Katherine Lee Delta Airlines Flight Safety Video

Katherine Lee, who works as a flight attendant with Delta Air Lines for ten and a half years, has become a YouTube sensation for her role in the airline's new safety video (see FOX's description below). She was picked as the lead flight attendant among a list of 10 finalists right before the filming.

On the soundtrack behind the mandatory Federal Aviation Administration safety instructions — such as how to buckle a seat belt, how to wear an oxygen mask and when to put away a cell phone — the new video is backed by a smooth jazz drumbeat and ethereal electronic tones. In one spot, the viewer suddenly sees a digital sparkle on the smile of a shaven-headed male flight attendant who is demonstrating how to properly wear a life vest.

There's also the finger wag. Halfway through the 4-1/2 minute video, Lee unexpectedly and playfully wags a long finger at the camera while instructing that "Smoking ... is not allowed, on any Delta flight."

Katherine Lee, 33, an Atlanta native, owned herself a nickname of "Deltalina," a combination of the airline's name and Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie, who many say she resembles.

Before YouTube, Katherine Lee, aka Deltalina, was a redheaded, blue-eyed, high-cheekboned woman who was just another beautiful flight attendant working at USA's third largest Airlines. Link

W00t, Word of the Year 2007

"w00t," an exclamation of happiness or triumph by online gamers, has become Word of the Year 2007.

According to the Merriam-Webster, the winning word first became popular in competitive online gaming forums as part of what is known as l33t ("leet," or "elite") speak—an esoteric computer hacker language in which numbers and symbols are put together to look like letters.

The double "o" in the word W00t is usually represented by double zeroes, the exclamation is also known to be an acronym for "we owned the other team".

ps. www.woot.com is a popular online store and community that focuses on selling cool gadgets using the One Deal a Day business model. Tags: woot, w00t, mw, word of the year

Why is It Called Hot Dog?

Only after watching the video, I just realised that the hot dog is also called frankfurters, named after the city of Frankfurt, Germany. #Tags: hot dog, frankfurters, funny, youtube, video

Leonid Hurwicz, Eric S. Maskin and Roger B. Myerson Won 2007 Nobel Prize in Economics

 

The US trio Leonid Hurwicz (bio), Eric Maskin (bio) and Roger Myerson (bio) won 2007 Nobel Prize in Economics  for having laid the foundations of mechanism design theory", announced The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Hurwicz, a U.S. citizen born in Moscow, is an emeritus professor at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Maskin, 56, a New York City native, is a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. Boston-born Myerson, 56, is a professor at the University of Chicago.

The three economists picked up the prize for their work that helps find the optimal mechanism to reach certain goals such as social welfare or private profit.

"Mechanism design theory initiated by Leonid Hurwicz and further developed by Eric Maskin and Roger Myerson has greatly enhanced our understanding of optimal allocation mechanisms in such situations, accounting for individuals' incentives and private information," the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.

"Today, mechanism design theory plays a central role in many areas of economics and parts of political science," it said.

The economics prize is the last prize handed out this year and not part of the original crop of Nobel Prizes set out in Alfred Nobel's 1895 will. It was established in 1968 and is officially called The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. Link

Tags: noble prize in economics, Leonid Hurwicz, Eric Maskin, Roger Myerson

Drew Gilpin Faust Inaugurated as Harvard University's First Female President

(Drew Gilpin Faust photo credit: Erik Jacobs/NYT)

Catharine Drew Gilpin Faust, was inaugurated as Harvard University's President on Friday Oct. 12. Drew Gilpin Faust, a historian with the special knowledge on the history of the South in the antebellum period and Civil War, is the first female president of Harvard University and also Harvard's first president since 1672 without an undergraduate or graduate degree from Harvard.

Her predecessor Lawrence Summers resigned on June 30, 2006, after he set off a storm by suggesting that a lack of intrinsic aptitude could help explain why fewer women than men reach the top ranks of science and math in universities.

Ms. Drew Gilpin Faust was born September 18, 1947. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1988 but declined to speak with the media about her diagnosis or treatment.

Source: New York Times & Wikipedia Link to Harvard's Drew Gilpin Faust Inauguration homepage

Melinda England Nude Pictures Scandal

Melinda England , a teacher at Inskip Elementary School in Knox County, is now in hot waters. Melinda England was complained by the pupil's parents over his partially nude pictures posted on websites like www.myspace.com and www.absolutepunk.com using Xlpaws as the user name. What the worse, the 28-yeaer-old teacher even talked about her prescription drug use and her "wild" students. Click here to read the full story at WVLT.com

Update: The security department of the Inskip Elementary School is now investigating Melinda England's partially nude photos scandal and more details about her revealed.

School security chief Steve Griffin said this morning that his department scoured the Web after they received information Friday relating to photographs of Inskip Elementary School teacher Melinda England.

“We found these pictures of her at various sites,” Griffin said this morning.

England described herself as a 28-year-old woman, who has a daughter, according to her profile, he said.

One photograph shows England shirtless, her left hand covering her right breast and her left breast is in the crook of her left elbow.

Another picture [which previously was uploaded to absolutepunk.net under name Xlpaws but taken down later] shows her lying on her stomach, face down, wearing black panties. Her bare back is visible.

Human resources officials are looking into the matter.

Inskip administrators on Friday sent a letter home to parents alerting them of the situation.

The letter, written by assistant principal Patricia Moore, states that at this time, “we have no allegations or any information that would indicate that Ms. England has done anything inappropriate during school time or in her relationship with students.”

The letter also notes that teachers maintain their First Amendment rights, but there are provisions in Tennessee law that address unprofessional behavior by teachers.

“If the superintendent believes a teacher has acted in an unprofessional manner he may take any action from the level of a verbal reprimand all the way through initiating termination proceedings,” the letter states.

England was not on administrative leave as of today, said human resources supervisor Margie Kincaid.

England is a 1996 graduate of Clairborne County High School and a 2001 graduate of Lincoln Memorial University, according to her personnel file.

She taught in several Louisiana schools for a few years before she sought employment with Knox County Schools. She was hired in August 2006 and is not a tenured teacher.