Because ... well, just because it's summer!

At Lake Powell,  a reservoir on the Colorado River, straddling the border between Utah and Arizona (most of it, along with Rainbow Bridge, is in Utah).

Me? I'm a University of Chicago man.

My husband (marriage equality fully arrived in the Land of Lincoln this month!) teaches at Philip Peabody Horton University here in Barona, about which the less said, the better. It has a well-deserved and even much-sought-after reputation for weirdness.

But the latest weird story about higher education in the Prairie State is not about PPHU, but about that highly regarded university in Evanston, Northwestern University.

 Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communication recently gave 30 diplomas to graduates on which the word "integrated" was spelled without the 'n.'

Kit Fox, who was one of 250 students who graduated from the school Saturday, tweeted a photo of a friend's diploma that showed the error.

The diploma would have been tagged with a "Medill F" — a stamp earned by students who commit factual or spelling errors. Fox said graduates greeted the error with humor.

Desiree Hanford, Medill's journalism residency coordinator, said that diplomas are issued by the university and that new diplomas will be provided.

Northwestern is considered one of the finest universities in the country.

A Midsummer Night's Dream!

 

Jason Russell "Rusty" Joiner (born December 11, 1972) is an American male fashion model, fitness model and actor.

Born in Montgomery, Alabama, and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Rusty Joiner attended Georgia Southern University, where he was a successful athlete, cheerleader, and gymnast for four years. He was discovered by a model scout in Atlanta and spent the next several years modelling in Milan, Paris, and South America. He became well known in the fashion industry very quickly and modelled for Prada, Abercrombie and Fitch, American Eagle, Levi's and Powerade. Joiner was the official underwear model for Structure from 1998 to 2000. He has appeared on the covers and pages of Vanity Fair, Cosmopolitan, Rolling Stone, and Men's Fitness. Joiner also appeared in RuPaul's video Looking Good, Feeling Gorgeous. He has also appeared as "Blade" in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004) and in Russell Mulcahy's Resident Evil: Extinction (2007). The February 2005 Men's Fitness cover was his eleventh for the magazine in five years.

And to show that beauty can age well, well, well, here is Rusty at age 41 in a 2014 ad ...

Last night I had the strangest dream

 

Last night I had the strangest dream
I ever dreamed before.

I dreamed the world had all agreed
To put an end to war.

Simon and Garfunkle

5 Freebies

I saw this on another blog -- the five people you would be allowed to get down with if given the opportunity. Damien would probably want me to add all sorts of provisos, mostly that I would never be given the opportunity as long as he is alive and well. But in a world of fantasy ...

# 5 Jake Gyllenhall

 

Not just for Brokeback Mountain, either. But I am reasonably sure that, given the opportunity in that fantasy world, I wouldn't be able to quit him.

#4 Ben Cohen

How could I pass up that guy? The only reservation is that he is so good! I would feel unworthy. Hmmm. Now that opens up all sorts of possible role-playing ideas!

 #3 Tatum Channing

He has a sort of just-been-hit-upside-the-head look about him. But who cares? Any man who can dance like that must do other incredible things with his body.

#2 John Stamos

As Uncle Jesse (Full House) would say, "Mercy!"

#1 Without any hesitation would be Rusty Joiner.

Besides being all sorts of gorgeous, I have heard that he is a lovely person.

On the other hand, there are any number of real guys I have known who sometimes still show up in my dreams. I never had the opportunity with any of them -- well, not a real opportunity in the sense that they and I were on the same page at the same time in the same place.

But it is nice to think about them, as the old Moody Blues song would have it, in my wildest dreams.

Coca-Cola Co. (KO) must defend against accusations that it deceived consumers about the amount of pomegranate juice in one of its beverages, as the U.S. Supreme Court revived a lawsuit by rival drink-maker POM Wonderful LLC.

The unanimous ruling gives companies a greater role in policing competing product labels for misleading advertisements. The justices said private parties can press false-advertising suits under a federal law known as the Lanham Act even when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulates a product.

The FDA “does not have the same perspective or expertise in assessing market dynamics that day-to-day competitors possess,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the court. “Lanham Act suits draw upon this market expertise by empowering private parties to sue competitors to protect their interests on a case-by-case basis.”

The label on Coca-Cola’s drink says “Pomegranate Blueberry Flavored Blend of 5 Juices,” with the first two words appearing in larger letters. A lower court had said FDA juice-labeling regulations authorized the Coca-Cola product’s name.
POM Wonderful says the label is misleading because the drink contains only 0.3 percent pomegranate juice and 0.2 percent blueberry juice. Apple and grape juice constitute 99 percent of the juice, POM Wonderful says.

Fruit Blend

Atlanta-based Coca-Cola says the label accurately tells consumers that the product is a blend of fruits and tastes like pomegranate and blueberry.

“We respect the court’s decision and remain committed to clear labeling that fully complies with FDA regulations,” Coca-Cola said in an e-mailed statement. “We intend to defend against POM’s claims that our labeling is misleading, and the evidence at trial will show that our product was not the cause of POM’s poor sales.”

POM Wonderful called the ruling “a real victory for consumers.” The decision “will translate into higher assurance for consumers that the labels on beverage and food are accurate,” the company said in an e-mailed statement.

Los Angeles-based POM Wonderful is a unit of Roll Global LLC, which is closely held by Stewart and Lynda Resnick.

POM Wonderful is separately fighting accusations over its own advertising. In a case now pending at a federal appeals court, the Federal Trade Commission says POM is deceiving consumers with claims about the health benefits of its pomegranate drinks.

Personally, I think the POM  television ad is ... well, nice:

 

I mean, Minute Maid claims to nourish your brain with their (not-so) pomegranate drink. POM nourishes something else, apparently.

Don't you love a guy with abs?

Headquartered in DeForest, Wisconsin, ABS Global is the world leader in bovine genetics, reproduction services and technologies. Formerly the American Breeders Service, it is an artificial insemination company that sells frozen bovine semen. The company was founded about 1941 by J. Rockfeller Prentice.

They are known around Madison for the amusing puns posted on their sign alongside Interstate 39. My personal favorite is a Christmas season one: Angus we have herd on high.

Got paperwork?

Christian conservatives have graduated past arguing that they are oppressed by women using their own insurance to buy contraception and have moved into saying that they’re oppressed by signing paperwork attesting that they feel oppressed by said women.

The federal government allows some religiously affiliated organizations to get out of offering health insurance that covers contraception, but they do have to sign a piece of paper granting them that exemption.

Some organizations have filed suit, saying the mere fact of the paperwork offends them, because it would allow their employees to get contraception coverage elsewhere.

At this point, it’s becoming hard for the right to deny that they seem to think employers have some kind of ownership over their employee’s private sexual choices, and that any tactic, even throwing a fit over signing a piece of paper, is acceptable to keep that ownership.

If only we could all argue that simply signing paperwork was some kind of horrible violation of our human rights.