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CONFIRMED: Tik Root Held By Syrian Authorities

25 Mar

Tik Root

MiddBlog, The Addison Independent and CNN are now reporting that Syrian authorities confirmed that they are holding Tik Root ’12 of Middlebury College in custody. Though several other prisoners were released from custody on Friday morning, Root was not among them, a development that made his parents “nervous.”

All three members of the Vermont congressional delegation, Middlebury College, high-ranking officials in the State Department and the U.S. Embassy in Damascus are putting pressure on the Syrian government to release Root. Syrian officials reportedly said that if they had picked up an American, it was due to a “misunderstanding.”

Ominously, Root’s social media presence has gone silent. A blog he started to cover the protests in Egypt and had maintained since arriving in Syria has been marked private, several Google Documents were stripped of data and he has not posted to his Facebook wall in days.

The Syrian embassy has released a statement about the matter:

“The Syrian Embassy in Washington was recently made aware of Mr. Pathik Root’s situation and has been following it very closely ever since. We have been in touch with Mr. Root’s parents, his state Senator, and the US embassy in Syria. This is an unfortunate incident that we hope will be resolved as soon as possible.”

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Meet A 132 Pound Infant

24 Mar

Lu Hao started off life at a healthy 5.7 pounds, but has been growing rapidly and putting on lots of weight since he was three months old. He nows weighs an incredible 132 pounds at the age of three, and continues to grow. His weight is roughly five times more than an average child at his age.

At a family meal, Hao tends to eat three full bowls of rice, more than his father and mother combined. Though they recognize that Hao’s weight is a problem, the parents say they must feed him or he will not stop crying. Instead of walking to school, he prefers to catch a ride on his father’s motorcycle.

Though his favorite toy is Superman, Hao acknowledges that he will never be like him because “I am too fat.” Both parents have taken him to hospitals, but his hormone levels are supposedly normal. Now, they fear his heart could fail and that he will endure merciless teasing from the children at schools.

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Do Not Steal Computers From Computer Nerds

23 Mar

Several months ago a guy spotted a computer and grabbed it. Maybe he knew who it belonged to, but he most likely did not. For the computer’s owner was Mark Bao, founder of threewords.me and several other young internet startups. Bad move. The young computer whiz was able to remotely access his browser’s history.

He found lots of interestng things. Among them: photos that the thief took of himself in Photo Booth (pretty easy to spot him) and the following video. It features the thief dancing to Tyga’s “Make It Rain.” Don’t think he’ll win any prizes for that dancing any time soon.

Eventually, the thief turned himself in and actually sent Bao an email, hoping he would take down the video. He said that he had two jobs and wanted to protect his reputation. Bao declined. Congrats thief, you’re all over YouTube.

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Elizabeth Taylor Dies at 79

23 Mar

Legendary actress Elizabeth Taylor, remembered by some as much for her failed marriages as her Academy Awards, died in Los Angeles of congestive heart failure at age 79.  She succumbed early March 23, surrounded by several of her children, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Before she passed away, Taylor had been hospitalized for several weeks for this latest complication  with heart disease.

Liz Taylor won the Academy Award for best actress twice— for the movies “Butterfield 8” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” She also starred in the timeless classics “Cleopatra,” “A Place in the Sun” and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” In later years, Taylor devoted herself to charity work, which included forming a foundation to fight AIDS. When seen in public over the past couple of decades, Taylor used a wheelchair but said she did so because of a chronic back injury and not because of ill health.

She was married eight times— twice to Richard Burton— and endured significant personal tragedies during her life. None of her marriages lasted more than ten years and many lasted fewer than five. Taylor is survived by four children, ten grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that contributions be made to the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. Or, write a tribute to the actress on Facebook.

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Amazing Bread Lady of Manzanillo

22 Mar

How about a little blogging related to where I’m vacationing this week. We have set up shop in Manzanillo, Mexico, which is located in the state of Colima. It’s located right on the Pacific coast and survives mainly thanks to tourists. Many American and Canadian retirees come down here for extended stays because of the friendly locals and good exchange rate (12 pesos per dollar). Anyways, our days are mainly full of fun in the sun, playing in the waves and short walks into the little village to buy food.

However, one of my favorite parts of the day actually occurs at night. Every evening, the time varies daily, a lady comes up and sets up a mobile bread and pastry box on one street corner located by our hotel. This year she’s become even younger, and even comes with a friend sometimes. Now, they cannot be older than 16. Anyways, that’s not the important part. Her little box appears for a couple of hours on the corner and she sells breads.

As you can see from the picture, the box is fairly small. We’re not sure where the bread comes from (we haven’t found any bakers nearby), we don’t know how they come up with their selection and it’s also not clear how they price it (seems to change daily). Most of the bread is quite good, probably not the best in Mexico but pretty good coming from the little bread box on the corner. I feel fortuitous to have found her.  Check out Darcy and Cassie browsing the selection:

I don’t think a lady like her could operate in the United States.

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