Link Farm #2--Things To Make You Blub and/or SMASH!

(1) Obama Creates White House Council On Women & Girls
I sign this order not just as a president, but as a son, as a grandson, a husband and a father,” Obama told a mostly female audience of activists and lawmakers in the East Room of the White House. “I saw my grandmother work her way up to become one of the first women bank vice presidents in the state of Hawaii, but I also saw how she hit a glass ceiling—how men no more qualified than she was kept moving up the corporate ladder ahead of her.

(2)[Asshat]Virginia Man Pays $350 Electric Bill In Pennies
Rather than get upset about his $350 electric bill, John Almany found a unique way to pay it — in pennies. Almany said he and his brother Gary came up with the idea in January. After finding enough banks to supply the pennies, Almany delivered more than 29,000 to Bristol Virginia Utilities.

Why that dude is an asshat:
"A couple of weeks ago, someone decided to clear my desk for me (she was mad about her service). People have stolen markers off my coworkers’ desks and written “[Company] sucks” on their desk space while their backs were turned. I’ve been threatened with knives and other physical and sexual violence, I’ve been called every name but my own, and had people cheer a customer on when she’d pushed me to the point I was so frustrated I cried. Behavior like this is normal in my line of work. I am paid to not only take your money, but to take your abuse."

It's the Italian Ocean's Eleven Bank Job!

From WIRED,
"In February 2003, Notarbartolo was arrested for heading a ring of Italian thieves. They were accused of breaking into a vault two floors beneath the Antwerp Diamond Center and making off with at least $100 million worth of loose diamonds, gold, jewelry, and other spoils. The vault was thought to be impenetrable. It was protected by 10 layers of security, including infrared heat detectors, Doppler radar, a magnetic field, a seismic sensor, and a lock with 100 million possible combinations. The robbery was called the heist of the century, and even now the police can't explain exactly how it was done. The loot was never found, but based on circumstantial evidence, Notarbartolo was sentenced to 10 years. He has always denied having anything to do with the crime and has refused to discuss his case with journalists, preferring to remain silent for the past six years. Until now."

When Nerds SERIOUSLY Indulge Their Wine Habits

Meet Abe Schoener, he used to be my assistant dean and now he makes wine. Now THAT'S what I call a career change:

"Becoming a high-wire winemaker was an odd course for a man previously committed to teaching Plato’s The Republic. Armed with a doctorate from the University of Toronto, Schoener returned to his undergraduate alma mater, St. John’s College in Annapolis, Md., for a professorship. This former assistant dean considered himself an academia lifer. Yet there he unwittingly laid the groundwork for his defection; he tended his organic garden, fell for plant physiology and fine-tuned his wine palate with colleagues. “Twice a month we’d taste a bunch of wines, at first studiously and then festively,” he says.

In 1998, Schoener began to crave breathing room. “The professor is supposed to be the best student in the class, and after nine years I was coasting,” he says. He and his wife headed to San Francisco for his sabbatical. “I had no idea what I was going to do, perhaps study Machiavelli. But it was my wife who encouraged my wine fanaticism and said, ‘Look to Napa.’ ”"

Link Farm--CEO's & lawmakers doing the right thing?

(1) Maryland Lawmakers Take Up Gay Marriage Bill
"Today marks the beginning of two days of hearings on a bill that would allow gay couples to marry in Maryland. Outside the Capitol, hundreds of supporters demonstrated, calling on lawmakers to approve the measure. Called the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act, the bill would allow civil marriages for gay couples while permitting churches opposed to same-sex marriage to refuse to perform weddings."

(2) Beth Israel Workers Agree To Go Without To Save Jobs
""I want to run an idea by you that I think is important, and I'd like to get your reaction to it," Levy began. "I'd like to do what we can to protect the lower-wage earners - the transporters, the housekeepers, the food service people. A lot of these people work really hard, and I don't want to put an additional burden on them.

"Now, if we protect these workers, it means the rest of us will have to make a bigger sacrifice," he continued. "It means that others will have to give up more of their salary or benefits."

He had barely gotten the words out of his mouth when Sherman Auditorium erupted in applause. Thunderous, heartfelt, sustained applause."

(3) Johns Hopkins University Eyeing Ban On Drug Industry's Free Pens, Lunches, Food, and Fun
"Under a proposed university policy, full-time physicians at its medical school and hospital will not be able to accept gifts from pharmaceutical and medical device companies. That means no pens, mugs or other trinkets that say “Pfizer” and no lunches paid and organized by Eli Lilly & Co." [unfornately, the rest of the article is available only to subscribers, grrr...]