The endless eponymous endowments of enterprises that can’t support themselves as an effective efficient entity is enervating. Corporate sponsorships have become the norm for new projects and is becoming the nutritive for ailing companies. Fine, I’ll flout companies who accept sponsorship from companies that have similar mission statements (I hate myself for using the jargon), but some are just laughable. Alltell, Busch, and Comerica Park/Stadium, Hasbro Children’s Hospital, okay… hell I’m accepting that HMOs and Insurance companies slapping their names on the companies they are pinching.

Apropos of what seems to be sheer proximity, Abercrombie & Fitch donated to $10 million to a local hospital whereby a niggling coalition is trying to prevent the naming of public facilities. Though the director of the hospital claims that his hospital is not in the business of naming rights, a new facility will have a lobby named after “Limited Too” and “Justice”. Tasteless as it may seem, I don’t think I’d mind terribly if there was a shirtless man vamping the entrance where emergency services wheel in the gored, the diseased, the hypochondriacs… so long as the “AF” on the wall means Aegrus/Fanum.

Link to the NY Times Article [link] via CommercialAlert [link]

The Sarah Lacy “interview” of Mark Zuckerburg seems to be the talk of the technorati.  Yes; she did a bad interview, she didn’t research her audience, she did not handle herself properly… but the audience didn’t help either.

Instead of suffering through her interview in silence, the keynote turned into a trashy chat-show.  Developers and creative silicon-<whatever>lley denizens cum SxSW goers reverted to a pack of trolls.  The self-validated mob-rule fog settled in on little LOLCat feet.  Criticism that was lobbed on Twitter bubbled up to jeers.  Instead of walking out or invoking a sense of decorum, Sarah (I can use her first name, she’s okay with being chummy and casual) was attacked.

As an outsider observing the oligarchy (that can easily turn into a kakistocracy) that is Web 2.0; don’t waste your time terrorizing this blog with comments.  Apply the golden rule to your analog voice and save the instant harsh feedback for the digital world.  Instead of yelling and slugging your mom, you may find yourself elbowing your sister at Christmas saying: “You were really mean to mom and her green bean casserole on Twitter.  The least you could have done was pointed her to the Thanksgiving-Preparers Facebook group.”

Link to a recap at news.com [link]

I cringe when I hear people launch into a diatribe about food when I know full well that they do not cook.  This is a kind analysis that akin to armchair-anthropology.  “Choosy moms choosing Jiff” and “Little Mikey“criticizing the Zagat and Michelin guides.

My greatest peeve is the stigma surrounding monosodium glutamate (MSG).  People looking at crisp green vegetables, thick day-glo sauces, and golden fried foods in disdain.  Claims of heart palpitations and dizzying headaches after consuming MSG are the top reasons why people stay away from Chinese food.  Happily I now have examples of real everyday food (sadly meaning processed western food) ingredients that are autologous to MSG.  Though the direct usage of MSG must be labeled per the FDA, its cousins and as well as sub-compoents that contain msg can hide under different and wholesome names.

The next time you have someone droning in your ears about MSG, offer them some flavored snack chips and tell them about cuisines they think are more respectable.  Japanese, Indian, Mexican, and Thai are rife with foods that sweet-savory-meat taste… which they won’t believe is MSG.

Find out for yourself @ nytimes.com [link] via seriouseats.com [link]

This has nothing to do with presenting cocktails… if you do not live in a place where winter brings dry air and razor sharp winds, the following may not apply to you.  I’m a stuffy-nosed mouth breather in winter.  Combined with the dry air delivered in cold gusts, my lips become so chapped.  My solution, exfoliate and moisturize.

Exfoliating
One can choose to buy a cosmetic cream with rough silica to remove rough skin.  If botanicals are preferred, one can buy a cream with some kind of almond, oat, or husks of some sort; all fine if you want to pay a $35 a pound markup.  If you’re not one to shell out the cash for such luxury, there are a few ways to do this on the cheap.  A soft toothbrush can do the job, but can sometimes take too much off and leave lips raw.  I find that making a paste of either stale brown sugar or table salt and water is gentle on your lips and wallet.

Moisturizing
I will put on a bit of petroleum based lip balm on, but they tend to get lost and wind up in the washer/dryer and staining garments forever.  Natural lip balms with bees wax bases or other natural emollients are lovely but are pricey and don’t melt as nicely.  Generally commercially available lip balm make for a presentable face, I generally fix my condition in the privacy of my own home.

For me and my drastically damaged lips, honey is nice because it’s soothing and holds in moisture.  Peanut butter works the same way, but Snuff likes crunchy stuff and it looks like a biblical skin disease when applied.  I use Nutella [link].  It’s sweet, it’s soothing, it looks like you’ve been engaging in risky sexual behavior.  Don’t expect photos.