Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Deborah Orr: Holidays are precious, but work dominates our lives more than ever (Guardian)
The world is changing profoundly, and traditional working patterns have fallen out of step. We need to reclaim our free time.
Henry Rollins: Fort Hood and the Cost of War (LA Weekly)
You are no doubt aware about the most recent shootings at Fort Hood, located near Killeen, Texas. Specialist Ivan Lopez killed three people, and injured several more, before turning his weapon on himself. As well as gut-wrenchingly tragic, the betrayal of being shot at by a member of the U.S. military on a U.S. military base in America is devastating.
Gladstone: 3 Modern Satirists Screwed by People Who Didn't Get the Joke (Cracked)
I've spent most of my life loving satire and hating people who don't understand it. It was that love and hate that inspired me to write two prior columns about wrongly attacked satirists. But I'm pulling back on my animosity these days, especially because it has become increasingly clear that the percentage of humanity that actually appreciates satire is incredibly small. For many, it's like being color-blind. They just can't do it.
Alison Flood: Why Adrian Mole was my kindred teenage spirit (Guardian)
Sue Townsend's spotty comic creation was the same age as me - his cul-de-sac growing pains struck a poignant chord.
Alison Flood: Which books make you feel stupid? (Guardian)
As a blogger on 'the perils of feeling dumb while reading' bravely cites Neil Gaiman's American Gods, perhaps it's time for us all to own up to the books we're ashamed not to love.
Alison Flood: Decline in male readers alarms authors (Guardian)
Andy McNab stresses need to 'keep boys reading because once they stop, they never start again.'
Michael Cronin: "Lost in translation: and all the better for it" (Irish Times)
The 'McDonaldisation' of literature doesn't necessarily help world understanding.
Charlie Jane Anders: The Most Amazing Cosplay From Wondercon: Day One! (io9)
Every year, the Wondercon cosplayers keep astonishing us, both with their attention to detail and with their creativity. You keep thinking you've seen it all - and then you see what people have come up with this year, and it's a brand new delight all over again. Here's our favorite cosplay from Wondercon day one.
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
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wrote:
, understandably, took the day off.
said:
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
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.
So - to let you know what's going on, the guestbook on bartcop.com is
still open for those who want to write something in memory of Bart.
I did an interview on Netroots Radio about Bart's passing
( www.stitcher.com/s?eid=32893545 )
The most active open discussion is on Bart's Facebook page.
( www.facebook.com/bartcop )
You can listen to Bart's theme song here
or here.
( www.bartcop.com/blizing-saddles.mp3 )
( youtu.be/MySGAaB0A9k )
We have opened up the radio show archives which are now free. Listen to
all you want.
( bartcop.com/members )
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
Thanks, Marc!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and summery.
'What Was Illegal Under Nixon Is Legal Under Obama'
Tribeca Docs
Government surveillance, abuses of power and the supression of dissent kicked into high gear after 9/11, one documentary argued at the Tribeca Film Festival on Saturday night.
But the whistleblowers who exposed recent activities were hardly breaking new ground, because some of the same things were going on more than four decades ago, another Tribeca doc pointed out.
Both "Silenced" and "1971" tackle issues that reverberate in light of Edward Snowden's recent disclosures of the extent of domestic spying, and the risks some citizens take to expose activity they feel subverts the Constitition. The two films made for bracing and frightening conversations both onscreen and off during the festival's first weekend.
One key point: Disclosure of illegal government activities was a lot more damaging to the presidency of Richard Nixon, driven from office in 1973 because of government abuses and the subsequent coverup, than it was to the administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
"The things that were illegal in Nixon's era are now legal under the Obama administration," whistleblower and former National Security Agency staffer Thomas Drake said following the premiere of James Spione's "Silenced."
Tribeca Docs
Sued Over '8THEIST' License Plate
New Jersey
A New Jersey woman who says she was denied a license plate referencing atheism filed suit this week, claiming her online application was rejected because it was deemed potentially offensive.
Shannon Morgan, of Maurice Township, said in a federal lawsuit filed Thursday that the Motor Vehicle Commission violated her First Amendment rights when its website rejected the plate reading "8THEIST." She said she received a message stating that her vanity plate request was ineligible as it "may carry connotations offensive to good taste and decency."
Morgan then filled out the online application using the phrase "BAPTIST" as a test, which the website accepted. Morgan claims in her lawsuit that she sent the agency a letter of complaint by registered mail and made several attempts to contact them by phone, all of which went unanswered.
New Jersey previously, after a brief flap, approved a request from an atheist group's president for a license plate that read "ATH1EST," with the number one in place of the letter "i."
New Jersey
Gibraltar Fire
Online Betting
An explosion and fire at a Gibraltar power station Sunday blacked out much of the British outpost and halted international online betting operations with giants including William Hill and Ladbrokes.
A power station generator exploded because of mechanical problems, said police and government officials on the Rock, a tiny British-held peninsula on the southern tip of Spain.
As thick smoke billowed over the territory, police told nearby residents to keep their windows closed to avoid breathing problems.
Late in the evening, the head of Gibraltar's government, Chief Minister Fabian Picardo, said power had been restored to the whole territory.
Online Betting
Love Locks
Paris
Without love, what is Paris? And yet what is a trip to Paris without unfettered vistas of the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre or Notre Dame from bridges over the River Seine?
Concerns about scenery are clashing with sentimentality in this reputed City of Love over a profusion of padlocks hitched by lovers on bridges as symbols of everlasting "amour" - locks that some decry as an eyesore.
Part of a global phenomenon, the craze has grown in Paris recently and now two American women who call Paris home have had enough. They've launched a petition to try to get the city's mostly laissez-faire officials to do something. City leaders say they're exploring alternatives.
In urban myth, it goes like this: Latch a padlock to a bridge railing and chuck the key into the water as you make a wish. Some say the tradition has its roots in 19th-century Hungary. Others cite a recent Italian novel as the inspiration.
Campaigners Lisa Taylor Huff and Lisa Anselmo are denouncing what they call a padlock plague, warning of alleged safety risks and arguing the craze is now a cliche. Their petition, at www.change.org , says "the heart of Paris has been made ugly" by the locks and the Seine has been polluted by thousands of keys.
Paris
Humor-Impaired Mayor
Peoria
A police warrant shows that Peoria (Ill.) Mayor Jim Ardis asked authorities to investigate the home of a man who created a parody Twitter account in the mayor's name.
However, the Journal Star says that Twitter had already suspended the @Peoriamayor parody account before the raid took place and that the only thing police found on site was some marijuana.
The alleged creator of the Twitter account, Jacob Elliott, 36, was charged with one count of marijuana possession but was not charged with any crimes related to the parody account.
According to reports, as many as seven police officers took part in the raid, questioning three individuals in connection with the Twitter account and arresting two at their workplaces.
However, rather than silencing dissent, news of the raid has since resulted in a number of new parody accounts being created across Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites.
Peoria
NYC Home Picketed
Liam Neeson
Animal welfare activists picketing Liam Neeson's home on Saturday said they don't agree with him that the city's carriage horses should keep working.
Neeson didn't appear as about 50 demonstrators filled the sidewalk in front of his apartment building on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Police watched, and doormen photographed protesters hoisting signs with such slogans as "Liam Neeson: Stop Supporting Cruelty!" and "Worked to Death!" with an image of a dead horse in a park.
Neeson, whose movies include "Schindler's List," ''Taken" and "Non-Stop," is a vocal supporter of the city's carriage horses, which are kept in stables he toured recently with lawmakers. He says the horses are not being mistreated.
"In contrast to the terrible toll of traffic accidents generally on New Yorkers," Neeson wrote, "the carriage industry has a remarkable safety record."
Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, has pledged to ban the carriages and replace them with electric vintage-style cars, commissioned by a group called NYCLASS.
Liam Neeson
Lawyer's Views Evolve
H8
In March 2013, conservative lawyer Charles J. Cooper stood before the Supreme Court defending Proposition 8, California's then-ban on same-sex marriage. Now, just over a year later, Cooper is helping plan his daughter's same-sex wedding and says his views on the issue are evolving.
The surprise announcement comes in reporter Jo Becker's upcoming book on the battle over marriage equality.
"What I will say only is that my views evolve on issues of this kind the same way as other people's do, and how I view this down the road may not be the way I view it now, or how I viewed it 10 years ago," Cooper told Becker in an excerpt obtained by the Washington Post.
According to LGBT Weekly, Cooper was not aware of his daughter's sexual orientation when he agreed to take on the case in 2009. He has described himself as an "unrepentant and avowed originalist," and was the recipient of the Republican lawyer of the year award in 2010.
H8
Wildfires Getting Worse in the West
Climate Change
Across the western United States, wildfires grew bigger and more frequent in the past 30 years, according to a new study that blames climate change and drought for the worsening flames.
"It's not just something that is localized to forest or grasslands or deserts," said lead study author Phil Dennison, a geographer at the University of Utah. "Every region in the West is experiencing an increase in fire. These fire trends are very consistent with everything we know about how climate change should impact fire in the West," Dennison told Live Science.
The number of fires jumped by seven per year since 1984, and fires burned an additional 90,000 acres (36,000 hectares) each year, according to the study, published online April 4 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
Dennison and his co-authors aren't the first to note that Western wildfires are getting worse. But with so many different landscapes in the West, from alpine forests to inland deserts, the reasons underlying the trend have been hotly debated. Causes could include bark beetle infestation, fire suppression policies, severe droughts, global warming and population increases in fire-prone areas.
But because the bump in wildfires seen in the study is so widespread, Dennison thinks one main factor likely underlies the trend: climate change.
Climate Change
Weekend Box Office
"Captain America: The Winter Soldier"
"Captain America: The Winter Soldier" added another $26 million to its coffers, according to studio estimates Sunday, while Johnny Depp's sci-fi thriller, "Transcendence," opened in fourth place with $11 million.
Directed by longtime Christopher Nolan cinematographer Wally Pfister, the Warner Bros. film is Depp's third consecutive box office disappointment. He played Tonto in last summer's "The Lone Ranger" - one of the biggest flops of 2013 - and starred in 2012's comedy-horror dud, "Dark Shadows."
Another new movie, the religious-themed "Heaven Is for Real," debuted in third place over Easter weekend, while another sequel, "Rio 2," held on to the second spot.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released on Monday:
1. "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," $26.6 million ($35.3 million international).
2. "Rio 2," $22.5 million ($48 million international).
3. "Heaven is for Real," $21.5 million.
4. "Transcendence," $11.2 million ($17.4 million international).
5. "A Haunted House 2," $9.1 million.
6. "Draft Day," $5.9 million.
7. "Divergent," $5.75 million ($18.1 million international).
8. "Oculus," $5.2 million.
9. "Noah," $5 million ($21.6 million international).
10. "God's Not Dead," $4.8 million.
"Captain America: The Winter Soldier"
In Memory
John C. Houbolt
John C. Houbolt, an engineer whose contributions to the U.S. space program were vital to NASA's successful moon landing in 1969, has died. He was 95.
Houbolt died Tuesday at a nursing home in Scarborough, Maine, of complications from Parkinson's disease, his son-in-law Tucker Withington, of Plymouth, Mass., confirmed Saturday.
As NASA describes on its website, while under pressure during the U.S.-Soviet space race, Houbolt was the catalyst in securing U.S. commitment to the science and engineering theory that eventually carried the Apollo crew to the moon and back safely.
His efforts in the early 1960s are largely credited with convincing NASA to focus on the launch of a module carrying a crew from lunar orbit, rather than a rocket from Earth or a space craft while orbiting the planet.
Houbolt argued that a lunar orbit rendezvous, or lor, would not only be less mechanically and financially onerous than building a huge rocket to take man to the moon or launching a craft while orbiting the Earth, but lor was the only option to meet President John F. Kennedy's challenge before the end of the decade.
Houbolt started his career with NASA's predecessor in Hampton, Va., in 1942, served in the Army Corps of Engineers, and worked in an aeronautical research and consulting firm in Princeton, N.J., before returning to NASA in 1976 as chief aeronautical scientist. He retired in 1985 but continued private consulting work.
Born April 10, 1919, in Altoona, Iowa, Houbolt grew up in Joliet, Ill., and earned degrees in civil engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He earned a doctorate from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Zurich in 1957.
John C. Houbolt
In Memory
Rubin "Hurricane" Carter
Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, the prizefighter whose racially tinged wrongful murder conviction made him a symbol of injustice and a pop culture cause, died on Sunday at the age of 76.
Carter, who was convicted twice and imprisoned for 19 years before he was exonerated in 1985, died on Sunday at his home in Toronto, the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted (AIDWYC) confirmed.
From 1993 to 2005, Carter served as the executive director of the Canadian organization, which said it was "deeply saddened" by the death of "a truly courageous man who fought tirelessly to free others who had suffered the same fate."
US and Canadian media reported that Carter had been battling prostate cancer.
Carter was a middleweight contender before he was convicted in the 1966 murders of three people who were shot and killed at a tavern in Paterson, New Jersey.
He denied the crime, and his story caught the attention of boxing great Muhammad Ali and inspired Bob Dylan's 1975 song "Hurricane."
Decades later, 1999 flick "The Hurricane," earned Denzel Washington an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Carter, although some factual inaccuracies in the film provoked criticism.
Carter was convicted along with his friend John Artis, who was also black, by an all-white jury in the death of two white men and a white woman.
The convictions were gained in part with the testimony of two convicted felons who placed Carter and Artis at the scene, but later recanted.
In 1985, however, Carter was exonerated by US district court judge, H. Lee Sarokin, who said the conviction had been "based on an appeal to racism rather than reason."
Rubin "Hurricane" Carter
In Memory
Kevin Sharp
Kevin Sharp, a country music singer who recorded multiple chart-topping songs and survived a well-publicized battle with cancer, has died. He was 43.
His sister Mary Huston says Sharp died in Fair Oaks, Calif., at 10:49 p.m. Saturday of complications from past stomach surgeries and digestive issues.
Sharp gained fame with the release of "Nobody Knows," a single on his 1996 debut album "Measure of a Man." He released two other albums, "Love Is" in 1998 and "Make A Wish" in 2005.
Born in 1970 in Redding, Calif., Sharp was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, which he overcame after two years of chemotherapy and radiation.
Sharp became a motivational speaker, a spokesman for the Make-A-Wish Foundation and wrote "Tragedy's Gift," a 2004 book about fighting cancer.
Kevin Sharp
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