since, much has changed in the warp and weft of the the online world, including the expansion of Wikileaks into a global phenomenon and the historic revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt. Today in Washington, Secretary Clinton took the podium again to talk about Internet freedom in a networked world. “The Internet has become the public space of the 21st century–the world’s town square, classroom, marketplace, coffee house, and nightclub,” said

Organic wineries from around the world showcased their wines at this year’s Millsime Bio 2011, held in Montpellier, France from January 24th to 26th. Almost 450 wineries from fifteen countries participated, with the majority coming from France, Italy and Spain.
What began in 1993 as a small gathering of local winegrowers from the Languedoc-Rouillon region has turned into a global event, growing in both size, reputation and quality.

read full news from www.huffingtonpost.com

Written by Phineas Baxandall and Nicole Tichon.
The President’s budget released this week follows up on several promises he made in his State of the Union a few weeks ago. The budget calls for ending some wasteful subsidies to big agriculture and the oil and gas industry, as well as improved management and IT upgrades for Defense Department purchases of equipment and supplies. These changes, if enacted, would save taxpayers billions in the coming years.
While spending through the appropriations process is important, it’s only a part of the

As a longtime ally of the West and new partner of Iran and Syria, Turkey has been seeking the role of mediator and model in every available arena, including Egypt, Lebanon, and Tunisia. As a G-20 founding member, holder of a seat on the UN Security Council, European Union aspirant, and head of the Organization of Islamic Conference, Ankara has transformed itself into an international actor, capable of bringing considerable clout and influence to its regions. Often lost in the debates about Turkey and its potential as a model is the fact that Ankara did not transform itself overnight from a defeated post-Ottoman state led by Ataturk’s military to a flourishing market-democracy led by a conservative Muslim party. It has been almost a century in the making.
Given the recent events in Egypt, the role of the Turkish military and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) led by Prime Minister Erdoan has garnered many comparisons to the Egyptian army and the Muslim

Hey, man, it’s winter. The snow is stacked up like skyscrapers. What gives with the shorts and sockless Converse All Stars?
Anthony Bendinelli — Tony to his friends, Anthony or Tony B. to his clients– is dashing through the sidewalk

Two thousand, nine-hundred and twenty-two day.
What would you do with that much time?
That’s what a President who is re-elected and fully serves both terms in office gets to work with. But as history tells us, more than a few presidents who desired a second term were not returned to office. And not every president seeks re-election.
As Presidents Day — actually it’s Washington’s Birthday in official terms — approaches, and with the first whiff of a 2012 campaign already in the air, it seems a good time to take a look at how history has shaken out. What keeps single-term Presidents from earning those added 1,461 days in office? And what can the past say about President Obama’s future?
Leaving out those eight men who died in office, either naturally or by assassination, and the five Presidents who only served out the term of a deceased — or in one case, resigned — predecessor and were not reelected in their own right, here’s the list of America’s twelve single-term Presidents (See the White House for quick bios of each):
2d John Adams (Not reelected)
6th John Quincy Adams (Not reelected)
8th Martin Van Buren (Not reelected)
11th James Knox Polk (Pledged to serve a single term and did not seek a second term)
14th Franklin Pierce (Denied nomination)
15th James Buchanan (Did not seek a second term)
19th Rutherford

In the past week, reports that Congress is planning on taking up immigration reform again have sporadically appeared in the press and blogosphere, once again sparking the hopes of many immigrants whose lives are deeply intertwined with the legislative battles taking place in states across our country. If Senators Schumer and Graham indeed succeed in introducing a new bill and securing the necessary support for it to pass, nearly 12 million new Americans will begin the pathway to citizenship. This is a pathway way that is riddled with obstacles, even for those who enter the country on a work permit or valid visa. In my case, the road from being an international student to becoming citizen took 17 years, three visa statuses, and significant determination and

Crossposted with TomDispatch.com.
Memo to President Obama: Given the absence of intelligent intelligence and the inadequacy of your advisers’ advice, it’s not surprising that your handling of the Egyptian uprising has set new standards for foreign policy incoherence and incompetence. Perhaps a primer on how to judge the power that can be wielded by mass protest will prepare you better for the next round of political upheavals.
Remember the uprising in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989? That was also a huge, peaceful protest for democracy, but it was crushed with savage violence. Maybe the memory of that event convinced you and your team that, as Secretary of State Clinton announced when the protests began, the Mubarak regime was “stable” and in “no danger of falling.” Or maybe your confidence rested on the fact that it featured a disciplined modern army trained and supplied by the USA.
But it fell, and you should have known that it was in grave danger. You should have known that the prognosis for this uprising was far better than the one that ended in a massacre in Tiananmen Square; that it was more likely to follow the pattern of people power in Tunisia, where only weeks before another autocrat had been driven from power, or Iran in 1979 and Poland in 1989.
Since your intelligence people, including the CIA, obviously didn’t tell you, let me offer you an explanation for why the Egyptian protesters proved so much more successful in fighting off the threat and reality of violence than their Chinese compatriots, and why they were so much better equipped to deter an attack by a standing

Ruby Sky Stiler is a Brooklyn based artist who had two concurrent shows in New York City. A solo exhibition at Nicelle Buchene in the Lower East Side which runs until February 27th and a project-room show at Derek Eller in Chelsea that recently closed. Her work is noted for creating sculptures and environments that invoke classical icons, up-ended feminist imagery and formal pursuits. Interview with Timothy Hull, February

State Senator Ed Murray and Representative Jim Moeller introduced legislation that would grant the freedom to marry to Washington State’s thousands of gay and lesbian couples.
From a Valentines Day blog post on the Senator’s site:
Passing the bill could be the easy part. If this bill does pass, there is little doubt that Washington voters would get the ultimate say.
It cost $2.5 million to protect the Domestic Partnership bill in 2009. It will cost at least $2.5 million to defend a marriage bill. Do you want to pitch in? Click

Toronto police say they have seized marijuana with a street value of 1m Canadian dollars (1m; 618,811) from a takeaway pizza restaurant.
Pizza Gigi's owner, 57-year-old Salvatore Crimi, sold the drug from the restaurant, police alleged.
Investigators obtained a warrant for Monday's raid after watching customers enter and leave without any food.
Police said in a they had also seized cocaine, other drugs and 8,000 Canadian dollars in the search.
The restaurant, said to be popular with University of Toronto students, has been at its location for 30 years, according to the Toronto