Recommended Reading
from Bruce
HENRY ROLLINS: WE TEACH OUR KIDS TO BE RACIST (LA Weekly)
On Jan. 19, some of us took a moment to honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. You're probably well aware of the multidecade struggle to have "MLK Day" recognized as a federal holiday and make all the states stick to it. To this day, it is still argued over. Some say there are so many people in the civil rights movement who are not being recognized, it is a travesty to award a day to only one man.
Holly Baxter: "The first rule of dating: there are no rules" (Guardian)
Own That Guy in 60 Days may have toppled The Rules, but the best relationship advice is still - ignore all bag-a-boyfriend bibles.
Jeb Lund: You betcha! Sarah Palin running for president is a great thing for America (Guardian)
Every one of her appearances is some new sublime Schadenfreude-steeped catastrophe. I hope she never leaves us.
Rebecca Shaw: "Colleen McCullough: we'll celebrate a woman for anything, as long as it's not her talent" (Guardian)
The Australian's obituary of Colleen McCullough is a sad reflection of how women's lives are valued.
Stephanie Merritt: "William Nicholson: 'In Hollywood, people push you to produce work you didn't know you had in you'" (Guardian)
The screenwriter and novelist on his love of Emily Dickinson, and the power of great storytelling.
36 Unusual & Unconventional Wedding Rings For Men (Design Bump)
Some of us want a wedding band which shows personally and style, a plain gold band won't cut it suit. This collection showcases some unconventional wedding band options for men which are pretty sweet!
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
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David Bruce has approximately 50 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
wrote:
responded:
has returned to semi-retired status.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Request
a minority report
Marty,
I've seen on the E page several times cartoons that lampoon vaccine
"deniers," the presumption being that they are crazier than shit for
not letting their children get injected with poison.
http://www.naturalnews.com/048467_vaccine_industry_intelligent_questions_scientific_principles.html
Perhaps you could post the above hyperlink and invite Bartcop E
readers to either agree with, confirm or deny this link's assessment
of vaccine trustability.
DanD
Okey dokey, Dan!
Feel free to weigh in, Readers.
Me? I'm old enough to have experienced measles, mumps, chicken pox, and scarlet fever, and that was just kindergarten.
One of my cousins was left profoundly deaf from measles and 2 of my cousins, only a year older than me, had polio.
Haven't had shingles, yet - a gift from the chicken pox that lurks for lots of us. I saw my grandfather, the stoic one, the hunter, the veteran, cry like a baby from shingles.
I'd volunteer to be a guinea pig in that vaccine trial.
I can remember how awful it was always being sick, and not lying-on-the-couch-watching-TV-kind-of-sick. I can remember being sick enough to experience hallucinations - both visual and auditory. I can remember returning to school weeks later, and feeling lost.
My experiences with being sick took away any fear about giving my only child vaccines.
I'm a big fan of science, but I'm also a pragmatist, and life's a crap shoot.
You figure what odds are acceptable, and you go from there.
from Marc Perkel
BartCop
Hello Bartcop fans,
As you all know the untimely passing of Terry was unexpected, even by
him. We all knew he had cancer but we all thought he had some years
left. So some of us who have worked closely with him over the years are
scrambling around trying to figure out what to do. My job, among other
things, is to establish communications with the Bartcop community and
provide email lists and groups for those who might put something
together. Those who want to play an active roll in something coming from
this, or if you are one of Bart's pillars, should send an email to
active@bartcop.com.
Bart's final wish was to pay off the house mortgage for Mrs. Bart who is
overwhelmed and so very grateful for the support she has received.
Anyone wanting to make a donation can click on this the yellow donate
button on bartcop.com
But - I need you all to help keep this going. This note
isn't going to directly reach all of Bart's fans. So if you can repost
it on blogs and discussion boards so people can sign up then when we
figure out what's next we can let more people know. This list is just
over 600 but like to get it up to at least 10,000 pretty quick. So
here's the signup link for this email list.
( mailman.bartcop.com/listinfo/bartnews )
Marc Perkel
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and spring-like.
Jailed Al Jazeera Journalist Leaves Egypt
Peter Greste
Al Jazeera journalist Peter Greste left Egypt for his native Australia on Sunday after serving 400 days in a Cairo prison on charges that included aiding a terrorist group, security officials said.
There was no immediate word on the fate of his two Al Jazeera colleagues - Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian national Baher Mohamed - who were also jailed in the case that provoked an international outcry.
The three were sentenced to seven to 10 years on charges including spreading lies to help a "terrorist organisation" - a reference to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
Greste's release came as Egypt is reeling from one of the bloodiest attacks in years. More than 30 security forces were killed on Thursday night in Sinai, and ensuing comments from President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi suggested he was in no mood for compromise.
Peter Greste
'How to Train Your Dragon 2' Tops
Annie Awards
The DreamWorks sequel "How to Train Your Dragon 2" topped the 42nd Annie Awards, taking best feature at the annual honours for animation.
In the Saturday night ceremony hosted at the Royce Hall on the UCLA campus in Los Angeles, "How to Train Your Dragon" won five awards in all. It also took best director for Dean DeBlois, as well as prizes for feature character design, storyboarding and music.
"Dragon" bested Disney's top contender, the superhero tale "Big Hero 6." But the film that preceded "Hero" in theatres, "Feast," won best short film.
Warner Bros.' acclaimed but Oscar-snubbed "The Lego Movie" won for the Annie best feature writing.
Annie Awards
Library Blaze
Moscow
A fire that ripped through one of Russia's largest university libraries is believed to have damaged over one million historic documents, with some describing the fire as a cultural "Chernobyl."
The blaze, which started Friday and was still not completely out on Saturday evening, ravaged 2,000 square metres (21,500 square feet) of the Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences (INION) in Moscow, which was created in 1918 and holds 10 million documents with some dating back to the 16th century.
"It's a major loss for science. This is the largest collection of its kind in the world, probably equivalent to the (United States) Library of Congress," Vladimir Fortov, president of the Russian Academy of Sciences was quoted as saying by Russia press agencies.
Fortov said about 15 percent of the collection had been damaged at the library, which includes one of the world's richest collections of Slavic language works, but also documents from Britain, Italy and the US.
Moscow
Homophobia Protest
Brazil
About 50 Brazilian protesters responded with kisses Sunday at a bar that had kicked out a presumed lesbian couple for embracing in public.
The management of the bar in the town of Ribeirao Preto said in a statement the women, ages 22 and 23, had been shown the door a week ago for "inappropriate behavior."
The women immediately filed a complaint with the police and a Brazilian lawyers' association commission against homophobia.
At Sunday's protests, youths carried signs denouncing homophobia and engaged in a "beijaco," or collective kissing, as police looked on.
Brazil
Church As State
Huckabee
Possible Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee (R-Bad Dad) says homosexuality is a lifestyle choice like drinking and swearing - which is why he can accept friends who are gay, despite his religious convictions.
"People can be my friends who have lifestyles that are not necessarily my lifestyle," Huckabee said in an interview with CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday. "I don't shut people out of my circle or out of my life because they have a different point of view. I don't drink alcohol, but gosh - a lot of my friends, maybe most of them, do. You know, I don't use profanity, but believe me, I've got a lot of friends who do. Some people really like classical music and ballet and opera - it's not my cup of tea."
Still, there's no chance the former Arkansas governor will ever accept gay marriage - whether he runs for president or not.
"This is not just a political issue," Huckabee said "It is a biblical issue. And as a biblical issue - unless I get a new version of the scriptures, it's really not my place to say, 'OK, I'm just going to evolve.'"
Huckabee
NRAs Newest Poster Child
New Mexico
A 3-year-old boy shot and wounded his father and pregnant mother with a 9 mm handgun that he pulled out of the woman's purse while searching for an iPad, police in New Mexico said on Sunday.
Both parents needed hospital treatment for non-life threatening injuries after the bullet went through his father's buttocks and into his mother's shoulder, Albuquerque Police Department Officer Simon Drobik said.
The woman, who is 8-months-pregnant, is being kept at the hospital for observation. The man has been released, said Drobik, who was first to arrive at the scene of the incident at an Albuquerque motel on Saturday afternoon.
The woman told police she purchased the gun the day before the incident, Drobik said. The man is not legally allowed to have a firearm because he has previously been convicted of a felony crime.
The family, including a two-year-old girl and the children's grandmother, had been living in an America's Best Value Inn for about a week with their two pit bulls when the incident occurred.
New Mexico
GMO Mosquitos
Florida
A British company's plan to unleash hordes of genetically modified mosquitoes in Florida to reduce the threat of dengue fever and other diseases has sparked an outcry from fearful residents.
As of Friday, more than 145,000 people had signed a petition at change.org urging regulators to "say no" to allowing the tourist-friendly fishing and diving haven to become "a testing ground for these mutant bugs."
The company, Oxitec, said it wants to try the technique there in order to reduce the non-native Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in south Florida and beyond.
The process involves inserting a gene into lab-grown, male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. The added DNA makes it impossible for their offspring to survive.
Trials conducted in the Cayman Islands and Brazil showed a more than 90 percent drop in mosquito populations, according to the company.
Florida
Offered As Alternative
Goats
A goat herder who has a college degree in weed sciences told federal wildlife officials that she could eliminate the need for a possible 700-acre controlled burn at the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge by turning her goats loose there and eliminate concerns over spreading radioactive plutonium.
Lani Malmberg said it's unwise to burn land that has been exposed to the toxic metal, and she said her goats won't suffer any ill consequences.
The refuge was created in 2006 in the wake of the nuclear weapons site's closure, and a $7 billion cleanup was finished in 2005. Concerns that a controlled burn there could put plutonium into the air prompted Boulder's Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center and surrounding communities to take a stance against that happening.
A spokesman for the Fish and Wildlife Service eight-state Mountain-Prairie regional office in Denver said it's the agency's current position that grazing is not an option at the Department of Energy weapons plant-turned-wildlife refuge because of a lack of fencing and staff.
Boulder City Councilwoman Lisa Morzell said officials are concerned that the animals would have to be euthanized, and there would be protests from animal rights people. She said those concerns are unfounded.
Goats
Snowpack At Record Lows
Oregon
Oregon's mountain snowpack, vital for farms, fish and ski resorts, is in the midst of another miserable year, posting record low depths despite normal precipitation.
The reason is persistent warm weather, which is turning into the new normal as the climate heats up.
"We are really kind of staring climate change right in the eye right now," said Kathie Dello, associated director of the Oregon Climate Change Institute at Oregon State University.
Warm temperatures in the western half of the state have left current snowpack measurements low: 16 percent of normal for the Willamette Valley, 28 percent for central Oregon, 18 percent for the Rogue-Umpqua region, and 17 percent for the Klamath Basin. Things are better in eastern Oregon, where temperatures have been colder. Snowpacks ranged from 47 percent in the Umatilla, Walla Walla, and Willow basins, to 79 percent in the Harney and Owyhee basins.
Oregon
Dry January
California
California has experienced one of the driest Januarys on record, and the lack of rain during a time of year when the weather is usually wet indicates the state is likely headed for a fourth straight year of drought, officials said.
A prolonged drought could portend further economic and environmental setbacks for the nation's most populous state, which has already lost both crops and jobs to the dry weather.
The state's driest January on record was in 1984, when the 30-day average precipitation in the state reached 0.33 of an inch (0.84 cm), under one method used to gauge rainfall statewide, said National Weather Service meteorologist Jim Mathews.
Sacramento recorded only 0.01 of an inch (0.03 cm) of rain in January, the lowest since record-keeping began in 1877, the Sacramento office of the Weather Service said on Facebook. Stockton and Modesto also set records for the month, it said.
California
Weekend Box Office
"American Sniper"
"American Sniper" shot down another box-office record: Its $31.9 million is the biggest Super Bowl weekend gross ever.
The Weinstein Co. animated adaptation "Paddington" came in a distant second with $8.5 million in its third weekend. In a virtual tie with it was Paramount's found-footage, time-traveling thriller "Project Almanac."
"Black or White," a racially-charged custody drama that reteams Kevin Costner with "The Upside of Anger" director Mike Binder, opened in fourth with $6.5 million. Costner put up his own money to help finance the film, which Relativity Media distributed.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. "American Sniper," $31.9 million ($11.1 million international).
2. "Paddington," $8.5 million.
3. "Project Almanac," $8.5 million.
4. "Black or White," $6.5 million.
5. "The Boy Next Door," $6.1 million.
6. "The Wedding Ringer," $5.7 million.
7. "The Imitation Game," $5.2 million.
8. "Taken 3," $3.7 million ($21.2 million international).
9. "Strange Magic," $3.4 million.
10. "The Loft," $2.9 million.
"American Sniper"
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