Vintage Shopping by the Canal St. Martin

From: HipParis.com

Although we all want to channel a little Coco Chanel/Edith Piaf/Laetitia Casta while wandering through St. Germain, the price points attached to the fashion dream can be more than a little dissuasive. Here to rescue the dream felled by recessionitis: Thanx God I’m a VIP, a gem of a vintage store located just east of Pl. de la République in the up-and-coming 10th arrondissement.

Unlike overpriced vintage stores the world over,

Paris

Look for updates from the city of lights here…

Mass rape may be considered weapon of war

From Jezebel:

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, has pressed charges against Sudan’s President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir for a variety of things and is awaiting the decision of 3 judges on what basis, if any, they will issue a warrant for his arrest. One of the many charges Moreno-Ocampo has asked be brought against Bashir is for the use of rape as a weapon on genocide. If the court agrees, it will be the first time that anyone has been charged with using mass rape to commit genocide.

Roundup: Bars for beer snobs

You know who you are.

Although I would add this place to the list after the jump

Susy Oliveira

Photography meets sculpture

Random Fact: intentional selective amnesia a reality!

From VSL:

“In a twist that wouldn’t be out of place in a Charlie Kaufman film, scientists from Georgia and China have announced that they’re now able to erase specific memories from the mind.

How’d they do it? By overactivating an enzyme in the brains of laboratory mice at the precise moment that memories of especially painful stimuli were recalled, the researchers were able to delete those memories — just as if they were expunging files from a hard drive. Will human heartbreaks be so easy to erase? There are no current plans to create an actual instant-amnesia pill, but scientists do hope to find treatments for illnesses like PTSD, which revolve around the triggering of memories that patients would sooner forget.”

Banksy Manhattan

Banksy has graced our city with his thoughts on the current financial upheavals 

“Blood on the hands, a suitcase stuffed with money, and a message “Let Them Eat Crack”.  Banksy’s latest rat was completed this morning and the words couldn’t have been any clearer for a city that has been so concerned with ‘me’ first. Nice job Mr. Banksy.” 

- The World’s Best Ever

Windowsill exposure

Airlines may collapse (eventually, maybe, hypothetically) according to Horny Banker Theory!

from Portfolio

“Airlines can charge corporate fliers 10 or even 12 times more than vacationers because business travelers need to get where they are going fast, with no advance notice and no price questioned.” 

“Joe,” the C.E.O. said knowingly, “there’s always an investment banker who needs to get home in time for a date.”

“You’re saying the entire airline pricing system rests on the mating practices of horny bankers?” 

Changes in Islamic Finance

It’s no wonder social systems regimented by Quranic law are generally perceived as being so all-encompassing. For a believer to live out his or her life according to Islam, all aspects of public and private life should be regulated by Islamic law, or the Sharia. Despite the reputation for controlling freedom of thought and of intellectual extremism that political Islam enjoys today, ultimately the model of the ideal Islamic state is based most fundamentally on social solidarity. One of the 5 main tenets of Islam (along with the Haj and prayer 5 times/day) is alms giving. Go into the poorest region of any Muslim country, and you will find families in distress giving to other families in distress. I think this is one of the main reasons the US and the “West” — representing capitalism and the apparent disregard for fixed reciprocal social customs as a basis for social welfare — are so easily demonized in countries where Islam is the reigning social force.

A really interesting tenet in Islam, that my fellow Vassar students and I had a very hard time grasping during our time in Morocco, was that Muslims are banned from taking interest on loans. We were dumbfounded – I mean, people take out loans everywhere, so how do banks make profits? Well, I’m no economist, but the current financial crisis has brought this fact to the forefront for Muslim countries where economic decisions are being called into question given current vulnerability resultant from possibly not-so-kosher (ha!) economic policies.