Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Henry Rollins: My So-Called Aquatic Life (LA Weekly)
The boss needs me to do some underwater diving to realize his vision for one of our episodes. "Henry, would you mind taking classes to get certified for scuba diving?" Sure! I wonder if he had any idea how much there is to know, or how involved the aquatic life is. Perhaps he just wants to see me in a wet suit so he can point to a screen and tell his friends, "I made that happen."
Experience: I was an internet troll (Guardian)
'Every time I criticised her, she would post screenshots and get more support which would make me even angrier.'
Scott Burns: Going Down the Intermediary Drain (AssetBuilder)
Do you suffer from Intermediary Drain? Yes, it's an embarrassing question. It's something most people don't want to talk about at all, let alone in public. Indeed, you may be one of the millions of undiagnosed Americans who have this terrible and largely invisible malady. You may not even know you have it.
Mickey Mouse in "O Futebol Classico" (YouTube)
Mickey's dream of watching the futebol championship is put in jeopardy when his view is blocked.
The Ultimate Disney Princess Smackdown Tournament (Buzzfeed)
In a tournament-style battle royale between all the Disney Princesses, who would come out top?
Clever Girl Bails out a Capsized Boat (YouTube)
"This video allegedly shows children of the Bajau people of southeast Asia. This ethnic group which ranges across Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines is sometimes known as the "Sea Gypsies" for their waterborne lifestyle. At a young age, a Bajau child may acquire remarkable skills in the water, as we've seen previously. In this video, a canoe has capsized and filled with water. A young girl with impressive agility rolls it under her feet until she has bailed out the water." - Neatorama
The Incredible Marrec (Vimeo)
Marrec is an old mariner. When he comes back from a fishing party, a boy is waiting for him on the dock. Marrec is going to tell him the story of his most epic catch... Note: adapted from the original language (french) by our dedicated actors, Vincent Grass and Nathalie Homs?Version française: vimeo.com/90766555
Siqi Song: Food (Vimeo)
An animated documentary about FOOOOOOOOOOOD!
Ana Samways: "Sideswipe: June 5: Angry kids" (New Zealand Herald)
Wake me up early and I'll kill you with an ax.
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
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David Bruce has approximately 50 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
"Doug's Most Shared Facebook Post" Today
wrote:
has retired.
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.
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
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and seasonal.
Teeny Executive Steps
Student Loans
President Barack Obama is prepping new executive steps to help Americans struggling to pay off their student debt, and throwing his support behind Senate Democratic legislation with a similar goal but potentially a much more profound impact.
Obama on Monday will announce he's expanding his "Pay As You Earn" program that lets borrowers pay no more than 10 percent of their monthly income in loan payments, the White House said. Currently, the program is only available to those who started borrowing after October 2007 and kept borrowing after October 2011. Obama plans to start allowing those who borrowed earlier to participate, potentially extending the benefit to millions more borrowers.
Obama also plans to announce he's directing the government to renegotiate contracts with federal student loan servicers to encourage them to make it easier for borrowers to avoid defaulting on their loans. And he will ask the Treasury and Education departments to work with major tax preparers, including H&R Block and the makers of TurboTax, to increase awareness about tuition tax credits and flexible repayment options available to borrowers.
At the same time, Obama will use the Rose Garden appearance on Monday to amplify his call for lawmakers to pass more sweeping legislation that would let college graduates with heavy debts refinance their loans. The Senate is expected to debate the legislation next week, but it faces significant obstacles.
Student Loans
Shunned In U.S.
Sara Davis Buechner
Classical pianist Sara Davis Buechner played with some of the most prestigious orchestras in the United States, winning praise from presidents and capturing awards that pointed to a promising career as one of the best in the world.
But back then, she was a man named David.
When Buechner came out publicly as a transgender woman in 1998, the musician risked it all, lost it all and has been working over the past decade in Canada to get it back again.
"Canada was my salvation in many ways," said Buechner, 54, before a recent concert in Montreal. She is to play in Edmonton on Monday, part of a packed schedule that matches the 60 concerts a year she performed during the height of her career as a man.
After coming out, she was shut out of the conservative concert scene in the U.S. and, despite earning some money teaching children piano lessons, was on the verge of becoming homeless.
Sara Davis Buechner
May Reform
The Kinks
The Kinks may reform after almost 20 years for a new album and tour, lead singer and songwriter Ray Davies told the Sunday Times in an interview.
Davies said he has been meeting his brother and bandmate Dave, with whom he has had a fractious relationship dating back to the English group's success in the 1960s, to resolve their long-standing differences.
"I met Dave only last week to talk about getting back together again," Davies told the newspaper. "We've also spoken a few times on the phone and e-mailed. He's been composing his own songs, but I'd really like to write with him again. We both agree we don't want to do old stuff or tour with past hits. It's got to be something new."
The Kinks
Key To Rhode Island City
Alec Baldwin
Actor Alec Baldwin has received the key to Rhode Island's smallest city for his donations to help reopen the financially struggling city's library.
Baldwin donated $10,000 to the Adams Memorial Library in Central Falls in 2011 after he read a New York Times story about how it was forced to close because of financial problems. He gave another $5,000 in 2012. The 1-square-mile city emerged from bankruptcy that year.
Library director Joel Pettit says Baldwin accepted the key from the mayor on the library steps. He was headlining a fundraiser Saturday night in nearby Providence for the library. Pettit said Baldwin is a great guy, and he's hopeful the event will bring attention to the importance of libraries.
Alec Baldwin
Adopt Hard-Line
Texass
The already conservative Texas Republican Party took a further turn to the right at its convention this weekend by adopting hardline positions on issues including immigration and gay rights. The conservative Tea Party branch of the party, led by U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Born In Canada) and carrying great weight in the state, was able to shoot down a 2012 party policy known as the "Texas Solution" that would allow undocumented workers to hold jobs that go unfilled by U.S citizens.
"Like never before, our freedom is under assault. Again today, Texans will stand up and lead the fight to defend our freedom," Cruz said. The policy adopted at the last party convention in 2012 was seen as a pragmatic position to keep Republicans relevant as demographic trends indicate that by 2030, Hispanics, who tend to lean more toward the Democrats, will make up the majority of the state's population. The latest platform calls for securing the border with Mexico, offering no amnesty for anyone in the country illegally and ending in-state college tuition for illegal immigrants.
But analysts say the party may start to suffer if it keeps pushing hard-right policies as the demographic numbers shift, giving Democrats a chance to gain ground in upcoming election cycles. The Texas Republican Party, which says "homosexuality tears at the fabric of society," also approved a policy of "reparative therapy" for gays that seek to change sexual orientation through counseling. The American Psychological Association has dismissed the idea that sexual orientation is a mental disorder and said mental health professionals should avoid telling clients that they can change their sexual orientation through therapy or other treatments.
The 2014 Republican platform of more about 260 policies also calls for repealing the Voting Rights Act, supports open-carry of firearms, supports the repeal of a minimum wage, backs a U.S. withdraw from the United Nations, prohibits the sale of the morning after pill and demands the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, also known as "Obamacare".
Texass
Probe Sought
Tuam
Ireland should investigate the Catholic Church's mistreatment and burial of babies who died decades ago in nun-operated homes for unmarried mothers, a senior church official declared Sunday as the country confronted another shameful chapter of its history of child abuse.
Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin made his appeal following revelations that hundreds of children who died inside a former church-run residence for infants were buried in unmarked graves at the site in western Ireland.
Martin said the probe should have no church involvement, be led by a judge and examine the treatment of children in "mother and baby homes" for unwed mothers and their newborns. These mostly operated in Ireland from the 1920s to 1960s, when Catholic policy and control of social services reached their zenith in post-independence Ireland.
A researcher found records showing that 796 children, mostly infants, died at the home in Tuam, County Galway, from its 1925 opening to its 1962 closure. Residents suspect they were interred in a nearby field, including in a disused septic tank. Ireland had approximately 10 such "mother and home" facilities run by different orders of nuns until the 1960s.
Tuam
Appeals Court Revives Case
Norton Simon Museum
A federal appeals court revived on Friday a New York woman's lawsuit against a Southern California museum to return two 16th century paintings seized by the Nazis during World War II.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-to-1 to reverse a lower court's decision in 2012 to dismiss Marei Von Saher's claims that the paintings belonged to her late father-in-law, a Dutch Jewish art dealer who was forced to give them up during the Holocaust.
U.S. District Judge John Walter had initially ruled that Marei Von Saher's claims against the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena were untimely and the remedies she sought in her lawsuit against the institution conflicted with U.S. foreign policy on the restitution of Nazi-looted art.
The three-judge panel ruled that Von Saher's claims did not conflict with the policy, called "external restitution," that allows various countries to determine for themselves who rightfully owned art that was recovered from Nazi possession during and after the war. The ruling said that because the Netherlands ended up selling the paintings to a buyer, who later sold them to museum founder Norton Simon in 1971, "the dispute was one between private parties."
The paintings date from approximately 1530 and were appraised at $24 million in 2006. Both paintings are life-size panels painted by the German Renaissance artist, Lucas Cranach the Elder. They feature Adam and Eve, and they might have been the inspiration for the title sequence of the TV series "Desperate Housewives."
Norton Simon Museum
Brings Real Space to NYC Marvel Exhibit
NASA
Whether you're from Earth or the planet Asgard, NASA wants you to face (fictional) armies from outer space.
The space agency has teamed up with Marvel to created new training regime for recruits of Marvel's S.H.I.E.L.D. - a fictional league of superheroes - in an interactive display in New York City. The six-month exhibit, entitled Marvel's Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N, premiered at Discovery Times Square May 30, and will be there for about six months.
The Avengers universe is the main attraction of the exhibit, but NASA is providing a heavy dose of science fact for those interested in Iron Man's suit, how black holes act as energy sources or other topics. NASA will also prominently display its "Eyes On Exoplanets" visualization to show off real-life worlds beyond Earth, perhaps similar to Thor's Asgard.
NASA gave a helping hand to the 2012 Avengers movie, which opened at a fictional dark energy facility where scientists were working on a tesseract, a stone of unparalleled power. NASA's logo was featured prominently on a banner in the scene.
NASA
Once-In-A-Century Bloom
Queen of the Andes
Visitors to a California university garden now have the chance to see a large, exotic plant showing off its once-in-a-century blossoming, garden officials said.
The plant, a Puya raimondii also known as the Queen of the Andes, is blooming at the University of California Botanical Garden in Berkeley, California. The rare bloom usually happens only once every 80-100 years in the wild, but the university's plant is flowering just 24 years after it was planted.
At its base, the tall, green plant looks like the head of a palm tree. At its center, a large cactus-like stalk shoots out from the fronds and is about the size and shape of a surfboard.
The plant is pollinated by a variety of birds at the gardens and is expected to grow up to 30 feet (9.1 meters) tall and produce up to 30,000 flowers when it reaches full bloom, the spokeswoman said.
Queen of the Andes
Suggestions
Time
Anyone else tired of the same old bullshit we see after every gun-shooting spree? It's on display again these past two weekends as gunmen bent on killing as many people as possible struck in Seattle, Georgia, and Santa Barbara.
The news breaks of these incidents and the gun forces spring into action. Those seeking to end gun violence demand new laws be enacted. We see press conferences featuring grieving parents making impassioned pleas like, "Not one more."
It's a lot like Groundhog Day, only, as opposed to a feel good comedy starring Bill Murray, it's the real world where over 30 people are murdered with guns every day in the United States.
So what can be done that's different? Well, here are a few suggestions. Some are activities already happening that need more support, while others are more long-term ideas.
Time
Weekend Box Office
"The Fault in Our Stars"
In a box-office battle that pitted young against old, female against male, modest drama against big-budget spectacle, the teenage romance "The Fault in Our Stars" easily bested the time-shifting Tom Cruise action film "Edge of Tomorrow."
With a $48.2 million domestic debut, "The Fault in Our Stars" thumped the $29.1 million opening for "Edge of Tomorrow," according to studio estimates Sunday. It did so with a far less seasoned star in Shailene Woodley and a $12 million budget a fraction the size of that for "Edge of Tomorrow," made for approximately $175 million.
The results offered a stark illustration of shifting box-office trends. Whereas big-budget, male-oriented action films with stars like Cruise have long ruled the day at North American multiplexes, those movies are increasingly under siege from films ignited by passionate young female moviegoers.
Twentieth Century Fox said that an overwhelming 82 percent of the audience for the film was female, an unusually large gender gap for such a popular movie. The majority of the audience eagerly turned out for Thursday night and Friday showings.
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. "The Fault in Our Stars," $48.2 million ($17.1 million international).
2. "Maleficent," $33.5 million ($59.7 million international).
3. "Edge of Tomorrow," $29.1 million ($82 million international).
4. "X-Men: Days of Future Past," $14.7 million ($42.1 million international).
5. "A Million Ways to Die in the West," $7.2 million ($6.4 million international).
6. "Godzilla," $6 million ($5.4 million international).
7. "Neighbors," $5.2 million ($3.6 million international).
8. "Blended," $4.1 million.
9. "Chef," $2.6 million.
10. "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," $1.9 million ($2.3 million international).
"The Fault in Our Stars"
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