Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Lucy Mangan: Peppa Pig should be proud (The Age (Australia))
Peppa Pig has been scrubbed from the record in China. Thousands of clips of the plump pink character loved by children worldwide have been expunged from Douyin, one of Asia's most used video-sharing platforms, and the deployment of her name as a hashtag has been banned. Peppa has been condemned for subversion. She is too popular, says the state, with "unruly slackers".
Amos Barshad: When Critics Could Kill (Slate)
What was it like when a review could end a career? Most musicians still don't want to talk about it.
MARISSA MARTINELLI: No Nobel Prize for Literature Will Be Awarded This Year, Because We Can't Have Nice Things Anymore (Slate)
The man at the center of the scandal is Jean-Claude Arnault, a photographer who is married to Academy member Katarina Frostenson and has "close ties" to the organization. In November, he was accused of harassment and assault by at least 18 women in the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, followed by allegations this year that he groped Victoria, Sweden's crown princess, at an Academy event. Arnault has denied all such allegations via his lawyer.
Tyler Zimmer: The Case for Redistribution (Slate)
If we're serious about sexual fulfillment, we should worry more about economic inequality, not sex robots.
Mark S. Schlissel, Michael H. Schill, Michael V. Drake: 3 vital ways to measure how much a university education is worth (theconversation)
"College graduates are more likely to be employed and more likely to earn more than those without degrees. Studies also indicate that people with college degrees have higher levels of happiness and engagement, better health and longer lives." - Michael Drake
Froma Harrop: Democrats Need Their Own Version of 'America First' (Creators Syndicate)
Of course the American president is supposed to put America first. The French president puts France first. The Chinese president puts China first. The Russian president puts Russia first.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
said:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Reader Comment
Rhubarb
Back in the day, my friends and I would drive 100 miles to Henry Andre Wine yard, and buy as many half gallons of Rhubarb wine as we could afford. The wine seemed to have psychedelic property's as well good flavor. Good times!
Steve B.
Thanks, Steve!
Been looking for rhubarb in the local stores for over a month, but to no avail.
And the more I couldn't find it, the more I wanted it.
Was at the (plant) nursery, looking for passiflora - most of mine didn't come back this year and since I want to
continue butterfly wrangling, needed to replace them.
As we were leaving, spotted a bunch of rhubarb plants, and decided to take it as an omen.
Now to find nice sunny spots for the new plants.
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Current Events
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
from Marc Perkel
Marc's Guide to Curing Cancer
So far so good on beating cancer for now. I'm doing fine. At the end of the month I'll be 16 months into an 8 month mean lifespan. And yesterday I went on a 7 mile hike and managed to keep up with the hiking group I was with. So, doing something right.
Still waiting for future test results and should see things headed in the right direction. I can say that it's not likely that anything dire happens in the short term so that means that I should have time to make several more attempts at this. So even if it doesn't work the first time there are a lot of variations to try. So if there's bad news it will help me pick the next radiation target.
I have written a "how to" guide for oncologists to perform the treatment that I got. I'm convinced that I'm definitely onto something and whether it works for me or not isn't the definitive test. I know if other people tried this that it would work for some of them, and if they improve it that it will work for a lot of them.
The guide is quite detailed and any doctor reading this can understand the procedure at every level. I also go into detail as to how it works, how I figured it out, and variations and improvements that could be tried to enhance it. I also introduce new ways to look at the problem. There is a lot of room for improvement and I think that doctors reading it will see what I'm talking about and want to build on it. And it's written so that if you're not a doctor you can still follow it. It also has a personal story revealing that I'm the class clown of cancer support group. I give great interviews and I look pretty hot in a lab coat.
So, feel free to read this and see what I'm talking about. But if any of you want to help then pass this around to both doctors and cancer patients. I need some media coverage. I'm looking for as many eyeballs as possible to read these ideas. Even if this isn't the solution, it's definitely on the right track. After all, I did hike 7 miles yesterday. And this hiking group wasn't moving slow. So if this isn't working then, why am I still here?
I also see curing cancer as more of an engineering problem that a medical problem. So if you are good at solving problems and most of what you know about medicine was watching the Dr. House MD TV show, then you're at the level I was at when I started. So anyone can jump in and be part of the solution.
Here is a link to my guide: Oncologists Guide to Curing Cancer using Abscopal Effect
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
THE GHASTLY HYPOCRISY OF JESUS FREAKS!
HOW ABOUT THE "NOBEL PIECE OF ASS PRIZE" ?
A VERY EXPENSIVE SHOVEL.
ARE WE DOOMED TO STUPIDITY?
BOOT PRUNE WHIP!
THE EVIL CHRISTIAN.
PRAISE THE LORD!
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Three different ice cream trucks trundled by - guess summer has begun.
Pipeline Protesters
Virginia
In the mountains of Virginia, a man going by "Deckard" is living 30 feet above the ground, suspended on a 4-by-8-foot platform in a tree inside the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests. And he's not alone.
At least seven people in Virginia and West Virginia have taken to the trees in recent weeks, to protest the construction of a natural gas pipeline across the two states. Some have stayed there for more than a month, braving freezing temperatures, dwindling food and water supplies, and regular appearances by US Forest Service (USFS) and private security officers.
At the oldest of these tree sits, 29-year-old Deckard spends his days reading bell hooks and Howard Zinn, doing crossword puzzles, and attempting to cook microwave meals on his tiny propane camp stove.
His mini-van-sized "home" is perched in a tree on Peters Mountain - the same mountain that the Mountain Valley Pipeline will bore through on its way from the fracking fields of West Virginia to an existing gas line to the south.
His sit represents the fears of many locals: That the 303-mile pipeline will threaten the water supply to the area, harm wildlife, and destroy local hiking trails. Others oppose the use of fossil fuels in general, and don't want more infrastructure built to support the industry.
Virginia
Community Overcame Disinformation
Vaccines
When health officials in Minnesota were confronted by the biggest outbreak of measles in decades, they knew that earning the community's trust would be crucial.
The section of the community most affected by the outbreak that eventually infected 79 people, the same as for the whole of the US in any average year, were Somali Americans. The vast majority were children under 10 who had not been vaccinated.
The state's Somali Americans used to vaccinate their children more than other Minnesotans, but the rate fell, between 2004 and 2014, from 92 per cent to 40 per cent. Officials have linked this to visits paid to the community by anti-vaccine activist Andrew Wakefield and other campaigners, whose influence still reverberates.
To help the state get its message delivered most effectively, officials asked for help from community leaders, in particular imams, who lead prayers at neighbourhood mosques.
Bahta said they told them that the MDOH does not believe that the information being given to them by Wakefield and others was true. She said the community was particularly vulnerable as it already believed there was a higher rate of autism among Somali American boys, something officials in the state say is not supported by data. In the end, more than 30 agreed to help.
Vaccines
No Hidden Rooms In Tomb After All
King Tut
New radar scans have provided conclusive evidence that there are no hidden rooms inside King Tutankhamun's burial chamber, Egypt's antiquities ministry said Sunday, bringing a disappointing end to years of excitement over the prospect.
Mostafa Waziri, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said an Italian team conducted extensive studies with ground-penetrating radar that showed the tomb did not contain any hidden, man-made blocking walls as was earlier suspected. Francesco Porcelli of the Polytechnic University of Turin presented the findings at an international conference in Cairo.
"Our work shows in a conclusive manner that there are no hidden chambers, no corridors adjacent to Tutankhamun's tomb," Porcelli said, "As you know there was a theory that argued the possible existence of these chambers but unfortunately our work is not supporting this theory."
In 2015, British Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves proposed, after analysis of high-definition laser scans, that queen Nefertiti's tomb could be concealed behind wall paintings in the famed boy king's burial chamber. The discovery ignited massive interest, with officials first rushing to support the theory but then later distancing themselves and ultimately rejecting it.
The ministry says two previous scans by Japanese and American scientists had proved inconclusive, but insists this latest ground-penetrating radar data closes the lid on the tomb having such hidden secrets.
King Tut
World's Oldest Standing Army
Swiss Guards
The world's oldest standing army is getting some new headgear.
The Swiss Guards plan to replace their metal helmets with plastic PVC ones made with a 3-D printer, giving the pope's army cooler and more comfortable headgear when standing guard for hours at a time.
The Swiss Guards unveiled the helmet prototype before their annual swearing-in ceremony Sunday. Thirty-two new recruits - all of them single Swiss men under age 30 and upstanding Catholics - will join the small corps for a minimum two years by pledging to protect the pope and his successors.
The new helmets won't be donned Sunday since more formal helmets are used for the elaborate, pomp-filled swearing-in ceremony in the San Damaso courtyard of the Apostolic Palace.
But Swiss Guard spokesman Sgt. Urs Breitenmoser said the Guards hope to replace their existing metal helmets by next year if they can find sponsors to pay for the new ones, which cost around 880 euros ($957) apiece, half the cost of the old ones.
Swiss Guards
Interview Was A Mess
Rudy
Rudy Giuliani (R-Demented), the former New York City mayor who recently joined President Donald Trump's legal team, sat down with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos on Sunday for a wide-ranging, eyebrow-raising interview.
Giuliani appeared on ABC's "This Week" following his explosive revelation on Fox News last week that Trump had reimbursed Michael Cohen, the president's personal attorney, for the $130,000 payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Trump, who had previously denied all knowledge of the payment, suggested Friday that Giuliani didn't have "his facts straight." Giuliani quickly backpedaled, saying during a Fox News appearance on Saturday that he was "still learning" about the case. On Sunday, he continued to sow confusion about what he knows.
Giuliani suggested he isn't concerned about whether Trump lied to the press regarding his knowledge of the Daniels payment because that's "political" and not a "crime."
Giuliani said last week that Trump first found out about the payment to Daniels (whose real name is Stephanie Clifford) several weeks ago, but claimed Sunday that he was less certain of the timeline.
Rudy
Revised Financial Disclosures - Again
Jared
President-for-now Donald Trump's (R-Crooked) son-in-law Jared Kushner erroneously reported information about two real estate loans, bringing the number of times he's updated his federal disclosure form to 40 times or more, according to a report.
The two latest misstatements concerned loans that Kushner's family-run real estate company Kushner Cos. made to two projects in Brooklyn, 9 DeKalb Avenue and 215 Moore Street, ProPublica reported on Thursday. The loans could have yielded more income through interest over a year than the amount the loans themselves were worth, according to an analysis of Kushner's disclosure by the nonprofit media organization.
A Kushner representative told ProPublica that the accurate income ranges are $50,001-$100,000 for the DeKalb loan and $15,001-$50,000 for the Moore loan.
Jordan Libowitz, spokesman for the nonprofit legal watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), told Newsweek Friday it is "mind-boggling how someone can have that many errors and that many amendments and keep their job."
"If anything, one or two amendments, but we're at 40 at this point," Libowitz said. "If he were not married to the president's daughter, it would be shocking that he still is a presidential adviser."
Jared
Hush Money
Other Women
Advisers to President-for-now Donald Trump (R-Adulterer) declined on Sunday to rule out that women other than porn star Stormy Daniels received money to keep silent about alleged affairs with the businessman-turned-politician.
Rudy Giuliani (R-Serial Philanderer), who recently joined the president's legal team, said he was unaware of any other such payments brokered by Trump attorney Michael Cohen, but he left a wide door open for them.
"I have no knowledge of that, but I would think if it was necessary, yes," Giuliani told George Stephanopoulos in an interview on ABC's "This Week" about the possibility.
Speaking on CNN's "State of the Union," White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said she didn't personally know about payments other than the one to Daniels, though she added an important caveat.
If such payments were made, "They didn't cross my desk as campaign manager" in the 2016 election, Conway told Jake Tapper.
Other Women
Interior Department Tells Staff To Shut Up
Endangered Species
New guidelines issued by the U.S. Department of the Interior now prohibit staff members from informing private interests when they must obtain a permit before they can develop properties where activities may affect habitats of endangered species.
A memorandum issued last month by the Fish and Wildlife Service principal deputy director, Greg Sheehan, declared that it's "not appropriate" for staff to tell developers when they need to obtain such a permit - even though it may be required by law in many circumstances.
Under a section of the 1973 Endangered Species Act, businesses and individuals must request what's called an "incidental take permit" if they believe their developments could interfere with the habitats of endangered species.
Sheehan insists in his memo that it's the "decision of the applicant" whether or not to apply for such a permit. Staff members should not use "mandatory language (e.g., a permit is 'required')," the memo warns.
The memo also appears to sharply limit situations where such permits may be required. That includes only cases "where a non-federal project is likely to result in a 'take' of a listed species of fish or wildlife ... habitat modification, in and of itself, does not necessarily constitute take," according to the memo. That would seem to imply such a decision would rely on the judgment of a private interest with a commercial business at stake.
Endangered Species
Weekend Box Office
'Avengers: Infinity War'
After breaking opening weekend records, "Avengers: Infinity War" continued to dominate in its second weekend in theaters, but alternative programming like the romantic comedy "Overboard" also found an audience in what has historically been considered the "official" kick-off to the summer movie season.
The Walt Disney Co. said Sunday that "Avengers: Infinity War" will gross an estimated $112.5 million from North American theaters over the weekend, becoming the second highest grossing film in weekend two behind "Star Wars: The Force Awakens'" $149.2 million and just slightly ahead of "Black Panther" ($111.7 million).
MGM and Lionsgate's Pantelion Films' gender-swapped remake of Garry Marshall's 1987 comedy, "Overboard" scored the highest-grossing opening weekend for Pantelion Films with a better-than-expected $14.8 million from 1,623 theaters. It's already surpassed its modest mid-teens production budget.
Third place went to "A Quiet Place," which has grossed $159.9 million in five weeks in theaters, and fourth place to "I Feel Pretty," now up to $37.8 million in weekend three. "Rampage" rounded out the top five with $4.6 million, bumping its domestic total to $84.8 million.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to comScore. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. "Avengers: Infinity War," $112.5 million ($162.6 million international).
2. "Overboard," $14.8 million.
3. "A Quiet Place," $7.6 million ($4.1 million international).
4. "I Feel Pretty," $4.9 million ($3.2 million international).
5. "Rampage," $4.6 million ($13.7 million international).
6. "Tully," $3.2 million ($200,000 international).
7. "Black Panther," $3.1 million ($390,000 international).
8. "Truth or Dare," $1.9 million ($5.7 million international).
9. "Super Troopers 2," $1.8 million ($90,000 international).
10. "Bad Samaritan," $1.8 million.
'Avengers: Infinity War'
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