HOME | ABOUT MyTriState | REPORT ERROR | PRIVACY POLICY
Culture.MyTriState.us
Welcome to our blog on culture for the greater New York City area and the world!
No-Fly List vs Selectee List
We read a story in the NY Times about Mickey Hicks, an 8 year old who has the misfortune to share a name with someone that the Department of Homeland Security is suspicious of. Now, this doesn't mean he can't fly, but he has been subject to many delays and additional security checks. Read more...
People we hate
December 30, 2009: People who refer to the New York Mets as the Metropolitans. We know that's what it stands for and we don't care. Metropolitans sounds dumb - it's the reason they're called the Mets.
2009 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting
We headed over to Rockefeller Center for the 2009 lighting of the Christmas Tree Lighting, our third year in a row in attendance. This year's weather was the worst in our brief experience, but the cold rain didn't keep folks away. Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Show on NBC was Hosted by Jane Krakowski of "30 Rock" and Zachary Levi of "Chuck." Entertainment included the Radio City Rockettes, Michael Buble, Aretha Franklin, Alicia Keys, Barry Manilow, The Roots, Shakira and guests Taylor Schilling and James Tupper of NBC'S "MERCY," Jo Dee Messina, Rod Stewart, Rob Thomas and The Muppets and Brian Williams of "NBC NIGHTLY NEWS." Barry Manilow kind of looks like he's melting, but Rod Stewart has looked about the same for the last 10 years, at least in our opinion. It was difficult to hear, so we were mostly judging the show by what we saw on the video monitors. After about an hour, it's hard to not start shouting, "Just light the damn thing, already!" Again, great job by everyone who came out in the rain and waited for hours before show time and then watched a two hour show. We do object to the NYPD having to do the manual labor to put out all the pedestrian barriers. We know the NYPD has to be there anyway for security, but give us a break - they're cops, we pay them to protect us, not to clean up... it just seemed like an example of the most inefficient use of police power ever... or, the most anyone has ever been paid to put up a pedestrian barrier.
Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Info:
* Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree is from Easton, Connecticut.
* The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree can be found between 47th and 50th Streets and 5th and 7th Avenues.
* Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree is lit from 5:30 a.m. until 11:30 p.m. every day, except on Christmas Day and New Year's Eve. On Christmas Day, the tree is illuminated all 24 hours of December 25 and on New Year's Eve the lights are turned off at 9:00 p.m.
* Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Goes Up: November 12, 2009
* Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting: Wednesday, December 2, 2009
* Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Comes Down: January 7, 2010
* Get there by subway: B/D/F/V to 47-50 Sts/Rockefeller Center or the 6 to 51st/Lexington
Confession: Yes, this is the picture from the 2008 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting. We forgot our camera this year. Our bad.
Are your kid's Halloween costumes PC?
The NY Times had an interesting article about the Riverside Drive Elementary School's policy on Halloween costumes. Here are the regulations sent home to parents regarding Halloween costume etiquette and a great quote from a parent:
[Costumes] should not depict gangs or horror characters, or be scary.
Masks are allowed only during the parade.
Costumes may not demean any race, religion, nationality, handicapped condition or gender.
No fake fingernails.
No weapons, even fake ones.
Shoes must be worn.
“I’m not sure what is driving this memo,” Mr. [Joel] Bishoff said. “But perhaps it is reaction to years past. Sometimes kids will have those ‘Scream’ masks, but usually not too blood and gutsy. I mean, can’t parents have discretion? The fact is, if parents are too stupid to not send kids to school with hockey masks as Jason, they are probably too stupid to read this memo.”
We think these regulations, as imposed by Principal Jennifer Kessler, are fair - there is room for rationality. For example, a child may wear a costume that does depict someone of a different race, religion, nationality or has a handicapped condition as long as it is not demeaning - so, if your kid wanted to go as FDR, it's all good. Not sure where they stand on your son wearing an Elenore Roosevelt costume, but that would be hard to pull off... As for FDR, you grab yourself a period suit, some round wire glasses, a cigarette holder (this may be a no-no) and you're good to go.
We do recall that, in our day, it was OK to be scary on Halloween. Some children brandished paint stained plastic butcher knives or Freddy Krueger masks... or those terrible smock costumes. Ah, Treehouse of Horror X, a classic episode of The Simpsons:
Milhouse: Check it out Lisa, I'm Radioactive Man.
Lisa: I don't think the real Radioactive Man wears a plastic smock with a picture of himself on it.
Milhouse: He would on Halloween.
Indeed he would, Milhouse. Indeed he would.
The Distinguished Opposition to Health Care Reform
As the Health Care Reform debate comes center, probably next week, the opposition is going to come out of the woodwork. Look for Dr. No himself, Senator Tom Coburn, to be a big naysayer. Coburn is a doctor, so his opinion has merit. On the other hand, keep in mind while he's talking that he said he favored the death penalty “for abortionists and other people who take life.” So, wow - he's in favor of executing any doctor who performs an abortion. Wow. It's important to note that sometimes, the people who scream loudest might be doing so because they're actually moving backwards through time and its the only way they can make themselves heard through the flux. Just food for thought.
Scientology loses fraud case in France
Finally, Scientology is taking it on the chin for offering inner peace in exchange for people's money - or, at least that's how we see it. They will have to pay euro600,000 ($900,000) after being convicted of fraud in a French court.
Prosecutors had urged that the group be dissolved in France and fined euro2 million ($3 million).
However, the court did not order the Church of Scientology to shut down, ruling that it would be likely to continue its activities anyway ''outside any legal framework.''
The original complaint in the case dates back more than a decade, when a young woman said she took out loans and spent the equivalent of euro21,000 on books, courses and ''purification packages'' after being recruited in 1998. When she sought reimbursement and to leave the group, its leadership refused. She was among three eventual plaintiffs.
The verdict is ''an Inquisition of modern times,'' said Scientology spokeswoman Agnes Bron, referring to efforts to rout out heretics of the Roman Catholic Church in centuries past.
Belgium, Germany and other European countries have been criticized by the U.S. State Department for labeling Scientology as a cult or sect and enacting laws to restrict its operations.
[source]
We find that Inquisition comment particularly interesting - doesn't the Church of Scientology market itself as not a religion, but instead an alternative to psychology, or is that a myth? If that is indeed the company line, it seems difficult to compare the Church of Scientology to an Inquisition... or to call itself a church.
We actually have to agree with the U.S. State Department that Scientology is not a cult or a sect - we think its just a flat out scam. Have you ever read any of this Scientology nonsense? Take a look! If someone was able to convince you that you had emotional issues and then offered to help you clear them up for a fee... well, if it looks like it, smells like it... you probably shouldn't pick it up with your bare hands. We use a pooper scooper ourselves and then we put crap in its proper place - the trash.
To vaccinate or to not vaccinate? H1N1
The NY Times answered their own question when they asked, "What do you think of a talk show host weighing in on a medical issue?", referring to Bill Maher's stance against the H1N1 vaccine. But it's right there in the question - he's a talk show host. Bill O'Reilly is a talk show host - would you do take his medical advise? The real idiots are people who do what talk show hosts tell them to do... you know, like buy a guy's autobiography that turns out to be full of BS.
The World Health Organization said that 2,837 people had died of H1N1, although they say that they think the real number is higher because people stopped keeping track. [source]
'41,059 people died in traffic crashes in 2007 in the United States (latest figures available), including an estimated 12,998 people who died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes' [source]
So, it sounds like someone is much more likely to die in a traffic accident then they are of H1N1 - but we're not going to start wearing a bike helmet in the car. vaccinations have risks, particularly for children [source 1], [source 2], so you can see if someone doesn't want to vaccinate their child with this kind of press rolling around out there. Even a rudimentary knowledge of vaccinations tells you that they are not 100% safe and, given the low odds of getting H1N1 and the even lower odds of it killing you, should you bother to get the vaccine when it becomes available? Tough call. The odds of a vaccination causes you a medical problem are also pretty low... so we're not going to run around telling people not to get it, but, after the doctors we heard on WNYC saying how inundated they were patients and calls about the vaccine, we could see why someone like Maher would want to put that anti vaccine message out there and maybe at least stimulate people to doing their own thinking before they get a flu shot or H1N1 vaccine.
36,000 Americans died of Flu related causes each year during the 1990's. [source] This is presumably before the H1N1 virus existed and we're just dealing with the normal influenza A and B viruses with this stat.
It's something to think about.
Pursuing Justice or Press?
It is difficult to determine whether the Roman Polanski case, which is over 30 years old, is intending to get justice for the victim or press for the Los Angeles County district attorney. Samantha Geimer, who Polanski (allegedly? not sure!) had sex with and gave drugs and alcohol to when she was 13 has publicly forgiven him for his (again, alleged?) crimes. We're not sure she really does forgive him in her heart - we've heard her quoted as saying that every time his possible arrest comes up, its a circus for her, and something she's never been truly free of for her entire life. While you'll read a lot of other debates on 'why now?' as in 'why arrest him now after all this time?' we feel that there is a different question to ask: if the victim says no more, is it incumbent on the district attorney's office to drop the case in compliance with the victim's wishes or to pursue justice 30+ years after the fact? You have to take a moment and wonder if the Los Angeles County district attorney's office would be spending time and money on this case if Roman Polanski wasn't famous. Is this someone in that office's commitment to justice or just a way to get free press in an attempt to seek higher office or retain their current position? Or, could it be orders handed down from higher up in an attempt to district from California's long list of problems, like their economy, unemployment, water scarcity... But we're struggling with the basic question of the victim's right to say that this is over. Our justice system doesn't work that way, but maybe it should... especially when it's been over 30 years.
Incidentally, take a moment and do some reading on Polanski's life - his mother died at Auschwitz concentration camp, and his wife and unborn child were murdered in 1969 - you'd think that would make anyone a bit unbalanced. But, we're not advocating his release. Women are abused and oppressed all over the world, and Polansk's guilt doesn't seem to be in question and in our view, women deserve every victory they can get.
Sweet Nose Currency
An article in LiveScience.com says that a new shows that 90% of American currency has traces of cocaine on it. We won't judge you if you start taking out your greenbacks and licking them. Other currencies were tested from Canada, Brazil, China, and Japan. Canada's currency also has a high percentage of cocaine traces - in the 85% range. So, if you're looking for kicks on a Friday night, just open your wallet. Take the money out. Lick it. Put it back in your wallet. See? How's that for a fun night's entertainment during an economic downturn?
New Dictionary Words
The Merriam-Webster dictionary added a bunch of new words to their Collegiate Dictionary. Here are three of our favorites - we like that Merriam-Webster is getting their environment on! We thought 'sock puppet' was going to go in a different direction...
Carbon footprint (1999): the negative impact that something (as a person or business) has on the environment; specifically: the amount of carbon emitted by something during a given period.
Locavore (2005): one who eats foods grown locally whenever possible.
Sock puppet (1959): a false online identity used for deceptive purposes.
Starbucks 'bombing'
Did you hear about the Starbucks bombing? Turns out, it happened way back on Memorial Day... sorry, but we missed this! We're sorry we ever found out, because its not much of a bombing. A few windows were broken, no one was hurt... not exactly a major attack, so the headlines we saw today were a bit misleading. The NYPD reports the suspect arrested for the crime was a 17 year old boy who was inspired by the movie 'Fight Club' and the kid apparently couldn't resist telling his friends that he'd started his own personal 'project mayhem.' So, we're just going to assume he watched 'Fight Club' on a plane and didn't buy the headphones, but he got the jist of it... or maybe he just went to the bathroom when they went over the first and second rule of Fight Club... which, as we all know, is, "YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT FIGHT CLUB!" Or - maybe he just misunderstood and thought that didn't apply to Project Mayhem. Oh well... but when the first and the second rule are the same, that usually implies that you should pay attention to those particular rules! Bottom line: lets just not blow stuff up, m'kay?
Insult people in style
If someone wrongs you, you might decide to insult them, and we say go old school. With that in mind, we suggest you send this wrong doer a link to http://www.thingsididlastnight.com/ so they can truly understand that they went to far and we're taking it back to junior high school. What will you find at thingsididlastnight? You'll just have to check and see...
New York Daily News wins our award for best sentence of the week
The New York Daily News wins our award for best sentence of the week with this gem: "A decorated ex-cop who claimed he tested positive for cocaine because he ingested the drug during oral sex with his girlfriend can't have his job back, a Manhattan judge has ruled."
Wow! Way to go, officer! You're truly doing the uniform proud and setting the example. Well done! And to the New York Daily News, great job on that sentence. How would we ever survive without your crack reporting and getting us the news we need! Surely nothing else important happened today besides a cop who'd already been fired found out he's still fired.
Iowa Court Voids Gay Marriage Ban and Vermont Approves Same Sex Marriage
The Iowa courts decision read:
“If gay and lesbian people must submit to different treatment without an exceedingly persuasive justification, they are deprived of the benefits of the principle of equal protection upon which the rule of law is founded.”
Wow, thank you! Somebody cracked a text book! Well done. Too bad none of the states in the tri state area of made gay marriage legal. We should be ashamed of ourselves - how can Iowa be leading the way for gay rights? And now Vermont is ahead of us as their legislature approved same-sex marriage. We know we're in the middle of terrible economic times here in the New York City Tri State Area, but lets get it together and do something to be proud of! We're falling behind!
Paul Taylor Dance Company
This was our first experience with modern dance, and we have to admit, we didn't exactly know what to make of it. It was sort of like ballet, but with a lot more room to maneuver, if you will; there was a lot less sense of rules or structure, and it seemed as though the performers spent a good deal of time on the ground, for one reason or another. There was also room for comedy, an art form poking fun at itself, and this seemed very welcome to the audience. We saw three pieces: "...Byzanthium," a contemplation on the fall of the Byzantine empire with music by Edgard Varese, "Changes," featuring music sung by The Mamas and The Papas, and "Arden Court," with music by William Boyce. Read more... or check out more from our Theater Blog
Bloomberg's street closing initiatives can have positive environmental impact
In a move that we view as direct retaliation for the failure of the congestion pricing plan, Mayor Bloomberg will order the closing of seven blocks between 47th and 42nd Sts. through Times Square, and from 35th to 33rd Sts. through Herald Square. This is added to the two lanes already closed on Broadway between Times Squares and Herald Squares in 2008.
Mayor Bloomberg's plans to close streets near Broadway around Times Square and Herald Square can have an environmental impact that goes a long way. Our ultimate hope is that this will discourage people from driving into the city, which will reduce air pollution, the green house effect, so on. Read more... or check out more from our Environment Blog and our Driving Blog
Happy Valentine's Day!
We hope you have a fun, safe Valentine's Day planned that will stimulate both you, your partner, and the economy. For God's sake, go out to dinner! Buy some flowers and candy, for the sake of all that is! OK, back to love. You might have heard that "Loving you is easy 'cuz you're beautiful" but, it should be pointed out that it's not love but intercourse that's easy when your partner is beautiful. It might be easy to trick yourself into believing you love someone because they're a pocketful of handsome, but there's more to love than that. That's just our take. If you're still cruising the single scene, try some of our patented recession pick up lines:
patent pending
patent not actually pending because we haven't filed on
WARNING: using these or any other pickup lines on Valentine's Day (or on any other day, for that matter) may result in slapped faces, contents of a drinking glass thrown in your face and/or total humiliation. www.MyTriState.us does not suggest, condone or recommend using any of these pickup lines. We also recommend against starting any sentences in any location in any situation with 'hey baby' unless you're speaking to an actual baby
all that being said, let's ROCK:
Hey baby, recession got you down? Well, have I got a stimulus package for YOU!
Hey baby, you like golden showers? I meant parachutes! Where are you going? Damn it! I always say that one wrong!
What do you say you and me "bail out" of this place and go somewhere that congress doesn't regulate? I mean, they meant to regulate when they gave us all this money to go out tonight, but instead, they were just like, "be home by midnight" and I was like, "whatever."
Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting 2008
We took in the Christmas Tree Lighting at Rockefeller Center again this year - it was a cold night, which we thankfully avoided. From high atop the Rock, we saw performers (or rather watched them on television) like Beyonce, David Cook, Jonas Brothers, Faith Hill, Tony Bennett, Harry Connick Jr., Mily Cyrus, Aretha Franklin, and probably others... it was funny to here people yelling (and perhaps swooning) at the appearance of The Today Show’s Al Roker. Seriously. People were all pumped up about seeing Al, and who can blame them? Al knows weather. Read more...
Elementary School Named After Barack Obama
We heard on the radio that Long Island's Ludlum Elementary School will be renamed as Barack Obama Elementary School, effective immediately. Read more...
Gas Strike! Every 1st and 15th of every month!
We read yet another article on ever rises prices of gas as commodity speculators continue to screw us, and
this is the only solution we can come up with. Read more...
NY Times posts their year in pictures
Head over to The New York Times and check out the images and check out our Happenings page for our thoughts.
County Seat reports on Beauty & the Geek
The guy who won Beauty and the Geek (David Olsen), who currently lives in Somerville, MA was raised in Paramus. Seriously. It was on the front page of the County Seat (serving Hackensack, South Hackensack, Maywood, Rochelle Park, Teterboro, Paramus and Teaneck) - photo and all. Nothing else of merit happened in any of those towns that was worth mentioning. Wow. Nice catch. They PDF their paper if you want to head over to their site and read up on what musicals Olsen was in when he was in high school.
Chuck Norris endorses Mike Huckabee
Now there's a shocker. Head over to our Politics page for the video.
The Anonymous protests the Church of Scientology
We're not fans of Scientology, but seriously - if you bought a copy of Dianetics, odds are, you were going to give your money to something else silly anyway, so we're not trying to save you. (Did you know you can get all of L. Ron Hubbard's books on the Scientology Website for the low, low cost of $3500?) Anyway, Anonymous is protesting them. Check out the video.
Party celebrates the abolition of the NJ death penalty
If ever there was a reason to get down and get funky, this would be it. The Puffin Cultural Forum is hosting a reception to celebrate the abolition of the death penalty in New Jersey. Speakers will include State Senator Loretta Weinberg and Celeste Fitzgerald. The pary is on Saturday, February 2, 7:00 p.m. at The Puffin Cultural Forum, which is located on 20 Puffin Way, Teaneck, NJ
The Late Show returns to CBS
We read an article in The New York Times that David Letterman's company, Worldwide Pants, had reach an agreement with the Writer's Guild and on Jan 2, "The Late Show" returned to CBS, along with "The Late, Late Show", which is also owned by Worldwide Pants.
As seen below, Leno and Conan O'Brien returned without writers, but we saw a commercial that said that Comedy Central's Daily Show and Colbert Report will return on Jan 7 without writers as well. Conan has grown a strike beard and filled time on Jan 2 by seeing how long he could spin his wedding ring on his desk.
Now, we are strongly against the idea of breaking the strikes and we shake our finger at the shows that have broken the strike, but conan is still great. if you have to break the strike, spinning your ring on your desk is the way to do it. We didn't catch Leno, but we heard he said that he wrote his own monologue, and being that he's a WGA member, we'd assume they're going to boot him out, or something...
NY Times posts their year in pictures
Head over to The New York Times and check out the images.
Lets start with the Presidential Election, which keeps starting earlier every $%#!@* cycle. There's a funny shot of Obama, from the back, taking a peep into a house in a 'Anybody home?' sort of way and a photo of John McCain that probably forced on lookers to call EMS - the dude just doesn't look alive. The caption reads that he's preparing himself for an interview, but it looks to us like he's preparing his soul for an audience with St Peter.
The Metro section has a eerie shot of Manhattan after that steam pipe exploded last July - we were very impressed with the lack of panic despite the local media's first question: 'do you suspect terrorists?' Dude - this is not our first steam pipe explosion. Manhattan's underground is a vast labyrinth of pipes and tunnels and unfortunately, things don't always go the way their supposed to. There are so many shots of death in this section - its easy to forget about it after it happens - but a lot of crazy stuff happens around here. Oh, and there's a shot of the Rockettes.
We also took a quick look at sports - their's a really sad picture of Mets fans after their team was eliminated from post season contention. We still lay the blame on Omar Maniya.
There's a ton of other great images we didn't cover, so check it out.
Writers or no, NBC late night returns Jan 2
We read an article on The New York Times and Leno and Conan are back on the air on Jan 2 whether the writers and producers settle or not.
Leno and Conan are in a tough spot, as the article details: move on without the writers or fire the 100 some odd non writing staff. It's not a fair position for the studios to put them in, but the do have a crappy network to run... Conan has a really funny quote in the article about the possibility of the showing being really bad without the writers - guess we'll find out if Conan and Leno can improvise or not.
Stabbing at the Paramus Park Mall made worse by journalistic spin
The North Jersey Media Group has a story up about the Dec 10 stabbing at the Paramus Park Mall. Look, we all understand that people getting stabbed is a bad thing; we can reach that conclusion on our own.
Notice in paragraph one that the alleged attacker is a "19-year-old Passaic man" while the victim was an "18-year-old... teenager." Look at the photo of the arrested person - this is clearly a teenager trying to look older, trying to look tough. The article bares a quote that suggests the argument was over a girl. So the appropriate response is stabbing? Sounds like an adult response to us.
We feel that that situation is already bad enough and we don't need it to be spun so that instead of two teenagers arguing (one apparently crazier than the other), we now have a man attacking a teenager. So we go from teenager to man when we turn 19? Maybe this wasn't intensional, but we read it as if a 19 year old is more mature, more responsible for their actions than an 18 year old. It reads like a "man" stabbed a "teenager", which ads an entire extra dimension to the story instead of an argument between two kids and one of them getting out of hand.
Writers strike: no end in sight
The New York Times has a story up and let's put it this way: if you were hoping for new episodes of the Daily Show, sounds like you're out of luck. The writers have a lot of demands that don't have anything to do with their pay rate and the producers seem to be flabbergasted about that. We think the writers are tired of all the big corporations that own all the studios forcing them to write crap, and we say its about time. Honestly, it seems as though the only things getting done now are popular books (The Golden Compass, Harry Potter, Beowulf) and no real original content. Maybe a flex of power will to the writers will bring some artistic presence back to the screen. We sure hope so. We are NOT reviewing Alvin and the Chipmunks.
Master and dog pursuit frightens mugger
We love dogs, probably more than the next person, but wow. This is on your front page? We wouldn't post this, but, its funny and we don't say enough about Brooklyn.
The Brooklyn Paper reports that a woman and her dog chased a mugger. That's pretty much it. Good photo of the dog, though. Unfortunate reference to the Nazis, though. Yeesh.
Seriously, this makes the front page? We've heard of a slow news day... Brooklyn is one of the larger cities in the world, are you really telling us that nothing else happened of note? It's not as though they tackled the guy and saved the soup kitchen's potato fund... We're not saying there's no place for a feel good story or pictures of beautiful animals, but the front page? Really? That's one dynamite publication, in our opinion.
Another Oil Spill, this time in South Korea
Tis the season, huh?
The New York Times reports that an oil tanker leaked 10,810 tons of crude oil off the coast of South Korea. Two spills in less than 30 days. We, the human race, are AWESOME!
Is oil not the greatest thorn in the collective side of the developed world? We're totally dependent on it and it's harmful to the environment on multiple fronts. It plays with our economy on a national, worldwide and personal scale and yet we can't seem to get a handle on our addiction. Sure, alternatives are finally starting to hit the marketplace, but we're a long ways away from kicking the habit and every time something like this happens, the need to go straight seems all the more pressing.
58,000 gallons of oil spill into San Francisco Bay
This is far afield from our beloved TriState, but this didn't get enough press. Why aren't people talking about this?
Another accident; shameful. This time, a cargo ship hit the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and leaked 58,000 gallons of oil into the Bay. Check out the article at the MSNBC website.
It's hard to believe these sort of accidents happen. What a strange place the world is... And we don't hear anyone talking about it. This is a big story. Where is Al Gore? Somebody throw us a freakin bone!
Alec Baldwin, Danny Glover, Tim Robbins and others attend rally in support of the writer's strike
We got the scoop from NYU's Washington Square News (a college newspaper that does not get enough credit for being a great publication), as the event unfolded right in their backyard. Tim Robbins gave a great quote, check out the full story here here.
We've read some accounts that this strike comes down to sharing royalties from online sales. Below, find a few You Tube videos with some additional info.
NJ keeps witnesses off the stand because of feared gang retaliation
I'm sure we've all seen The Client and understand the, "Why should he talk if we can't keep him safe?" argument, but wow. Really? Are Trenton and Newark gangs really that intimidating? They must be - head to The New York Times and read this story; its the stuff of good fiction, and it makes us afraid.