Via Daily Mail: *An iron-lunged pensioner has celebrated her 100th birthday by lighting up her 170,000th cigarette from a candle on her birthday cake. Winnie Langley started smoking only days after the First World War broke out in June 1914 when she was just seven-years-old – and has got through five a day ever since. She has no intention of quitting, even after the nationwide ban forced tobacco-lovers outside. Speaking at her 100th birthday party Winnie said: “I have smoked ever since infant school and I have never thought about quitting. There were not all the the health warnings like there are today when I started. It was the done thing.”

Winnie, from Croydon, South London, claims tobacco has never made her ill. She has outlived a husband, Robert, and son, Donald, who died two years ago aged 72. The former launderette worker said she started the habit in 1914 – just weeks after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on June 28 – which sparked the First World War. The 100-year-old, who is awaiting her telegram from the Queen today, said smoking helped calm her nerves during the two World Wars. She said: “A lot of people smoked during the war. It helped steady the nerves.” Despite the numerous health warnings, Mrs Langley insists she’s never suffered because of the habit as she “has never inhaled”.*

MP3: Bright Eyes (feat M. Ward) – Smoke Without Fire

Via The Daily Mail: *The world’s oldest father has done it again, fathering a child for at least the 21st time, at the age of 90. Indian farmer Nanu Ram Jogi, who is married to his fourth wife, boasts he does not want to stop, and plans to continue producing children until he is 100. Mr Jogi admits he is not certain how many children his series of four wives have borne him – but counts at least 12 sons and nine daughters and 20 grandchildren. Proud father: Nanu Ram Jogi with his youngest child, two-week-old Girija Rajkumari Two-week-old daughter Girija Rajkumari is the latest addition to the proud father’s family.

“Women love me,” Mr Jogi said. “I want to have more children. I can survive another few decades and want to have children till I am 100 – then maybe I will stop.” Mr Jogi, who attributes his remarkable virility to daily walks and plenty of meat, said: “I eat all kinds of meat – rabbits, lamb, chicken and wild animals.” Mr Jogi fathered his eldest daughter, Sita Devi, in 1943. His latest wife, Saburi, who has given him seven children, was first married to his eldest son Shiv Lal, who died 10 years ago.

Speaking from the family home in a remote village in Rajasthan, she said: “At first I didn’t want to stay here after my husband died. But Nanu promised to look after me and now we have seven children.” Mr Jogi’s children and grandchildren live in six houses attached to his two-storey family home. He said: “I have a perfect life – with so many children and grandchildren all around me, it keeps me young.”

MP3: Sufjan Stevens – What Child Is This Anyway?

Via NY Times: *Leona Helmsley, the hotel operator and real estate developer whose conviction on federal tax evasion charges in 1989 became an emblem of the greedy excesses of the 1980s, died today at her summer house in Greenwich, Conn. She was 87. The cause of death was heart failure, her longtime spokesman, Howard J. Rubenstein, said in a statement. An obituary will be published on NYTimes.com shortly. Mrs. Helmsley, who became known as the “Queen of Mean” in a twist on the hotel ad slogan that had made her famous, served a prison sentence for tax fraud from ’92 – ’93 and was released from home confinement in ’94. In the most celebrated moment of her 2-month trial in ’89, a former housekeeper testified that Mrs. Helmsley had once told her, “Only the little people pay taxes.”

Mrs. Helmsley, already a millionaire and a successful condo broker and twice divorced, met the real estate magnate Harry B. Helmsley in 1968. He divorced his wife of 33 years to marry her, in 1972. Together, they built a real estate empire that included landmark buildings like 230 Park Ave & the Empire State Building, the Tudor City apartment complex on the East Side of Manhattan, and Helmsley-Spear, their management and leasing business. The couple developed properties that included the Park Lane Hotel, the New York Helmsley Hotel and the Helmsley Palace Hotel, and hotels in Florida & other states. Hotel employees throughout the Helmsley empire were aware of Mrs. Helmsley’s trigger temper and had arranged a warning system when she left her apartment en route to one of the hotels. But it was not until she starred in glossy advertisements for the hotels that she became a household name. The first ads, for the Harley, showed a smiling Mrs. Helmsley proclaiming that she wouldn’t settle for skimpy towels and couldn’t get along without a phone in the bath. She asked, “Why should you?” Occupancy rates skyrocketed.

In ’86, court documents and law enforcement officials stated she had failed to pay sales taxes in New York on hundreds of thousands of dollars of jewelry she purchased at Van Cleef & Arpels, the exclusive NYC store. Two senior store officers were indicted on charges that they operated a scheme by which customers with addresses outside New York could have their purchases recorded as being mailed to them, thus avoiding city and state taxes. Records showed that Mrs. Helmsley made 10 such jewelry purchases, totaling $485,000, which would have required taxes of $40,000. Mrs. Helmsley’s lawyers said she had believed that the price she was paying included the sales tax, but in ’90, a judge revealed that she had admitted before grand juries in ’85 that she had “actively participated from a fraudulent sales-tax scheme.” The two Van Cleef officials later pleaded guilty in the case, but Mrs. Helmsley had received a grant of immunity and could not be charged.*

Read more about loathsome Leona here.

MP3: Bloc Party – Hunting For Witches

Via Breitbart: *The world’s oldest person, Yone Minagawa, who has died at age 114, was as sprightly as ever until the moment she got into bed for her eternal rest, her caretaker said Tuesday. Minagawa, who enjoyed good food and a bit of alcohol, died Monday at a nursing home in Japan’s southwestern Fukuoka prefecture.

“She was sprightly until a day before,” the caretaker told AFP. “When I found her, she looked as if she was sleeping peacefully.” Born on January 4, 1893, Minagawa was widowed at an early age. She raised her five children by selling flowers and vegetables in a coal mining town. Stout-hearted even after age 100, Minagawa would drink some Japanese sake or other alcoholic beverage every day. But in recent years, her favourite treat became manju, a Japanese confection made of red bean paste.

“She would tell me, ‘arigato, thank you,’” saying the phrase both in Japanese and English, the caretaker said. “That was her habit. She was very charming,” said the caretaker, who declined to give her name. Despite her advanced age, Minagawa was said to enjoy eating sweets and counted eating well and getting a good night’s sleep as the secrets of her longevity. Her reign as the world’s oldest person lasted just over six months. The Guinness Book of World Records certified her as the world’s oldest person after Emma Faust Tillman, the daughter of freed American slaves, died in January. The next to become the world’s oldest person is set to be another American woman, according to the International Committee on Supercentenarians, a US-based group which documents longevity records. Edna Parker, who lives in the midwestern state of Indiana, is also 114, having been born on April 20, 1893, according to the group.*

MP3: CocoRosie – Japan

Via Breitbart: *The world’s oldest person, Yone Minagawa, who has died at age 114, was as sprightly as ever until the moment she got into bed for her eternal rest, her caretaker said Tuesday. Minagawa, who enjoyed good food and a bit of alcohol, died Monday at a nursing home in Japan’s southwestern Fukuoka prefecture.

“She was sprightly until a day before,” the caretaker told AFP. “When I found her, she looked as if she was sleeping peacefully.” Born on January 4, 1893, Minagawa was widowed at an early age. She raised her five children by selling flowers and vegetables in a coal mining town. Stout-hearted even after age 100, Minagawa would drink some Japanese sake or other alcoholic beverage every day. But in recent years, her favourite treat became manju, a Japanese confection made of red bean paste.

“She would tell me, ‘arigato, thank you,’” saying the phrase both in Japanese and English, the caretaker said. “That was her habit. She was very charming,” said the caretaker, who declined to give her name. Despite her advanced age, Minagawa was said to enjoy eating sweets and counted eating well and getting a good night’s sleep as the secrets of her longevity. Her reign as the world’s oldest person lasted just over six months. The Guinness Book of World Records certified her as the world’s oldest person after Emma Faust Tillman, the daughter of freed American slaves, died in January. The next to become the world’s oldest person is set to be another American woman, according to the International Committee on Supercentenarians, a US-based group which documents longevity records. Edna Parker, who lives in the midwestern state of Indiana, is also 114, having been born on April 20, 1893, according to the group.*

MP3: CocoRosie – Japan

Via Breitbart: *The world’s oldest person, Yone Minagawa, who has died at age 114, was as sprightly as ever until the moment she got into bed for her eternal rest, her caretaker said Tuesday. Minagawa, who enjoyed good food and a bit of alcohol, died Monday at a nursing home in Japan’s southwestern Fukuoka prefecture.

“She was sprightly until a day before,” the caretaker told AFP. “When I found her, she looked as if she was sleeping peacefully.” Born on January 4, 1893, Minagawa was widowed at an early age. She raised her five children by selling flowers and vegetables in a coal mining town. Stout-hearted even after age 100, Minagawa would drink some Japanese sake or other alcoholic beverage every day. But in recent years, her favourite treat became manju, a Japanese confection made of red bean paste.

“She would tell me, ‘arigato, thank you,’” saying the phrase both in Japanese and English, the caretaker said. “That was her habit. She was very charming,” said the caretaker, who declined to give her name. Despite her advanced age, Minagawa was said to enjoy eating sweets and counted eating well and getting a good night’s sleep as the secrets of her longevity. Her reign as the world’s oldest person lasted just over six months. The Guinness Book of World Records certified her as the world’s oldest person after Emma Faust Tillman, the daughter of freed American slaves, died in January. The next to become the world’s oldest person is set to be another American woman, according to the International Committee on Supercentenarians, a US-based group which documents longevity records. Edna Parker, who lives in the midwestern state of Indiana, is also 114, having been born on April 20, 1893, according to the group.*

MP3: CocoRosie – Japan

Via Breitbart: *Merv Griffin, the entertainer turned impresario who parlayed his “Jeopardy” and “Wheel of Fortune” game shows into a multimillion-dollar empire, has died. He was 82. Griffin died of prostate cancer, according to a statement from his the family that was released by Marcia Newberger, spokeswoman for The Griffin Group/Merv Griffin Entertainment. Griffin, who began his career as a $100-a-week radio singer in San Francisco, created the “Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy!” game shows, soon moved on to become the featured vocalist in Freddy Martin’s band.

That led to a brief film career, in which he appeared opposite Doris Day and Kathryn Grayson, and later to a successful TV career as host of “The Merv Griffin Show,” which aired for more than 20 years. His biggest financial break, however, came from inventing and producing “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune.” After they became the hottest game shows in television, Griffin sold the rights to them to the Columbia Pictures Television Unit for $250 million, retaining a share of the profits.*

Rest in peace, Merv.

MP3: Bright Eyes – Reinvent The Wheel

Via The New York Times: *The New York City Council, which drew national headlines when it passed a symbolic citywide ban earlier this year on the use of the so-called n-word, has turned its linguistic (and legislative) lance toward a different slur: bitch. The term is hateful and deeply sexist, said Councilwoman Darlene Mealy of Brooklyn, who has introduced a measure against the word, saying it creates “a paradigm of shame and indignity” for all women. But conversations over the last week indicate that the “b-word” (as it is referred to in the legislation) enjoys a surprisingly strong currency — and even some defenders — among many New Yorkers.

And Ms. Mealy admitted that the city’s political ruling class can be guilty of its use. As she circulated her proposal, she said, “even council members are saying that they use it to their wives.” The measure, which 19 of the 51 council members have signed onto, was prompted in part by the frequent use of the word in hip-hop music. Ten rappers were cited in the legislation, along with an excerpt from an 1811 dictionary that defined the word as “A she dog, or doggess; the most offensive appellation that can be given to an English woman.”

While the bill also bans the slang word “ho,” the b-word appears to have acquired more shades of meaning among various groups, ranging from a term of camaraderie to, in a gerund form, an expression of emphatic approval. Ms. Mealy acknowledged that the measure was unenforceable, but she argued that it would carry symbolic power against the pejorative uses of the word. Even so, a number of New Yorkers said they were taken aback by the idea of prohibiting a term that they not only use, but do so with relish and affection.

“Half my conversation would be gone,” said Michael Musto, the Village Voice columnist, whom a reporter encountered on his bicycle on Sunday night on the corner of Seventh Avenue South and Christopher Street. Mr. Musto, widely known for his coverage of celebrity gossip, dismissed the idea as absurd. “On the downtown club scene,” he said, munching on an apple, the two terms are often used as terms of endearment. “We divest any negative implication from the word and toss it around with love.”

Darris James, 31, an architect from Brooklyn who was outside the Duplex, a piano bar in the West Village, on Sunday night was similarly opposed. “Hell, if I can’t say bitch, I wouldn’t be able to call half my friends.” They may not have been the kinds of reaction that Ms. Mealy, a Detroit-born former transit worker serving her first term, was expecting. “They buried the n-word, but what about the other words that really affect women, such as ‘b,’ and ‘ho’? That’s a vile attack on our womanhood,” Ms. Mealy said in a telephone interview. “In listening to my other colleagues, that they say that to their wives or their friends, we have gotten really complacent with it.” The resolution, introduced on July 25, was first reported by The Daily News. It is being considered by the Council’s Civil Rights Committee and is expected to be discussed next month.*

Read the rest of the bitchy article here.

MP3: The Prodigy – Smack My Bitch Up

Via Yahoo: *A 94-year-old Australian great-great-grandmother has become the oldest person in the world to earn a masters degree, local media reported Thursday. Phyliss Turner, described by one of her sons as having “an amazing brain,” took her masters in medical science at the University of Adelaide in South Australia.

Turner had been forced to leave school at the age of 12 to help her mother care for the family after her father abandoned them, the Daily Telegraph reported. Nearly 60 years later she enrolled for a Bachelor of Arts degree in anthropology at Adelaide and won a 12-month scholarship to study at the University of California.

“I entered university when I was 70 and I came top in the essay section when I did my entry exam,” said the mother of seven, who has 23 great-grandchildren and nine great-great-grandchildren. She graduated in 1986, did her honours in 2002 and then entered the university’s medical school to do her masters. Professor Maciej Henneberg, her supervisor, said Turner had “a lively and fresh intellect.” The boast about her “amazing brain” came from her son Tom. “We are very proud of her,” daughter Anne O’Herran said. “She is the oldest higher degree research graduate in the world and we’re putting her in the Guinness Book of Records.”* (read the rest of this story here)

MP3: Matt & Kim – Grand

Via Web Squirrel: *Are you not satisfied with the color options for the iPod Shuffle? If you don’t like blue, green, pink or brushed metal – perhaps you can try the new golden one. Ok, it is a bit more expensive than the normal Shuffle because it is made out of “real” Gold. German Company Xexoo offering the iPod Shuffle made out of 18 carat gold for about 14,000 EUR ($19,343). If you like it a bit more blinky – there is also an upgrade with diamonds available soon. Every customer get 24/7/365 support and the golden iPod Shuffle will be delivered in a nice wooden box in Piano style. For the support it doesn’t matter where you are on the planet, they will try to exchange the Shuffle as soon as possible when there are any problems. So if your Shuffle drops into your pool beside your luxury house – no problem.*

Thanks for the heads up on this one, SDSU!

MP3: Clinic – Golden Rectangle