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There was quite a hubbub a few months back when it got out that some Victoria's Secret stores refused to let breastfeeding mothers nurse on the premises. The company issued an apology and made it clear that the bra giant supports breastfeeding.

Apparently there was another incident last week, this time at a Victoria's Secret in Boston. A mother was not allowed to nurse her baby in a changing room.  The employee told her it would be "unsanitary" and directed the mom to a bathroom instead, citing "store policy."

ProMom has a letter you can sign and send (online) to company honchos. It asks that they do a better job of educating their employees about breastfeeding.

(Note to self: Do not try on clothes there if the changing rooms are really less sanitary than a toilet.)

The US is close to losing its place as the top spam sending nation on Earth.

Statistics from security firm Sophos show that China is fast catching up the US as a source of junk e-mail.

...

Graham Cluley, Sophos senior technology consultant, said that in 2004 more than half of all the spam in the world was coming from the US. This has dropped, he said, because the US was making efforts to find and fine prolific spammers in its orders.

From here: AT&T claims MPEG-4 patent infringement, wants Apple to pay up - Engadget

We already knew that between MPEG-LA, Via Licensing and others, MPEG-4 and the H.264 codec were already awash with patent holders and complicated royalty systems, but it looks like there's a new kid on the block that wants its share of Apple, CyberLink, DivX, InterVideo and Sonic Solutions pie. Fresh from its SBC merger, AT&T is going after the big iPod bucks claiming that the device infringes on their patents which they claim are "a core component of MPEG-4." AT&T claims that they're not just after the money and that they're looking to "make sure others are able to take advantage of this technology," but they also state: "what we're doing is pretty common among intellectual property holders," which isn't exactly comforting given the tech industry's history with such things.

Can't we all get along?

From: KFMB, San Diego, California

What goes on behind their walls is so secret, its Southern California location is kept from the public. In this exclusive, News 8 shows you what it takes to be number one in the DVD rental business.

The goings-on in this multi-million-dollar enterprise is so guarded that we can't reveal its exact location. Cameras are usually banned from the immense space where encoded discs are sent to millions of people.

But it's no secret... Americans love movies. From new releases, dramas, and musicals to the classics, Netflix is bringing movies to millions of people via the internet and the U.S. Postal Service. There's plenty to choose from with 55,000 titles. Netflix is now the world's largest online DVD rental service with over 4 million subscribers.

Originally from here

Chapter 5 of my Daria/ Star Frontiers Crossover - Crash on Volturnus

I'm putting up a table of contents since it appears some of the incoming websites haven't updated yet for Chapter 5.

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5

Want to get paid to geocache? Yea, that would be nice. A company is now offering just that sort of. See there is a company called SkySite that operates a large fleet of balloons. The balloons fly at around 100,000 feet and serve as a communications platform to rural areas. However the balloons don't stay aloft forever and the company wanted a way to retrieve them. They us GPS tracking to obtain the coordinates of the balloons after they return to Earth and offer a bounty to those that retrieve and capture them.

The lucky finder can earn about $25-$50 for returning the equipment. The exact amount of the bounty is determined by how quickly the device is recovered and returned to the SkySite Recovery program.

Read about it here. Orginally from here. Program webpage here.

Often, when job seekers try to sell themselves to potential employers, they load their resumes with vague claims that are transparent to hiring managers, according to Scott Bennett, author of "The Elements of Resume Style" (AMACOM).

By contrast, the most successful job seekers avoid these vague phrases on their resumes in favor of accomplishments.

Read more here.

`Baby Jessica,' now 19, reportedly marries

MIDLAND, Texas (AP) -- A published report says "Baby Jessica," whose dramatic rescue from an abandoned Texas well was televised across the country 18 years ago, has gotten married.

When it comes to violent crime, New Orleans' gain may be Houston's loss

Crime may be down in New Orleans, but many of the city's bad guys seem to be turning up in Houston, which finds itself caught in the cross hairs of an apparent gang war between Hurricane Katrina evacuees from two rival housing projects.

Steve Jobs owns your living room

NEW YORK (FORTUNE) - On Wednesday night, Gene Munster was thinking about going to the movies; but he did something else instead. He spent $1.99 to watch a campy 1960s TV show on his laptop. The first season of the Munsters -- a comedy about a family of monsters and their struggles to lead an all-American life -- was available for download on iTunes. Munster, for obvious reasons, couldn't resist.

Lez Zeppelin: A band that flips the Page

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Four women rockers who took on the music of Led Zeppelin are driving club audiences to a frenzy and, offstage, whipping up speculation over their sexual tastes with the name of the band: Lez Zeppelin.

NutriSystem lures men with pizza and sex

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AP) -- Nate Griffin, a former Army sergeant, watches what he eats. He's even tried juice diets to shed pounds. But ask him if he'd join a group to talk about weight loss and he cringes.

Museum visitor trips, breaks Chinese vases

CAMBRIDGE, England (AP) -- A museum visitor shattered three Qing dynasty Chinese vases when he tripped on his shoelace, stumbled down a stairway and brought the vases crashing to the floor, officials said Monday.

Al Qaeda's No. 2 taunts U.S. in new video

(CNN) -- Osama bin Laden's right-hand man, Ayman al-Zawahiri, appeared in a new video Monday, saying he is alive and well just weeks after a U.S. missile strike targeted him in Pakistan.

From here:

Canada's biggest record label, publisher and management company is helping out a family sued by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)for copyright infringement.

The privately-owned Nettwerk Music Group is intervening, it says, because the songs downloaded by the Gruebel family include Avril Lavigne, a Nettwerk management client. Nettwerk will fund the Gruebel's defense.

"The current actions of the RIAA are not in my artists' best interests," said Nettwerk chief executive Terry McBride in a statement.

"Litigation is not `artist development'. Litigation is a deterrent to creativity and passion and it is hurting the business I love."

Chicago lawyer Charles Lee Mudd will defend the Gruebels.

Mudd said the RIAA has "misapplied" the law and that lawsuits should be a "shield, not a sword".

The RIAA has demanded the family pay a $9,000 penalty, reduced to $4,500 if they pay up promptly. Nettwerk has vowed to foot the legal bill if it loses the case.