Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Jonathan Capehart: Photo speaks volumes about Obama and race (Washington Post)
"I want to know if my hair is just like yours," he told Mr. Obama, so quietly that the president asked him to speak again. Jacob did, and Mr. Obama replied, "Why don't you touch it and see for yourself?" He brought his head level with Jacob, who hesitated. "Touch it, dude!" Mr. Obama said. "So, what do you think?" Mr. Obama asked. "Yes, it does feel the same," Jacob said.
Aditya Chakrabortty: "Give these overpaid CEOs asbos (that's Antisocial Business Orders)" (Guardian)
They give their advice on how to run the country, yet, with their huge pay packages and 'efficient' tax affairs, they're increasingly remote from the rest of us.
A Teen's Brave Response to "I'm Christian, Unless You're Gay"
Hello Mr. Pearce, I am the Christian mother of a 15 year old teenage boy and about a month ago he came home from school with a copy of your article "I'm Christian, unless you're gay". The teacher gave his class a homework assignment to read it and write a 500 word essay about "what it meant to them".
Jon Henley: "Mount Everest: the ethical dilemma facing climbers" (Guardian)
Mountaineer Leanna Shuttleworth passed the bodies of dead and dying people on her ascent to the summit. Should climbers stop to help casualties?
David Engber: Dodgy Boffins (Slate)
What's wrong with science journalism in the U.K.?
Richard Roeper: Billy Bob Thornton on Twitter, tater tots and (ugh) Komodo dragons (Chicago Sun-Times)
"When we were growing up, we would have been ashamed if the way we got famous was by winning a talent contest. Nobody ever became the biggest f - - - - - - rock star on earth from being on Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour. Those were people who had a poodle and a kazoo or something. I didn't make it by skateboarding down a banister and landing in a pile of watermelons on YouTube in a minute-and-a-half video. It took well over half my life to get to where I am today."-Billy Bob Thornton.
Simon Doonan: The Bucket List (Slate)
America's most idiotic new pastime.
Paul Constant: The Caretaker (Stranger)
Only Jack White Can S(t)ave Rock and Roll from Obscurity.
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."
wrote:
answered:
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Bosko Suggests
Shipwrecks
Have a great day,
Bosko.
Thanks, Bosko!
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
May Gray morphs into June Gloom.
February 10 In Los Angeles
Grammys
If you're a fan of the Grammy Awards, mark your calendar for Feb. 10 - that's when the annual event will be held next year.
The Staples Center in Los Angeles will again be the stage for what's billed as "music's biggest night." The nominations will be revealed about two months earlier on Dec. 5 during a live prime-time concert on CBS.
CBS will also broadcast the Grammy Awards.
Grammys
Combining Acting Awards
Emmys
The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences said Thursday that it will merge the leading and supporting acting categories for longform programming.
Starting with the 2013 awards, new categories for outstanding actor in a miniseries or TV movie and outstanding actress in a miniseries or movie will each include six nominees, equal to other performing categories.
Previously, the four movie and miniseries acting categories included five nominees each.
The TV academy already chipped away at the long-form categories last year, combining the outstanding TV movie and miniseries nominees into one field.
Emmys
July Marathon
"Walking Dead"
AMC is devoting the weekend of July 7-8 to a "Walking Dead" marathon that will include a special black-and-white version of the series pilot, created for fans of "The Walking Dead" comic book.
The marathon, a week before Comic-Con in San Diego, begins at 11:30 a.m. each day and includes all 19 episodes of the zombie drama's first two seasons. It will also include a special primetime episode of the series' aftershow, the Chris Hardwick-hosted "Talking Dead," and a look at the upcoming third season of "The Walking Dead."
Hardwick will introduce each installment from the set of season three in Atlanta.
The hour-long "Talking Dead" special on July 8 was shot live in Los Angeles, and will include a scene from season three, interviews with the cast, a tour of the new sets (the prison?) and a look at the props and wardrobe from the new season.
"Walking Dead"
25 Million Followers On Twitter
Lady Gaga
Pop diva Lady Gaga set a social media record Thursday when she became the first person on Twitter to amass more than 25 million followers, more than anyone else on the micro-blogging website.
Seven of the nine most-followed people on Twitter are pop singers: Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber (in second place with nearly 22.9 million followers), Katy Perry, Rihanna, Britney Spears, Shakira and Taylor Swift.
The outliers are US President Barack Obama, in seventh place with 17 million followers, and reality TV star Kim Kardashian, who is eighth with 14.8 million, according to twittercounter.com.
Lady Gaga previously made Twitter history as the first to surpass the 10, 15 and 20 million follower milestones.
Lady Gaga
Turns 50
Kim Phuc
In the picture, the girl will always be 9 years old and wailing "Too hot! Too hot!" as she runs down the road away from her burning Vietnamese village.
She will always be naked after blobs of sticky napalm melted through her clothes and layers of skin like jellied lava.
It only took a second for Associated Press photographer Huynh Cong "Nick" Ut to snap the iconic black-and-white image 40 years ago. It communicated the horrors of the Vietnam War in a way words could never describe, helping to end one of America's darkest eras.
But beneath the photo lies a lesser-known story. It's the tale of a dying child brought together by chance with a young photographer. A moment captured in the chaos of war that would serve as both her savior and her curse on a journey to understand life's plan for her.
Ut, the 21-year-old Vietnamese photographer who took the picture, drove Phuc to a small hospital. There, he was told the child was too far gone to help. But he flashed his American press badge, demanded that doctors treat the girl and left assured that she would not be forgotten.
Kim Phuc
NY Judge Grants Class Status In Book Fight
Google
A federal judge granted class certification to authors challenging Google Inc. over its plans for the world's largest digital library Thursday, finding it more sensible to have a single legal action than scores of individual lawsuits.
Judge Denny Chin said in a written ruling that class action is "more efficient and effective than requiring thousands of authors to sue individually." He added that requiring each author to sue Google would risk disparate results in nearly identical lawsuits and exponentially increase the cost of litigation.
He also rejected Google's request to toss from the case The Authors Guild, which had sought class certification. Google already has scanned more than 20 million books for the project.
The class action status pertains to a lawsuit that The Authors Guild brought nearly seven years ago questioning whether Google's creation of its digital library constituted copyright infringement and whether it could be argued that Google was making "fair use" of copyright material by offering snippets of works in its online library.
Google
Allegedly Made $1 Million Per Night
Zhang Ziyi
The Chinese actress who starred in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," "Memoirs of a Geisha" and "Rush Hour 2" has angrily denied selling her sexual favors to a disgraced official of the ruling Chinese Communist Party for $1 million per night.
A story in the Hong Kong tabloid newspaper Apple Daily alleged that Zhang Ziyi provided her sexual services in exchange for close to $1 million U.S. dollars a night to former Commerce Minister Bo Xilai and other clients. The Apple Daily, Hong Kong's second-best-selling paper and a frequent critic of the Chinese regime, also alleged that Ziyi had earned $110 million over four years via prostitution.
Ziyi, whose absence from last week's Cannes premiere of her latest movie, "Dangerous Liaisons," was noted by the international media, has issued a heated denial of the charges.
According to the Apple Daily, Zhang Ziyi's main client was Bo Xilai, who allegedly had sex with her 11 times between 2007 and 2011. The report alleges Ziyi amassed 110 million dollars from these and trysts with other clients arranged by a prominent billionaire businessman, Xu Ming.
Bo Xilai, though the scion of a family prominent in the Chinese Communist Party, has been hit with a series of scandals involving corruption and abuse of power in recent months leading to his highly unusual dismissal from the party. The most recent scandal involves accusations that his wife orchestrated the murder of a British businessman, Neil Heywood, because of a conflict of interest. Bo became head of the Communist Party in Chongqing in 2007 after serving as Commerce Minister. He was fired as local party chief in March 2012 and suspended from China's ruling Politburo in April.
Zhang Ziyi
No Charges To Be Filed
'Sister Wives'
Criminal charges will not be pursued against a polygamous family made famous by the reality TV show "Sister Wives," a Utah prosecutor wrote Thursday in federal court filings.
The case against Kody Brown and his four wives - Meri, Janelle, Christine and Robyn - stars of the TLC show, has been closed, Utah County Attorney Jeff Buhman wrote in a motion seeking to have a lawsuit against his county dismissed.
Brown moved his wives and 16 children from Lehi, about 30 miles south of Salt Lake City, to the Las Vegas area in January 2011 after Utah authorities launched a bigamy investigation.
The Browns then sued Utah County along with Utah's governor and attorney general, claiming the state's bigamy statute violates their constitutional rights to due process, equal protection, free exercise of religion, free speech and freedom of association.
U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups said he dismissed Gov. Gary Herbert and Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff because Shurtleff had assured the Browns they wouldn't be prosecuted under his policy that consenting adult polygamists won't be charged as long as they're not committing other crimes.
'Sister Wives'
Wins Restraining Order Against Landlord
Wayne Newton
A judge granted Wayne Newton a restraining order against his landlord Thursday amid stalled plans to turn his lavish Las Vegas estate into a celebrity museum - a project that has sparked allegations of fraud, mismanagement, animal abuse and sexual harassment.
Clark County District Court Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez ruled that developer Steve Kennedy must stay 50 feet away from the Newton family and their home, effectively putting the brakes on construction to turn Newton's Casa de Shenandoah estate into a tourist attraction.
Kennedy, the manager of CSD LLC, filed a lawsuit two weeks ago claiming the Newton family was unwilling to move out of the house so it could be converted into a museum. The Newtons filed counterclaims alleging breach of contract and fraud. The legal wrangling paints an uncertain future for Newton's 40-acre estate featuring South African penguins, Arabian horses, celebrity memorabilia and 17th-century antiques imported from European castles.
Newton lives in the main house on the estate with his wife and their young daughter. Kennedy purchased the property for $20 million with the intent of building the Newtons a new $2 million home on the estate and converting the gold-trimmed main house into a public venue.
In his lawsuit, Kennedy alleged the Newtons unreasonably delayed the project by refusing to pick a location for their new home. The Newtons countered that Kennedy failed to obtain proper construction permits and did not act in good faith.
Wayne Newton
Family To Sell London Home
Amy Winehouse
The family of Amy Winehouse has put the late singer's London home up for sale for 2.7 million pounds ($4.2 million).
The three-bedroom property in the Camden neighborhood of northwest London had become a shrine of sorts for mourning fans who left flowers and tributes following Winehouse's death last July from alcohol poisoning.
Chris Goodman, a spokesman for the Winehouse family, said Thursday that the singer had loved the house and her family put it on the market because they felt it would be inappropriate for any of them to live there.
The 2,500 square-foot home features three bedrooms - including an "impressive master suite with vaulted ceiling" - three living rooms and private front and rear gardens overlooking the tony Camden Square, according to online listing agent Housenetwork.co.uk.
Amy Winehouse
Tests Confirm Elevated Phosphate
'Burning Rocks'
An independent lab has confirmed the rocks that spontaneously ignited in the pockets of a San Clemente woman's shorts had elevated levels of phosphate, officials with Orange County Public Heath Care Agency said on Thursday.
Since the land is owned by the United States Marine Corps, operated by State Park Rangers, and the rocks were located in the County of San Diego, Thompson said any further investigation is up to each of the agencies.
The two rocks, smooth and orange and green in color, were first tested by Orange County Public Health on site at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana. Lyn Hiner, 43, was severely burned on May 12 several hours after collecting the rocks at Trestles at San Onofre State Beach.
Trestles, where the rocks were first collected, is next to the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station and the Camp Pendleton Marine base.
Paramedics treated Hiner for severe second- and third-degree burns on her right leg from her thigh to her knee and on her right arm. The husband also was treated for second-degree burns on his arm.
'Burning Rocks'
Alaska's Rat Island Gets A New Name
Hawadax
With the rats dead and gone from Rat Island, the Alaska island has a new name.
The U.S. Geological Survey's Board on Geographic Names approved a new moniker for the remote, uninhabited island after area residents lobbied for something that would better reflect their Aleut history and traditions.
The island will now be known as Hawadax (How-ah-thaa), which originates from a word meaning "those two over there" or "entry" or "welcome."
Rat Island is located in the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge and is at the far end of the Aleutian Island chain that stretches out into the Bering Sea.
It became infested with Norway rats after the rodents jumped ship in the late 1700s. The creatures multiplied, and in 1937 the island became officially known as Rat Island.
Hawadax
Officially Named
Livermorium & Flerovium
Nearly a year after they joined the periodic table, two man-made elements have been officially named.
What used to be element 114 is now flerovium, honoring the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions in Dubna, Russia, where it was created. Element 116 is now livermorium, for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif., home of a scientific team that participated in its creation in Dubna. The chemical symbols are Fl and Lv.
You won't find these materials lying around. Once made, these atoms decay within seconds.
Both names had been proposed last year by the scientists who made the materials by smashing atoms together. Final approval was announced Wednesday by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.
Livermorium & Flerovium
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) Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band; $1,996,815; $91.18.
2. (2) Cirque du Soleil - "Michael Jackson: The Immortal"; $1,701,030; $113.35.
3. (3) Elton John; $1,194,136; $104.94.
4. (4) Radiohead; $1,114,246; $58.33.
5. (7) Jason Aldean; $605,828; $45.12.
6. (8) Lady Antebellum; $540,427; $49.81.
7. (9) The Black Keys; $525,730; $46.88.
8. (10) Miranda Lambert; $388,750; $42.44.
9. (11) Blake Shelton; $358,047; $48.28.
10. (12) Jeff Dunham; $295,345; $45.36.
11. (13) Eric Church; $279,179; $35.83.
12. (14) Kelly Clarkson; $196,597; $54.28.
13. (15) Rain - A Tribute To The Beatles; $168,607; $50.08.
14. (16) Yanni; $165,665; $60.36.
15. (18) Celtic Woman; $164,355; $58.10.
16. (17) "Mythbusters"; $159,242; $51.54.
17. (20) Casting Crowns; $135,793; $28.22.
18. (19) Bassnectar; $134,163; $33.99.
19. (21) The Moody Blues; $131,632; $61.62.
20. (22) "Riverdance"; $126,366; $54.36.
Concert Tours
In Memory
Edgar 'Buddy' Freitag
Theater producer Edgar "Buddy" Freitag, who helped back some of Broadway's most buzzed-about shows, including "The Drowsy Chaperone," ''Memphis" and "The Goat, Or Who is Sylvia?," has died. He was 80.
Freitag died Wednesday in New York of complications from a brain tumor, according to his wife and producing partner, Barbara Freitag. He died less than two weeks before the Tony Awards, with several of his shows - including the hit revival of "Porgy and Bess," ''Nice Work If You Can Get It" and "End of the Rainbow" - vying for top honors.
Freitag had a 17-year career at Grey Advertising Agency in New York City and then co-founded United Financial of America, Inc., a national commercial mortgage banking and brokerage firm. After the sale of his company, he and his wife began investing in off-Broadway and Broadway shows.
In 2007, he began his Broadway producing career with "The Homecoming" and went on to back such shows as "Passing Strange," ''The Miracle Worker," ''Catch Me If You Can," ''West Side Story," ''Legally Blonde," ''In the Heights" and "All My Sons."
In addition to his wife, he is survived by their four children, Larry, Eve, Harry and Liz, and seven grandchildren.
Edgar 'Buddy' Freitag
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
