Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Culture Jamming: New Subversive Signs of Our Times (weburbanist.com)
Street signs are boring. They pepper the landscape and add just a little bit more monotony to our lives. Thankfully, some homegrown artists and fans of culture jamming decided to mix it up a bit, and add some spice to an otherwise dull aspect of our daily commute.
Matt Damon Continues Defending Teachers, Makes Libertarians Look Silly
Damon, with his mom standing by proudly, schools the libertarians on their "MBA-style thinking" and, with slightly NSFW language, provides the line of the year against the cameraman and knocks the "intrinsically paternalistic" thinking in education policy these days.
Jim Hightower: Stop Coddling Banker Thieves
Stealing is wrong, right? "If you do the crime," the old slogan says, "you do the time." But... does everyone?
David Weidner: How Apple Would Solve the Debt Crisis
I've been covering Wall Street and corporate America for going on two decades, and if there's anything I've learned it's that there are really only two kinds of companies: those growing and those shrinking. The U.S. government today has officially become the latter.
Tom Danehy: Republicans in Congress and President Obama are both betraying their country (Tucson Weekly)
If someone wants to lose weight, they can choose to cut back on eating or increase exercise. However, the best and quickest way would be to do both at the same time. But don't tell that to the Republicans in Congress. Or to their bitch, Barack Obama.
Susan Estrich: The Disappointed Democrats (Creators Syndicate)
What Democrats are saying privately bears almost no relationship to what is being said publicly. Publicly, most people are biting their tongues, falling in line, swallowing their disappointment. Privately, it's a different thing entirely. From labor leaders to old-fashioned organizers, from bundlers of big money to people in the line at the market, there is anger and bewilderment and, most of all, disappointment.
Annie Lowrey: When Dollar Stores Are Too Expensive?(Slate)
You know the economy is in bad shape when customers can't afford to shop at dollar stores anymore.
Kent Sepkowitz: The Doctor and the Pomegranate (Slate)
Antioxidants don't work, but no one wants to hear it.
Roger Ebert: Review of "Seven" (A Great Movie)
It is almost always raining in the city. Somerset, the veteran detective, wears a hat and raincoat. Mills, the kid who has just been transferred into the district, walks bare-headed in the rain as if he'll be young forever. On their first day together, they investigate the death of a fat man they find face-down in a dish of pasta.
Roger Ebert: Review of "A Little Help"
A Little Help" is about a woman who is very far from perfect, and that's why it's appealing. Laura limps through her days using Budweisers as a crutch. She never gets falling-over drunk, just buzzed enough to screw up when things go wrong, which they do relentlessly. I like her. I've had days like hers. Every once in a while, I appreciate a change of pace from mothers who are brave heroines.
Roger Ebert: Review of "Stagecoach" (1939; A Great Movie)
"Stagecoach" is a film in which two great careers were renewed. … With Ford's clout as a director and Wayne's clout as a star, they would make iconic films and establish themselves as one of the legendary partnerships in cinema.
David Bruce: "The Kindest People: Heroes and Good Samaritans" (Free Download; Third Book Down)
This books tells 250 stories about heroes and Good Samaritans, including this one: In October 2005 a Buick smashed against a pillar of a highway overpass on Interstate 95 in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, and caught fire. Shawn Reese ran to the car, saw a head and an arm dangling outside a window, and pulled the man out. One of the man's legs was on fire and had to put out with a fire extinguisher, but the man survived. Mr. Reese is a hero, but he denies that he is a hero. Florida Highway Patrol Lieutenant Tim Frith said, "If he [the victim] had remained in that car, he certainly would have burned up. There's no doubt about that. He [Mr. Reese] simply did save the guy's life. However, Mr. Reese said, "I ain't no hero. This guy just needed help. It's just something you do." He then got back in his truck and headed to a construction site in Boynton Beach, Florida.
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."
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3 4 5 6 7 7 8 CaterpillarsGulf Fritillary Butterfly
Here are today's pictures:
Caterpillar #1 - pupated (7/24/11) (but not looking so good, but still alive)
Caterpillar #2 - pupated (7/26/11)
Caterpillar #2 - pupated (7/26/11)
Caterpillar #3 - pupated (8/01/11)
Caterpillar #3 - pupated (8/01/11)
Caterpillar #4 has disappeared. Don't know if it's pupating somewhere or if a wasp got it. Sigh.
Caterpillar #5
Caterpillar #5 prepares to pupate
Caterpillar #6
Caterpillar #7 - the newest addition
Caterpillars 8
Another new hatchling fluttered by
Gulf Fritillary Butterfly Archive
Reader Suggestions
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Contribution
Hummingbird Clearwing Moth
Want another bug?
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and humid.
LifeRide For amfAR
Mark-Paul Gosselaar
Mark-Paul Gosselaar is keeping busy while on hiatus from his TNT "Franklin & Bash" dramedy by trekking across the East Coast on a motorcycle ride for charity.
Kiehl's skin care company's six-day LifeRide for amfAR raises money for AIDS research. The former star of "Saved by the Bell" is participating in the last three days of the ride starting Thursday - from Boston to New York City.
For Gosselaar, an avid motorcyclist, the event was a no-brainer.
"Setting a good example for my kids and leading by example is very important to me," said the father of two.
Mark-Paul Gosselaar
Brett Ratner, Don Mischer Tapped To Produce
Oscars
The film academy has tapped Brett Ratner and Don Mischer to produce next year's Academy Awards.
This will be Ratner's first involvement with the Oscar show and Mischer's second: He produced and directed the 2011 Academy Awards telecast and was nominated for an Emmy for his work on the show.
Academy president Tom Sherak made the announcement Thursday.
Oscars
"Wanton Harlots"
Stephen Colbert
With the deficit crisis over and Congress in recess, Stephen Colbert returned to an old stand-by -- health care. The Department of Health and Human Services has stated that health insurance must cover breast feeding, HIV screenings, abuse counseling and other costs of that nature.
Like Congressman Steve King (R.-Iowa), Colbert is outraged, especially because breast pumps and abuse counseling are "frivolous impulse buys" comparably to pedicures and manicures.
"You know the ladies," he quipped. "They are always pumping out breast milk, getting a mani-pedi, having a with their abuse counselor and then picking up some spermicidal."
Worse is the proliferation of birth control. On the one hand, Colbert reiterated King's fears that it will prevent an entire generation of Americans from being born and on the other it will turn our daughters "into wanton harlots with an insatiable sexual appetite."
You can see the clip here:
Stephen Colbert
Charity Album
"Never Mind the Dovecotes"
Punk rockers once wanted to smash the state. Now they're helping preserve stately homes.
The National Trust charity, which oversees Britain's castles and historic houses, has released a fundraising album of punk classics.
"Never Mind the Dovecotes" - a play on the title of the Sex Pistols album "Never Mind the Bollocks" - includes tracks by the Pistols and other vintage noise merchants, including GBH, Siouxsie and the Banshees and X-Ray Spex.
It means Mod band The Jam - which has two tracks on the album - will sit alongside jars of jam in gift shops at the Trust's 300 properties, which range from Roman-era structures like Hadrian's Wall to ruined abbeys, medieval castles, grand country mansions and Victorian pubs.
The album is a collaboration between the trust and Decca Records, and a change from previous joint efforts such as "Celtic Collection," ''Classic Voices" and "Land of Hope and Glory - Great Songs from the British Isles."
"Never Mind the Dovecotes"
American To Sue Over Torture
Rumsfeld
A judge is allowing an Army veteran who says he was imprisoned unjustly and tortured by the U.S. military in Iraq to sue former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld personally for damages.
The veteran's identity is withheld in court filings, but he worked for an American contracting company as a translator for the Marines in the volatile Anbar province before being detained for nine months at Camp Cropper, a U.S. military facility near the Baghdad airport dedicated to holding "high-value" detainees.
The government says he was suspected of helping get classified information to the enemy and helping anti-coalition forces enter Iraq. But he was never charged with a crime and says he never broke the law.
Lawyers for the man, who is in his 50s, say he was preparing to come home to the United States on annual leave when he was abducted by the U.S. military and held without justification while his family knew nothing about his whereabouts or even whether he was still alive.
Court papers filed on his behalf say he was repeatedly abused, then suddenly released without explanation in August 2006. Two years later, he filed suit in U.S. District Court in Washington arguing that Rumsfeld personally approved torturous interrogation techniques on a case-by-case basis and controlled his detention without access to courts in violation of his constitutional rights.
Rumsfeld
Payling $309 Million In Bratz Spa
Mattel
A federal judge ordered toy giant Mattel Inc. to pay rival MGA Entertainment Inc. more than $309 million on Thursday, marking another tumultuous chapter in the years-long legal fight between the two companies over ownership of the lucrative Bratz fashion doll line.
The judge's order marks the latest stunning reversal of fortune for the upstart MGA, which has been involved in a legal battle with Mattel since 2004 over who owns the Bratz doll. The dolls with pouty lips, hip hop-style clothing and oversized feet were aimed at "tweens," or girls ages 9 to 11, and flew off the shelves when they debuted in 2001.
U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter reduced a previous jury award from more than $88 million to $85 million but then awarded Los Angeles-based MGA an additional $85 million in punitive damages for trade secrets misappropriation. He also awarded MGA, the company's Hong Kong affiliate and its Chief Executive Officer Isaac Larian $137 million in legal fees related to copyright and trade secrets issues.
The total, which also included more than $2 million in legal fees on trade secrets claims, was more than $309.8 million, according to court papers and MGA lead counsel Jennifer Keller.
Mattel
Sues Over Tabloid Claims
$chwarzenegger Stewardess
Arnold S$chwarzenegger's former private stewardess, Tammy Tousignant, has filed suit against Gawker, the National Enquirer and the Daily Mail in Orange County Superior Court over those publications' reports that she had a child with the "Terminator" star, according to court papers obtained by TheWrap.
Tousignant -- along with her husband, Tom, and children Tanner and Connor -- is suing for defamation by libel, invasion of privacy and misappropriation of image and likeness. The family is seeking damages in excess of $10 million.
Tousignant, who served as a flight attendant on $chwarzenegger's private plane from 1987 to 1999, is suing British newspaper the Daily Mail and the National Enquirer for stories they ran in 2003, when $chwarzenegger was running for governor of California.
Those stories claimed that Tousignant and $chwarzenegger had an affair that resulted is a son, Tanner, who was born to Tousignant in August 1992.
$chwarzenegger Stewardess
Snide Cracks
Palin
Two Fox News Channel analysts said Thursday they were joking when they spoke on the air about going easy on fellow Fox employee Sarah Palin.
The comments by Greg Gutfeld and Bob Beckel were taken seriously and given wide circulation after being made on Wednesday's edition of "The Five," the summer replacement series for Glenn Beck.
The talk show's Monica Crowley introduced a segment showing Palin angrily taking on critics of the tea party.
"I say, 'Amen, sister,'" Crowley said before asking other panelists how they felt.
Palin
Privilege Of The Rich
Healthy Eating
A healthy diet is expensive and could make it difficult for Americans to meet new U.S. nutritional guidelines, according to a study published Thursday that says the government should do more to help consumers eat healthier.
An update of what used to be known as a food pyramid in 2010 had called on Americans to eat more foods containing potassium, dietary fiber, vitamin D and calcium. But if they did that, the journal Health Affairs said, they would add hundreds more dollars to their annual grocery bill.
Inexpensive ways to add these nutrients to a person's diet include potatoes and beans for potassium and dietary fiber. But the study found introducing more potassium in a diet is likely to add $380 per year to the average consumer's food costs, said lead researcher Pablo Monsivais, an assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology and the School of Public Health at the University of Washington.
He criticized some of the marketing for a healthy diet - for example, the image of a plate of salmon, leafy greens and maybe some rice pilaf - and said a meal like that is not affordable for many Americans.
Healthy Eating
Rare Chick Hatched
Kori Bustard
A rare Kori Bustard chick has been hatched at a Toledo Zoo center dedicated to breeding rare and endangered birds.
The zoo on Wednesday said the male chick weighed 3.5 ounces when animal care staff assisted its hatching June 27.
Kori Bustards are large birds native to Africa. Adult males weigh up to 40 pounds and females weigh about 15 pounds.
A biologist with the National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C., says the chick is one of fewer than five hatched this year at U.S. zoos.
Kori Bustard
Cable Nielsens
Ratings
Rankings for the top 15 programs on cable networks as compiled by the Nielsen Co. for the week of July 25-31. Day and start time (EDT) are in parentheses:
1. "Pawn Stars" (Monday, 10:30 p.m.), History, 4.75 million homes, 6.99 million viewers.
2. "The Closer" (Monday, 9 p.m.), TNT, 4.67 million homes, 6.15 million viewers.
3. Auto Racing: NASCAR Sprint Cup (Sunday, 1 p.m.), ESPN, 4.6 million homes, 6.37 million viewers.
4. "Rizzoli & Isles" (Monday, 10 p.m.), TNT, 4.48 million homes, 6.04 million viewers.
5. "Pawn Stars" (Monday, 10 p.m.), History, 4.34 million homes, 6.37 million viewers.
6. "Royal Pains" (Wednesday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.69 million homes, 4.84 million viewers.
7. "Burn Notice" (Thursday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.68 million homes, 4.99 million viewers.
8. "American Pickers" (Monday, 9 p.m.), History, 3.58 million homes, 5.28 million viewers.
9. "Victorious: Locked Up" (Saturday, 8 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.53 million homes, 5.2 million viewers.
10. "Sprint Cup Post Race Show" (Sunday, 4:20 p.m.), ESPN, 3.42 million homes, 4.91 million viewers.
11. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.41 million homes, 5.12 million viewers.
12. "True Blood" (Sunday, 9:04 p.m.), HBO, 3.34 million homes, 5.18 million viewers.
13. "Suits" (Thursday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.27 million homes, 4.43 million viewers.
14. "Covert Affairs" (Tuesday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.24 million homes, 4.36 million viewers.
15. "Presidential Address Analysis" (Monday, 9:24 p.m.), Fox News, 3.18 million homes, 4.21 million viewers.
Ratings
In Memory
Annette Charles
Annette Charles, best known for her role as the jealousy-inducing Cha Cha DiGregorio in the 1978 film version of "Grease," passed away Wednesday night due to complications with cancer.
The 63-year-old actress, who died in her Los Angeles home, learned of her condition within the last few months, the report continues.
Charles played girlfriend to the leader of the Scorpions in "Grease," who pulled Sandy (Olivia-Newton John) away from her love Danny (John Travolta) during a nationally-televised school dance competition.
The actress has also appeared on TV series such as 1968's "High Chaparral," as well as "The Flying Nun," "Gunsmoke," "Mod Squad," "Bonanza," "Barnaby Jones" and "The Bionic Woman." Her post-"Grease" credits include 1987's "Magnum, P.I." and "The Incredible Hulk."
Charles also appeared in a 2002 episode of VH-1's "Where Are They Now?" to revisit her saucy dancer persona.
Annette Charles
In Memory
Rudolf Brazda
Rudolf Brazda, believed to be the last surviving person who was sent to a Nazi concentration camp because of his homosexuality, has died, a German gay rights group said Thursday. He was 98.
The Berlin branch of the Lesbian and Gay Association, or LSVD, said that Brazda died on Wednesday. It didn't give details of the location or cause of death.
Brazda was sent to the Nazis' Buchenwald concentration camp in August 1942 and held there until its liberation by U.S. forces in 1945.
Nazi Germany declared homosexuality an aberration that threatened the German race, and convicted some 50,000 homosexuals as criminals. An estimated 10,000 to 15,000 gay men were deported to concentration camps, where few survived.
When a memorial to the Nazis' gay victims was unveiled in Berlin in 2008, the LSVD said the last ex-prisoner that it knew of had died three years earlier. But the group said it was then contacted by Brazda, who visited the memorial at its invitation and became an honorary member.
Brazda was born in 1913. He grew up in the eastern German town of Meuselwitz and repeatedly ran into trouble with Nazi authorities over his homosexuality before being sent to Buchenwald.
Brazda lived in the Alsace region of eastern France after World War II. Earlier this year, he was named a knight in the country's Legion of Honor.
Berlin's openly gay mayor, Klaus Wowereit, who met Brazda in 2008, said he learned with regret of his death.
"He is an example of how important the work of remembrance is for our future," Wowereit said. "Fewer and fewer people can give information about repression under the Nazi dictatorship authentically and from their own experience."
Rudolf Brazda
In Memory
Bubba Smith
Former NFL star Bubba Smith, who went from feared defensive end on the field to endearing giant in his successful second career as an actor, died Wednesday. He was 66.
The top overall pick in the 1967 draft after a sensational career at Michigan State, the 6-foot-7 Smith spent five seasons with the Baltimore Colts and two seasons each with Oakland and Houston. He won the 1971 Super Bowl with the Colts.
One of the best pass rushers in the game, Smith often drew two blockers, yet was effective enough to make two Pro Bowls and one All-Pro team. His best work, though, came in college, and Smith was enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame in 1988.
As an actor his most memorable role was playing Moses Hightower, the soft-spoken officer in the "Police Academy" series. He also appeared in such television series as "Good Times," ''Charlie's Angels," and "Half Nelson," and was a regular in the ground-breaking Miller Lite commercials featuring retired players.
Born Charles Aaron Smith, he played in high school for his father, Willie Ray Smith, in Beaumont, Texas, before heading to Michigan State, where he was an All-American in 1966.
At Michigan State he played on some of the school's greatest teams under coach Duffy Daugherty and was one of its best players. Fans in East Lansing, Mich., would chant, "Kill, Bubba, Kill" during games and his No. 95 jersey was retired in 2006.
Smith was part of two of the most famous football games ever played. In 1966, he was at Michigan State when the Spartans and Notre Dame, both undefeated, played to a 10-10 tie. Michigan State finished second behind the top-ranked Fighting Irish that season.
In 1965 and '66, Smith helped Michigan State go 19-1-1 and win consecutive Big Ten titles.
In 1969, Smith played for the Colts against the New York Jets in the Super Bowl. Led by Joe Namath, the Jets of the AFL upset the NFL champion Colts 16-7 in Miami.
Bubba Smith
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