Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Dork Tower: Princess Makeover (Cartoon)
TARA PALMERI: Rich Manhattan moms hire handicapped tour guides so kids can cut lines at Disney World (NY Post)
They are 1 percenters who are 100 percent despicable. Some wealthy Manhattan moms have figured out a way to cut the long lines at Disney World - by hiring disabled people to pose as family members so they and their kids can jump to the front, The Post has learned.
Jon Henley: 'Recessions can hurt, but austerity kills' (Guardian)
… analysis of data from the 1930s Great Depression in the US showed that every extra $100 of relief in states that adopted the American New Deal led to about 20 fewer deaths per 1,000 births, four fewer suicides per 100,000 people and 18 fewer pneumonia deaths per 100,000 people.
Paul Krugman: How the Case for Austerity Has Crumbled (NY Review of Books)
The financial crisis of 2008 was a surprise, and happened very fast; but we've been stuck in a regime of slow growth and desperately high unemployment for years now. And during all that time policymakers have been ignoring the lessons of theory and history.
Andrew Tobias: Speed - and You're Welcome
"We don't care whether you're white or black or brown or purple - you are welcome in the Democratic Party. We don't care what religion you are or how big your bank account is - you are welcome in the Democratic Party. We don't care whether you walked in here or rolled in here, whether you're first generation American or a Mayflower descendant - you are welcome in the Democratic Party. And we don't care what gender you are or what gender you like to hold hands with. So long as you like to hold hands, you are welcome in the Democratic Party." - Joe Andrew
Mark Morford: Guns to your gay mother (SF Gate)
And lo, it would appear God has finally responded to Michele Bachmann, and the nation's right-wing homophobes in general. Can you see it? Why, it looks like a very large, very bright, very unmistakable… middle finger.
Matthew Iglesias: I Boldly Went Where Every Star Trek Movie and TV Show Has Gone Before (Slate)
Now I can tell you exactly why this franchise is great.
Lucy Mangan: "The Six Bullerby Children by Astrid Lindgren" (Guardian)
... although I first read about Lisa moving into a bedroom of her own nearly 30 years ago I still remember the moment that she puts her collection of bookmarks on her shelf ready to swap at school the next day. "But my 20 special bookmarks," she adds, "I wouldn't swap with anyone. My best one was a large angel with a pink dress and wings." In the creation of an elite corps of beloved bookmarks is the perfect evocation of the seven-year-old mind.
Stephen Colbert: Love Made Visible (2011 Commencement Address)
YOU ARE WHAT SOME HAVE CALLED "THE GREATEST GENERATION". NOT MANY - BUT SOME - SO FAR JUST ME. AND I'M COUNTING ON YOU TO NOT MAKE ME LOOK LIKE AN IDIOT FOR SAYING THAT. SO BE GREAT - NO PRESSURE.
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Another May Gray kinda day.
American Academy of Arts and Letters
Bob Dylan
Michael Chabon had long been mystified by that Bob Dylan lyric about "midnight's broken toe."
The Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, the keynote speaker Wednesday at the annual induction ceremony of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, was explaining his undiminished passion for rock music and confiding that he had become obsessed by the opening line to Dylan's "Chimes of Freedom."
"Far between sundown's finish an' midnight's broken toe."
The answer was both simple and embarrassing; Dylan was singing about "midnight's broken toll," not toe.
Rock 'n roll was officially welcomed by the 115-year-old academy, an "honor society" proud to call itself elite and home to some of the country's leading writers, composers, painters and sculptors. On Wednesday, Dylan became the first rock star inducted, joining a membership that includes E.L. Doctorow, Chuck Close and John Ashbery.
Bob Dylan
Goes To Bat For Shelter Mutts
Jane Lynch
Jane Lynch doesn't mind being upstaged by her latest co-star, Olivia - after all she "has no bad side, she is always ready to pose and she sits perfectly still when you put her in your lap.
Lynch's dog Olivia is her co-host for "Shelter Me: Let's Go Home," the second installment in the PBS series "Shelter Me." The "Glee" star also has a canine companion on Broadway, where she's filling in as Miss Hannigan in "Annie."
Lynch got Olivia, part Lhasa Apso and part other things, from a shelter 13 years ago, the day after filming wrapped on "Best in Show."
She went on to save dogs Georgie and Frances and cats Frisky and Jiggles. She sponsors an annual adoption event at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
"Let's Go Home" will air on PBS stations across the country all summer, said creator Steven Latham.
Jane Lynch
Staying At 'SNL' Thru 2013
Seth Meyers
"Saturday Night Live" cast member Seth Meyers said on Thursday that he will stay on at the NBC live television comedy show until the end of the year, before he begins hosting the network's "Late Night" talk show in February 2014.
Meyers, 39, will take the reins from Jimmy Fallon on "Late Night" in a programming shuffle at NBC. Fallon will succeed Jay Leno as host of the earlier "Tonight Show."
Meyer's announcement comes ahead of the "SNL" Saturday season finale, which is expected to be the final show for several longtime cast members.
Comedian Bill Hader said earlier this week he will leave "Saturday Night Live" after this season.
Longtime cast members Fred Armisen and Jason Sudeikis are also expected to leave the show, though representatives at NBC would not comment on cast departures.
Seth Meyers
Hospital News
Judith Durham
The lead singer of the 1960s Australian folk-pop group The Seekers is recovering from a brain hemorrhage suffered after a concert.
Bass player Athol Guy told Nine Network television on Thursday that 69-year-old Judith Durham is "resting very comfortably" in a hospital. She had the brain bleed Tuesday night after a 50th anniversary reunion concert in The Seekers' hometown of Melbourne.
The band had a string of hits in Australia, the United States and Britain including "Morning Town Ride," ''The Carnival is Over" and "I'll Never Find Another You."
Their biggest U.S. hit, "Georgy Girl," was featured in the 1966 British movie and nominated for an Academy Award for original song.
Judith Durham
Settles Lawsuit
Ticketmaster
Ticketmaster has agreed to settle claims for up to $23 million over a lawsuit affecting more than a million people who, after buying a ticket online, were enrolled in a rewards program that cost $9 a month but never gave them any benefits.
Plaintiffs' attorney Adam Gutride said affected customers will be sent an email Friday with a link to a website where they can file a claim. Each customer can get up to $30.
About 1.12 million people are eligible to file a claim. They signed up for the rewards program after buying a ticket at Ticketmaster.com between September 2004 and June 2009. The plaintiffs argued that they didn't know about the fees, which were charged to the credit or debit card used to buy the ticket.
The plaintiffs said the affected customers paid about $85 million, or $75.89 each, for the program. It took the average person about eight months to cancel the monthly payments.
Although each person can claim $30, the payout may be reduced if too many people sign up, since the settlement caps payouts at $23 million. That includes about $4 million in legal fees.
Ticketmaster
Revises Selection Process
Kennedy Center
The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has a new process to select artists who receive one of the nation's top arts prizes, the Kennedy Center Honors, after an outside group last year said Latinos have been largely excluded.
Under the revised process, the Kennedy Center will begin seeking recommendations from the public for the first time in the award's 35-year history. Recommendations can be submitted online beginning Thursday. The center will also seek more recommendations from a committee of artists.
To narrow the roster of potential honorees, the center is forming a new Special Honors Committee. Former honorees Chita Rivera and Yo-Yo Ma will serve on the panel, along with opera singer Harolyn Blackwell, dancer Damian Woetzel and two center board members, Elaine Wynn and Cappy McGarr. From there, the Kennedy Center chairman, president and award producers will create slates of potential honorees to balance the selections across artistic disciplines, and the executive committee of the center's board of trustees will make the final decision.
Giselle Fernandez, a former journalist who was born in Mexico and appointed by President Barack Obama to the Kennedy Center's board, said the revised process opens up a bigger universe of candidates for consideration.
Kennedy Center
Bible Dispute
Georgia
When Ed Buckner and his family went to a north Georgia state park to celebrate his son's birthday, he was surprised and concerned to find Bibles in the state-owned cabin he had rented.
An atheist, Buckner believes that no religious literature should be provided in government-owned lodging, and he presented that concern to management at the Amicalola Falls State Park.
Officials told Buckner they would remove the Bibles from all state park resorts while the state attorney general looked into the matter. Not long afterward, however, the AG issued a ruling saying the state was on firm legal ground because it hadn't paid for the books. On Wednesday, Gov. Nathan Deal ordered the Bibles returned.
Deal argued that if the state didn't pay for them, it can't be seen as endorsing them. He also noted that any religious group can donate literature. But his action sparked a string of comments on social media and captured the attention of local news television stations. It also prompted some to question why this hasn't been more of an issue in the U.S. before.
Buckner is pondering his next move. One idea he is considering is to test the state's offer to accept literature from other religions in state-owned lodging. He also said he would be willing to participate if an organization with similar beliefs decides to launch a lawsuit over the issue.
Georgia
Message For Spain
J.M. Coetzee
Nobel Literature laureate J.M. Coetzee has called on Spain to abandon plans to protect bullfighting, making a rare public appeal against what he called "an archaic form of entertainment."
In an open letter to Spain's legislature released Thursday, Coetzee called bullfights "a throwback to a time when people took no heed of the feelings of animals." which he said had no place in 21st century Spain.
Cape Town, South Africa-born Coetzee is a noted opponent of animal cruelty, and touches upon the theme of nonhuman suffering in his books, including "The Lives of Animals."
Spain is divided over bullfighting. The ruling Popular Party wants to enshrine it as part of Spain's national heritage, but some regional governments have enacted bans.
J.M. Coetzee
Painting Fetches Record $48.8M
Jean-Michel Basquiat
A Jean-Michel Basquiat painting has set a new auction record for the graffiti artist at a sale of postwar and contemporary art in New York.
Christie's says "Dustheads" sold for $48.8 million on Wednesday.
His "Untitled," a painting of a black fisherman, held the previous record when it sold for $26.4 million last November.
Christie's says Wednesday's auction brought in $495 million, the highest total at any art auction.
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Rarest Element on Earth
Astatine
A fundamental property of the rarest element on Earth, astatine, has been discovered for the first time, scientists say.
Astatine occurs naturally; however, scientists estimate much less than an ounce in total exists worldwide. For a long time, the characteristics of this elusive element were a mystery, but physicists at the CERN physics laboratory in Switzerland have now measured its ionization potential - the amount of energy needed to remove one electron from an atom of astatine, turning it into an ion or a charged particle.
The measurement fills in a missing piece of the periodic table of elements, because astatine was the last naturally occurring element for which this property was unknown. Astatine, which has 85 protons and 85 electrons per atom, is radioactive, and half of its most stable version decays in just 8.1 hours, a time called half-life. In 1953, Isaac Asimov estimated the worldwide total of astatine in nature was 0.002 ounces (0.07 grams).
To measure astatine's ionization potential, physicists at CERN's ISOLDE (Isotope Separator On Line-Detector) Radioactive Ion Beam facility created artificial isotopes of astatine (atoms with different numbers of neutrons than those occurring in nature) by shooting beams of energetic protons at a target of uranium (which has 92 protons and electrons). The collisions created a shower of new particles, some of which were astatine.
Astatine
Portrait Went for $1.9 Million
Bea Arthur
Christie's may have set a record for the most art sales in auction history last night, but its bidders didn't live up to the viral hype around the price for John Currin's already notorious portrait, John Currin's Bea Arthur Naked. An anonymous bidder paid a cool $1.915 million at the auction house, but that's decidedly (and disappointingly) on the low end of the official Christie's estimate, which was between between $1.8 million and $2.5 million. Sorry, Internet: Your new favorite painting isn't quite as golden as its bare-breasted Golden Girl of a subject.
Currin's work this week turned into something of a perfect storm of Internet: older lady bosom, beloved TV actress, and the hard-to-explain seven-figure whims of the art world turned. Everyone was sharing this painting got The Daily Beast's editors kicked off Facebook . "Out of nowhere, I-along with 22 of my colleagues-were given a 24-hour ban, which affected not just our ability to post to the company's Facebook page, but to our personal pages, too," Daily Beast Social Media Editor Brian Ries wrote this morning. Yes, Bea Arthur's boobs have the power to get you banned from the biggest social network on the planet. So the Internet can take some solace in that, at least.
Yes, the Bea Arthur Naked meme will live on in online infamy, but we may never know the painting's new owner. The painting "was purchased by an anonymous bidder over the phone for $1.9 million," the New York Post reports. Anonymous bids are frequent in the art world - and it was a busy night at Christie's, with the biggest sales of any night of auctioning, ever, - but this person didn't even bother to show up. Were they embarrassed? Or so excited for some nostalgic living room nudity that they had to call in from afar? Either way, the mystery collector now owns a bigger piece of history than he or she did a couple days ago.
Bea Arthur
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