new Muppet videos on YouTube!

http://www.muppetcentral.com/news/2008/072508.shtml

"And now, brand-new Muppet Show sketches designed especially for the Web have started appearing on YouTube. They're there under the guise of being posted by the characters themselves. In the best tradition of viral marketing campaigns, their real origins have been left mysterious. They do, however, give every indication of being official productions; Disney listened very politely to my questions on this subject, and didn't call back.

"But any corporate skulduggery is forgiven for one simple reason: These things are good. Not just passingly cute, but somehow reminiscent of what made the Muppets tick in the first place.

They're short pieces, mostly musical sketches: The Swedish Chef and Beaker sing the Habanera from Carmen with only the words "bork" and "meep;" Gonzo and his trained chickens cluck out the Blue Danube Waltz; Sam, the American Eagle, his attitude as relevant as ever ("WORLD wide web? Is there a way to put this on just the American part?"), leads an Independence Day sing-along. At the end of each, Statler and Waldorf, the disagreeable old men in the balcony, peer into a computer screen and deliver a zinger. "How many hits did that thing receive?" "Unfortunately, not enough to kill it!" "

You can find them on YouTube, but if you go to the article I've referenced above, all of the videos are embedded in one place. I suspect these are related to Jason Segal (of "How I Met Your Mother") writing a new Muppet movie. Yay!

new Muppet videos on YouTube!

http://www.muppetcentral.com/news/2008/072508.shtml

"And now, brand-new Muppet Show sketches designed especially for the Web have started appearing on YouTube. They're there under the guise of being posted by the characters themselves. In the best tradition of viral marketing campaigns, their real origins have been left mysterious. They do, however, give every indication of being official productions; Disney listened very politely to my questions on this subject, and didn't call back.

"But any corporate skulduggery is forgiven for one simple reason: These things are good. Not just passingly cute, but somehow reminiscent of what made the Muppets tick in the first place.

They're short pieces, mostly musical sketches: The Swedish Chef and Beaker sing the Habanera from Carmen with only the words "bork" and "meep;" Gonzo and his trained chickens cluck out the Blue Danube Waltz; Sam, the American Eagle, his attitude as relevant as ever ("WORLD wide web? Is there a way to put this on just the American part?"), leads an Independence Day sing-along. At the end of each, Statler and Waldorf, the disagreeable old men in the balcony, peer into a computer screen and deliver a zinger. "How many hits did that thing receive?" "Unfortunately, not enough to kill it!" "

You can find them on YouTube, but if you go to the article I've referenced above, all of the videos are embedded in one place. I suspect these are related to Jason Segal (of "How I Met Your Mother") writing a new Muppet movie. Yay!

2010 US Census - already destined to be inaccurate

Boston Globe July 27, 2008
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/07/27/out_for_the_count/

Federal rules mean thousands of same-sex marriages in Massachusetts will be ignored in the 2010 US Census.

After nearly five years together, Pete Dziedzic and Jay Judas will marry in October at the Ritz-Carlton on Boston Common.

Although the ceremony will draw friends and family from across the country, and the marriage will be legally recognized by Massachusetts, it will be ignored by the US Census Bureau.

The agency plans to count Dziedzic and Judas - and the estimated 11,000 other gay and lesbian couples who have legally married in Massachusetts - as unwed partners in the 2010 Census. As a result, those couples will be excluded from all statistics about families and married couples issued by the Census Bureau.

...

Even as other federal benefits remain beyond their grasp, gay and lesbian married couples are demanding the right to be counted. They say it is both a matter of personal dignity and a desire to see the Census Bureau gather accurate information.

The census decision stems from the Defense of Marriage Act, the 1996 federal law that keeps married gay couples in Massachusetts and elsewhere from receiving federal benefits afforded to heterosexual marriage, like the right to file taxes jointly or for an immigrant to receive a green card when marrying a citizen.

Same-sex marriage advocates say they can't understand why that law would extend to the census, because no immediate personal benefits flow from the government's count. Instead, the census exists - according to the agency's own mission statements - to provide the nation's leading source of data about population and the economy and to enable lawmakers and federal officials to make better policy decisions.

2010 US Census - already destined to be inaccurate

Boston Globe July 27, 2008
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/07/27/out_for_the_count/

Federal rules mean thousands of same-sex marriages in Massachusetts will be ignored in the 2010 US Census.

After nearly five years together, Pete Dziedzic and Jay Judas will marry in October at the Ritz-Carlton on Boston Common.

Although the ceremony will draw friends and family from across the country, and the marriage will be legally recognized by Massachusetts, it will be ignored by the US Census Bureau.

The agency plans to count Dziedzic and Judas - and the estimated 11,000 other gay and lesbian couples who have legally married in Massachusetts - as unwed partners in the 2010 Census. As a result, those couples will be excluded from all statistics about families and married couples issued by the Census Bureau.

...

Even as other federal benefits remain beyond their grasp, gay and lesbian married couples are demanding the right to be counted. They say it is both a matter of personal dignity and a desire to see the Census Bureau gather accurate information.

The census decision stems from the Defense of Marriage Act, the 1996 federal law that keeps married gay couples in Massachusetts and elsewhere from receiving federal benefits afforded to heterosexual marriage, like the right to file taxes jointly or for an immigrant to receive a green card when marrying a citizen.

Same-sex marriage advocates say they can't understand why that law would extend to the census, because no immediate personal benefits flow from the government's count. Instead, the census exists - according to the agency's own mission statements - to provide the nation's leading source of data about population and the economy and to enable lawmakers and federal officials to make better policy decisions.

two cool stories from the Globe today

Meet Heidelise Als, the woman responsible for changing the way NICUs treat the babies. Thanks to her, hospitals came to understand "it wasn't dangerous to allow the baby to turn onto its side to get comfortable, to cover it in a blanket, to dim the lights, to make the environment calm and quiet. Not only was it not dangerous, her research found, but it was better for the babies, who came off ventilators and feeding tubes faster and did much better behaviorally."
http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2008/07/28/reading_the_body_language_of_infants/


A Delta flight attendant has an unusual way of making her passengers more comfortable.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/07/28/an_attendants_arts_and_aircraft_movement/

two cool stories from the Globe today

Meet Heidelise Als, the woman responsible for changing the way NICUs treat the babies. Thanks to her, hospitals came to understand "it wasn't dangerous to allow the baby to turn onto its side to get comfortable, to cover it in a blanket, to dim the lights, to make the environment calm and quiet. Not only was it not dangerous, her research found, but it was better for the babies, who came off ventilators and feeding tubes faster and did much better behaviorally."
http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2008/07/28/reading_the_body_language_of_infants/


A Delta flight attendant has an unusual way of making her passengers more comfortable.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/07/28/an_attendants_arts_and_aircraft_movement/