Now: September 2010

September

Week 1

Wed, September 01
Define
Photoshop World 2010

Much like Google and Xerox, photoshop has become a synonym for the product's function -- just don't use the word that way at this Adobe gathering. "Photoshop refers to the product; we don't use it as a verb!" says Kevin Connor, VP of product management. Adobe execs fear the trademarked name will become generic lingo (hello, ping-pong). "Some companies aggressively resist generification," says Graeme Diamond, new-words editor at the Oxford English Dictionary, which includes the verb photoshop. "We don't much care since we reflect language as it's actually used." -- AUSTIN CARR

Thu, September 02
Read
Selling the Fountain of Youth

Wrinkles, fat, and low libido start to sound pretty good after reading this unnerving exposé of America's $88 billion anti-aging industry by journalist Arlene Weintraub. Her elixir of deep research and smooth storytelling delivers a sometimes-gag-inducing dose of reality about the seedy pseudoscience of growth hormones harvested from cadavers, injection spas in Mexico, and bogus anti-aging cocktails (urine, anyone?), as well as the physician entrepreneurs and whack Internet pharmacies now burgeoning to make a buck. Our advice: Take her medicine, not theirs. -- LILLIAN CUNNINGHAM

Week2

Wed, September 08
Stay Home
Not-Back-to-School Days

"School is no place for kids," says Helen Hegener, publisher of Home Education Magazine and proud mother of five home schooled children. "Strap young growing minds in a seat for eight hours a day? I don't think so." Roll your eyes, maybe, but homeschooling is on the rise: Since 2000, the number of homeschooled students in the U.S. has doubled to 1.82 million, or 3% of all children, some of whom will travel to Disneyland for this fourth annual home-education conference. The best way to combat skeptics? Outsmart them, says Hegener. "When my daughter was 14, school kids tested her on the multiplication tables. They hit 12 x 12 and had to stop, because their little song ended. But my daughter was able to keep going." -- STEPHANIE SCHOMER

Fri, September 10
Splurge
Fashion's Night Out

Created to encourage spending in a sinking economy, last year's inaugural Fashion's Night Out delivered a star-studded night to shoppers -- the Olsen twins even served drinks at Barneys New York. Its success -- a 3.4% increase in that day's retail traffic nationwide and nearly 50% in Manhattan -- made its return a no-brainer. But, of course, each year has to be more fierce and fabulous than the last. To that end, 16 countries have signed on to host a 2010 Fashion's Night Out, creating a 10-day worldwide event. "If you're a globe-trotter, you could potentially hit every country," says Susan Portnoy, the event's spokesperson. "It's possible." And you thought the fashion industry was excessive. -- STEPHANIE SCHOMER

Fri, September 10
Grease
50th Anniversary of OPEC

On September 20, BP hits the five-month mark since its Deepwater Horizon spill began ravaging the Gulf of Mexico. But five months of oily controversy is nothing on five decades. Today, oil behemoth OPEC blows out the candles on 50 years of rows, rumors, and rants over its dominance of the global petroleum market. The cartel, started by five countries at the 1960 Baghdad Conference and now 12 members strong, controls roughly 40% of world oil exports -- and will celebrate its birthday by greasing a new generation of consumers. Among its anniversary efforts is the publication of an illustrated children's book on the history of oil: We're guessing BP -- drenched dolphins didn't make the cut. -- LILLIAN CUNNINGHAM

Sun, September 12
Croon
KaraokeFest

Although more than 100,000 amateur singers will gather in Pomona, California, to celebrate karaoke with classics such as MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This" and Sonny and Cher's "I Got You Babe," the industry itself is singing the blues. Annual U.S. sales of karaoke music and machines have fallen a whopping 80% off their early-aughts peak to just $40 million. The culprit: piracy. "It's gotten a lot worse because of the rise of the Internet," laments Rick Priddis, president of Utah-based karaoke company Priddis Music. "But we're all just continuing on and hoping for the best." As a drunken Journey fan might advise in a bar: "Don't stop belieeeeevin'." -- DAN MACSAI

Sun, September 12
Protest
Taxpayer March on Washington

"Nothing can be said to be certain, except death and paying taxes," Ben Franklin once said. The Tea Party would dissent -- why are taxes a must? Last year, tens of thousands of members, along with folks from FreedomWorks and the Institute for Liberty, heeded conservative pundit Glenn Beck's call to action and took to the streets of Washington, D.C., in what organizers called the largest gathering of American fiscal conservatives to date. This year's crowd is expected to be just as big -- and its message no more cohesive, ranging from anti-tax cheers to signs picketing health-care reform and the Obama administration. Pressed for insight, attendee Jennifer Bernstone explains, "We went to D.C. because it was the right thing to do." Um, thanks. -- SUZY EVANS

Sun, September 12
Power Up
World Energy Congress