Angelina Jolie had fashion critics talking when she appeared on the SAG red carpet wearing her Max Azria gown backwards.
The actress’s stylist Jen Rade now clears up speculation on whether the switch was done on purpose, or if Jolie was too busy caring for her six children with Brad Pitt to notice the mistake. Rade tells US magazine that the reversal was done on purpose to give the gown a “more blouson,” or blouse, fit.
The mother of a woman who gave birth on Monday to octuplets said her daughter already has six children at home and was undergoing fertility treatment.
The Los Angeles Times reported on Thursday that Angela Suleman said her daughter had the embryos implanted last year, resulting in the eight births.
"They all happened to take," Suleman told the Times. "I looked at those babies. They are so tiny and so beautiful."
The woman declined to have the number of embryos reduced when she discovered she was carrying multiples, the Times reported. The six older siblings range from ages 7 to 2, according to the newspaper.
Suleman said she was concerned about her daughter's homecoming because her husband, a contract worker, is due to return to Iraq.
In the meantime, the mother, who remains unidentified, appealed for privacy while she recovers from giving birth, medical officials said Thursday.
In her written statement delivered by Dr. Karen Maples of the Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center in California, the woman who delivered eight babies in five minutes said she would soon make public the details of her "miraculous experience."
"We understand that you are all curious about the arrival of the octuplets, and we appreciate your respect for our family's privacy," she said.
"The babies continue to grow strong every day and make good progress. My family and I are ecstatic about all of their arrivals."
"Needless to say, the eighth was a surprise to us all, but a blessing as well," she added.
The six boys and two girls -- ranging in weight from 1 pound, 8 ounces to 3 pounds, 4 ounces -- are doing well following their Caesarean-section delivery at the Bellflower hospital, doctors said. They were born nine weeks premature.
Dr. Mandhir Gupta, a neonatalist, said all but one of the octuplets are now breathing on their own. That baby might be taken off breathing equipment Friday.
Caring for eight premature babies is a challenge. Duties are being shared by a large team of hospital nurses and doctors for the time being. Two nurses have been assigned to each child, and all the babies are receiving fluids, proteins and vitamins intravenously, Gupta said.
"We feed them. ... We change diapers. ... When they cry, we console them," Gupta said. "When the mom comes and touches the babies, you can definitely see their expression on their faces and body. They are very happy."
The babies, who are being referred to by letters of the alphabet, will remain in the hospital for at least seven more weeks.
Baby H made headlines for its surprise appearance during the delivery, which took months of preparation by a team of doctors, nurses and respiratory therapists. 
The mother will not be able to hold her babies for another week, Gupta said. They are still fragile, developing intestines, he said.
Doctors initially thought the mother was pregnant with seven fetuses. She was hospitalized seven weeks ago and ordered to bed rest.
During the seven weeks, a team of 46 physicians, nurses and other staff members prepared for the births. When they started the delivery Monday, they were in for a surprise.
"After the seventh baby was born, we were taking a sigh of relief," Maples said.
"It was a surprise of our life when we in fact discovered there was an eighth baby," she said. "We never had an assignment for baby H nurse or baby H doctor. We just had to go on the fly and figure out what to do."
"Baby G nurse stepped up. We handed off the baby to baby G nurse. She then delivered that last baby to the neonatologist of the baby F."
"It was all wonderful because of the teamwork and the training we did before," Maples said.
News from Cnn
Two local barbecue-lovin’ guys have found themselves the toast of the bacon world thanks to a recipe calling for just two main ingredients: bacon (two pounds of it) and Italian sausage (two pounds of that). The sausage is wrapped in a basket-weaved blanket of bacon, and for good measure there’s even more bacon inside. Sweet KC-style sauce, too.
Then you smoke it. In a backyard smoker.
Aaron Chronister and Jason Day, who compete in barbecue circles as Burnt Finger BBQ, call this meat missile “Bacon Explosion.” And explode it has: first online (it helps that Chronister is an Internet marketer), then Wednesday on the cover of The New York Times’ food section (headline: “Take Bacon. Add Sausage. Blog”), then online some more.
Anyone doubt that Kansas City is the barbecue capital of the world?
All told, Chronister and Day say the Bacon Explosion recipe on their site, www.bbqaddicts.com., has attracted 510,000 page views since it was posted just before Christmas; 90,000 alone on Wednesday.
Now, thanks to the Times story, the bacon buds are bound for New York, where they’ll smoke their sausage Friday morning in Times Square. That’ll be on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends” show. Then they’ll head south to Tampa, Fla., to do some Super Bowl tailgating Sunday on another Fox channel. Two book publishers e-mailed Wednesday and want to talk.
This whole thing started when a Web site called Bacon Today asked Chronister and Day if they had any bacon barbecue recipes. “The longer I thought about it,” Day wrote on bbqaddicts.com, “the more I wanted to step it up a notch and clog a few arteries for those guys.”
Chronister, 32, of Kansas City, and Day, 27, of Roeland Park, admit they’re not the first foodies to combine the two pork products in a barbecue recipe. But you have to give ’em credit for a catchy name.
More than that, you have to give them credit for knowing how to exploit the Internet. Chronister’s brilliant move was posting on Twitter, a site that sends out short Web-based text messages. His 1,200 Twitter “followers” — mostly other Internet marketers and “social network influencers” — took it from there.
Some of them thumbs-upped the Bacon Explosion post on a site called StumbleUpon, which suggests Web pages based on a user’s interests. The recipe became so hot there it went to the site’s front page.
Other sites, such as Digg and Del.icio.us, also helped the recipe go viral. There’s a Bacon Explosion fan page on Facebook. On YouTube, you can watch gas grills catching on fire when the Bacon Explosion log almost literally explodes. (Hint: Cooking in a smoker, with indirect heat, is the recommended method. Dripping bacon grease and an open flame are a dangerous combination.)
Chronister and Day do not claim, by the way, that Bacon Explosion is health food. Just one little sandwich — a couple of 1/4 -inch to 1/2 -inch rounds of meat on a buttermilk biscuit — “sits heavy,” Day says. The entire meat log contains something like 5,000 calories and 500 grams of fat.
One of the first comments posted in response to the recipe: “They should make drive-through angioplasty. It would make this much easier.”
Amy Winn of the Kansas City Barbeque Society hadn’t heard of the Bacon Explosion until The Star called her, but she’d like to try it.
“They’re good marketers,” Winn says of Chronister and Day. “Doesn’t necessarily mean they’re good cooks at this point.”
Still, considering that they and third team member Bryant Gish competed for the first time last fall, they’re doing well: Their brisket finished fifth at the American Royal. They’re looking forward to a contest with an “other” category to enter the Bacon Explosion in.
“No one else is as good at making it,” Chronister says. “There’s kind of a technique to doing it right without it falling apart.”
Chronister and Day have decided to get a sign made up for when they’re cooking in contests: CREATORS OF BACON EXPLOSION. And they’re planning to build up their Web site — it’s mostly recipes and a blog now — and maybe get some advertisers. A product called Bacon Salt just contacted them.
“We struck a chord with bacon,” Day says modestly.
First, build a latticework of 10 slices of bacon, like on top of a pie. The strips should be tightly woven. Cook remaining bacon until crisp.
Sprinkle bacon weave with 1 tablespoon of rub.
Spread sausage on top of the bacon lattice, pressing to outer edges.
Crumble fried bacon on top of the sausage. Drizzle with 1/2 cup sauce and sprinkle with tablespoon of the rub.
Separate front edge of sausage layer from the bacon weave and roll away from you. Press sausage roll to remove air pockets and pinch together seams and ends.
Roll the sausage toward you, this time with the bacon weave, until completely wrapped. Turn it seam-side down. The roll should be 2-3 inches thick. Sprinkle with remaining rub.
Cook in a smoker at 225 degrees for about 2 1/2 hours, or until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. Glaze with more sauce when done. Day and Chronister don’t recommend cooking this in an oven because, unless the meat is lifted out of the pan, it will get very greasy.
The reception hosted by Mrs. Obama for Ms. Ledbetter was held in the
State Dining Room. Most of the folks from the signing ceremony walked
across the hall to mix and mingle. Your faithful pooler observed several
members of Congress included Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, House
Speaker Pelosi, Axelrod, Donna Brazile, among others. President Obama
also mingled with the crowd. He left, though, at around 10:54am, before
his wife made her remarks. (He was not present for her remarks.) Mrs.
Obama's staff said that the representatives of about 150 advocacy
organizations were also there.
The guests sipped orange juice and cranberry juice and enjoyed a mix of
pastries, including apricot coffee cake, cherry orange scones, apple
muffins and a fruit mix that included mango, apple, clementines and
pineapple, according to the wait staff. Some folks sat at small round
tables adorned with yellow orchids, but mostly they stood and mixed and
mingled.
Mrs. Obama, who was wearing a purple suit, white pearls and purple
pumps, talked and shook hands with folks in the crowd. At 11:03am, she
took her place behind a podium below a portrait of a Abraham Lincoln.
Lilly Ledbetter stood next to her. Here are Mrs. Obama's remarks, which
will not be distributed by the White House.
"Thank you for joining us today for this important event and welcome to
the White House,'' Mrs. Obama said. "Feel free, walk around, touch some
stuff, just don't break anything.''
Mrs. Obama said she met Ms. Ledbetter during the presidential campaign
and praised her "commitment, her dedication, her focus.''
"She knew unfairness when she saw it and was willing to do something
about it because it was the right thing to do, plain and simple,'' Mrs.
Obama said.
"In traveling across the country over the past two years, Lilly's story
and the broader issue of equal pay was a concern voiced over and over
and over again,'' Mrs. Obama said. "It was a top and critical priority
for women of all racial and ethnic backgrounds, older women, younger
women, women with disabilities and their families.
"This legislation is an important step forward, particularly at a time
when so many families are facing economic insecurity and instability,''
Mrs. Obama continued. "It's also one cornerstone of a broader commitment
to address the needs of working women who are looking to us, to not only
ensure that they're treated fairly, but also to ensure that there are
policies in place that help women and men balance their work and family
obligations without putting their jobs or their economic security at
risk.''
Mrs. Obama then introduced Ms. Ledbetter, who she described as "an
inspiration to women and men all across the country.'' The crowd clapped
and cheered.
Ms. Ledbetter praised the Obamas and said " I just believe in them and
their work so very much.''
"Words cannot begin to describe how honored and humbled I feel today,''
Ms. Ledbetter said. "When I filed my claim against Goodyear with the
EEOC ten years ago, never, never did I imagine the path that it would
lead me down.
"I have spent the past two years since the Supreme Court decision in my
case, fighting for equal pay for this,'' Ms. Ledbetter said. "But to
watch him sign a bill that bears my name, a bill that will help women
and others fight pay discrimination in the workplace is truly
overwhelming. Goodyear will never have to pay me what it cheated me out
of. I will never see a cent from my case. But with the passage and the
president's signature today, I have an even richer reward." Crowd claps.
"I know my daughters and granddaughters and your daughters and your
granddaughters will have a better deal,'' Ms. Ledbetter said. "That's
what makes this fight worth fighting, that's what makes this fight one
we had to win. Now with this win we will make a big difference in the
real world. On behalf of all the women in this country who will once
again be able to fight pay discrimination, thank you."
Ms. Ledbetter thanked members of Congress, advocacy groups, the
president and women who rallied behind the legislation.
"With this bill in place, we now can move forward to where we all hope
to be, improving the law, not just restoring it,'' Ms. Ledbetter said.
"You can count on my continued commitment to fight for the Paycheck
Fairness Act and to make sure that women have equal pay for equal work
because that's what this country is all about."
Mrs. Obama and Ms. Ledbetter hug. The crowd cheers. Mingling
re-commences and your pool is escorted out at 11:09am
News from the Chicago Sun Times
