Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Mark Shields: Washington and the Von Moltke Grid (Creators Syndicate)
Gen. Helmuth von Moltke … developed the von Moltke Grid, under which he divided his entire office corps into one of four categories: 1) the mentally dull and the physically lazy, 2) the Mentally Dull and the Physically Energetic, 3) the Mentally Bright and the Physically Energetic and 4) the Mentally Bright and the Physically Lazy.
Preston Likely: "Experience: I saved a toddler trapped on a roof" (Guardian)
'The knot in the pit of my stomach was too much to bear - scanning the side of the building, I quickly worked out the quickest way up and made for the drainpipe.'
Deborah Orr: Neoliberalism has spawned a financial elite who hold governments to ransom (Guardian)
The crash was a write-off, not a repair job. The response should be a wholesale reevaluation of the way in which wealth is created and distributed around the globe.
Deborah Orr: Alienation causes murder and violence - not gender, or religion (Guardian)
After Mark Bridger's conviction, I can't help wondering what it's like to be a man, tainted by association with the tiny minority of men who do terrible things.
Grayson Perry's tapestries: weaving class and taste (Guardian)
Perry's tapestry series, The Vanity of Small Differences, says much about politics and how class defines the way we dress and decorate our houses, says Suzanne Moore.
Lucy Mangan: is my life in the toilet? (Guardian)
'What happened to all my younger self's hopes and dreams?'
Rosanna Greenstreet: "Q&A: Dan Aykroyd" (Guardian)
'What is my earliest memory? The slap of the obstetrician's hand on my bottom.'
Lucy Mangan: "The Trouble with Donovan Croft by Bernard Ashley" (Guardian)
It taught me that what you see of a person might not be all you should get about him. … it became clear to me for the first (conscious) time that people view the behaviour of others through the prism of their own understanding and prejudices. This seemed to turn a key to a locked part of my mind. A door opened and a new and interesting light suddenly shone out on to the world. Life, I realised suddenly, could turn out to be a lot more complex than I had originally thought.
Terry Savage: Vets Get Mortgage Deal (Creators Syndicate)
America becomes most patriotic between Memorial Day and the July 4th holiday - a time we remember to thank our currently serving military and those who served their country in the past. It's also a time to remember that veterans get a very special deal on mortgages through the VA loan program.
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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
Marine layer barely burned off before it returned.
US Poet Laureate Reappointed
Natasha Trethewey
The nation's poet laureate, Natasha Trethewey, has been appointed to a second one-year term.
In her second term, she will collaborate with PBS senior correspondent Jeffrey Brown and the NewsHour's poetry series on reports about poetry and society from around the country. Her next term begins in September.
The 47-year-old Trethewey is also poet laureate in her native Mississippi, where she is serving a four-year term.
Natasha Trethewey
Chewbacca & The TSA
Peter Mayhew
Not even Chewbacca and his light saber get a free pass with airport security before being cleared to travel.
Transportation Security Administration agents in Denver briefly stopped "Star Wars" franchise actor Peter Mayhew recently as he was boarding a flight with a cane shaped like one of science-fiction's most iconic weapons.
Airport officials say they wanted to inspect the huge walking stick before allowing Mayhew, who is more than 7 feet tall, on the plane.
Mayhew tweeted "Giant man need giant cane" from his verified Twitter account when the incident happened June 3. He also posted photos showing a TSA agent holding the replica laser sword, which comes up to his chest.
Peter Mayhew
Lost Document Found
Abraham Lincoln
In losing a president, Lycoming College found a piece of its history.
Retiring President James Douthat was cleaning out a closet in his office last week when he stumbled on a rather uncommon historical document that had been lost for years - a certificate signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 that named the college's founder a Civil War chaplain.
Displayed inside a slightly worn black frame, the certificate itself appears to be in good condition. Lincoln's neat signature is clearly visible, just above an ornate, patriotic-themed imprint at the bottom of the commission certificate for Methodist clergy Benjamin Crever.
Douthat, who will retire at the end of the month after 24 years, was clearing out boxes from the top shelf when he noticed what he initially thought might be a black-framed access panel - the kind to get to interior plumbing, for instance.
Abraham Lincoln
Good Samaritan
John Malkovich
John Malkovich is an amazing actor. He's a natural when it comes to switching roles. So when Malkovich found himself standing in front of a man bleeding profusely from his neck, he did what he does best. Malkovich switched into a new role: lifesaver.
Jim Walpole, a 77-year-old Ohio native, and Marilyn, his 79-year-old wife, were recently visiting Toronto, Ontario when something terrible happened. Jim tripped and slashed his neck on some scaffolding while they were walking on a busy Toronto street. The cut appeared serious and blood was starting to pool around Jim. "The way he was spurting I thought it was the carotid [artery] or the jugular [vein]," Marilyn, a retired nurse, told CBC News.
Malkovich was smoking a cigarette nearby and jumped to help. Malkovich, with assistance from two others, immediately started working to stop Walpole's bleeding. Malkovich used a towel to apply pressure to Walpole's wound while the Ohio couple waited for the ambulance. "I was bleeding so bad on my neck and Chris bought him a towel and John kept pressure on my bleeding neck and then Quinn kept me from turning over and made me stay there until EMS arrived," Walpole told the Toronto Star.
The incident happened Thursday evening, but was making its way into the press Saturday because Walpole had no idea his hero was someone famous. "I asked, 'What's your name?' He said, 'John.' And I didn't ask the last name 'cause I didn't figure I'd remember it anyhow," Walpole told the CBC. Once the ambulances came, Malkovich was gone into the night.
John Malkovich
No Charges After Egging
Simon Cowell
A woman who threw eggs at international talent show guru Simon Cowell during the finals of the popular television contest "Britain's Got Talent" will not face charges, show organizers said on Sunday.
Cowell was one of four judges watching two brothers singing during the live televised performance on Saturday night when a viola player ran from the back of the stage and threw several eggs at him before being removed by security staff.
The woman was later named as Natalie Holt, 30, a member of the brothers' backing group, who had competed in the same talent show last year with her string ensemble Raven Quartet, without much success.
In a statement released by the show's organizers, Holt apologized to the brothers, Richard and Adam, for overshadowing their performance, saying she realized that "it was a silly thing to do".
But she was less contrite in comments to the Telegraph website, saying: "I basically took a stand against people miming on television and against Simon and his dreadful influence on the music industry."
Simon Cowell
Lake Mead Adventure
Erin Brockovich
Environmental activist Erin Brockovich, portrayed by Julia Roberts in a 2000 movie about her fight over the pollution of a California town, has been arrested on suspicion of boating while intoxicated at Lake Mead near Las Vegas.
Nevada Department of Wildlife spokesman Edwin Lyngar says Brockovich was arrested late Friday night after breath tests showed her blood-alcohol level was just over twice the legal limit of .08.
A game warden noticed she was struggling and needed assistance while trying to moor her motor boat at the Las Vegas Boat Harbor near Boulder City.
Lyngar says she had been out on the boat with a male companion but was alone when she tried to dock the boat.
She was released from the Clark County jail after posting $1,000 bail.
Erin Brockovich
Won't Renew Star Dancer's Contract
Bolshoi
The Bolshoi Theater won't renew the contract of Nikolai Tsiskaridze, a veteran principal dancer and teacher who for years has been in open conflict with managers at the celebrated Russian theater.
The dispute intensified after the Bolshoi ballet's artistic director was attacked in January by a man who threw acid in his face.
Bolshoi managers accused Tsiskaridze of inciting tensions within the theater that led to the attack, while Tsiskaridze portrayed the attack as the result of corruption and unfair treatment of dancers.
Tsiskaridze, who joined the Bolshoi in 1992, said in an NTV television interview that he questioned the theater's right to let him go.
Bolshoi
Two Longtime Producers Leave
'American Idol'
Add two more departures to the "American Idol" post-season tally.
Fox said Sunday that longtime executive producers Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick are exiting the singing contest. Its 12th season ended in May with a record low-rated finale.
The producers follow judges Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj and Randy Jackson out the door.
The fate of Keith Urban, the other newcomer, is uncertain, and Fox didn't announce who would replace the producers.
'American Idol'
2,500-Year-Old Mummy
Padihershef
A 2,500-year-old Egyptian mummy came out of his coffin Friday to undergo cleaning and restoration at Massachusetts General Hospital.
The mummy known as Padihershef has been on display at the third oldest general hospital in the United States since it received him as a gift from the city of Boston in 1823 as a medical oddity. He is one of the first complete mummies brought to the United States.
A conservator trained in restoring ancient artifacts removed him from his coffin Friday and began using cotton swabs dabbed in saliva to wipe away salt deposits from his face. The salt has been slowly seeping out of his tissue, a result of the mummification process. Experts are also expected to do minor repair and stabilization work on his coffin.
The mummy and his coffin will then be moved to a special horizontal case in which they will lie next to each other in the Ether Dome, a surgical amphitheater where William T. G. Morton demonstrated the first public surgery using anesthetic on Oct. 16, 1846.
Padihershef was a 40-year-old stonecutter in the necropolis in Thebes, an ancient city on the west bank of the Nile, in what is today's Luxor. He was a gift from a Dutch diplomat who was happy with the city of Boston's hospitality, officials said.
Padihershef
Male Train Drivers Wear Skirts
Stockholm
Commuters on a train line in northern Stockholm were met with an unusual sight this week: male train drivers and conductors wearing skirts to work.
Train driver Martin Akersten says he and more than a dozen others at the Roslagsbanan line have started wearing skirts in the summer as a protest against the train company's uniform policy, which doesn't allow shorts.
The 30-year-old Akersten said Sunday the response from customers has been only positive.
Arriva, the company that runs the train line, hasn't stopped the drivers. Arriva spokesman Tomas Hedenius says the company wants its staff to look "nice and proper," but can't stop men from wearing "women's clothes" if that's what they want because it would be discrimination.
Stockholm
Weekend Box Office
'The Purge'
The suspense thriller "The Purge" topped the weekend box office with a shocking $36.4 million that doubled industry expectations, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Audiences starved for a horror option flocked to the micro-budget Universal film starring Ethan Hawke. The film's strong opening performance minted another box-office hit for "Paranormal Activity" producer Jason Blum.
Like that horror franchise, "The Purge" was made for relative peanuts - just $3 million - making it an extremely lucrative release for Universal. The studio had expected it to open in the high teens.
After Will Smith's sci-fi adventure "After Earth" bombed in its domestic opening last weekend, coming in third with $27.5 million for Sony, the film found a warmer reception overseas this weekend. It took in $45.5 million internationally after opening in some 60 overseas markets. Domestically, it continued to fare poorly, adding $11.2 million in its second week.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released on Monday.
1. "The Purge," $36.4 million.
2. "Fast & Furious 6," $19.8 million ($45.3 million international).
3. "Now You See Me," $19.5 million ($2 million international).
4. "The Internship," $18.1 million.
5. "Epic," $12.1 million ($12.7 million international).
6. "Star Trek Into Darkness," $11.7 million ($17.6 million international).
7. "After Earth," $11.2 million ($45.5 million international).
8. "The Hangover Part III," $7.4 million ($34.8 million international).
9. "Iron Man 3," $5.8 million ($3.9 million international).
10. "The Great Gatsby," $4.2 million ($13.3 million international).
'The Purge'
In Memory
Iain Banks
Novelist Iain Banks, who enlivened Scottish literature for three decades with his dark humor, has died from cancer just days before the release of his 27th and final novel "The Quarry".
Banks announced he was suffering from the disease in April and said he had asked his partner, the author Adele Hartley, if "she will do me the honor of becoming my widow" - the ghoulish humor, he explained, helped them cope with his impending death.
The announcement triggered tributes from his army of fans who have followed the prolific writer since he made his literary debut in 1984 with "The Wasp Factory".
Announcing his death at the age of 59, publisher Little Brown said Banks was an irreplaceable part of the literary world.
Born in Fife, Banks was an only child in a household full of books. His parents encouraged him to develop a fantasy life.
After the success of "The Wasp Factory", Banks began to write full-time and agreed with his editor to try and produce a book year, pursuing two writing careers - as Iain Banks the mainstream fiction writer and as Iain M. Banks, the science-fiction writer who emerged with "Consider Phlebas" in 1987.
The first Iain made more money from his books, which included "The Crow Road" and "Complicity", and received the greatest literary praise. The second Iain, with an M., was more political and had a loyal cult following.
Banks, a larger-than-life character who wore his politics and passions on his sleeve, once joked that he had considered adding a few more pseudonyms to the list, writing Westerns as Iain Z. Banks and erotica as Iain X. Banks.
Proud of his Scottish heritage, Banks reveled in his love of malt whisky, even making it the subject of a book "Raw Spirit" that took him across Scotland.
But after hitting 50 and with the collapse of his first marriage in 2006 he took stock of his life and made changes.
The man who once ran for rector of the University of Edinburgh on behalf of the Drunken Bastards Party cut back on his drinking and also gave up recreational drugs after years of marijuana, LSD and cocaine use.
In a bid to reduce his carbon footprint he decided to avoid long haul flights and traded in his beloved sports cars - a Jaguar, Porches, BMW and a Land Rover - for something greener.
For several years he had trouble travelling because he tore up his passport in protest at the Iraq war in 2007, refusing to apply for a new one until Prime Minister Tony Blair left office.
Iain Banks
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