2013 Airstream Interstate

Piloting an 8,500-pound motorized house down the highway is far from my idea of fun, yet inexplicably, I'm enjoying myself. My grin has nothing to do with my camper's handling, as this heavily accoutered Mercedes-Benz Sprinter drives like a 25-foot long breadbox. My smile has nothing to do with on-road stability, as the ten-foot-tall, slab-sided vehicle reacts to wind gusts like the vertical stabilizer on a Boeing jet. My delight has nothing to do with its throttle or braking response, either, as both are as numb as your forehead after the eighth beer.

This monstrosity makes me happy for one reason - my passengers are undeniably having a good time.

Two days earlier, I had shoveled my wife and two kids into this Airstream Interstate 3500's sliding door, cranked over its six-cylinder diesel engine and pointed its black and chrome nose out of greater Los Angeles and towards the Grand Canyon. Now, with the 17-million-year-old fissure less than an hour over the horizon, and with everyone chatting giddily about the upcoming spectacle, I've pleasantly come to realize that the motorhome method of travel isn't just for those hobbled bodies with thinning gray hair.

Airstream is the Rolex of the luxury recreational vehicle industry. Tracing its roots back to the early 1930s, the manufacturer had become a household name by the 1960s as the public quickly took note of its trademark streamlined, polished aluminum shells. Even NASA jumped on board, welcoming the crew of Apollo 11 home from the moon at the end of the decade only to quarantine them within a specially modified bright silver Airstream trailer. The Airstream Interstate, a Class-B RV, isn't built for returning astronauts. However, it accommodates earthlings in an innovative package with "car-like" handling, performance and safety, says it maker. The magic is in its chassis, and the details are in its appointments.

Unlike most monstrous RVs cutting wide paths down the highway – nearly all built on steel truck chassis with lightweight wood, metal and fiberglass framing and walls – the Interstate starts as a steel-bodied Mercedes-Benz with a dually rear axle. Even though it's huge by passenger-car standards (nearly 25 feet in length, around 10 feet in height and almost seven feet wide), the RV industry considers this Airstream a compact. Yes, a vehicle that casts a shadow larger than your college dorm room is considered a "compact" in the recreational vehicle world.

Airstream sells two versions of the Interstate, both with the same 170-inch wheelbase. The standard model, with a base price of $125,630, is 23-feet and one-inch long, and six-feet and eight-inches wide. This particular stretched Interstate EXT is 24-feet and five-inches long – with all of the additional length being welcome cargo space behind the rear bench. My EXT tester carried a base price of $136,657. Its optional equipment included a special golf bag storage rack ($452), additional rear flatscreen television ($808), black exterior ($1,260) and a roof-mounted solar panel ($1,307) to maintain the batteries. The grand total, after destination ($984) amounted to $141,468.

Even though you'd expect something this massive to pack a V8 or perhaps a V10, motivation comes by way of a smallish 3.0-liter V6. But this isn't a standard six. Instead, it is the excellent Bluetec turbodiesel from Mercedes-Benz, drinking its oil diet from a 26.4-gallon tank filled through a panel accessed just behind the driver's door. In motorhome application, the engine is rated at 188 horsepower and – more importantly – 325 pound-feet of torque, with that power routed through a traditional five-speed automatic to the dually setup in the rear. The suspension is pure truck, with an independent design up front and a live rear axle at the back end. Stopping the Interstate are four-wheel disc brakes with sliding calipers. It is unusual to find electronic nannies in an RV, yet the Airstream Interstate features electronic traction control, stability control and anti-lock brakes.

But the mechanical specs don't stop there. Slung beneath the rear end is a 2.5-kilowatt generator, fed liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from its own 18.9-gallon tank. It's used to provide fuel/electricity to the 13,500-BTU secondary air conditioning unit (there is an engine-driven A/C compressor too, but cold air is only delivered from the front vents when the V6 is running), 16,000-BTU furnace and the other appliances within the passenger cabin. Other goodies include a 45-amp multi-stage charger, with a 750-watt inverter to divvy and sort the power properly, and a 30 amp/110-volt shore power service. In addition to the diesel and LPG tanks, there is a 32 gallon freshwater tank, 27 gallon gray water (sink drainage) tank and a 15 gallon black water (sewer) tank.

Most passengers will never know about that aforementioned below-the-deck stuff, but they will appreciate the Airstream's luxurious cabin – with a caveat. When we think of an RV, the first thing that comes to mind is stepping up into a cavernous interior complete with swivel captain's chairs, kitchen appliances and a rear bench sofa that turns into a bed with the pull of a lever. The Airstream Interstate does all of that, but in a skinnier... let's say..A polished finish in this solaroutdoorlight for men.. Slim-Fast version.

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The daughter of a Chicago city pump operator and a secretary

“If I had the first lady’s ear, I’d say talk more about the kind of education that women and girls — girls of color, in particular — will need to make it in a global economy,” said Avis Jones-DeWeever, executive director of the National Council of Negro Women.

E. Faye Williams, chairwoman of the National Congress of Black Women, said: “I’d like to see her promote the important work being done by women in this country, talk more about how she overcame her own difficulties and encourage girls not to back away from goals that may seem out of reach.”

Williams and Jones-DeWeever are among Michelle Obama’s most ardent admirers — and defenders. Their comments were not offered as critiques but as responses to my question: What else would they like to see her do? The first lady is reportedly looking for an expanded role in her husband’s second term, and I, for one, hope she finds it. Soon.

Enough with the broccoli and Brussels sprouts — to say nothing about all the attention paid to her arms, hair, derriere and designer clothes. Where is that intellectually gifted Princeton graduate, the Harvard-educated lawyer and mentor to the man who would become the first African American president of the United States?

Surely that was not her bumping hips and doing hand-jive dancing with Jimmy Fallon in drag on his late-night TV talk show.

On Wednesday, the president and first lady are scheduled to attend the unveiling of a statue of civil-rights icon Rosa Parks at the U.S. Capitol. Michelle Obama might want to hang back afterward and ponder: If a seamstress from Alabama could help move a people to the front of a bus, what might she do to help move them to the head of the class?

Let’s not forget who Michelle Obama is.

The daughter of a Chicago city pump operator and a secretary, she was raised in a one- bedroom apartment on the rough and tumble South Side. She and her brother slept in the living room. And yet, by sixth grade, she was speaking French and taking advanced courses at a magnet school. At Princeton, she majored in sociology and developed a profound understanding of African American history. After earning the law degree from Harvard, she went to work for a law firm specializing in intellectual property and then became a Chicago city administrator and community outreach worker.

She ought to be under consideration for a seat on the Supreme Court, not recruited as a presenter in some Hollywood movie contest.

Last year, in one of the most important initiatives of his administration, President Obama announced a partnership between the United States and 12 other countries to “break down economic and political barriers that stand in the way of women and girls.”

The initiative, the Equal Futures Partnership, has been spearheaded by Obama senior advisor Valerie Jarrett and, until her departure earlier this year, former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton. The effort cries out for Michelle Obama to fill Clinton’s shoes.

Back in 2011, the first lady even gave a speech to the National Science Foundation about keeping girls interested in science, technology, engineering and math, the “STEM” disciplines. These days, however, we’re more likely to hear her talk about stems in a White House vegetable garden than about girls excelling in science and math.

Williams and Jones-DeWeever part ways with me on such an assessment. Both believe that the first lady’s “Let’s Move” exercise and nutrition campaign has been effective in reducing childhood obesity. And they applaud her partnership with Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, to help military families.

As for my view that booty shaking with Fallon and participating in the Academy Awards were frivolities unbecoming to both Michelle Obama and her position as first lady, Williams replied: “Is there ever a time when a black woman can get away from the heavy lifting of the day?”

How would Parks have answered that? Or Sojourner Truth? In 2009, Michelle Obama helped unveil a statue of Truth at the U.S. Capitol. The great abolitionist was the first black woman to be so honored; Parks is the second.

“One can only imagine what Sojourner Truth, an outspoken, tell-it-like-it-is kind of woman would have to say about this incredible gathering,” the first lady said. “Just looking down on this day, and thinking about the legacy she has left all of us, because we are all here because, as my husband says time and time again, we stand on the shoulders of giants like Sojourner Truth.”

manufacturing and real estate are major job providers

"I believe I can find a perfect job in Nanchong due to my experience," he said. "The main reason for my decision to work at home is that I want to take care of my child and parents."

Zhang also plans to attend a job fair, which will be held on Thursday at a local industrial park, to see if they can provide a position that matches his skills.

Luo Deguo, who is in charge of employment at Jialing Industrial Park, said nearly 60 enterprises will offer some 2,000 positions at the job fair.

"More than 3,000 people are expected to attend the job fair," he said.

Luo said more than 100 workers have visited or called his office asking about job opportunities every day since Feb 14, the fifth day of the Lunar New Year.

In Yichang, Hubei province, labor authorities hope to retain returned migrants by holding 57 job fairs from Spring Festival until the end of March, providing nearly 40,000 jobs.

In southwestern Chong-qing municipality, more than 30 job fairs will be held this week to help migrant workers find a job at home. Shopping malls, restaurants and enterprises in fields such as electronic device manufacturing and real estate are major job providers.

There are more than 250 million migrant workers in the country, and many of them leave home for other provinces to earn a living.

In Chongqing, among 9 million farmers-turned-workers, 4.1 million worked outside the municipality in the first nine months of 2012, according to local labor authority.

As inland provinces' efforts to lure migrants are paying off, many enterprises in coastal regions are feeling the pinch to retain employees.

Zeng Hongwu, general manager of Guangzhou-based shoes and leather goods manufacturer Apples Industrial Corp, said his company has some 500 employees but is short by about 40 percent.

"More than 10 percent of workers have not returned after the Spring Festival each year since 2009. We've asked employees this year about their willingness to stay or not and 15 percent of them said they would not come back," he said.

Zeng said orders are expected to rise this year from 2012 and that would exacerbate the labor shortage.

"It is felt by almost all factories in Guangdong," he said.

Zeng said garment factories have already begun to relocate from Guangdong's Shenzhen and Dongguan to inland provinces such as Jiangxi and Henan due to lower costs, and he predicts that shoes and leather goods factories will gradually move to inland locations in the next three to five years.

"Till then, a larger number of migrants will go back to inland areas," he said.

Zeng said it's an opportunity for enterprises in coastal regions to shift from manufacturing bases to being more research and development oriented and more innovative so they can outsource orders to inland factories.

To offset the labor shortage, some enterprises in Wuxi, eastern Jiangsu province, are holding job fairs in Anhui province to vie for migrant workers.

However the dilemma for him is that the time requirements

At 31 years of age, double world championship silver medallist Alexandr Kolobnev should have several more years left ahead in his career, yet the Russian has admitted that he has been tempted to retire early and to shift to a completely different role.

His current contract with Katusha runs until 2014 but he is currently deciding whether or not to stay in the sport due to an appealing job opportunity he has been given. “It is a Centre for Sports Modernization in the city of Novgorod-Nizhiniy, about 250 kilometers from Moscow,” he told Pedalier. “It would be a place where athletes prepare to represent their country in a world championship or Olympic Games. It is something I've been wanting do for some time and the opportunity has now arisen to do so.”

However the dilemma for him is that the time requirements and intensity of the job would mean that he would have to retire from the peloton. That gives him pause for thought, but so too the fact that he may have a limited window of opportunity. As a result he’s somewhat torn.

“There is a chance that if I do not take this, I lose it,” he said. “I think one must be a director of his own life and I like the idea of creating something new, for the people, something like Steve Jobs, co-founder and CEO of Apple Inc.”

Still, as much as the idea of that appeals, he also knows that he has opportunities in cycling too, and ambitions yet to be fulfilled. “Maybe I will have a good season in 2013 and I will want to continue in 2014. I think about this project but also think of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, in which I would like to participate. I would also miss not having got a victory in the world championships.”

Kolobnev’s career has had several stressful periods of late, with a positive test for the diuretic hydrochlorothiazide causing him to be ejected from the 2011 Tour de France. Last February he was eventually given a green light to race by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, who ruled that the substance was taken inadvertently in a product recommended to him by his doctor. He had been suffering from the condition of varix dilatation, a chronic vascular disease, for the past 15 years, and the diuretic was contained in the product.

The CAS panel found that Kolobnev was using the product for medical reasons and not for performance enhancement, and decided to uphold the earlier Russian Cycling Federation decision not to suspend him. The UCI had sought to have a longer ban imposed.

More recently, he was accused by the Swiss news magazine L’lllustre and Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera of selling the 2010 Liège-Bastogne-Liège to Alexander Vinokourov. The UCI is investigating the issue.

Kolobnev is currently waiting to learn if his Katusha team will be given a WorldTour licence, after previously being denied by the UCI.

“The only thing that has no solution is death,” he said philosophically, reasoning that the team losing its current CAS appeal would complicate things, but not destroy them. “For me there is no problem if the team stays in the category of Pro Continental. I am continuing to train and my calendar remains the same: Algarve, Tirreno Adriatico and to prepare well for the Classics. I would like to go back to the Tour de France, but as things are I can only plan my calendar until May.”

Still, he’s determined to push on and to race as well as he can this year. Doing his utmost and achieving the best results he can will then mean he makes a fully informed decision about whether he will remain in the sport or if he will do something completely different.

why we sell shoes to give to children in need

Toms Shoes has opened its first retail store and community space, in Venice, Calif., barely an alpargata’s toss from the apartment living room where Blake Mycoskie started building his buy-one-give-one, commerce-meets-cause shoe empire six years ago.

Inhabiting a Craftsman-style cottage on Abbot Kinney, the 2,200-square-foot indoor-outdoor space feels like a college coffee house in all the right ways.

Created in collaboration with L.A.’s Commune Design, it boasts rough-hewn wooden walls and floors inside. Outside, there’s a back porch enclosed by a hodgepodge of corrugated roofing, canvas tenting and repurposed wood-frame windows. There’s a counter selling coffee by Caffecito, juice drinks from Pressed Juicery and kabocha squash loaf and other nibbles from Valerie Confections, all three L.A.-based purveyors. The backyard with artificial turf, benches and a free-standing fire pit is available for use by nonprofit groups. And a book exchange, free Wi-Fi and board games encourage hanging out. Of course, the full range of Toms products is available, including men’s, women’s and children’s shoes and boots, sunglasses, T-shirts and sweat shirts, and leather-bound Toms journals, modeled after Mycoskie’s own travel logs.

“We wanted to give something back to the community,” Mycoskie said. “As Toms has grown, I’ve been thinking about our mission. It’s about giving and one-for-one, which is why we sell shoes to give to children in need and sell eyewear to give cataract surgery to give sight. But more than that, I believe business can be used to improve people’s lives. And the only reason it makes sense to get into retail is to create community spaces to improve people’s lives.

“Starbucks took the college coffee shop and provided it to the masses,” said Mycoskie, 36, who gives speeches around the world and hobnobs with the likes of former President Clinton and retired Anglican Archbishop of South Africa Desmond Tutu.

“They provided a third place that was not home or the office. My concern with what has happened, and this is no knock on Starbucks, is that they have become workplaces and don’t have as much of a community feel anymore. I’m trying to create a third place in Venice for people to have community engagement.”

Mycoskie points to a newsstand holding copies of GQ, Green Parent and other publications.

“I wanted to have those,” he said. “I don’t know if we’ll sell any, but there isn’t even any place on this whole street to buy a newspaper or magazine.”

The vibe is boho clubhouse. Everywhere you look, there are mementos from Mycoskie’s travels — an Ethiopian broom sits in one corner, a hand-carved Guatemalan bird perches on a nearby shelf, a string of Tibetan prayer flags flutters across the eaves, and children’s drawings are tacked everywhere. A large map on the wall charts the company’s progress, with pins in the 54 countries where Toms has organized “shoe drops” to donate footwear. The youthful and lighthearted company culture is reflected in the bulletin board ephemera, which includes photos of employees at the annual Movember party, inside jokes (including a Lionel Richie “Have you seen me?” poster) and fabric swatches from the design team.

No doubt, Mycoskie would like to have a Toms store on every cool street in America. If this first one works, he hopes to open more of these kinds of community spaces and fund them through the sale of Toms products, coffee and snacks.

Stand-alone retail is just the latest development for the company, which has seen tremendous growth since it was founded in 2006. Last spring, Toms launched eyewear, signaling that it would no longer be just a shoe company but a multiproduct company based on the one-for-one giving model. Mycoskie expects to launch a new product category in the next 12 to 24 months. He’s also working on pilot projects featuring manufacturing in Africa, to be announced in the spring. “We’ve heard loud and clear from our customers that they want more in-country production and more in-country job creation,” he said. “If we’re giving in these countries, we also need to be creating jobs and supporting entrepreneurs.”

The other big news in Mycoskie’s life? He and girlfriend Heather Lang tied the knot three months ago at the Sundance Resort in Utah, then embarked on a honeymoon that included visits to Thailand, Bali and India. “They were all places that neither of us had ever been,” he said. “It was fun to do some traveling that was not for work.”

To see the voters that made up that coalition

John Lewis was encouraging voters in Ohio to re-elect President Barack Obama, he heard words that took him back 47 years.

It was a time when African-Americans like Lewis weren’t guaranteed the right to vote, when they organized, marched, sang and bled for that right. Lewis himself was beaten unconscious by baton-wielding Alabama state troopers on a bridge in Selma in March 1965.

At an early voting site in downtown Cincinnati on a dreary morning this fall, “one young lady said to me, ‘Congressman, I started to get out of this line, but I thought about the Edmund Pettus Bridge, and I said I have to stand here,’ ” Lewis said.

Lewis, a legend of the civil rights movement who got his start as a college student in Nashville, was back in the city Thursday, two days after Obama, the nation’s first African-American president, won a second term.

The congressman from Atlanta said he didn’t cry this time, as he had when Obama made history in 2008. But he still found the president’s victory stirring.

“I was very moved,” he said in an interview after honoring his old friend, Tennessean Chairman Emeritus John Seigenthaler, at a luncheon.

“To see the voters that made up that coalition, it represents another major step down a very long road to create a more perfect union, to create a truly multiracial, democratic society.”

He said the right to vote was something he and many others fought for, culminating in President Lyndon B. Johnson’s signing of the Voting Rights Act in August 1965. In his memoir, Walking with the Wind, Lewis recalls Johnson telling him at the White House that day, “Now John, you’ve got to go back and get all those folks registered.”

That was why he “took it so personally” when he saw many states, including Tennessee, implementing laws that he says make it harder to vote by imposing photo ID requirements.

“It’s sort of sad, almost painful to see people wanting to revert back to another period,” he said. “We’ve made too much progress to go back, so we have to continue to push forward.”

Supporters of voter ID laws say they discourage fraud at the ballot box.

Seigenthaler’s wife, son and daughter-in-law held a $250-per-person fund-raiser Thursday evening for Lewis, who was elected Tuesday to his 14th term in Congress.

Lewis praised Seigenthaler, a friend for more than 50 years, at Thursday’s luncheon, where Seigenthaler received the Joe Kraft Humanitarian Award from The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. Seigenthaler returned the favor, saying Lewis had done more to “change the moral fiber of this community” than anyone.

“When you look at John Lewis standing here, you don’t see the John Lewis I saw as a young reporter,” he said. “The blood he and others shed during those days has long since faded from those sidewalks. But I will tell you, it was their courage, it was their vision, it was their commitment to nonviolence, it was their determination to make this a more livable city that helped us understand who we are today.“

While Obama has been criticized by some people for not doing enough for African-Americans during his first term, Lewis said he doesn’t agree.

“He’s the president of all Americans,” the congressman said. “He’s going to reach out during the next four years and try to create a better country, a more just society for all Americans.”

He said the country is already a much better place than it was when he was a student at American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville, a Freedom Rider, a founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and a speaker during the March on Washington.

“It is so amazing, out of the ordinary, to see the distance we’ve come and the progress we’ve made,” Lewis said. “Some people say, ‘Well, you haven’t come that far, you haven’t made enough progress.’ The only thing I say is, ‘Come and walk in my shoes.’

“It’s a different world. To look out and see black men and women, white men and women, Latinos, Asian-Americans, Native Americans standing together, crying together as a result of the election.”

He paused amid the sound of plates clinking together as the catering crew cleared tables nearby.

How political scandals and economic uncertainty

Not so long ago, wealthy Chinese would keep the price tags dangling off their sunglasses, wear their ties back to front to display the designer label and celebrate every business deal with that showiest of French wines, Chateau Lafite Rothschild Bordeaux, sometimes mixed with Coca Cola. They also had a reputation for being daft with their money, buying highly leveraged structured derivatives from Hong Kong private banks that offered eye popping returns or unlimited losses. They were known as the bao fa hu which translates as “newly rich” or “upstart”

That image is so 2009. Today’s upmarket Chinese consumer is hiding his wealth—for now. The reason is partly political. China’s top leadership will change next year, and with it, a lot of people’s fortunes. Meanwhile, having lost heavily on derivatives during the autumn 2008 stock market crash, China’s wealthy elite are also taking a sensible approach to banking. And they are even experimenting with less obvious wine brands.

“Many Chinese business people got their money honestly, but now they do not want the scrutiny and attention that comes from displaying wealth,” says Sunny Wong Yat Ming, managing director of Trinity Holding International, a Hong Kong-listed company that owns the Cerruti 1881 and Gieves & Hawkes brands.

The super rich are going underground, as political power shifts in unknown directions. Since former Chongqing party chief Bo Xilai was dramatically forced out of his post and expelled from the party, and because China’s top leadership is changing, it is no longer smart to show off wealth. China is run on so-called “guanxi”which means “relationship” and, for business leaders, means that if you are protected by the right powerful official you can flaunt your wealth and status. Now, not only are the tectonic plates of political power shifting, no one is quite sure what the results will be. The bao fa hu are, quite literally, in hiding.

This scandal over an ostensibly low-paid government official who was pictured wearing a range of designer watches has got people scared. Now Chinese public relations companies sell a service to scrub blog posts or photos from the internet, just in case the anti-corruption police start looking for evidence.

A joke often told by Hong Kong residents about rich mainland Chinese tourists goes along the lines of: “They must sell superglue in designer stores so these mainlanders can cover themselves in it and roll around the shop.” The joke conjures up a stereotypical image of a mainland Chinese man wearing one brand only, very visibly, from head to toe. But at the very top end of the income ladder, this joke is dated. Now it only applies to potato dumplings.

“One thing I’ve noticed recently in Shanghai is very wealthy people are increasingly wearing Brioni suits,” says David Lin, who is Taiwanese and runs Whitesun Equity Partners, a buyout house focusing on Chinese consumer industries with offices in Taipei and Shanghai. He is referring to the Italian designer Brioni, whose suits can cost tens of thousands of dollars yet, according to Lin, is still “not a brand that makes it obvious you are wearing their brand.”

Christian Louboutin signs his stylish shoes

What will people do for a signed shoe by Christian Louboutin, the high-end Parisian designer whose footwear customers include Angelina Jolie, Oprah Winfrey, the Olsen twins and Danielle Steel? In New Orleans, Jessica Alvendia headed the line at Saks 5th Avenue -- and she arrived at 9 a.m. Friday for a 3 p.m. appearance by the designer.

A few steps behind her a husband from Charleston, S.C., explained that he had driven 12 hours straight, purchased an $835 pair of shoes, and had hoped to surprise his wife. (He answered his cell phone and spoiled the surprise).

The staff at Saks was pretty excited, too: Louboutin only does about 20 signings a year in the United States.

It was the first-ever New Orleans appearance for the designer, who has come to command the top of the women’s market with shoes that always have a glossy red sole. For Louboutin’s signing, the store hired a New Orleans Police Department detail cop, engaged a jazz combo, and directed hovering journalists to a lounge that offered a nice view of the backstage scurrying that occurs when a big name is in the house.

Away from the hubbub, Louboutin was the picture of calm. A genial fellow with a trim, gray goatee, he was sequestered in a side room with two assistants, a selection of markers, and about 50 pairs of shoes that waiting customers had pre-purchased. He wore jeans and a golf shirt. He set his glasses high on his forehead, smiled easily, and generally looked like someone’s French uncle on vacation, except for the three-toned patent and suede lace-up shoes with the orange piping: an item from his men’s collection.

“When I look at the shoes these customers have selected, I can tell that New Orleans is different compared to other cities. Most of my American customers purchase plainer, more classic designs. Here they have selected shoes with vivid colors and lots of embellishments,” he said. “I also notice this: there seems to be a special interest in my highest heels: no flats for New Orleans.”

How high? Make that 7 inches, folks. And the materials are equally extravagant, with some styles featuring startling combinations: one shoe included suede and red velvet tops, heels covered with fuzzy cowhide in a cheetah pattern, and a constellation of gold studs. Every shoe has red soles: a trademarked element that was recently upheld in federal court, when the French fashion house of Yves Saint Laurent, tried to market shoes with a similar element.

“I think a lot about silhouettes and how to make an object that will look good in movement, but I have a tendency to celebrate detail and ornament. It’s comes through in everything I do, whether collecting furniture or looking at art when I travel.”

Louboutin, a native of Paris, gestured expansively as he discussed his shoes, including the spiked, red-patent pump that was just named the sexiest shoe of 2012 by Footwear News, a trade journal produced by Women’s Wear Daily. (At Saks, a pair was already signed for a New Orleans customer). When he overturned a glass of water, his assistants jumped to save the shoes, not the cell phones that sat on his signing desk. That’s what happens when some popular styles cost around $4,000.

How Did Steroids Get Contaminated?

Was it some moldy ceiling tiles? The dusty shoes of a careless employee? Or did the contamination ride in on one of the ingredients?

There are lots of ways fungus could have gotten inside the Massachusetts compounding pharmacy whose steroid medication has been linked to a lethal outbreak of a rare fungal form of meningitis.

The outbreak has killed at least 15 people and sickened more than 200 others in 15 states. Nearly all the victims had received steroid injections for back pain.

Federal and state investigators have been tightlipped about any problems they may have seen at the New England Compounding Center or whether they have pinpointed the source of the contamination. They did disclose last week that they found fungus in more than 50 vials from the pharmacy.

Company spokesman Andrew Paven said by email that criminal investigators from the Food and Drug Administration were at the pharmacy in Framingham, Mass., on Tuesday. The visit was part of a broad federal and state investigation of the outbreak, FDA spokesman Steven Immergut said in an email.

New England Compounding has not commented on its production process or what might have gone wrong, so outside experts can only speculate. But the betting money seems to be on dirty conditions, faulty sterilizing equipment, tainted ingredients or sloppiness on the part of employees.

The drug at the center of the investigation is made without preservative, meaning there's no alcohol or other solution in it to kill germs such as a fungus. So it's very important that it be made under highly sterile conditions, experts said.

Compounding pharmacies aren't as tightly regulated as drug company plants, but they are supposed to follow certain rules: Clean the floors and other surfaces daily; monitor air in "clean rooms" where drugs are made; require employees to wear gloves and gowns; test samples from each lot.

The rules are in the U.S. Pharmacopeia, a kind of national standards book for compounding medicines that's written by a nonprofit scientific organization. Most inspections, though, are handled by state boards of pharmacy. Massachusetts last inspected New England Compounding in March in response to a complaint unrelated to the outbreak; the results have not been released.

High-volume production of the sort that went on at New England Compounding also raises the chances of contamination, experts said.

Traditionally, compounding pharmacies fill special orders placed by doctors for individual patients, turning out maybe five or six vials. But many medical practices and hospitals place large orders to have the medicines on hand for their patients. That's allowed in at least 40 states but not under Massachusetts regulations.

Last month, New England Compounding recalled three lots of steroids made since May that totaled 17,676 single-dose vials of medicine — roughly equivalent to 20 gallons.

"I don't see it as appropriate for a community pharmacy to do a batch of something preservative-free in numbers in the thousands" of doses, said Lou Diorio, a New Jersey-based consultant to compounding pharmacies. Diorio, who has no connection to the investigation or the company, said it is harder to keep everything sterile when working with large amounts.

To make the steroid, a chemical powder from a supplier is mixed with a liquid, sterilized through heating, then pumped into vials, according to Eric Kastango, another consultant from New Jersey who helps compounding pharmacies deal with contamination problems. He is not connected to the company either.

Perhaps the powder was contaminated, either at New England Compounding or another location. Maybe the fungus was in the liquid, some experts said.

Kastango offered additional possible scenarios, related to the large volume produced: Making thousands of doses at a time can take many hours or days. It's possible that a batch could sit for hours or even a day or so before being placed in vials, making it vulnerable to contamination, he said.

It's also likely a pharmacy worker would take a break to get a snack or cup of coffee, to go to the bathroom or to step outside for a smoke, Kastango explained. If the person hurried back and didn't properly wash up or put on new gowns, masks and other safety garb, that could introduce contamination.

Faulty or misused sterilizing equipment is also a possibility. After a 2002 fungal meningitis outbreak linked to a South Carolina compounding pharmacy, investigators discovered that a piece of sterilizing equipment called an autoclave had been improperly used by the staff.

The types of fungus in the latest outbreak are ubiquitous: The first to be identified was Aspergillus, commonly found indoors and outdoors. As more testing of patients was completed, it became clear that another fungus — a black mold called Exserohilum — caused most of the illnesses. Exserohilum is common in dirt and grasses.

Most people do not get sick from ordinary exposure to these kinds of fungus, but spinal injections can provide them a pathway into the brain. Doctors are generally leery of using spinal steroid injections that contain preservatives because of fears the preservatives themselves can cause side effects.

others consider business and marketing factors in dropping Armstrong

Nike and Oakley stuck with Lance Armstrong through his battle with cancer in 1996, when much of the sporting world considered him damaged goods. But for companies like Nike and Trek Bicycles, the mountain evidence the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency amassed against the former world champion was too much, and according to one sports marketing expert, Armstrong’s fall from grace will be the sharpest decline in modern sports history.

On Wednesday, Nike terminated its contract and its 16-year relationship with Armstrong. The move comes as an abrupt about-face from Nike’s stance just six days prior, when the athletic apparel manufacturer issued a statement saying that, “Nike plans to support Lance and the Lance Armstrong Foundation.” In dropping the former world champion, Nike led RadioShack, Giro, Trek, Honey Stinger and Anheuser-Busch in what is already a growing exodus of corporate partners away from the Armstrong name.

And a name, according to Evan Morgenstein, president and CEO of PMG Sports, is “the only thing [an athlete] can market in this world.”

Now, Morgenstein said, Nike “absolutely didn’t believe the story that they had heard previously. Then again, it could have been business factors also.”

Morgenstein, whose sports management group focuses on the brand management of Olympic athletes, told VeloNews on Wednesday that, “What you’re going to see is the greatest collapse by an American icon, sports or otherwise, in history.”

Brand managers at Nike, who produced the Livestrong apparel and whose logo had adorned Armstrong’s one-off cycling shoes, would have had “an absolute nightmare” dealing with the collapse of the Armstrong brand, Morgenstein said: “Just take it from a business perspective first, how much inventory are they going to have to liquidate now, or how much of it’s coming back to their warehouses from their retailers?”

These retailers, Morgenstein said, “with tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars of merchandise, saying ‘we’re sending it back,’ because [the merchandise is] not moving,” must, like Nike, face the business consequences of the fact that “the public doesn’t believe [Armstrong] anymore.”

In addition to the business concerns, Morgenstein said, Nike — like Armstrong throughout his Tour-winning years, when he assured the sporting public that his victories were achieved drug-free — “probably had, at some level, reassured over and over again their retail partners that there’s smoke but no fire. And so now, these retailers… they have to deal with the public rebuke of someone, for all intents and purposes, that’s no different than (Olympic medalist and drug cheat) Marion Jones.”

Armstrong, however, “is so much bigger of a global icon, with so much more to risk,” he added. “All these companies (that) have spent money associated with him, probably add up to be about a billion dollars.”

Companies like Nike and Trek Bicycles continued to back Armstrong, despite serious personal red flags, according to Morgenstein, pointing to “the fact that [Armstrong] had multiple wives, they’ve overlooked a lot of things that maybe some other people would have been held to… This is a company that stuck with Kobe Bryant after what happened in Colorado (Bryant was accused of rape in 2003), Michael Vick going to jail (for illegally organizing and gambling on dog fighting), Tiger Woods in a global scandal (Woods admitted to being a serial cheater on his wife), and they stuck with those three. Lance Armstrong, they dumped.”

David Carter, a sports business professor at the University of Southern California and executive director of USC’s Sports Business Institute said Nike could no longer afford to stand by Armstrong as it had other disgraced icons.

“I think because his indiscretion cut to the very heart of competition in sport, if he lacks that kind of integrity there’s no way a company like Nike can tolerate that,” Carter said. “The other guys’ problems were off the field of play.”

As both an athlete and as a marketable brand, Morgenstein said, “How you remember Lance Armstrong was like Paul Bunion. And now, how you think of Lance Armstrong, is like Al Capone.”

Carter noted that a surprising number of disgraced athletes manage to rehabilitate themselves in the eyes of fans and sponsors. Armstrong might be different, not only because he was already retired from top-flight cycling when he was banned, but also because he has never admitted any wrongdoing.

“The only way they come back is when they take personal responsibility and accountability for what they’ve done,” Carter said. “He has not taken responsibility.”

what really triggered this trend?

There was a time, in the not-so distant past, when school children, both boys and girls, had to dress up in a certain manner before leaving for school. So while it was mandatory for girls to tie a ribbon on the hair, boys had to oil their hair to keep them from becoming unruly. But all that is passe. It is common to see little girls in the city tip-toeing with their mothers into swanky beauty parlours. And the boys aren't far behind their female counterparts. Most of them sport a funky look, thanks to so much exposure through different media.

Surprisingly, not just the kids but also their parents have become very conscious about their child's looks. As a result of this, even a three-year old kid can be seen perched self-assuredly in an upmarket salon, instructing the hair-stylist about the type of cut s/he'd like to go for.

"I like spikes," exclaimed four-year old Ayan, who was spotted at a famous parlour in the city with his father, Ajeet Mullick. Contrary to those times when fathers would see this as an extravagance, his father had no qualms about it. In fact, he said, "My son should look adorable all the time and so I don't hesitate in spending on his haircuts or clothes. Gone are the days when the only hairstyle for kids was bob cut. With so many programmes on the TV featuring impeccably dressed people including kids, and a plethora of advertisements featuring children, my son was getting conscious about his looks. So I felt it was better to give him the look he wants rather than make him feel embarrassed in front of his friends, all of whom have funky haircuts."

So one must be wondering as to what really triggered this trend? As hairstylist Nishant Mishra put it, "The craze of hairstyling among kids took off from the movie Taare Zameen Par where Amir Khan was seen styling the children's hair. Since then parents too started becoming conscious about the looks of their wards."

It is not hairstyle alone that children are particular about. They are also becoming increasingly conscious about the brand of clothes and shoes they wear. "My daughter refuses to wear any outfit that is not from her favourite store or brand. I too avoid buying stuff that is not branded, as the branded ones are always more fashionable," said Meenakshi Sharma, mother of a six-year old girl.

If hair and clothes have been taken care of, can the other goodies such as toys, bags, pencil boxes and lunch boxes be far behind? These have to be inspired from their favourite cartoon characters. Brands are making the most of this trend. So from Chota Bheem to Ben Ten and Pokemon, you'll find them all over children's stores with bags bearing their imprint and so on. Shopkeepers are sure laughing their way to the bank wit such goodies flying off their racks. "I love Ben Ten and so my father bought me a Ben Ten bag and a pencil box with wheels in it," said 11-year old Prateek.

Amit Kumar, a shopkeeper summed it up, "Children nowadays know what exactly they want and most of the time these things are related to their favourite cartoon characters. There has been a rise in the demand of various cartoon characters inspired school stuffs including bags, erasers, pens and pencil boxes."

Michael Jordan brings charisma and cigars to help cart off Ryder Cup

Is it possible that the only person on the USA side in the Ryder Cup who will not hit a single drive, line up one putt, play out of any bunkers or have his name written on a solitary page of the Ryder Cup record book could end up playing one of the most pivotal roles this week at Medinah Country Club?

It does not require an extreme bend of the imagination for such a scenario to come true, at least not in the mind of the USA captain, Davis Love, who is stirring a special ingredient into his team mix – a bald, 49-year-old, cigar-chomping, billionaire former basketball player named Michael Jordan.

He plays neither pro basketball nor Ryder Cup golf but make no mistake, Jordan's presence as one of Love's assistants will somehow affect the outcome. We've seen this before. This is not the first occasion that Jordan, the one-time superstar of the National Basketball Association, has been brought on board by a USA captain in international golf competition. Fred Couples had Jordan as an assistant in the 2009 Presidents Cup, a 19–14 victory for USA over the International team.

Couples said Jordan had one mission to accomplish and one mission only. "His role was to have fun with the guys," Couples said. "That's it. He's certainly not telling them how to hit a chip shot." And Love envisages a similar outcome happening again, this time on the tree-lined layout of Medinah's famed Course No3 in suburban Chicago. "Air Jordan," said Love, invoking Jordan's nickname earned by the manner in which he seemed to play the game above the court. "Michael's going to be hanging around … and be an influence."

Working out the details on exactly how that happens is probably going to be more extemporaneous than planned. At best, Jordan, motivator extraordinaire, is on hand to keep the players loose, to serve as possibly the greatest role model for success in sport and to pass out cigars. At worst, the USA lose for the fifth time in six Ryder Cup matches since 1999 and the Michael Jordan Experiment comes to an abrupt conclusion.

Jordan and the Ryder Cup began their association in 1997 at Valderrama, where USA's captain, Tom Kite, plucked Jordan out of the gallery, invited him on to his golf cart and spent a great deal of time driving him around the course.

Europe won by one point and one of the lasting images is that of a worried Kite behind the wheel chauffeuring Jordan while Europe's captain Seve Ballesteros charismatically steered his team to victory through sheer will.

Of course, not everyone feels that way. Love thought the Jordan-Kite thing was an inspired moment then and continues to do so now. "I thought one of the neatest things I ever saw in the Ryder Cup was Michael riding in the golf cart with Tom Kite," Love says. "One of the coolest things. I want him to be seen and I want him to be in our team room."

Certainly Jordan's influence has been broad and even unprecedented, not only in the world of professional sport, but also in the world of commerce, brand marketing and global reach. Jordan's brand of Nike sneakers have surpassed $1bn in sales and made Jordan a major contributor to Nike's $19bn worldwide empire. It was Nike who took a gamble in 1984 on the first-year pro basketball player when it signed the 21-year-old Jordan to a 5-year, $25 million contract.The more Jordan's legend grew, the more success he had, his fans wanted a piece of him, and so that translated into sales of his sneakers. A phrase arose, 'Be Like Mike.' And one of the best ways to be like Mike was to wear the shoes he wore

With Jordan as the star attraction, the Chicago Bulls won six NBA championships, he was the league's most valuable player five times, a 14-times All-Star and he also led the NBA in scoring 11 times. Jordan was considered a great team-mate, although he demanded excellence of others, because he made his fellow players better. The Lakers' Magic Johnson was the same. Jordan brought out the best in his team-mates, perhaps in no greater case than that of Scottie Pippen, a little-known college player who went from a bit-part performer to a Hall of Fame career that never would have happened without Jordan's influence bringing it out of him.

Although he has not had much success in his current job as head of basketball operations for the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats – their 7-59 record last season was the worst of any team in NBA history – Jordan remains an iconic figure and enjoys cult status, which is important to Love. And he retains a love affair with golf, which is important to Jordan.

His only public stumble in recent years was possibly his 2009 speech when he was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame, curiously turning the occasion into an opportunity to say something bad about everyone he perceived to have wronged him somewhere along the way.

But in the golf world Jordan is unassailable and also valuable for what he seems to offer to captains such as Love and Couples. Jordan is devoted to golf, he represents success and he gains even more traction with the players because he is both instantly recognisable and authoritative. He established a bond with the younger USA players Sean O'Hair and Hunter Mahan at the Presidents Cup, although neither are in the team at Medinah.

Tiger Woods, however, is in the USA team and Jordan was one of Woods' earliest friends and boosters, largely because of their business affiliation with Nike. Woods still refers to Jordan as MJ and considered him a close confidante because of their shared superstardom in their particular sports. They are no longer as close, largely because Woods tightened his inner circle after his personal meltdown in 2009.

But as the ultimate professional from a team sport, this week Jordan may fill a major need to help bring together as a team golfers who are accustomed to playing the game purely as individuals.

As for Jordan's view of what he brings to the table, he offered a rare insight into his thoughts about individuals in sports and team sports at the Presidents Cup. "When I walk away from this … I know that as a team you have leaders, you have followers, you have certain role players within a team … any championship team I ever played on, everybody makes their own contribution," Jordan said. "That means a lot when you talk about winning. It's about bringing that guy up … to take guys who had not really been successful on certain days … giving them confidence to help them rebound and get back to their game form. That, to me, symbolises what a team is all about."

That may be the way the play is drawn up on paper for the USA side. If Jordan can influence one extra putt to disappear into the hole, it may all be worthwhile and he will be then free to pass out more cigars.

Turning Vegas into a hot spot for work

By the time he's through, he hopes to help create the world's largest co-working space -- where fledgling companies, independent entrepreneurs and angel investors toil in an informal cooperative setting -- and a thriving tech ecosystem of young start-ups while burnishing downtown's downtrodden reputation.

"It is the revitalization of the city's core," says Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman. "We're seeing the fruits of a dream that started with my husband."

Like so many entrepreneurs, Hsieh and his team of advisers are pursuing tech companies to jump-start the regional economy. An influx of tech start-ups has proved to be a driver for local businesses and an impetus for cultural enrichment. In San Francisco, there are some 36,600 people who work in tech, up 13% from the dot-com peak in 2001, says real estate services firm CBRE. More than 500 start-ups have set up shop in Los Angeles and its environs.

There is competition from elsewhere in Nevada, too. In Reno, Apple plans to set up shop in a big way. In late June, Apple said it would build a $1 billion data center there. Just down the interstate from Reno in nearby Fernley,It has a 322,000-square-foot fulfillment center.

"This project could be insane," says Zappos co-founder Nick Swinmurn, who left the company in 2006 and now lives in Northern California. "could be the next Austin or just another sleepy couple of blocks in Vegas. I think it will take five years." But "Tony is in it for the long haul," he says. "He wants to live in a cool place, a utopia."

By the end of 2013, Zappos plans to relocate more than 1,500 employees from its suburban Henderson, Nev., headquarters, where it has been based since 2004, to Las Vegas' City Hall building downtown. The 300,000-square-foot campus, which broke ground in July and is under construction, can accommodate 2,000 workers.

"The idea went from 'let's build a campus' to 'let's build a city,'" Hsieh says in his soft voice.

Naturally, Hsieh wants as many Zappos employees to move downtown as possible, so one of the first uses of all that money was to snap up about 50 units in the 25-story The Ogden, one of the neighborhood's only luxury high-rise condo buildings.

Think of The Ogden as tech's version of New York's legendary Chelsea Hotel, known for its celebrity residents. But at The Ogden, engineers and technicians -- not artists and poets -- live and work side by side in a building that is equal parts dormitory and office complex.

One tenant, Romotive, wants to create the world's first affordable personal robot, for $150. Perched on the 21st floor, covering some 22,000 square feet, the transplanted Seattle start-up has sweeping vistas of the Strip. But the company's 18 employees aren't tempted by gambling, bars and other diversions. They typically work 18-hour days, eating and socializing with one another at the Ogden.

"We're building the strongest.culture here," says Romotive CEO Keller Rinaudo.

Online marketer Digital Royalty and Ticket Cake, a ticketing agency, are among The Ogden's other occupants.

A block away, Las Vegas Fashion Lab, a 5,600-square-foot co-working space, is about to open. "There's so much momentum and excitement," says owner Meghan Boyd. "Things are popping up on the grid."

The immediate neighborhood is dotted with several new businesses -- Le Thai restaurant, Tech Cocktail video production, the Coterie boutique, and the forthcoming Eat and Commonwealth restaurants. The crown jewel is the city-funded Smith Center, a $150 million theater currently home to a production of Wicked. Switch Communications opened a co-working space for midsize tech businesses in the southwest part of town.

To be sure, plenty of work needs to be done. There are pockets of vacant buildings, plenty of homeless people, and sirens from emergency vehicles puncture the night.

Still, longtime local businessman Michael Cornthwaite contends that "people go where the jobs and vibrant new businesses are."

MyBreastCancerTeam offers community

MyBreastCancerTeam formally launched today, announcing the availability of its social network for women facing breast cancer.

The site is designed to provide all forms of support women with breast cancer may need. First and foremost, it provides an empathetic, engaged, and welcoming community.

Upon signing up, members create a profile, and like any social network, it is up to the user how much information to disclose. In addition to basic information, like a profile picture, location, and age, women have the opportunity to tell their story.

The story can be as short as a few sentences, but many women choose to share detailed accounts of who they are and their personal battle with breast cancer. They include information about their background, personalities, families, and lives, as well as what their journey has been like.

Another profile element centers around diagnosis and treatment. Women put up specifics about their condition, including the type of breast cancer, stage, the treatments they have gone through, and Hormone Receptor Info. All of this information is searchable, so members can search for women in their area, seek out kindred spirits with similar interests and beliefs, or look for patients suffering from the same type of disease.

While there are hundreds of websites that provide medical advice, online and offline support groups, and multiple social media platforms, cofounder Mary Ray said there are none that address the complicated and specific needs of those dealing with a serious disease.

“Women want to talk about their condition and connect with people who know what they are join through,” she said. “There are hospital support groups, online groups, and list serves, but it is all basic technology you’d find in the year 2000. This is the kind of information people don’t post on Facebook, but that they do want to share, and to share it with people who have been in their shoes.”

MyBreastCancer team incorporates multiple internet trends into their platform. There is an activity feed, and users can post updates and add people to their team, like they would add Twitter followers. There are “hug” and “like” options, and a percentage bar to tell users how complete their profile is. There is even a “pinboard”  a la Pinterest where women can assemble collections of images, whether it be modeling head scarves, pictures from an Avon walk, or recipes that appeal to radiation-sensitive stomachs.

The company has also created mobile apps for iOS and Android. Aside from being a smart move for any business, this is particularly useful for the user that spends extensive amounts of time at doctors offices, hospitals, and in waiting rooms.

Discussion is also a key component on MyBreastCancerTeam.

In the q+a section, women ask and answer each others’ questions and the best answers are up voted by the community. The content is, of course, searchable. A patient looking for knowledge on a specific treatment type can type in the name of that treatment, and not only view relevant threads, but also comment or directly message women who responded to ask follow up questions.

There is even a Yelp like feature, where women recommend local doctors and other healthcare providers based on their personal experiences.

Due to HIPAA regulations, healthcare providers cannot disclose medical information. While this serves to protect patient privacy, it can make tapping into a disease-centered community more challenging. However, on MyBreastCancerTeam, women have control how much information they share, which enables a meaningful dialogue about sensitive, and private, medical issues.

“We heard so many women say they don’t know what their choices are and they are overwhelmed,” said cofounder Eric Peacock.  “MyBreastCancerTeam lets women empower each other, not just with information, but with a sense of perspective. The fear in the back of your mind quickly gets mediated when you see other women feeling similar situations.”

The site is created by MyHealthTeams, which launched its first network called MyAutismTeam last year. It started with 30 parents in California and grew to over 30,000 members. The founders realized they had struck a nerve by providing a safe, online forum for people affected by disease to interact with each other.

They chose breast cancer for the second network because it is so widespread- about 1 in 8 American women will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime. As Peaock put it, chances are everyone knows someone afflicted with breast cancer. The community is there, its just a central, consolidated network that is not.

MyBreastCancerTeam is free for members. It is pre-revenue right now, although there is a business model on deck for the future. The founders do not want to plaster the site in advertising or violate their members’ trust by selling data. But they do intend to make sure of their large, engaged, and targeted user base to market products that their members may need.

Due to privacy regulations, it can be difficult for certain businesses to reach their desired audience. Working through MyBreastCancerTeam could give them the opportunity to place their product in front of potential consumers. On the other side, a formerly dispersed community could benefit from a new collective bargaining power.

MyHealthTeams is based in San Francisco and received $1.75 million in seed funding from Adams Street Partners, 500 Startups, and angel investors.

who often need second and third jobs to get by

Usain Bolt is the world's fastest man and he would like to thank a few people who've helped make it possible. Ashton Eaton is the best all-around athlete in the world and he'd love to do it too. Same goes for world high jump champion Jesse Williams, the world's strongest woman Holly Mangold and nearly every other athlete gathered here to make the Olympics the world's grandest sports show.

As in, they're prohibited. Cut off. Banned. They could be kicked out of the Olympics for talking about the companies that help pay their bills through sponsorships - unless those companies also happen to be an official Olympics sponsor.

In other words, Olympics honchos are censoring free speech to squeeze every penny into their $6 billion industry and away from the athletes who make it popular and who often need second and third jobs to get by.

"The Olympic ideal and the Olympic reality are now different," says American Sanya Richards-Ross, one of the gold medal favorites in the women's 400 meters.

Richards-Ross is among a group of Olympians from around the world who are making their voices heard on this. It started with conversations at meets and in training facilities, got organized with a few meetings in the Olympic village, and is picking up steam this week including a Twitter campaign.

What they want is simple: to be able to publicly thank personal sponsors who make their training possible through social media and other avenues. Leo Manzano, an American 1,500 meters runner, was told by the IOC brand police to remove a picture of his shoes from Facebook.

The athletes' point is impossible to argue against, except with the kind of corporate greed that's especially offensive coming from an International Olympics Committee that pretends to be so pure.

The athletes can't put sponsor stickers on their uniforms? Fine. But for the IOC to prohibit them from thanking sponsors on personal social media accounts? Richards-Ross is being polite when she calls it "an injustice."

Here, we see the IOC exposed as a cold goliath actively limiting its already volunteer workforce's ability to make ends meet. Millionaire stars like Bolt and the USA basketball team are the exception.

This is about IOC president Jacques Rogge and others like him live the life of the elite while wanting to keep every possible penny to themselves and away from athletes who for the most part make less than schoolteachers.

"Our position is clear," Rogge said recently. "We have to protect the sponsors because otherwise there is no sponsorship and without sponsorship there is no games."

Rogge is a functioning adult, which means that by definition he is smart enough to know that "clear" position is a wicked combination of greedy, hypocritical, and destructive. He's running a racket. No sponsorship references allowed for the workforce, only for the 10-figure industry they make so popular.

Richards-Ross says that only 2 percent of American Olympians have IOC or USOC sponsors. That means 98 percent of them are being limited and leveraged by a fat bureaucracy - all in the name of corporate contracts that make Rogge and his minions rich while leaving the athletes who make it all possible on the side of the road.

So good on Richards-Ross and a growing number of Olympians - Manzano, Lashinda Demus, Trey Hardee, Jamie Nieto, Lauryn Williams and many, many others - for fighting the good fight. Hopefully their quest gets the attention it deserves.

The athletes aren't asking for anything special. They're asking for free speech that will help them make a living - and help them make the Olympics even more competitive.

That means Rogge doesn't have to do anything special to make this right. He just has to stop running things like a greedy jerk.

Getting to the Olympics on borrowed shoes

Hers is an improbable journey. She was the best runner in Junín as an adolescent, but her aspirations never expanded much beyond local races and the small-town recognition that came with it: a bit of cash, pencils or notebooks for school, some running paraphernalia.

Competing professionally was the last thing on her mind. She was the youngest of nine children (three of whom died at birth). Her parents were subsistence farmers who earned income by taking care of others' animals. The four boys and two girls each started working at age 8, selling fruit or helping in the fields. "We didn't have any money," Tejeda says. "We couldn't afford shoes, or plane tickets to compete abroad, or for me to do nothing but run."

Her parents and siblings knew she was fast. Each day the kids had to shepherd cows to grazing areas, an eight-mile round trip. Tejeda always got the job done the quickest. When her mother needed cooking oil or sugar from the store, she would dispatch her youngest "because she would just run, run, so fast," says her mother, Marcelina Pucuhuaranga.

The Tejeda family got its first TV in 2007, and it was the next year that Tejeda learned about the Olympics, watching the Beijing Games. Her older brother Jorge turned to her, as the family sat transfixed, and asked: "Why don't you run in the Olympics?"

It seemed like a preposterous idea. After all, Tejeda, who was 22 at the time, had never competed in a professional race. The longest she had ever run was 50 minutes. Her father had also died and she had quit running for a year. She only started again with the coaxing of co-workers at the flour factory where she worked.

The next year all the local races paid off. In 2009, the reputation of the "girl from Junín" spread, and a Peruvian trainer offered to teach her with a group of other budding marathoners in the state capital, Huancayo, 100 miles away. "I cried and cried," she recalls. "I had never been away from my mother."

Since then, her rise has been breathtaking. She qualified for the Olympics during her first marathon, in Seoul, South Korea, last year, and then captured the bronze medal in the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexi-co. The London Games will be only her third marathon.

"She is an example for the rest of Peru," says Sebastián Marambio of the Olympian Athletic Association of Peru. "Through hard work and discipline, you can overcome any hardship."

Despite not having formal training until 2009, Tejeda believes her life in Junín prepared her well for elite running. Traversing 13,000-foot mountains, in cold air and on icy roads, gave her endurance. And her mother instilled in her an Olympian's discipline. "We always had to be punctual for everything," she says.

This summer, her family will once again be watching the Olympics on TV – this time a flat-screen that Tejeda recently bought – except for Jorge and her mother. They will be in London seeing her compete in person, on their first trip outside Peru, as a result of a program sponsored by Procter & Gamble that highlights the sacrifices mothers make raising Olympians.

"I'm a little nervous," says Tejeda. "But mostly just excited."

The District earns a page in campaign-finance secrecy

If D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray and Jeffrey Thompson had just been hip to the latest wrinkles in shadowy campaign finance, they might not be in trouble today.

Gray unseated incumbent Adrian Fenty in a hard-fought Democratic primary in 2010. Thompson is widely believed to have funded a $653,000 secret campaign on Gray’s behalf. Prosecutors haven’t alleged that Gray knew about the campaign at the time but say that at least some of those working for his election did. Three members of the D.C. Council, including one who supported Gray’s candidacy, have called for his resignation as shoes have continued to drop.

Thompson is the businessman behind D.C. Chartered Health Plan, a managed-care company that has the city’s largest single contract, worth more than $300million a year. A longtime Gray associate, Jeanne Clarke Harris, said in court last week that “Co-Conspirator #1” — reportedly Thompson — sought to conceal his support for Gray because, if Fenty were reelected, “he did not want the sitting mayor to find out he was supporting his opponent.”

The campaign that Thompson allegedly financed was distinctly old-school. It paid for yard signs, T-shirts and supplies for precinct walkers that were delivered to Gray’s campaign offices (where, presumably, no one asked where they had come from). There was no independent advertising — that would have called attention to the existence of the shadow campaign.

But then, the whole idea of getting in trouble for concealing donations to campaigns is distinctly old-school, too. In federal elections, thanks to some Supreme Court decisions — most notably in the 2010 case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission — and lower-court holdings, and the eagerness of Republicans in Congress to benefit from such campaigns, concealing donations that dwarf the one Thompson allegedly made is both legal and all the rage.

Playing by the new federal election rules, says veteran campaign finance reformer Fred Wertheimer, Thompson could have hidden his support without fear of legal liability. Funneling equipment to Gray’s campaign would still have been forbidden. But, says Wertheimer, “he could have had someone set up a corporation on his behalf and have it buy advertising in its own name. Corporations don’t have to disclose who gives them money. This would be permitted under Citizens United.”

Or, Wertheimer told me, Thompson could have set up or given his money to a 501(c)4 organization — presumably a “social welfare” organization that is nonetheless permitted to wage political campaigns and does not have to disclose the identity of its donors. Doing just that, Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS has raised and spent tens of millions of dollars on behalf of Republican candidates.

To be sure, Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the Citizens United decision, expressed hope that donors would disclose their identities. And Republican congressional leaders had supported such disclosures, at least in principle. “We ought to have full disclosure, full disclosure of all of the money that we raise and how it is spent,” Rep. John Boehner, now the House speaker, said on “Meet the Press” in 2007. “We need to have real disclosure,” Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell told “Meet the Press” in 2000. “What we ought to do is broaden the disclosure Why could a little disclosure be better than a lot of disclosure?”

But that was oh so then. Now that Republicans are the beneficiaries of secret contributions to groups such as Crossroads GPS, they oppose disclosure. This week, Senate Democrats brought to the floor a bill mandating disclosure of all political donations. They had majority support for the measure, but Republicans, using the cloture requirement for a 60-vote supermajority to consider legislation, blocked the bill from being put to a vote. That wasn’t just some Republicans but all of them, including John McCain, erstwhile campaign finance reformer. McCain is giving situational ethics a bad name.

In defending the right to give and not disclose, Republicans argue that individual and corporate donors should not have to run the risk of offending constituencies and customers who might retaliate by inviting them to fewer parties or ceasing to patronize their products or stores. These donors, in essence, should be held harmless from the negative consequences of their political speech but should be able to benefit from the positive consequences: the changes in policy or government contracts or political access with which they’re rewarded.

Which is exactly what Jeffrey Thompson was allegedly trying to do. If he is brought to trial, he might consider having Boehner and McConnell testify in his defense. A secret mega-donation? What’s wrong with that?

Players are able to instantly swap between four different dimensions

At first it’s hard not to compare Quantum Conundrum with Valve’s Portal series. Both of these first-person puzzle games take place in mysterious labs where players can bend the fabric of reality in order to safely venture through rooms filled with traps. Although Quantum Conundrum does have some stylistic similarities to Portal, its dimension-shifting gameplay is so endearing that other game developers should be taking notes.

Quantum Conundrum puts players in the shoes of a child visiting the mansion of his mad scientist uncle, Professor Fitz Quadwrangle. Upon arriving at the mansion, it’s discovered that Quadrangle has become trapped in another dimension. And so players are tasked with using the Inter-dimensional Shift Device (IDS) to come to his rescue.

Players are able to instantly swap between four different dimensions. The fluffy dimension makes heavier objects light as a feather, while the heavy dimension does just the opposite. Meanwhile the slow dimension brings flying objects to a crawl, and the final dimension reverses gravity.

Deciding what dimensions are needed to solve a puzzle and being able to swap between them fast enough is the key to succeeding in Quantum Conundrum. For example, you need to be in the fluffy dimension to lift a safe, and in the heavy dimension to allow a cardboard box to break a pane of glass. Things start out simple enough, but Quantum Conundrum later throws in some real brain teasers where multiple dimensions have to be used in tandem with one another. It can make for a headache sometimes, but every time I cracked the solution to another puzzle the feeling was intensely rewarding.

The heavy and fluffy dimensions of Quantum Conundrum are very well realized, both from a game design and artistic standpoint. Changing dimensions also shifts the entire look of the world, as well as the sound. The fluffy dimension turns all objects into plush pink pillows, while the heavy dimension turns the world into a blood-red steelworks factory. Quantum Conundrum’s default reality already has a charming Pixar quality to it, and being able to change it on the fly is even better.

For a downloadable title, Quantum Conundrum is a fairly lengthily game, packing approximately 60 puzzles. Unfortunately the experience doesn’t stay enjoyable the entire time.  This is because not all of the dimensions are fun to use.

While the fluffy and heavy dimensions make for great puzzle solving, the gravity reversal and time slowing dimensions reduce the gameplay to platforming escapades. Over the course of the game I also came across a few puzzles which required solutions I’d already used before.

Quantum Conundrum is still an immensely satisfying puzzle game, and one of the best downloadable titles I’ve played so far this year. I’d say it’s a no-brainer for Portal fans, but you’re going to need your brain for this one after all. Yes the final portion of the game is weaker and not all of the dimensions are fun to use, but Quantum Conundrum’s concept is one I’d like to see improved upon. Hopefully we can expect a sequel in the near future, and on this plane of existence.

Obama, Romney and a turn in the debate on jobs

A week after President Obama came under fire for another disappointing unemployment report, his team has succeeded in turning the focus of the 2012 campaign from jobs in general to a particular job: the one Mitt Romney was or wasn't doing for Bain Capital from 1999 to 2002.

The substance of the dispute is surely a muddle to many voters. Independent fact-checking organizations including FactCheck.org and media outlets such as TheBostonGlobe are at odds over whether Romney can fairly be held responsible for business decisions the firm made during that time, some of which contributed to outsourcing American jobs overseas.

But the political impact of the heated exchanges over that question seem clear. While the attacks open Obama to the charge that he is just another pol - not the agent of hope and change from his 2008 bid - the costs to Romney are more serious. Debate about his tenure at Bain has tarnished his business credentials, his prime selling point, and distracted him from the economic issues he would prefer to press.

"Look, let's be honest, the reason that the Obama campaign wants to do this is because they want to talk about anything but President Obama's dismal record when it comes to the economy," Ed Gillespie, a senior Romney adviser, said during an appearance on CNN's State of the Union dominated by the issue. "And it's working."

"It has been a distraction," acknowledged veteran Republican strategist Mary Matalin on ABC's This Week, though she argued that voters care more about their own financial situations than the one of the likely Republican presidential nominee.

The Romney team dispatched Gillespie, New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte and spokesman Kevin Madden to TV studios Sunday. Their talking points: that Romney left Bain Capital when he took over the troubled 1999 Olympics in Salt Lake City and effectively never returned, even though SEC filings continued to list him as president, CEO and sole stockholder of the private-equity firm. The demands of the Olympics prompted him to "retire retroactively," Gillespie said.

The Obama team fielded Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, strategist David Axelrod and spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter with their talking points: that Romney either misled the SEC about his role when he signed the documents then (that would be a felony, Cutter noted in a conference call with reporters Thursday) or is misleading the American people now.

"He has made Bain Capital his calling card for the presidency and when you look at it, it doesn't measure up to what he claims," Emanuel said. His advice to Romney: "Stop whining."

The subject might seem secondary in a contest with candidates who espouse sharply different philosophies about the role of government and conflicting visions about how best to boost the economy. But both campaigns take it seriously in an election that has less than four months to go and in a race that has been closely divided and relatively stable. Obama now holds the narrowest of leads over Romney, 47%-45%, according to Gallup's rolling seven-day survey.

Democrats are trying to broaden the Bain issue to raise questions about Romney's integrity and his commitment to American workers. They have tied it to their demands that he release more than the two years of tax returns he has promised and they are hammering him for having a Swiss bank account and investing in the Cayman Islands. "His tax filing looks more like an Olympic village than it does a middle-class family," Emanuel said.

The good shoes are going to be gone

Now that I have effectively gotten rid of any woman who may have stumbled across this article, I can talk directly to the men in private. Men, it is that day again. The day when there is not a single baseball, basketball, football or hockey game (or the Home Run Derby) to be found. Of the 365 days in a standard calendar year, this is only one when God takes away everything that gives our lives meaning. Therefore, it is time to worry about the less important things in our life -- namely, the womens. With this being the third year that I have written this column, it is now The Real Man's Valentine's Day 3.0.

As always, this is our day to step up our game and make our women happy under the false pretense that there is something on TV we wish we could be watching rather than taking the time to make them happy.

The first step is to butter her up. As discussed in last year's article, women respond well to two types of things: the tangible and the visual. These two things are easily addressed with a card and flowers, but you can do one better if you are willing to go to that extra level of cheese.

Here's what you do. Pull out your phone and start to send her a text that says, "Where are you?" but don't send it. Then, print off multiple flyers that say, "Missing: The Most Wonderful Women In the World," with that one picture of you two together that she loves (every woman has one). When she gets home, say "Oh, my gosh. I didn't know where you were. I was going to hang this sign up everywhere." Then show her your text you didn't send and laugh about how it was your mistake. Again, it is cheesy, but this is the one day of the year when normal Man Law doesn't apply.

The next thing all women love is planned spontaneity. Is it true that "planned" and "spontaneity" don't belong in the same sentence outside of an insane asylum? Yes. But is it really crazier than the woman you are trying to make happy? I don't know the specific woman you are trying to make happy, but let's be honest.

An easy way to do this is to pull out a sheet of paper and cut it into eight-12 pieces. On each one, write a different "spontaneous" activity (e.g. go to a movie other than "Magic Mike", take a walk to get ice cream, go to a new/her favorite restaurant, etc.). You should certainly put a few in that are ... for you. With it being left to chance, she will probably let you get away with some things she normally wouldn't. When filling out these pieces of paper, you want to knock a few basic ones out together, like the ice cream and restaurant, but make sure to leave a few that are secret from the other person. She is going to put down one or two things that are for you in order to make you happy (and hope they don't get picked). Now, put the activities in a hat and draw two that you will actually do. (If she read the beginning of this article and wants to go shoe shopping, tell her that you heard reports that 12 women have been to the ER with "heel-related injuries"). Read the rest to see if there is something that you would rather do, again helping your chances of doing something you want. Because of this long charade, she feels spontaneous, even though it is all planned and she is guaranteed to stay in her comfort zone.

Of course, you won't need to check your phone for scoring updates, so it will be easy to feign interest in her the entire night. Sometime after the first activity, make sure you say, "It doesn't matter what we do. I'm just happy spending time with you."

Up to this point, you've done everything you can if you have incorporated a bottle of wine. You seem like the sweetest man alive and she still hasn't realized that you haven't sacrificed anything but more Dwight Howard updates. The only thing left to do is reap the benefits and pray that some sports organization will fill this void before it comes around next year.