Dancing

Since I found myself watching all six minutes of this video, I decided to share it with all of you. I'm sure you want to see a guy dancing everything from the Macarena to Mr. Roboto to the Backstreet Boys. Yes, I remember most of these dances. Yes, I've danced some of them. Stop laughing at me.

(Dave Barry's blog is to blame for my posting this.)

Posted by Layla at 10:30 PM, May 11, 2006.

Nightclub sentence

The 29-year-old band manager who lit some fireworks that started a Rhode Island nightclub fire, which killed 100 people, was sentenced today to four years in prison. He had pleaded guilty to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter and cried at his sentencing today, saying how sorry he feels.

It's a sad story all around, but the thing that struck me most in this article was that one victim's mother shouted at the manager's mother and later said about her, "Now it's her turn to suffer, just like we've been suffering because of her son."

In other words, this grieving mother wants an innocent woman to suffer. The woman had nothing to do with her son's actions that night, and she actually raised a son who took responsibility and pleaded guilty in the case -- even though he said he didn't know the nightclub had foam insulation, which acted as a fire starter. Why would someone wish more suffering on her than I'm sure she already feels?

Posted by Layla at 7:28 PM, May 10, 2006.

Dear John

John Garamendi, who is running for California's lieutenant governor, apparently thinks it's perfectly fine to steal journalists' articles and post them on his campaign's Web site. Now, that's all fine and dandy, but it's not OK if he gives no credit. Take, for example, this specimen, which was written about a year ago by yours truly. It's been republished word for word, quotes and all, with no attribution. The login-free version of my article is here.

What really bothers me is that Garamendi is taking credit for getting the article published, but I had almost finished the story when I got a press release from Garamendi's office and decided to throw his quote in for good measure. I'd be flattered if they'd even credited my newspaper, but they didn't. Last time I checked, journalists get credit, too.

Of course, it's not like the whirlwind plagiarism expose of Kaavya Viswanathan, the 19-year-old Harvard student who got a $500,000 book deal when she was 17 but just had the deal rescinded when it turned out she'd royally plagiarized from several chick lit authors.

There's a difference, though: Mr. Garamendi is running for public office; that teenager is not. So, Mr. John Garamendi, get over yourself and starting giving credit where credit is due. It makes me wonder how many other things you mistakenly take credit for.

Posted by Layla at 9:47 PM, May 05, 2006.

New Balance

This just in: Both a wanted terrorist and I wear New Balance shoes.

I don't think this should worry me, so I've taken the road of humor. Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi, who happens to have a $25 million U.S. bounty on his head, is seen wearing New Balance shoes in a "blooper" reel of his latest video message to America. A terrorist in a blooper reel is funny enough, but I'm wondering if we wear the same ones (wow, they're on sale! hmmm).

Posted by Layla at 7:51 PM, May 04, 2006.