Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Garrison Keillor: Happy 2010 and keep chasing the wildebeest
It is possible in this day and age to fly south in December and three hours later land in a city where you can sit comfortably in your T-shirt and linen jacket and eat your dinner at a cafe under palm trees and still enjoy the protections of the U.S. Constitution, which is a wonderful, wonderful thing. Paradise, in fact.
Arianna Huffington and Rob Johnson: Year's Resolution (huffingtonpost.com)
Last week, over a pre-Christmas dinner, the two of us, along with political strategist Alexis McGill, filmmaker/author Eugene Jarecki, and Nick Penniman of the HuffPost Investigative Fund, began talking about the huge, growing chasm between the fortunes of Wall Street banks and Main Street banks, and started discussing what concrete steps individuals could take to help create a better financial system.
Gretchen Rubin: More Tips about Making and Keeping New Year's Resolutions Than You Could Want (slate.com)
In 2009, the top three resolutions made by Americans were:
-Losing weight (20%)
-Quitting smoking (16%)
-Spending less (12%)
Elisabeth Leamy: "Save Big": How To Cut Out Big Costs (huffingtonpost.com)
I'm not a fan of savings strategies that require daily maintenance -- and deprivation. Instead, I like to battle big boring expenses every once in awhile.
Ted Rall: THE FEAR DECADE
Home of the free and the brave. Live free or die. Shoot first; ask questions later. Kill 'em all, let God sort 'em out. These were the mottos of a brash, impetuous, audacious-to-a-fault nation. That nation is dead.
William Saletan: Show Some Balls (slate.com)
Want to get on an airplane? Let's see your scrotum.
Susan Estrich: Fear of Flying (creators.com)
Now is the time for those of us on vacation to start talking ourselves back onto the planes we have to board to get home.
Rowenna Davis: The reality of a homeless Christmas (guardian.co.uk)
Volunteering at a centre run by the charity Crisis opened my eyes to the complexity of the homelessness problem.
Hadley Freeman: The noughties are defined by fakery (guardian.co.uk)
And the most embarrassing example has been the rise of 'fake science', which values naivety over facts - a bit like Sarah Palin.
Nick Paumgarten: Food Fighter (newyorker.com)
Does Whole Foods' C.E.O. know what's best for you?
ON THINKING AND DRINKING (moreintelligentlife.com)
Drinking wine is a serious business, according to Roger Scruton, an academic philosopher. Anthony Gottlieb reviews his book "I Drink Therefore I Am" ...
GENDY ALIMURUNG: "Anne Rice: Interview with the Vampire Killer" (laweekly.com)
Anne Rice will never write about vampires again. Not even with these tragically hip, newfangled bloodsuckers lurking about, dating high school girls and coming out of the closet, demanding equal rights. She has told enough vampire stories to last her an eternity.
noted:
Link from RJ
Images for a Happy New Year 2010
Hi there
A possible link for you perhaps? Thanks for taking a look and I wish you and yours a Happy New Year. I hope 2010 brings you happiness and riches beyond the dreams of avarice! :-)
Reader Suggestion
Never a Year Like '09
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
While things don't look as gloomy as they did a week ago, there's still a ways to go.
I appreciate the help you've sent, but as it currently stands, the last page will still be Monday (01/04/10).
At the same time, I've been deeply touched by the notes of encouragement, and blown away by the generosity of some readers.
By my backwoods upbringing, the worst sin is to be a quitter, so I'd prefer not to go that route.
I won't give up hope that things may still work out.
OTOH, I am all too familiar with reality.
Please help save the e-page!
Pretty please. With sugar and whipped cream.
And a cherry on top.
Typical Repuke - No Compromising
Rupert TV
The nation's top broadcast regulator on Thursday urged Time Warner Cable and the Fox television network to agree to a temporary deal that would keep football games on cable TV systems as the companies settle differences over fees.
A failure to agree before a midnight Thursday deadline could mean Friday's Sugar Bowl between the Florida Gators and the Cincinnati Bearcats would be dropped for more than 6 million cable customers in markets such as New York, Los Angeles and Orlando, Fla. The Cotton Bowl on Saturday, the NFL's final regular season contests on Sunday and "The Simpsons" and other Fox shows were also at risk.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski called for a temporary extension of the expiring deal so cable customers could continue to watch Fox programming.
Time Warner Cable is open to a temporary extension, but Fox owner News Corp. has said that would just prolong what it terms an unfair deal.
Rupert
Receives Knighthood
Patrick Stewart
There's an especially starry knight in Britain's latest round of royal honors.
Patrick Stewart - "Star Trek: The Next Generation's" Capt. Jean-Luc Picard - becomes Sir Patrick in Queen Elizabeth II's New Year honors list, which also includes a knighthood for theater and film director Nicholas Hytner.
"This is an honor that embraces those actors, directors and creative teams who have in these recent years helped fill my life with inspiration, companionship and sheer fun," said 69-year-old Stewart, who recently returned to the British stage following a long career in Hollywood that included playing Professor Charles Xavier in three "X-Men" films.
Erich Reich, a refugee from Nazi-occupied Europe who organized last year's 70th anniversary of the "Kindertransport," which brought 10,000 children to wartime Britain, also received a knighthood.
Patrick Stewart
Shareholders Approve Disney Acquisition
Marvel
Shareholders of Marvel Entertainment Inc., home of Spider-Man and the Hulk, on Thursday approved the company's acquisition by The Walt Disney Co., as expected.
Marvel said the $4.3 billion acquisition will close at the end of the day, bringing Spider-Man, Iron Man, and 5,000 other comic-book characters under the same roof as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.
Approval of the deal was expected. Marvel Chief Executive Isaac "Ike" Perlmutter, who owns 37 percent of Marvel stock, supported it. He will be overseeing the Marvel business after the acquisition.
Marvel shareholders will receive $30 per share in cash, plus 0.745 Disney shares for every Marvel share they own. Disney shares traded midday Thursday at $32.53, up 25 cents on the day. That values Marvel shares at $54.25, just above their trading price of $54.23.
Marvel
Birth Report 'Utter Fiction'
Van Morrison
Reclusive Irish singer Van Morrison said Thursday that a computer hacker planted a false report on his Web site claiming he had fathered a fourth child at the age of 64 with a new partner.
The false report was disseminated Monday by a Los Angeles-based publicist for Morrison, Phil Lobel. The publicist was quoted by an unidentified associate on Thursday as getting the report from the Morrison site.
The false report was picked up by several news agencies, including The Associated Press, as well as celebrity sites and British newspapers. The false report on the Morrison Web site claimed that a woman identified as Gigi had just borne a son with Morrison.
The singer issued a statement Thursday through an international public-relations agency stressing that the report was completely false and the malicious product of a hacker's attack on his official Web site, http://www.vanmorrison.com .
Van Morrison
Hospital News
Pigboy
Conservative talk show host Republican spokesmodel and oxycontin-fan Rush Limbaugh remained hospitalized in Hawaii Thursday after experiencing chest pains similar to a heart attack, according to the guest host on his nationally syndicated radio show.
A spokesman at The Queen's Medical Center, Steve Uieno, said he could provide no information on Limbaugh.
Kit Carson, Limbaugh's chief of staff, told The Associated Press Limbaugh left for his Christmas vacation on Dec. 23 and was due to return to his show Jan. 4. Carson didn't have any information on whether that schedule would change.
Honolulu television station KITV reported that paramedics took Limbaugh to The Queen's Medical Center in serious condition from the Kahala Hotel and Resort.
Pigboy
Walt's Grandson Pleads Not Guilty
Patrick Disney Miller
A 42-year-old grandson of Walt Disney pleaded not guilty to charges of illegal possession of guns and drugs on Wednesday in a California court and was remanded in custody, authorities said.
Patrick Disney Miller, who already has a 2005 conviction for drug possession, was detained on December 9 after police conducted a search of his home in the Los Angeles suburb of Woodland Hills, local prosecutors said.
Miller had been freed on a 35,000 dollar bail, but at Thursday's arraignment the judge raised the amount to 550,000 dollars and Miller was taken into custody. A new hearing was set for February 4.
Police allegedly recovered an arms cache comprising 13 handguns, a rifle and an illegal assault rifle during the search. Various drugs were also found.
If convicted of all charges, Miller faces more than eight years in state prison. Miller is the youngest child of Diane Disney Miller, who is Walt Disney's only biological daughter.
Patrick Disney Miller
Artwork Stolen
Edgar Degas
An artwork by French impressionist artist Edgar Degas was stolen from a museum on Wednesday night in Marseille in southern France, the city's prosecutor said.
The pastel work, "The Chorus," was worth an estimated 800,000 euros ($1.15 million), the prosecutor said. Local media had originally said it was worth an estimated 30 million euros.
The work belonged to the Musee d'Orsay in Paris and had been loaned to Marseille's Cantini museum for an exhibition that was due to close on January 3.
The Musee d'Orsay, which has been loaning out many works in recent months to raise funds, declined to comment on the theft.
Edgar Degas
No Charges
Mike Tyson
Mike Tyson and a photographer won't face charges after their scuffle at Los Angeles International Airport, city prosecutors said Thursday.
Prosecutors found insufficient evidence to charge Tyson or photographer Tony Echeverria, spokesman Frank Mateljan said.
The two men were arrested Nov. 11 after a scuffle in which each claimed they were struck by the other.
Echeverria said a blow by the former heavyweight champion knocked him to the ground, and he was treated for a cut to the forehead.
Mike Tyson
Drops Minimum Wage
Colorado
Colorado's minimum wage will drop slightly in the new year - the first decrease in any state's minimum wage since the federal minimum was adopted in 1938.
Colorado's wage is falling 3 cents an hour, from $7.28 to the federal level of $7.25. That's because Colorado is one of 10 states that tie the state minimum wage to inflation. The goal is to protect low-wage workers from having unchanged paychecks as the cost of living goes up.
But Colorado's provision also allows wage declines, and the state's consumer price index fell 0.6 percent last year, so the minimum wage is going down.
The lower consumer price index, attributed to lower fuel prices, would have forced the wage down 4 cents an hour, But no state can go below the federal minimum of $7.25.
Colorado
.708!
Blood Alcohol
South Dakota authorities say a woman found passed out in a stolen delivery van earlier this month registered a blood alcohol content of .708 - nearly nine times the legal limit and a possible record for the state.
Meade County State's Attorney Jesse Sondreal said Wednesday that 45-year-old Marguerite Engle was found slumped over the van's steering wheel along a highway on Dec. 1.
He says the highest blood alcohol content state chemists he spoke with could recall was a .56. The state's legal limit is .08.
Authorities say Engle missed an initial court hearing Dec. 15, but that they found her Monday in another stolen vehicle, and that she had been drinking.
Blood Alcohol
Scientists Find Clue
Tasmanian Devils
Fierce as they are, Tasmanian devils can't beat a contagious cancer that threatens to wipe them out. Now scientists think they've found the disease's origin, a step in the race to save Australia's snarling marsupial.
The furry black animals spread a fast-killing cancer when they bite each other's faces. Since the disease's discovery in 1996, their numbers have plummeted by 70 percent. Last spring, Australia listed the devils - made famous by their Looney Tunes cartoon namesake Taz - as an endangered species.
There's no treatment, and little hope of finding one until scientists better understand what's fueling this bizarre "devil facial tumor disease." So an international research team picked apart the cancer's genes, and discovered that it apparently first arose in cells that protect the animals' nerves.
The surprise finding, reported in Friday's edition of the journal Science, has led to development of a test to help diagnose this tumor.
Tasmanian Devils
Cable Nielsens
Ratings
Rankings for the top 15 programs on cable networks as compiled by the Nielsen Co. for the week of Dec. 21-27. Day and start time (EST) are in parentheses:
1. NFL Football: N.Y. Giants vs. Washington (Monday, 8:29 p.m.), ESPN, 8.36 million homes, 11.34 million viewers.
2. College Football: Boston College vs. USC (Saturday, 8 p.m.), ESPN, 5.28 million homes, 7.56 million viewers.
3. "College Football Tonight Scoreboard" (Saturday, 7:44 p.m.), ESPN, 4.55 million homes, 6.32 million viewers.
4. College Football: Pittsburgh vs. North Carolina (Saturday, 4:30 p.m.), ESPN, 4.52 million homes, 6.13 million viewers.
5. "The Closer" (Monday, 9 p.m.), TNT, 4.34 million homes, 5.97 million viewers.
6. NFL Football: San Diego vs. Tennessee (Friday, 7:34 p.m.) NFL Network, 3.77 million homes, 6.88 million viewers.
7. "NCIS" (Monday, 8 p.m.), USA, 3.37 million homes, 4.77 million viewers.
8. "College Gameday Scoreboard" (Saturday, 4:15 p.m.), ESPN, 3.36 million homes, 4.37 million viewers.
9. "NCIS" (Saturday, 8 p.m.), USA, 3.28 million homes, 4.41 million viewers.
10. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Thursday, 11:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon,, 3.2 million homes, 4.55 million viewers.
11. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.156 million homes, 4.83 million viewers.
11. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.156 million homes, 4.84 million viewers.
13. "NCIS" (Saturday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.1 million homes, 4.01 million viewers.
14. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Thursday, 11 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.05 million homes, 4.38 million viewers.
15. "NCIS" (Saturday, 7 p.m.), USA, 3.01 million homes, 4.14 million viewers.
Ratings
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