Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Tom Danehy: "The results are in: The Arizona Interscholastic Association's 'reorganization' is viewed as a disaster" (Tucson Weekly)
The girls' basketball team that I coach went 18-0 in the regular season this year. I thought that would earn the kids a nice banner to hang in the gym. But, it was argued, because there are no longer any conferences, we didn't win the conference title. And because there were 21 teams in our section, and we were limited by the AIA to 18 games, we didn't win the section championship, because we didn't play everybody in our section. All I know is that we played every team they told us to play and beat every one of them. That should count for something, but apparently, it doesn't.
Gail Collins: How Texas Inflicts Bad Textbooks on Us (New York Review of Books)
Texas certainly didn't single-handedly mess up American textbooks, but its size, its purchasing heft, and the pickiness of the school board's endless demands-not to mention the board's overall craziness-certainly made it the trend leader. Texas has never managed to get evolution out of American science textbooks. It's been far more successful in helping to make evolution-and history, and everything else-seem boring.
Jonathan Haidt: Why working-class people vote conservative (Guardian)
Across the world, blue-collar voters ally themselves with the political right - even when it appears to be against their own interests. Is this because such parties often serve up a broader, more satisfying moral menu than the left?
Roger Ebert: Are Women Better Than Men?
Sometimes I think so. Sometimes, not so much. If the blog I wrote a few weeks ago had started that way, I would have been spared a lot of grief. It better expresses what I was unsuccessfully trying to say.
Louis Peitzman: Fifth Grader Gets Presidential Pardon for Absence (Gawker)
It's not every day you get a chance to see President Obama speak - and it's even rarer to watch him get introduced by your dad. That's why fifth grader Tyler Sullivan made the wise choice to skip school and head to the Honeywell factory where his dad, Ryan Sullivan, works.
Advice for Those Considering Joining the Military (Video)
Retired Special Forces Master Sergeant Stan Goff explains what military life really entails.
STEVE WEISSMAN AND FRANK BROWNING: Paul Krugman, European celebrity (Salon)
In the United States, Krugman writes a newspaper column. In Europe, his ideas make headlines.
Decca Aitkenhead: "Paul Krugman: 'I'm sick of being Cassandra. I'd like to win for once'" (Guardian)
The American economist has a plan to escape the financial crisis, and it doesn't involve austerity measures or deregulating the banks. But will policy-makers, including our coalition government, heed his advice?
'I do get rattled' (Guardian; from 2003)
Paul Krugman is a mild-mannered university economist. He is also a 'New York Times' columnist and President Bush's most scathing critic. Hence the death threats. He talks to Oliver Burkeman.
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:
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
BadtotheboneBob
Bob Seger
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Standard June Gloom - marine layer til somewhere around noon, followed by a sunny afternoon with a nice breeze.
UN Women
Kidman & Sorvino
Academy Award winners Nicole Kidman and Mira Sorvino urged an end to violence against women at a concert Wednesday night to support the U.N. agency that promotes equality for women and an end to attacks against millions of women and girls.
General Assembly President Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser of Qatar brought the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra to the U.N. to celebrate his leadership of the 193-member world body this year and dedicated the concert to supporting UN Women, which came into existence in 2010.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the crowd that "more than half of all women will be victims of violence in their lifetime - beatings, sexual abuse, even murder."
Sorvino, the U.N. goodwill ambassador to combat human trafficking, told hundreds of concertgoers that even in the "civilized" United States, "one out of three women will be raped or assaulted in her lifetime - and I personally believe this number to be conservative because of the shame admitting to sexual and physical abuse brings."
Kidman & Sorvino
19th U.S. Poet Laureate
Natasha Trethewey
A poet-historian representing a younger generation of writers will soon take office on Capitol Hill, overlooking the politicians, in a lesser-known post enshrined in federal law.
The Library of Congress named Natasha Trethewey on Thursday to be its 19th U.S. poet laureate with a mission to share the art of poetry with a wider audience. The 46-year-old English and creative writing professor at Atlanta's Emory University distinguished herself early, winning the Pulitzer Prize in 2007.
Trethewey will be the first poet in chief to take up residence in Washington to work at the library's Poetry Room for part of her term in 2013. As one of the youngest poet laureates ever selected, she also brings fresh perspective to an office more recently held by poets in their 80s.
Part of her work has focused on restoring history that has been erased or forgotten from the official record and the nation's shared memory. She has researched in the library's Civil War archive to inform some of her writings.
Trethewey won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for her collection of poems, "Native Guard." She wrote of the Louisiana Native Guard, a black Civil War regiment assigned to guard white Confederate soldiers held on Ship Island off Mississippi's Gulf Coast.
The Confederate prisoners were later memorialized on the island, but not the black Union soldiers.
Natasha Trethewey
Digital Copy On Mars
"The Martian Chronicles"
Near the north pole of Mars, a piece of Ray Bradbury lives on, waiting to be discovered by someone in the future.
A digital copy of Bradbury's "The Martian Chronicles" along with works by other science fiction legends was flown into space in 2007 by NASA's Phoenix spacecraft, which touched down on the Martian arctic plains.
The Planetary Society wanted to put a time capsule on the red planet for future human explorers and sought permission from Bradbury to include his futuristic novel on a mini-DVD containing Mars-themed literature, art and music, and the names of 250,000 Earthlings.
Soon after landing in 2008, Phoenix snapped a picture of its deck showing the disc next to an American flag. The spacecraft operated for five months before freezing to death.
"The Martian Chronicles"
Museo dell'Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore
'Door of Paradise'
An eight-ton gilded bronze door so splendid Michelangelo dubbed it the "Door of Paradise" will be unveiled to the public again after 27 years of restoration work.
But Lorenzo Ghiberti's 15th-century door - which bears scenes from the Old Testament - won't be going back in its place on the baptistery of Florence's duomo, or cathedral. Instead, starting on Sept. 8, it will go on display in a case at a Florence museum, the Museo dell'Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore, to preserve it from renewed damage.
During World War II, the "Door of Paradise" was temporarily removed from the baptistery to spare it from damage, only to see it battered by the raging, muddy waters of the Arno River during the 1966 flood that devastated much of Florence.
Six of its 10 panels were ripped away by the force of the flood. The panels were re-attached, only to be ravaged over time by pollution.
A copy was put in its place in 1990 after the original was sent off for restoration.
'Door of Paradise'
US Smashes Heat Record For Season
Spring
Call it spring's fever. Federal records show the U.S. just finished its hottest spring on record.
March, April and May in the Lower 48 states beat the oldest spring temperature record by a full 2 degrees. The three months averaged 57.1 degrees, more than 5 degrees above average. That's the most above normal for any U.S. season on record. Meteorologists define those three months as spring.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also reported Thursday that it was the second warmest May since records began in 1895. May averaged 64.3 degrees, just behind 1934.
The first five months of 2012 were the hottest start to a year in U.S. weather record history. The 12-month period starting last June is also the hottest on record.
Spring
Faces Federal Tax Charges
Lauryn Hill
Eight-time Grammy winner Lauryn Hill has been charged with failing to file income tax returns for several years with the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. attorney's office in New Jersey announced Thursday.
Hill earned more than $1.6 million during 2005, 2006 and 2007, the three years that she failed to file returns, federal prosecutors said. Hill's primary source of income is royalties from the recording and film industries, prosecutors said. She also owns and operates four corporations: Creations Music Inc., Boogie Tours Inc., L.H. Productions 2001 Inc. and Studio 22 Inc., according to court papers.
The 37-year-old Hill got her start with The Fugees and began her solo career in 1998 with the critically acclaimed album "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill."
The album, praised by critics for its incisive lyrics and synthesis of rap and soul, sold 8 million copies. Hill was pronounced the face of "The Hip-Hop Nation" by Time magazine.
She then largely disappeared from public view to raise her six children, five of whom she had with Rohan Marley, the son of famed reggae singer Bob Marley.
Lauryn Hill
President Tweets Paul Krugman
Estonia
The president of small euro zone nation Estonia took to the Twitter-sphere on Thursday to launch a bitter attack on renowned economist Paul Krugman after the U.S. Nobel laureate questioned the Baltic state's economic recovery from a deep crisis.
"Let's write about something we know nothing about & be smug, overbearing & patronizing: after all, they're just wogs," President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said in a post on the social networking site early on Thursday.
"Let's sh*t on East Europeans: their English is bad, won't respond & actually do what they've agreed to & reelect govts that are responsible," he added later.
His office confirmed the tweets were from Ilves.
Ilves was born in Stockholm in 1953 after Estonia was annexed by the former Soviet Union and was raised in the United States. He has long been an eloquent and outspoken spokesman for his small nation, which joined the euro zone in 2011 and whose economy grew 4 percent in the first quarter of this year.
Estonia
Chronic Smokers
US Teens
A government survey shows more teens are now smoking pot than cigarettes.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday that 23 percent of high school students said they recently smoked marijuana, while 18 percent said they had puffed cigarettes. The survey asked teens about a variety of risky behaviors.
For decades, the number of teens who smoke has been on the decline. Marijuana use has fluctuated, and recently rose. At times, pot and cigarette smoking were about the same level, but last year marked the first time marijuana use was clearly greater.
An earlier survey by the University of Michigan also found that pot smoking was higher. A Michigan expert said teens today apparently see marijuana as less dangerous than cigarettes.
US Teens
China Forbids International Tourism Indefinitely
Tibet
In a matter of days, the number of expected foreign visitors to Tibet has gone from millions to zero.
Chinese authorities alerted foreign travel agencies Tuesday that they would no longer be issuing entry permits to Tibet, the latest in a series of regulations being put on travelers to Tibet. The announcement follows the self-immolation of two Tibetans last week.
Tibet is no stranger to Chinese interference in its tourism industry. Tibet's failed rebellion in March 1959 and the event's annual memorial on National Uprising Day has chronically put the region at odds with the People's Republic of China. In 2008, protests after National Uprising Day turned into riots that were met with violence by PRC forces. The Chinese government temporarily closed Tibet to foreign visitors. That is a now-annual practice in March, and during other national events significant to the Chinese government.
While many tourism agencies have learned to adapt and predict the trends on tourism bans, this closure comes as something of a shock. According to Nellie Connelly, marketing director of WildChina, a prominent travel company that regularly coordinates trips to Tibet, Chinese authorities informed the company in mid-May that travelers would only be allowed to visit Tibet in groups of five people of the same nationality. Last week, the government stopped issuing entry permits to Tibet altogether. Connelly is in the process of rerouting customers whose Tibetan vacations are affected by the new ban. Only those Chinese nationals are allowed to enter the region.
Tibet
Prince Who Would Become Buddha
Ancient Statue
In the ruins of a Buddhist monastery in Afghanistan, archaeologists have uncovered a stone statue that seems to depict the prince Siddhartha before he founded Buddhism.
The stone statue, or stele, was discovered at the Mes Aynak site in a ruined monastery in 2010, but it wasn't until now that it was analyzed and described. Gérard Fussman, a professor at the Collège de France in Paris, details his study in "The Early Iconography of Avalokitesvara" (Collège de France, 2012).
Standing 11 inches (28 centimeters) high and carved from schist - a stone not found in the area - the stele depicts a prince alongside a monk. Based on a bronze coin found nearby, Fussman estimates the statue dates back at least 1,600 years. Siddhartha lived 25 centuries ago.
The prince is shown sitting on a round wicker stool, his eyes looking down and with his right foot against his left knee. He is "clad in a dhoti (a garment), with a turban, wearing necklaces, earrings and bracelets, sitting under a pipal tree foliage. On the back of the turban, two large rubans [are] flowing from the head to the shoulders," writes Fussman in his new book. "The turban is decorated by a rich front-ornament, without any human figure in it."
Based on the iconography of the stele, particularly the pipal leaves, Fussman believes the prince is Gautama Siddhartha Sakyamuni, who is said to have achieved enlightenment, become a Buddha - someone of divine wisdom and virtue - and founded the religion of Buddhism. This stele shows him at an early moment in his life, when he has yet to start his fateful journey of enlightenment.
Ancient Statue
Photos of the statue and ancient Buddhist monastery
Unearthed Near Black Sea Town
'Vampire' Graves
Sokopol, Bulgaria, could soon join the ranks of popular vampire sites, such as Dracula's Castle in Romania and the Vampire Museum in Paris. Archaeologists excavated two suspected "vampire" graves in the Black Sea town last Sunday, and each 700-year-old skeleton had an iron rod pinned into its chest.
Bozhidar Dimitrov, the director of the National Museum of History in Sofia, told local media that this was common practice in the Middle Ages, as people feared "bad men" would raise from the dead as vampires. The museum is planning a special exhibit around the two skeletons.
According to the Associated Press, Dimitrov said he did not understand why an "ordinary discovery" like this one became so popular. "Perhaps because of the mysteriousness of the word 'vampire'," he said.
Most of the vampire folklore originated in Slavic countries, so there is a higher prevalence of burial instances in that region.
'Vampire' Graves
Erosion Uncovers Tombstones In San Francisco
Ocean Beach
Visitors to the popular Ocean Beach in San Francisco are accustomed to dramatic views of waves crashing onshore, but perhaps nothing quite as dramatic as the sight of tombstones.
Turns out the tombstones were placed there more than 70 years ago to help stop erosion from rising tides, according to KTVU. After the city shut down several cemeteries in the 1940s, the bodies were moved, but "unclaimed property" remained. The headstones soon became city property and they were put to good use, according to David Gallagher, director of the Western Neighborhoods Project.
"In 1942 or 1943, there were great storms in the city. The Great Highway was eroding…they had all this construction debris," Gallagher told KTVU. "Among the debris were all these headstones that they dumped to stop the surging tide. "
Pieces of the grave markers have now reappeared over the past several weeks, including one that belonged to Delia Presby, a wife that died in 1890 at the age of 26. And it seems the markers will remain on the beach until the tide once again covers them. A representative from the U.S. Park Service told KTVU there are no plans to recover and relocate the headstones.
Ocean Beach
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"; $1,633,745; $112.81.
3. (4) Radiohead; $1,114,246; $58.33.
4. (New) Red Hot Chili Peppers; $825,373; $58.92.
5. (5) Jason Aldean; $643,521; $43.30.
6. (6) Lady Antebellum; $559,061; $52.24.
7. (7) The Black Keys; $526,361; $46.63.
8. (8) Miranda Lambert; $414,338; $42.40.
9. (9) Blake Shelton; $358,959; $48.43.
10. (10) Jeff Dunham; $295,315; $45.65.
11. (11) Eric Church; $273,245; $35.94.
12. (12) Kelly Clarkson; $197,455; $53.51.
13. (20) "Riverdance"; $189,570; $59.03.
14. (13) Rain - A Tribute To The Beatles; $175,841; $50.69.
15. (15) Celtic Woman; $172,216; $58.65.
16. (14) Yanni; $165,665; $60.36.
17. (18) Bassnectar; $164,428; $35.20.
18. (16) "Mythbusters"; $159,242; $51.54.
19. (New) Rise Against; $155,652; $36.11.
20. (17) Casting Crowns; $141,134; $28.93.
Concert Tours
In Memory
Bob Welch
Bob Welch, a former member of Fleetwood Mac who also had a solo career, died Thursday of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said. He was 65.
Police spokesman Don Aaron said Welch's wife found him with a chest wound at their south Nashville home around 12:15 p.m.
Welch was a guitarist and vocalist for Fleetwood Mac from 1971 to 1974. He formed the British rock group Paris in 1976, and had hits including "Sentimental Lady" in 1977 and "Ebony Eyes" in 1978. Fleetwood Mac's Christine McVie and Lindsey Buckingham did backing vocals on "Sentimental Lady."
Aaron said Welch apparently had had health issues recently. He said a suicide note was left.
Fleetwood Mac's career took off in the mid-1970s after Welch left the band. "Dreams" was a No. 1 hit in 1977 and "Don't Stop" the same year. It later became the anthem for Bill Clinton's presidential campaign. "Hold Me" was a hit in 1982 and "Little Lies" in 1987.
Welch, a native of Los Angeles, scored his biggest hit with "Sentimental Lady," which reached No. 8 on the Billboard chart. His other singles included "Precious Love" in 1979 and "Hot Love, Cold World" in 1978.
When Fleetwood Mac was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, Welch was not included in the group.
"It basically comes down to the fact that they don't like me anymore," he told The Plain Dealer of Cleveland at the time. "I guess they can do what they want. I could understand it if I had been a sideman for a year. But I was an integral part of that band ... I put more of myself into that band than anything else I've ever done."
As a songwriter, Welch had his songs recorded by Kenny Rogers, Sammy Hagar, the Pointer Sisters and others.
In 1999 he released a CD, "Bob Welch Looks at Bop," a salute to bebop music in the 1940s.
In an interview with The Tennessean in 2003, Welch said he never dreamed he'd be remembered for much.
"I just wanted to play guitar in a good band," he said. "I wanted to make the music I love. I wanted to travel the world and have adventures."
Welch also said "music is disposable now. It doesn't have the emotional impact anymore. That's sad."
He had lived in Nashville since the 1990s.
Bob Welch
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