Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Dennis Hong: 5 Tiny Things Secretly Determining Who You Have Sex With (Cracked)
The whole reason dating and relationships can be a nightmare is that you can do everything right and still wind up alone (for reference, see any stand-up comedy routine from the last 50 years). This is because, as we've explained once or twice or three times before, the road to a successful relationship is so filled with surprising potholes and dangerous crevasses that it's kind of amazing the human race hasn't given up and gone extinct millennia ago.
Tom Danehy: Tom talks child haters, malcontents and ne'er-do-wells, otherwise known as the Arizona legislatur (Tucson Weekly)
While the economy is getting better, a lot of us could probably use a little extra money. Well, I've got the perfect job for you-become a state legislator. The pay ($24,000 a year) is really good, considering the meager amount of "work" that must be done in exchange for all that skrilla.
Nicholas Kristof: Starving for Wisdom (NY Times)
"We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom."
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Lily Tuck: Reading With Imagination (NY Times)
"Reading," Jean-Paul Sartre writes in his essay "What Is Literature?," "is a pact of generosity between author and reader. Each one trusts the other; each one counts on the other, demands of the other as much as he demands of himself."
Andrew Tobias: "Robby: Ready for Hilary"
should Hillary win, she will enter the White House with an exceptional intellect; an extraordinary knowledge of the presidency; a track record of working across the aisle in the Senate; a deep knowledge of foreign affairs; working relationships with scores of her fellow world leaders; and policy positions that favor the 99%, while embracing science, diversity, and investment.
Suzanne Moore: Our art schools have become finishing schools for a wealthy few (Guardian)
If we value our culture, we must not price it out of the reach of our young people.
Marina Warner: How fairytales grew up (Guardian)
With Hollywood spending millions on new versions of age-old characters, from Frozen's Snow Queen to Cinderella, fairytales are more popular than ever. But they've had to adapt, with lots of dark twists and no more sweet, biddable girls.
Andrew Albanese: "London Book Fair 2015: Self-Publishing Smashes Through" (Publishers Weekly)
Once again, events tailored to independent and self-published authors at the London Book Fair's Author HQ were jam-packed, and among the London Book Fair's most popular offerings. PW checks in with a leading indie service provider, Smashwords founder Mark Coker, about the state of self-publishing in 2015, and what the future holds.
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog
David Bruce's Lulu Storefront
David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
David Bruce has over 80 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
, wrote:
took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Team Coco
CONAN
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
from Marc Perkel
BartCop
Hello Bartcop fans,
As you all know the untimely passing of Terry was unexpected, even by
him. We all knew he had cancer but we all thought he had some years
left. So some of us who have worked closely with him over the years are
scrambling around trying to figure out what to do. My job, among other
things, is to establish communications with the Bartcop community and
provide email lists and groups for those who might put something
together. Those who want to play an active roll in something coming from
this, or if you are one of Bart's pillars, should send an email to
active@bartcop.com.
Bart's final wish was to pay off the house mortgage for Mrs. Bart who is
overwhelmed and so very grateful for the support she has received.
Anyone wanting to make a donation can click on this the yellow donate
button on bartcop.com
But - I need you all to help keep this going. This note
isn't going to directly reach all of Bart's fans. So if you can repost
it on blogs and discussion boards so people can sign up then when we
figure out what's next we can let more people know. This list is just
over 600 but like to get it up to at least 10,000 pretty quick. So
here's the signup link for this email list.
( mailman.bartcop.com/listinfo/bartnews )
Marc Perkel
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Broadband down again tonight - crappy dial-up to the rescue.
Columbia U Physicians Want Him Gone
Dr. Oz
Columbia University has not removed TV celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz from his faculty position as a group of top doctors has demanded, citing his "egregious lack of integrity" for promoting what they call "quack treatments."
"Dr. Oz has repeatedly shown disdain for science and for evidence-based medicine," said a letter the 10 physicians sent to a Columbia dean earlier this week. They say he's pushing "miracle" weight-loss supplements with no scientific proof that they work.
Led by Dr. Henry Miller of California's Stanford University, the doctors sent the letter to Lee Goldman, dean of Columbia's Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine. The nine other doctors from across the country included Dr. Joel Tepper, a cancer researcher from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, and Dr. Gilbert Ross of the American Council on Science and Health in New York City.
The doctors wrote that Oz, for years a world-class Columbia cardiothoracic surgeon, "has manifested an egregious lack of integrity by promoting quack treatments and cures in the interest of personal financial gain." They said he has "misled and endangered" the public.
Dr. Oz
It's Up To Him
Dalai Lama
It is up to the Dalai Lama to decide whether he will be reborn, Tibetan Buddhism's third highest religious leader said, after Chinese officials repeatedly said the exiled Dalai Lama had no right to abandon reincarnation.
Ogyen Trinley Dorje, who holds the title of Karmapa Lama and lives in exile in India, told Radio Free Asia in an interview in Washington that he had "complete belief" in the ability of the Dalai Lama to decide his fate after death.
"In Tibetan traditions, we don't talk much about the reincarnation of a living master," he said late on Wednesday.
"However, now many questions are being generated. In my view, it is only the Dalai Lama himself who should decide about his future reincarnation. So I am confident and have full trust in his decision. There are many presumptive statements and guess works, but I am not worried," he said.
The Karmapa is close to the Dalai Lama and after him is the most eminent Lama to have fled Chinese rule of Tibet, which Communist forces "peacefully liberated" in 1950.
Despite his escape across the Himalayas in 2000, the Karmapa remains recognized by Beijing as the 17th incarnation of his spiritual lineage.
Dalai Lama
Ends Crackdown Of US Nuns
Vatican
The Vatican has unexpectedly ended its controversial overhaul of the main umbrella group of U.S. nuns, cementing a shift in tone and treatment of the U.S. sisters under the social justice-minded Pope Francis.
The Vatican said Thursday it had accepted a final report on its investigation of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and declared the "implementation of the mandate has been accomplished" nearly two years ahead of schedule. The umbrella group for women's religious orders had been accused of straying from church teaching.
The brief report stated the organization would have to ensure its publications have a "sound doctrinal foundation," and said steps were being taken for "safeguarding the theological integrity" of programs. But no major changes were announced and the direct Vatican oversight that the sisters considered a threat to their mission was over.
The report's tone stood in stark contrast to the 2012 Vatican reform mandate, which said the nuns' group was in a "grave" doctrinal crisis. Vatican officials said the Leadership Conference had over-emphasized social justice issues when they should have also been fighting abortion, had undermined church teaching on homosexuality and the priesthood, and had promoted "radical feminist" themes in their publications and choice of speakers. The nuns' group called the allegations "flawed." But Archbishop Peter Sartain of Seattle was appointed to conduct a top to bottom overhaul of the conference.
Vatican
The Musical
"Duck Dynasty"
There is no shortage of beards, camo, hunting and God alongside a bit of recent real-life scandal in "Duck Commander Musical."
The Las Vegas show premiered Wednesday at the Rio All-Suites Hotel & Casino and tells the story of a family duck-call business that led to reality show juggernaut "Duck Dynasty."
The 90-minute show with Broadway backers and bonafides, including the company behind "Jersey Boys," alternates between something akin to a live-action commercial celebrating the family business to a mostly cheery singing and dancing scrapbook of their tight-knit journey.
Skeptical observers who envisioned a high-kicking dance number complete with hunting rifles and flashy sequin camouflage costumes when they heard of the musical won't be disappointed. Producers, in on the joke, included one such traditional Broadway-style number. The rest is populated with earnest songs with lyrics such as "there's no time for rest, this is my quest," and "be yourself in camouflage" and on the other end, comic relief courtesy of the family's Uncle Si offering fart jokes and "that's what she said" replies. Scenes are set against a high-tech stage set of moving screens including appearances by the real-life Robertson family.
"Duck Dynasty"
Embryos Lawsuit
Sofia Vergara
The fight between actress Sofia Vergara and her ex-fiancé Nick Loeb over the fate of the couple's frozen embryos may hinge on one question: whether the contract the couple signed gives one party or both parties a say in what happens to the embryos, experts say.
On Thursday, news outlets reported that Loeb filed a lawsuit to stop Vergara from destroying the frozen embryos the couple created when they were together.
In November 2013, the couple had some of Vergara's eggs fertilized by some of Loeb's sperm, and the resulting embryos were frozen at a clinic in Beverly Hills, California, In Touch Weekly reported. Now that the couple has broken up, Loeb claims he never agreed in writing to destroy the embryos, which he says would violate his pro-life views.
Loeb says the fertility center gave the couple forms to determine what should happen to the frozen embryos if he or Vergara died, but not if the two separated, In Touch Weekly reported. Loeb says that he did sign an agreement stating that in the event that one of them died, "the Female Embryos [would] be thawed with no further action." But he claims he only did it because Vergara was emotionally and physically abusive toward him.
Sofia Vergara
Art Stolen
Sam Simon Foundation
Artwork worth $400,000 has been stolen from the Sam Simon Foundation in Malibu, California, set up by late "The Simpsons" co-creator Sam Simon, the California wire agency City News Service (CNS) reported on Wednesday.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Sergeant Matthew Dunn told CNS that someone from the foundation called to report the theft of two paintings, including a $200,000 work by American pop artist Roy Lichtenstein, late on Friday.
Dunn said the department put out a call for help to the public in locating the pieces on Wednesday, CNS reported.
Simon, a co-creator of Fox's long-running hit animated series "The Simpsons" and an ardent philanthropist, died after a battle with colon cancer last month at the age of 59.
Sam Simon Foundation
Secrecy Shrouds Decade-Old Oil Spill
Gulf of Mexico
A blanket of fog lifts, exposing a band of rainbow sheen that stretches for miles off the coast of Louisiana. From the vantage point of an airplane, it's easy to see gas bubbles in the slick that mark the spot where an oil platform toppled during a 2004 hurricane, triggering what might be the longest-running commercial oil spill ever to pollute the Gulf of Mexico.
Yet more than a decade after crude started leaking at the site formerly operated by Taylor Energy Company, few people even know of its existence. The company has downplayed the leak's extent and environmental impact, likening it to scores of minor spills and natural seeps the Gulf routinely absorbs.
An Associated Press investigation has revealed evidence that the spill is far worse than what Taylor - or the government - have publicly reported during their secretive, and costly, effort to halt the leak. Presented with AP's findings, that the sheen recently averaged about 91 gallons of oil per day across eight square miles, the Coast Guard provided a new leak estimate that is about 20 times greater than one recently touted by the company.
Taylor's oil was befouling the Gulf for years in obscurity before BP's massive spill in mile-deep water outraged the nation in 2010. Even industry experts haven't heard of Taylor's slow-motion spill, which has been leaking like a steady trickle from a faucet, compared to the fire hose that was BP's gusher.
Gulf of Mexico
PETA & The Pink Panty Sheriff
Pamela Anderson
Some inmates at the Maricopa County Jail did a double-take after seeing actress Pamela Anderson serving their lunches.
The former "Baywatch" star was in town Wednesday to help promote Sheriff Joe Arpaio's all-vegetarian meal program.
Arpaio says cutting meat from the meals served to the more than 8,000 inmates has saved an estimated $200,000 per year. The jail has been serving vegetarian meals for 16 months now.
Inmates are served a peanut butter sandwich with oranges and some crackers for brunch and a hot meal comprised of different vegetable and soy dishes for dinner.
Anderson is a longtime vegan and a spokeswoman for the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. The group came under fire for its association with Arpaio, who has long faced criticism that he unfairly targets minorities for law enforcement.
Pamela Anderson
Sony Hack Searchable Online Archive
WikiLeaks
Whistleblower site WikiLeaks on Thursday put hundreds of thousands of emails and documents from last year's crippling cyberattack against Sony Pictures Entertainment into a searchable online archive. It's the latest blow for the entertainment and technology company struggling to get past the attack, which the company estimates caused millions in damage.
The website founded by Julian Assange said that its database includes more than 170,000 emails from Sony Pictures Entertainment and a subsidiary, plus more than 30,000 other documents.
Sony Pictures blasted WikiLeaks for creating the archive, saying the website was helping the hackers disseminate stolen information.
But Assange said the documents should be available to the public. Although they had been online, it was in a compressed format that wasn't easily searchable.
WikiLeaks
Gate Restored
Dachau
A German blacksmith who painstakingly rebuilt an iron gate at the Dachau concentration camp bearing the notorious "Arbeit macht frei" (work sets you free) slogan said on Thursday he hoped no one would notice his work was a replica.
Michael Poitner said he was honored to win the contract to reconstruct the 1.87 meter-high, 108-kg gate, which was stolen last year from the memorial site at Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp, set up in 1933.
"It was an imposing assignment full of history and it'll be around a lot longer than I am," he told Reuters after putting the final touches to the gate ahead of a May 3 ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of the camp's liberation by U.S. troops.
"A lot of thought went into how to make this cynical Nazi slogan close to the original - which is important as some 800,000 people visit the Dachau memorial each year," said Poitner, 36, who was born in town of Dachau. "You can feel all that cynicism with this gate."
Dachau
Top 20
Global Concert Tours
The Top 20 Global Concert Tours ranks artists by average box office gross per city and includes the average ticket price for shows World Wide. The list is based on data provided to the trade publication Pollstar by concert promoters and venue managers.
1. One Direction; $5,824,734; $108.57.
2. Foo Fighters; $3,002,438; $87.21.
3. Violetta; $2,001,909; $78.02.
4. Fleetwood Mac; $1,626,643; $126.00.
5. Maroon 5; $1,463,500; $91.22.
6. Queen + Adam Lambert; $1,236,688; $101.15.
7. Enrique Iglesias / Pitbull; $1,130,916; $85.88.
8. Chris Brown; $1,073,882; $99.43.
9. Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band; $974,064; $87.82.
10. Lionel Richie; $817,911; $83.53.
11. Ricardo Arjona; $764,215; $96.62.
12. The Script; $709,735; $47.39.
13. "X Factor Live"; $697,561; $58.05.
14. Ariana Grande; $595,105; $49.10.
15. Charlie Wilson; $594,673; $72.90.
16. Spandau Ballet; $589,287; $83.60.
17. Usher; $558,454; $68.32.
18. Miranda Lambert; $533,897; $56.50.
19. Florida Georgia Line; $515,790; $53.06.
20. Eric Church; $499,184; $45.37.
Global Concert Tours
In Memory
Paul Almond
Paul Almond, a Canadian-born filmmaker whose landmark 1964 documentary "Seven Up!" inspired an extended look at British children's unfolding lives, has died at age 83.
His longtime friend David Stansfield says Almond died of complications from heart disease at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on April 9.
The Montreal native started his career at the CBC and went on to produce and direct more than 100 dramas for the network as well as U.S. and U.K. broadcasters.
Stansfield said Almond, also a big-screen filmmaker, took great pride in the movies "Isabel" (1968), "Act of the Heart" (1970) and "Journey" (1972), which he wrote and directed. The movies starred Almond's then-wife, actress Genevieve Bujold.
It was in England that "Seven Up!" emerged from a pub discussion in which Almond observed that Britain's social class system was firmly entrenched. His companion cited the maxim, "Give me a child until he is 7, and I will give you the man," and the idea for the project was born, Almond's website recounts.
The critically praised "Seven Up!" in which 14 children from different social and economic backgrounds talk about their lives and futures, ended up being the foundation for a continuing look at them by filmmaker Michael Apted.
Apted, a researcher on the original film, revisited its subjects every seven years for the documentaries including "7 Plus Seven" in 1970, and "56 Up," released in 2012.
His survivors include his wife, Joan; Matthew Almond, his son with Bujold; as well as stepchildren and grandchildren.
Paul Almond
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