Lunchline: A hot mess

If you have difficulty viewing this newsletter, click here to view as a Web page. Click here to view in plain text. Monday, July 2, 2012 The BET Awards took place last night and per usual, there were plenty moments both ratchet and righteous. The highlight of the evening came from Cissy Houston, Whitney's mom, who did a nice tribute to her late daughter. Check out the pictures. Damage from last week's derecho is still evident all over the place. Power's still out in many areas, thieves are taking advantage of the bad conditions and food is spoiling left and right. But for some people, the most drastic damage happened online. The vicious storms knocked out some servers on the East Coast, causing Netflix, Instagram and Pinterest to all go down. Millions of viewings of Arrested Development episodes while desk shopping went unreported. Alas. There's good news and bad news again, concerning jobs in the area. First the bad: the region's aging population is putting a strain on the modern workforce. The upside is that means more jobs will likely be on the way, according to a new report by Georgetown University researchers. The study shows that over the next 10 years, we could see a 25 percent increase in health care jobs in the Washington region. The Post's Steven Overly reports. If you eat Vietnamese food with any regularity, you've probably noticed that the demographics of the staff are not monolithic. There are plenty cooks of Latin American descent hard at work in local Vietnamese restaurant kitchens. It's a simple numbers game. A good part of the culinary labor force is Hispanic, so in order to survive, Vietnamese locations have adapted. The Post's Luz Lazo explains how South Americans have carved out a niche in Asian establishments. It's summer time, which means salads are in season. And if you eat a lot of salad, you probably are pretty keen on what dressing you choose. The fun thing about salad is that you can put anything you want in one. And some folks get super creative about it. But after adding all sorts of great ingredients, don't turn around and throw on some store bought dressing from a bottle. No point in ruining all that effort. Slate's L.V. Anderson points out that if you're not making your own dressing, you're doing it wrong. My man Bryce Harper officially has a shot to be an All-Star. He's up for the five-man Final Vote to make the squad that goes to Kansas City, and he only seems to have one real competitor. But that one is a big one. It's Chipper Jones, the undoubtedly first-ballot Hall of Famer playing in his last year. Voters get sentimental for things like that, understandably. I voted for Bryce. But, as The Post's James Wagner reports, even Harper says he'd vote for Jones. Interesting. Extra Bites • I'm an unabashed fan of pop music. Yes, I understand it's formulaic and cheesy, but there's a place for that in my life amidst all the other high-minded pursuits. I'm kidding. But seriously, check out this pop music song builder. It's pretty cool. • What is it with former Saturday Night Live comics making oddball political rants years after their prime has past? Rob Schneider is the latest offender. • Today in history: Thurgood Marshall was born. Thought you might want to know that. Here's how to get at me. There's Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and you can e-mail me at clinton.yates@wpost.com Get The Washington Post, your way. Want to stay on top of the latest news, features, commentary and more? Here's how: Mobile: Alerts: Social Media: Applications Web site E-mail SMS RSS Feeds Facebook Twitter SEND TO A FRIEND UNSUBSCRIBE NEWSLETTER CENTER GET HELP Washington Post Digital E-mail Customer Care 1150 15th Street NW Washington, D.C. 20071 ©2012 The Washington Post Privacy Policy