Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Man Proposes To Girlfriend Unknowingly On Live TV (YouTube)
Josh Mullins asked Ashlee Baldwin to marry him as soon as she picked him up at the airport. Meanwhile, a local TV news crew was broadcasting just down the sidewalk. The crew spotted Josh and Ashlee in the background of the shot and knew what he was doing. The reporter then just had to talk to them.
Arun Kumar: One in seven Americans lives on food stamps
Believe it or not, one in seven Americans - 15 percent of the country - now need government-provided food stamps simply to survive, according to latest government figures.
Joseph E. Stiglitz: Dumb Ideas From Both Sides of the Atlantic (Slate)
European banks and American politicians are both making serious economic mistakes.
Bethany McLean: Be Afraid?(Slate)
Why the markets are tanking.
Annie Lowrey: That Old Recessionary Feeling?(Slate)
Right now, the unemployment rate in the construction sector is around 20 percent. The world's investors are charging the United States just 2.47 percent to borrow for 10 years-less than at any time since the 1950s. The country would be crazy not to fix its bridges and repair its roads for those costs now, rather than doing so later, when labor and financing will be more expensive. It won't necessarily get us out of the recession that we might be in. But it sure would help.
Marc Dion: I Wanna Be a Sheep, I Swear (Creators Syndicate)
All I really want to do is believe. I want to swim in belief. I want to breath belief. I want to heat up a can of belief-aroni for supper. I want to buy a six-pack of belief-weiser tall boys and drink 'em on my porch.
Dr. David Lipschitz: In Times Of Crisis Dealing With Stress Is The Key To Coping And Continued Health (Creators Syndicate)
This has been a terrible time for Americans.
Ron Rosenbaum: Seeing 'Catch-22' Twice (Slate)
The awful truth people miss about Heller's great novel.
David Bruce has 42 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $42 you can buy 10,500 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," "Maximum Cool," and "Resist Psychic Death."
Hubert's Poetry Corner
"Mystery Woman at the Tarahumara"
Sirprise!
wrote:
answered:
3 4 5 6 7 8 CaterpillarsGulf Fritillary Butterfly
Here are today's pictures:
Caterpillar #1 - pupated (7/24/11) (not looking so good)
Caterpillar #2 - pupated (7/26/11)
Caterpillar #3 - pupated (8/01/11)
Caterpillar #4 has disappeared. Don't know if it's pupating somewhere or if a wasp got it.
Caterpillar #5 died while pupating (08/07/11)
Caterpillar #6
Caterpillar #7
Caterpillar #8 - the newest addition
Gulf Fritillary Butterfly Archive
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and cooler than seasonal.
Adviser Blames Tea Baggerrs
Downgrade
A top White House adviser is blaming the downgrade of the U.S. credit rating on tea party Republicans, whom he says were unwilling to compromise on how to reduce the federal debt.
The adviser to President Barack Obama, David Axelrod, tells CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday that the decision by the Standard & Poor's credit agency to downgrade the U.S. from AAA to AA+ for the first time was strongly influenced by weeks of standoff between Democrats and Republicans over the debt.
Axelrod calls the action, in his words, "a tea party downgrade" and says it's clearly on the backs of lawmakers who were willing to see the country default to get their way.
Axelrod also criticized GOP presidential candidates for not speaking up in favor of compromise.
Downgrade
Statue Is A Mecca
Yoda
Within sight of the Golden Gate Bridge lies another landmark cherished by a small but fervent group of travelers: a full-size replica of Yoda, George Lucas' master of the Force.
Since the statue of the Jedi sage went up amid the Presidio's landscaped lawns in 2005, Star Wars fans have made a pilgrimage to take pictures with their beloved character and take in Lucasfilm Ltd.'s sleek headquarters.
Given the franchise's huge impact not only on pop culture but on the tourism industry, the diminutive Yoda fountain is just one of dozens of location shoots and special sites visited by Star Wars acolytes. Others include Luke Skywalker's desert home in Tunisia, Guatemalan pyramids and a Tuscan lakefront villa.
Some visitors to this corner of the park, flanked by towering palms and eucalyptus groves, hope to absorb such lessons through sheer proximity to the statue, poised atop a rushing fountain.
Yoda
NBC4 Big Winner
Los Angeles Area Emmys
The Los Angeles NBC affiliate, NBC4, was the clear champ at Saturday Night's Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards, taking home 13 awards to six for its closest competitor, KTLA5.
The local ABC and CBS affiliates, ABC7 and CBS2, each won four Emmys, while Fox Sports West, KCAL9 and KCET won three each.
Among its wins, NBC4 swept the three newscast categories, winning for Daily Daytime Newscast, Daily Morning Newscast and Daily Evening Newscast.
The 63rd annual Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards took place at the Leonard H. Goldenson Theater at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' headquarters in North Hollywood.
Los Angeles Area Emmys
Baby News
Indiana Hawke
Ethan Hawke and his wife, Ryan Shawhughes, have welcomed their second child together, a baby girl named Indiana, People magazine reported over the weekend.
Born two weeks ago, she's the fourth child for actor/writer Hawke, who also has two children with ex-wife Uma Thurman.
Ethan, 40, and Ryan married in June 2008. Their daughter, Clementine Jane, is 3.
Indiana Hawke
Sharia Law, American-Style
Birth Control
They defied the bishops to support President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. Now Catholic hospitals are dismayed the law may force them to cover birth control free of charge to their employees.
A provision in the law expanded preventive health-care benefits for women, and the administration said last week that must include birth control with no copays. The Catholic Health Association says a proposed conscience exemption is so narrowly written it would apply only to houses of worship. Some other religious-based organizations agree.
Polls show that Americans overwhelmingly support greater access to birth control, which medical experts say promotes well-being by allowing women to adequately space their pregnancies.
Women's rights groups are opposed to any conscience exemption, pointing out that it's not specifically authorized by the health care law.
Conscience exemptions are a common component of legislation that creates tension with religious mores. In this case, the Health and Human Services Department says the administration picked language used by states that require health insurers to cover contraception as a prescription benefit.
Birth Control
Wretapper Says He Upholds "Honor"
Anthony Pellicano
How about a little respect for the guy who pioneered phone hacking, huh?
That seems to be imprisoned former Hollywood detective Anthony Pellicano's viewpoint in his recent exclusive talk with Newsweek (the weekly news publication's sister site, The Daily Beast, published the transcript Sunday).
Serving a 15-year term at Texas' Big Spring Federal Correctional Institution, the 67-year-old Pellicano told Newsweek that, when it comes to tapping telephones, "I was ahead of my time."
As for the phone-hacking scandal currently rocking the core of the News Corp. media empire, well, Pellicano is not impressed.
Anthony Pellicano
Alleged Sex Film Gets No Buyers
Marilyn Monroe
There were no buyers Sunday at the auction of a 1940s stag film that an events promoter claims shows a young Marilyn Monroe having sex before she became a movie star.
The auction was a flop. Nobody came forward willing to pay Mikel Barsa's starting price of 2 million Argentine pesos, about $480,000.
Barsa said it didn't help matters that a spokeswoman for Monroe's estate was quoted in an Associated Press interview calling the whole thing a fraud.
Barsa said he was still negotiating with an unidentified buyer from Denver whom he said was offering much less than a fair price. But he also said his lawyers were reviewing the matter now that Monroe's protectors warned they would sue him if the sale went through.
Marilyn Monroe
Solar Storms
Power Companies
Three large explosions from the Sun over the past few days have prompted U.S. government scientists to caution users of satellite, telecommunications and electric equipment to prepare for possible disruptions over the next few days.
"The magnetic storm that is soon to develop probably will be in the moderate to strong level," said Joseph Kunches, a space weather scientist at the Space Weather Prediction Center, a division of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
He said solar storms this week could affect communications and global positioning system (GPS) satellites and might even produce an aurora visible as far south as Minnesota and Wisconsin.
An aurora, called aurora borealis or the northern lights in northern latitudes, is a natural light display in the sky in the Arctic and Antarctic regions caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere.
Power Companies
Faces Foreclosure
Connie Stevens
Foreclosed properties owned by former Atlanta Braves pitcher John Smoltz and singer and actress Connie Stevens are headed for auction this month in Wyoming.
The Jackson Hole News & Guide reports that Smoltz owes Wells Fargo Bank roughly $1.6 million on a vacant lot in the Snake River Sporting Club. The property is a troubled development that has changed hands several times since 2004.
Stevens owes roughly $2.8 million on a property in Indian Springs. She appeared in the movie "Grease 2" and the television series "Maverick."
Her property is scheduled for auction Aug. 25.
Connie Stevens
From Hawaii To California
Wild Donkeys
In an effort to control the wild donkey population on Hawaii's Big Island, about 100 of them are being taken to California.
KITV reports the Humane Society of the United States is planning to remove the donkeys on a chartered plane next month. Humane Society's Hawaii director Inga Gibson says they'll go to animal sanctuaries.
Drought conditions led the donkeys from the highlands into a populated area in search of water. Donkeys were appearing near the highway and a school.
The Humane Society and a local veterinarian have been trapping and sterilizing animals from the rapidly growing population estimated at about 400 to 600 donkeys.
Wild Donkeys
Weekend Box Office
"Rise of the Planet of the Apes"
The 20th Century Fox action thriller "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" took in $54 million to open as the No. 1 movie, according to studio estimates Sunday.
That was about $15 million to $20 million more than analysts expected for the "Apes" prequel, though well below the $68.5 million opening of Tim Burton's "Planet of the Apes" remake 10 years ago.
Sony's family tale "The Smurfs" remained at No. 2 for the second straight weekend with $21 million, lifting its domestic total to $76.2 million.
Universal's sci-fi Western "Cowboys & Aliens," which debuted at No. 1 a week earlier, narrowly ahead of "The Smurfs," fell to third with $15.8 million, raising its total to $67.4 million.
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 Monday.
1. "Rise of the Planet of the Apes," $54 million ($23.4 million international).
2. "The Smurfs," $21 million ($45.2 million international).
3. "Cowboys & Aliens," $15.8 million.
4. "The Change-Up," $13.5 million.
5. "Captain America: The First Avenger," $13 million ($27.5 million international).
6. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2," $12.2 million ($61.8 million international).
7. "Crazy, Stupid, Love," $12.1 million.
8. "Friends with Benefits," $4.7 million.
9. "Horrible Bosses," $4.6 million ($7.7 million international).
10. "Transformers: Dark of the Moon," $3 million ($17.5 million international).
"Rise of the Planet of the Apes"
In Memory
Francesco Quinn
Francesco Quinn, a son of the late actor Anthony Quinn, has died of an apparent heart attack while jogging near his home in Malibu, California, according to media reports on Sunday.
Quinn, 48, was jogging Friday night with his son Max in the La Costa neighborhood of Malibu, the posh seaside community north and west of Los Angeles, when he fell and lost consciousness. People on the scene were unable to revive him.
Anthony Quinn was a major Hollywood star who won two Oscars for his work in "Lust for Life" and "Viva Zapata!". He died in 2001.
Francesco Quinn followed his father into acting. On the big screen, he played the drug dealer Rhah in Oliver Stone's 1986 movie "Platoon." He appeared as a regular on TV soap opera "The Young and the Restless" and had roles on TV series including "NCIS," "The Shield" and "24."
Born in Rome on March 22, 1963, Francesco Daniele was one of Anthony Quinn's 13 children. His mother, Iolanda, was a noted costume designer. He is survived by his wife, Valentina Castellani-Quinn, and three children.
Francesco Quinn
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