gchatz with melissa

me: im not hungry anymore because of all the cookies
 now i just feel guilty
 and a little sad
and sort of bloated 

Melissa: bless your heart

gchatz w/ starla

Starla: my life is overrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20558288,00.html

The ONE Time I Try Taking Starla to a Museum!

A drunk woman punched and rubbed her butt on a painting at the Clyfford Still museum in Denver.  The painting, pictured above, is titled "1957-J no.2.".  She also tried, unsuccessfully, to pee on it. [via]

UPDATE!! just wanted to point out that we've been scooped by 2Pz reader leigh anne, who writes news as a profession. i don't see any way that this doesn't reflect well on our humble publication. (pats own back)

how the sausage gets made.

this is a few months old, but NPR's planet money did a piece on how much it cost to create rihanna's rated r album. she could save a lot of money if she wrote her own hit songs like beyonce.

we back pat week announced by SEC

"KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- The 12 members of the Southeastern Conference are planning a "We Back Pat" week to show support for Tennessee coach Pat Summitt and the foundation she created to support efforts to fight Alzheimer's.

SEC schools will make various efforts to show support for and raise awareness of Summitt's foundation during 29 home SEC men's and women's basketball games during the week of Jan. 15-22."

Keeks and I have our shirts you should get yours too.

i need to change my major.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- If you want the best odds of getting a job after graduation, don't major in architecture. (via)

UPDATE!!

kanye west is hiring architects.

oh god.

A group of Knoxville developers has inked a deal to bring a Walmart and a Publix grocery store to the former Fulton Bellows site near the University of Tennessee campus.

A development group that includes Budd Cullom, Jim Harrison and Mike McGuffin said in a statement that a project called University Commons will be built at the property located between Volunteer Boulevard and AlcoaHighway. The project will include 211,000 square feet of retail and parking space.

"With the commitment from Publix, we will provide a grocery and supermarket service not currently available and one that is much needed in this area," McGuffin, a partner with CHM, said in the statement. "Downtown residents, students on campus, residents from Alcoa Highway and other local neighborhoods will all greatly benefit from the convenience University Commons will provide."

The "distinctive multistory structure will revive the look and feel of a turn-of-the-century factory, adapted for an urban shopping and dining experience for visitors," according to the statement. (via)

yikes.

nyt doesn't even keep up with the nyt

Yesterday they wrote this trend piece about how young people are using duct tape to make clothes.

It sounded pretty familiar, so i did a tiny bit of searching in their own archives and found this piece, covering the same material from 2005.

















get with the times, Times...

obama, you're doing it RIGHT.

obama just sneak attacked congress and used some loophole to appoint richard cordray as the head of the CFPB, which of course stands for consumer financial protection bureau. terrible name, great agency. it's the brainchild of 2Pz fave senate candidate, elizabeth warren, and its going to work on keeping the banking / credit / lending industries from raping your pocketbooks every chance they get.

anyway, obama nominated him, and the republicans filibustered it, as they are want to do. so he waited until they went out of town for christmas, then used something called a "recess appointment" to pop him in there. and guess what: RICHARD CORDAY IS A JEOPARDY CHAMP!!

It will be viewed by the Washington punditocracy as a tough-minded executive act defying Senate Republicans, playing to a worried liberal base, and raising a possible legal challenge with constitutional ramifications.

But President Obama's Wednesday selection of Richard Cordray, a former Ohio attorney general, to run the spanking-new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is also just smart and necessary.

If our politics weren't quite so polarized, and folks stuck a bit more to the facts in public debate, maybe far more people would know what Cordray symbolizes. They would know that they should be happy that a frustrated White House has circumvented a Senate filibuster last month and will try to actually protect consumers.

And it's probably fitting that Cordray, who had a strong reputation in Ohio for investigating suspect mortgage foreclosure practices, is also a five-time "Jeopardy" champ. (via)

and it looks like barack's got 3 more appointments lined up. i like it.

t.i. + dr. dre : f*ck da city up

their mixtape is out. listen / download here.

trending : yeti crabs

i saw this three times on the internet in a 24 hour period, so i absolutely must share it with you:

Scientists doing their first exploring of deep-sea vents in the Antarctic have uncovered a world unlike anything found around other hydrothermal vents, one populated by new species of anemones, predatory sea stars, and piles of hairy-chested yeti crabs.

The yeti crabs seem to cultivate "gardens" of bacteria on their chests, which are covered with hairy tendrils. These bacterial mats almost certainly provides the crabs with sustenance, Rogers said. In turn, predatory seven-armed sea stars stalk the periphery of the vents, snacking on unfortunate crabs. (via) 

y'all're gross. see a video of them here.

they found a lot of cool stuff down there, so be sure to read all about it.

fred carrie thao mirah

performing "push it" on the portlandia tour.