Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Sean McElwee: The 2018 Democratic Wave Is About More Than Congress (Huffington Post)
As the 2018 midterms come into focus on the political terrain, it's safe to expect that media coverage will focus overwhelmingly on the possibility of Democrats gaining majorities in the House and Senate. But a revolution is taking place in states across the country where, frustrated not just by President Donald Trump but by entrenched politicians who are serving themselves instead of the community, tens of thousands of Americans are running for local office.
Jacob Brogan: For Ursula K. Le Guin, the Future Was Always About Today (Slate)
The acclaimed writer taught us how to think about tomorrow by contemplating the wonders of the present.
Isaac Butler: Where to Start With Ursula K. Le Guin (Slate)
An undisputed master of science fiction and fantasy, she also successfully dabbled in alternative history, metafictional gambits, and even straightforward realism. Her essays reveal an astute and acerbic commentator on our world, whether writing about adopting a cat or the rapaciousness of capitalism. (One of her essays, about her problems with the Syfy Network adaptation of one of her novels, was published right here on Slate, and one of the funniest pieces she ever wrote savaged a piece published here too.)
Laura Miller: Ursula K. Le Guin and the Three Obstacles (Slate)
What the science-fiction writer still has to overcome to be recognized as the titan she was.
MATTHEW DESSEM: "'One of the Greats': Writers Pay Tribute to Ursula K. Le Guin" (Slate)
The death of Ursula K. Le Guin has brought an outpouring of remembrances and tributes from her fellow writers, as those her work touched and inspired reflected on social media about her life and lasting influence. Here's what the literary world had to say about her passing.
Ursula K. Le Guin: Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld review - a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice (The Guardian)
'It was badly done' - to quote Mr Knightley - an ill-judged rendering of Jane Austen's most famous work.
Ursula K. Le Guin, the spiritual mother of generations of writers; John Scalzi pays tribute (LA Times)
On and on and on goes this immediate and real-time outpouring of grief and remembrance of a woman who gave us Earthsea, "The Left Hand of Darkness" and the short story "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas," which is as much a parable for our time as anything that anyone has written, or likely will.
Ursula Le Guin: "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" (utilitarianism.com)
From The Wind's Twelve Quarters: Short Stories by Ursula Le Guin.
Gerald Jonas: Ursula K. Le Guin, Acclaimed for Her Fantasy Fiction, Is Dead at 88 (NY Times)
Ursula K. Le Guin, the immensely popular author who brought literary depth and a tough-minded feminist sensibility to science fiction and fantasy with books like "The Left Hand of Darkness" and the Earthsea series, died on Monday at her home in Portland, Ore. She was 88.
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David Bruce has over 80 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
Presenting
Michael Egan
wrote:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
David E Suggests
CPR on Your Dog
David
Thanks, Dave!
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Current Events
Samantha Bee's Apology Race
Janet shared the link below. Samantha Bee sent her people out to apologize for Predator. The two embedded video clips are most amusing:
from Marc Perkel
Marc's Guide to Curing Cancer
So far so good on beating cancer for now. I'm doing fine. At the end of the month I'll be 16 months into an 8 month mean lifespan. And yesterday I went on a 7 mile hike and managed to keep up with the hiking group I was with. So, doing something right.
Still waiting for future test results and should see things headed in the right direction. I can say that it's not likely that anything dire happens in the short term so that means that I should have time to make several more attempts at this. So even if it doesn't work the first time there are a lot of variations to try. So if there's bad news it will help me pick the next radiation target.
I have written a "how to" guide for oncologists to perform the treatment that I got. I'm convinced that I'm definitely onto something and whether it works for me or not isn't the definitive test. I know if other people tried this that it would work for some of them, and if they improve it that it will work for a lot of them.
The guide is quite detailed and any doctor reading this can understand the procedure at every level. I also go into detail as to how it works, how I figured it out, and variations and improvements that could be tried to enhance it. I also introduce new ways to look at the problem. There is a lot of room for improvement and I think that doctors reading it will see what I'm talking about and want to build on it. And it's written so that if you're not a doctor you can still follow it. It also has a personal story revealing that I'm the class clown of cancer support group. I give great interviews and I look pretty hot in a lab coat.
So, feel free to read this and see what I'm talking about. But if any of you want to help then pass this around to both doctors and cancer patients. I need some media coverage. I'm looking for as many eyeballs as possible to read these ideas. Even if this isn't the solution, it's definitely on the right track. After all, I did hike 7 miles yesterday. And this hiking group wasn't moving slow. So if this isn't working then, why am I still here?
I also see curing cancer as more of an engineering problem that a medical problem. So if you are good at solving problems and most of what you know about medicine was watching the Dr. House MD TV show, then you're at the level I was at when I started. So anyone can jump in and be part of the solution.
Here is a link to my guide: Oncologists Guide to Curing Cancer using Abscopal Effect
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
'JESUS TAKES THE WHEEL'
FAKE NEWS.
"…THEY UNFORTUNATELY GAVE UP ANY MORAL AUTHORITY."
WATER WORLD!
"JR IS IN HUGE TROUBLE."
SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO.
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Few weeks back watched an episode of Mary Tyler Moore on Me-TV, and in the episode
Murray writes the line "from around the block, and around the world" as a new open for Ted Baxter to use on the news.
Ted wants to change it to "from around the world, and around the block", but Mary decides to stick with Murray's original line.
Ted is told to use Murray's line, but, being Ted, does it his way on the air. Merriment ensues.
So, the other night, caught a new promo for the morning news on KTLA-5, where it's "from around the block, and around the world".
Just a coincidence, I'm sure.
11 Shooting Incidents This Year
U.S. Schools
The two students killed by a fellow high schooler Tuesday in Benton, Kentucky, weren't the first victims of such violence this month. So far this week, three shootings have happened at or near schools. At least eight more took place in the first three weeks of 2018.
With a tally of almost 300 school shootings since 2013, the country is averaging one school shooting per week, according to a report from gun control advocacy organization Everytown for Gun Safety.
Everytown defines a school shooting as when a "firearm discharges a live round inside a school building or on a school campus or grounds." Other groups may expand the characterization to include school-like settings, like the aforementioned school bus shooting.
In instances where minors shot a gun at school and authorities could determine where the child got the weapon, more than half obtained the gun at home, Everytown said. It's also fairly common for a school shooting to result from a confrontation or verbal argument that escalates.
U.S. Schools
Says Men Should Think
Malala
Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai has said men like Donald Trump should "think about their daughters and mothers" when considering how to treat women.
The 20-year-old human rights activist appeared at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where she addressed the issue of the issues of women's and girls' rights.
Asked whether she had a message for men who were "like" the US President, Ms Yousafzai said: "I just get so disappointed to see that people are at these high positions - they talk against women, they do not accept women as equal, and they harass women."
She said such behaviour was "shocking" and she hoped women "stand up and speak out against it".
Malala
Teenagers At Risk
'Gay Conversion Therapy'
Thousands of young American LGBT people will undergo conversion therapy from a licensed healthcare professional before they turn 18, a study has found.
An estimated 20,000 Teenagers aged 13 to 17 will go through an attempt to change their sexual orientation according to researchers at the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.
Sometimes referred to as "reparative" therapy, counselling, prayer are used to try and "cure" people.
It has been widely discredited by health experts for risking causing emotional and psychological damage.
Conversion therapy is still legal in 41 states across the US, including Massachusetts and New York. Some state bans also apply to anyone who performs the practice in exchange for money.
'Gay Conversion Therapy'
Why?
The Oscars
On the same morning James Franco was stiffed by the Academy Awards, almost certainly over allegations of sexual misconduct, a man once accused of hitting his wife in the face with a telephone receiver was nominated for an Oscar for best actor, for which he was quickly reckoned the prohibitive favorite. If you want to believe the depth and sincerity of Hollywood's commitment to #MeToo and #TimesUp, a question you have to ask yourself is this: Why was James Franco snubbed but not Gary Oldman?
Or, more broadly, why are some famous men experiencing career ramifications as a result of the #MeToo movement while others are not?
Franco, who won best actor awards at both the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards this month, seemed like a front-runner in this year's Oscars race for his performance as Tommy Wiseau in "The Disaster Artist."
But on Jan. 11, Franco's alleged history became a part of his awards season narrative. In a report published by the Los Angeles Times, five women came forward with allegations that Franco had been a sexual tyrant while working with them as an acting teacher and mentor.
Consider Gary Oldman, who was nominated for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in "Darkest Hour." In 2001, Oldman's then wife, Donya Fiorentino, filed papers in L.A. Superior Court alleging that Oldman had assaulted her with a telephone.
Or consider Kobe Bryant, who secured an Oscar nomination for a short film called "Dear Basketball." In 2003, Bryant was accused of raping an employee at a hotel in Edwards, Colorado. In the runup to the criminal trial, the woman, 19 years old, was made to walk the Sex Crime Accuser Stations of the Cross. The case was dropped, but the woman sued Bryant. They eventually settled out of court, and Bryant apologized to the accuser without admitting guilt.
The Oscars
Senate Narrowly Approves
Brownback
The Republican-led Senate on Wednesday narrowly approved Sam Brownback's bid to be U.S. ambassador for international religious freedom, setting the stage for him to resign the governorship in Kansas after seven contentious years in office.
With two Republican senators absent, Vice President Mike Pence traveled to Capitol Hill to cast the tie-breaking vote to confirm Brownback, a favorite of Christian conservatives for his views on same-sex marriage and abortion. The vote was along party lines, 50-49, underscoring the narrow margin Republicans hold. Pence's vote also was needed earlier in the day to get Brownback's nomination over a procedural hurdle.
Fellow Republican Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer will be elevated to governor in Kansas once Brownback submits his resignation. That could come as early as next week.
Brownback served in the U.S. Senate before becoming governor in January 2011. He made Kansas an economic laboratory for the nation by aggressively cutting taxes, arguing that they would provide "a shot of adrenaline to the heart" of the state's economy.
But persistent budget problems followed, along with court mandates to boost spending on public schools. Kansas became an example even for conservatives of how not to do trickle-down economics. Voters turned on his legislative allies in 2016, and bipartisan majorities rolled back most of the cuts last year over Brownback's veto.
Brownback
Skipped
Davos
First lady Melania Trump remembered the millions of victims of the Nazis with a visit Thursday to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.
"My thoughts and prayers are with the people whose lives and families were broken by the horrors of the Holocaust," the first lady said in a statement. "My heart is with you, and we remember."
The first lady later tweeted that the visit was "a powerful & moving tour that honors the millions of innocent lives lost, and educates us on the tragedies and effects of the holocaust."
Mrs. Trump was originally scheduled to accompany her husband to Davos for the World Economic Forum. But Tuesday, her chief of staff said Mrs. Trump would not make the trip to the summit, citing unspecified scheduling and logistical issues.
The reversal came after reports emerged about allegations by adult film star Stormy Daniels that she had an affair with Trump in 2006, shortly after he married his current wife. The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump's personal lawyer brokered a $130,000 payment to Daniels in October 2016 to prohibit her from publicly discussing the alleged affair before the presidential election.
Davos
Makes A Change
Nutella
Not many foods inspire a fandom quite like Nutella.
Nutella confirmed on its Twitter feed Wednesday that the recipe "underwent a fine-tuning" after Germany's Hamburg Consumer Protection Center said on Facebook that it appeared the recipe had changed.
That set off both panic and anger on social media in a symphony of languages - English, German and Italian chief among them.
Ferrero, the Italian company that makes Nutella, Tic Tacs and Ferrero Rocher chocolates, insisted that "the quality . . . and all other aspects of Nutella remain the same," in a statement obtained by the BBC.
The changes are to its milk and sugar content. The new recipe has 8.7 percent powdered skim milk, instead of 7.5 percent. It also contains 56.3 percent sugar, instead of the previous 55.9 percent, the Hamburg Consumer Protection Center said, according to Deutsche Welle.
Nutella
Oldest Outside Africa
Human Remains
A partial jawbone bearing seven teeth unearthed in a cave in Israel represents what scientists are calling the oldest-known Homo sapiens remains outside Africa, showing that our species trekked out of that continent far earlier than previously known.
Researchers on Thursday announced the discovery of the fossil estimated as 177,000 to 194,000 years old, and said the teeth bore telltale traits of Homo sapiens not present in close human relatives alive at the time including Neanderthals.
The fossil of the left part of the upper jaw of a young adult -- the person's sex remains unclear -- came from Misliya Cave on Mount Carmel's western slopes about 7.5 miles (12 km) south of Haifa. Also found inside the large collapsed cave, once inhabited by humans, were blades and other stone tools that were sophisticated for the time, several hearths and burned animal bones.
Until now, the oldest Homo sapiens fossils outside Africa had come from two other cave sites in Israel, including one also on Mount Carmel, about 90,000 to 120,000 years old.
The new discovery supports the idea that humans migrated out of Africa through a northern route, the Nile valley and the eastern Mediterranean coast, and not a southern route across the Bab al-Mandeb strait, the southern coast of Saudi Arabia, the Indian subcontinent and East Asia, said Tel Aviv University paleoanthropologist Israel Hershkovitz, who led the study.
Human Remains
Guggenheim Museum
18K
New York's Guggenheim Museum offered to lend an 18-karat gold toilet to President-for-now Donald Trump (R-Crooked) after the White House asked to borrow a painting by Vincent Van Gogh, the Washington Post reported on Thursday.
The museum's chief curator offered to loan the toilet, which had been used by tens of thousands of visitors, in a Sept. 15 email to a Trump administration official, the newspaper reported.
A Guggenheim spokeswoman declined immediate comment on the Washington Post report and White House officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The piece, by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan's, is an 18-karat gold, fully functioning toilet. It is called "America."
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