the 941

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples… —Norwegian Nobel Committee, Oct. 9, 2009

The Nobel Peace Prize is kinda like the Grammy Awards. They must be approached with skepticism.

On rare occasions, the picks are great. 1973’s Best Album Grammy for Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions was spot-on. As a matter of fact, this columnist won’t be worryin’ ’bout a thang, at top volume, once he completes this week’s assignments.

And 1983’s Nobel Peace Prize to Polish labor leader Lech Walesa was inspired. Walesa and fellow unarmed community organizers set in motion the events that peacefully toppled the nuclear-armed Soviet empire.

Sometimes, though, the prize picks are pure stupid. John Mayer’s “Daughters” was actually awarded Song of Year in 2005. I gave it an award that year, too: Best Song to Make You Want to Puncture Your Eardrums with a Rusty Icepick.

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I’ve often heard people say “the camera adds 10 pounds” when they’re photographed. Is that just an excuse or is there any truth to it? —Emma

No question there’s an element of denial here. Since you’re not looking at yourself most of the time, it’s easy to maintain a self-image reflecting the svelte physique you had 10 years ago, as opposed to the corpulent wreck you’ve become. But that’s not the whole story. For reasons having to do with optics and the way your brain works, the camera can in fact make you look heavier than you are.

The main difference between a camera’s view of the world and yours is that the camera has a single “eye” whereas you have two. That subtly changes the way things look. Here’s an experiment. Pose a round object in front of a varied background — a coffee cup in front of the computer monitor worked well enough for me. From a distance of two or three feet, look at the object alternately with both eyes, then one. You’ll notice that, seen with one eye, the object looms larger in your field of vision, and obscures more of what’s behind it. It seems bigger and bulgier. In other words, it looks fat.

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Cliff Roles interviews Jamie Carie

From our boy Cliff Roles:

The nearly 65 million Americans who read at least one romance novel in the past year will want to dig in to Jamie Carie’s new novel Love’s First Light. Set against the French revolution, Love’s First Light follows the lives of Christophé, the Count of St. Laurent, and Scarlett, a baker in a local French village. Their lives intertwine as Christophé flees Paris after his family is guillotined and meets the beautiful widow Scarlett who is related to the very man who murdered his family. How will Christophé react when he comes face to face with the villain?

More info at jamiecarie.com!

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Recently, as I walked down an aisle at the supermarket, I realized that the shelves were stocked from top to bottom, from one end to another, as far as I could see, with … tea. Not only where there many different brands, there were an incredible number of varieties. I decided some research was in order.

Tea supposedly had its origin in China, but enjoyment of it quickly spread throughout Asia. Our first occidental writings are from an Arab traveler in 879. By the 16th century Portugal had established a tea trading port, so we know that it had penetrated Europe. It took a bit longer to find favor in England. That began when King Charles II wed Portuguese Princess Catherine in 1660. British colonial influence brought tea around the world (although used in India as a medicine for more than a millennium, it wasn’t drunk there until the British established plantations). Of course, tea played an important role in the American colonies, and Kenya is now the third largest producer of tea in the world.

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LEAD STORY: 1. Scientists at England’s University of Oxford know how to make fruit flies scared of things they weren’t scared of previously — by implanting artificial memories in their brains after somehow locating and managing the precise 12 neurons that enable the flies to learn things. The implanted “danger” (the smell of sweat-soaked athletic shoes) causes the flies to scatter at the first whiff. 2. Scientists at the University of Toronto know how to make fruit flies sexually attractive to flies of both sexes and to different fly species — by removing the specific hydrocarbon brain cells that produce the pheromones thought to attract sex-specific mates. (Only the choice of partners was modified and not horniness level.)

Small-Town Mayors: 1. For three weeks in September, budget-conscious Mayor Sallie Peake of Wellford, S.C., barred the police from chasing perpetrators of crimes in progress, even if officers drove at the speed limit. Officers were instructed, instead, to arrest suspects later in their homes. (The mayor, under siege, rescinded the policy on Sept. 24.) 2. Mayor Stu Rasmussen, 61, of Silverton, Ore., elected last year even though he dresses openly as a woman, drew criticism from officials of a community group in July when he addressed students while wearing a miniskirt and a swimsuit top. Critics suggested he should dress at least in “professional” women’s clothes when speaking to youth groups.

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Betsy Kennedy of Be Jewelry and Crafts is an Atomic Holiday Bazaar Saint. Really, she’s like my Joan of Arc of Atomic. Betsy contacted Atomic for our first show and volunteered, she didn’t know me or my former Atomic partner in crime Cemantha; she didn’t know much about our show other than we were looking for volunteers and trying to pull this crazy craft show off. Betsy showed up for a few meetings, met us the day of the show and managed our crafters and kept us calm. She’s smart, sassy and I didn’t know she was talented until last year when she came to Atomic as a crafter instead of a volunteer. This year I have her roped into both, she’ll be around at the Saturday night show cracking the whip and then back to make some holiday cashola at the Sunday show. I adore Betsy, she’s a stellar gal who makes lovely jewelry. Interview with Betsy is below:

Name of Business/Website Address? be jewelry and crafts – be-jewelryandcrafts.com

What City/State do you reside in? Myakka, Florida.

Is this your first time attending Atomic or have you done the show before? Did it before.

What do make and plan on bringing to Atomic? Sterling silver jewelry.

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Forget the therapy and anti-depressants, kids. Scrap the exercise for its endorphins. Woman’s World magazine has the answer to your happiness deficit:

Feel 60 percent happier! From a popular “lunch meat”! Damn that government for suppressing news of this vital happiness source and keeping us…

Wait a minute.

Throwing quotation marks around “lunch meat” means you’re either quoting someone (because the phrase “lunch meat” is a new and exciting term coined just now by Woman’s World?) or it’s only euphemistically lunch meat. Lunch meat is already vague and euphemistic. I barely know what goes in it when it’s properly labeled, and I’m not especially keen on finding out any further details. It’s scary enough all on its own — thanks a lot, Upton Sinclair! — but now it needs scare quotes, too?
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You have probably seen me at the airport, hanging around the arrivals area, holding a sign showing my customer’s name. I might be tall or short; skinny, muscular or portly; smoothly dressed or somewhat rumpled. The likelihood is that I am older rather than young, gray-haired more than colored, measured more than peppy. I am overwhelmingly male, glued to my cellphone and almost always tired.

The driving job isn’t my first choice. I might have a buddy in the business who needed some help one weekend… and I stayed. It’s possible that I saw the potential in a buoyant economy and bought a limousine with a down payment and a dream. Retirement might have bored me rigid, and the idea of some extra money (and tips!) appealed to me (and my wife). Or I could enjoy the driving, the hours, the observation of human nature, the variety, and just not being stuck indoors enough to want to make it a long-term job.

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Whenever I talk to someone not originally from Florida, especially a recent transplant, one of the first complaints I’m likely to hear is that they miss the change of seasons. Well, guess what? The seasons change here in Florida, too. The signs are just a lot more subtle, so you have to pay closer attention. Sure, we don’t get that “in your face” lavish display of reds, golds and oranges dotting our landscape, or those cool, crisp temperatures that traditionally mark the arrival of fall. But, that doesn’t mean it isn’t here.

In Florida, autumn sneaks in on tiptoes. An early morning 75 degrees the past several days has felt distinctly different from the early morning 75 degrees of a month ago. And the air looks just the merest touch clearer, the curves and angles of our skyline ever so slightly sharper. The change is barely perceptible, but I know it’s there. Maybe it comes from living here for more than three decades, but I can see it. I can feel it too. (more…)

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— In a strange reversal, fundraising for congressional candidates in District 13 — Rep. Buchanan’s district — is drying up. Is it because Buchanan is simply growing more and more entrenched by the month? Jeremy Wallace provides the facts and figures.

— “After the traditional route of getting his project approved was blocked, the owner of the Cabana Inn will try a more unconventional way to get city commissioners to approve his plan for a new hotel — public pressure. Property owner Rodney Dessberg and his consultant, Terry Purdy, plan to ask Vice Mayor Kelly Kirschner to ask the commission for a revote. ‘We’re going to fight this,’ said Purdy.”

— The Sarasota Boxing Club (which Contributing Writer Robert Johnson profiled at length in early September) has finally found a new home: a gym near 15th Street and Lime Avenue.

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