I’ve been out of it all day fighting a headache, so this probably won’t be as creative as it could be. Still, I’ve accumulated some interesting news chum items over the week I’d like to share:
- From the “I Told You I’m Not Interested” Department: The SF Chronicle had an interesting piece on asexuals finding a community online. This isn’t about orientation; it’s about people who are just uninterested in sex. Yet another group we seem to forget about. At least from the way media portrays society, they don’t exist.
- From the “The Market Is Shrinking” Department: You would think with all the reports about the increasing obesity of Americans, the plus-size market would be (ahem) growing. It isn’t. According to the AP (via the Mercury News), people aren’t buying plus-sized clothes at the rate they used to. In fact, a number of retailers have moved their plus-size lines to online-only, including Banana Republic, Old Navy, and Ann Taylor.
- From the “Wonder of Wonders, Miracle of Miracles” Department: Guess who needs a miracle. Just one unexplained success. Father Serra. You see, they need one more miracle that can’t be explained by science to proclaim him a saint. I made it through the day with my headache–does that count? Oh, right, I’m Jewish.
- From the “Scandanavian Typography” Department: It seems a lot of folks are upset with Ikea. No, it’s not because of those instructions or the funny names of the furniture. They changed type fonts.
- From the “Typical New Yorkers” Department: OK, this piece of chum is a little bit different. You need to read the comments. It seems a New Yorker complained about subway manners: how most folks won’t give a pregnant woman their seat on the subway. What amused me was how the responses were typical “New York”: “Lady: Pregnancy is an elective ailment!” or “It was your choice to get pregnant. It is your choice to take that baby stroller on the subway. Deal with it. You do not get a pat on the back or a seat from me because you decided to reproduce” or “Sarcasm will get you nowhere. In this city, you need to speak up if you want something.” Having been in New York, these responses are just so typical of the city.
