More irreverent Catholic calendars for the new year.
NYT’S “HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT”: Not in the newsroom, but at the Edison, New Jersey, printing plant. Money quote:
The Jewish plaintiff is Harvey Alpert, a 53-year-old resident of Marlboro, N.J., who began working at the Edison plant as a chauffeur in 1977 and is now a floorman. The complaint alleges that, like the other men bringing the suit, Alpert was “subjected to very offensive epithets” that included being addressed by a colleague as “a (expletive) fat Jew Bastard.” The same colleague is alleged to have said “I hate that Jew bastard. I want to kill him.”… The other complainants, two Latinos and six African-Americans, also alleged that fellow employees addressed them as “nigger,” “coon,” and “spook.” “This stuff is highly pervasive and of long standing in the sewer where these people have been working,” said one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, Jeffrey Bernbach of White Plains, N.Y., in an interview with New Jersey Jewish News. “The New York Times has long been aware of it and has done nothing to clean it up.”
I have no idea what truth there is behind these claims, but the suit is continuing.
CPAP UPDATE: I have a little piece in this week’s Time special on sleep about my apnea diagnosis and treatment. But there have been some subsequent developments. In general, I haven’t had the amazing burst of energy I had after my night in the hospital. Maybe the psychosomatic explanation holds up. But my sleep has been better; and longer; and deeper. I’m told it takes time to feel the cumulative effects; I do feel more rested; and sleeping itself has been much easier than I anticipated. But one side-effect has surprised me. It probably shouldn’t have. It makes sense, after all. I’ll give you a subtle hint: when you have air being pumped into you with a face mask for eight hours a night, and when there’s nowhere for it to escape, except some small holes in the top of the mask, then the air finds other outlets. So now, I officially have hot air coming out of both ends. The boyfriend has to choose between being deafened or fumigated. But my sleep is heavenly.
The Dish 