Recommended Reading
from Bruce
MATTHEW O'BRIEN: Mitt Romney Would Pay 0.82 Percent in Taxes Under Paul Ryan's Plan (Atlantic)
Paul Ryan's plan is a path to prosperity for Mitt Romney.
Froma Harrop: Spending We Can Believe In (Creators Syndicate)
Now, I don't mind if, at times of high unemployment, government spends more money to help create jobs, but I'm one of them. If boosting employment is the mission, then defense spending should be competing with highway construction and bridge fixing, which are both labor-intensive and dire needs.
Mark Fisher: "Time-wars" (Gonzo Circus)
Time rather than money is the currency in the recent science fiction film "In Time." At the age of 25, the citizens in the future world the film depicts are given only a year more to live. To survive any longer, they must earn extra time. The decadent rich have centuries of empty time available to fritter away, while the poor are always only days or hours away from death. In Time is, in effect, the first science fiction film about precarity - a condition that describes an existential predicament as much as it refers to a particular way of organising work.
Paul Krugman: "Romney/Ryan: The Real Target" (New York Times)
… many commentators want to tell a story about US politics that makes them feel and look good - a story in which both parties are equally at fault in our national stalemate, and in which said commentators stand above the fray. This story requires that there be good, honest, technically savvy conservative politicians, so that you can point to these politicians and say how much you admire them, even if you disagree with some of their ideas; after all, unless you lavish praise on some conservatives, you don't come across as nobly even-handed.
Ray Fisman: Should You Trust Online Reviews? (Slate)
Yes and no.
Anne D'Innocenzio: Rich toddlers draw fashion designers' eyes (Associated Press)
Juliet Sandler dresses in the latest $650 dresses and $400 shoes from Parisian fashion house Lanvin. Juliet is 3.
Sarah Hughes: Queens of noir (Guardian)
A new wave of crime writers are bringing dark female characters out of the shadows.
Ice Cube Recipe (Food.com)
I am publishing this recipe, because I am sure that there are other families who have members who don't know how or have forgotten how ...
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
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David Bruce's Blog
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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Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Music Video
"My Brother"
Nhojj music video - "My Brother"
The response to "My Brother" music video is so heartwarming we just have to share it with you.
"My Brother" - Watch now! - Enjoy and share.
Ron
Thanks, Ron!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still way too hot.
Time, CNN Reinstate
Fareed Zakaria
Time magazine and CNN said on Thursday they were reinstating journalist Fareed Zakaria after suspending him last week for plagiarism.
Time said in a statement that it believed Zakaria made an "unintentional error" in what was an "isolated incident" in a recent column on gun control for the magazine that he took from another writer.
Cable news channel CNN said that after a thorough internal review of Zakaria's work on his Sunday TV shows, blogs and documentaries, "we found nothing that merited continuing the suspension."
Zakaria studied at Yale and Harvard, was managing editor of Foreign Affairs magazine, then editor of Newsweek International for 10 years before moving to CNN in 2010.
Fareed Zakaria
Blasts PETA
Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga is fighting back against PETA, after the animal-rights organization blasted her for seeming to wear fur.
While acknowledging that she respects the animal rights movement, the "Poker Face" singer lays into the more militant factions of the movement, accusing them of waging "violent, abusive and childish campaigns."
"To the fans," Gaga wrote in a blog post on her website. "I want you to know that I care deeply about your feelings and views, and I will always support your philosophies about life ... I do not however support violent, abusive, and childish campaigns for ANY CAUSE. Particularly one that I respect. 'Animal Rights.'"
The singer also makes no apologies for wearing clothes derived from animals, whether it's alligator-skin accessories or the meat dress she infamously wore to the MTV Video Music Awards a couple of years ago. As far as Gaga is concerned, if it's in the name of art and/or fashion, it's fair game.
"I have truly always stayed away from skinned fur, especially I have never been able to afford a nice one, but this does not mean my morals are rigid and that I won't bend at the sight of an absolute art piece of a coat," Gaga asserts. "I have no chains about this. You see a carcass, I see a museum pièce de résistance."
Lady Gaga
Government Website Hacked
Uganda
Gay rights activists hacked several Ugandan government websites on Thursday to denounce what they see as the harassment of homosexuals in the east African country, the government said.
A controversial bill that initially proposed hanging gays in the conservative country is before a parliamentary committee, where its progress appears to have stalled.
A hacker who used the Twitter social media name @PinkNinj4 defaced several government websites including those of the prime minister's office, parliament, the Uganda Securities Exchange and Uganda Law Society, a government statement said.
The proposed legislation, first introduced in parliament in 2009, has pitted veteran President Yoweri Museveni against the evangelical church on one side and donors on the other.
Denounced as "odious" by U.S. President Barack Obama, the proposed legislation has been widely condemned outside Africa, a continent where homosexuality is illegal in 37 countries.
Uganda
Indiana Museum Discovers Glass Piece
Pablo Picasso
An Indiana museum plans to sell a work of glass art by Pablo Picasso that sat unnoticed in storage for nearly 50 years.
The Evansville Museum says the piece titled "Seated Woman with Red Hat" was donated to the museum in 1963.
Museum officials say it was cataloged as art inspired by a design for a Picasso painting but credited to an artist named Gemmaux. That name turned out to be plural for "gemmail," which is the type of glass used in the work.
President Steven Krohn told the Evansville Courier & Press that trustees decided to have New York auction house Guernsey's sell the piece because of the costs to display, secure, preserve and insure it.
Pablo Picasso
A&E Cancels
Gene Simmons
The A&E Network is kissing Gene Simmons and his family goodbye.
The network and the KISS guitarist said that the "Gene Simmons Family Jewels" reality show is ending after seven seasons. Once one of the network's top-rated shows, it has faded over time.
Simmons said that with KISS on tour and his other business commitments, he and his family have decided to move on from the show. It depicted his out-of-makeup life with his colorful family.
A&E said it thanked Simmons and his family for opening up their lives, warts and all.
Gene Simmons
Loses Appeal
Hustler
Hustler Inc had no right to publish the photograph of an Ohio TV news anchor dancing in a wet T-shirt contest without her permission, a federal appeals court ruled on Thursday.
The Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Court of Appeals rejected the pornography publisher's argument that its use of the image was protected under the First Amendment.
Catherine Bosley, then 37 and a news anchor for a CBS television affiliate in Ohio, was competing in a wet T-shirt contest while on vacation in Florida in 2003 when an amateur photographer snapped pictures of her without her knowledge. She lost her job after the images surfaced on the Internet.
Bosley and her husband negotiated with the photographer for rights to the photos, which they registered with the U.S. Copyright Office in 2004. Two years later, Hustler Magazine published one of the revealing photos in its "Hot News Babes" series, and Bosley sued.
A jury awarded Bosley $135,000 for copyright infringement as well as attorney's fees.
Hustler
Wasn't Fired
Nicollette Sheridan
A California appeals court says actress Nicollette Sheridan is not entitled to a new trial on her claim that she was wrongfully fired from "Desperate Housewives."
But a three-member panel of the 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled Thursday that the actress should be allowed to file an amended lawsuit claiming she was retaliated against because she complained about her boss.
The court agreed with ABC attorneys that Sheridan's contract simply was not renewed. Her attorneys had contended the evidence supports their theory that she was fired because she claimed she was hit in the head by series creator Marc Cherry.
In March jurors deadlocked after a two-week trial, with the panel siding eight votes to four for the actress.
Nicollette Sheridan
Chris Brown, Drake Sued
W.i.P.
Chris Brown and Drake were sued Wednesday over a bottle-throwing nightclub brawl involving their entourages, as a company with ties to the club sought to hold the music stars responsible for the melee.
Brown's representatives had no immediate comment about the $16 million lawsuit, and Drake's representatives didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. The suit faulted the artists for - at a minimum - doing nothing to stop the June 14 melee and said it sullied the chic Manhattan nightspot's name.
Brown and Drake should bear blame for a glass-flinging, broken-bottle-swinging free-for-all in a crowded club "in circumvention of the venue's extensive security measures," says the lawsuit, filed by Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. The company owns the trademark for Greenhouse; the owners of the club itself aren't involved in the lawsuit and declined to comment.
No criminal charges have been filed in the fight, which left Brown, NBA star Tony Parker and others injured. Police say the fracas started after members of Drake's entourage confronted Brown on the dance floor as he was leaving the club's basement lounge, called W.i.P. Drake's representatives have said he was on his way out and didn't injure anyone.
The lawsuit, however, points to news accounts of bad blood between Brown and Drake, both of whom have dated singer Rihanna. Entertainment Enterprises believes the two men instigated, encouraged, or at least failed to stop the fight, lawyer Andrew T. Miltenberg said.
W.i.P.
Charged With DUI
Joe Simpson
Los Angeles prosecutors are charging the father of singers Jessica and Ashley Simpson with two counts of drunken driving after his arrest earlier this month.
City attorney's spokesman Frank Mateljan said Wednesday that 54-year-old Joe Simpson faces a maximum sentence of 6 months in jail, 36 months of probation and a $1,000 fine.
He was arrested Aug. 4 after authorities say he registered a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 percent or above at a DUI checkpoint in the Sherman Oaks area.
Simpson is a former minister. He helped make stars of his two daughters by managing their singing careers.
Joe Simpson
WWII Naval Dispatch Auctioned
V-J Day
A rare military cable heralding the end of World War II has fetched more than $20,000 at auction.
The naval dispatch announced the end of hostilities with Japan. It was received aboard the USS Holland on Aug. 15, 1945, days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and was kept in a crewman's shoebox for more than 60 years.
Northeastern Pennsylvania auctioneer Kirk Williams sold the historic 8-inch-by-6.5-inch dispatch to a buyer from Nevada on Wednesday - the 67th anniversary of V-J Day. The lot included other World War II-era documents and photographs taken by Navy veteran Bob York, who died in February at age 91.
The 112-word dispatch from President Harry S. Truman's navy secretary said, in part: "All hands of the United States Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard may take satisfaction in the conclusion of the war against Japan."
V-J Day
Acoustic Smog
Right Whales
Researchers say increasing amounts of underwater noise, largely from shipping traffic, are enveloping rare right whales in "acoustic smog" that makes it harder for them to communicate.
The endangered North Atlantic right whale relies far more on sound than sight, using distinctive noises to maintain contact.
A paper by federal scientists and Cornell University researchers published Wednesday estimates that in the last 50 years, the area where the whales can effectively communicate in Stellwagen Bank and surrounding waters off Massachusetts has fallen by two-thirds because of the noise.
The researchers say the racket is cutting down on the animals' ability to gather and share vital information that helps them find food, avoid predators, reproduce and protect their young.
"Basically, the whales off Boston now find themselves living in a world full of our acoustic smog," said Christopher Clark, director of Cornell's bioacoustics research program and a study co-author.
Right Whales
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) Kenny Chesney / Tim McGraw; $4,027,546; $88.13.
2. (2) Roger Waters; $2,311,102; $110.86.
3. (3) Cirque du Soleil - "Michael Jackson: The Immortal"; $1,399,584; $111.08.
4. (4) Dave Matthews Band; $1,354,667; $54.40.
5. (6) Brad Paisley; $785,536; $44.06.
6. (7) Drake; $783,513; $56.96.
7. (9) Nickelback; $726,891; $67.67.
8. (8) Jason Aldean; $720,548; $40.29.
9. (New) Rascal Flatts; $635,328; $36.10.
10. (10) Iron Maiden; $603,741; $55.21.
11. (12) The Beach Boys; $571,562; $69.16.
12. (13) One Direction; $499,246; $43.06.
13. (11) Blue Man Group; $498,189; $56.05.
14. (15) Lady Antebellum; $473,296; $38.57.
15. (New) Wiz Khalifa / Mac Miller; $454,817; $26.14.
16. (14) The Black Keys; $452,171; $48.90.
17. (16) "Vans Warped Tour"; $448,774; $31.88.
18. (17) Miranda Lambert; $429,674; $34.44.
19. (18) Il Divo; $373,136; $89.35.
20. (19) John Mellencamp; $345,769; $78.74.
Concert Tours
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