Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Helaine Olen: Trump's latest scam: Defining poverty out of existence (Washington Post)
In fact, many experts agree that the poverty measure should be adjusted to make it more inclusive and generous. About a decade ago, the Department of Labor published research showing that, thanks to increases in housing and utility costs, government poverty measures significantly underestimate the number of households experiencing trouble making it financially on their earnings. This should be blindingly obvious to anyone checked in to the U.S. economy, where almost 40 percent of households can't come up with $400 out of their own resources.
Editorial: The Guardian view on fewer people giving to charity: generosity is good
Falling donations are a cause for concern at a time when need is rising. And recent scandals are only part of the story.
Alexandra Petri: How to save money by avoiding everything but the bare essentials (Washington Post Satire)
To buy lunch, when you could simply not eat lunch at all, as our ancestors did when they ran out of accessible mammoths, seems luxurious and wanton.
HENRY GRABAR: Donald Trump Lost a Billion Dollars-Just Not His Own (Slate)
He lost other people's money, then bogusly claimed the tax benefits of those losses for himself.
Naaman Zhou: "Australian $50 note typo: spelling mistake printed 46 million times" (The Guardian)
Red faces after discovery $2.3bn worth of currency has a misprint of the word responsibility in banknote's 'micro-text'.
Anne Victoria Clark: Don McLean Is Not Happy UCLA Is Rescinding His Award (Vulture)
"Maybe I need to give you some bribe money to grease the college wheels," McLean wrote in a Facebook post he has since deleted, according to Variety. "You awarded me your George and Ira Gershwin life time achievement award and then took it back because you found out about my squabble with my ex-wife. This has been all over the internet for 3 years. Are you people morons? This is settled law."
Abigail Chandler: Game of Thrones has betrayed the women who made it great (The Guardian)
Once you could have argued it was a feminist show, but now GoT is letting down its female characters in a shockingly tone deaf way - from 'unstable' Daenerys to weeping Brienne.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
answered:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
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from Bruce
Anecdotes
• Comic playwright and actor Roy Smiles grew up in England while the TV show Porridge was appearing in 1974-1977. Porridge was set in a prison, so you would expect it to have swear words. However, because of the time it appeared on TV, it could not use real swear words, so the writers invented their own swear words. For example, an actor would say "naff off" instead of "f*ck off" and "nerk" instead of "Berkshire Hunt" ("Berkshire Hunt" is an example of rhyming slang - the phrase rhymes with the word that is meant. You can guess the word). Young Ron and his classmates learned the fake swear words from the TV show, and they used them at school. Because the swear words were fake swear words, no one at the school stopped them from using them. The adult Roy Smiles remembers this and says, "Absolutely bloody marvelous!" By the way, Mr. Smiles admires the old-time English comic Tommy Trinder, who was a master at putting down hecklers. For example, on stage, Mr. Trinder said, "Trinder's the name; there'll never be another." Orson Welles, who disliked Mr. Trindler, shouted, "Why don't you change it then?" Mr. Trindler replied, "Is that a proposal of marriage?" Here's another example of Mr. Trindler's wit. Another comedian, Max Miller, believed that Mr. Trindler was stealing his style and his jokes. Seeing Mr. Trindler in the audience of one of his shows, Mr. Miller asked him, "Are you getting all this down?" Mr. Trindler replied, "Could you speak a little slower?" Also by the way, Mr. Smiles admires this quip by Beatle John Lennon: When an interviewer asked Mr. Lennon whether Ringo Starr was the best drummer in the world, Mr. Lennon replied, "He's not even the best drummer in the Beatles."
• Chico Marx sometimes asked his daughter, Maxine, to speak French in front of French visitors because she had studied French for years with private teachers. Charles Boyer complimented her accent, and Chico said, "She better have a good accent. It cost me $20,000." Maxine met someone through a practical joke. She and some girlfriends were thinking of someone to prank-call. One girlfriend worked as a teller in bank, and she had Maxine call a bank customer and pretend to be from France and to have met him as a party. She called him, faked a French accent, and pretended to know him. He asked her to meet him for dinner, she accepted, and all during dinner she kept up the fake French accent. She discovered that she liked him - a lot - and at the end of the dinner, she said in her fake French accent that she had something to tell him. Then, in her regular American voice, she said, "I really don't have to talk like that at all." Fortunately, he laughed. Later, they got married.
• Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize winner in Economics in 2008 and former professor at Princeton, is a good writer both in his New York Times column and in his New York Timesblog. I have read some of his books for the general public and enjoyed them, but I am not educated enough in economics to understand his industrial-strength economics papers. He moderated his New York Timesblog and so occasionally reminded commenters of some rules of civility in commenting, such as this one: "Obscenity will get your comment deleted; I suspect that a fair number of commenters don't even realize they're doing it, because that's the way many of us #$%^! talk these days. But think about it, and don't waste your time or mine." He also wanted a certain amount of accuracy in choice of words. For example, he writes, "Get your insults right. There is, I believe, a fair bit of evidence against the hypothesis that I'm stupid. What you mean to say is that I'm evil."
• Leonard Bernstein and his family spoke a language that he helped to create with a childhood friend named Eddie Ryback. They named the language with an amalgamation of their names: Ryback plus Bernstein equals Rybernian. Nina, Mr. Bernstein's daughter, explains, "It's basically a way of mispronouncing things - Yiddish words as well as people who just talk funny." A London Times article explains that "I love you" becomes "Mu-la-du," and the appropriate response is "Mu-la-dumus" ("I love you more"). Sometimes, Mr. Bernstein would put on what his children considered to be airs, and they would tell him in Rybernian, "La-lutt" ("Shut up"). Nina says, "[T]hat would bring him right down to earth."
• A fun activity is to give famous proverbs a twist. Begin the famous proverb in the usual way, but then give it a different ending. Some elementary-school teachers even give very young students (who don't already know the famous sayings) the beginnings of famous proverbs and have them complete the sayings. Some results: 1) Don't bite the hand that looks dirty. 2) Better to be safe than punch a 5th-grader. 3) You can't teach an old dog new math. 4) If you lie down with dogs, you'll stink in the morning. 5) It's always darkest before daylight savings time. 6) Children should be seen and not spanked or grounded. 7) Where there's smoke, there's pollution.
• Jerry Orbach and his wife once attended a birthday party for Richard Burton. As a gift, they bought him a kaleidoscope. At the time, he was having an affair with a young actress named Susan Strasberg, with whom he was appearing in the play Time Remembered. A half-dozen women surrounded Susan and berated her for having the affair. Mr. Burton entered the room, the women grew quiet, and Mr. Burton thanked the Orbachs for their gift in a monologue with his wonderful lifting Welsh accent, mesmerizing the half-dozen women who had been berating Susan. After he left the room, Susan said to the mesmerized women, "And that's just the talk."
• With the heavily accented Georg Solti as conductor, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra recorded Benjamin Britton's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. Maestro Solti was supposed to later record the narration in several languages: English, French, German, and Italian. However, one day he announced to the orchestra that the recording would not appear for sale. Why? He joked, "No one can understand me in any language!"
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Settles Suit
Conan O'Brien
One of the most closely watched legal cases in the comedy world will not be going to trial.
Attorneys for Conan O'Brien, TBS and joke writer Robert Alexander Kaseberg announced on Thursday that they have settled a dispute over allegations of joke theft.
Kaseberg filed suit back in 2015, alleging that O'Brien had stolen five of his jokes for his opening monologue. The case was set to go to trial on May 28, and O'Brien was expected to testify, along with writers on the show, Turner Broadcasting executives and an expert on probability theory.
Terms of the settlement were not disclosed. Kaseberg, 60, has written jokes for late-night shows off and on for decades. He has a blog and a Twitter account, and alleged that O'Brien's writers stole his jokes in late 2014 and early 2015.
Had the case gone to trial, prominent comedians may have been called to testify, including Elayne Boosler and Patton Oswalt. Andy Richter was also on the list of potential witnesses.
Conan O'Brien
'Gandalf Could Kick Dumbledore's Ass'
George R.R. Martin
"Game of Thrones" fans have a lot to thank J.R.R. Tolkien for.
"Thrones" author George R.R. Martin, along with stars Nicholas Hoult and Lily Collins and director Dome Karukoski, discussed their personal connections to Tolkien and his "Lord of the Rings" series on the red carpet - or more accurately, the green carpet (a nod to the author's verdant Middle Earth) - at the premiere of biographical film "Tolkien" on Wednesday in Los Angeles.
Martin told Variety, "He made me love the form he created - epic fantasy. He redefined fantasy of everything that had been before." He said that Tolkien's epic trilogy format influenced "Game of Thrones." Martin joked, "I started doing a trilogy called 'Game of Thrones.' Now my trilogy is seven books - if I finish the last two."
Lily Collins had a poetic experience landing her role as Tolkien's wife and muse Edith Bratt. She grew up reading "The Lord of the Rings," which inspired her to audition as an elf in Peter Jackson's films. She didn't get the part, but now years later finally has her opportunity to be part of the Tolkien universe, albeit in a much different manner. "To get to play the woman who inspired ['Lord of the Rings'] is kind of ironic," she said. "I had to giggle when I got this role."
Although Collins is a huge Tolkien fan, she did admit during the post screening Q&A that her favorite book series is "Harry Potter." Martin responded, "Gandalf could kick Dumbledore's ass."
George R.R. Martin
Spielberg & Amblin TV Pull Out
'Bull'
Steven Spielberg' Amblin Television is walking away from CBS' popular legal drama Bull in the wake of the sexual harassment allegations against star Michael Weatherly.
A rep for Amblin confirmed to Deadline that Steven Spielberg, Amblin Television, Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey are no longer attached to Bull,, declining further comment.
Spielberg and Amblin TV co-heads Frank and Falvey served as executive producers on Bull for its first three seasons. The procedural drama was just renewed by CBS for a fourth season.
Bull, which has been a solid ratings performer for CBS, was never in doubt for renewal though the show became a center of controversy earlier this season over sexual harassment allegations against Weatherly by then-co-star Eliza Dushku, which resulted in a $9.5 settlement with the actress by CBS.
Spielberg and his wife Kate Capshaw have been major supporters of the Time's Up movement from the start, and I hear Spielberg, who had met with Duschu, didn't want to be associated with the series any longer. That is a bold move since a long-running CBS procedural is considered one of the most lucrative propositions in the TV business, often associated with a financial windfall for producers.
'Bull'
Temporary Gag Order
Woodstock 50
Woodstock 50 got part of what they were looking for from the New York Supreme Court Thursday, as a preliminary injunction was issued restraining their former investors, Dentsu, from "all communications" involving the festival until a hearing the court has set for Monday afternoon.
"We are grateful for the judge's order, which prevents Dentsu and Amplify from continuing their baseless attack on the Woodstock festival and its owners, and we look forward to procuring additional relief on Monday," said Woodstock 50 attorney Marc Kasowitz.
Dentsu declined to comment - as would be expected, given the court order prohibiting it.
Still on hold is the matter of the $17.8 million that Woodstock 50 claims was illegally taken by Dentsu, draining the festival bank account, when the Japanese marketing and investment firm pulled out April 29. That will also be taken up at the Monday hearing, along with whether the gag order Woodstock has sought will continue.
The next round between Woodstock and Dentsu will take place at 2:15 p.m. Monday in the court of Judge Borrok in the commercial division of New York's Supreme Court.
Woodstock 50
Released From Jail
Chelsea Manning
Chelsea Manning, an anti-secrecy activist and former U.S. Army intelligence analyst, has been released from jail after a grand jury she refused to testify before expired, her attorneys said Thursday.
"Today marked the expiration of the term of the grand jury, and so, after 62 days of confinement, Chelsea was released from the Alexandria Detention Center earlier today," Manning's legal team wrote in a statement.
Upon release, however, Manning was subpoenaed to appear before a different grand jury, her legal team said.
In late January, Manning was subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury in a sealed case out of the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia -- the same district in which the government recently filed charges against WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange.
When Manning refused to answer questions before the secret grand jury in March, U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton found her in contempt of court and she was taken into custody.
Chelsea Manning
TV Mandate
FDA
Attention viewers at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration: Televisions will now be tuned to Fox News.
CBS News has confirmed an email was sent to researchers at the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research responding to apparent efforts to change the channel on internal television screens. The email from "[White Oak] Digital Display" sent on Wednesday, May 3, was sent to inform the researchers of the "reason for the change from CNN to Fox." White Oak is the name of the FDA's campus.
The email goes on to inform employees that the decision came from the Trump administration.
"The reason for the change is that a decision from the current administration administrative officials has requested that all monitors, under our control, on the White Oak Campus, display FOX news," the email reads.
The internal email was first tweeted by Paul Thacker, a freelance science reporter who is also a former GOP Senate investigator.
FDA
Hot Spots
Antarctica
In the desolate Antarctic landscape, life is hard to come by-unless you're near some seal and penguin poop. The nitrogen-rich feces enrich the soil and create hot spots with lots of biological diversity that can extend more than 1000 meters beyond the borders of penguin and seal colonies, according to a new study.
Scientists trekked through fields of waste created by elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris) and Antarctic penguins, including gentoo (Pygoscelis papua), chinstrap (P. antarcticus, pictured), and Adélie penguins (P. adeliae). The team examined the soil and plants surrounding these colonies at three separate locations along the Antarctic peninsula. Where there are more seals and penguins-and more of their poop-there was more biodiversity in the land, the researchers report today in Current Biology.
The feces partially evaporate as ammonia, which then can get blown more than 1000 meters inland by the wind and is absorbed into the soil, the scientists note. This ammonia then creates a cycle of nutrient enrichment: The nitrogen is consumed by plants and lichens, which in turn support an incredible number of invertebrates, including mites, springtails, and roundworms. In fact, the team identified millions of invertebrates per square meter of soil surrounding the seal and penguin colonies-up to eight times higher than the number found in other parts of the peninsula.
These findings offer scientists a stronger understanding of how life can thrive in the coldest place on Earth. Now, the big question is whether these biodiversity hot spots will create perfect breeding grounds for something else: invasive plant species that can threaten the future of these environments.
Antarctica
Old Trees
Bald Cypress Trees
A recently documented stand of bald cypress trees in North Carolina, including one tree at least 2,624 years old, are the oldest known living trees in eastern North America and the oldest known wetland tree species in the world.
David Stahle, Distinguished Professor of geosciences, along with colleagues from the university's Ancient Bald Cypress Consortium and other conservation groups, discovered the trees in 2017 in a forested wetland preserve along the Black River south of Raleigh, North Carolina. Stahle documented the age of the trees using dendrochronology, the study of tree rings, and radio carbon dating. His findings were published May 9 in the journal Environmental Research Communications.
The ancient trees are part of an intact ecosystem that spans most of the 65-mile length of the Black River. In addition to their age, the trees are a scientifically valuable means of reconstructing ancient climate conditions. The oldest trees in the preserve extend the paleoclimate record in the southeast United States by 900 years, and show evidence of droughts and flooding during colonial and pre-colonial times that exceed any measured in modern times.
"It is exceedingly unusual to see an old-growth stand of trees along the whole length of a river like this," Stahle said. "Bald cypress are valuable for timber and they have been heavily logged. Way less than 1 percent of the original virgin bald cypress forests have survived."
Stahle has been working in the area since 1985, and cataloged bald cypress trees as old as 1,700 years in a 1988 study published in the journal Science. His work helped preserve the area, 16,000 acres of which have since been purchased by The Nature Conservancy, a private land-conservation group that keeps most of its holdings open to the public.
Bald Cypress Trees
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 Worldwide. The list is based on data provided to the trade publication Pollstar by concert promoters and venue managers. Week of May 8, 2019:
1. Eric Church; $2,791,730; $96.01.
2. Elton John; $2,285,582; $135.88.
3. Justin Timberlake; $2,146,500; $132.55.
4. Metallica; $2,102,293; $117.72.
5. Fleetwood Mac; $2,037,620; $147.09.
6. Michael Bublé; $1,517,024; $124.47.
7. Cher; $1,345,126; $114.96.
8. Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band; $1,328,636; $115.66.
9. Bad Bunny; $1,275,100; $95.23.
10. KISS; $1,243,595; $105.96.
11. Arctic Monkeys; $1,233,530; $60.77.
12. Sebastian Maniscalco; $1,194,925; $103.80.
13. Post Malone; $1,190,646; $77.10.
14. Travis Scott; $1,164,791; $82.48.
15. Mumford & Sons; $1,081,829; $75.48.
16. Blake Shelton; $1,044,392; $89.58.
17. Marc Anthony; $1,040,213; $108.98.
18. Shawn Mendes; $995,521; $69.67.
19. Florence + The Machine; $955,385; $67.83.
20. Kenny Chesney; $953,200; $81.71.
Global Concert Tours
In Memory
Jim Fowler
Jim Fowler, the longtime host of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, and who helped preserve and protect endangered species through his educational and outreach work, has died at the age of 89.
Fowler, a professional zoologist, hosted Wild Kingdom starting in 1986. Prior to that, he served as a co-host of the program with Marlin Perkins, starting in 1963. Fowler made hundreds of appearances on television, including KETV NewsWatch 7, and he would visit schools whenever he visited Omaha.
In 2003, Fowler was honored with the Lindbergh Award for his 40 years of dedication to wildlife preservation and education.
Fowler was president of the Fowler Center for Wildlife Education, with a mission of educating the public about wildlife so they may help protect habitats and influence government policy.
Jim Fowler
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