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Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - May 1, 2013
May 1, 2013
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Culture Shock:
Private clubs are not only for men anymore.
Although they're not the cigar-filled rooms of men's folklore, swanky women's-only clubs are popping up that promise to "take the stress out of everyday life," like London's posh new Grace Belgravia, the first private club for women.
According to one of the club's owners, Grace Belgravia is dedicated to "nurturing and empowering women" --for an $8-thousand dollar annual membership fee. The club includes a spa, gym, restaurant, lounge, food-delivery service, a celebrity hairstylist and a medical center headed by the apothecary to the queen.
It's just one of the private women's-only clubs that have been cropping up worldwide, including a "women's business club" called "The Sorority" in London. (Maiman)Fast Food:
People in this country who support a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants often point to the downtrodden newcomers as the only ones who will perform manual labor that "Americans won't do." Seems an Italian icon is suffering because not enough native-born Italians are willing to take on the work: making pizza!
The London Telegraph reports Italians won't work in pizzerias because of the long hours and modest pay. "The Italian mindset is that being a pizza-maker is humiliating, it is a manual labor job," one Italian pizzeria-owner tells the paper. "Young Italians want to own 40-thousand euro cars and wear nice clothes, but they are not prepared to work for it. So the gap is being filled by the Egyptians, the Filipinos and the Arabs."
There's actually an Italian School for Pizza Makers, which reports training about 100 Egyptians a year. Amadeo Al-Wikel emigrated from Cairo to Rome 12 years ago and now runs his own pizzeria on a street corner near Rome's Trevi Fountain. He estimates about 80 percent of Egyptians who come to Italy end up as pizza makers. "We are good at it because we are prepared to work hard. Italians, in contrast, want a nice comfortable office job where they can work six hours a day, five days a week, in air-conditioning. They're not prepared to work 10, 12 hours a day." (Kaye)Tony nominations announced:
The musical "Kinky Boots" scored the most Tony Award nominations with 13, including best musical, and best score for CYNDI LAUPER. "Matilda" came in second with 12 nominations, including the best musical category. TOM HANKS got a best actor nod for his Broadway debut in "Lucky Guy," but, stage and screen vets ALEC BALDWIN and SCARLETT JOHANSSON got the old snuberoo. And, the last show to open this season, the revival of "Pippin," nabbed 10 nominations including best featured actress in a musical for "SCTV" alum, ANDREA MARTIN. The Tony Awards will be handed out on June 9th at Radio City Music Hall and aired live on CBS. (Marino)
What's new?
The X Prize Foundation is sponsoring a contest to create a real-life instrument modeled after the medical tricorder used on Star Trek. The winner of the global Qualcomm Tricorder X Prize contest will get seven million dollars for his or her efforts.
For non-Trekkies, a tricorder is a wireless, handheld device capable of monitoring a patient's vital signs and diagnosing over a dozen diseases ranging from sleep apnea to atrial fibrillation. The device can make the diagnosis in seconds, then devise a treatment plan.
According to The Washingtonian, a group of high school students is up for the seven million dollar challenge. JACK ANDRAKA won the top prize at last year's Intel International Science and Engineering Fair for his five-cent paper strip that could become the world's best and cheapest test for pancreatic cancer. The high school sophomore thought it would be fun to put together a team of high school students to work on the Tricorder project, so he contacted four friends he met at the Intel fair to pursue the prize. That's quite a feat since the 16-year-old has never seen an episode of Star Wars. He says he's too busy to watch TV. (Page) -
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