Susty

The Isabel Toledo dress worn by Michelle Obama on Inauguration Day went on display yesterday at The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology as part of a retrospective of designs by the Cuban-born designer.

After the first screening of Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s (Earth From Above) epic film Home held today at the Florence Gould Theater in mid-town Manhattan, we chatted with Conservation International’s Head of Marketing and Public Relations Laura Bowling.

Wired has the roundup as “10 Strange Species Discovered Last Year,” but we beg to celebrate nature not as strange, but rather simply fantastic!

In the era of bank bailouts, you the tax-payer are roundly paying for the mistakes that banks have made. However when a financial institution mistakenly deposits $6.1 million into your account, you’re expected to give the money back. What would you do: return the money or run?

China’s Zhao Liang may soon earn the title of world’s tallest man.

A 47-million-year-old fossil that scientists say is very likely an ancestor of human beings was unveiled at the American Museum of Natural History with Mayor Michael Bloomberg in attendance. The animal had opposable thumbs like humans and fingernails instead of claws providing a possible transition to humans to the great consternation of creationist Stephen Colbert.

From Wired:

A hummingbird’s neck is structured like a bucket holding liquids that slosh back and forth to stabilize its head. Because it evolved this way, the bird has an adaptive advantage to find flowers and food that other animals can’t reach.

Last year we told you about the sensitive celebrity reporting (not an oxymoron!) about the love relationship between Cynthia Nixon and Christine Marinoni. Now comes news that the two are engaged, Nixon having made the announcement during an Action=Marriage Equality rally in midtown New York to fight for same-sex marriages.

Sailors, seaweed and stars at Vienna HIV fundraiser
• Celebs on hand: Pamela Anderson, Eva Longoria
• Europe’s largest fund-raising event for AIDS
• Vienna’s Town Hall is the only political building in Europe used to raise money and awareness about Aids
• AIDS affects some 33 million people worldwide
Life Ball

The breathtakingly delicate and blunt genius of Stephen Colbert has In Defense of Food author Michael Pollan spilling the beans on his lack of breast-feeding as an infant and how he got nailed reaching for the Fruity Pebbles in the aisle of a Berkley supermarket.

Gramercy residents Dennis and Sandy Kisiel have spotted 99 species of birds in Gramercy Park since 2006. Here’s a Red-Tailed Hawk spending time in Gramercy Park perched on the head of the Edwin Booth statue.

Apparently one of the dirty little secrets of fighting for a clean energy future (beginning right now, please : ) is that the pursuit can be downright fun. Although we couldn’t make it to the State Department yesterday, the goings on in the photos sure do make us wish we could have stopped by, perhaps even with cool-o wind turbine effigy in hand. in addition to the good time had by the approx 150 people involved in the action, the organizers handed out quotes by people from around the world about their local green economy to Jonathan Pershing’s (Deputy Special Envoy for Climate Change) assistant. Check out the pictures of generation green fighting the good fight for an environmentally just world.

Running thread about the potential swine flu pandemic.

If you happen to be passing by the State Department today around 12:45pm-1:30pm, or after reading this decide to intentionally stop by to lend your voice, you’ll be greeted by a sea of green-hardhat-wearing campaigners calling for a environmentally focused economy and a binding global climate treaty.

As it is Arbor Day, the good folks at the Comedy Central Insider are not letting today’s holiday be grossly overshadowed by the cool environmental holiday of two days past, Earth Day. They’ve put together a completely paper-free collection of tree-centric Daily Show clips.