Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Atheist Girl In Rhode Island Faces Stream Of Death Threats
Jessica Ahlquist is a 16-year-old self-described nerd who has garnered nationwide attention after successfully suing to have a giant banner emblazoned with an official school prayer removed from the auditorium of her public high school in Cranston, Rhode Island. The response has demonstrated the limits of Christian love - she has basically become the villain of her entire city, with her state representative, Peter Palumbo, called Jessica an "evil little thing" on the radio…
Susan Estrich: Ten Reasons Why Newt Gingrich Shouldn't Drop Out (Creators Syndicate)
Without Gingrich, Mitt Romney will veer to the middle faster than you can say Massachusetts. Every time he starts winning, that's exactly what he does. Every time he starts losing, he remembers what party he's in. For conservatives, Gingrich is the last best hope of keeping Romney on their side.
Interview by Laura Barnett: "Portrait of the artist: Jeff Goldblum, actor" (Guardian)
'One reviewer said I looked like a giant gnome. I guess I do have prominent ears.'
Roger Ebert: Review of "Bubble" (R; 4 stars; an overlooked movie)
Steven Soderbergh's "Bubble" approaches with awe and caution the rhythms of ordinary life itself. He tells the stories of three Ohio factory workers who have been cornered by life. They work two low-paying jobs, they dream of getting a few bucks ahead, they eat fast food without noticing it, two of them live with their parents, one of them has a car. Their speech is such a monotone of commonplaces that we have to guess about how they really feel, and sometimes, we suspect, so do they.
Roger Ebert: Review of "The Grey" (R; 3 ½ stars)
"The Grey" advances with pitiless logic. There are more wolves than men. The men have weapons, the wolves have patience, the weather is punishing. I sat regarding the screen with mounting dread. The movie had to have a happy ending, didn't it? If not "happy," then at least a relief in some sense? Sit through the entire credits. There's one more shot still to come. Not that you wouldn't be content without it.
Paul Constant: "'The Grey': Liam Neeson Versus the Wolves" (Stranger)
Ultimately, 'The Grey' isn't smart enough to become the deep meditation on mortality Carnahan wants it to be, but it's just artsy enough to frustrate the entertainment-seeking fans …. Nobody leaves 'The Grey' in a good mood.
Bill Wyman: I Watched Every Spielberg Movie (Slate)
Now I almost wish I hadn't.
Bill Wyman: Steven Spielberg's Narrative Nonsense (Slate)
You want to know what really drives me nuts about Steven Spielberg? His lack of interest in narrative coherence. It started out being a tic. Now it's one of his hallmarks.
Tom Danehy: Remembering Etta James and her mentor, Johnny Otis (Tucson Weekly)
Legendary singer/songwriter/bandleader/drummer/disc-jockey/TV-host Johnny Otis died a couple of weeks ago at the age of 90. Otis was a pioneer in the world of rhythm and blues that I love so much.
David Bruce has 42 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $42 you can buy 10,500 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," "Maximum Cool," and "Resist Psychic Death."
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Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
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Groundhog Day
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Kinda overcast and gray.
Storm Over Climate Change
Weather Forecasters
You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. But weather forecasters, many of whom see climate change as a natural, cyclical phenomenon, are split over whether they have a responsibility to educate their viewers on the link between human activity and the change in the Earth's climates.
Only 19 percent of U.S. meteorologists saw human influences as the sole driver of climate change in a 2011 survey. And some, like the Weather Channel's founder John Coleman are vocal in their opposition.
The climate change controversy has split the American Meteorological Society, whose members are Americans' prime source of news about weather and climate
In its last official view issued in 2007, the AMS acknowledged that global warming is occurring and that human activities exacerbate it, especially the burning of fossil fuels and the release of the climate-warming gas, carbon dioxide.
Research since 2007 has only solidified climate science findings, said AMS Executive Director Keith Seitter. AMS members who disagree, he said, are in a minority, though an often outspoken one.
Weather Forecasters
Hacking Risks
US Companies
At least a half-dozen major U.S. companies whose computers have been infiltrated by cyber criminals or international spies have not admitted to the incidents despite new guidance from securities regulators urging such disclosures.
Top U.S. cybersecurity officials believe corporate hacking is widespread, and the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a lengthy "guidance" document on October 13 outlining how and when publicly traded companies should report hacking incidents and cybersecurity risk.
But with one full quarter having elapsed since the SEC request, some major companies that are known to have had significant digital security breaches have said nothing about the incidents in their regulatory filings.
Defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp, for example, said last May that it had fended off a "significant and tenacious" cyber attack on its networks. But Lockheed's most recent 10-Q quarterly filing, like its filing for the period that included the attack, does not even list hacking as a generic risk, let alone state that it has been targeted.
A Reuters review of more than 2,000 filings since the SEC guidance found some companies, including Internet infrastructure company VeriSign Inc and credit card and debit card transaction processor VeriFone Systems Inc, revealed significant new information about hacking incidents.
US Companies
Playwrights & Theaters Join Benefit
Japan
Celebrated playwrights including Stephen Sondheim, Tony Kushner and Edward Albee have joined a fundraiser to mark the anniversary of a devastating earthquake in Japan.
All will be offering 10-minute plays and songs to be performed March 11. The effort also has united 35 arts organizations across 12 states. Funds will help the Japanese theater community.
Participating artists include Suzan-Lori Parks and Richard Greenberg, who both will write original pieces. Sondheim with writer John Weidman will revise a section of their musical "Pacific Overtures."
In New York, the effort has united some of the city's most powerful theaters, including Lincoln Center Theater, Playwrights Horizons, The Public Theater and Manhattan Theatre Club. Theatre Communications Group said Thursday it's leading the effort.
Japan
Seeks Green Party Presidential Nod
Roseanne Barr
Roseanne Barr is running for the Green Party's presidential nomination - and she says it's no joke.
The actress-comedian said in a statement Thursday that she's a longtime supporter of the party and looks forward to working with people who share her values. She said Democrats and Republicans aren't working in the best interests of the American people.
Barr has submitted paperwork to the Green Party for her candidacy. The party's presidential nominee will be selected at a convention in Baltimore in July.
Barr's hit TV sitcom "Roseanne" aired from 1988 to 1997 and earned her an Emmy and a Golden Globe. She played a wise-cracking mom in the comedy about a blue-collar family. Barr has a 46-acre macadamia nut farm in Hawaii.
Roseanne Barr
Isolated Tribe Makes Contact
Peru
Peruvian authorities say they are struggling to keep outsiders away from a clan of previously isolated Amazon Indians who began appearing on the banks of a jungle river popular with environmental tourists last year.
The behavior of the small group of Mashco-Piro Indians has puzzled scientists, who say it may be related to the encroachment of loggers and by low-flying aircraft from nearby natural gas and oil exploration in the southeastern region of the country.
Clan members have been blamed for two bow-and-arrow attacks on people near the riverbank in Madre de Dios state where officials say the Indians were first seen last May.
One badly wounded a forest ranger in October. The following month, another fatally pierced the heart of a local Matsiguenka Indian, Nicolas "Shaco" Flores, who had long maintained a relationship with the Mashco-Piro.
Although it's not known what provoked the Mashco-Piro clan to leave the relative safety of their tribe's jungle home, Beatriz Huerta, an anthropologist who works with Peru's agency for indigenous affairs, speculated their habitat is becoming increasingly less isolated.
Peru
Copy Done Around Time Of Original
'Mona Lisa'
Spain's Prado Museum said Wednesday it has a copy of Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" that one of his students painted in the studio where the masterpiece was completed.
A museum spokeswoman said the copy was done alongside the 16th-century original, which now hangs in the Louvre Museum in Paris, apparently making it the earliest replica of the work ever found.
The Prado said it didn't realize the significance of its copy of the "Mona Lisa" until a recent restoration revealed hidden layers.
The Madrid version shows the same woman figure, but prior to the restoration it lacked the landscape background and was covered with paint and varnish. The spokeswoman said the painting had once been on display in the museum but had always been considered a pretty poor copy.
The replica was restored as part of plans for it to be included in a Louvre exhibition on Leonardo later this year. The Prado plans to put it on display later this month before it travels to France.
'Mona Lisa'
U.S. Shuts 16 Websites Pre-Super Bowl
Sports Piracy
Three days before Super Bowl XLVI, U.S. prosecutors said they seized 16 websites that illegally streamed live sports and pay-per-view events over the Internet, and charged a Michigan man with running nine of those websites.
According to the government, the 16 websites provided links to give viewers easy access to other sites that hosted pirated telecasts from the National Football League, National Basketball Association, National Hockey League, World Wrestling Entertainment Inc ("WWE") and TNA Impact Wrestling. The latter is also broadcast on Viacom Inc's Spike TV.
The websites are firstrow.tv, firstrowsports.com, firstrowsports.net, firstrowsports.tv, hq-streams.tv, robplay.tv, soccertvlive.net, sports95.com, sports95.net, sports95.org, sportswwe.net, sportswwe.tv, sportswwe.com, xonesports.tv, youwwe.com and youwwe.net.
As prosecutors announced the seizure on Thursday, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, expected to start in Sunday's Super Bowl against the New York Giants, admitted to reporters his own use of an illegal website.
Sports Piracy
Comedian Sentenced For Offending Islam
Adel Imam
One of the Arab world's best known Egyptian comedians has been sentenced to three months in jail for offending Islam, a judge said Thursday, in the latest such case against a high-profile figure, underlining concerns about freedom of expression in Egypt.
The judge confirmed that Adel Imam, a veteran actor who first starred in a play in 1964, was convicted in absentia of insulting the religion.
The state-run Ahram Online English website reported Thursday he was found guilty for "defaming Islam" in a 2007 movie in which he plays a corrupt businessman who tries to buy a university diploma. The film, Morgan Ahmed Morgan, included a scene with bearded Muslim men wearing traditional Islamic robes. Other reports said the court objected to his use of Islamic symbols in the film and others he has appeared in.
Last month, Egyptian telecommunications and construction tycoon Naguib Sawiris, a founder of the liberal Free Egyptians political party, faced similar charges of defaming Islam after he posted pictures of Mickey and Minnie Mouse wearing Islamic clothing on Twitter.
Adel Imam
Charged With DUI
Avery Brooks
A lead actor on the "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" television series has been charged with driving under the influence in Connecticut.
Avery Brooks is set to be arraigned in state court in Norwalk next week in connection with his arrest last weekend in Wilton, a wealthy suburb about 50 miles northeast of Manhattan. He played Capt. Benjamin Sisko on the 1990s "Star Trek" series and had the role of Hawk on "Spenser: For Hire" in the 1980s.
Local police say they pulled over the 63-year-old Princeton, N.J., resident shortly after 10 p.m. Sunday after receiving a complaint about his driving.
It's not clear if Avery has a lawyer. He's due in court on Feb. 9.
Avery Brooks
Group Sues To Halt Project
Christo
A coalition of environmentalists, outdoor enthusiasts and wildlife advocates have filed a federal lawsuit to block a project by the artist Christo that would drape fabric canopies along a long stretch of the Arkansas River in Colorado.
Opponents of the Bulgarian-born Christo's proposed "Over the River" project sued the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Denver, saying the agency violated federal law and its own policies when it gave final approval to the project last fall.
The flamboyant Christo, known for his massive outdoor artworks, including erecting 7,500 fabric gates in New York City's Central Park, plans to hang 5.9 miles of "silvery, translucent" panels intermittently along the river between Canon City and Salida, Colorado, according to his web site.
But opponents seeking to halt the project argued in their lawsuit that allowing the drilling of some 9,000 bores to anchor 925 fabric panels would adversely impact wildlife, cause traffic tie-ups and disrupt recreational activities.
Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman Tina Brown said the agency was aware of the lawsuit, filed by Denver University law students on behalf of nonprofit Rags Over the Arkansas River Inc. (ROAR). Brown said the bureau does not comment on pending litigation.
Christo
Donating Jet To Museum
John Travolta
Actor John Travolta plans to donate a jet plane to a museum in central Georgia.
Robins Air Force Base spokeswoman Chrissy Miner says the actor will donate a G-2 Gulfstream executive jet to the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame at the Museum of Aviation in Warner Robins.
Museum officials say Travolta, who is a pilot, is donating the plane in honor of his son Jett, who died in 2009.
Miner tells the Telegraph newspaper in Macon (http://bit.ly/KYnzY) the plane is now in central Georgia. Plans call for the jet to be used as a display for an upcoming air show planned for April.
John Travolta
In Memory
David Peaston
Singer David Peaston, who had a string of R&B hits in the late 1980s and early 1990s, has died, his family said Thursday.
Peaston, 54, died Wednesday of complications from diabetes, his niece, Neuka Mitchell said.
Peaston was born into a St. Louis family with deep musical roots. His mother, gospel singer Martha Bass, was one of the Clara Ward Singers. His older sister, Fontella Bass, is a noted singer whose single "Rescue Me" reached No. 1 on R&B charts and No. 4 on pop single charts in 1965.
Peaston's highest charting song was "Two Wrongs (Don't Make It Right)," which reached No. 3 on the Billboard R&B chart in 1989. "Can I?" got to No. 14 R&B that year, and "We're All in This Together" reached No. 11 R&B and No. 45 on the dance charts in 1990. His first album, "Introducing ... David Peaston," reached No. 7 on the Billboard R&B album chart in 1989. At the height of his career, he toured with Gladys Knight.
Peaston earned a degree in elementary education and taught in his hometown of St. Louis before moving to New York to pursue a career as a singer. He began doing session gospel and R&B work. His career got a big boost after winning several competitions on the "Showtime at the Apollo" television show in the late 1980s, winning over fans and the judges with his powerful rendition of "God Bless The Child."
Despite a rich tenor voice that awed fans, crossover success eluded Peaston.
"He's the greatest unsung artist ever," Mitchell said. "Fabulous. A great father, husband, uncle. A great man."
Peaston's Facebook page described him as a "joyful independent double amputee." Both of Preston's legs were amputated below the knees due to diabetes.
Survivors include his wife of 24 years, his high school sweetheart Marilyn, and two sons. Funeral arrangements were incomplete.
David Peaston
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