Tastemaker

Apparently Barbara Walters is completed miffed and outraged that Star Jones announced during a live broadcast that she was quitting The View. For those of you who have not been following this insipid morsel of gossip, a lot of bruhaha has been bubbling now that Rosie O'Donnell has signed on to take Meredith Viera's vacant seat. Rumor has it that there just ain't enough room to fit the brash egos of both Star and Rosie. Personally, I think they're both just awful and its pretty sad to realize that either of them serve as a mirror to the demographic they pander to. Yuck. Babs used the word "betrayed" to describe how she felt when Star revealed the news because apparently, she "loves" Star? What am I missing here?

Deep down, we're all retards - spazzing out, waiting for someone to come along who understands. -Kat Walker in Girlquake!

Happiness is the new Rich.

Kevin Federline has a new cause: saving the penny. Britney Spears’ hubby, along with Virgin Records chairman Richard Branson and director Matthew Eggers will “unite to reinvigorate the purpose of the penny in face of its possible legislative elimination,” according to an announcement. The three will appear in Times Square at mid-day on Wednesday and be among the first to “to sign the ‘Save the Penny’ petition to be presented to lawmakers in Washington D.C.” -The SCOOP

Federline really is making a mythic mess out of himself. "Save the Penny" ought to read "Federline, Save Your Pennies." Especially funny is the fact that it actually costs 1.5 cents to make a penny, so we the people lose one-half cent for every penny minted. Ten pennies costs fifteen cents, 1000 pennies costs $15. 1,000,000 pennies costs $15,000. Kevin Federline costs Britney even more...

While googling, I found myself on a stranger's blog with a really interesting tidbit. Read the excerpt below:

I just stumbled across a wonderful "publish/subscribe" application at Folgers coffee's site TolerateMornings.com. It is a "BossTracker" that allows office workers to build a customized map of their office and then have people update the application with sightings of the boss as he/she wanders about the office. Of course, everyone is then notified of the boss' current location in graphical detail. -Bob Wyman's As I May Think blog

Hee Hee! It's like GawkerStalker inside an office!

The bright-minded Dan Fishback has given me a good new word: ZAFTI. Zafti is Swahili for Everything is clean, and no one has died. Sometimes good enough is good enough.

Memory is the enemy of wonder. -Michael Pollan, The Botany of Desire

From Page Six June 16, 2006 -- "ALL artists are prepared to suffer for their work, but why are so few prepared to learn to draw?" - British graffiti artist Banksy in his book "Wall and Piece" (Century)

Microsoft's Gates to End Day-to-Day Role in 2008
By ALLISON LINN, Reuters

REDMOND, Wash. (June 15) - Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates announced Thursday that he will transition from day-to-day responsibilities at the company he co-founded to concentrate on the charitable work of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Gates will continue on as the company's chairman after transferring his duties over a two-year period.

"This was a hard decision for me," said Gates, who founded the world's largest software company with childhood friend Paul Allen. "I'm very lucky to have two passions that I feel are so important and so challenging. As I prepare for this change, I firmly believe the road ahead for Microsoft is as bright as ever."

I mean...how many boats does one man need? Give that money away!

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pop princess Britney Spears, whose marriage and parenting skills are under a media microscope, tearfully admitted being "an emotional wreck" in excerpts of an interview aired on Thursday.

Intermittently weeping and chewing gum throughout, Spears denied she is estranged from her husband, Kevin Federline, saying on NBC's "Today" show that Federline is helping her weather the hormonal ups and downs of her second pregnancy.

"He helps me. He has to. I'm an emotional wreck right now," Spears said. "Not in a bad way. Just, just, you know, I'll start laughing hysterically and then I'll just start crying, like just because ... . It's my hormones.

She called paparazzi images of her driving with her infant son, Sean Preston, on her lap "cheap shots" and said that as a small child, she sat in her father's lap as he drove.

Spears said she has wept on occasion over allegations that she is a bad mother, and wished only that paparazzi would leave her alone.

"You have to realize that we're people and that we need, we just need privacy and we need our respect," she said. "And those are things that you have to have as a human being."

Apparently, I am just as guilty as the rest of our inane country for posting this news-less, insipid blurb. What is wrong with me? The only thing that separates Britney from the millions of sheep across our country is her big fat bank account. She said it herself, "we're people"...she ain't that interesting, y'all....