Recommended Reading
from Bruce
PETER J. DOUGHERTY: A Manifesto For Scholarly Publishing (chronicle.com)
Books - specifically scholarly titles published by university presses and other professional publishers - retain two distinct comparative advantages over other forms of communication in the idea bazaar:...
Liliana Segura: Is Your Newest Facebook Friend a Sleazeball Debt Collector? (alternet.org)
And then came a novel approach: As if all this weren't enough, the fact there were overdue payments for her 2005 Chevy Impala were broadcast on her MySpace account.
Jim Randel: Five Sneaky Business Tricks That Drive Me Nuts (huffingtonpost.com)
I have started to keep a list of the sneaky stuff that businesses do to transfer money from my pocket to theirs. Here are the five that reached my list this month: ...
Jim Hightower: PRODUCT ADS THAT DISCOMBOBULATE CONSUMERS (jimhightower.com)
It's time for another trip into the Far, Far, Far-out, Frontiers of Free Enterprise.
Michele Hanson: A certain age (guardian.co.uk)
We are stumped. Rosemary has a fag and I have a scream.
Colleen Mastony: Chatting with Dave Eggers and his wife about their literary success and new movie 'Away We Go' (Chicago Tribune)
Acclaimed author Dave Eggers and his wife, Vendela Vida, were expecting their first child, and they were doing all the things that first-time parents are apt to do, reading the baby books, setting up the nursery and politely listening to heaps of advice from well-meaning friends and strangers.
Steven Rea: Acclaimed director Guillermo Del Toro sinks his teeth into vampire literature (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
Forget "Hellboy." Forget "Pan's Labyrinth." Forget directing "The Hobbit," which is why Oscar-nominated director Guillermo del Toro finds himself in New Zealand these days.
DREW FORTUNE: "'I Might Have a Late Surge and Kick All Those Guys' Asses': An Interview with Rhett Miller" (popmatters.com)
Rhett Miller has a newfound respect for Ryan Adams, some bones to pick with Malcolm Gladwell, and -- oh yeah -- a new solo album filled with heartbreak and communication breakdowns. Right on the cusp of turning 40, it seems that Rhett Miller has finally hit his stride ...
John Lewis: Mister Anything Goes (guardian.co.uk)
He's taken jazz where it has never gone before - playing with pipers, punks and divas. As Ornette Coleman arrives in Britain, Patti Smith, Moby and others salute a great.
Martin Wisckol: Sax icon Wayne Shorter is an unconventional mentor (The Orange County Register)
Like many others' first encounters with jazz icon Wayne Shorter, pianist Danilo Perez left bewildered. When he'd showed up to audition nearly 10 years ago, he didn't know what to expect.
Dan Cairns: Green Day return bigger and better (timesonline.co.uk)
Politics to the fore as US punk pop band release 'Know Your Enemy,' '21st Century Breakdown' and 'American Idiot' as stage drama.
Alexandra Petri: Blend of music, dance, martial arts takes hold in Mexico (McClatchy Newspapers)
The sounds of Africa, Brazil and Arabia echoed through the tiny studio, bringing 25 students together in a circle to sing what sounded like an African-American spiritual.
Hubert's Poetry Corner
The Err so Rare
Tryin' hard to splane that Texas Governator's mountain bike accident?
The Weekly Poll
The 'Talking Heads' Edition (No, not the band, ya weirdo...)
Which TV network do you view the most for national/international news?
(Feel free to cite individual programs/personalities that you particularly like)
1.) CNN
2.) MS-NBC
3.) FNC
4.) ABC
5.) CBS
6.) PBS
Send your response to
What is television's 2nd-longest running (live-action) family sitcom?
said:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Mostly cloudy and cool.
School's out for the kid - til next week when summer school starts.
Diaries Displayed For 80th Birthday
Anne Frank
The Anne Frank House museum says it will put the teenage Holocaust victim's diaries and other writings on permanent display to commemorate what would have been her 80th birthday on June 12, 1929.
Until now her posthumously published diaries and other works have been kept in an archive at the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation. Some have previously been displayed at the museum, which encompasses and preserves the "Secret Annex" - the tiny apartment above a canal-side warehouse where the Frank family hid for two years.
Education Minister Ronald Plasterk said it was important for the historical record that the writings be on display at the museum, "on the spot where they were written."
Her diary was recovered and preserved by Miep Gies, a Dutch woman who helped the family while they were in hiding. Otto Frank, Anne's father, survived the war and published the diaries in 1947. They have since been translated into dozens of languages and read by millions of people worldwide.
Anne Frank
Property Owners Forgive Vandalism
Jessica Alba
The owners of property plastered with great white shark posters said Thursday they have little interest in pursuing criminal vandalism charges against actress Jessica Alba, who already has apologized for her role in the stunt.
Oklahoma City police are continuing to investigate the allegations, but haven't interviewed the 28-year-old co-star of the "Fantastic Four" movies, "Sin City" and "Good Luck Chuck." Investigators first plan to meet with the property owners to see if they are willing to prosecute, said police Sgt. Gary Knight.
Police found the posters - aimed at raising awareness about the sharks' declining numbers - glued to a downtown bridge, utility boxes and a billboard for the United Way charity.
All the property owners contacted by The Associated Press Thursday say they don't want to see Alba prosecuted.
Jessica Alba
Periodic Table Gets New Element
Ununbium
A new, superheavy chemical element numbered 112 will soon be officially included in the periodic table, German researchers said.
A team in the southwest German city of Darmstadt first produced 112 in 1996 by firing charged zinc atoms through a 120-meter-long particle accelerator to hit a lead target.
"The new element is approximately 277 times heavier than hydrogen, making it the heaviest element in the periodic table," the scientists at the GSI Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research said in a statement late on Wednesday.
The zinc and lead nuclei were fused to form the nucleus of the new element, also known as Ununbium, Latin for 112.
Ununbium
Bed-In Exhibit
Woodstock
John and Yoko hung out in their pajamas for eight days during their "bed-in" at a Montreal hotel in 1969. Reclining on a king-size bed, the famous Beatle and his new wife read Lao Tzu, snuggled and recorded the anthem "Give Peace a Chance."
But mostly they talked about peace and lorded over the chaos in a room crammed tight with star-struck kids, reporters, disc jockeys, Hare Krishnas, Timothy Leary, Tommy Smothers and hangers-on.
Photographer Gerry Deiter, on assignment for Life magazine, was there for all of it. The pictures weren't published, because the magazine spiked the piece.
Deiter's images now are being exposed to a wide audience 40 years later in the exhibit, "Give Peace A Chance: John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Bed-In For Peace." The exhibit makes its U.S. debut Friday at The Museum at Bethel Woods, which sits at the upstate New York site of the original Woodstock concert held later that same year.
Woodstock
Transitioning
Chastity Bono
Chastity Bono is having a sex change to become a man.
A spokesman for the daughter of Sonny and Cher says Bono "has made the courageous decision to honor his true identity" and began the sex-change process earlier this year.
Publicist Howard Bragman said Bono "is proud of his decision" and hopes "that his choice to transition will open the hearts and minds of the public regarding this issue."
The 40-year-old writer, activist and reality-TV star came out as gay 20 years ago.
Chastity Bono
Court Orders Coleman To Pay
Al Franken
Republican Norm Coleman (R-Whiny) must pay Democrat Senator Al Franken $94,783 to cover court costs for his appeal of Minnesota Senate election results.
A Ramsey County court administrator entered the judgment Wednesday. It results from the two-month trial that ended with Coleman 312 votes short of Franken.
Minnesota law required Coleman to cover some of Franken's court costs because the race's outcome didn't change. The judgment excludes Franken's attorney fees.
The men have spent $50 million so far on their campaigns and legal fight over the November election. That's more than double the cost of the 2002 race when Coleman captured what had been a Democratic seat.
Al Franken
Too Loud
TV Ads
Congress soon might mute screaming TV-ad announcers who press viewers to "buy now!" - if broadcasters don't beat the lawmakers to the volume button.
Under a proposal to be taken up Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission would squelch ad volumes to the average decibels of the TV show during which they appear.
Currently, TV ads can't be louder than the loudest peak in a show, said David Perry , the chairman of the broadcast production committee of the American Association of Advertising Agencies in New York . Ads often seem louder to viewers, he added, because a program's volume peak rarely comes just before an ad.
"Every time the ads came on they blew me out of my seat," said Rep. Anna Eshoo , D- Calif. , who introduced the bill last June. "It really turns you off, makes you think, 'I'll be damned if I give them any of my money.' "
TV Ads
Malawi Ruling Today
Madonna
Malawi's highest court plans to announce Friday whether Madonna can adopt a second child from the impoverished southern African country, the pop star's lawyer said Thursday.
The lawyer, Alan Chinula, said the ruling would be issued at 9 a.m.
Madonna had appealed after a lower court ruled she could not adopt 3-year-old Chifundo "Mercy" James because the singer had not spent enough time in Malawi. The lower court said residency rules had been bent when Madonna adopted her son David from Malawi last year.
During a hearing in May, the three judges of the Supreme Court of Appeal heard constitutional expert Modechai Msiska argue on Madonna's behalf. He said although residence was a factor in the adoption process, it would be unconstitutional if adhering to the requirement negated a child's rights.
Madonna
Chance At Saving Falls Through
'My Name Is Earl'
A last chance at saving "My Name Is Earl" has fallen through.
The comedy, starring Jason Lee as a lifelong loser trying to fix his life in zany ways, ran for four seasons on NBC. Since the network canceled it last month, Twentieth Century Fox Television had tried to sell the series elsewhere as fans begged for its rescue.
But "Earl's" luck has run out. The studio says efforts to strike a deal to film more episodes for cable network TBS have fallen through.
Studio spokesman Chris Alexander says TBS and the studio were unable to make the show's economics work without undermining its quality.
'My Name Is Earl'
Internets Photo
Danielle Smith
It's an international mystery: How did a Missouri family's Christmas card photo end up in the Czech Republic, splashed across a huge storefront advertisement? Danielle Smith said Wednesday that the photo taken of her family last year got sent to family and friends, and was posted on her blog and a few social networking sites. The photo showed her and her husband Jeff holding their two young children.
About 10 days ago, one of Smith's college friends was driving through Prague when he spotted their huge smiling faces in the window of a store specializing in Europeann food. He snapped a few pictures and sent them to a flabbergasted Smith.
"It's a life-size picture in a grocery store window in Prague - my Christmas card photo!" said Smith, 36, who lives in the St. Louis suburb of O'Fallon.
Mario Bertuccio, who owns the Grazie store in Prague, said the photo was from the Internet. Details were sparse, but he said he thought it was computer-generated. When told it was a real photo - of a real family - he said he started taking steps to remove it.
Danielle Smith
New Type?
Cloud
Looking out the 11th floor window of her law office, Jane Wiggins did a double take and grabbed her camera. The dark, undulating clouds hovering outside were unlike anything she'd seen before.
"It looked like Armageddon," said Wiggins, a paralegal and amateur photographer in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. "The shadows of the clouds, the lights and the darks, and the greenish-yellow backdrop. They seemed to change."
They dissipated within 15 minutes, but the photo Wiggins captured in June 2006 intrigued - and stumped - a group of dedicated weather watchers who now are pushing weather authorities to create a new cloud category, something that hasn't been done since 1951.
Breaking into the cloud family would require surviving layers of skeptical international review. Still, Gavin Pretor-Pinney and his England-based Cloud Appreciation Society are determined to establish a new variety. They've given Wiggins' photo and similar pictures taken in different parts of the world to experts in England, and are discussing the subject fervently online.
Cloud
France Challenges Hollywood
'La Cite du Cinema'
France threw out a challenge to Hollywood on Thursday as film giant Luc Besson announced the launch of a giant Cinema City to be built inside a disused power plant outside Paris by 2012.
To be called "La Cite du Cinema" (The City of Cinema), the huge complex on the northern fringe of the capital will gather together film sets, editing and light studios, post-production facilities, offices, theatres, and even a film school.
"The machine about to be born here will be the world's best dream machine," said Alain Terzian, head of the French producers' association, speaking inside the vast early 20th century structure shut down three decades ago.
Being refurbished at a cost of 140 million euros (197 million dollars), the power-plant built in 1929 to keep the Paris subway running, is a rambling 62,000 square-metre (-yard) complex complete with weeds, graffiti and splintered glass roofing.
'La Cite du Cinema'
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