Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Heidi Moore: Family Dollar and the slow, surprising death of the discount store (Guardian)
The merger of discount stores shows how a chase for low-income consumers led bargain retailers to a dead end.
Rebecca J. Rosen: What Do Philosophers Do? (Atlantic)
Outside of academia, that is.
Philip M. Boffey: The White House Tries, Fails to Explain Why Marijuana Should Remain Illegal (NY Times)
Careful readers will immediately see the White House statement for what it is: A pro forma response to a perceived public relations crisis, not a full-fledged review of all the scientific evidence, pro and con. The White House is actually required by law to oppose all efforts to legalize a banned drug.
J.F. Sargent: 5 Terrifying Things Only Truckers Know About the Highway (Cracked)
We don't spend much time thinking about truckers, which is strange considering that everything we eat, wear, and plug into our walls was at one point entrusted to their care. Well, Cracked tracked down Donec Quis and Mallory Spline, two of these noble "freeway cowboys," to ask them what it's like to be the platelets that carry nutrients down the arteries of America. After they corrected us (apparently plasma cells carry nutrients, and "freeway cowboys" is the dumbest thing they've ever heard), we discovered that ...
Marion Cotillard: 'Before my family, everything was dedicated to the character' (Guardian)
When Marion Cotillard took on Edith Piaf she lived the part, willing herself into the role of a tortured genius. Such commitment is harder now that she has a toddler. But, as Stephanie Rafanelli discovers, that doesn't stop her trying.
33 Pictures Taken At The Right Moment (Bored Panda)
We Bored Pandas are huge fans of perfectly timed photos that capture perfect (and usually funny or unexpected) moments that come and go with a blink of the eye. The internet is abound with images shared by people who have captured images at just the right moment or from just the right perspective, so we wanted to share some more of them with you.
Friends | NO JOKES, ALL PLOT / The One with the Apothecary Table (YouTube)
"The eleventh episode in the sixth season of Friends is called "The One with the Apothecary Table." It's 22 minutes long. But YouTube user Tunglebrek removed all of the jokes and almost all of the laugh track so that it's just 2 minutes, 43 seconds long. The plot remains entirely coherent with two clearly discernible story arcs (an A story and a B story)." - Neatorama
Paul and Tina Sirimarco: "You're the one That I Want" from the musical Grease in ASL (YouTube)
"Paul and Tina Sirimarco perform in the car to with the song "You're The One That I Want" from Grease in American Sign Language ..and it's just as cute as can be! Tina is an ASL interpreter and Paul learned ASL because he loves Tina. I got just a tad nervous when he took his hands off the steering wheel, but they seem to have made it through the drive." - Neatorama
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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.
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
Hot. Way too effin' humid.
Replaces Boy's Stolen Trombone
Trombone Shorty
A 14-year-old whose trombone was stolen at gunpoint has a new one thanks to musician Troy Andrews, much better known as Trombone Shorty.
Bill Taylor, executive director of the Trombone Shorty Foundation, said he delivered the instrument, which is engraved with the name "Trombone Shorty," on Saturday.
"He was like speechless. And I got Troy on the phone. As soon as I gave him the horn I had Shorty on the line and gave him the phone," Taylor said.
Andrews described the phone call in an emailed statement: "He was full of joy, thankful and happy. I think we were both very excited to speak to each other. He seems like a cool kid and I'm happy that after a situation like that, I can help to put a smile on his face."
The foundation didn't release the boy's name. The mother accepted the offer of the new trombone after receiving assurances that the boy's name wouldn't be released because she feared for his safety.
Trombone Shorty
Saluted For End-Hunger Work
Jeff Bridges
At a Spago luncheon on Friday, the conversation touched upon moviegoing demographics, the new film "The Giver" and the importance of branding - but the key talking point was solutions to hunger.
AARP threw the event to honor Jeff Bridges, the cover subject of the org's August/September issue. The story is tied to the Weinstein Co.'s Aug. 15 release of "The Giver," which AARP Media SVP-editorial director Myrna Blyth described as being based on a YA novel but focused on "the wisdom of age." She also talked about the new alliance between AARP Foundation's end-hunger program and No Kid Hungry, which Bridges has been championing for 20 years. The former is focused on needy seniors, while the latter focuses on children; the two have come up with programs to help both.
The actor spoke briefly, thanking AARP and praising the "Giver" team who were there, including producers Neil Koenigsberg and Nikki Silver (who praised Bridges for sticking with the project for the 17 years it took to get made), screenwriter Robert Weide and stars Brenton Thwaites and Cameron Monaghan.
Among those congratulating Bridges on the film and his philanthropic work were T-Bone Burnett and Callie Khouri.
Jeff Bridges
Celebrities Join Battle To Stop Dolphin 'Grind'
Faroe Islands
Celebrities and animal lovers from around the world are flocking to the Faroe Islands in a bid to stop a controversial dolphin hunt that activists describe as an "archaic mass slaughter".
Actress Pamela Anderson, who arrived on the remote North Atlantic archipelago in recent days, is set to be joined by 500 volunteers who will patrol the ocean and beaches around the islands to try to block the killing of pilot whales, one of the largest members of the dolphin family.
Renowned ballet dancer Sylvie Guillem and sailor Florence Arthaud, both from France, are also taking part in the campaign led by environmental group Sea Shepherd.
"Operation GrindStop" aims to save more than 1,000 pilot whales, members of the dolphin family, from being slaughtered in a practice known locally as a "grind".
The method involves the mammals being forced into a bay by flotillas of small boats before being hacked to death with hooks and knives.
Faroe Islands
Wedding News
Hines - Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and actress Cheryl Hines married on Saturday evening at the Kennedy family compound at Hyannis, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod, according to media reports and the designer of Hines' wedding gown.
The couple married under a tent before a cheering group of family and friends during the Kennedy family's annual reunion, according to People magazine.
Kennedy, 60, is an environmental lawyer and son of the late U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Hines, 48, is an actress and writer on the HBO series "Curb Your Enthusiasm."
A fans' website for Hines provided links to media accounts of the wedding, and the designer of her gown, Romona Keveza, announced the wedding on her company Facebook page on Saturday.
Hines - Kennedy
Cyclists Suffer Hypothermia
Tour de Big Bear
A wave of brief but fierce storms rolled through Southern California mountains and deserts on Saturday, leaving 40 bicycle racers with hypothermia and possibly causing a 14-car highway pileup in the desert that injured nine people, authorities said.
In California's San Bernardino Mountains, the 100-mile contest in the annual Tour de Big Bear race was disrupted when a storm dumped rain on bicyclists on 8,400-foot-high Onyx Peak.
Most had mild to moderate hypothermia and were taken back to the starting line, county fire spokesman Eric Sherwin said. Normally, "we deal more with heat emergencies," he said. "It was the exact opposite."
The downpour only lasted about 1 1/2 hours and the temperature was only 50 to 60 degrees but "dressed in cycling clothes, 60 degrees and wet is cold, especially when you've got done sweating climbing up a mountain pass," said race event director Craig Smith.
Tour de Big Bear
Haggis A Potent Symbol
Scotland
It's not much of an exaggeration to say that Jo Macsween has haggis in her blood. The business founded by her butcher grandfather is a leading purveyor of Scotland's national dish: a blend of offal, oats and spices, traditionally served in a sheep's stomach.
"I describe it as the food that hugs you from inside," said Macsween, a passionate advocate for her product. "I feel loved after I've eaten haggis."
She says this while scooping crumbly nuggets of haggis onto a plate of nachos, along with cheese, sour cream and guacamole. Food purists might wince, but others may see haggis nachos as a symbol of modern Scotland, comfortable with both tradition and change - themes that run through Scotland's independence debate.
Haggis, Macsween said, "goes to the very identity of what makes Scotland Scotland." Like millions of other Scots, she has been thinking a lot recently about what that means.
On Sept. 18, Scottish voters will decide whether to break up Britain by dissolving a 307-year-old union with England to become an independent country. The outcome will be decided partly by economic arguments: Would independence make individual Scots, and businesses like Macsween's, better or worse off? But questions of identity and national image also loom large.
Scotland
Graffiti For Miranda
Tamanowas Rock
Graffiti expressing affection for someone named Miranda has marred one of the most sacred sites for an American Indian tribe in Washington state.
Jamestown S'Klallam officials learned last month of the pink and white painting of "I (heart) Miranda" on the towering Tamanowas Rock northwest of Seattle. The 43-million-year-old monolith has been used for millennia by Salish Native Americans for hunting, refuge and spiritual renewal rituals.
The Jamestown S'Klallam tribe bought the rock and 62 surrounding acres from the Jefferson Land Trust for $600,000 in December.
Standing more than 150 feet tall, Tamanowas Rock is made up of a pair of basalt masses that shoot up through a dense forest, offering sweeping vistas of Admiralty Inlet, Whidbey Island and the Cascades.
The graffiti is about 8 feet long from end to end in letters that are roughly 3 feet tall.
Tamanowas Rock
'Sound of Music' Is Big Business
Salzburg
For almost 50 years, "The Sound of Music" has captured the imagination of movie-goers and musical fans with its catchy tunes and lovable characters set against the stunning Austrian Alps.
And this has proven to be big business for the city of Salzburg, where the real-life singing von Trapp family lived and the 1965 Hollywood movie was filmed.
While Mozart and classical music remain the city's main tourist attractions, half of all visitors who come here every year from the US, Britain, Canada and Asia make the trip because of "The Sound of Music", according to the tourism office.
Bus tours take visitors around the movie's locations twice a day, "Sound of Music" dinner-and-concert evenings are organised regularly and the Salzburg puppet theatre has even created its own version of the musical.
But Austria itself was slow to catch on to this worldwide craze.
Salzburg
Weekend Box Office
"Guardians of the Galaxy"
"Guardians of the Galaxy" blasted past expectations at the weekend box office.
Marvel Studios' cosmic romp starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana and Dave Bautista as members of an intergalactic band of rebels earned $94 million in its debut weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday. Ahead of its Friday debut, box office analysts initially projected that the comic book adaptation would earn between $60 million and $75 million in North America.
The out-of-this-world launch gives "Guardians" the biggest opening for a film released in the traditionally low-key month of August, a record previously held by the $69.2 million debut of 2007's "The Bourne Ultimatum." It also makes "Guardians" the third largest opening of 2014, coming behind the $95 million inauguration of "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" in April and the $100 million launch of "Transformers: Age of Extinction" in June.
In a distant second place at the North American box office, "Lucy," starring Scarlett Johansson as a woman with mind-bending powers, nabbed $18.3 million in its second weekend, bringing the Universal Pictures release's domestic total to $80 million.
Meanwhile, Universal's James Brown biopic "Get on Up" featuring Chadwick Boseman as the soulful singer opened in third place with $14 million.
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. "Guardians of the Galaxy," $94 million ($66.4 million international).
2. "Lucy," $18.3 million ($5.1 million international).
3. "Get on Up," $14 million.
4. "Hercules," $10.7 million ($14.2 million international).
5. "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes," $8.7 million ($47.5 million international).
6. "Planes: Fire & Rescue," $6.4 million ($3.5 million international).
7. "The Purge: Anarchy," $5.5 million ($8.1 million international).
8. "Sex Tape," $3.5 million ($4.2 million international).
9. "And So It Goes," $3.3 million ($650,000 international).
10. "A Most Wanted Man," $3.3 million ($30,000 international).
"Guardians of the Galaxy"
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