Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Little Statesmen and Philosophers (New York Times)
The point is that a large part of the reason we're locked into such a mess is careerism. And yes, that's quite vile, if you think about it: politicians and pundits alike letting the world burn - probably unconsciously, but still - because their personal position would be hurt if they admitted to past mistakes.
Mark Shields: A Maligned Generation (Creators Syndicate)
This past Monday night, along with 680 other lucky people in Washington's historic Ford's Theatre, I was able to enjoy the wit and wisdom of America's dominant political satirist, Mark Russell.
George Dvorsky: An 'alternative universe' will eventually destroy ours, says Higgs researcher (io9)
After last year's Higgs discovery, [Joseph Lykken] performed a calculation that indicated the potential for a quantum fluctuation - an event that would create a lower-energy state bubble that expands at the speed of light and "sweep everything before it." He predicts that it won't happen for many tens of billions of years - an era that will mark the end-stage of the Universe anyway.
Lucy Mangan: horse? No problem. Just don't take us for a ride (Guardian)
Neither producers nor consumers seem to care what we eat - but we're outraged if we're made to look like fools.
Catherine Shoard: Seth MacFarlane primed for Oscars night lead role (Guardian)
Producers hope 'Family Guy' creator will attract back teens and sate traditionalists.
Best Bus Stop Ever (YouTube)
"The ads on the bus stop says "In a Hurry?", "Bored?", "Seen It All?" with a link to a website for Qualcomm's Born Mobile. And when bus riders visit that webpage, the magic happens."--Neatorama
The Evolution of Mom Dancing With Jimmy Fallon and Michelle Obama (Neatorama)
First Lady Michelle Obama is not afraid to get her groove for a good cause. She recently visited the set of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon to promote her "Let's Move" campaign to end childhood obesity. The result is a hilarious segment titled, "The Evolution of Mom Dancing."
Kurt Wenner: Pavement Art
3-D art on pavement.
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David Bruce has approximately 50 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
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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
Mostly sunny but cool.
Oscar Predictions:
Jim from CA, retired to ID had 5 out of 7 (Picture, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actress & Documentary).
Marian also had 5 out of 7 (Picture, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actress, & Documentary).
marty also had 5 out of 7 (Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actress & Documentary).
And the winner is Dale of Diamond Springs with 6 out of 7 (Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actress & Documentary).
Congratulations to Dale!
On Jimmy Fallon This Friday
Prince
Prince is continuing to ramp up his public profile. This week, he'll make an appearance on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon."
A rep for the late-night talk show confirmed the pop legend will appear on the show Friday and will perform two songs. It's not clear whether he'll perform new material or some of his classics.
The reclusive star has been back in the spotlight recently. He presented record of the year trophy at the Grammys, released the song "Screwdriver" on his new website and is due to perform several dates in Europe this summer.
Prince
Released into Wild
Baby Crocs
Nineteen baby Siamese crocodiles are being let loose in the wetlands of Laos, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) announced this week. The effort gives a boost to the critically endangered species, which is thought to include just 250 individuals in the wild.
The rare reptiles' eggs had been incubated at the Laos Zoo after being recovered during wildlife surveys in the wetlands of Savannakhet Province, and they hatched in the summer of 2011.
The baby crocs are being let go near the same spot where they were found, but they will stay in a "soft release" pen for several months. There they will get used to their surroundings and receive supplementary food and protection from community members, according to the WCS. Rising water levels at the start of the rainy season will eventually let the crocodiles swim away on their own, but they will be monitored occasionally by conservationists.
Siamese crocodiles grow up to 10 feet (3 meters) in length, but right now, these toothy creatures of the Laos Zoo measure only about 27 inches (70 cm). The crocs have never been known to attack humans, according to the conservation agency Fauna & Flora International. Classified as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the Siamese crocodile population has been cut down by overhunting and habitat loss across much of its former range through Southeast Asia and parts of Indonesia.
Baby Crocs
Tears Flow More Freely
Oscar Speeches
Count the tears from winning actresses and actors at this year's Academy Awards. Chances are, you'll see more than in years past.
That's because crying is up in Oscar acceptance speeches, according to a new analysis of more than 50 years of Academy Award clips. In fact, 71 percent of Oscar tears have been shed since 1995.
"Maybe the public has come to expect an emotional speech," study researcher Rebecca Rolfe, a master's student in digital media at Georgia Tech University, said in a statement.
Rolfe watched 207 speeches from winning lead actors and actresses, supporting actors and actresses and directors dating from 1953 to 2012. She found some surprises - the cofounder of Miramax has been thanked 12 times in Oscar history, compared with only 11 thank-yous to God - as well as some trends that aren't likely to shock. For example, acceptance speeches have stretched from 40 seconds on average in the 1960s to almost two minutes today.
Oscar Speeches
Launches Wine Collection
Mandela Family
For decades, Nelson Mandela's name has been synonymous with political reform and the struggle against South African apartheid.
Now with the launch of House of Mandela Wines, his daughter and granddaughter hope to add fine wine to the list of associations.
It's a sign of just how far both the wine industry and the country have come since 1994, when apartheid was dismantled and Mandela was elected the nation's first black president.
The family launched their blends of red and white grapes this week during the South Beach Wine and Food Festival. Prices range from about $12 to $50 for their royal reserve collection.
Mandela Family
Topless Women Protest
Silvio
A group of topless women were dragged away by police on Sunday when they protested against former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi as he voted in Italy's election.
The protesters, from the Ukrainian women's rights group Femen, shouted "Basta (Enough) Berlusconi", as the media tycoon was voting in a polling station in a Milan school.
The same words were painted on their bodies.
Berlusconi, who is seeking his fifth term in government, is on trial for having sex with an underage prostitute during alleged "bunga bunga" orgies at his Milan villa, a charge he denies.
During the election campaign his center-left rival Pier Luigi Bersani accused him of treating women like inflatable dolls.
Silvio
Smugglers Cashing In On Can Refund
Michigan
Michigan lawmakers want to crack down on can and bottle smugglers they say are scamming Michigan for undeserved recycling refunds, corrupting a generous 10-cent per container payback policy once infamously portrayed in a "Seinfeld" episode and which beverage officials now claim costs the state millions of dollars annually.
"Seinfeld" characters Kramer and Newman failed miserably in their comedic attempt to cash in on the refund, when they loaded a mail truck full of cans and bottles in New York and attempted to drive them to Michigan. But lawmakers say it's a serious problem, especially in border counties, and they want to toughen penalties on people who try to return unmarked, out-of-state cans and bottles for refunds.
Michigan's 10 cent-per-container refund - the highest in the country - was enacted more than 30 years ago to encourage recycling. Many say it's worked. The state's recycling rate for cans and bottles was nearly 96 percent in 2011. By contrast, New York, one of nine states with nickel deposits on most containers, saw only a 66.8 percent redemption rate in 2007, the most recent figure available.
The state loses $10 million to $13 million a year to fraudulent redemptions, according to most recent 2007 estimates from the Michigan Beer and Wine Wholesalers Association. Angela Madden, the association's director of governmental affairs, said that number has likely gone down slightly because of changes implemented since, but not by much.
Michigan
24-Hour Chore
Monkey-Mothering
The tiny night monkey is with Martha Silva 24 hours a day, nestled in a wool pouch inside her coat or beside her while she sleeps. Eight times a day, she feeds milk to the five-inch baby like an attentive mother.
The long hours of monkey mothering don't bother the 54-year-old Colombian woman, she said, because she already raised two children.
"To me there is no difference. You have to look after each the same. When you give them the bottle, you have to make sure they don't choke," said Silva, who works with the neonatal unit of Bogota's Wildlife Reception Center, part of the capital's environment ministry.
"I carry them with me for a couple of months, in general, or the time that is required," she told The Associated Press. Her husband and daughter help her with the household chores and cooking while she is occupied with a baby animal.
Monkey-Mothering
Air-Dropping Toxic Mice
Guam
Dead mice laced with painkillers are about to rain down on Guam's jungle canopy. They are scientists' prescription for a headache that has caused the tiny U.S. territory misery for more than 60 years: the brown tree snake.
Most of Guam's native bird species are extinct because of the snake, which reached the island's thick jungles by hitching rides from the South Pacific on U.S. military ships shortly after World War II. There may be 2 million of the reptiles on Guam now, decimating wildlife, biting residents and even knocking out electricity by slithering onto power lines.
Brown tree snakes are generally a few feet (1 meter) long but can grow to be more than 10 feet (3 meters) in length. Most of Guam's native birds were defenseless against the nocturnal, tree-based predators, and within a few decades of the reptile's arrival, nearly all of them were wiped out.
The strategy takes advantage of the snake's two big weaknesses. Unlike most snakes, brown tree snakes are happy to eat prey they didn't kill themselves, and they are highly vulnerable to acetaminophen, which is harmless to humans.
Guam
Weekend Box Office
'Identity Thief'
Hollywood's latest films performed tepidly at the box-office on Oscar weekend, with Melissa McCarthy's "Identity Thief" returning to the top spot in its third week of release.
The Universal comedy earned $14.1 million on the weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday, enough to regain the box-office title after losing it last week to 20th Century Fox's "A Good Day to Die Hard," the Bruce Willis action sequel.
One of the two new films in wide release, Lionsgate's Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson action film, "Snitch," opened with $13 million. That was a decent but not strong showing for "Snitch" in a year where action films have largely fared poorly.
Though "A God Day to Die Hard," the fourth film in the franchise, led the box office last week, it slid 60 percent in its second week to $10 million. Earlier action films from Arnold Schwarzenegger ("The Last Stand"), Jason Statham ("Parker") and Sylvester Stallone ("Bullet to the Head") performed worse.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. "Identity Thief," $14 million.
2. "Snitch," $ 13 million.
3. "Escape From Planet Earth," $11 million.
4. "Safe Haven," $10.6 million.
5. "A Good Day to Die Hard," $10 million.
6. "Dark Skies," $8.9 million.
7. "Silver Linings Playbook," $6.1 million.
8. "Warm Bodies," $4.8 million.
9. "Side Effects," $3.6 million.
10. "Beautiful Creatures," $3.4 million.
'Identity Thief'
In Memory
Paul McIlhenny
Paul Carr McIlhenny, chief executive and chairman of the board of the McIlhenny Company that makes the trademarked line of Tabasco hot pepper sauces sold the world over, has died. He was 68.
The company based on south Louisiana's Avery Island said in a statement that McIlhenny had died Saturday. The statement released Sunday credited McIlhenny's leadership for greatly expanding the varieties of hot sauces sold under the Tabasco brand and for expanding their global distribution.
McIlhenny was a member of a storied clan whose 145-year-old company has been producing the original world-famous Tabasco sauce for several generations since shortly after the Civil War. The statement said he joined the company in 1967 and directly oversaw production and quality of all products sold under the Tabasco brand for 13 years.
Under McIlhenny's management, the company experienced many years of record growth in sales and earnings as it introduced several new flavors of its namesake Tabasco brand and other sauces, according to the company.
The company said McIlhenny, at the time of his death, was also a company director. He was a sixth-generation member of the family to live on Avery Island and among the fourth generation to produce the Tabasco brand sauce on Avery Island, where patriarch Edmund McIlhenny had founded the company in 1868.
Born on March 19, 1944, he grew up in New Orleans and spent much of his childhood moving between New Orleans the family compound on Avery Island, according to The Times-Picayune.
Reports noted he also had been an impassioned board member of America's Wetland Foundation because of his longtime interest in preserving south Louisiana coastlines crumbling under the onslaught of decades of erosion.
Paul McIlhenny
In Memory
Otis "Damon" Harris
Otis "Damon" Harris, a former member of The Temptations who sang on the group's 1972 hit "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone," has died at the age 62, the Baltimore Sun reported on Friday.
Harris, a native of Baltimore, auditioned to join the Temptations in 1971 at the age of 21 after the departure of Eddie Kendricks, one of the original lead singers of the group.
Harris died at the Joseph Richey Hospice on Monday after fighting prostate cancer for 14 years, according to the Sun.
As a teenager, Harris grew up admiring the Temptations, one of the top male singing groups of the 1960s and early 1970s, and formed a band with three high school friends named the Young Tempts that sang Temptations cover songs.
Harris sang with the Temptations until 1975, helping the group win three Grammy awards and lending his voice to hits including "Take a Look Around" and "Masterpiece."
Otis "Damon" Harris
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