Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Suzanne McGee: How America's middle class fell behind its Canadian neighbours (Guardian)
Canadians pay lower college tuition, cheaper medical care and less income inequality. What is the US doing wrong?
Louise Carpenter: Why doctors hide their own illnesses (Guardian)
Simon breathalysed himself before surgery. Johnny operated on one hour's sleep. As an increasing number of doctors feel the strain, we find out why the experts don't get help.
Evan Bleier: Woman files lawsuit over sex toy ordinance in Sandy Springs (UPI)
SANDY SPRINGS , Ga., May 16 (UPI) --A Georgia woman is suing the city of Sandy Springs over a law that requires a prescription or a legitimate reason to purchase sex toys. Melissa Davenport filed the lawsuit hoping a judge finding the law unconstitutional. … Davenport, who has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, credits sex toys with saving her marriage.
Hennessey Herrera: The Death of the Book (AssetBuilder)
Hennessey Herrera, recently 16, has a lot to say about books. I'd like to share it with you. Hennessey is a member of a speech and debate club for home schoolers. She delivered her talk, "The Death of the Book" at a recent competition sponsored by the National Christian Forensics and Communication Association.
Maria Popova: "The Definitive Manifesto for Handling Haters: Anne Lamott on Priorities and How We Keep Ourselves Small by People-Pleasing" (Brain Pickings)
Here's how to break through the perfectionism: make a LOT of mistakes. Fall on your butt more often. Waste more paper, printing out your shitty first drafts, and maybe send a check to the Sierra Club. Celebrate messes - these are where the goods are.
Nicholas Barber: "Pulp Fiction: 20 years on" (Independent)
Vince and Mia's epic, prize-winning twisting? Well, it isn't prize-winning in fact. Despite a scene showing them carrying home the trophy, a news report faintly coming out of a car radio in another storyline mentions a man and a woman having stolen a trophy from a dance competition at Jack Rabbit Slim's.
Scott Burns: How To Invest For Your Future… In Only 13 Pages (AssetBuilder)
He's definitely at the high end of the raw brainpower scale. A Ph.D. biochemist, he went on to became a neurologist. But today William J. Bernstein is one of the most respected investment writers in the country. … His new goal? "The Millennials can be saved," he said in a recent telephone interview. And he's happy to do it for free or, if unavoidable, 99 cents.
Scott Burns: It's Twilight for Managed Mutual Funds (AssetBuilder)
It doesn't matter how many pages of advertising they take out in the glossy financial magazines. Ditto how many minutes of ads they buy on television. It doesn't even matter how many salespeople they send out disguised as financial advisers to sell their "good for them, not so good for you" products. Managed equity funds are on the way out. Today, low-cost index funds are what investors choose- for many good reasons.
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
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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'
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 with a nice breeze.
Dumbs Down
America
South Carolina's state beverage is milk. Its insect is the praying mantis. There's a designated dance-the shag-as well a sanctioned tartan, game bird, dog, flower, gem and snack food (boiled peanuts). But what Olivia McConnell noticed was missing from among her home's 50 official symbols was a fossil. So last year, the eight-year-old science enthusiast wrote to the governor and her representatives to nominate the Columbian mammoth. Teeth from the woolly proboscidean, dug up by slaves on a local plantation in 1725, were among the first remains of an ancient species ever discovered in North America. Forty-three other states had already laid claim to various dinosaurs, trilobites, primitive whales and even petrified wood. It seemed like a no-brainer. "Fossils tell us about our past," the Grade 2 student wrote.
And, as it turns out, the present, too. The bill that Olivia inspired has become the subject of considerable angst at the legislature in the state capital of Columbia. First, an objecting state senator attached three verses from Genesis to the act, outlining God's creation of all living creatures. Then, after other lawmakers spiked the amendment as out of order for its introduction of the divinity, he took another crack, specifying that the Columbian mammoth "was created on the sixth day with the other beasts of the field." That version passed in the senate in early April. But now the bill is back in committee as the lower house squabbles over the new language, and it's seemingly destined for the same fate as its honouree-extinction.
The American public's bias against established science doesn't stop where the Bible leaves off, however. The same poll found that just 53 per cent of respondents were "extremely" or "very confident" that childhood vaccines are safe and effective. (Worldwide, the measles killed 120,000 people in 2012. In the United States, where a vaccine has been available since 1963, the last recorded measles death was in 2003.) When it comes to global warming, only 33 per cent expressed a high degree of confidence that it is "man made," something the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has declared is all but certain. (The good news, such as it was in the AP poll, was that 69 per cent actually believe in DNA, and 82 per cent now agree that smoking causes cancer.)
If the rise in uninformed opinion was limited to impenetrable subjects that would be one thing, but the scourge seems to be spreading. Everywhere you look these days, America is in a rush to embrace the stupid. Hell-bent on a path that's not just irrational, but often self-destructive. Common-sense solutions to pressing problems are eschewed in favour of bumper-sticker simplicities and blind faith.
America
Hollywood Time Capsule
Elliot Mintz
A former radio and TV broadcaster is opening a Hollywood time capsule of sorts and giving away the treasures inside.
Elliot Mintz did hundreds of celebrity interviews in the 1960s and '70s for his nationally syndicated shows. Stars such as Stevie Wonder, Groucho Marx, Donna Summer, John Coltrane, Jayne Mansfield and scores of other artists and entertainers spent hours talking to him on air.
Mintz got so close to some of the celebrities he interviewed that he eventually switched sides, as it were, and began working with stars to help shape their image in a world of ever-expanding media. In 1979, he became an independent publicist, representing scores of famous names, including Bob Dylan, Don Johnson, Paris Hilton and Diana Ross.
Determined to retire after five decades in Hollywood, the 69-year-old is releasing what he calls a "cyberography": A free website filled with more than 150 hours of his radio and TV interviews comprising hundreds of celebrities. There are even intimate discussions with Salvador Dali and Timothy Leary, as well as advice for Hollywood hopefuls from Mintz himself.
Longtime radio host Jim Ladd, currently on Sirius XM, assisted with the project by interviewing Mintz about his career.
Elliot Mintz
Guitar Fetches $657,000
George Harrison
An electric guitar played by George Harrison on British television before the Beatles' U.S. "invasion" fetched $657,000 at auction on Saturday in New York, topping pre-sale estimates, Julien's Auctions said.
Harrison, who died in 2001 at age 58, played the black-and-white 1962 Rickenbacker 425 electric guitar on 1963 appearances on the British TV shows "Ready Stead Go!" and "Thank Your Lucky Stars" with the Beatles.
Harrison also played the guitar during the sessions when the Beatles recorded "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "This Boy" in October 1963, months before they brought "Beatlemania" to the United States, launching the British Invasion of rock bands.
The guitar was estimated to sell between $400,000 and $600,000, Julien's said ahead of the auction.
George Harrison
Cancels 2 More Tokyo Shows
Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney canceled his second concert in Tokyo on Sunday, as well as the makeup performance for the one nixed a day earlier, and apologized to his fans for still being sick with a virus.
The former Beatle said on his "Out There Japan Tour 2014" site that he wanted to perform Sunday against doctors' orders, but that his team wouldn't allow it.
"Unfortunately my condition has not improved overnight," he said. "I was really hoping that I'd be feeling better today. I'm so disappointed and sorry to be letting my fans down."
McCartney, 71, got sick Friday, and canceled his concert at the National Stadium in Tokyo at the last minute Saturday. But he had promised to be well enough to perform Sunday and do an additional concert Monday.
Paul McCartney
AT&T To Buy
DirecTV
DirecTV, the No. 1 U.S. satellite TV operator, said on Sunday it has agreed to sell itself to AT&T for $48.5 billion, in the second mega-deal to shake up the U.S. television landscape this year.
The deal with Dallas-based AT&T, which has some TV and broadband services, is the latest in a string of big takeovers the wireless operator has considered. Those include an abortive bid for T-Mobile USA in 2011, as well as a potential takeover of Vodafone Plc that receded as a possibility after Comcast Corp surprised the industry this year with a $45 billion bid for Time Warner Cable Inc.
AT&T said it is offering $95 per DirecTV share in a combination of stock and cash, a 10 percent premium over Friday's closing price of $86.18. The cash portion, $28.50 per share, will be financed by cash, asset sales, financing already lined up and other "opportunistic debt market transactions."
As part of the deal, and to facilitate regulatory approval, AT&T will sell its roughly 8 percent stake in Carlos Slim's America Movil. DirecTV has some 18 million customers throughout Latin America, including a stake in Sky Mexico.
DirecTV
Default Judgment
Negative Review
A federal judge has ruled against an online retailer that tried to force a Utah couple to pay $3,500 over a critical online review.
U.S. District Judge Dee Benson entered a default judgment on April 30 in favor of John and Jen Palmer of Layton after KlearGear.com failed to respond to the couple's lawsuit.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports he ruled the Palmers owe nothing to KlearGear.com, but the company owes them an amount of money to be determined at a court hearing in June.
The couple say John Palmer never received two gifts he ordered for his wife, and Jen Palmer then posted a critical review about the company's customer service on RipoffReport.com.
Michigan-based KlearGear.com told the Palmers they had 72 hours to remove the negative review or pay $3,500 because they violated a "non-disparagement clause" in its terms of use with customers.
Negative Review
2nd Chance At Fluffing
Christie
Chris Christie is getting a second chance to impress Jewish leaders after a recent stumble that upset some of the GOP's most powerful donors.
The New Jersey governor and potential presidential candidate is giving the keynote address Sunday at the Champions of Jewish Values International awards gala in New York. Also attending are Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey and major political donor Sheldon "Uncle Sugar" Adelson.
The event comes as deep-pocketed donors begin to size up the crowded field of potential Republican presidential candidates ahead of the 2016 contest.
With a net worth estimated at nearly $40 billion, Adelson may be the Republican Party's most influential donor. He is known for his devotion to Israel, in addition to an aggressive American foreign policy.
Adelson donated more than $90 million to Republican candidates and their allies in the 2012 election.
Christie
Special Exceptions For Special People
Olympia, Washington
At the very end of last year, Shaun Goodman left a bar in Olympia, Washington in his Ferrari and led police on a high speed chase that approached 100 mph at times before crashing into two cars, jumping the curb and eventually careening into the side of a house. An unsuspecting passenger who had accepted a ride from Goodman was forced to leap from the moving car as it slowed down approaching an intersection.
Police arrested Goodman, whose blood alcohol content was twice the legal limit in Washington. He pleaded guilty to felony charges of eluding a police officer and driving under the influence, his seventh DUI conviction. And last week, Judge James Dixon handed down his sentence: no jail time and one year in a work release program.
Goodman's punishment is a far cry from Washington State's sentencing guidelines for DUI offenders. According to the court system's most recent DUI sentencing grid, anyone found with a BAC above .15 (Goodman's was .16) and with two or three prior offenses (Goodman had six), the mandatory minimum jail time is 120 days. The minimum sentence may not be overturned "unless the court finds that imprisonment of this mandatory minimum sentence would impose a substantial risk to the offender's physical or mental well-being."
Regard for a defendant's "mental well-being" is the argument that defense attorneys have used with alarming success in recent months to get their wealthy clients out of jail sentences or any other serious punishment. Last year, a teenager who killed four people and injured two others by driving drunk in Texas avoided jail after the lawyer hired by his wealthy parents claimed their son suffered from "affluenza," an infliction suffered by the extremely wealthy that prevents them from accepting any responsibility for their own actions. And in March, an heir to chemical magnate Irénée du Pont who raped his own three-year-old daughter accepted a plea bargain that reduced his charges to fourth-degree rape and received probation, avoiding a mandatory jail sentence of 10 years. In her decision, the judge in that case explained that the defendant "will not fare well" in jail.
Olympia, Washington
What Global Warming?
Wildfires
The devastating wildfires scorching Southern California offer a glimpse of a warmer and more fiery future, according to scientists and federal and international reports.
In the past three months, at least three different studies and reports have warned that wildfires are getting bigger, that man-made climate change is to blame, and it's only going to get worse with more fires starting earlier in the year. While scientists are reluctant to blame global warming for any specific fire, they have been warning for years about how it will lead to more fires and earlier fire seasons.
Since 1984, the area burned by the West's largest wildfires - those of more than 1,000 acres - have increased by about 87,700 acres a year, according to an April study in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. And the areas where fire has been increasing the most are areas where drought has been worsening and "that certainly points to climate being a major contributor," study main author Philip Dennison of the University of Utah said Friday.
The top five years with the most acres burned have all happened in the last decade, according to federal records. From 2010-2013, about 6.4 million acres a year burned on average; in the 1980s it was 2.9 million acres a year.
Wildfires
Raises Ticket Prices
Disneyland
Disney has raised ticket prices at Disneyland as the summer theme park-going season is about to heat up.
Admission prices for a single ticket to the park in Anaheim, Calif. for guests 10 years old* and up is now $96, an increase of $4. An adult park hopper pass to Disneyland and sister park California Adventure is now $150, up from $137.
While Disney had not given advance warning of the price increases at its California parks on Sunday, it already upped ticket prices at its Orlando resort in February - its second increase in less than a year. The move raised a four-day pass for Walt Disney World by 15% to $294, and single day tickets by 21% to $99.
Disney also had boosted ticket prices to its resorts last year around the start of the summer season when it raised a one-day adult ticket at either Disneyland and Disney California Adventure by $5 to $92 and a kids ticket to $87, also up $5. One-day park hopper passes increased from $125 to $137 at that time.
Disneyland
*The money-grubbing bastards at Disney consider children of 10 to be adults, and charge them accordingly.
Weekend Box Office
'Godzilla'
"Godzilla" has smashed its way to the top of the box office.
The 3-D monster movie from Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures had the second-largest debut of the year this weekend with $93.2 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
"Godzilla" trails Disney-Marvel's "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," which opened with $95 million in April, and sits just above "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," which debuted with $91.6 million this month.
"Godzilla" knocked last weekend's No. 1 hit, Universal Pictures "Neighbors," down to No. 2 in its second weekend.
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. "Godzilla," $93.2 million ($103 million international).
2. "Neighbors," $26 million ($13.5 million international).
3. "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," $17 million ($32 million international).
4. "Million Dollar Arm," $11 million.
5. "The Other Woman," $6.3 million ($8.2 million international).
6. "Heaven Is for Real," $4.4 million.
7. "Rio 2," $4 million ($7.6 million international).
8. "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," $3.8 million ($1.3 million international).
9. "Legend of Oz," $2 million.
10. "Mom's Night Out," $1.9 million.
'Godzilla'
In Memory
Jerry Vale
Jerry Vale, the beloved crooner known for his high-tenor voice and romantic songs in the 1950s and early 1960s, has died. He was 83.
Vale, who had been in declining health, died Sunday at his Palm Desert home surrounded by family and friends, family attorney Harold J. Levy said in a statement.
Born Genaro Louis Vitaliano, Vale started performing in New York supper clubs as a teenager and went on to record more than 50 albums. His rendition of "Volare," ''Innamorata" and "Al Di La" became classic Italian-American songs. His biggest hit was "You Don't Know Me."
Vale's recording of "The Star-Spangled Banner" in the 1960s was played at sporting events for years.
While his albums failed to make the charts in the early 1970s, Vale remained a popular club act.
He also appeared as himself in the movies "Goodfellas," ''Casino" and the TV series "The Sopranos."
Vale was a friend of fellow Italian-American crooner Frank Sinatra, and he was an honorary pallbearer at Sinatra's funeral on May 20, 1998.
Vale is survived by Rita, his wife of 55 years; a son, Robert; and a daughter, Pamela.
Jerry Vale
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