Recommended Reading
from Bruce
PAUL THOMPSON: Cliffhanger! Lion cub saved by mum in dramatic scenes caught on camera as he cries out pitifully for help (Daily Mail)
Clinging on for dear life to the side of a vertical cliff, the tiny lion cub cries out pitifully for help. His mother arrives at the edge of the precipice with three other lionesses and a male. The females start to clamber down together but turn back daunted by the sheer drop. Eventually one single factor determines which of them will risk her life to save the youngster - motherly love.
Tom Danehy: Pima Community College's admissions changes deserve a hearty round of applause (Tucson Weekly)
Personally, I believe that college freshmen should be reading, writing and doing math at the bare-minimum level of college freshmen! What a concept, huh? Of course, if that were strictly enforced, you'd be able to find parking at any time of day on the UA campus, and Arizona State University would look like The Rapture had hit Tempe. However, in this kid-coddling culture of ours, that's probably expecting too much. But, at the same time, isn't allowing someone with a seventh-grade-level of education to enter college expecting way too little?
Andrew Tobias: IN AMERICA, SHOULD POOR PEOPLE EVEN BE ALLOWED TO VOTE?
So I say: Let even poor people vote. And if they should wind up electing another Clinton or Obama again, and if the wealthy do have to pay tax at no lower rates than their secretaries - as was the case under Ronald Reagan - never fear: it will be good for the country. Even, ultimately, for the rich.
Froma Harrop: The Middle Class and Its Entitlements (Creators Syndicate)
To what are Americans entitled? Government-guaranteed health coverage in old age? Government-guaranteed health coverage at any age? Subsidized housing if they're low income? Subsidized food? Subsidies for growing wheat but not making shoes? Subsidies for homeowning?
Farhad Manjoo: Will Robots Steal Your Job? (Slate)
You're highly educated. You make a lot of money. You should still be afraid.
Susan Estrich: Traffic Again (Creators Syndicate)
Traffic, again. Or maybe I should say very light traffic.
Aaron Barnhart, "Sample this show! Use of 'fair use' is growing" (McClatchy Newspapers)
"The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" has won nine straight Emmys as TV's best talk show. But it has another legacy you probably don't know about.
The immaculate conception of Andy Warhol's women (Guardian)
First there was Marilyn, then Liz, then Jackie. In 1974, Andy Warhol started painting Bardot. Jonathan Jones on the pop artist's women.
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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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
More 'June Gloom' in September.
Tops US Album Chart For First Time
Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett made music history Wednesday when he topped the Billboard album chart for the first time in his 60-year career -- and became the oldest living act ever to do so.
Bennett, 85, a 15-time Grammy winner who plays London and Copenhagen next week, reached the summit with "Duets II" featuring collaborations with 17 other stars including Lady Gaga, Michael Buble and the late Amy Winehouse.
"Duets II" sold 179,000 copies in its first week, Billboard said, despite Bennett's remarks on the Howard Stern radio show that US policy was to blame for the 9/11 attacks. He later issued an apology.
The native New Yorker who famously sang "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" has sold more than 50 million records in a career that goes back to 1951 when he spent 10 weeks atop the Billboard singles chart with "Because of You."
Tony Bennett
Thursday Night
Ig Nobel Awards
In the ultimate accolade for the world's mad scientists, spoof Nobel prizes were awarded Thursday for studies into beetle sex, yawning, the desperation of people dying to urinate, and other daffy investigations.
The annual Ig Nobel prizes, now in their 21st year, were given out at Harvard University in front of 1,200 spectators, with real Nobel Prize winners handing out the honors.
To win, scientists must "first make people laugh, and then make them think," according to the Ig Nobel ethos.
The biology prize -- often a good source of humor at the Igs -- went to Darryl Gwynne of Canada, Australia and the United States, and David Rentz of Australia, for their ground breaking paper titled: "Beetles on the Bottle: Male Buprestids Mistake Stubbis For Females."
Which to the layman translates as: beetles tragically attempting to mate with an Australian beer bottle.
Ig Nobel Awards
Ig Nobel Award Winners
New York Times Uses
Emoticon
The story that is leading the New York Times homepage at the time of this writing on Thursday uses an emoticon in its headline. A smiley-face replaces the word "Happy" atop an article by Benedict Carey about a study on the emotional patterns of Twitter users.
It is a watershed moment for the paper of record. In 2007, an article by Alex Williams about emoticons featured a headline that was bookended by them--"(-: Just Between You and Me ;-)"--and in a 2002 article about a milestone in evolution of the smiley-face ("Happy Birthday :-) to You: A Smiley Face Turns 20") but Thursday's headline appears to be the first time an emoticon was used to convey information in a headline.
"Just to be clear, the :) is not in the print headline or the e-headline sent to electronic devices," Jacob Harris, a senior software architect at the Times, explained on Twitter. "It's just some homepage fun."
The paper is believed to have first used an emoticon in print in 1862, when a typo in the transcript of a speech by President Abraham Lincoln created a winking smiley-face.
As NPR's Eric Athas pointed out on Twitter, during an episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" this year, Larry David worried that this would happen.
Emoticon
Grandchildren Get Reality Series
Nelson Mandela
Apparently unable to resist the lure of reality TV family fame experienced by the Kardashians and the Osbournes before them, three of Nelson Mandela's grandchildren have announced that they will star in their own reality TV series, tentatively set for 2012.
The South Africa Mail & Guardian Online reports the Mandela relatives announced their new show today, saying the series will be about "our lives as young, black women … We're not wearing 'I'm a Mandela' T-shirts," said Swati Dlamini, Winnie Mandela's granddaughter.
Added cousin Dorothy Adjoa Amuah, a socialite and attorney, "We're definitely not the African Kardashians."
Nelson Mandela and the parents of the reality show stars -- who grew up in the United States and returned to South Africa for business and personal pursuits -- will not appear on the series. But producer Rick Leed said the show is "not going to detract from the dignity of Nelson Mandela."
Nelson Mandela
Appeals Court Upholds Prison Sentence
Richard Hatch
A federal appeals court has upheld a nine-month prison sentence for Richard Hatch, the winner of the first season of the CBS reality show "Survivor."
Hatch, of Newport, R.I., spent more than three years in prison for not paying taxes on his $1 million "Survivor" winnings. He was released in 2009 and ordered to refile his 2000 and 2001 taxes and pay what he owed.
The 50-year-old has been in prison since March for violating the terms of his supervised release by failing to settle his tax bill.
The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston last week rejected Hatch's claim that paying his back taxes would be "futile" or "impossible" given his Tax Court case. The decision was made public in U.S. District Court in Providence on Wednesday.
Richard Hatch
Trashes New York Times
Rummy
Donald Rumsfeld blasted The New York Times on Wednesday, saying the publication has "deteriorated" over the decades and is "no longer a relevant newspaper."
The former defense secretary, who made headlines on Monday by announcing on Twitter that he had canceled his subscription after Times columnist Paul Krugman penned a blog post calling the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks "an occasion for shame," unloaded on the paper in an interview on Fox News.
"I must say, when I read that, it was kind of the last straw for me," Rumsfeld said in reference to Krugman's post. "I remember The New York Times in the old days when, you know, people liked Scotty Reston and Bill Safire used to write for them, and now it's gotten to the point where, where, they promote things like Krugman and the outrageous repugnant things he says, as well as others, and I decided that I could, in fact, go 'Times-less'."
Rumsfeld, who said he had started reading the Sunday New York Times in 1950 during his college years, added that by ending his subscription, he "really wasn't sending any message," but that he simply no longer wanted to use his "hard-earned blood money" to pay for a paper that promotes Krugman's work.
Krugman's blog post , published Sunday on the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attack under the headline, "The Years of Shame," called what happened after the atrocity "deeply shameful."
Rummy
Sanity Prevails
Faith-Healing Trial
A couple who prayed and rubbed olive oil on their sick infant rather than seek medical care for the dying boy was convicted Thursday of manslaughter, becoming the latest members of an Oregon faith-healing church to be blamed in their child's death.
Dale and Shannon Hickman, both 26, are members of the Followers of Christ Church, which has a history of rejecting medical care for congregants' children and relying instead on techniques such as prayer and anointing the sick with oils.
Five other church members have been convicted in Clackamas County for crimes related to the rejection of medical care for their children, said Greg Horner, chief deputy district attorney.
The Hickmans' conviction on second-degree manslaughter charges typically requires a mandatory minimum sentence of six years in prison. But because of a religious exemption in state law at time of the crime, the couple likely will face no more than 18 months in prison and a $250,000 fine, The Oregonian reported.
Faith-Healing Trial
NYC Exhibit
Jewelry
An enamel black-and-white brooch by Roy Lichtenstein that recalls his pop art designs. A bold gilt-painted necklace twisted into a bowtie by Frank Stella inspired by his sculptural forms and reliefs.
These wearable works of art are at once different but recognizable as the designs of their creators, and are among nearly 200 one-of-a-kind and limited edition jewelry pieces in a new exhibition at the Museum of Arts and Design.
"Picasso to Koons: Artist as Jeweler" features bold, whimsical and even wacky creations, all conceived to be worn, by some of the most noted artists of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Culled from private collections, the show features jewelry by 135 artists, including masters Georges Braque, Max Ernst, Alexander Calder, Salvador Dali, Man Ray, modern artists Arman, Cesar, Robert Rauschenberg, Louise Nevelson and contemporary artists John Chamberlain and Anish Kapoor.
The show will surprise many visitors because "people don't know that these artists did jewelry," said Diane Venet, the exhibition's guest curator. "It's a very intimate part of their work and their life."
Jewelry
Where Workers Are Most Likely to Smoke
Industries
People who work in the mining industry are more likely to smoke than workers in any other industry in the U.S., according to a report released today (Sept. 29) by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The report estimated that 30 percent of mining workers smoke; the rate is 19.3 percent among all U.S. adults.
Workplace tobacco control interventions have been effective in reducing smoking rates, and because the decades-long decline in the U.S. smoking rate has slowed in recent years, the CDC analyzed data that broke down smoking rates by industry and occupation, the report said.
The second-highest rate was seen in people working in the accommodation and food services industry. They also had a smoking rate of 30 percent (the rate's range among mining industry workers extended higher, giving them a higher rank in the report). Those in construction had the third-highest rate, with 29.7 percent, the report said.
Industries
Gets Second Chance
Sculptor
He was pilloried by the Vatican for creating a sculpture of Pope John Paul II that some mockingly say looks more like Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini than the beloved late pontiff. Now artist Oliviero Rainaldi has a chance at redemption.
The sculptor recently agreed to carry out changes decided upon by a committee of art experts, culture officials and scholars.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Rainaldi accepted the bad press and said it was all part of the work of being an artist.
The unveiling last spring of the nearly 5-meter (16-foot) tall bronze outside the city's main train station bewildered the public and triggered salvos of sarcasm from the Vatican's art reviewer - prompting Mayor Gianni Alemanno to appoint the committee.
The Vatican's acid pen was even more startling given Rainaldi's impeccable credentials. Committee member Buranelli, a former director of the Vatican Museums, hailed a mystical vein in Rainaldi's work in a commentary about his art in a coffee-table book.
Sculptor
Cable Nielsens
Ratings
Rankings for the top 15 programs on cable networks as compiled by Nielsen for the week of Sept. 19-25. Day and start time (EDT) are in parentheses:
1. NFL Football: St. Louis Rams at New York Giants (Monday, 8:30 p.m.), ESPN, 8.92 million homes, 11.92 million viewers.
2. "Jersey Shore" (Thursday, 10 p.m.), MTV, 4.82 million homes, 6.49 million viewers.
3. Republican Presidential Debate (Thursday, 9 p.m.), Fox News Channel, 4.58 million homes, 6.13 million viewers.
4. Republican Presidential Debate (Thursday, 10 p.m.), Fox News Channel, 4.44 million homes, 6.08 million viewers.
5. Comedy Central Roast: Charlie Sheen (Monday, 10 p.m.), Comedy Central, 4.38 million homes, 6.43 million viewers.
6. "Jeff Dunham: Controlled Chaos" (Sunday, 9 p.m.), Comedy Central, 3.54 million homes, 5.49 million viewers.
7. Nascar Sprint Cup Post Race (Sunday, 5:07 p.m.), ESPN, 3.07 million homes, 4.43 million viewers.
8. Nascar Sprint Cup (Sunday, 2 p.m.), ESPN, 3.06 million homes, 4.24 million viewers.
9. WWE Entertainment ("WWE Raw") (Monday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.05 million homes, 4.43 million viewers.
10. "Teen Mom" (Tuesday, 10 p.m.), MTV, 2.94 million viewers, 3.84 million viewers.
11. WWE Entertainment ("WWE Raw") (Monday, 10 p.m.), USA, 2.93 million homes, 4.22 million viewers.
12. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.92 million homes, 4.05 million viewers.
13. "NCIS" (Monday, 8 p.m.), USA, 2.91 million homes, 3.84 million viewers.
14. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.83 million homes, 3.88 million viewers.
15. "Pawn Stars" (Monday, 10:30 p.m.), History, 2.81 million homes, 3.83 million viewers.
Ratings
In Memory
Tatyana Lioznova
Russian film and TV director Tatyana Lioznova, best known for her series "Seventeen Moments of Spring (AKA: "Semnadtsat mgnoveniy vesny")," died on Thursday in Moscow, state TV reported. She was 87.
The Muscovite was a darling of the Soviet film industry, directing much-loved classics such as "Three Poplars at Plyushchikha Street" and "The Carnival," which centered around life in the Russian capital.
Born to a Jewish family, her 1958 directorial debut "The Memory of the Heart" thrust her into the center of the Soviet artists' elite.
Lioznova reached the pinnacle of her fame directing "Seventeen Moments of Spring." Putin, a former KGB spy who served in Germany, has described the 1973 series featuring a Soviet agent who thwarts Nazis, as one of his favorites.
Tatyana Lioznova
In Memory
Mo Rothman
The movie studio executive who helped revive interest in silent movie icon Charlie Chaplin and orchestrated the aging star's return to the U.S. 40 years ago has died in Los Angeles. Mo Rothman was 92.
His family tells the Los Angeles Times that Rothman died on Sept. 15. The New York Times reported Monday that his wife, Lyn, confirmed the death.
Rothman was a United Artists manager when he met Chaplin in the 1950s.
Chaplin's image was later tarnished by sex scandals and liberal politics. He moved to Switzerland with the rights to his movies in a bitter, self-imposed exile.
In 1971, Rothman led a group who paid Chaplin for access to his films.
A year later, Chaplin visited the United States in what became a triumphant return.
Mo Rothman
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