Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Mark Morford: The Myth of the Christian Conservative (SF Gate)
I often wonder, given sufficient whisky and irony and time: Has there ever been a more delightfully inept, wince-inducing oxymoron in the tortured American lexicon than "conservative Christian?"
Tom Danehy: Tom has some thoughts regarding National School Choice Week (Tucson Weekly)
Y'all may not know this, but we're smack dab in the middle of National School Choice Week. This, upon further inspection, is akin to Right to Breathe and/or Scratch Your Butt Week, since Americans have always had the right to breathe, scratch their butts and send their kids to whatever school they wanted to. This truth, however, is not politically expedient to the rich folks on the Right, who generally have always had to do their own breathing but have long aspired to accumulating enough wealth to be able to afford to pay somebody else to scratch their butts for them.
Suzanne Moore: Why are we subsidising the royal family at a time of gross inequality? (Guardian)
Nothing symbolises stagnation, immovable social barriers and hierarchy quite like the royal family. No wonder George Osborne is leaping to their defence.
Andrew Collins: "Harry Shearer: 'Richard Nixon wanted my ass in Vietnam'" (Guardian)
If the US president had had his way, the actor, best known for Spinal Tap and The Simpsons, might have had a much shorter, more brutal life. But why has he now decided to play him in TV series Nixon's the One?
Annalee Newitz: First Wild Beaver Seen in England for 800 Years (io9)
This video is proof that a beaver is alive and well in England, centuries after they were believed to have gone extinct in that country. No one is sure how it got there, but it's munching on trees in Devon.
Robert T. Gonzalez: What Kind of Meat is Human Meat? (io9)
If beef is red and chicken is white, what kind of meat do we humans carry about on our bones? Of course you want to know.
Rob Bricken: Why optimistic science fiction is dead (io9)
Greetings from the post-apocalypse, folks! I apologize if my responses are short this week, but I'm writing them on the run. A bunch of mohawked Australian assholes on motorcycles have suddenly shown up, and they want to play Road Warrior while I'm on a goddamned horse. I want to know how the hell they got here. Did Australia move in the unknown apocalypse? Is there a land bridge now? If so, can I get my hands on a koala? They look adorable.
'Fail Better' Beckett Desktop
"Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail Better." Download your very own Samuel Beckett desktop wallpaper. Quotation from Worstward Ho. Design by Rhys Tranter. Photograph by John Haynes.
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
on CONAN
General Ray Odierno
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Overcast with a bit of drizzle.
2014 Krewe of Orpheus
Quentin Tarantino
Actor, director Quentin Tarantino will reign as the Krewe of Orpheus' 2014 Celebrity Monarch.
Tarantino will lead the 27 float procession, themed "The Enchanted World," on Lundi Gras - Monday, March 3 - on the eve of Mardi Gras.
Following the parade, the krewe's more than 1,300 members, will host its black-tie party Orpheuscapade inside the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center that will also feature Cheap Trick, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, The Party Crashers, Karma and Elizabeth Lyons.
Orpheus, one of the city's super krewes, was founded in 1993 by Captain Sonny Borey and Harry Connick Jr.
Quentin Tarantino
Quits Oxfam
Scarlett Johansson
US actress Scarlett Johansson has ended her role as Oxfam ambassador following a dispute over her ad campaign for a firm operating in an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank.
Johansson's departure, announced overnight by her publicist, was welcomed by Palestinian activists on Thursday, although some criticised Oxfam for not acting itself to sever ties with the Hollywood star they branded the "new poster girl for Israeli occupation."
In a statement, Oxfam confirmed accepting Johansson's decision to step down, saying her promotion of Israeli drinks firm SodaStream, which has a factory in a settlement east of Jerusalem, was "incompatible" with her role at the international aid agency.
"Oxfam believes that businesses, such as SodaStream, that operate in settlements, further the ongoing poverty and denial of rights of the Palestinian communities that we work to support," it said. "Oxfam is opposed to all trade from Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law."
Following Johansson's announcement that she was leaving Oxfam, the movement accused her of abandoning her principles to become "the new face of Israeli apartheid."
Scarlett Johansson
Parody Song Fools Everyone
Red Hot Chili Peppers
As the real Red Hot Chili Peppers prepare for their Super Bowl halftime performance, a note-perfect parody track of the group entitled "Abracadabralifornia" has appeared on the official-looking (but completely fake) website RHCP2014.com.
The song is the brainchild of comedian Jon Daly and Cyrus Ghahremani, frontman for Los Angeles power-pop band Hot Karate, both of whom tweeted "Genius behind everything" about the other. The "group" expertly lampoon the band's slap bass-anchored funk-rock, love of all things California and Anthony Kiedis' non-sequitur raps ("I'm a bad mamma jamma/From here to Alabama/I play in a band called the Alabama jammas/I hope we don't get tricked by the Alabama scamma").
The roots of the song go back to a 2013 episode of humor podcast Comedy Bang Bang, where Daly and friend Zach Galifianakis expounded on their love of the group. "We're huge Pepperman," Daly said over Galifianakis' snickers. "It's a fan club. We've got a theme song." Daly proceeded to sing the song's hook in a dead-on Kiedis imitation.
The real band is set to close out this weekend's Big Hello to Brooklyn concert on Saturday before performing Sunday at New Jersey's MetLife Stadium. The three-day celebration, sponsored by sports radio station WFAN, also features performances from New Politics, MS MR, J Roddy Walston and the Business and Basic Vacation.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Fox Renews
'Bones'
"Bones," Fox's longest-running current drama, has been renewed for a 10th season, the network announced Wednesday. Also, the 20th Century Fox Television series is returning to Monday nights for its final episodes of this season.
After airing on Fridays for a couple of months, "Bones" will take over the Monday 8 p.m. slot currently occupied by "Almost Human," which wraps its first season on March 3. The final Friday original episode of "Bones" is this week, and the first episode in its new (old) timeslot will be March 10.
Fox also announced that Gordon Ramsay's alternative series "Kitchen Nightmares" will return to the schedule on Friday, Feb. 28, taking over the "Bones" slot and leading into comedies "Raising Hope" and "Enlisted."
The network moved "Bones" from Monday to Friday in November to allow a new show, "Almost Human," to air on the higher-visible night, on which it was teamed with "Sleepy Hollow." The plan worked pretty well, as "Human" has been a solid-enough performer in its planned 13-episode run to merit consideration for a second season.
'Bones'
Reporter 'Routinely' Hacked
Rupert
A former tabloid reporter who admits illegally snooping on voicemails said Thursday that he "routinely" hacked the phone of actor Daniel Craig.
Dan Evans has pleaded guilty to phone hacking while at the News of the World and the Sunday Mirror. He is a prosecution witness at the trial in London of former News of the World editors Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks, and five others.
Evans earlier told the court that his bosses knew he had hacked Craig's phone to get a story about the James Bond actor's affair with Sienna Miller.
Owner Rupert Murdoch closed the News of the World in 2011 after details emerged of the scale of its snooping on celebrities, politicians and others in the public eye.
The defendants deny a variety of charges, including phone hacking, bribery and obstructing a police investigation.
Rupert
RNC Boycotting
MSNBC
MSNBC is about to feature even fewer conservatives: Republican National Committee chair says he is forbidding RNC officials from appearing on the network because of a tweet that suggested "rightwingers" don't like biracial families.
"This morning I left a message with MSNBC President Phil Griffin to express my displeasure," wrote RNC chair Reince Preibus. "I have sent him a letter demanding that he personally, as president of the network, take responsibility and apologize for the disgusting tweet. Until he takes internal corrective action and personally apologizes-not just to the RNC but to all right-of-center Americans-I'm banning all RNC staff from appearing on, associating with, or booking any RNC surrogates on MSNBC."
On Wednesday, the @msnbc Twitter account praised a new Cheerio's commercial featuring a biracial family: "Maybe the righwing will hate it, but everyone else will go awww," the tweet said.
The RNC said the tweet was part of a pattern of inappropriate statements from MSNBC hosts. The network parted ways with Alec Baldwin soon after he yelled homophobic remarks at a photographer, and with Martin Bashir after he said Sarah Palin should be subjected to some of the treatment that American slaves suffered.
MSNBC
Usernames and Passwords Stolen
Yahoo
Usernames and passwords of some of Yahoo's email customers have been stolen and used to gather personal information about people those Yahoo mail users have recently corresponded with, the company said Thursday.
Yahoo didn't say how many accounts have been affected. Yahoo is the second-largest email service worldwide, after Google's Gmail, according to the research firm comScore. There are 273 million Yahoo mail accounts worldwide, including 81 million in the U.S.
It's the latest in a string of security breaches that have allowed hackers to nab personal information using software that analysts say is ever more sophisticated. Up to 70 million customers of Target stores had their personal information and credit and debit card numbers compromised late last year, and Neiman Marcus was the victim of a similar breach in December.
Yahoo said the usernames and passwords weren't collected from its own systems, but from a third-party database.
The breach is the second mishap for Yahoo's mail service in two months. In December, the service suffered a multi-day outage that prompted Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer to issue an apology.
Yahoo
Rutgers Class
'Politicizing Beyonce'
Beyonce is one of the world's most scrutinized pop stars, and now that study is moving to academia.
The Department of Women's and Gender Studies at Rutgers University is offering a course called "Politicizing Beyonce."
Kevin Allred, a doctoral student who is teaching the class, tells the university's online news site that he is using Beyonce's career as a way to explore American race, gender and sexual politics.
The class supplements an analysis of Beyonce's videos and lyrics with readings from Black feminists. Allred says he's seeking to help students think more critically about media consumption.
Georgetown University has a class called "The Sociology of Hip-Hop: The Urban Theodicy of Jay-Z," focusing on Beyoncé's rapper husband.
'Politicizing Beyonce'
The War On Women
Ultrasound
Nearly 99 percent of women went ahead with an abortion after voluntarily viewing an ultrasound image of the fetus beforehand, according to a large new U.S. study.
Based on medical records for more than 15,000 women seeking abortion at Los Angeles Planned Parenthood clinics, researchers found that only a small fraction of the women changed their minds after seeing the image.
"This study was motivated in large part by the current political and popular interest in what role ultrasound viewing plays in women's decisions about abortion," said one of the authors, Katrina Kimport at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine.
Based on their results, the authors conclude in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology that mandatory viewing of ultrasound images is not likely to significantly influence how many women get abortions.
Women should be offered the opportunity to view their ultrasound before an abortion, the authors write, but mandatory viewing should be avoided.
Ultrasound
Working The System
Free Lunch
In the grand tradition of the mad genius who bought mountains of Healthy Choice pudding so he could rack up millions of frequent flier miles on the cheap comes the story of a Chinese man who took advantage of a loophole to eat for free in an airport VIP lounge for nearly a year.
The story was originally covered in the Chinese-language newspaper Kwong Wah Yit Poh in Malaysia, according to the New York Post. The man, who isn't named in the piece, purchased a refundable first-class ticket aboard China Eastern Airlines that came with a complimentary meal at the airline's VIP lounge.
That was almost a year ago. Every day since the purchase (after eating his meal), the man would then rebook his ticket (for free) for a flight on the following day. Then he'd return to the airport, eat, change his flight and go home.
Eventually, according to the Post, the airline grew wise to the man's ruse and confronted him. This was after officials noticed that his ticket had been canceled and rebooked an incredible 300 times over the course of one year. That's a lot of complimentary shrimp cocktails.
Because the ticket was fully refundable, the man was able to turn it in and get all his money back.
Free Lunch
Top 20
Concert Tours
The Top 20 Concert Tours ranks artists by average box office gross per city and includes the average ticket price for shows in North America. The previous week's ranking is in parentheses. The list is based on data provided to the trade publication Pollstar by concert promoters and venue managers.
1. (1) Beyonce; $1,798,401; $126.05.
2. (3) Bon Jovi; $1,536,454; $96.72.
3. (2) Pink; $1,418,553; $87.05.
4. (4) Pearl Jam; $1,277,338; $70.36.
5. (5) Kanye West; $1,100,148; $87.43.
6. (6) Drake; $892,313; $77.51.
7. (7) Michael Buble; $888,294; $85.71.
8. (8) Trans-Siberian Orchestra; $715,752; $54.20.
9. (9) Dixie Chicks; $710,072; $75.63.
10. (10) Zac Brown Band; $593,826; $60.65.
11. (11) Nine Inch Nails; $581,874; $74.04.
12. (12) Alejandro Fernandez; $523,947; $90.52.
13. (14) Keith Urban; $467,650; $61.70.
14. (13) John Mayer; $454,733; $61.84.
15. (15) Selena Gomez; $407,310; $48.71.
16. (16) Sarah Brightman; $365,273; $71.78.
17. (17) Macklemore & Ryan Lewis; $323,524; $40.10.
18. (18) Hillsong United; $262,737; $34.40.
19. (21) John Legend; $226,023; $68.08.
20. (22) Jeff Dunham; $215,544; $49.20.
Concert Tours
In Memory
Ronnie Wayne Singleton
A steady stream of people came by a makeshift memorial Wednesday set up to remember Ronnie Wayne Singleton, a wheelchair-bound man struck and killed as he crossed a city street on Monday evening.
"He was a really big part of this community," said Tom Norton outside the 7-Eleven on Pacific Avenue and Spring Street. "He used to always be here. He was just a really good guy."
Long Beach police officials said Singleton, 56, was not in a marked crosswalk near 29th Street and Pacific Avenue when he was struck by a 2005 Infinity FX35.
Los Angeles County coroner's officials said Singleton was a transient.
"Yeah, he was homeless, but he was a good person with a good soul and heart," said Hermes Juarez, 23, who called Singleton his best friend.
"He gave me good life advice," Juarez said. "He was always there trying to help people no matter what."
A note left outside the convenience store, which Singleton frequented, read: "Ronney You were a gentle soul. We thank you for your presence in our lives, even though your journey was a difficult one."
Authorities pronounced Singleton dead at the scene.
"He's lived here for 26 years," Juarez said. "He used to be a handyman for all the people who lived here in this neighborhood, back when he could walk."
Singleton, was known as Jamke, pronounced Jamaica, because he was from the island country, Juarez said.
About a dozen people gathered Tuesday night outside the convenience store to leave and light candles for Singleton, Juarez said.
Ronnie Wayne Singleton
Ronnie would always greet me in the parking lot on my weekly visits to the laundromat, which is next to the 7-11.
A kind and decent man, who fell through what passes for the social safety net.
Our little neighborhood has lost a good man.
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