History of boobies & bras

Who invented the bra?

From the Bathroom Reader:



Through the 1800s, a number of people patented items of intimate apparel for women, but most were just extensions of the corset. In 1893 Mary Tucek was granted a patent for a crude “breast supporter,” which had a pocket for each breast, straps that went over the shoulders, and a hook-and-eye fastener in the back.

But the modern bra was really born 20 years later. The fashion of the early 1910s was to flatten the breasts for a slim, boyish figure; the fashion also favored plunging necklines. In 1913 a Manhattan debutante named Mary Phelps Jacobs became frustrated when her chest-flattening corset kept peeking out above her plunging neckline. “The eyelet embroidery of my corset-cover kept peeping through the roses around my bosom,” she wrote in her autobiography, The Passionate Years. The sheerness of her Paris evening gown was ruined by the lumpy, bulky corset.

WHAT’S A DEBUTANTE TO DO?

In frustration, she and her maid designed an undergarment made of two handkerchiefs and some ribbons that were pulled taut. "The result was delicious. I could move more freely, a nearly naked feeling, and in the glass I saw that I was flat and proper."

Showing off her invention in the dressing rooms of society balls, she had her friends begging for brassieres of their own. Jacobs actually sewed and gave away many bras as gifts. But when strangers started accosting her, requesting the brassieres and offering money, Jacobs went to see a patent attorney (she had her maid model the garment discreetly over the top of her uniform).

A patent was granted and Jacobs opened a small manufacturing facility. She called her invention the "backless brassiere." It was the first ladies' undergarment to dispense with corset-stiffening whalebone, using elastic instead. Jacobs sold a number of her brassieres under the name "Caresse Crosby," but for all her ability as a designer, she had no marketing instincts. Sales were flat and she soon shelved the business.

A few years later, she bumped into an old boyfriend who happened to mention the fact that he was working for Warner Brothers Corset Company. Jacobs told him about her invention and at his urging, showed it to his employers. They liked it so much they offered to buy the patent for $1,500. Jacobs took the money -she though it was a good deal. So did Warner Brother Corset Company -they went on to make some $15 million from Jacobs’ invention.

MAIDENFORM

Ida and William Rosenthal, two Russian immigrants, came to America penniless and set up a dressmaking business in New York with a partner, Enid Bissett. They were constantly dissatisfied with the way dresses fit around the female bosom, so in frustration - and perhaps in rebellion to the popular flat-chested look of the flapper - they invented the first form-fitting bra with separate "cups." And since all women are not built equally, Ida invented cup "sizes."

The Rosenthals gave up the dress shop in 1922 and started the Maidenform Brassiere Company with a capital investment of $4,500. Four years later, they had 40 machines turning out mass-produced bras. Forty years later, they had 19 factories producing 25 million bras annually. Some of their innovations:

● The “uplift” bra, patented in 1927.

● The “training bra” (no definitive word on what they were training for).

● The “Chansonette bra,” introduced in 1949. It had a cone-shaped cup stitched in a whirlpool pattern. The bra, which never changed shape, even when it was removed, was quickly dubbed the "Bullet Bra." Over the next 30 years, more than 90 million were sold worldwide.

When William died in 1958, Ida carried on and continued to oversee the company until her death in 1973 at the age of 87. The Maidenform corporation, which started with ten employees, now had over 9,000.

PLAYTEX

Another major contributor to the development of the bra was Abram Nathaniel Spanel, an inventor with over 2,000 patents (including one for a garment bag designed so that a vacuum cleaner could be hooked up to it to suck out moths). In 1932 Spanel founded the International Latex Corporation in Rochester, New York, to make latex items such as bathing caps, slippers, girdles, and bras, sold under the name Playtex.

Playtex was very aggressive in its advertising. In 1940 - an era when underwear ads in print publications were primarily discreet line drawings - Playtex placed a full-page ad in Life magazine with photos of models wearing Playtex lingerie alongside a mail-in coupon. Women responded: 200,000 sales were made from the ad. And in 1954 Playtex became the first company to advertise a bra and girdle on TV. Those garments - the Living Bra and the Living Girdle - remained part of the line for 40 years.

In 1965 Playtex introduced the Cross Your Heart Bra. Today it remains one of the best-known brands in the United States and is the second bestselling brand of Playtex bra, with the 18-Hour Bra filling out the top spot.

HOWARD HUGHES

The tycoon and film producer also had his handing creating a bra. In 1941 he was making a movie called The Outlaw, starring his 19-year-old "protégé," Jane Russell. Filming was going badly because the bras Russell wore either squashed her breasts or failed to provide enough support to prevent her from bouncing all over the screen.

According to legend, Hughes himself designed an aerodynamic half-cup bra, so well reinforced that it turned Russell’s bosom into a veritable shelf. Censors had a fit. 20th Century Fox postponed the release date due to the controversy. Millions of dollars stood to be lost, so rather than back down, Hughes went all out. He had his people phone ministers, women’s clubs, and other community groups to tell them exactly how scandalous this film was. That prompted wild protests. Crowds of people insisted the film be banned. The publicity machine launched into full gear, and when the film was finally released, it was a guaranteed hit.

On opening night, Hughes hired skywriters to decorate the Hollywood skies with a pair of large circles with dots in their centers. Jane Russell, an unknown before the film, became a star overnight. Years later she revealed in her autobiography that she had found Hughes’ bra so uncomfortable that she had only worn it once … in the privacy of her dressing room. The one she wore in the movie was her own bra. No one - not even Hughes - was the wiser.

THE VERY SECRET BRA

An inflatable bra introduced in 1952, it had expandable air pockets that would help every woman achieve "the perfect contour." The bra could be discreetly inflated with a hidden hand pump. Early urban myth: these inflatable bras sometimes exploded when ladies wore them on poorly-pressurized airplanes.

THE JOG BRA

Hinda Miller and Lisa Rosenthal were friends who enjoyed jogging but didn’t like the lack of support their normal bras offered. Lingerie stores had nothing better to offer them, so they decide to make their own. In 1977 they stitched together two jock straps and tested it out - it worked. Their original prototype is now displayed at the Smithsonian.

In 1978 the two inventors sold $3,840 worth of their bras to sporting apparel stores. In 1997 Jogbra sales topped $65 million.

THE WONDERBRA

Originally created in 1964 by a Canadian lingerie company named Canadelle, the Wonderbra was designed to lift and support the bustling while also creating a deep plunge and push-together effect, without compressing the breasts. Even naturally flat-chested women could achieve the full-figured look. The bra was popular in Europe but wasn’t even sold in the United States because of international licensing agreements.

In 1991 fashion models started wearing Wonderbras they had purchased in London. Sara Lee Corporation (yes, the cheesecake company), who by then had purchased Playtex, bought the license to the Wonderbra and began marketing it aggressively. They spent $10 million advertising the new product, and it paid off. First year sales peaked at nearly $120 million. By 1994 the Wonderbra was selling at the rate of one every 15 seconds for a retail price of $26.

UNCLE JOHN’S BOOBY PRIZES

● Highest-Tech Bra: A British inventor has come up with a bra that contains a heart rate monitor, a Global Positioning System, and a cell phone. If the wearer is attacked and her heart rate jumps, the phone will call the police and give her location as determined by the GPS. The electronic components in this “Techno Bra” are removable for laundry day.

● Most Expensive Bra: For $15 million you can buys Victoria’s Secret bra inset with over 1,300 gemstones, including rubies and diamonds (with matching panties).

● Most Cultured Bra: Triumph International, a Japanese lingerie firm, created a bra to honor Mozart on the 200th anniversary of his death. It plays 20 seconds of his music every time it’s fastened and has lights that flash on and off to the beat. But perhaps in keeping with Mozart-era hygiene, the bra isn’t washable.

● Smelliest Bra: In 1998, French company Neyret announced that it was marketing a bra that would release scents when stretched or caressed. Aromas included apple, grapefruit, and watermelon.

● Biggest Celebrity Bra Collection: If you’re in L.A., visit the Frederick’s of Hollywood Bra Museum. It has such items as the bra Tony Curtis wore in Some Like It Hot; the bra Milton Berle wore on his TV show, and Phyllis Diller’s training bra, marked "This side up."

● Biggest Bra: The Franksville Specialty Company of Conover, Wisconsin, manufacture bras for cows in order to prevent them from tripping over their udders. The bras come in four sizes and are available in only one color: barnyard brown. Design extra: They keep the udder warm.

● Cleverest Dual-purpose Bra: When public opinion turned against her, Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos reportedly wore a bulletproof bra.

“When women’s lib started, I was the first to burn my bra and it took three days to put out the fire.” ~ Dolly Parton

Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute has published a series of popular books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure yet fascinating facts.

Yellow Daffodil

I can't believe they are calling for snow showers this afternoon. It's very cold and windy.

My nurse navigator mixed up the dates for my appointment with my surgeon. I see Dr. Frazier this Monday at 12:15.

I got an email from my cousin Nick in Greece. I'm waiting until after my appointment to write to him. He is doing good. He uses a timer to remind himself to urinate every 3-4 hours.

Lisa told me that once a month they hold a bra workshop in Newtown Square at the Cancer Center which is where I had physical therapy after my surgery. Julie, my therapist, holds the workshop with Yellow Daffodil.

When I see Dr. Frazier on Monday, I have to remember to ask Kathy for another script for bras and a prosthetic. I lost the script she gave me - I can't find it.

In the meantime, I started wearing my bras (sports bras) until I get fitted at the workshop. I feel discomfort under my arm (the top lining of my bras). I think it's because the weight bears more to the left. I wish I could get away without having to wear bras but that would be impossible.

Who created bras?

F#@k the Two-Plus-Four Treaty of 1990

Germany owes Greece around 162 billion euros ($183 billion) — or around half the country’s public debt, which stands at over 315 billion euros.

Greece’s occupation by the Nazis from 1941 was one of the most bloody in Europe, with Hitler’s forces rampaging, pillaging and shooting, and encountering a nation that fiercely resisted.

The Nazi regime ended up bleeding Greece dry.

Amazing how history has a way of repeating itself. Germany committed genocide in the forties, and now - 70 years later - they are committing economic genocide.

The Third Reich forced the Greek central bank to loan it 476 million Reichsmarks which has never been reimbursed.

Fuck the Two-Plus-Four Treaty of 1990!



#Germany #Greece #Eurogroup #EU #ECB #IMF #Tsipras #Syriza #HelmutKohl #WWIIreparations #AngelaMerkel

Germany is Liable to Greece for WWII Loans

Nazi Extortion Study Sheds New Light on Forced Greek Loans

(By Manfred Ertel, Katrin Kuntz and Walter Mayr - March 21, 2015 - SPIEGEL)



German occupation troops in the ransacked Greek village of Distomo on June 10, 1944, shortly after 218 local residents were executed as part of Nazi reprisals.

Is Germany liable to Athens for loans the Nazis forced the Greek central bank to provide during World War II? A new study in Greece could increase the pressure on Berlin to pay up.

Loukas Zisis, the deputy mayor of Distomo, a village nestled in the hills about a two hour drive from Athens, says he thinks about the Germans every day. On June 10, 1944, the Germans massacred 218 people in Distomo, including dozens of children. Zisis, who is just 48 years old, wasn't yet born at the time of the attack.

"We can't forget the Germans," Zisis says. They came to Distomo 71 years ago with their guns. "Today they are exerting power over our village with their banks and policies," he adds. He's standing in the wind on a rocky ledge, a small man in a leather jacket, and looking out over the town. Two-thousand people live here.

The massacre, which continues to shape the place today, was one of the most brutal crimes committed by the Nazis in Greece, with the carnage lasting several hours. For decades, a trial over the massacre wound its way through the courts at all levels in Greece and Germany. Greece's highest court, the Areopag, ruled in 2000 that Germany must pay damages to Distomo's bereaved.

"But we are still waiting," says Zisis. "There has been no compensation."

Last week in Greek parliament, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras demanded German reparations payments, indirectly linking them to the current situation in Greece. "After the reunification of Germany in 1990, the legal and political conditions were created for this issue to be solved," Tsipras said. "But since then, German governments chose silence, legal tricks and delay. And I wonder, because there is a lot of talk at the European level these days about moral issues: Is this stance moral?"

Tspiras was essentially countering German allegations that Greece lives beyond its means with the biggest counteraccusation possible: German guilt. Leaving aside the connection drawn by Tsipras, which many consider to be inappropriate, there are many arguments to support the Greek view. SPIEGEL itself reported in February that former Chancellor Helmut Kohl used tricks in 1990 in order to avoid having to pay reparations.

A study conducted by the Greek Finance Ministry, commissioned way back in 2012 by a previous government, has now been completed and contains new facts. The 194-page document has been obtained by SPIEGEL.

Outstanding German Debt

The central question in the report is that of forced loans the Nazi occupiers extorted from the Greek central bank beginning in 1941. Should requests for repayment of those loans be classified as reparation demands -- demands that may have been forfeited with the Two-Plus-Four Treaty of 1990? Or is it a genuine loan that must be paid back? The expert commission analyzed contracts and agreements from the time of the occupation as well as receipts, remittance slips and bank statements.

They found that the forced loans do not fit into the category of classical war reparations. The commission calculated the outstanding German "debt" to the Greek central bank and came to a total sum of $12.8 billion as of December 2014, which would amount to about €11 billion.

As such, at issue between Germany and Greece is no longer just the question as to whether the 115 million deutsche marks paid to the Greek government from 1961 onwards for its peoples' suffering during the occupation sufficed as legal compensation for the massacres like those in the villages of Distomo and Kalavrita. Now the key issue is whether the successor to the German Reich, the Federal Republic of Germany, is responsible for paying back loans extorted by the Nazi occupiers. There's some evidence to indicate that this may be the case.

In terms of the amount of the loan debt, the Greek auditors have come to almost the same findings as those of the Nazis' bookkeepers shortly before the end of the war. Hitler's auditors estimated 26 days before the war's end that the "outstanding debt" the Reich owed to Greece at 476 million Reichsmarks.

Auditors in Athens calculated an "open credit line" for the same period of time of around $213 million. They assumed a dollar exchange rate to the Reichsmark of 2:1 and applied an interest escalation clause accepted by the German occupiers that would result in a value of more than €11 billion today.

'No Ifs or Buts'

This outstanding debt has to be paid back "with no ifs or buts," says German historian Hagen Fleischer in Athens, who knows the relevant files better than anyone else. Even before the new report, he located numerous documents that prove without any doubt, he believes, the character of forced loans. Nazi officials noted on March 20, 1944, for example, that the "Reich's debt" to Athens had totaled 1,068 billion drachmas as of December 31 of the previous year.

"Forced loans as war debt pervade all the German files," says Fleischer, who is a professor of modern history at the University of Athens. He has lived in Athens since 1977 and has since obtained Greek citizenship. He says that files from postwar German authorities about questions of war debt "shocked" him far more than the war documents on atrocities and suffering.

In them, he says German diplomats use the vocabulary of the National Socialists to discuss reparations issues, speaking of a "final solution for so-called war crimes problems," or stating that it was high time for a "liquidation of memory." He says it was in this spirit that compensation payments were also constantly refused. Fleischer had long been accused of bias and he says he is now pleased to have support from Athens -- particularly given that the present study has nothing to do with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' Syriza government.

When work on the study first began in early 2012, the cabinet of independent Prime Minister Loukas Papedemos still governed in Athens. A former vice president of the European Central Bank, Papedemos formed a six-month transition government after Georgios Papandreou resigned. In April 2014, the successor government of conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaris decided to continue work on the study and appointed Panagiotis Karakousis to lead the team of experts. The longtime general director of the Finance Ministry was considered to be politically unobjectionable.

50,000 Pages of Documents

Karakousis spent five months reading 50,000 pages of original documents from the central bank's archives. It wasn't easy reading. The study calculates right down to the gram the amount of gold plundered from private households, especially those of Greek Jews: 7,358.0014 kilograms of pure gold with an equivalent value today of around €235 million. It also notes also how German troops, as they pulled out, quickly took along "the entire cash reserves from branch offices and regional branches" of the central bank: Exactly 634,962,691,995,162 drachmas in notes and coins, which would total about €40 million today.

Above all, the study, with some reservations, provides clarity about the forced loans. "No reasonable person can now doubt that these loans existed and that the repayment remains open," says Karakousis.

This history of the loans began in April 1941, after the German troops rushed to assist their Italian allies and occupied Greece. In order to provide their troops with provisions, the German occupiers demanded reimbursement for their expenses, the so-called occupation costs. It's a cynical requirement, but one that became standard practice after the 1907 Hague Convention.

Out of the ordinary, though, was the Wehrmacht requirement that the Greeks finance the provision of its troops on other fronts -- in the Balkans, in Russia or in North Africa -- despite Hague Convention rules forbidding such a practice. Initially, the German occupiers demanded 25 million Reichsmarks per month from the government in Athens, around 1.5 billion drachmas. But the amount they actually took was considerably higher. The expert commission determined that payments made by the Greek central bank between August and December 1941 totaled 12 billion rather than 7 billion drachmas.

'Unlimited Sums in the Form of Loans'

With their economy laid to waste, the Greeks soon began pushing for reductions. At a conference in Rome, the Germans and Italians decided on March 14, 1942 to halve their occupation costs to 750 million drachmas each. But the study claims that Hitler's deputies demanded "unlimited sums in the form of loans." Whatever the Germans collected over and above the 750 million would be "credited to the Greek government," a German official noted in 1942.

The sums of the forced loans were up to 10 times as high as the occupation costs. During the first half of 1942, they totaled 43.4 billion drachmas, whereas only 4.5 billion for the provision of troops was due.

A number of installment payments, which Athens began pressing for in March 1943, serve to verify the nature of the loans. Historian Fleischer also found records relating to around two dozen payment installments. For example, the payment office of the Special Operations Southeast was instructed on October 6, 1944 to pay, inflation adjusted, an incredible sum of 300 billion drachma to the Greek government and to book it as "repayment."

'Debts Have to Be Paid Back'

In Fleischer's opinion, the report makes unequivocally clear that the Greek demands do not relate to reparations for wartime injustices that could serve as a precedent for other countries. "One can negotiate reparations politically," Fleischer says. "Debts have to be paid back -- even between friends."

Postwar Greek governments sought repayment early on. The German ambassador confirmed on October 15, 1966, for example, that the Greeks had already come knocking "over an alleged claim."

On November 10, 1995, then Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou proposed the opening of talks aimed at a settlement of the "German debts to Greece." He proposed that "every category of these claims would be examined separately." Papandreous' effort ultimately didn't lead anywhere.

So what happens now? What should become of this new study, the contents of which had remained secret before now?

"I am not a politician," says Karakousis, "I've just done my duty."

But the question also remains whether the surviving relatives of the victims of Distomo will ever be provided with justice -- and whether there are similar cases in other countries.

German lawyer Joachim Lau, whose law firm is based in Florence, Italy, represents the interests of village residents of Distomo even today. Lau, born in Stuttgart, a white-haired man of almost 70, is fighting for compensation in the name of the Greek and Italian victims of the Nazis. "I am disappointed by the manner in which Germany is dealing with this question," he says. He says it's not just an issue of financial compensation. More than anything, it is one of justice.

Careless Statements

In February, Lau warned German President Joachim Gauck in an open letter against propagating the "violation of international law" with careless statements about the reparations issue. In his view, the legal situation is clear: Greek and Italian citizens and their relatives affected by "shootings, massacres by the Wehrmacht, by deportations or forced labor illegal under international law" have the right to individual claims.

For the past decade, Lau has been pursuing the claims of the Distomo victims in Italy. The Court of Cassation in Rome affirmed in 2008 that the claims were legitimate and that he could pursue the case. Earlier, the lawyer had already succeeded in securing Villa Vigoni, a palatial estate on the shore of Lake Como owned by Germany -- and used by a private German association focused on promoting German-Italian relations -- as collateral for the suit. In 2009, Lau succeeded in having €51 million in claims made by Deutsche Bahn against Italian state railway Trenitalia seized. On Tuesday, the high court in Rome is expected to rule on the lifting of the enforcement order.

Following a ruling made by Italy's Constitutional Court in October 2014, private suits in Italy against Germany have been possible again. One of the justices who issued the ruling is the current president of Italy, Sergio Mattarella.

It remains unclear whether this ruling will unleash "a wave of new proceedings" in Italy, says Lau, who currently represents 150 cases, including various class-action lawsuits.

Present and Past, Guilt and Anger

Everything connects in the mountain village of Distoma -- the present and past, guilt and anger, the Greek demands on Germany today and past calls for reparations. Efrosyni Perganda sits in the well-heated living room of her home. The diminutive woman, 91 years of age, has alert eyes and wears a black dress. She survived the massacre perpetrated by the Germans at Distomo and she's one of the few witnesses still alive in the village.


(Photo by Riedmann / Der SPIEGEL)

The bones of victims of the Nazi killings in Distomo are features as part of the village's memorial to the massacre.

When the SS company undertook a so-called act of atonement in Distomo following a fight with Greek partisans, the soldiers also captured her husband. Efrosyni Perganda stood by with her baby as they took him. She never saw him again.

As the Germans began to rampage, she hid behind the bathroom door and later behind the living room door of the house in which she still lives today. She held her baby tightly against her chest. "I forgive my husband's murderers," she says.

Loukas Zisis, the deputy mayor, silently leaves the house as the woman finishes telling her story. He needs a break and heads over to the tavern, where he orders a glass of wine. "I admire Germany: Marx, Engels, Nietzsche," he says. "The prosperity. The degree to which society is organized. But here in the village, we aren't finding peace because the German state isn't settling its debt."

Zisis admires Germany, but the country remains incomprehensible to him. "We haven't even heard a single apology so far," he says once again. "That has to do with Germany's position in Europe." This is something that he just doesn't understand, he says.

Sweet Charity

Rhythm of Life (by Cy Coleman) - from the musical Sweet Charity

 I love this song! I love Cy Coleman!

Jekyll & Hyde - Your Work - and Nothing More

Today I am listening to musicals. My all-time favorite musicals are:

Jekyll & Hyde, The Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables and The Life.

This song from Jekyll & Hyde is called 'Your Work - and Nothing More' (Music and lyrics by Frank Wildhorn). In all musicals, there are duets, but there are also quartets. Perhaps the most beautiful quartet that I have ever heard is this one.

Dr. Jekyll 'has his work' ...
His fiancée believes his 'work is a crime to be forgiven' ...
Her father cautions 'he's gone too far' ...
Lastly, his best friend, who has known him for so long, sees the 'pain in his eyes' ...

It starts out with Dr. Jekyll and his best friend singing, then his fiancée comes in, followed by her father. At the end, all four of these amazing singers come together.

I get the chills, goose-bumps all over, when I hear this song. The entire soundtrack is amazing.

- - -

Another great song is Façade ...

Man is not one man but two ...

At the end of the day they don't mean what they say, they don't say what they mean ... but the truth is -- that it's all a façade.

F#@k Dunkin' Donuts

The parent company of Dunkin’ Donuts has agreed to remove titanium dioxide, a whitening agent, from all icing sugar used to make the company’s doughnuts. The action follows two years of petitioning by the environmental and corporate responsibility advocacy group As You Sow.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has concluded that titanium dioxide is safe for use as a colour in food, provided that such use meets certain requirements. ‘No science demonstrates or implies that FDA-regulated products that involve the use of nanotechnology, including food ingredients, are intrinsically safe or harmful,’ FDA spokesperson Marianna Naum tells Chemistry World. ‘Rather, the agency considers the specific characteristics of the product in question,’ she says.

However, the titanium dioxide used in the Dunkin’ Donuts sugar does not actually meet the definition of nanomaterial as outlined by the FDA, according to Dunkin’ Brands spokesperson Karen Raskoff. Nevertheless, she says the company began testing alternative formulations in 2014, and it is in the process of transitioning.

I don't do fast food, but for those of you who do ... the next time you purchase a donut think about all of the chemicals contained in your Dunkin' Donut.

Many thanks to As You Sow for keeping up the pressure.

Illness as Metaphor

"Illness is the night side of life, a more onerous citizenship. Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick. Although we all prefer to use the good passport, sooner or later each of us is obliged, at least for a spell, to identify ourselves as citizens of that other place.” ~ Susan Sontag (Illness as Metaphor)

I love this quote. I am a citizen of that other place.

I finished reading 'Illness as Metaphor' last night.

It originally appeared as 3 separate essays in The New Yorker. At the time (1978), it was considered an excellent opinion on society's biases concerning TB and Cancer. Sontag wrote these essays after being diagnosed with Breast Cancer.

A brilliant opinion on the different metaphors between TB and Cancer.

Blues - Bessie Smith

Tain't Nobody's Business If I Do ...

Bessie Smith's relationships with other female singers were often stormy. Bessie did agree to record with rival, Clara Smith (no relation) a few songs of which 'My Man Blues' portrays the two in mock competition over the same man. The following dialogue comes from the 1925 recording:

Bessie: It is my man, sweet papa Charlie Gray.

Clara:  Your man? How do you git that way?

Bessie: Now look here, honey, I been had that man for umpteen years.

Clara:  Child, didn't I turn your damper down?

Bessie: Yes, Clara, and I've cut you every way but loose!

Turn your damper down means 'calm down' or 'don't be so intense'. Some people conjure up sexual imagery from the phrase, but really it's related to a volatile temper.

Blues - II

Big Joe Williams - king of the 9-string guitar. Great driving music on my way to work.

A couple of gems by Big Joe ...

'Baby Please Don't Go' is a classic blues song which has been called one of the most played, arranged and rearranged pieces in blues history. The song was first recorded by Big Joe in 1935, and some say is an adaptation of 'Long John' - an old folk theme - which dates back to slavery in the United States.

On December 12, 1941, he recorded a second version titled 'Please Don't Go' in Chicago for Bluebird with a slightly different arrangement and lyrics. Called the most exciting version, backing Williams (vocal and 9-string guitar) are Sonny Boy Williamson I (harmonica) and Alfred Elkins (imitation bass).

Williams was known for being cantankerous and getting into fights. In his early Delta days he was a walking musician who played camps, store porches, streets, and alleys from New Orleans to Chicago.

When he appeared at Mike Bloomfield's 'blues night' at The Fickle Pickle, Williams played an electric 9-string guitar through a small ramshackle amp with a pie plate nailed to it and a beer can dangling against that. When he played, everything rattled but Big Joe himself. The effect of this incredible apparatus produced the most buzzing, sizzling, African-sounding music one would likely every hear.

If you have never listened to Big Joe Williams, you have never heard Delta blues.

You can hear the pain in his voice.

March 25th - II

So I decided to google 'Danielle Kousoulis' to see if I could find any photos of her parents.

I came across an article that totally blew me away. A Jew landlord demanded more than $27,000 from Danielle's estate because ... get this ... she failed to give 3-months notice that she was leaving.

Doesn't get any more fucked up than that, does it?! How the hell did this bitch expect 3-months notice from someone who died in the North Tower.

Below is CBS's report:

A New York City landlord is demanding more than $27,000 from the estate of a Sept. 11 terrorist attack victim.

Danielle Kousoulis, 29, worked on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center's north tower as a vice president for Cantor Fitzgerald. She signed a lease on a $2,500-a-month loft apartment 10 days before a hijacked plane crashed into her workplace.

In a letter this month, landlord Denise M. Lyman claimed she was an unpaid creditor and threatened to take Kousoulis' family in Haddon Township, NJ.

The New York Daily News reported that one of the complaints against the dead woman was that she 'failed to give three-months notice ...'

"We're going through enough without having to go through this as well," Danielle's mother, Zoe, told the Courier-Post newspaper of Cherry Hill, N.J.

Zoe Kousoulis, the administrator of her daughter's estate, said there have been other problems. She said Lyman refused to let the family into their daughter's apartment to get a hairbrush for a DNA sample to identify any remains. The family finally obtained the sample with the assistance of the police.

Lyman did not return messages from The Associated Press.

In a letter to Lyman from Zoe Kousoulis, she told the landlord that her daughter's apartment would be vacated by Oct. 22. Family members said they cleaned the apartment, left the key with the doorman and arranged for the Salvation Army to take away remaining furniture. When Lyman received the letter, she called Danielle's brother-in-law, Sean Hagerty, and demanded that nothing be removed from the apartment, the Kousoulises said. The landlord also told the doorman not to allow the Salvation Army into the apartment.

Neighbors and a doorman said Lyman and her teenage daughter moved into the apartment. Under New York state common law, a lease does not automatically end when a tenant dies - both parties must agree to surrender it. But New York City attorneys and property managers said a landlord moving into an apartment is evidence of a surrender.

"If the landlord decided to move into it, then she would have extinguished the responsibility of the tenant," said Charles Mehlman, senior vice president of the Lefrak Organization, which owns and leases 60,000 apartments in the city.

Attorney Jack Lester, who specializes in real estate law but is not involved in the Kousoulis case, also said the family was under no obligation to pay rent beyond the point the landlord moved in.

"I think it's outrageous from a legal standpoint, and it's even worse from a moral and humane standpoint," Lester said. "It's shocking that she would have no regard for the survivors of the people that perished in the worst attack on American soil."

A New York City attorney is handling the Kousoulises' case pro bono. The American Red Cross also offered financial assistance.

I came across other links relating to Denise M. Lyman. In one, she filed a complaint against her employer as a project manager alleging 'wrongful termination'. Apparently, this bitch had been warned numerous times regarding her nasty attitude toward coworkers and vendors. She also had been given written warnings. The case went before a judge (summary judgment) and the judge found in favor of the defendants. The 'landlord from hell' was going to try her luck before a jury trial. I couldn't find anything relating to a jury trial.

I am wondering if - with her reputation - she was able to land another job.

Some people are so callous and greedy it's pathetic. Money isn't everything in life you fucking bitch!

March 25th - I

John received a flyer in the mail about the March 25th Parade which will take place on the 22nd of March in Philadelphia.

The honorary guests at the parade will be Danielle Kousoulis' parents, Zoi and George.

Below is an article from philly.com about Danielle:

After graduating cum laude from Villanova University, the Haddon Township native had worked her way up to the top ranks of a prestigious brokerage firm in New York, obtaining a master's degree along the way.

She also had mastered the New York City Marathon, and was training for another major long-distance race.

Miss Kousoulis, a bond broker and vice president at Cantor Fitzgerald Securities, is among the roughly 3,000 people presumed dead ...

As they look back on her life, family and friends said, they see a young woman whose success went far beyond achievements in academics, athletics and career.

With a gregarious personality, a quick smile and an unfailing generosity, Miss Kousoulis, they said, managed to touch, in some way, everyone she met.

"Danielle could walk into a room and light the place up," said her boyfriend, Chris Mills, 29. "She would meet a person one time, and they'd be talking about her."

"She was kind to the last minute," said Mills, who was the last to hear her voice, about 10:15 am.

Even as Miss Kousoulis stood on the 104th floor of the North Tower, in a building about to collapse beneath her, she was thinking of others. As smoke filled the offices of Cantor Fitzgerald, she hung up with Mills so colleagues desperate to reach loved ones could use her cell phone.

That is "typical of Danielle," said Teresa Aregood, Miss Kousoulis' friend since both were four.

"She was always there for you whenever you needed her," Aregood said. "If you were worried about anything, she would put your mind at ease."

Miss Kousoulis attended Stoy Elementary School and Haddon Township High School, where she was active in gymnastics and softball and was her class salutatorian. Soon after graduating from Villanova with a degree in economics in 1993, she moved to Hoboken, N.J., and joined Cantor Fitzgerald.

After a move to Manhattan in 1996, she began taking courses part time at New York University and received her masters in business administration.

"She would come back to Haddon Township, and she was our same Danielle," Aregood said.

At Cantor, Miss Kousoulis was active in a mentoring program for new brokers. And she always had time for friends and family.

"She was so generous and had a real enthusiasm for life," her sister Eleni Kousoulis said.

Miss Kousoulis is survived by her parents, Zoe and George; a brother, Peter; and another sister, Faith Hagerty.

Blues - I

I don't know why but when I'm feeling blue, I listen to depressing music. This morning on my way to work I listened to a very old song by The Cure (Untitled).

Hopelessly adrift in the eyes of the ghost again
Down on my knees with my hands in the air again ...

At work I usually listen to the Fred Astaire channel, which is somewhat upbeat. Today I am listening to Big Joe Williams.

When I'm really down in the dumps, it's Lightnin Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, Old John Smokey, Big Joe Williams, John Rogers, Blind Willie McTell, Mississippi John Hurt, Bessie Smith, Floyd Jones, Washboard Sam, Clara Smith, etc. (Delta blues). The kind of music that makes you want to run to the nearest window and jump out.

Of course, the queen of blues is Billie Holiday. Billie Holiday is to the blues what Patsy Cline is to country. We can't forget Bessie Smith paved the way for Billie.

I'm gonna sit right down and write myself a letter
and make believe it came from you
I'm gonna write songs oh so sweet
they're gonna knock me off my feet

I can't breathe

I see my oncologist in April and my surgeon in May. Those appointments can't come soon enough.

My left breast (my good one) is itching and I am experiencing fatigue. Hopefully, it's just dry skin and exhaustion from work. My mind is playing tricks on me. I told my boss Nikki and she told me it's normal to be afraid.

I have been battling anxiety, sadness and fear about my future and it is difficult to explain this to my family and friends.

These feelings are normal. How many times have I heard that ...

When I talk about how I'm feeling it helps to alleviate some of the anxiety.

The only thing that gets me through these difficult moments is knowing that others are experiencing similar feelings. I feel 'normal' after I remind myself there are many breast cancer survivors out there experiencing what I am experiencing.

I feel isolated. Sometimes so much so that I have a hard time breathing.

How do I deal with thinking that every ache, pain or itch I feel in my body is the cancer coming back?

What does the constant swelling and pain under my arm mean? Should I call my doctors or is this part of my normal adjustment period?

I am still adjusting to what is just pain and what is a potential recurrence.

I promised my mom I will call Dr. Hyett, my gynecologist, today. I even set a reminder on my phone. Maybe after I talk to him it will make me feel better.

Last night I sat outside and watched the day disappear. After one of the coldest winters in a long time it felt good just to be outside.

I felt like I could breathe again.

RIP Theia Ismini

My Theia Ismini passed away and her viewing and funeral are today. I just got to work and will leave around 10:30. The viewing starts at 11:00.

My great aunt was the last of that generation. She lived to be 90. She passed away on the same date as my maternal grandmother.

May she RIP.

Killing Cancer - HBO documentary

HBO documentary - Killing Cancer

VICE founder and host Shane Smith follows pioneering researchers across the U.S. — including specialists from the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center— who are changing the face of modern-day medicine through their work with oncolytic virus therapy.

This revolutionary treatment uses HIV, measles and other viruses that have killed millions to combat cancer. You can view the trailer:

For VICE‘s Shane Smith, the VICE Special Report: Killing Cancer, is personal. He’s watched his mother fight breast cancer and his stepmother die from cancer. Anyone whose life has been affected by cancer will understand where he’s coming from immediately — the way that the sword of Damocles descends at the first diagnosis, telling the patient just what will kill them in the future.

Killing Cancer is a 40-minute documentary that premiered February 27th on HBO, a week before the debut of VICE Season 3, and delves into some of the most exciting current research into how cancer might be controlled — or maybe even cured. Smith takes us from Ottawa to the Mayo Clinic to Houston, Texas to look at three separate experimental trials (that all seem to be in the very early stages — phase 1 or 2‚ which come long before phase 3 and FDA approval).

What’s fascinating about these trials is that a new strain of thinking around cancer involves the idea of using other viruses that have killed us en masse (measles, smallpox, HIV) to kill the cancer cells growing in the afflicted person’s body. It’s a clearly demarcated battle, where scientists are able to isolate and protect the cancer patient’s healthy cells while sending the destructive and disruptive virus into their body in order to mess with the cancer cells.

“It could lead to a cure in our lifetime,” an Ottawa doctor says to Smith. For anyone who’s been touched by cancer or even just scared of the genetic possibility of it, this prospect is utterly thrilling. And VICE‘s study is only the tip of the iceberg for some of this research — cancer clinics like Memorial Sloan-Kettering and Dana Farber aren’t even featured, and they’ve been working on trials like this as well.

Smith goes to Minnesota to talk to Stacy Erholtz, a woman whose multiple myeloma is currently in remission thanks to the experimental trial that sent the measles virus after her cancer. It’s an amazing story, and we see the hope and bravery of current myeloma patients receiving the same treatment as Stacy.

Where the special really tugs at your heartstrings, however, is in the story of the successful treatment of Emma Whitehead, a young girl who nearly died from leukemia when she was six years old, before doctors made the radical decision to use HIV to reprogram her T cells. Now, her cancer is in remission. They’ve done further treatments on young cancer patients who have also responded well, and it may be a breakthrough that shows that it’s fair to hope for a cure.

It wouldn’t be a VICE special with some edginess, though; Killing Caner takes you right into the operating rooms for cancer patients’ head surgeries, complete with the squishy, squirmy sounds of real-life procedures.

The information on trials like this is readily available in newspapers and via other media outlets, but the VICE team does a good job of showcasing the most exciting breakthroughs in the fight against cancer. The special is downright earnest, which is weird coming from VICE, but in this case Smith’s everyman quality makes something that could be wonky into a human story of people working to eradicate a random and cruel disease. An optimistic summary of where we are in the fight against cancer and where we’re going with this new research, Killing Cancer shines a little light on a possible future where a cancer diagnosis may never be a death sentence.

Total Eclipse of the Sun

Total eclipse of the sun will be seen over Europe on March 20th. The eclipse of the sun by the moon to be seen across Europe will be the biggest solar eclipse event on the continent since August 1999.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/total-eclipse-of-the-sun-will-be-seen-over-europe-on-20-march/article/427061#ixzz3T0vdV9oY

Paul Krugman's opinion on Greece

Paul Krugman was interviewed by Evan Davis on the BBC’s Newsnight program on 17th February. The following is a transcript of the part of the interview dealing with the negotiations for a new deal for Greece:

BBC -- I don’t know what you think but how far should the Eurozone go, the European Commission, in helping yield to what Syriza is asking for?

Krugman -- The important thing to realize is that Syriza is actually not asking for an inflow of money, it’s not asking for aid. There’s no question that Greece is going to be net transferring money to its creditors. What’s happening right now is that the Eurogroup is demanding that Greece commit to, or recommit to, increasing, to tripling the amount that it’s paying; it’s the primary budget surplus that we are actually talking about. So they are demanding that Greece go ahead with a program that calls for a major further increase in austerity despite the fact that Greece is suffering a Great Depression level slump.

That’s not gonna happen. Let’s put it this way: it is an absurd demand. Maybe this Greek government might agree to it; if so they will fall and something much more radical will take its place. So the question is whether the Eurogroup is so determined to make an example of Greece that they are willing to see that happen. It’s very frustrating to see Syriza portrayed as asking for easy terms, asking for a lot of money. They are actually prepared to continue with the enormous sacrifices Greece has already made. What they are not willing to do is to substantially increase those sacrifices going forwards.

BBC -- There is one criticism people make of Syriza though, which is that you have to say that Greece’s problems are not entirely imposed on it from overseas. There were some problems, structural problems, in the Greek economy before all this started. By essentially turning a back on reform of the Greek economy, they are not giving what gives hope to the rest of Europe that Greece will turn itself around and be a flourishing economy in 20 or 30 years time.

Krugman -- I think that, let’s be serious here, some of the reforms that Europe is trying to get in Greece are a good thing, some of them are more dubious. All of that is going to be very long in the payoff. Meanwhile we are now, remember we’re almost five years into this, we’ve had five years of Europe saying to Greece “do this, suffer this, make these cuts and you will see your economy turned around”. The Greek electorate is not going to stand for this. If Europe isn’t about democracy, what’s it about?

BBC -- What’s your theory as to why Europe, both the Germans and also the non-Germans - the Spanish, the French - what’s your theory as to why they are playing such hardball game with Greece?

Krugman -- Well for some of them, actually you want to think about it in terms of the various governments. Other European countries, first of all the Germans, they’ve been telling their electorate that it’s all about lazy, irresponsible southern Europeans. And they’ve never really leveled with them about the fact that yes, there was a lot of bad behavior in Greece but, you know, this is a shared European problem. In the case of a government like that in Spain, which has been dutifully imposing a lot of austerity, how can they turn to their voters and say “well, you know the Greeks are right we really shouldn’t be doing this. We shouldn’t be sacrificing quite as much”. So there is a real issue. I talked to some Irish economists. They are pointing out that the government in Ireland is really acting against the interests of the people of Ireland but in its own interests by saying “all look we’re good. We’re good on austerity, we’re good on reform, so therefore the Greeks should do it as well”. So lot’s of political incentives to continue.

BBC -- Would Greece be better off leaving the Euro? I mean this could be one outcome of all of this. And we know some people in Syriza actually want to leave the Euro.

Krugman -- Well, Greece would be better if it had never joined but unfortunately that’s not an option. The trouble with all of this is that the process of a divorce from the Euro would be incredibly messy and costly. It’s not something anyone wants to do lightly. And the consequences, by the way, for the rest of Europe, once the Euro becomes clearly a not necessarily permanent arrangement, that’s a really bad thing. So this is not where you want to go but it is not inconceivable. And if the demands are unacceptable, if Greece is told that, in effect, it must give large-scale reparations to creditors forever, then Euro exit will become a realistic possibility.

~~~~~~~~

(Paul Krugman is a Nobel Prize-winning economist and regulator columnist and blogger for the New York Times.)

Germany's debt relief after WWI & WWII

Highly indebted, without access to capital, viewed suspiciously by creditors - that was Germany in 1953. Half the country's debts were canceled over 60 years ago - the foundation of the "economic miracle."

Many Germans are still proud of the so-called "economic miracle." Post-war growth was extraordinary - the new Federal Republic's economic output doubled between 1953 and 1963 alone. Generations of schoolchildren have since been taught that the Germans are simply unbelievably hardworking people who were supported by US money after the war.

"That is a very regrettable part of the suppression of history in this country," says Joachim Kaiser of erlassjahr.de, an alliance that campaigns for the cancellation of debts in the developing world. He believes that the Germans have forgotten that they were hopelessly in debt after World War II, not unlike Greece today.

The parallels with Greece today are hard to overlook.

It was only with the London Debt Agreement of 1953 that the German economy was given room to breathe again, says historian Ursula Rombeck-Jaschinski of Stuttgart University: "One could even argue that the economic miracle would have been impossible without the debt agreement."

In those dark days, Germany owed money to around 70 countries, with the debts partly dating from before the war, partly from the short period afterwards. 

Altogether, the debts were worth around 30 billion Deutschmarks. Budget cuts and laborious repayments were not an option for the West Germans - on the contrary - the economy desperately needed more cash to finance the country's reconstruction and growth.

That much was clear to the banker Hermann-Josef Abs, who led the German delegation in London in 1953 - his mission: to make the creditors of today into the financiers and investors of tomorrow.

The negotiations, which began in the summer of 1952, were tortuous. Would the creditors write off their money? Could the Germans be trusted? "There was even a moment when the negotiations almost broke down," says Rombeck-Jaschinski. "The Germans had made the foreign creditors an offer that, from the point of view of the finance ministry, was the most that was possible. The creditors basically considered the offer an insult."

The Germans were forced to alter their offer in order for talks to continue. The parallels with current negotiations between Greece and its creditors are obvious. Just like during that year in London, the key is finding the right balance. In 1953, the creditors wanted to get as much of their money back as possible, while at the same time Germany was not to be economically overburdened.

"The Britons above all took the view that the Germans could essentially pay everything back," says Rombeck-Jaschinski. "But the Americans blocked them, because they had an interest in making sure that Germany had money left over for other things, especially rearmament."

The agreement, which all sides finally signed on February 27, 1953, turned into a very good deal for the West German economy - around half of its debts were written off, the rest restructured for the long-term.

On top of that, the agreement laid the foundation for Germany's export strength, as the country could only service its debts as long as it earned money through foreign trade. That, as Kaiser points out, meant creditors had an incentive to buy German products. In his opinion, a similar agreement today would help highly indebted Greece - particularly as the country spent billions on German tanks shortly before the debt crisis began.

"If we said: the Germans will only get their money if they agreed to a Greek trade balance surplus - then the Greeks could export for a long time and bring in German tourists, until they had finally paid for these damned tanks," says Kaiser.

Rombeck-Jaschinski says the situation 60 years ago cannot be transferred to today's problems so easily, but she does think the Germans shouldn't forget that their own country was once hopelessly indebted and dependent on foreign help.

Wolfgang Schäuble / Dr. Strangelove

Wolfgang Schäuble

A blogger known as Redesigning the foot and describing himself as “an ex-economist existing beyond his means in Greece”, has this week continued a detailed demolition of Schäuble’s economic policies by giving poor Schäuble the dark glasses, the uncontrollable right arm and the wheelchair sported by Peter Sellers in the movie masterpiece of 1964.

The ex-economist argues that holding down the wages of German workers has beggared the unemployed workers of Greece.

Whether Schäuble’s chilling words at the end of an Ecofin press conference in Berlin yesterday, “Greece must decide does it want this program or does it not“, quite match the horror of Dr. Strangelove’s wheelchair announcement, “because of the automated and irrevocable decision-making process which rules out human meddling, the Doomsday machine is terrifying and simple to understand … and completely credible and convincing” remains to be seen.

The “ex-economist” says that Schäuble’s misguided policy has been:

To chase down little pots of gold, found at the end of the rainbow, called trading surpluses.

If it weren’t for the euro or for agreements in the labor market that Schäuble mentions above, then this excess demand for ‘all things German’ would have raised the price of German goods, increased the demand and the wages of the workers that produced these goods, and eliminated the trade surplus.

A Schäuble trade surplus means that wages are lower than what they would be (without the agreements). It also means the wages are also lower than what they would be relative to capital (so we use less machines, robots etc in the production mix). So more labor (which Schäuble economy sucks in from the periphery’s pool of idle young) and less capital is being used than what would otherwise have occurred. In other words, there is less physical investment and this creates a lower or sluggish growth rate. This drags down the growth rate not only of the Schäuble economy, but the entire European continent with it.

In other words the German or the Schäuble economy is highly inefficent one in its misuse of resources and dooms the European economy, by getting investment wrong, to lag behind the rest of the world. This inefficiency is paid by imposing austerity on taxpayers living in the periphery.

So if surpluses are wasteful, Germany is Europe’s most inefficient economy.