A former employee at Brides magazine claims she was axed because she showed her new breast implants off to two of her colleagues. Mind you, this reportedly happened behind closed doors in the confines of the woman's office and the two colleagues supposedly were long-time friends.  According to today's New York Post, the former employee, who didn't want her name published, was wearing a sports bra when she did her big reveal. 

There's a part of me that can see how this might have happened gotten blown up into a big thing. After the employee's show and tell, one colleague could have told someone who told someone and the story could have gotten completely twisted into something risque. Office rumor mills can be vicious. Or else, there could be more to this story that hasn't come out yet. We'll have to stay tuned. Meanwhile, legal action could be pending. The Post reports that Daniel Mareck, the fired employee's lawyer, says he found Condé's actions "unbelieveable when you consider the kind of images that are in Condé Nast magazines."    
 

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Another day, another crazy story about the fashion industry and how someone's body has been distorted to give the impression of being skinnier than they are. The latest twist in the saga of that Ralph Lauren model who appeared in an ad that had been altered to give the impression that she was freakily thin is that she'd previously been fired for being too fat. "They fired me because they said I was overweight and I couldn't fit in their clothes any more," the 5-feet, 10-inch, 120-pound model told the New York Daily News. It reportedly happened last spring. It's time to Stop, the madness already. How many more of these stories can we take? Not to hate on super-skinny models, but I prefer to see how clothes fit on regular folks, people with curves and a little extra flesh. To expect extra tall women with large frames to fit into itsy bitsy clothing is warped and unrealistic. It's time for some of these so-called fashionistas to become real-istas instead.   

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Remember that commercial from the ‘80s where two unsuspecting strangers bump into each other and are, like, really pissed? One hisses “You got peanut butter on my chocolate!”

Then some other dude retorts, “Well, you got chocolate on my peanut butter!”

A nanosecond later both say, “Mmmm, that’s good!”

It took a bit of time for the pair to warm up to the idea. But they totally did.

Fast forward to ’09 and I’m feeling pretty “mmm-mmm fab” myself about a new mashup that might prompt some people, particularly women, to scratch their heads: Twitter + mammogram = Twammogram, or live-tweeting one’s mammogram.

I’ll give you a second.

Ready? The awesome idea is the brainchild of two tweeps (Twitter peeps) who live in different parts of the country, have never met in person but have a “two-peas-in-a-pod” Twitter/Facebook bond. The #Twammogram concept has caught on with global followers of the women, Misha Niklewicz, of Napa Valley, California, and Laura Methvin of Tallahassee, Florida -- and spread way beyond their base.

(Full disclosure alert: I have been tweeps with Methvin since I began tweeting back in February and I recently began to follow Niklewicz.)

@MishaRN and @WeeLaura, their respective Twitter usernames, say they’ve heard from many women who a) were scared to get their mammograms b) wanted to undergo the procedure but were uninsured or c) hadn’t thought about getting any dang mammogram until Misha and Laura began making their appointments.

Laura, 42, who’s a singer/songwriter by night, legal eagle by day, is set to live-tweet her mammogram Oct. 23, but she has already begun her multi-media preparations: http://virtualista.posterous.com/before-the-zombie-apocalypse-there-will-betwa

“Yeah, I'm live-tweeting my mammogram. All in the name of raising awareness during Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October,” Laura writes in her LOL blog.. “BONUS: I'm promising to shoot a shirtless video if Ashton Kutcher or Stephen Colbert signs on to support the campaign.”

Misha, 40, a labor and delivery nurse, had her first ever mammogram Thursday, which you can read about here in her blog http://laugh-rant-snort.blogspot.com/2009/10/yes-i-blogged-my-mammogram.html.

Her insight showed no boundaries including a photo of her squished tata in the mammogram machine.

"It hardly took anytime at all. In fact, it would have gone faster, but I was tweeting and snapping photos. My mammographer was awesome. She thought it was a little weird that I was taking photos and texting the whole time- but she went with it!," she writes in her blog.

"Colleen is the rockingest boob smusher! #twammogram."

I spoke to Laura and Misha Wednesday, before either of their mammograms.

“We were two goofballs trying to get our friends on Twitter to get mammograms,” during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Misha said, of the initial Facebook exchange on Monday, Oct. 5. It “grew expendentially” throughout the day and then got a celebrity boost from Oscar-winning actress Marlee Matlin, who retweeted (forwarded) it to her 25,000-plus followers, Misha said. Then ABC News White House correspondent Jake Tapper also passed it along to his 28,600 fans.

Such celeb/media personality re-tweets are home runs in the Twitterverse.

Laura has reveled in the response.

“It’s hugely gratifying better than a real dopamine rush,” she said. “And it’ll be a super big bonus of helping somebody who needs one.

So, to get inspired, follow @Twammogram on Twitter. Or, if you decide to live-tweet your mammogram experience, use the hashtag #Twammogram to search for the subject.

And don’t forget to join the Twammogram Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Twammogram/149146019131?ref=ts
 

Jon and Kate Gosselin

My column in today's Daily News is on the fate of children who star in reality TV shows. Are they being exploited or are critics of shows such as "Jon & Kate Plus 8" making too much out of nothing? One of my favorite financial gurus, Suze Orman, recently waded into the debate. And here's what she told Predicto TV:

“Here's the thing. I get that—the kids are telling the aunts, the uncles, that they don't like the cameras, things like that. I don't think they're violating child labor laws. I think if anything, a lot of money's coming in that's setting those kids up for the rest of their lives. So I don't know: a few cameras here, to show the kids; lots of millions of dollars to send the kids to school for the rest of their lives—versus student loans? I don't know, maybe when those kids get older they'll say "Mom, thank you so very much!" To tell you the truth, I don't have clue. But I don't watch the show. And ask me if I'm ever going to watch...”