Recommended Reading
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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'
BadtotheboneBob
Reader Comment
Uma Thurman...
I Absolutely love her new baby's name: Rosalind Arusha Arkadina Altalune Florence Thurman-Busson ( you can call her "Luna" - cool name, that )...
But, then, I absolutely love Uma Thurman...
As Mia Wallace in 'Pulp Fiction' she truly was 'The Bomb'...
BttbBob
Thanks, B2tbBob!
'Hatched' 10/17/12
Gulf Fritillary Butterfly
Reader Comments
Opinion :)
Hi Marty,
I watched the Presidential, "Debate" on Tuesday night from my bed. As soon as it was over, and pre, 'discussion,' I turned off my TV. I then reached over and snapped on my radio, and the AM station WABC came on air. The commentator was wildly exclaiming how WONDERFUL Romney was, "Standing up to the President!" "Clearly Governor Romney was the winner," he joyfully told the listeners... ("What, was there another debate?" I thought to myself.)
I flipped the dial to NPR, and while not declaring Romney the winner, they were sure tiptoeing around saying nothing really positive about the President!!
I was SO disgusted (my morning care kids arrive at 6 AM and wanted top get to sleep) I flipped the dial to VOR and decided to listen to the news from Russia, in lieu of the claptrap on the regular radio.
Boy, was I surprised as they had Thom Hartman on air, giving a decidedly different review of the Debate, and calling Mr Romney out for his lies, misrepresentations, and flip-flops he displayed that night!!
I wondered if your readers were aware to this station, and if they can receive it in their areas of the country. I started listening to it because I was married for many years to a man from the Eastern blocked countries, and spent much time in Europe. The show features Russians living abroad, and their stores and views of the USA. If you are interested in 'both sides of the story' this is the show for you!
There are shows on the environment, germ warfare and how it is being tested, the truth of N America energy independence, economics, ethnic shows AWA the news from that part of the world. Only this morning, there was a great piece on Private Bradley Manning (who passed military secrets on to Julian Assange) and how reporters who did the same from Watergate are revered, and he is being condemned for trying to let the public know about truly scary secrets... The difference is that Woodward and Bernstein play nice with the government, while Manning is being politically crucified...
FYI: Voice of Russia - U.S. Edition. Washington, D.C. based 24/7 radio station. On air since May 2011. Frequency: 1390 AM in Washington, D.C. and 1430 AM in New York City.
From May 2011 the programs of The Voice of Russia broadcasted in the United States are produced directly on the premises of the U.S. studio. The programs are produced by local editorial staff of American and Russian journalists and editors.
VoR in Washington, D.C. broadcasts 7 days a week, 6 hours a day (3 hours in the morning and evening prime-time) and are part of the 24-hour program schedule of broadcasting from Moscow to the USA.
If you can get the station, please give it a try.
Yest' khoroshiy den' (Have a good day)
Sally P
Thanks, Sally!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
The marine layer has returned!
All Five Captains
Star Trek
Klingons, Romulans, Vulcans and thousands of Star Trek fans will descend on London this weekend to celebrate one of the world's best-loved television and film franchises at a convention that will have all five starship captains in attendance.
"Destination Star Trek London" will see captains, played by actors William Shatner (Captain Kirk), Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard), Avery Brooks (Captain Sisko), Kate Mulgrew (Captain Janeway) and Scott Bakula (Captain Archer), mingle with "trekkies" at a three-day convention in London's ExCel arena.
A replica of the bridge of the starship Enterprise, a Klingon zone and a museum dedicated to the 46-year-old series have been erected in the ExCel for the gathering, which starts on Friday.
Organisers have taken a cue from the annual Star Trek convention in Las Vegas by creating a schedule that combines appearances from 30 Star Trek celebrities with special events, including a stunt show and a Klingon-speaking workshop.
Star Trek
Satellite News Disrupted
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corp. says someone is deliberately disrupting its broadcasts in the Middle East and Europe - interference that follows previous accusations that Iran has attempted to jam the broadcaster's transmissions.
In a statement, the BBC said together with other broadcasters it had experienced "deliberate, intermittent interference" Thursday to its transmissions, including BBC World News, BBC Arabic television channels and BBC World Service radio channels broadcast in English and Arabic.
It did not name any specific suspect for the interference. Britain's Foreign Office, which said it was working to help address the problem, also declined to speculate on the culprit.
International broadcasters have previously accused Iran of increasing its intimidation of foreign media and accelerating efforts to jam satellite broadcasts from reaching Iranian audiences.
BBC
Digital-Only In 2013
Newsweek
After years of losing money, Newsweek announced on Thursday that it will stop printing its magazine and become a digital-only publication.
"Newsweek will transition to an all-digital format in early 2013," editor Tina Brown wrote in an email to employees early on Thursday. "As part of this transition, the last print edition in the U.S. will be our December 31st issue."
The new all-digital publication, called Newsweek Global, "will be a single, worldwide edition," Brown wrote. The e-magazine will be supported by paid subscriptions and made available for e-readers for both tablet and the Web, with some content available on The Daily Beast.
According to Bloomberg.com, Newsweek is projected to lose as much as $22 million, according to the Publishers Information Bureau-a dismal year following an even worse 2010, when ad pages plummeted nearly 20 percent.
Newsweek
"Now My Newsweek Covers Mean Nothing"
T-rump Whines
Donald Trump is feeling Newsweek's pain - right in his trophy case.
The "Apprentice" star and presidential campaign flirt took to Twitter Thursday to put the magazine's decision to end its print edition in the proper context.
"Now my Newsweek covers mean nothing - they lost all credibility," Trump tweeted. "TIME to follow?"
T-rump Whines
NBC Puts It To Sleep
'Animal Practice'
NBC said Thursday it's pulling the low-rated sitcom "Animal Practice," with the last episode to air Nov. 7.
The series stars Justin Kirk ("Weeds") as a veterinarian at a New York animal hospital. His co-stars include Crystal, a Capuchin monkey with the "Hangover" movie sequel among her credits.
"Animal Practice" had the dubious distinction of annoying Olympic viewers: NBC interrupted the Summer Games' closing ceremony to air the sitcom's debut episode.
"Animal Practice" will be replaced by "Whitney," starring Whitney Cummings, which returns for its second-season debut 8 p.m. Eastern, Wednesday, Nov. 14.
'Animal Practice'
'Celebrity Sperm' Bank
Fame Daddy
A British television network says it was duped by an actor pretending to be the chief of celebrity paternity service Fame Daddy.
ITV's "This Morning" program carried an interview Wednesday with a man identified as Dan Richards. He said his company would match women with famous and affluent sperm donors.
Several newspapers also ran stories about Fame Daddy, whose slick website claims a roster of donors including an Olympic gold medalist and a Formula 1 driver.
But its promotional video posted on Twitter appears to be a spoof. "Are you unsuccessful in sport and business? Are you fat?" it asks. "Then I would advise you to please stop breeding."
Fame Daddy
Fabulist Resigns
Dinesh D'Souza
The conservative scholar behind a high-grossing film that condemns President Barack Obama has resigned as head of an evangelical college.
The King's College in New York announced Dinesh D'Souza's resignation Thursday. Its board had been meeting about the school president and his relationship with a woman who is not his wife.
The evangelical magazine WORLD reported that the long-married D'Souza was also engaged to the woman. WORLD reported that he brought the woman to a Christian values event last month and introduced her as his fiancee. D'Souza filed for divorce in California a few days after the conference.
D'Souza has denied any wrongdoing. He said he and his wife separated two years ago. He could not be immediately reached for comment Thursday.
Dinesh D'Souza
LAPD's Bid For Tapes
Charlie Manson
A federal judge in Texas has blocked an attempt by Los Angeles police to use a search warrant to obtain the decades-old taped conversations between Manson family disciple Charles "Tex" Watson and his now-deceased attorney.
U.S. District Judge Richard A. Schell's ruling earlier this month stopped authorities from executing a search warrant for the office of the bankruptcy trustee who has the tapes.
The search warrant would have allowed the LAPD to circumvent a court order making the tapes off limits while Schell considers Watson's appeal of a previous ruling in bankruptcy court.
The LAPD believes he may have discussed other, unsolved murders with attorney Bill Boyd, who died in 2009.
Charlie Manson
Files Reveal Long History
Boy Scouts
A popular Colorado Boy Scout leader named Floyd Slusher allegedly had a strategy when it came to molesting boys: He first plied his victims with alcohol, then abused them and threatened to kill anyone who talked.
On one occasion in 1976, according to police, Slusher told a Scout as he undressed the child that "what I'm going to do now, if I get arrested, after I get out of jail, I'll come after you and your family."
It wasn't the first time that he had been accused of abusing a Scout - an investigator later concluded there were too many victims to interview - nor was it the first time that Boy Scouts of America leaders had been told about the alleged assaults.
Slusher, who was convicted of sexually abusing a child in 1977, is among those named in 1,247 files on suspected and convicted pedophiles that the Boy Scouts kept from public view until Thursday, when they were released under a judge's order.
The roughly 20,000 pages of files lay bare disturbing incidents of child sexual abuse within one of America's most respected organizations between 1965 and 1985 and illustrate its long struggle to keep pedophiles out of its ranks.
Boy Scouts
Civil Trial Opens
Britney Spears' Parents
Britney Spears' former confidante was made a scapegoat for her mental breakdown despite efforts to keep the singer from using drugs, his attorney told a jury Thursday in a case against the pop superstar's parents and conservators.
Attorney Joseph Schleimer told the panel that Sam Lutfi was trying to help the singer but lost control in a series of events that led to her being hospitalized and placed under a court-ordered conservator. Lutfi is also seeking a share of the singer's fortunes, claiming he had an agreement to serve as her manager in exchange for 15 percent of her earnings.
Schleimer conceded the case would be a complicated one. His opening statements included flashing photos of Spears with a shaved head and striking n SUV with an umbrella. He said one of Lutfi's first actions after being hired as manager was having drug-sniffing dogs search the singer's hilltop home.
Schleimer claimed Spears favored amphetamines and that the dogs turned up a substance the Grammy-winner told Lutfi was probably crystal meth.
Lutfi is seeking millions of dollars from Spears and her family, claiming her mother's book lied about him drugging and isolating the pop superstar. He is also seeking a portion of the singer's profits, claiming he was a key player in her 2007 album "Blackout" and had the right to serve as her manager for years.
Britney Spears' Parents
Turkish Pianist On Trial
Fazil Say
A top Turkish pianist and composer appeared in court on Thursday to defend himself against charges of offending Muslims and insulting Islam in comments he made on Twitter.
Fazil Say, who has played with the New York Philharmonic, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra and others, is on trial for sending tweets that included one in April that joked about a call to prayer that lasted only 22 seconds.
Say tweeted: "Why such haste? Have you got a mistress waiting or a raki on the table?" Raki is a traditional alcoholic drink made with aniseed. Islam forbids alcohol and many Islamists consider the remarks unacceptable.
Prosecutors in June charged Say with inciting hatred and public enmity, and with insulting "religious values." He faces a maximum 18 months prison term, although any sentence is likely to be suspended.
Say, who has served as a cultural ambassador for the European Union, rejected the charges and demanded his acquittal, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency.
Fazil Say
California's Are Worse
Iranian Prison
If you're going to do a deep investigative story on the horrors of prison confinement why not ask someone who has some experience being locked up in terrifying conditions? Shane Bauer was one of three American hikers who was arrested in Iran after the crossing over the border from Iraq in 2009. He spent 26 months in Tehran's Evin Prison, the first four of them in solitary confinement. He wasn't given a lawyer, a trial, or even an idea what he was supposedly guilty of.
After finally being released last year, he began working for Mother Jones on an investigation into the treatment of inmates in the California penal system, where the use of solitary confinement has become part of a system-wide effort to control inmate violence. After seeing the conditions that prisoners have to live with, Bauer found the difference between the two countries was not as great as you might think. While he admits that he can't directly compare his experience in Iran to that of a convicted criminal in the U.S., in some ways, the plight of those in California's Security Housing Unit (SHU) is much, much worse.
Do I point out that I had a mattress, and they have thin pieces of foam; that the concrete open-air cell I exercised in was twice the size of the "dog run" at Pelican Bay, which is about 16 by 25 feet; that I got 15 minutes of phone calls in 26 months, and they get none; that I couldn't write letters, but they can; that we could only talk to nearby prisoners in secret, but they can shout to each other without being punished; that unlike where I was imprisoned, whoever lives here has to shit at the front of his cell, in view of the guards?
"There was a window," I say.
Prisoners in California's SHUs get no windows and no clocks. Their cells aren't big enough to pace in and human contact is almost non-existent. But the scariest aspect of their situation is the manner by which prisoners get placed in the solitary unit and cannot find their way out. Bauer's found that the process by which someone gets "validated" as a threat is highly secretive, easily corrupted, and probably unconstitutional.
Iranian Prison
Another Utah Entrepreneur
David M. Rushton
The developer of video games including "Alvin and the Chipmunks" and "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005" is serving a yearlong jail sentence in Utah for failing to pay more than 100 employees.
David M. Rushton, 57, owes $1.2 million in a rare criminal case for nonpayment of wages, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said Thursday.
Rushton did business in a Salt Lake City suburb as Sensory Sweep Studio, which focused on selling games adapted from movies for Nintendo, PlayStation and Xbox game consoles and hand-held devices.
"We had occasional paychecks that trickled in. Some people were favored more than others," said Adam Hunter, a 29-year-old game designer now working for another Utah studio. Hunter said he was owed $12,000 after quitting in 2009.
"Much like with an ex-girlfriend, I've just moved on," Hunter said Thursday. "I'm a realist. I understand I'm not going to see any money. I'm not as bitter as I was when this all started going down years ago."
David M. Rushton
Losing Donors
Soup Kitchen
When Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan rinsed a few dishes in the back of a soup kitchen in Youngstown, Ohio, he couldn't have known the photo op would still be a story almost a week later. It is, but not for anything positive.
According to The Huffington Post, the Mahoning County St. Vincent De Paul Society is losing donors as a result of the photo. "It appears to be a substantial amount," charity president Brian Antal told the Post. "You can rest assured there has been a substantial backlash." Antal declined to mention specific numbers, citing privacy concerns.
For those who haven't been following, er, soup kitchen-gate, here's what happened. Rep. Ryan stopped by on Saturday morning and offered to wash a few dishes. However, according to Antal, the Ryan camp wasn't exactly invited.
"We are apolitical because the majority of our funding is from private donations," Antal told The Washington Post. "It's strictly in our bylaws not to do it. They showed up there, and they did not have permission. They got one of the volunteers to open up the doors." Antal also said that "If this was the Democrats, I'd have the same exact problem."
Soup Kitchen
He Knows Best
Willard
Mitt Romney wants your vote. And if you're a small business owner, he wants your employees' votes as well and insists that there's nothing wrong with giving them a little guidance this election cycle. On June 6, Romney led a conference call with support from the über-conservative National Federation of Independent Business and -- to cut to the chase -- urged the bosses on the call to persuade their employees to vote for him in the upcoming election.
"I hope you make it very clear to your employees what you believe is in the best interest of your enterprise and therefore their job and their future in the upcoming elections," said Romney in a recording obtained by In These Times. "Nothing illegal about you talking to your employees about what you believe is best for the business, because I think that will figure into their election decision, their voting decision and of course doing that with your family and your kids as well."
Okay, Mitt. You're right. It's not technically illegal for employers to tell their employees how to vote. That doesn't mean that it's ethical or understandable or even acceptable to connect people's livelihoods with their political beliefs. There's a fine line between an employer telling an employee, "Vote Romney!" and a boss telling a subordinate, "Vote Romney, or else!" At least, in the eyes of the inevitably subordinate employees there's not.
This hierarchical method of political persuasion is turning into a bit of a trend for Republicans this year. Just a couple of days ago, we learned that the Koch Brothers sent their employees a list of people to vote for, or else they could "suffer the consequences." That was just a few days after the chief executive of a software company told his employees that he didn't "want to hear any complaints regarding the fallout that will most likely come" if they voted Obama back into office. And a few days before that the CEO of Westgate Resorts and the owner of the largest house in America similarly said that he would "have no choice but to reduce the size of this company" if Obama won. "Whose policies will endanger your job?" he asked his employees.
Willard
Anti-Litter Campaign
Nancy Lack
An 80-year-old Connecticut woman has been charged with larceny and breach of peace after tearing down political signs that included an image of President Barack Obama with an Adolph Hitler-style mustache.
Nancy Lack tells WVIT-TV she was offended by the picture and took down three posters that were being hung last Thursday near the post office on Main Street in Hebron, Conn.
Workers for frequent presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche, who were putting up the signs, called police.
Lack says she knew she would get in trouble. But she says she lived through World War II and was angry that someone would portray the president as a Nazi.
She was released on a promise to appear in court next week.
Nancy Lack
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) Madonna; $5,128,536; $165.55.
2. (2) Kenny Chesney / Tim McGraw; $4,495,563; $89.23.
3. (3) Cirque du Soleil - "Michael Jackson: The Immortal"; $2,668,618; $95.31.
4. (5) Dave Matthews Band; $1,312,127; $56.99.
5. (7) Enrique Iglesias / Jennifer Lopez; $1,114,513; $79.70.
6. (8) "Gigantes Tour" / Marc Anthony / Marco Antonio Solis / Chayanne; $1,042,502; $106.99.
7. (9) Jason Aldean; $735,527; $39.39.
8. (New) Zac Brown Band; $712,400; $40.48.
9. (10) "Honda Civic Tour" / Linkin Park; $702,819; $49.66.
10. (12) Iron Maiden; $616,919; $56.70.
11. (13) Brad Paisley; $600,007; $42.21.
12. (14) Rascal Flatts; $566,234; $38.40.
13. (11) James Taylor; $559,927; $59.91.
14. (15) Journey; $522,624; $57.91.
15. (16) Def Leppard / Poison; $507,036; $64.83.
16. (17) Carrie Underwood; $492,178; $60.07.
17. (18) Wiz Khalifa / Mac Miller; $449,346; $27.21.
18. (19) Mumford & Sons; $415,747; $45.39.
19. (20) "Vans Warped Tour"; $375,027; $29.23.
20. (New) Florence & The Machine; $363,133; $46.13.
Concert Tours
In Memory
Sylvia Kristel
At the time, Sylvia Kristel was worried about starring in the 1974 erotic movie "Emmanuelle," but consoled herself with the thought that few people would see her sexually charged performance.
That turned out to be wrong.
Kristel died of cancer in her sleep Wednesday at age 60, her management company announced Thursday. She had been fighting cancer for several years.
Kristel told the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant in 2005 that her former partner, Belgian author Hugo Claus, had persuaded her to star in "Emmanuelle." The erotic tale directed by Frenchman Just Jaeckin examined the sexual adventures of a man and his beautiful young wife in Thailand.
"He said, 'Thailand, that's nice, we've never been there and anyway the film will never come out in the Netherlands so you won't put your mother to shame,'" Kristel said. "In the end, 350 million people saw it worldwide."
Kristel was born into a family that ran a hotel in the central Dutch city of Utrecht and had a religious upbringing. Her striking beauty defined her career, however, sending her into modeling and then to the steamy "Emmanuelle."
She wasn't even in the casting call when Jaeckin visited the Netherlands looking for a leading lady. He said when he saw her elsewhere at the casting agency he knew immediately that Kristel was destined for the role.
Kristel went on to star in several sequels to "Emmanuelle," as well as in Hollywood movies including "Private Lessons" in 1981.
Her agent described her as one of the Netherlands' biggest movie stars, with more than 50 international films to her name.
Among them were many erotically tinted films, including a 1981 adaptation - also directed by Jaeckin - of D.H. Lawrence's novel "Lady Chatterley's Lover" and "Mata Hari," four years later.
But moving to Hollywood in her late 20s, she sank into a world of drink and drugs.
"I wish I could have skipped that part of my life," she told the Dutch paper. She later returned to the Netherlands to live in Amsterdam, where she took up painting.
Kristel was honored in 2006 with a special jury prize at the Tribeca Film Festival for a short animated film she directed called "Topor et Moi," the title a reference to the French illustrator and filmmaker Roland Topor.
Kristel said she never regretted making the film, but was surprised how it shaped others' perceptions of her.
"People don't assume John Wayne shoots people and rides a horse on weekends," she told a Dutch interviewer. "People think I'm a nymphomaniac."
Kristel is survived by her partner Peter Brul and her son with Claus, Arthur Kristel. She will be buried at a private funeral.
Sylvia Kristel
In Memory
Stan Ovshinsky
Stan Ovshinsky, the self-taught inventor who developed the nickel-metal hydride battery used in the hybrid vehicle industry, has died at his home in suburban Detroit after a fight with cancer. He was 89.
Ovshinsky, who ran Energy Conversion Devices, a car battery development company, also created a machine that produced 9-mile-long sheets of thin solar energy panels intended to bring cheaper, cleaner power to homes and businesses.
His son, Harvey Ovshinsky, said his father was passionate about science and alternative energy, but also about civil rights and other social causes. He said his father died of complications from prostate cancer Wednesday night at his home in Bloomfield Hills.
"Here was a man who spent his youth and his adulthood determined to change the world," the younger Ovshinsky said. "That's not a 9-to-5 job. My father worked tirelessly 24-7, even up until he got sick, to change the world and its attitude toward sustainable energy and alternate platforms for information."
Stan Ovshinsky, for whom ovonics was named, made possible such technological discoveries as the solar-powered calculator. Ovonics changes the electrical resistance and structure of materials in response to sunlight.
He never went to college, yet he earned about 200 U.S. patents and was a fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He received numerous honorary degrees.
Born in Akron, Ohio, Ovshinsky and his late wife, Iris, founded Energy Conversion Devices Inc. in 1960. The company developed and applied his inventions to the fields of information and energy.
Prior to his death, Ovshinsky was nominated to receive the 2012 Hans Bethe Award for his research and development in material science. He was to receive the honor next month.
But he was also was committed to human and equal rights, and took part in labor, civil rights and peace movements, his son said.
"Civil rights or a ban on nuclear testing, he was passionate," Harvey Ovshinsky said. "Science was a key and so was civil rights and so was peace and so was equality. He would not give it up.
Along with his son Harvey, Stan Ovshinsky is survived by his wife, Rosa; his other children, Ben, Dale, Robin, Steven, Angela and Vicki; six grandchildren; and his brother, Herb.
Stan Ovshinsky
Virtual memorial
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