Save the Croc!

Just after I learn of the extreme comfort of crocs, a hospital in Pittsburgh bans crocs for safety reasons.

Hospital officials cite the possibility that a dropped syringe could jab someone's foot through the holes on the top of the shoes.

Finally, we have a shoe that is comfortable enough to carry a nurse through a 12-hour shift or a New Yorker to the subway. And bam! the inevitable backlash. First, just the fashionistas complained, but now the much-maligned shoes are attacked from the safety angle.

Here's a solution: jibbitz, cute little thingamajigs that cover the holes. How can the safety-Nazis argue against croc holes filled with jibbitzes? Well, the fashionistas still can.

I am Curious Croc

G. predicted two years ago that the colorful resin "Croc" shoe would be huge. Because, he said, there is no limit to people's bad taste.

I started seeing Crocs on adults here and there. From far away, they looked hard and plastic and ugly. Then I started seeing Crocs on little kids and that made sense to me: easy to put on, no laces.

Then my friend L, a nurse, said all the nurses in her hospital wear Crocs and that they are amazingly comfortable. Today, I read this article on Crocs in Slate called The Croc Epidemic.

Now I am curious, yet repulsed at the same time. Dare I buy a pair? Would I wear them just for walking the dog?

I'm strongly against wearing sneakers with business clothes no matter how long the walk to the subway. I won't do it, despite my endless search for comfortable, fashionable shoes. (G. says there is no such thing as comfortable woman's shoes.)

As a last-ditch attempt to talk myself out of a pair, I will read the Ihatecrocs.com website.

Wish me luck.

Orphaned Baby Gorilla Found Alive

What does Connecticut and the Congo have common?

Both were the settings for the cold-blooded murders of innocent families last week.

Friday, four rare mountain gorillas were found shot dead in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo. (Read the NPR story.) This execution-style slaying is a tragic loss to the 700 mountain gorillas left in existence and the conservationists who care about them.

The World Wildlife Fund believes that the shootings were a message to conservationists. Many locals would rather poach the gorillas for their hides, their meat or their babies. They also want to burn the protected trees for charcoal. (Read how this works.)

One of the three females killed was Safari, mother of five-month old baby gorilla Ndeze. Ndeze whose February birth was celebrated by his family and conservationists alike, was found alive today, a small victory in this setback for the gorillas.

Lindsay Rides Again

How did you go from this cute, freckle-faced girl to a train wreck in such a short time?

Eleven days out of rehab and three weeks after her 21st birthday, Lindsay Lohan got popped by LA police again today for drunk driving. She was wearing her Fashion-Must-Have: an alcohol-monitoring bracelet.

Why do all the rich celebrities in LA drive drunk? Are the chauffeurs on strike?

At least, unlike Mel Gibson, Lohan was too inebriated to call anyone "sugar tits," but we'll put this down to luck-by-extreme inebriation. Perhaps at some point, she switched bodies with Nick Nolte, who has been on excellent behavior lately.

Aw, just blame her dad.

Lovin' London Journal

We take a second look at London. Loved it the first time around, loved it even more the second.

Read my London Journal for the details.

Icon for the Massive

I've seen this same photo all over the Internet illustrating multiple articles on obesity. USA Today ran the photo in their print edition last week.

This particular fat woman's ubiquity raises questions in my mind: does anyone recognize her? Has she recognized herself? What is she eating that we can't see? Why isn't she wearing the more forgiving color black?

Identified only as an "unidentified woman in Heathrow Airport", this poor woman has become the icon for the obesity epidemic. The width of her ass in relation to the flimsy folding chair and the enormity of the overhanging edges of her two cheeks make the horrifying point: don't let this happen to you!

Bet a Fin on This

If you throw your old cell phones in the trash, they end up in a landfill for the rest of time. But where exactly should you get rid of them?

G. and I still have our last phones sitting around, obsolete for almost two years. Every once in a while, I think I should figure out how to dispose of them responsibly. Now I have found the answer.

Throw away your old cell phones safely and have fun at the same time at the World Championship of Mobile Phone Throwing. The event takes place August 25. And they promise not to test for doping. Only catch, its in Finland.

Peacock Attacker is a Chicken

Every day I read news stories about violent attacks against human beings and yet, I don't get as disturbed as when I read tales of violence and abuse toward animals. This one is particularly disturbing.

In Staten Island today, in an unprovoked attack, a man beat up a peacock in a Burger King parking lot. See CNN story. When police arrived, the man ran away.

A peacock. Who beats up a peacock? The bird was beaten so badly it had to be put to sleep. The attacker should be tarred and feathered.

I took this photo at a restaurant in the Tarango Zoo in Sydney. The bird wandered in and made himself at home. Good thing the restaurant wasn't a Burger King in Staten Island.