Get Cynical

Anthony Bourdain when asked for his thoughts on Epic Meal Time:

This is hardcore, military grade content, to be used in wartime PSYOPS situations ONLY. Not Safe For Children, the even pleasingly plump–or fans of Paula Deen. In fact, don’t let Ms. Deen see this. She’ll steal recipes for her nearly as lethal show.

Whatcha reading?

I’m finishing up re-reading The Malloreon Series by David Eddings which gets tedious and the only reason to finish it is because you enjoyed the characters so much in The Belgariad. I have some Zane Grey books waiting for me at the library. I’ve never read him and I have no idea if he’ll take or not. I’m screwed if it doesn’t though because I have nothing else waiting to be read.

NO WAIT. I just ordered John Scalzi’s Fuzzy Nation from Amazon. (The price at the bookstore was outrageous). The reviews have been positive for it although I hear it’s a quick read.

I haven’t been the only one who has been completely just over everything for the past two weeks right?

Bwahahahaha:

An employee of the U.S. Secret Service accidentally sent out a tweet on the official Secret Service twitter account this week saying that he or she “had to monitor Fox for a story. Can’t. Deal. With. The. Blathering.”

The tweet was almost immediately taken down, but not before some quick-acting bloggers copied it.

“An employee with access to the Secret Service’s Twitter account, who mistakenly believed they were on their personal account, posted an unapproved and inappropriate tweet,” Special Agent in Charge Edwin M. Donovan said in a statement to ABC News. “The tweet did not reflect the views of the U.S. Secret Service and it was immediately removed. We apologize for this mistake, and the user no longer has access to our official account. “

From NPR’s Planet Money:

So in the 1980s and 1990s, the IMF took on a new role: Lending to developing countries in that were going through major economic crises. During this era, the world’s opinion of the IMF became decidedly less warm and fuzzy.

The Fund is based in Washington, and it’s largely controlled by the U.S. and Europe, which contribute a big chunk of the fund’s loan pool. What’s more, IMF loans always come with strings attached — recipients typically have to make big spending cuts, among other things.

Not surprisingly, having an institution controlled by rich countries dictate harsh terms to poor countries during times of intense crisis created a lot of tension and resentment.

So in the past decade, developing countries that didn’t want to be beholden to the IMF started saving up their own rainy-day funds, full of dollars and euros.

“What the Asian financial crisis [of the late 1990s] did was it gave emerging market economies a very strong desire to stay out of the clutches of the IMF,” Prasad said.

The total value of foreign-exchange reserves held around the world has risen from $2 trillion in 2000 to $6 trillion now, according to Prasad — and almost the entire increase has come from countries in the developing world.

But as developing countries like China, India and Brazil were stashing aside money for a rainy day, countries at the edges of Europe were heading for fiscal disaster.

And so, over the past year, the focus of the IMF has shifted back to Europe.

The IMF has been a key player in the bailouts of Greece, Ireland and Portugal. For one thing, it has contributed a significant chunk of the money. For another, the presence of the IMF has also made it politically more palatable for the recipients to agree to the terms of the bailouts.

But, in the past few weeks, a big, new problem has arisen: It’s become clear that Greece is so far in the hole that it probably won’t be able to pay off all its debt on time.

Strauss-Kahn’s arrest means Greece’s day of reckoning — and the potentially widespread fallout — may be coming sooner, rather than later.

Strauss-Kahn has been pushing for Europe and the IMF to be lenient, and to lend Greece more money, Prasad said. German leaders, on the other hand, have been resisting lending more to Greece.

What’s more, the IMF has been accused of maintaining a double standard — of being more lenient with countries in Europe than it is with countries in the developing world.

From the Wall Street Journal:

SAN FRANCISCO—A group seeking to ban the circumcision of male children in San Francisco has succeeded in getting their controversial measure on the November ballot, meaning voters will be asked to weigh in on what until now has been a private family matter.

City elections officials confirmed Wednesday that the initiative had received enough signatures to appear on the ballot, getting more than 7,700 valid signatures from city residents. Initiatives must receive at least 7,168 signatures to qualify.

If the measure passes, circumcision would be prohibited among males under the age of 18. The practice would become a misdemeanor offense punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 or up to one year in jail. There would be no religious exemptions.

(via Dangerous Minds)

From CNN:

For Dominique Strauss-Kahn, life inside an 11-foot by 13-foot Rikers Island cell, however temporary, was a major change. For years, Strauss-Kahn had enjoyed every bit of the upper-crust lifestyle, salary and perks that come with his job as managing director of the International Monetary Fund.

According to his contract, Strauss-Kahn’s salary in 2010 was $441,980.00. That’s more than President Barack Obama makes, and Strauss-Kahn pays no taxes on his income. In addition, Strauss-Kahn receives a yearly allowance of $79,120.00 in monthly installments which, the contract says, comes “… without any certification or justification by you, to enable you to maintain, in the interests of the Fund, a scale of living appropriate to your position as Managing Director.”

That’s separate from entertainment expenses, which, according to the contract, he’s reimbursed for. Travel and hotel expenses, for Strauss-Kahn and his wife, are covered by the IMF. It’s in Strauss-Kahn’s contract that he and anyone in his family fly first class, whenever he’s on official business. Details of Strauss-Kahn’s contract are posted on the IMF’s website.