Are these "real women"?

Originally uploaded by Raymond Yee.

I saw this display all over the Powell Street BART station. It's hardly news that Dove would use scantily clad women to advertise its products. What I find more surprising is that these women are held to be exemplars of "real women" (as opposed to supermodels). OK, they aren't skin-on-bones type supermodels, but I would hardly think of these bodies as those of the typical consumer of Dove producs.

See for yourself. Dove:

Firming the thighs of a size 2 supermodel is no challenge. Real Women have real bodies with real curves. And Dove wants to celebrate those curves.

Join these six real women who were asked to be in our ad campaign for NEW Dove® Firming. Get to know more about them and their experiences with the campaign. Help by telling more women to stand tall and celebrate their curves.

Freakonomics sounds like an interesting read

Originally uploaded by Raymond Yee.

Freakonomics is an extremly popular book at the moment. Has any of my readers read it yet? I have a hold on the book at the Berkeley Public Library, but there are 82 people ahead of me when I put the hold!

reading the quote about Lucille Isaiah, Laura, and myself in Tele-care article

Originally uploaded by Raymond Yee.

East Bay: Lunch brings Tele-Care volunteers and clients face to face:

Raymond Yee, a volunteer caller for five years, brought his new wife Laura Shefler to meet Lucille Isaiah of Alameda, whom he calls on Saturdays to check on her well-being.

"I sweet-talk your husband," Isaiah told Shefler. "Don't worry, I won't steal him away."

"Legal Hanbook for Photographers"

Originally uploaded by Raymond Yee.

My own copy of Legal Handbook for Photographers: The Rights and Liabilities of Making Images arrived in the main today. I found it so useful and so packed with materials that I decided to buy it. There are a lot of tricky issues to work out in taking and distributing pictures.

It seems that Half Price Books is coming to downtown Berkeley

Originally uploaded by Raymond Yee.

As we were walking by the corner of Addison Street and Berkeley Square this morning, Laura and I spotted a sign for a new Half Price Books going up. How exciting -- another bookstore on a street that is becoming quite literary, as Laura noted.

time to go see "March of the Penguins"?

Originally uploaded by Raymond Yee.

The SF Chronicle review confirmed for me that "March of the Penguins" would be a fun one to see.

watermelons on sale

Originally uploaded by Raymond Yee.

On the fourth of July, I had my first taste of watermelon in a while. Wonderful. Now, when I walk around, I notice the watermelons that are all around me, markers of summer.

What I wrote on Sunday: Before I dive into the huge amount of stuff I have to do today, on this lazy, sunny, restful Berkeley Sunday afternoon, I will take some time to write. This morning, I heard a fantastic and challenging sermon by Josh McPaul, in which he challenged the congregation to move beyond fear and pride as the basis for building community. I'm now sitting in my old home office, trying to sort out the myriad tasks before me. I read a number of articles today, including:

• 
  

  a bunch from the "remix" issue of Wired Magazine



• 
  

  The New York Review of Books: The Tragic Tale of a Genius, a review of a new biography of Norbert Weiner



• 
  

  Visualcy (Christianity Today Magazine) by Andy Crouch, who mentions Flickr.

Thanks to Catherine for pointing out the article on time travel. Because I am reading Bill Bryson's Short History of Everything right now, I'm more attuned to popular science writing. I've also seen in passing various headlines about time travel. No, it's not possible. Oh, not so quick....maybe it is possible. And so on.

Was pleased to see this "Remembrance of Things Future" article today. It's been a while since I really followed the topic of time travel closely, but it's still close to my heart. There's a short story percolating in my head about it, if I can ever get it out in a comprehensible form.

[Good Texan]

A sidenote: if you want to have links to the New York Times that don't expire after 7 days, make use of the New York Times Link Generator. I generated the following link for the article in question: Remembrance of Things Future.

seating chart for our wedding

Originally uploaded by Raymond Yee.

As Laura and I were sorting through our wedding paraphernalia, we found the seating chart that my sister Shirley was creative and kind enough to make for us. Unfortunately, the tables did not even end up arranged in the pattern laid out in the chart -- so people had to fend for themselves after all. Oh well.