HONESDALE, PA — Having had my fair share of illness in the past, with treatment based on Western medicine, it seemed natural when I developed an interest in alternative forms of healing.

Tessa Lindow shows off some of the specialty creations at her newly opened Frosted Cake Shop. "The challenge for me," she says, "is to make cakes that don't look like cakes."

Baker Tessa Lindow wants you to have your cake – and smile at it too.

The owner of the newly opened Frosted Cake Shop will make ordinary desserts.

But her preference? "Crazy cakes," quirky creations that are as much kitsch art as confection.

"People sometimes are hesitant to cut into them because they don't want to ruin them," the 25-year-old says.

Recent products of her oven: cakes shaped like hearts and livers for patients who were undergoing transplants, and one that looked exactly like a Lay's potato chips bag.

"That was for a memorial service," Lindow says of the Lay's cake. "It was (the deceased's) favorite food."

The owner of a local dance studio had her make a cake resembling a tap shoe. Another customer wanted one that looked like a hamburger.

The Sacramento native got her training in offbeat baking working for chefs in Chicago and New York – after graduating from UC Davis with a degree in communications.

She returned here two years ago and started baking part time out of the Old Soul midtown kitchen. Then this month she opened her own place at 1820 29th St. in a complex that also houses a Temple coffee shop.

She's among a very few local bakers specializing in novelty cakes – a growing national phenomenon with the popularity of cable TV shows like "Ace of Cakes" and "Cake Boss."

Among Lindow's local competitors: Lien Sanchez of the Crazy Cake Co. in Davis.

Lindow probably speaks for them all when she says her job is as much sculpting as baking.

"The challenge for me," she says, "is to make cakes that don't look like cakes."

Holding pattern

It doesn't look like east Sac's Good Eats restaurant is opening any time soon.

The already-delayed debut is being set back further by last week's closure of a related business in Arizona.

The Scottsdale, Ariz., store – opened by Good Eats co-founder Michael Teel in late 2008 – just couldn't make it in a community hit with high unemployment compounded by a highly seasonal economy.

The closure is "a very sad situation," says Julie Rollofson, who is Good Eats' CEO. She is married to Teel, who stepped away from Good Eats' operations after taking over the CEO post at Raley's earlier this year.

Rollofson says she's spending most of her time now "winding down" the Arizona operation instead of gearing up for an opening of the first Sacramento Good Eats at the former Andiamo restaurant site at 3145 Folsom Blvd.

The Sacramento bistro/gourmet grocery was set to open in mid-2009. Then January of this year. Then April.

The new likely opening date?

"I don't know," Rollofson says.

Paint the town

What happened to that mural on the former Rick's Uptown Market at 17th Street and Capitol Avenue?

Crews fixing up the building for future tenant Grocery Outlet last week cut away the bottom half of the artwork depicting a store produce section while leaving untouched a companion mural.

Grocery Outlet spokeswoman Melissa Porter says the damage was unavoidable "due to asbestos and lead paint abatement."

Public art activist James Cooper – whose group commissioned both murals – has a different perspective. He says the painting could have been saved with more thoughtful planning.

In any case, this story should have a happy ending.

Porter says the grocery chain is committed to restoring both murals on the building's exterior, calling them "a neighborhood treasure."

A request for a proposal for the restoration work will be issued soon, she says. The grocery is likely to open in July.

L’apparition de l’Insignia en 2008 donnait  un véritable coup de vieux à l’ensemble des autres modèles d’Opel et particulièrement à l’Astra, modèle alors le plus âgé de la gamme. La berline compacte a pourtant du cohabiter plus d’an an avec sa distinguée grande sœur avant d’obtenir une descendance, arrivée en septembre dernier, au Salon de Francfort, avec de grandes ambitions. Pour espérer batailler comme par le passé avec les ténors d’un segment extrêmement disputé (puisque premier en Europe en volume), cette quatrième génération d’Astra reprend les éléments qui ont fait recette chez sa grande sœur, tant en termes de design que de vie à bord ou de solutions techniques. Des arguments suffisants pour convaincre ?

Dès le premier regard, et quel que soit l’angle sous lequel on l’approche, impossible de ne pas déceler l’inspiration «Insignia» qui a guidé les designers de l’Astra. Les flancs sculptés dessinant un angle sont présents, au niveau des portières arrière et tournée vers l’arrière dans ce cas-ci (sur les portes avant et vers l’avant sur une Insignia), de même que la ligne de toit fuyante sur l’arrière permettant à l’auto de se faire moins anguleuse que par le passé. A l’avant, l’Astra adopte des feux intégrant la nouvelle signature lumineuse d’Opel qui encadrent une calandre trapézoïdale barrée d’un large jonc chromé portant le «blitz». A l’arrière, petite révolution (mais alors toute petite), l’Astra reçoit des feux en deux parties empiétant sur le hayon, qui laisse toujours au bouclier le soin de porter la plaque d’immatriculation, se contentant, lui, du logo.

Un style moderne donc, qui semble plaire beaucoup, particulièrement auprès des 20-40 ans. Ca tombe bien : c’est dans cette tranche d’âge que se situe la majeure partie du public de ce type d’auto, en plus des flottes d’entreprises bien entendu. On pourra cependant regretter une partie arrière renvoyant indéniablement à l’image d’une Mazda 3 auquel  le dessin de la vitre de hayon n’est pas étranger, ou la grande vulnérabilité aux rayures de la carrosserie et des boucliers. C’est souvent le cas actuellement malheureusement.

Côté technique, l’Astra est bâtie sur la plateforme Delta, qui sert déjà de support à la cousine Chevrolet Cruze. Prête pour batailler dans la catégorie des compactes, l’Astra ne l’est pourtant plus tant que ça, compacte : elle mesure désormais 4,42 mètres de long, soit 17 centimètres de plus que la précédente génération. Une «folie des grandeurs» dictée par la montée en taille des «citadines» (dont l’actuelle Corsa est épargnée) dépassant souvent désormais les quatre mètres de long, mais aussi par la nécessité de ne pas grever l’habitabilité et les aspects pratiques sur l’autel du design (de la ligne de toit profilée citée plus haut). L’Astra fait ainsi désormais partie des grandes du segment puisque seules la Mazda 3 (4,46 mètres) et la Lancia Delta (4,52 mètres) sont plus longues encore.

De l’Insignia, sa petite sœur en reprend aussi les technologies. En puisant dans la liste d’options, il sera ainsi possible d’opter pour des équipements plutôt rares à ce niveau de gamme comme le système AFL+  voire même inédits comme l’Opel Eye (qui reconnait les panneaux de signalisation).

Côté motorisation, c’est le 1.7 CDTI de 110 chevaux, a n’en pas douter la version qui sera la plus prisée chez nous,  qui a retenu notre attention.

A lire également :
Essai Opel Astra 1.7 CDTI : Insignia, l’inspiratrice (2/3)
Essai Opel Astra 1.7 CDTI : Sans peur et sans reproche (3/3)

Essai Opel Insignia : bien sous tous rapports (1/3)

Un prix design pour l’Opel Astra

Tessa Lindow shows off some of the specialty creations at her newly opened Frosted Cake Shop. "The challenge for me," she says, "is to make cakes that don't look like cakes."

Baker Tessa Lindow wants you to have your cake – and smile at it too.

The owner of the newly opened Frosted Cake Shop will make ordinary desserts.

But her preference? "Crazy cakes," quirky creations that are as much kitsch art as confection.

"People sometimes are hesitant to cut into them because they don't want to ruin them," the 25-year-old says.

Recent products of her oven: cakes shaped like hearts and livers for patients who were undergoing transplants, and one that looked exactly like a Lay's potato chips bag.

"That was for a memorial service," Lindow says of the Lay's cake. "It was (the deceased's) favorite food."

The owner of a local dance studio had her make a cake resembling a tap shoe. Another customer wanted one that looked like a hamburger.

The Sacramento native got her training in offbeat baking working for chefs in Chicago and New York – after graduating from UC Davis with a degree in communications.

She returned here two years ago and started baking part time out of the Old Soul midtown kitchen. Then this month she opened her own place at 1820 29th St. in a complex that also houses a Temple coffee shop.

She's among a very few local bakers specializing in novelty cakes – a growing national phenomenon with the popularity of cable TV shows like "Ace of Cakes" and "Cake Boss."

Among Lindow's local competitors: Lien Sanchez of the Crazy Cake Co. in Davis.

Lindow probably speaks for them all when she says her job is as much sculpting as baking.

"The challenge for me," she says, "is to make cakes that don't look like cakes."

Holding pattern

It doesn't look like east Sac's Good Eats restaurant is opening any time soon.

The already-delayed debut is being set back further by last week's closure of a related business in Arizona.

The Scottsdale, Ariz., store – opened by Good Eats co-founder Michael Teel in late 2008 – just couldn't make it in a community hit with high unemployment compounded by a highly seasonal economy.

The closure is "a very sad situation," says Julie Rollofson, who is Good Eats' CEO. She is married to Teel, who stepped away from Good Eats' operations after taking over the CEO post at Raley's earlier this year.

Rollofson says she's spending most of her time now "winding down" the Arizona operation instead of gearing up for an opening of the first Sacramento Good Eats at the former Andiamo restaurant site at 3145 Folsom Blvd.

The Sacramento bistro/gourmet grocery was set to open in mid-2009. Then January of this year. Then April.

The new likely opening date?

"I don't know," Rollofson says.

Paint the town

What happened to that mural on the former Rick's Uptown Market at 17th Street and Capitol Avenue?

Crews fixing up the building for future tenant Grocery Outlet last week cut away the bottom half of the artwork depicting a store produce section while leaving untouched a companion mural.

Grocery Outlet spokeswoman Melissa Porter says the damage was unavoidable "due to asbestos and lead paint abatement."

Public art activist James Cooper – whose group commissioned both murals – has a different perspective. He says the painting could have been saved with more thoughtful planning.

In any case, this story should have a happy ending.

Porter says the grocery chain is committed to restoring both murals on the building's exterior, calling them "a neighborhood treasure."

A request for a proposal for the restoration work will be issued soon, she says. The grocery is likely to open in July.

Box Score

MILWAUKEE --That scoreboard photo above? It wasn't taken immediately after Brandon Jennings made a three to open the game, so it's probably best that you can't make out the numbers. Because you can then safely assume the Bucks were losing.

The Sixers are among the rarest of teams with a better record on the road than at home. And this game against Philadelphia started and ended like the season started in Philadelphia: in bad form, in disappointment, in a loss.

Only now the expectations are so much higher for Milwaukee, and so much lower for Philadelphia, that this one stings even more, and it always hurts to lose the first game of the season after a too-long spring and summer.

This was a bad time for the Sixers to realize their talent, but the Bucks have no excuses. Not on a night when Elton Brand (1-7 shooting) was hardly there and Thaddeus Young and Lou Williams weren't there at all. Philadelphia's talent level doesn't suggest they are a bad team, but after five months a loss tonight would have meant they had twice as many losses as wins. And that's bad.

Unfortunately, the Bucks were worse, as human-after-all John Salmons (four points on 2-12 shooting) clunked back to earth, Andrew Bogut (eight points, three rebounds) was outdone not by one but two Philadelphia centers (Samuel Dalembert and Jason Smith), and not a single Milwaukee player was memorable.

Meanwhile, Willie Green only needed 16 to lead all scorers, as most everyone on Philadelphia contributed to the killing, with Jrue Holiday (15/4/7) playing more mature than someone born in the 1990's, the aforementioned Dalembert (12/10) having his way with Bogut, and even Jodie Meeks (seven points in 21 minutes) getting in on the Philly fun.

But the team can't forget games like this, because for as great as the Bucks have played at home recently and all year, they are certainly prone to fall into absolute disarray from time to time. In the Bradley Center, when it rains it pours -- the last five home losses have been by 12+ points. Granted, that dates back three months and plenty of personnel changes, but Jennings, Bogut, Mbah a Moute, Delfino, Ridnour, and Skiles are pretty substantial constants.

And speaking of constants, unfortunately, defense wasn't one for Milwaukee. A bottom-tier Sixers offense put up 58 first-half points even as Skiles went a legitimate ten-deep in the first 24 minutes to try to find answers.

Also unfortunately, the Bucks haven't quite yet played their final minutes against the Sixers this season. Bogut, Ivey, Brezec, the whole crew, travel to the City of Brotherly love on April 9.

THREE BUCKS

Luc Mbah a Moute. While this wasn't his finest hour, he was fine in 15 minutes, so it's difficult to understand why Mbah a Moute didn't play more. Elton Brand was a non-factor, The Prince came up with three steals in limited burn, and the rest of the Bucks couldn't stop anyone. They needed points to keep up, but Luc made his way to the hoop for a couple baskets including a dunk early.

Jerry Stackhouse. Stack wins points for aggressiveness. Maybe loses them too for the same reason, but at least he was alive out there. He made almost half of the team's 17 free throws, and made all of his free throws (8-8). Unfortunately, he couldn't make a thing from outside (1-6 on threes) and that was just killing the Bucks all evening.

Primo Brezec. The Second Buck shot 1-6 from outside and the star of the night was benched after 15 minutes, so yeah, Primo's four points (2-2 shooting) and three rebounds in the final seven minutes of the game are good  mediocre enough.

THREE NUMBERS

17.9 % The Bucks kept on firing their way to a 5-28 (.179) night on three pointers. That is merely terrible, but when you consider that the Sixers are the worst team in the NBA at defending threes, the stat becomes almost unbelievably ghastly. Philadelphia entered this evening allowing opponents to shoot an NBA-best 39.8 % from beyond the arc.

The Bucks started 1-14 on threes.

28. An odd one: The Bucks scored 28 fastbreak points (11-11 shooting) compared to 12 (on 5-5 shooting) for the Sixers.

4. John Salmons scored four points on 2-12 shooting after scoring at least three times (12) that many points in every game as a Buck heretofore.

THREE GOOD

At least... I'm just an impartial reporter who doesn't care which team wins.

Home run. Another home loss was bound to happen eventually, but quite a run at home. Milwaukee fell tonight at the BC, but not before eight straight home wins that spanned a full month and a week.

Now here's the strange part. Remember all of those early-season nailbiting home losses? Well, can you remember the last one? Key(hyphenated)word was "early-season."

You'll have to think all the way back more than three months ago when Tyreke scooped in a layup to burn the Bucks, on Dec. 19 for the last close loss at the Bradley Center.

The five home losses since then? All big, bad, blowouts.

• Dec. 23: The Wizards and the no-longer Big Three of Arenas/Jamison/Butler ran past the Bucks 109-97. 
• Dec. 26: Tim Duncan worked the Bucks for an easy 112-97 win.
• Feb. 9: The hapless Pistons crushed Milwaukee 93-81.
• Feb. 18: Houston got extra-hot and destroyed the Bucks 127-99.
• March 24: Tonight's eyesore, 101-86 to Philly. Philly.

Iggy's dunk. The Bucks threw down at least three dunks (Mbah a Moute, Ilyasova, Stackhouse) in the first quarter alone, but Andre Iguodala's third quarter windmill slam summarized the night with an exclamation point.

A particularly vocal spit insults at the Sixers very early and very often in this game, targeting Samuel Dalembert and Andre Iguodala in particular. As the game turned in Philly's favor, Dalembert enjoyed some good-natured ribbing at the expense of this paying patron, frequently talking back and standing up to turn around and taunt the fan during some of the many Sixers highlight moments. This guy had also teased Iggy quite a bit, saying he was not the real AI.

But the dunk altered things, to the point that he admittedIggy was the real AI. This guy seriously seemed to fire up half the players on Philadelphia and so it was somewhat gratifying to see him play the fool in the end.

THREE BAD

Bogut. "Emo Bogut" was One Bad in the opening night loss in Philly, and we thought that things were different now, but here we are... This marks a third straight Emo-ish game for Andrew. Another single-digit scoring game (8) after going for two points in Denver and nine points against Atlanta, and he totaled as many turnovers (3) as rebounds.

Skiles, post-game:

We're not overly concerned or anything like that. Any player can go through a three or four game stretch during the season where they are not the same. But, you know, it's there, and everybody can see it.

Starters' start. The starters didn't even last five minutes on the floor as Scott Skiles subbed out Jennings, Delfino, Mbah a Moute, and Bogut at the 7:29 mark of the first quarter. The Bucks only trailed 14-9 at that point, but coach had seen enough, he had seen too much, really. And Skiles is never shy to bench someone, anyone. The idea isn't so much to send a message, but to get someone on the floor who will play.

So, who will play? Skiles doesn't play around:

With 5:15 to go in the first quarter, a colleague of mine asked, "Am I seeing things?" upon Royal Ivey making his way to check in at center court. The PA announcer said the words "Royal Ivey," to which I asked "Am I hearing things?"

No, times were just that desperate, that early.

The Jennings/Salmons/Delfino/Mbah a Moute/Bogut quintet has been mostly magnificent (+74 in 237.6 minutes before tonight) but they have proven very breakable recently, as Skiles noted after the game:

The Denver game was very good. Take that game out of what I was saying. But the rest of the games, Clippers, Sacramento, Atlanta the other night, and tonight, we're not doing anything to set the tone or anything. We're starting the game just kind of passive and teams are taking it to us and forcing us to get back into the games... Tonight was much more like the Clippers game where we just couldn't get back into it.

Easy, breezy. Jrue Holiday and Jason Kapono lit up the Bradley Center with 10 points each in the first quarter, making 9-10 shots from the field combined.

And neither played a second in the second quarter.

Need to make time for Jodie Meeks, I guess. The former Buck managed more court time (12:52) than both Holiday and Kapono in the first half. It's almost as if Eddie Jordan was just toying with the Bucks in this one. Like a great team against a terrible one, the Sixers interchanged players with little noticeable change. No matter who Philly threw on the court, the result was the same. Willie Green, Jason Smith, Marreese Speights, they all got theirs.

The Sixers cruised to this win, no sweat.

Filed under: Republic of Dish

PHILADELPHIA -- Kathleen Turner leans back in an old-fashioned wooden swivel chair and props her feet -- shod in bright red cowboy boots -- smack on top of a desk.

For the next 75 minutes, the voluptuous, whiskey-voiced Turner is up and down as she channels Molly Ivins, the high-born Texas populist; profane, hilarious and astute chronicler of dumb-as-dirt, racist, sexist and plain ol' thieving politicians; and an absolutely ferocious, itinerant First Amendment junkyard dog.

"Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins" had its world premiere Wednesday night at the Philadelphia Theatre Company. On a sparse stage set that feels like a newspaper boneyard, Turner traverses the complex life of an American original: A privileged upbringing (deb parties, Smith College, good French), a domineering daddy (a price-fixing Big Oil lawyer called The General) and a cultivated yet ditzy mama; a 6-foot physique that made her feel like "a Clydesdale among greyhounds"; two lovers who died young (one in a motorcycle wreck, the other in Vietnam, the first war she loathed and opposed, before Iraq); great jobs (The Texas Observer, her "gateway drug"); awful jobs (The New York Times, where editors were "mice training to be rats"); the God Bless 'Em Godawful Texas Legislature; her beloved dog (named "S---" for her perverse pleasure in shouting the name indoors and out); and her own mortality at 62, after three bouts of breast cancer with a generous side of cigarettes and booze.

This play is not a recitation of Molly Ivins' greatest hHits, her celebrated zingers, rants and civic sermons delivered over 40 years. Still, one ought to know it was she who dubbed as "Shrub" George Dubya Bush, and who said of Pat Buchanan's red-meat, right-wing speech at the 1992 Republican Convention, "It probably sounded better in the original German." If it's a full Ivins immersion you seek, listen to all of her audio books.

For a more complex, nuanced sense of Ivins in all her loud messiness, see this play (it runs through April 18). Half the words are really Molly's. The other half are the well-researched inventions of the veteran reporter-author Engel twins: Margaret, who lives outside D.C., a former Washington Post staffer who runs the Alicia Patterson Journalism Foundation; and Allison, who lives near Palm Springs and is communications director for the University of Southern California, where she earned a master's in screenwriting.

"The day after Molly died I was so upset that her voice was gone that I called Allison and said we have to do a show about her," Margaret told me an hour before the first preview on March 19. "I felt she was our Mark Twain, our Will Rogers, and by 'ours' I meant the country's. She had readers all across the spectrum. At her peak she was in 300 papers. She cared so much about politics and she could write about it in such a humorous and sharp way. She could translate complicated matters in Washington so everyone could understand it. And she did it from Austin, Texas, way beyond the Beltway."

"Kathleen was our No. 1 choice" said Allison Engel. Jim Autry of Des Moines, who serves with Turner on the board of the liberal People for the American Way, was a pal who says he "told Allison I'd put the script into Kathleen's hands, and the rest is history. Kathleen and Molly are kindred spirits, and this play is a great piece of synchronicity."

Turner had met Ivins at several PAW events, and later at her New York apartment building, where former Gov. Ann Richards -- another smart, mouthy Texas political force of nature -- also had a place and whom Ivins would visit.

"I wanted to do this play to keep Molly alive, to do right by her," Turner told me after show.

Allison Engel marvels at the seven-month "land speed record" between Turner's first reading last August at an Arena Stage theater near Washington and the March 24 Philly debut. "I think we were just extraordinarily lucky," she said. "Kathleen had this opening in her schedule and the Philadelphia Theatre Company was able to accommodate it." (Arena Stage, alas, enlisted first through a Margaret Engel connection, was booked solid for 2010, hence the Philly opening, for which the sisters kept rewriting until just before the first preview).

Turner, her blond hair now a deep red, evokes rather than mimics Ivins, the latest in a succession of strong females she has played; they range from the very scary Matty Walker of "Body Heat" back in 1981 to the bitter, alcoholic Martha in the 2005 Broadway revival of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" to last year's recurring role as the sex-crazed agent on "Californication," the Showtime cable series.

As I watched her during the play and at a champagne reception for 60 Engel & Engel friends who'd come from around the country to celebrate, I thought, "three cheers for women of a certain age." Turner is 55. The authors are 58. In fact, says Margaret Engel, one impetus for writing the play came from an earlier appeal by Sally Field, who urged women writers to create meaty scripts for older actresses. "We feel good about that," Allison Engel said. "It's a good role for a woman who's not 18 year old."

The play was originally called "The Red Rose of Texas." But longtime friend and former Rep. Jim Leach, the 15-term Iowa Republican who now heads National Endowment for the Humanities, lobbied to get the word "patriot" into the title. "There is nothing more patriotic than dissent," he said.

Ivins' favorite dissenter was John Henry Faulk, the Texas writer who was blacklisted in the '50s, later won a libel suit against the red baiters but never collected a dime. And so Miss Molly laments onstage, "We get so rattled by some Big Scary Thing -- communism or crime, hell, even sex -- we think we can make ourselves safer by giving up some of our rights. Johnny said, 'When you make yourself less free, you are not safer. You are just less free.' "

After Faulk died, Ivins hit the First Amendment and civil liberties trail. "For nigh onto 15 years, at least once a month, even in the throes of a massive hangover, I have staggered onto a plane and arrived sometime later at Fluterville or Lard Lake or some such desperate place where citizens need help. . . . It is so damn uplifting that I put the ACLU and The [Texas] Observer in my will. My legacy will be helping folks be a pain in the ass to those in power."

Some might call that red hot patriotism.

 

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A VIP list maintained by Chicago Public Schools included admissions requests by Patrick Daley Thompson, Mayor Richard Daley's nephew, on behalf of a longtime supporter of the family's political organization, the Tribune has confirmed.

At least two other attorneys from Thompson's powerful law firm also lobbied to get students into the city's best schools. The CPS inspector general is investigating one of those cases, a source said.

On Tuesday, Mayor Richard Daley denied any role in the VIP lists, which were kept by orders of then-schools chief Arne Duncan, who is now U.S. education secretary. However, the Tribune has verified six instances in which the mayor's staff or his nephew intervened for students.

Daley spokeswoman Jacqueline Heard said Wednesday the mayor never would have denied involvement if he knew about the lobbying efforts.

"Do you really believe the mayor would say that unequivocally if he didn't believe it was true?" said Heard. "That leads you to believe that the mayor didn't have knowledge that any of these people were making calls."

Logs indicate Thompson contacted then-CPS schools chief Duncan in April 2008 in the hopes of securing two spots at Whitney Young Magnet High School for the daughters of a ward loyalist. The girls' father, a high-ranking city supervisor, has donated about $2,500 to the Daley family's 11th Ward Democratic Organization in the past decade.

The father's name also appears on another once-secret government log. He was listed as the sponsor of three people who sought city jobs for their political work, according to a clout list once kept in the mayor's office that was entered into evidence during the 2006 federal trial of Daley's former patronage chief, Robert Sorich.

The man has worked as a voter registrar in the ward and lives on the same street as Thompson, who now owns the Bridgeport bungalow where his grandfather, Mayor Richard J. Daley, once lived.

Heard denied Thompson intervened because he wanted to reward an 11th Ward foot soldier, and noted the children were not accepted into their top choice.

"It had nothing to do with the political connections," she said. "It was because he was a longtime friend."

The logs obtained by the Tribune indicate the students were denied a place at Whitney Young because their scores were too low. Instead they were enrolled at Lincoln Park High School, which is not a selective-enrollment school but has several highly regarded magnet programs.

The Tribune revealed Monday that Duncan ordered his office to track admissions requests over several years. The lists, used mostly in appeals cases, include politicians and influential business people but also show inquiries from unconnected parents looking to place their children.

There is no evidence that principals were forced to admit unqualified students. Indeed, many students were rejected even after Duncan's office intervened.

In the Thompson case, Lincoln Park principal Bessie Karvelas said she was never pressured by the district's central office to accept anyone. On the log, Lincoln Park often serves as a landing spot for politically connected children who have been rejected by selective-enrollment schools.

"Nobody said, 'I want you to take this student,'" she said.

Thompson did not return calls seeking comment.

The names of at least two other zoning lawyers at Thompson's firm, DLA Piper, appear on the list, as well.

In 2006, one lawyer requested a child's admission to a program that was full. The student was later placed into a coveted magnet school after CPS officials encouraged the Piper attorney to write a letter to the principal, according to the logs. The attorney has worked on several major civic endeavors in Chicago and also represented the Chicago Cubs when they were owned by Tribune Co., which owns the Chicago Tribune.

Two years later, Daley education aide Tawa Jogunosimi made a request on behalf of another Piper attorney who was seeking a child's admission to Augustus H. Burley School, a magnet elementary that focuses on writing and literature. The student was No. 5 on the wait list at the time and was later accepted.

The case is being reviewed by the CPS inspector general, a source said.

A spokesperson for DLA Piper declined comment on lobbying by the firm's lawyers, calling it a "family matter."

Jogunosimi also made requests on behalf of a new city hire, according to the 2008 list. The employee's two children were placed in highly desirable schools.

The lists also indicate that in 2008, John Dunn, then Daley's chief lobbyist, requested help for the child of one of his employees.

The student wanted to attend either Lane Technical High School or Prosser Career Academy. The student didn't get into either school. According to the log, the Prosser principal was contacted and said the school already was "60 students over" and that an alderman already had five students on the waiting list.

"He would love to help but there is not much he can do," according to the log.

Dunn, who left his job as director of Daley's Office of Intergovernmental Affairs last year and is now a private attorney, could not be reached for comment.

Officials highlighted Dunn's case as an example of how the system did not exert undue influence or help politically connected people land students at top schools.

"For every person who has the affiliations with City Hall who is on the list, I can name you 10 with deeper affiliations who are not," Heard said.

Tribune reporters Stacy St. Clair and Jodi S. Cohen contributed to this report.

--Azam Ahmed and Todd Lighty

Breast cancer study aims to speed drugs Montreal Gazette "I-SPY 2 will provide a path to personalized medicine," said Dr. Laura Esserman, a breast cancer surgeon at the University of California San Francisco who ... I-SPY2: Breast-cancer Trial Aims to Speed Drugs to the ClinicNCI Cancer Bulletin New study tailors drugs to breast cancer patientsLansdale Reporter all 11 news articles »

Aldermen moved forward yesterday on a plan that is part of Mayor Daley's plan to get the city out from under federal hiring oversight, with a key committee signing off on the mayor's proposal to put his Office of Compliance out of business. (Daley put the Office of Compliance together in late 2007, telling reporters then that “I know there have been many questions raised about whether this office will compete with the inspector general. … At its core, this department is about assuring that the city is complying with the many local, state and federal requirements.”) The measure will send five Office of Compliance staffers over to the city's Inspector General, and give the IG more funding and authority over hiring. The mayor hopes this move will get federal monitors (including Federal Judge Wayne Anderson) off his back about patronage in Chicago.

But aldermen still aren't too excited about the other part of Daley's proposal - to give the IG authority to investigate corruption and wrongdoing in the City Council. 50th Ward Alderman Bernie Stone has been especially outspoken about the change. “That would mean the executive branch would control the votes of the aldermen. That’s the same type of power J. Edgar Hoover tried to get over Congress [so he could] use that power to blackmail Congress,” Stone said earlier this year. Under former inspector general David Hoffman, the city IG started an investigation into vote fraud in the 50th Ward after being tipped off following Stone's narrow 2007 runoff re-election over challenger Naisy Dolar. That investigation ended with Cook County prosecutors charging Stone’s 50th Ward Supt. Anish Eapen with official misconduct, including absentee ballot fraud and mutilation of election materials. Stone has previously threatened to "wipe [the] entire office [of Inspector General] out of the budget."

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Eric Zemmour, ce n'est pas seulement le coiffeur des stars avec des seins refaits, c'est aussi le nom de l'homme en passe de devenir le plus détesté de France. Il faut admettre qu'il a tout fait pour. A croire qu'il a suivi un guide Marabout «Comment se faire lyncher en place publique en 10 leçons».

L'avalanche de mauvaises nouvelles pour Eric Zemmour semble sans fin et on ignore si sa lettre d'excuse y changera quelque chose. La Licra (Ligue internationale contre le racisme et l'antisémitisme) a annoncé qu'elle allait le poursuivre en justice (1), le Mrap (Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l'amitié entre les peuples), le Club Averroès et le Cran (conseil représentatif des associations noires) ont saisi le CSA; ledit CSA a assuré qu'il allait prêter une attention particulière aux propos du polémiste qui ont parfois une «tonalité raciste», le Figaro envisage de le licencier, et même son patron sympa, Laurent Ruquier, prend ses distances. Eric Zemmour est seul, acculé, traqué. Eric Zemmour doit-il mourir?

Contre-productivité

Annoncer en conférence de rédaction que je pensais rédiger un article pour défendre Eric Zemmour, c'est un peu comme si j'avais dit qu'Emile Louis aurait sûrement fait un excellent baby-sitter. En conséquence, pour éviter tout malentendu, je tiens à préciser que je ne partage aucune des idées d'Eric Zemmour. Mais la forme que prend cette curée contre lui me dérange. Et elle me dérange précisément parce que je ne suis pas d'accord avec lui et que l'attitude de ses adversaire lui donne raison —ce qui est quand même le comble de la contre-productivité.

Là où Zemmour n'a pas tort (attention, veuillez reposer ces cailloux, je n'ai pas fini ma phrase), c'est que les cris n'ont aucune valeur explicative. Pour disqualifier un ennemi, il ne suffit pas de jeter l'anathème sur lui sous la forme de l'insulte suprême «gros raciste». Traiter quelqu'un de «gros raciste» n'a jamais constitué un argument valable dans un débat. Ça consiste seulement à disqualifier un orateur, à s'attaquer à son «ethos», mais disqualifier quelqu'un ne disqualifie pas pour autant ses arguments.

Quand la Licra attaque Eric Zemmour en justice, elle fait passer un message qui ressemble en gros à «dire que la plupart des trafiquants sont noirs ou arabes, c'est raciste et le racisme c'est mal». Et bien je ne suis pas convaincue par la force de la démonstration. Plutôt que de se borner à interdire les propos jugés racistes, est-ce qu'il ne vaudrait pas mieux les décortiquer, les analyser et y répondre?

Plonger dans la passion

Evidemment, face à des propos bêtement racistes, l'argumentation est inutile. Mais Zemmour n'est pas un abruti. C'est frappant de voir ses détracteurs plonger tête la première dans le registre de la passion, de l'émotion, alors que lui-même reste dans celui de la raison et des idées. Avec pour seule conséquence l'impression qu'en face, on n'a pas d'analyse à lui opposer. Ce que certains perçoivent comme des dérapages xénophobes de sa part s'inscrit en réalité dans une logique, dans une pensée organisée.

Et c'est pour cette raison qu'il faut lui opposer des arguments plutôt que des insultes. Refuser la discussion, c'est en un sens lui donner raison. Et dans notre système démocratique empreint de paranoïa, cela revient à laisser penser qu'il dit la vérité et que c'est pour ça qu'il dérange.

Invité sur le plateau de «l'Objet du scandale», à l'occasion de la promo de son livre Mélancolie Française, Eric Zemmour était face à Frédéric Bonnaud et Gérard Miller. Ce dernier n'eut de cesse de s'exclamer sur le mode «gros raciste», «c'est intolérable», «une honte», sans réussir à donner d'argument parce qu'à chaque phrase de Zemmour, il était clairement pris d'une envie de se rincer la bouche avec du Cif ammoniacal.

De l'autre côté, Frédéric Bonnaud, lui, a dialogué avec le polémiste en reconnaissant des points intéressants dans sa vision de l'histoire mais en marquant et expliquant ses désaccords notamment sur ce qui est de l'ordre du culturel et du social. Répondre calmement à Eric Zemmour suppose de se poser certaines questions dont les réponses semblent compliquées. Quelle est l'ampleur réelle du malaise dans les banlieues? Est-il dû à un problème d'intégration des immigrés ou d'exclusion économique et sociale des plus défavorisés? Ce n'est pas parce que les réponses d'Eric Zemmour nous déplaisent que les questions ne méritent pas qu'on s'y attarde.

Stéréotypes

Bien sûr, il ne s'agit pas pour moi d'apporter ici une réponse (j'aurais du mal à le faire) ou d'imaginer un dialogue avec l'homme le plus détesté de France, mais seulement de prôner le débat. Un débat qui pour autant ne dédouane pas Eric Zemmour. Avec ses phrases choc, il donne l'impression d'énoncer une réalité préexistante dont personne d'autre ne veut parler parce qu'elle dérange. Mais une prise de parole n'est jamais innocente et elle entraîne une responsabilité. On peut se demander si ce genre de phrases n'aggrave pas la situation sous couvert d'en faire un simple constat. En stéréotypant des gens, on prend le risque de pérenniser ce qu'on voulait dénoncer.

Si on caricature, dire que la plupart des trafiquants sont noirs et arabes est-ce que ça ne pousse pas à la reproduction de ce schéma? (Si tant est qu'il soit vrai, ce qui n'est pas mon propos ici.) Depuis longtemps, les sciences du langage ont établi que le langage ne se contente pas de refléter le monde. Il l'invente et le modifie. La parole contribue à créer une réalité et c'est précisément pour ça qu'elle engage notre responsabilité. Si toute une société répète que la plupart des trafiquants sont noirs et arabes, que cette affirmation soit vraie ou fausse, elle finira par devenir vraie.

Evidemment, s'il existe des textes de lois, ce n'est pas pour rien et poursuivre en justice pour des propos racistes peut être une bonne chose. Mais dans le cas de la phrase d'Eric Zemmour sur les trafiquants noirs et arabes, que peut faire la justice? Elle n'a pas à déterminer si cette assertion est vraie ou fausse. Elle va devoir décider si elle est discriminante. Or, Eric Zemmour n'a pas dit «la plupart des noirs et des arabes sont des trafiquants». Il n'a pas non plus dit que culturellement ou génétiquement les blancs étaient plus honnêtes.

Emballement

Le vrai problème avec cette phrase c'est que juste ou pas, raciste ou non, elle reflète l'opinion de beaucoup de Français qui la perçoivent comme une vérité. Une petite plongée dans les commentaires de certains sites le montre:

Ce qui est frappant dans toutes les analyses, c'est qu'à aucun moment on ne met sur le tapis la question de la véracité de l'assertion de Zemmour, on le juge, on le diabolise, on l'excommunie, mais à aucun moment, on n'évalue la vérité du propos.

La phrase de Zemmour était peut-être l'occasion d'expliquer, de faire appel à des spécialistes pour nous donner une vision plus objective de la réalité.

Remarquons une dernière chose. Cela fait plusieurs années qu'Eric Zemmour apparaît dans les médias avec ses opinions que nous qualifierons de très personnelles. Mais jamais jusqu'à présent, il n'y avait eu un tel emballement. Pourquoi? Sans doute en réaction à un climat crispé qui inquiète les associations anti-racistes. Si le Front national avait été enterré pendant les récentes élections régionales, Zemmour aurait-il tous ces problèmes? Sans doute aussi à cause d'un emballement propre à la machine médiatique. Peut-être également, mais je précise que c'est une simple hypothèse, qu'à un infime niveau, ce qu'il dit est jugé plus choquant.

Plus choquant par rapport à quoi? Quand il a commencé à se faire repérer comme polémiste, Eric Zemmour parlait surtout des rapports hommes/femmes. C'était l'époque de la publication de son livre le Premier sexe. Il expliquait que les femmes auraient dû rester à la maison (pour leur bien-être personnel et celui des hommes) et que la féminisation de la société était sans doute à l'origine de la stagnation économique et intellectuelle de l'Europe.

Tolérance pour les propos sexistes

Il faisait des déclarations comme: «L'homme est dans la création, les femmes ne créent rien. Il n'y a pas de Mozart féminin, il n'y a pas d'Einstein féminin... Parce qu'elles ne sont pas dans la création et la transgression. Elles sont différentes.» Des propos hautement sexistes donc. Et pourtant, je n'ai pas le souvenir que le CSA à l'époque ait décidé de prêter attention aux propos à connotation sexiste de celui qui était déjà chroniqueur sur le service public. Ce n'est évidemment pas un regret, je pense même que ça valait mieux pour la cause des femmes. Il semble juste que les propos sexistes bénéficient d'une plus grande tolérance.

En dehors du cas Zemmour, l'actuelle ambiance idéologique en France est complexe. Comme l'ont démontré la campagne des régionales, la récente déclaration de Gérard Longuet, le débat sur la burqa, le quick halal, l'identité nationale, il y a un renvoi systématique à la couleur, la race, l'origine, la religion, la différence.

C'est certes un signal inquiétant, mais ce n'est pas en criant «gros raciste» qu'on y mettra fin. Pendant longtemps, on a refusé d'inviter Jean-Marie Le Pen sur les plateaux de télé, ça n'a jamais fait perdre de voix au Front national. La méthode de l'ostracisme ne résout rien. Et même si l'indignation est dictée par de bons sentiments, elle ne suffit pas à convaincre ceux qui se posent des questions. Ils seront convaincus par ceux qui leur tiennent un discours, pas par ceux qui attaquent en justice. Il vaut mieux en appeler à la raison qu'à la passion.

Titiou Lecoq

Photo: sur le plateau de «On est pas couché» / Laurent Denis / France 2

(1) La Licra a accepté un débat télévisé avec Zemmour, sur BFM, jeudi 25 mars.

There was a piece in Politico last week that did an impressive job of simultaneously capturing and embodying why so much of America thinks our political system sucks. The headline read “Elite Donors Dodge the DNC,” and the gist was that the Obama administration has so badly bungled the care and feeding of big-money contributors that fat cat Dems aren’t flocking to write their party big checks at the same rate rich Republicans did when the Bushies ran this town. Oh, sure, Politico acknowledges, “the DNC’s fundraising is humming along at a record pace,” but last year’s haul was nowhere near the level of money-grubbing achieved by the RNC under similar one-party rule. And a prime reason, Politico posits, is that only 10 percent of the president’s biggest fundraisers, many of whom are “chafing at not getting enough love from the administration,” have ponied up the max.

A special raspberry went out to the recently kicked-to-the-curb Desiree Rogers for, among other sins, failing to make sure important supporters got their White House Christmas cards. Another notable outrage was not inviting enough big donors to the state dinner for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. One dissed contributor huffed that the event was treated more like “a big staff party” than an opportunity to smooch the backsides of those who’d worked long and hard to fund Obama’s campaign. (Admittedly, the contributor didn’t put it in those exact terms.) More broadly, according to Politico’s interviews and its perusal of White House visitor logs, the Obamas have thus far failed to invite major funders to nearly as many private White House tours, holiday parties, Camp David sleepovers, and private legislative briefings as did their predecessors.

But all is not lost, Politico assures us. Among other signs that lessons are being learned in Obamaland, Rogers’s replacement will be Julianna Smoot, who “brings a variety of strengths to the job: She’s detail-oriented, she’s a strong manager, and she knows both the political and the donor worlds.” “A lot of things need to be fixed,” one White House insider confided.

Well, color me happy. How nice to hear that this administration will at last begin showing big donors the proper degree of pucker. By all means, screw change we can believe in. Let’s stick with the tried-and-true model of giving the most attention, access, and deference to those who fork over the most cash. Financially aiding a presidential candidate who shares your progressive governing vision is all well and good, but, honestly, what’s the point if the guy doesn’t invite you over for movie night from time to time?

I realize all the rich Dems who tirelessly squeezed checks out of their rich friends for the campaign just want to feel appreciated. Fat cats need love too. But wasn’t part of Obama’s explicit appeal his vow to move politics away from the business-as-usual, pay-for-access mentality? For big-money Dems to jump on that bandwagon and then get their panties in a bunch when Obama tries to stick with that whole “change” mantra suggests a pathological arrogance: I knew he’d keep all those other losers at arm’s length, but I assumed he’d make an exception for me.

Besides, didn’t much of America—including establishment Washington and high-minded liberals—spend several years loudly and self-righteously denouncing the oh-so-vulgar Clintons for taking donor maintenance to new and creative lows? I can remember the tut-tutting over the White House kaffeeklatsches like it was yesterday. And with all the finger-wagging about how Bill and Hill violated the sanctity of the Lincoln bedroom, you’d have thought the First Couple was running hookers out of the joint.

Today, it seems, we are supposed to be amazed at the way the Obama White House has dropped the ball on something so basic as sucking up. This, at least, is the breathless storyline being pedaled by Politico: If this president doesn’t climb down off his high horse and get busy “reenergizing major donors”—which the piece points out is “one of the quickest ways to fill the Democrats’ war chest”—slights like the forgotten holiday cards could result in “major repercussions in a year when the Democratic National Committee is going to need every possible resource to help the party’s congressional committees stave off major losses in the midterm elections.”

Indeed, to some degree, it’s hard to tell precisely how exercised big donors are versus how hard Politico is trying to generate buzz. Despite its alarmist frame, the piece is sprinkled with caveats—including that the DNC is, in fact, raising piles of cash, that it’s enjoying a rare funding edge over the RNC, that it is contending with other challenges (like the Obama-imposed prohibition on donations from lobbyists and PACs), and that most of the donors contacted say they do not feel neglected by the White House (although, what self-respecting liberal would admit to being miffed that his contribution hadn’t bought more ass-kissing?). So maybe, hopefully, this is at least partially a case of journalistic overreach. Plenty of donors surely wish Obama would pitch a little more woo their way, but the idea that a significant number would sit on their checkbooks out of pique is too depressing. With pathetic, self-important friends like that, who needs political enemies?

Michelle Cottle is a senior editor of The New Republic.

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Earnhardt explains Sunday's radio tirade and why "Don't lay down on me" pushed his buttons.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. says his profanity-laced rant over the team radio at Bristol was because he needed to vent about frustration from being penalized for speeding.

Some personal comments from his crew chief didn't help, either.

On the team radio at Bristol, Earnhardt Jr. exploded in a tirade against NASCAR's pit road speeding rules and teed off on crew chief Lance McGrew. Before testing Tuesday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Earnhardt Jr. explained why he was so upset.

In regard to McGrew's "Don't lay down on me" comment (in other words, encouraging his driver not to quit), Earnhardt Jr. said the words pressed his buttons in a big way.

"He was like, ‘Don't lay down on me,' and that pisses me off, because that's a little touchy subject with me," Earnhardt Jr. said, patting his chest. "People have always been giving me shit about my motivation – all my career. Whether I'm not focused enough, whether I've got the desire, the passion, all that stuff.

"Anytime anybody sort of touches on that type of shit, it pisses me off. Plus I wasn't in a good mood at the time."

Earnhardt Jr. said it wasn't unusual for crew chiefs and drivers to "fire back at each other every once in awhile," and said he didn't think it was a big deal.

As for his comments about the pit-road speeding penalty, Earnhardt Jr. said he had to release his anger and know he was being heard in order to focus on driving.

"I had to cuss my ass off just to calm down," he said. "I personally can't get back to what I'm doing just by sitting there and cussing by myself or punching the dash or whatever these other drivers do. I can't get calmed back down.

"I have to tell somebody. I have to know somebody's hearing my side of it, you know what I mean? And then I'm like, ‘Alright, I'm alright. Back to work.'"

Earnhardt Jr. was nailed for speeding because he was .06 mph over NASCAR's 5-mph tolerance for exceeding the pit-road speed limit. His frustration came from the location of his pit box in relation to the timing lines on pit road.

At larger tracks, there are several time lines which allow NASCAR to tell whether a driver's average speed between the lines exceeds the limit. But that allows some drivers whose pit stalls are before the line to go faster right before they slide into their box.

Earnhardt Jr.'s pit stall was after the time line, and when he gassed his car, he got caught. He knew what happened, but was simply frustrated.

"It just pissed me off to say, ‘I worked my ass off, I just got into fifth [place] before that happened and I have to go all the way in the back of the field because of sixth-hundreths of a mile an hour?'" he asked incredulously. "I mean, fuckin-a! I understand that they give you five miles an hour, but why give you five? What's the point in the tolerance? It's just frustrating."

The sport's most popular driver suggested a better solution for NASCAR would be to figure out a way to track speeds on individual cars. Technology (like on display during tests) has advanced to the point where a car's speed can be monitored, he said.

Earnhardt Jr. said his pit road speeding issue at Bristol might be indicative of a larger issue. At short tracks, drivers often have difficulty getting their pit road speed set by the pace car, so they must rely on an RPM number calculated by their engineers (drivers don't have speedometers in their car and instead use tachometers which give RPM readings).

"They say ‘Pace car is at pit road speed, get your fucking tach,'" Earnhardt Jr. said. "Well, I can't get it, it's all over the place. Cars are going and weaving and shit before the race starts. At Bristol? It's a fucking short track.

"My [RPM calculation] was 5100. So I'm running 5000 down pit road all day long and I was OK until I gassed it to go to my stall like everyone else does, but I shouldn't have done it, because I know that I passed the timing line."

On a final note before walking away, Earnhardt Jr. wanted to make sure his fans understood he didn't intentionally dodge the media after the race. He parked his car at the exit of Turn 1 rather than drive into the crowded garage and then bolted.

He would have given an interview after the race, but reporters didn't find him before he left.

His reason for a quick exit? Earnhardt Jr. has decided not to helicopter out of some tracks anymore in an effort to save money. So in an effort to get to the airport faster, he's trying to make a quick escape to beat traffic.

"We're hauling ass after these races and doing it the old-school way," he said. "It's kind of fun. Saves me a couple grand every week, anyway."

Adam McDowell carries a man-purse. His idea of a workout, he says, is "very grudgingly getting on a treadmill, or an elliptical machine," supplemented by the odd push-up or sit-up. He's never gone hunting (although he doesn't object to the idea). And for the next month, Adam McDowell is becoming a caveman. Well, sort of.

The National Post reporter and one-time Torontoist contributor is blogging his adventures with a new-but-old diet (one recently covered by the New York Times and Maclean's). Prefaced by Loren Cordain's 2002 book, The Paleo Diet, the movement finds its forerunners attempting to both eat and exercise like cavemen—hunter-gatherers, followers of the paleolithic lifestyle. This means lots of meat (including the raw sort), veggies and fruits (but no legumes!), and very few carbs (is Atkins suing yet?). As for exercise, the sticklers promote a regimen heavy in sprinting and jumping, meant to simulate chasing and securing one's prey. Eating and exercise aside, purist paleos further attempt to mimic the caveman lifestyle by donating blood regularly, similar to the way a caveman might lose blood in battle with their future dinner, and starving themselves for extended periods, to imitate the wait in between hunting sessions. With a nod to old ways of eating, the paleo plan seems poised to follow the hundred-mile diet in throwback food fads, although the expensive and potentially unethical meat-heavy facet may prove a deterrent to its mass appeal.

Last week, McDowell decided to give the diet a new angle by taking it on with his own bare hands. Having started on Wednesday, and with plans to end one month later on April 17, he is making the humble attempt to live his life in the style of a caveman on a budget of 350 bones. So far, he hasn't strayed too far from the ways of his ancestors. In his own paleolithic adaptation, he's carved his rules into stone: No processed foods, cereals, legumes, or starchy root veggies, and no sugars except for the most natural sorts (honey, agave nectar, and some syrups, if sparingly).

McDowell simplifies caveman culinary culture with categories: "There are two camps—the Paleo camp, which is about weight loss and maybe some fitness. And then there’s the caveman camp, which is more interested in ‘how much can we live like true human beings in the 21st century.' It's based on the principle that—just like a grass-fed cow is healthier than a grain-fed, antibiotic-stuffed cow because the grass-fed cow is living the way it’s supposed to—we humans are healthier if we eat and exercise the way that human beings were genetically designed, by evolution, to eat and exercise."

To stay true to the roots of his experiment, McDowell is seeking to add some historical correctness to the ordeal. "One thing I’m hoping for is to talk to an anthropologist to give me some sense of 'how realistic it is to think the caveman or Paleolithic people ate one way or a different way, or different ways at different times,'" he says. "I really want to know—is the idea of Paleolithic eating consistent with something that anthropologists actually know about, or is it just some sort of made-up, silly thing?"

While he blames his lack of exercise and unstarved self at this stage on a busy work schedule, he plans to factor in other aspects of the lifestyle before the month's end. "Maybe I’ll take a nice day and walk back from work." (No mean feat considering that's a trek from Don Mills all the way to Parkdale.) A self-described snacker, one of McDowell's biggest barriers between himself and true caveman is the pre-ordained periods without food. "If you put a bowl of something out in front of me, I’ll eat it, so starving myself for twenty-four hours is going to be tough. I’m thinking what I might do is by some expensive food and compensate by starving myself, so it’s like I can go to the Healthy Butcher if I don’t eat for a day to make the budget work."

"I’m a big fan of beans and peas and peanuts normally, so I’m thinking on my birthday, when I break my diet, I’ll eat some peanuts or something," said McDowell. Hearing a food writer excited to eat—of all things—peanuts for a birthday seems rotten, but McDowell doesn't seem to mind. And how does cave food make man feel? "I was really grumpy on the weekend. I didn’t club anybody though. I think that’s just because I had to work the Sunday shift."

Though his lifestyle may seem somewhat tame for a wannabe Neanderthal, McDowell mentioned he's game for much more. "If somebody out there wanted to pick me up from Parkdale, drive me out somewhere, and put a bow and arrow in my hands, I would take them up on it. If I saw a deer on Bay-Dundas, I’d tackle it, punch it in the head or something," he declared, slowing to reflect. "But in all seriousness, I don’t even know how to contemplate hurting an animal."

Our biggest point of contention with the project is simple. Adam McDowell is living for a month, as primitively as one can possibly be without losing their job. Adam run. Adam eat. Adam... blog? When questioned, here's what he had to say:

"The whole thing’s contradictory. My joke was that I’ll say something anti-Paleo and have people show up with clubs at my door saying ‘We read this thing on your blog’—it’s all make-believe, right? But at least I know it’s make-believe, which is better than people of certain sub-cultures out there. At least I don’t think vampires are real. Insofar as I know anything about cavemen, I admire Fred Flintstone. Let me rewind a bit—I know this is artificial; it’s just kind of fun."

Adam, we salute you with three grunts.

Photos courtesy of Adam McDowell/Torontoist.

CORRECTION: MARCH 23, 2010 This post has been updated to reflect that McDowell is a reporter (not a columnist, as we originally said), and that his route home from work is Don Mills to Parkdale (and not Parkdale to Don Mills).

Our ‘Idol Meter’ is running; Siobhan is the one to watch

After Lacey Brown’s departure last week, the remaining 11 Idol contestants can be characterized as the Final Four and the Seven Dwarfs.

The gap in talent and originality is as vast as the distance between Paula Abdul’s unmissed incoherence and new judge Ellen DeGeneres’ sly, pithy wit.

We’ll get to Final Four star Casey James next week, but here’s a quick look at this season’s other three front-runners.

USA Today

‘American Idol’: Catching up With 13 Former Contestants!

Find out who’s pregnant, who’s getting naked (in public!), and who just filmed a part in a Farrelly Bros. movie.

TAMYRA GRAY – Season 1, fourth place

She’s faced the judges’ criticism on Idol, booked TV gigs on shows like Boston Public and What I Like About You, and graced the silver screen in 2008’s Rachel Getting Married. But despite all that, Gray is 23 weeks into what she calls the hardest job she’s ever had: being pregnant. ”Idol is a piece of cake compared to this,” says Gray, breaking the news exclusively to EW. It’s been a tough first trimester, but Gray is nonetheless excited to be expecting her first child with music producer husband (and former Color Me Badd member) Sam Watters.

Entertainment Weekly

More Headlines after the jump…keep checking back for more

Fantasy ‘Idol’: Big Star night

Like many longtime music journalists, I mourned the death of power pop pioneer Alex Chilton last week. He was the frontman of Big Star, one of the most underappreciated bands of the 1970s whose musical legacy far outlasted their album-making years. Anyone who claims affection toward indie rock should know Big Star’s catalog inside and out, and there’s nary a dud to be found.

LA Times

How to watch American Idol: A primer

If you accept that American Idol is a TV show first and a singing competition second, you’ll be well on your way to predicting the outcome in any given week.

Some Idol watchers have even reduced it to a science. They study voting patterns in certain regions, gauge population densities and ascertain behavioural habits, based on common sense and past voting history.

Canada.com

Idol Inferno: The Meaning of the Miley Mentorship

Some quick reactions to the stunning news that none other than herself, Miley Cyrus (not Smiley Virus) will be mentoring the Idol contestants this week. Some out there have been mocking this news. I however am all for it. Here are my reasons, and my ruminations on the fallout to come when Miley visits the Idoldome :

Entertainment Inferno

Talent? What talent? ‘Idol’ is lousy this season

As anyone who’s actually followed the competition so far this season already knows, this band of mostly mediocre singers fails to represent the best of their own so-so early ranks, much less the best of the national talent pool. And despite the handy excuses Simon Cowell and his fellow judges insist on making for them week after week, the problem isn’t about song selection or a particular vocalist’s need to find his or herself musically. It’s not about being “a little pitchy” or having an “off night,” either.

MSNBC

Lacey Brown on the End of Her ‘American Idol’ Journey

When Lacey Brown was in the bottom two with Paige Miles on last week’s “American Idol” results show, the red-headed singer reassured Paige that she had nothing to worry about.

“I just woke up that morning and I had the weirdest feeling that I was going home that night,” Lacey tells ET. “I hadn’t heard anything or read anything. I just felt, ‘Today is the day I am going home.’ I wasn’t comfortable with that feeling. I wasn’t depressed. I had heard past contestants say that, but I didn’t believe them.”

ET Online

The strange saga of the West Virginia Lady Gaga-Adam Lambert concert . . . that wasn’t

So it was probably no surprise that it all unraveled this weekend. Lambert, the “American Idol” runner-up, put out a denial on Twitter: “Unfortunately totally untrue. Hate that u guys were taken advantage of.” Gaga’s reps scoffed at the notion to TMZ. And the organizer of the alleged concert, Luke Loy, posted signs on his salon door and outgoing voice mail that ticket sales had been halted — and then promptly made himself unavailable for comment.

It was a sharp turn from a few days earlier when Loy had been prominently featured in the Martinsburg Journal talking up his too-good-to-be-true plan to bring Gaga and Lambert to the county park in Shenandoah Junction, brandishing contracts that he told a reporter proved it was for real. “I want people to know it’s unbelievable, but it can happen. I can bring her here. Anything is possible.” He told the paper he hoped to sell 15,000 tickets at $100 a piece; he drew calls from all over the country. (He also took the opportunity to talk up his new coconut-scented, enviro-friendly and color-safe hair products.)

Washington Post

Whisky helped bring me together with Lady Gaga, reveals American Idol star Adam Lambert

AMERICAN Idol runner-up Adam Lambert yesterday told how he bonded with his hero Lady Gaga – thanks to a love of whisky.

The singer, who received a standing ovation from judge Simon Cowell on the US show, has been described as the male equivalent of Gaga.

Yesterday, he jetted into Scotland on a whistle-stop tour to promote his new album and was delighted to strap on a 21st-century kilt for the Razz.

He said of his spiky sporran: “It’s like having a cactus – a little pet cactus.

“I’m not a true Scotsman today because I’ve teamed up the kilt with some plaid leggings – but I’d like to wear this back home in the US too.”

Daily Record.co.uk

Music and image equally important to Adam Lambert

SINGAPORE : Adam Lambert was American Idol’s most flamboyant contestant to date and is no stranger to controversy.

The hot favourite to win the eighth season of the popular reality show – he eventually lost the title to Kris Allen – the glamrocker won the hearts of many fans.

Perhaps it’s his showmanship or the stage theatrics – who can forget his racy performance at last year’s American Music Awards where he kissed a male keyboardist and simulated sexual movements while performing a risque version of his song “For Your Entertainment” – or the “guyliner” that he uses so generously to create his signature smoky eye look.

“I think it is really important to carve out your niche and have your ‘thing’,” Lambert, 28, told Primetime Morning two weeks ago when he was in town for a showcase.

Channel News Asia

Matt Giraud Tells Us About It

As Season 8’s Matt Giraud was in the car on the way to Nashville to record his new single, “4 AM,” he opened up to us about his recent Idol performance and what he’s been working on these days. Matt performed Billy Joel’s “Tell Her About It” with fellow Season 8 finalist Scott MacIntyre on Season 9’s Top 16 results show. The piano player from Kalamazoo, Michigan said, “It was amazing. It’s nice to be asked back and it feels cool to come back. I’ve been around the block now. It felt really good and I liked the whole not being judged part.”

American Idol.com

Danny Gokey: I Want To Do Country ‘For The Rest Of My Life’

Fueled by a return performance on “American Idol,” Danny Gokey bowed at No. 3 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart with his 19 Recordings/RCA Records debut, “My Best Days.” Coming in at No. 4 on the Billboard 200, the album sold 65,000 first-week copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, giving him the best opening-week sales by a debut country male since 1992.

With more than 19,000 downloads, Gokey also notches the best first-week digital album sales by a debut country artist. The March 2 release is No. 4 on this week’s chart.

Billboard.com

Underwood soars above DCU crowd

WORCESTER — A flying truck, a virtual duet with Randy Travis and more costume changes than you can count. No, this is not what Obama promised the Republicans if they voted for his health care package, but what Carrie Underwood delivered to the sold-out crowd Sunday at the DCU Center.

Going from “American Idol” winner to multi-platinum recording artist, Underwood has already proven she can deliver honky-tonk heartache with the best of them. And last night during her 23-song set (which included 10 songs from her latest, “Play On” and a two-song encore), the 27-year-old Oklahoma native proved she is no longer a country bumpkin but a bona fide superstar and seasoned professional.

Telegram.com

Concert Review: Daughtry – Prudential Center, Newark, NJ – 3/21/10

Four years ago, when Chris Daughtry first appeared on Season 5 of American Idol, I have to be honest and admit that I wasn’t thoroughly impressed. Perhaps I was blindsided by my personal favorites, Katharine McPhee and Paris Bennett, or exhausted from celebrating the previous successes of my other fellow North Carolinians, Clay Aiken and Fantasia Barrino, but one thing is certain: Daughtry has made a new fan out of me.

On Sunday, March 21, my best friend and I trekked to Newark in order to get some sense of all the fuss surrounding Idol’s third-biggest-selling act — only Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood have fared better — as the band played the Prudential Center. The last time Daughtry performed there was in 2008 — opening for Bon Jovi, who christened the then-new arena, the first such venue to be built in the New York/Jersey area in 25 years, with a 10-night stand — and their fans eagerly awaited their return.

Blogcritics.org

Daughtry (Prudential Center, Newark, N.J.; 17,625 capacity; $42.50 top)

The chasm between the coasts and so-called fly-over country is pronounced in many media, but nowhere is it more apparent than in the world of pop music — where acts who sell out sheds and dominate radio airwaves in middle America often don’t bother scheduling gigs in the New York City area.

Daughtry (fronted by “American Idol” finalist Chris Daughtry), decided to eschew that wisdom on its current tour, and judging by the response at the first of its two metro-area shows Sunday night, there’s at least a bit of an appetite for heartland rock in the vicinity.

Variety.com

Fantasia to perform at WrestleMania XXVI in Glendale

Fantasia will open WrestleMania this Sunday in Glendale.

The R&B artist and former “American Idol ” winner will sing “America the Beautiful.”

She follows the Pussycat Dolls’ Nicole Scherzinger, who performed at last year’s WrestleMania in Houston. Other past show-openers have included Aretha Franklin, John Legend and Ashanti.

The live wrestling pay-per-view event starts 4 p.m. Sunday March 28 at University of Phoenix Stadium.

AZCentral.com

Anoop Desai next charity bartender at Durham’s Revolution

American Idol finalist Anoop Desai, a Chapel Hill native, will be the next guest bartender at downtown Durham’s Revolution restaurant and bar. Desai will be mixing cocktails for charity from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Tues., April 6, according to a news release.

Twenty percent of the proceeds during Desai’s two-hour shift will go to the Eve Carson Memorial Fund. Desai is a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, where Carson was student body president when she was killed two years ago. Revolution started its “Guest Mixologist” monthly fundraiser, which has featured Mayor Bill Bell and other local leaders, this year. So far, the program has raised almost $2,500 for charity, said spokeswoman Teresa Anile.

Indy Week Blogs

Bucky Covington – “A Father’s Love (The Only Way He Knew How)”

Songwriters: Liz Hengber, Thom Shepherd & Steve Williams.

American Idol can be a cruel mistress. While there are are a few people, like Carrie Underwood, who have gone on to win the hearts and wallets of millions, there are many more, like Taylor Hicks, who have gone on to fill the bargain bins of big-box electronics stores. Bucky Covington falls somewhere in between–while he scored three Top 10 hits from his debut album, his last two singles haven’t fared nearly as well. And after a Nickelback cover flopped (thank goodness for small favors) he’s taking the radical step of releasing an actual country song as a single.

the9513.com

‘Dancing With The Stars’ Returns With Plenty Of Talent And Tears

Astronauts, athletes, actresses and more — if nothing else, the cast for the 10th season of “Dancing With the Stars” is diverse, and thankfully, they’re also filled with plenty of promise, judging by their first performances in a season premiere filled with laughs, tears and dropped jaws.

Kicking the season off was NFL star Chad Ochocinco and partner Cheryl Burke with the cha-cha-cha, a dance Burke described as “fun and flirty, just like [Ochocinco].”

MTV

‘Dancing’ kicks off strong with clear favorites

After 10 seasons, it’s surprisingly easy to see the way a season of “Dancing With the Stars” is going to shake out. Once you’ve seen everyone dance one time, you can start to separate them into the favorites, the mushy middle and the total cannon fodder that will be unceremoniously booted in whatever order the fans deem appropriate. It doesn’t correlate perfectly with judges’ scores because fans will do what fans will do, as 10 seasons of this show have demonstrated.

MSNBC

WE ARE THE FALLEN: The KERRANG! Interview – Mar. 23, 2010

John LeCompt (guitar) “American Idol” powerhouse vocalist Carly Smithson of WE ARE THE FALLEN popped into the Kerrang! magazine office on Monday, March 22 to talk about their upcoming album, “Tear The World Down”, and their debut gig in London. Watch the chat below.

WE ARE THE FALLEN — the new band featuring original EVANESCENCE members Ben Moody (guitar), LeCompt and Rocky Gray (drums) along with Smithson — will release its debut album, “Tear The World Down”, on May 11 via Universal Republic Records. The group’s first single, “Bury Me Alive”, was made available exclusively via the digital domain in early February. A second track, “Without You”, is currently being streamed on the band’s official web site.

RoadRunnerRecords

Posted by Bill Daley Melissa Healy, the Los Angeles Times reporter, has written a neat story on how food portions have increased in paintings of the Last Supper over the ages. Two scholars examined 52 paintings (that's DaVinci's famed rendering...

Price joins long list of supporters endorsing NahabedianGLENDALE, CA – Today, Senator Curren Price announced his endorsement of Nayiri Nahabedian's can...

Hank Shaw of Orangevale writes a food blog about hunting, gardening, foraging and cooking.

He's done it again folks.

Local food blogger Hank Shaw has secured a James Beard Foundation award nomination for his "Hunter Angler Gardener Cook," the second year in a row his work has received the honor.

The nomination, which the foundation announced today along with other finalists for this year's awards, took Shaw by surprise (Shaw is pictured at left in a Bee file photo by Anne Chadwick Williams).

"From what I understood, the Beard Foundation doesn't go to the well twice in a row," he said.

Shaw's blog is up against Ed Levine's "Serious Eats" and "Grub Street New York" by Aileen Gallagher, Daniel Maurer and Alexandra Vallis.

Last year, Shaw lost to Sunset magazine's food blog, "One-block Diet."

Shaw said he's less hopeful of securing the award this year because the other two blogs in his category are considerably larger than "Hunter Angler Gardener Cook."

"I feel like the Northern Iowa or Cornell of the bracket," he said.

Nevertheless, he is looking forward to attending the May 2 awards dinner in New York City.

Shaw's blog, which focuses on "finding the forgotten feast," also is nominated for an award by the International Association of Culinary Professionals and has led to a book deal with publisher Rodale Books.

What makes Shaw's blog stand out from the crowd?

"The subject matter is relatively unique and I'd like to think that I can put two sentences together," said Shaw, who's been a political reporter for 18 years.

Quite so, Hank.

Click here to see all the James Beard Foundation Award finalists.

Hank Shaw of Orangevale writes a food blog about hunting, gardening, foraging and cooking.

He's done it again folks.

Local food blogger Hank Shaw has secured a James Beard Foundation award nomination for his "Hunter Angler Gardener Cook," the second year in a row his work has received the honor.

The nomination, which the foundation announced today along with other finalists for this year's awards, took Shaw by surprise (Shaw is pictured at left in a Bee file photo by Anne Chadwick Williams).

"From what I understood, the Beard Foundation doesn't go to the well twice in a row," he said.

Shaw's blog is up against Ed Levine's "Serious Eats" and "Grub Street New York" by Aileen Gallagher, Daniel Maurer and Alexandra Vallis.

Last year, Shaw lost to Sunset magazine's food blog, "One-block Diet."

Shaw said he's less hopeful of securing the award this year because the other two blogs in his category are considerably larger than "Hunter Angler Gardener Cook."

"I feel like the Northern Iowa or Cornell of the bracket," he said.

Nevertheless, he is looking forward to attending the May 2 awards dinner in New York City.

Shaw's blog, which focuses on "finding the forgotten feast," also is nominated for an award by the International Association of Culinary Professionals and has led to a book deal with publisher Rodale Books.

What makes Shaw's blog stand out from the crowd?

"The subject matter is relatively unique and I'd like to think that I can put two sentences together," said Shaw, who's been a political reporter for 18 years.

Quite so, Hank.

Click here to see all the James Beard Foundation Award finalists.

SEO and Web page optimization Lansdale Reporter Last week, we looked at the first two steps in getting the right SEO started. They were, choosing the right keyphrases and Web page optimization, ...

Earnhardt Jr. left the track without returning to his hauler to face awaiting reporters after the race but he had to be happy with the way the day worked out. Not only did he overcome the penalty, but if he had not been penalized, he possibly could have been caught up in the big wreck. “Typical [...]

Well, we’re twenty games into the college baseball season, and the TCU Horned Frogs are now No. 4 in the nation.  I was watching them sweep Texas Tech last weekend shredding on a nice mid 70’s Tejas spring day with my bud Mexican Joe, and we agreed that the scene was quite idyllic.

'Cept for the dang ping of those stupid aluminum bats.

Something’s just ain’t right, and aluminum bats are one of 'em.  I sure wish college ball would get rid of them.  Which got us all thinkin’ and talkin’ on what, if any changes, should the big leagues do given that there have been various rumbling from the powers that be about such.

We came up with four changes we’d like to see…and as baseball traditionalists, they’re all back to the future.

1) Raise the mound back up to 15 inches.

Back in 1968, it was the “year of the pitcher.” The combination of those large stadiums built in the 60’s, increased travel and night games due to expansion, and the lackadaisical training methods and habits of a generation of hitters raised in a different era all conspired to make things relatively easy for the hurlers. Bob Gibson dominated the NL with a 1.12 ERA and Don Drysdale set a record for consecutive scoreless innings. So, the league responded by lowering the height of the mound by five inches in 1969.

We think it’s time to raise it back up.  Today ball players all work out with weight training and other techniques to add strength, resulting in a situation where every member of the team can take you deep.  The good field, no hit shortstop like Bud Harrelson is a thing of the past.  Add to this a new generation of stadiums that seem designed to produced home runs (the new Yankee being one of the most conspicuous offenders) and we have a situation where the pendulum has swung too strongly in the offensive direction.  Since 1969 when the mound was raised, runs scored per game have jumped from 4.09 to 4.75 in the AL and 4.05 to 4.49 in the NL.  Bring it back up to 15 inches; the hitters don’t need the advantage anymore.

2) Get rid of the Designated Hitter

"There's no doubt in my mind that the game of baseball in all its beauty and entirety is the National League game. I would kick the DH out so quick it would make your head spin." -Manager Tony La Russa

Baseball purists have always hated the DH, which was introduced in the AL in 1973.   It eliminates much of the strategy of the game, allows pitchers to become headhunters without any fear of retaliation, and keeps bloated players who can no longer adequately perform in the field on payrolls a few years longer.

Supporters argue that it adds more "excitement," since the pitcher is an “empty bat,” and that it adds more action via increased scoring.  I’m not so sure of that. 

Because of the DH, as aforementioned, strategy is simplified, and bunting and base stealing are reduced.  Statistically, the DH adds about a quarter run to the average game while eliminating a little less than two strikeouts per game.  But, as pitcher Rick Wise famously quoted, "The designated hitter rule is like having someone else take Wilt Chamberlain 's free throws ." 

As noted earlier, it’s not like the modern day players are having a hard time scoring runs, given the small, hitter friendly parks that have been constructed, better training, better scouting via techniques like video tape, and even more efficient bat design with a larger sweet spot.  

The DH appeals to those too lazy, or dumb, to keep score…none of those messy double switches, multiple pinch hitters, hit and runs or other such stuff.  Just get up thar’ and take yer hacks.  It’s another symptom of an ADD addled population trained via television and other multimedia to demand constant stimulation.  Everything…all the time. 

These are the same forces that have brought us other “innovations” which “improve” our game experience. 

Constant, loud, and very, very bad rock music blared at the decibel level of an airplane during takeoff during every single pause in the action.  

Dumbass mascots who prance around on the dugout and get in your field of vision during the game.  

Mega graphics and videos competing for attention from all corners of the park.  And more televisions posted around the park than George Orwell predicted in 1984 .

Certain sports are timeless. I’m certainly not a fan of futbol and just an occasional watcher of golf, but can understand the love that their fanbase has due to their unchanging nature… a game now is as it was years ago. 

Baseball is like this. One of the things I’ve always loved about baseball is its lack of change.  You watch a replay of the 1969 series on TV and the game is essentially the same.  Not like American football, basketball or rugby, where a game now holds scant similarity to the contests played 40 years ago.

So let’s can the DH and play some real ball.  And keep the game pure.

3) Vote the best players into the All-Star Game.

It seems like now a days, everyone gets a prize.  Kids play little league futbol and even the sucky ones get a trophy.  High schools in some states have adopted “mercy” rules, to prevent teams from getting blown out in football, baseball and hoops.  Guess it’ll hurt their tender feelings. Everyone’s a winner. Everyone gets a ribbon or a medal.

Makes me wanna puke.

Pro baseball caught on to this unfortunate trend several years back when they mandated that every team have at least one representative in the All-Star Game.  Didn’t want to alienate the fans of crappy teams and hurt their feelings.

News flash: The fans of sucky teams are already alienated because…well, because they suck.  Naming one of their mediocre players to the All-Star team ain’t going to change that much

So cut it out; the All-Star team should be the best players that year.  If a couple of teams don’t place anyone…so be it. They didn’t deserve any representation that year.  They'll get over it.

4) Mandate that all weekend playoff and World Series games be day games.

The World Series used to be played in early October.  Now, with the playoffs, it’s been extended to late October.  This is a problem when teams from the Northeast and Midwest are in it.  Because late October nights in places like Boston, New York, Chicago and Detroit can be very, very cold.  Not only is this uncomfortable for the fan in the seats, but the game was just not made to be played in those conditions.

Trying to hit the ball on a 40-degree night, or even worse a 40-degree night with a light rain, is not measuring who is the best team in the park.  It’s measuring who get’s lucky more often.

Now I’m a realist.  I realize the big bucks guys at the television networks and such need to have night games so they can pay for those yachts, mansions in the Hamptons, and other goodies that the hoi polloi that rank at the top tier of our social order get to indulge in.  OK.  But at least on the weekends, make it a day game.

Not only will this produce better baseball, but it will actually allow those of us with children to introduce them to the game rather than scooting them to bed in the fifth inning or so.  As such, it’ll help the game to sustain its fan base. 

It’ll also help those of us who have real jobs to be able to watch a few games without having to stay up past one in the morning, greatly improving our productivity and ability to continue employment.  There's a recession on out here in the real world, after all.

Me and Mex Joe, we’re still arguing about the whole interleague play thing.  But we agreed on these four changes.

Play ball.