Recommended Reading
from Bruce
A eulogy to the NHS: What happened to the world my generation built? (Guardian)
In 1926, Harry Leslie Smith's sister died of TB in a workhouse infirmary, too poor for proper medical care. In 1948, the creation of the NHS put a stop to all that. In an extract from his new book, Harry's Last Stand, he describes his despair at the coalition's dismantling of the welfare state.
Christopher B. Nelson "'Beyond the University: Why Liberal Education Matters' by Michael S. Roth" (Washington Post)
Michael Roth's new book may finally answer a question I have often asked myself: Why do the leaders of our nation's liberal arts colleges find it so difficult to define liberal education clearly and so challenging to communicate its benefits?
Tom Danehy: Tom talks about his wife, Seth MacFarlane and Mel Brooks (Tucson Weekly)
My wife, Ana, and I just had our 36th wedding anniversary. I celebrated it; she kinda' endured it. Thus it has always been. We've pretty much never been on the same page, going all the way back to when I met her in college.
C. Coville: 5 Signs That You're Watching the Awesome Kind of Bad Movie (Cracked)
You've probably been in this situation before: You see a movie on Netflix with an awesome name, like Santa Claus Battles the Demon Unicorns. Your friend convinces you that you should watch this movie together, because it's going to be "so bad it's good."
Richard Vine: Can Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul live up to expectations? (Guardian)
Cheers succeeded with Frasier but MASH's AfterMASH bombed. Now even Breaking Bad's writer, Vince Gilligan, is worried that Better Call Saul could disappoint.
Tim Dowling: The Comic Sans creator explains how he made the world's most-hated font (Guardian)
Font inventor Vincent Connare spoke at the fourth annual Boring Conference, along with a man cooking pancakes on a couple of irons and an expert on Walkers crisps.
Laura Barton: How Simon's Cat reveals the hidden truths of existence (Guardian)
Simon Tofield's smash-hit internet series might seem just an amusing cartoon. But through the antics of his animated pet cat, the great philosophical questions of life are posed and answered.
Jesse Walker: The Sultan of Sewers (Reason)
William Burroughs' anti-authoritarian vision.
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog
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David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
David Bruce has approximately 50 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
wrote:
has retired.
took the day off.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Reader Recommendation
D-Day, June 6, 1944
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Team Coco
CONAN
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.
The most active open discussion is on Bart's Facebook page.
( www.facebook.com/bartcop )
You can listen to Bart's theme song here
or here.
( www.bartcop.com/blizing-saddles.mp3 )
( youtu.be/MySGAaB0A9k )
We have opened up the radio show archives which are now free. Listen to
all you want.
( bartcop.com/members )
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
Marine layer morning, sunny afternoon.
Assails Amazon
Stephen Colbert
On one side of a major publishing feud is Amazon.com, the industry's biggest book seller.
On the other side is a leading New York publisher few readers have heard of, Hachette Book Group, and some Hachette authors virtually all readers have heard of: J.K. Rowling, James Patterson, Malcolm Gladwell and, most recently, Stephen Colbert.
Saying that he's not just mad at Amazon, but "mad prime," Colbert assailed the online retailer on his Comedy Central program Wednesday night. Amazon is in a contract dispute with Hachette Book Group and has been delaying shipments for some Hachette books, including for Colbert's "America Again," and removing the pre-order option for Rowling's "The Silkworm" (written under her pen name Robert Galbraith) and other upcoming works. Colbert twice flipped his middle finger at Amazon during the show and brought on Sherman Alexie, a Hachette author who recommended a debut novel that Amazon currently will not sell: Edan Lepucki's "California."
Colbert, anxious to prove that he could "sell more books than Amazon," urged viewers to buy "California" from Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon, one of the country's leading independent booksellers. He also unveiled a sticker, "I didn't buy it from Amazon," that could be downloaded from his website thecolbertreport.cc.com.
Throughout the day Thursday, "California" was No. 1 on www.powellsbooks.com. The book will be published in July.
Stephen Colbert
What Climate Change?
Jamestown
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell got a firsthand look Thursday at the effect of climate change on ever-receding Jamestown island, concluding that America's first permanent European settlement is clearly vulnerable to rising seas.
Led by National Park Service rangers, Jewell trekked around the island, where some sections now lie beneath the James River, and heard of the devastation in 2003 when Hurricane Isabel raked the low-lying landscape. The storm left many parts of the island underwater and destroyed thousands of artifacts retrieved from archaeological digs. Many are still being restored.
Dorothy Geyer, a Park Service natural resource specialist, said a 1 1/2-foot rise in sea level would put 60 percent of the island under water and a 4-foot -plus rise would increase that number to 80 percent.
Jewell said her visit to Jamestown is part of the Obama administration's push to address climate change, including its ambitious plan announced Monday to reduce gases from the nation's power plants blamed in part for global warming.
Jamestown
Mineral Site Gets Protected Status
Antarctica
Antarctica pact partners have set up a new protected geological site on the frozen continent in a bid to preserve rare minerals that could shed light on the region's history and evolution over millions of years.
At a meeting in Brazil last month, the signatories to the Antarctic Treaty designated the Larsemann Hills region of the continent as an Antarctic Specially Protected Area.
Geological analysis shows that one billion years ago, the nearby Stornes Peninsula was a shallow inland basin, rich in boron and phosphorus, the key chemical constituents of the rare minerals.
At the time of their discovery, four of the minerals - boralsilite, stornesite, chopinite and tassieite - were new to science, while the rest were extremely rare elsewhere.
The protection includes curbs on use of surface vehicles and survey markers, as well as construction activity. Access to each site is to be restricted through the use of a permit system, with limits on the numbers of samples taken.
Antarctica
Hospital News
Casey Kasem
Radio personality Casey Kasem, who is at the center of a legal battle between family members over his care, was in critical condition at a Washington state hospital with an infected bed sore, a hospital spokesman said.
Kasem, 82, was brought to the emergency room at St Anthony Hospital in Gig Harbor, Washington, on Sunday suffering from the infection and was admitted that day, hospital spokesman Scott Thompson said in a written statement.
"Mr. Kasem is receiving wound care, intravenous antibiotic therapy, blood pressure support medication as well as treatment for his pain," Thompson said. "Mr. Kasem is alert, appears comfortable at this time."
Danny Deraney, a spokesman for Kasem's three children from his first marriage, said that the deejay's daughters, Kerri and Julie, were at their father's side and that his son, Mike, was en route to Washington.
Casey Kasem
Awarded $1.7 Million In Copyright Case
Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys' suit against Monster Energy has ended, with jurors finding against the beverage company to the tune of $1.7 million.
The suit, brewing for two years before the trial began last Tuesday in New York Federal Court, centered around Monster Energy's use of a Beastie Boys "megamix," put together by DJ Z-Trip, who the beverage company had hired to soundtrack a four-minute-long recap video of a snowboarding competition sponsored by the company. The video incorporated five Beasties songs -- "Sabotage," "Pass the Mic," "Make Some Noise," "So
What'cha Want" and "Looking Down the Barrel Of a Gun" -- which Monster Energy, in its opening statements presented last week, admitted to infringing upon.
Additionally, the second-to-last shot of the video featured the words "RIP MCA" with a design reminiscent of Monster Energy's green logo, which the Beastie Boys argued implied the band's endorsement. The message also ran counter to a provision of Adam "MCA" Yauch's will stating his name and/or likeness was not to be used in promotional campaigns.
Throughout the week, Monster Energy brought forth witnesses to bolster their contention that $125,000 was a more equitable rate for their copyright toe-stepping. Jurors in the case disagreed -- vehemently.
Beastie Boys
Judge Ends Lawsuit
Harper Lee
A federal judge on Thursday ended the on-again, off-again lawsuit filed by "To Kill a Mockingbird" author Harper Lee against a museum in her south Alabama hometown, which inspired the setting of her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.
U.S. District Judge William H. Steele of Mobile dismissed the case in a one-sentence order after lawyers for both Lee and the Monroe County Heritage Museum filed a joint motion seeking to end the suit. Lee last year accused the museum of taking advantage of her work by selling souvenirs and using the title of her only published book as its website address.
The judge said the 88-year-old Lee and the museum each had to pay their own costs and attorney fees, but the order didn't reveal the amounts or any settlement terms.
The dismissal came two weeks after the judge reinstated the lawsuit at the request of the author from Monroeville, Alabama, which inspired the fictional town of Maycomb in her only published book.
Harper Lee
Blames Verizon, Other Internet Providers
Netflix
Netflix Inc is telling customers that Verizon Inc and other Internet providers are to blame for slow speeds as the video streaming service pushes to avoid paying for faster delivery of its movies and TV shows.
Netflix has been calling on the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to do away with fees content companies pay to Internet service providers for smooth delivery of their services to consumers.
"The Verizon network is crowded right now," reads a notice Netflix sent to some customers on the screen when a video is buffering.
Netflix is sending similar messages to U.S. customers of other broadband providers when the networks are congested, spokesman Jonathan Friedland said on Wednesday. The test began in mid-May and is reaching a few hundred thousand subscribers.
Netflix
German Committee Wants To Question
Edward Snowden
With backing from Chancellor Angela Merkel's grand coalition government, a German parliamentary committee wants to meet former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden in Moscow in the coming weeks, German network ARD reported on Thursday.
The ruling right-left coalition has resisted opposition demands that Snowden come to Germany to testify to the parliamentary committee looking into the mass surveillance of German citizens by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) that he exposed.
The NSA practices have become a major political issue in Germany, which is sensitive to the abuses of such agencies after their Nazi and Communist pasts and reports that the NSA monitored Merkel's cellphone calls have cast a shadow over the once close U.S.-German relations.
The Greens and Left parties, the two small opposition parties on the committee, voted against the measure because they want Snowden to come to Germany to testify. The coalition-dominated committee voted against that.
Edward Snowden
Dozens Of New Flora, Fauna Species
A dragon fish with intricate, maze-like markings on every scale, a frog with rough, chocolate-colored skin and a ginger plant are among more than two dozen flora and fauna species found in Myanmar since it emerged from a half-century of military rule and isolation.
Myanmar Burma
The World Wildlife Fund said Thursday the discoveries by global scientists in the last two years highlight the need to invest in conservation as the biologically diverse nation of 60 million revs up its economic engines and opens up to foreign investment.
The 26 plants and animals newly identified in Myanmar include a species of dragon fish, which are hugely popular in the Asian aquatic world. The so-called "scribbled arowana," is creating a buzz on the aquarium fish blogosphere because of its unheard-of complex, maze-like markings on every individual scale.
Previously unidentified by scientists, a ginger plant collected from a single region in the cloud forests of the western state of Rakhine had been hiding in plain sight at local markets, WWF said. And a chocolate-spotted frog, a member of the Amolops family, was discovered in a mountain range that stretches along Myanmar's western border and India.
Myanmar Burma
Hidden Beached Whale Revealed
"View of Scheveningen Sands"
When art conservators in the United Kingdom were cleaning a 17th-century Dutch seascape, they found a surprise: an image of a beached whale that had been hidden for at least 150 years.
Until recently, the painting - "View of Scheveningen Sands," created by Hendrick van Anthonissen around 1641 - simply showed groups of people gathered on a beach in The Hague in the Netherlands.
"It seemed a very unassuming painting depicting a very calm beach scene set in winter," Shan Kuang, a conservation student at the University of Cambridge's Fitzwilliam Museum, said in a new video explaining the strange find. "There were clusters of people gathered. I was unclear why they were there, but it didn't seem too out of normal."
Kuang was tasked with removing a coat of varnish, which is typically found on oil paintings, but unfortunately yellows over time. When she began cleaning, a figure emerged on the horizon of the ocean next to a shape that looked like a sail. This was "extremely peculiar and unexpected," Kuang said. But further cleaning with a scalpel and solvent revealed the floating figure was actually standing on top of a whale, and what at first appeared to be a sail was actually the whale's fin.
"View of Scheveningen Sands"
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) George Strait; $1,898,760; $92.25.
2. (4) Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band; $1,478,686; $97.32.
3. (5) Cher; $1,131,794; $90.48.
4. (6) Cirque du Soleil - "Michael Jackson: The Immortal"; $684,904; $92.37.
5. (7) Kings Of Leon; $531,496; $55.18.
6. (8) Imagine Dragons; $486,814; $38.38.
7. (10) Lady Antebellum; $433,532; $59.81.
8. (9) Demi Lovato; $419,995; $47.51.
9. (New) Florida Georgia Line; $325,642; $41.36.
10. (11) Jeff Dunham; $256,696; $45.03.
11. (12) Darius Rucker; $250,482; $43.87.
12. (13) Brantley Gilbert; $219,726; $30.98.
13. (14) Jim Gaffigan; $203,616; $46.28.
14. (15) The Moody Blues; $190,333; $78.53.
15. (16) Tobymac; $181,882; $31.76.
16. (18) "Winter Jam"/Newsboys/Lecrae; $149,702; $13.66.
17. (19) Bryan Adams; $140,518; $55.97.
18. (20) John Legend; $131,339; $67.28.
19. (21) Justin Moore; $130,036; $32.78.
20. (22) Third Day/Skillet; $120,445; $25.51.
Concert Tours
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