Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Greg Sargent: Trump hasn't drained the swamp, and Americans know it (Washington Post)
Here's another really important finding from […] Post/ABC News poll: Since Trump took office, do you think the amount of corruption in Washington has increased, decreased, or stayed about the same? Increased 45. Decreased 13. Stayed the same 39.
Jonathan Chait: Republican Admits Trump Broke His Popular Promises That Got Him Elected (NY Mag)
In office, he has instead governed as an orthodox right-winger. This explains why Trump has lost so much of his nonconservative support. But it also helps explain the Republican Party's willingness to defend him. Instead of keeping his popular promises that helped get him elected, Trump instead adopted the unpopular stances of the conservative movement, which has in turn embraced him.
Justin Peters: How r/Madden Covered the News of the Jacksonville Shooting (Slate)
Cowed by how Redditors botched the Boston Marathon bombing aftermath, the video game subreddit behaved like a responsible media organization.
Lucy Mangan: "Bodyguard review: Jed Mercurio's latest thriller is as dark and moreish as we hoped" (Guardian)
The latest series from the Line of Duty creator trains its sights on corruption in the corridors of power.
Constance Grady and Aja Romano: How Harry Potter changed the world (Vox)
Author J.K. Rowling was an unknown single mom when she first got the idea for her story while stuck on a train; the small UK children's press that ultimately took a chance on it undoubtedly couldn't have predicted that it would have a measurable effect on everything it touched. Harry Potter made YA book-to-movie franchises into one of the biggest forces in pop culture. It changed the business model for publishing books for kids. And it introduced an entire generation to the idea that it's possible to interact with the pop culture you love - to write about it and with it, to make music and art about it, and to build a business around it.
Constance Grady: The Outsiders reinvented young adult fiction. Harry Potter made it inescapable. (Vox)
This year [2017], we're celebrating the 50th anniversary of the book that helped to invent YA as we know it, and the 20th anniversary of the book that helped to make YA an unstoppable force. But where The Outsiders made YA profitable by creating a world exclusively for and about teenagers, Harry Potter made YA even more profitable by creating a world in which YA is for everyone.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
answered:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
"Doug's Most Shared Facebook Post" Today
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
from Bruce
Animals Anecdotes
• As a teenager, author Gary Paulsen was the favorite victim of a bullying street gang. Once, as he left his job at a bowling alley late at night, he tried to find a new route home by leaving from the roof. As he climbed from the roof into an alley, he stepped on a ferocious dog. Frightened, he threw the dog half of a hamburger he was carrying, then he ran from the alley-right into the hands of members of the bullying street gang, who immediately started to beat him. Suddenly, the ferocious dog jumped out of the alley and began biting gang members. Gary gave the dog the rest of his hamburger, and after the dog bit the gang leader in another encounter, the gang left Gary strictly alone. (Eventually, Gary found the dog, now friendly to everyone except Gary's enemies, a new life on a farm.)
• Fans often get on major-league players, managers, and coaches. Usually, the pros ignore the hazing (they are too busy hazing the opposing team to listen), but occasionally a fan will go too far. Once Danny Murtaugh got up close and personal with a heckler and said to him, "When I was a youngster, I lived on a farm. We had a jackass on that farm that just wouldn't do anything. One day I really gave that jackass a beating. My father heard the jackass hollering and came to his rescue. Then he turned to me and gave me a good lacing for what I had done. His last words were: 'Someday that jackass is going to haunt you.' And you know, up to now I never did believe him."
• Quakers tend to try to avoid pride of ownership of material possessions, especially during meetings. Benjamin Maule (1794-1873) was especially proud of a horse that he often rode to meetings. However, some Quakers noticed that he had not ridden the horse to meetings in a few weeks, and Mr. Maule confessed to selling the horse. When they expressed surprise that he would sell a horse he was so obviously proud of, Mr. Maule replied, "I felt I should; he would [metaphorically] come into meeting with me."
• A crowd of Republicans was talking about the fortunes of politics. One Republican boasted that at one time, the Republican party could nominate a jackass for office and get him elected, too. Unfortunately, the Democrats now were winning elections handily. When he was asked to explain the reversal in fortunes, the Republican said, "I am inclined to think the reason is that when we had the power, we simply elected too many jackasses."
• Before Ulysses S. Grant rose to a position of prominence, the union soldiers in the Civil War suffered from poor generalship. One day, President Abraham Lincoln learned that a Union brigadier general and 12 mules had been captured by Confederate soldiers. President Lincoln remarked, "How unfortunate! Those mules cost $200 apiece."
• Natalie Schafer, who played Mrs. Thurston Howell on the TV series Gilligan's Island, had a small French poodle, Fifi, as a pet. Fifi was too small to jump onto Ms. Schafer's bed to sleep with her, so Ms. Schafer had a ramp built so that Fifi could climb into bed with her.
• Obviously, the White House is very concerned about security. When Caroline Kennedy's pet hamsters escaped from their cage, JFK's press secretary, Pierre Salinger, announced at a press conference, "Our security is very tight, but these were extremely intelligent hamsters."
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Current Events
Wonkette routinely refers to Cruz as unfuckable. Predator is so disgusting that he's unfuckable too (just ask Melania--or Melanie). So the two of them (Cruz and Predator) are a nightmare.
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
"LET THEM EAT CAKE.!"
MAKE AMERICA EVIL AGAIN.
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
If you've ever thought about sending Marty a donation this would be an excellent time.
Job-Shaming
Rupert
Before "The Cosby Show" ended in 1992, actor Geoffrey Owens played the character Elvin Tibideaux on NBC's hit comedy series for five seasons. He's continued working through the years as an actor but, as is the case in most creative industries, actors often do many other jobs to make ends meet. This is not news.
Owens was seen a few days ago working in a Clifton, New Jersey, Trader Joe's by a shopper who recognized the actor, then was compelled to take a photo of him. The customer, Karma Lawrence, told the Daily Mail it made her feel bad that after all those years on "The Cosby Show," Owens "ended up as a cashier."
Fox News and Daily Mail chose to not only report this but also, in the view of many, basically shame a man for having a "regular" job and framing it with the negative connotation of "bagging groceries."
People from all walks of life, across the political spectrum (including conservative actor James Woods and NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch), came to Owens' defense on social media, slamming Fox News and Daily Mail for the slants on their stories.
Owens, 57, graduated cum laude from Yale University in 1983 and regularly teaches Shakespeare in the New York and New Jersey area. He's made appearances on shows such as "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia," "Lucifer" and "Elementary."
Rupert
'Saw God'
Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney has revealed just how swinging the 1960s really were.
The Beatle is generally thought to have been the most sensible among the Fab Four, yet this still didn't stop him experimenting with psychedelic drugs, such as strong hallucinogen Dimethyltryptamine (DMT).
"There was the gallery owner Robert Fraser, me, a couple of others," McCartney, 76, - who's 17th studio album Egypt Station will be released on Sept. 7 - told the Sunday Times. "We were immediately nailed to the sofa. And I saw God, this amazing towering thing, and I was humbled."
McCartney added, "It was huge. A massive wall that I couldn't see the top of, and I was at the bottom. And anybody else would say it's just the drug, the hallucination, but both Robert and I were, like, 'Did you see that?' We felt we had seen a higher thing."
This incident has helped shaped McCartney spiritual belief that "there is something higher" - although he admitted he has "no idea" what that might be.
Paul McCartney
Pays Tribute To Queen
Ohio State Marching Band
The Ohio State University Marching Band celebrated the music of Freddie Mercury and Brian May with a halftime show dedicated to Queen.
For the season opener against Oregon State University, the marching band played some of the greatest hits of the British rock band. "We Will Rock You," "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," "Bohemian Rhapsody" and other songs filled Ohio Stadium.
The band marched in formations that spelled out Queen and honored Mercury and May. Band director Christopher Hoch designed the drill for the show.
Cody Faist, from Columbus, Ohio, dotted the 'i' this week. Faist is a civil engineering major who graduated from Bishop Ready High School.
Ohio State Marching Band
Facebook Adds Language
Inupiaq
Britt'Nee Brower grew up in a largely Inupiat Eskimo town in Alaska's far north, but English was the only language spoken at home.
Today, she knows a smattering of Inupiaq from childhood language classes at school in the community of Utqiagvik. Brower even published an Inupiaq coloring book last year featuring the names of common animals of the region. But she hopes to someday speak fluently by practicing her ancestral language in a daily, modern setting.
The 29-year-old Anchorage woman has started to do just that with a new Inupiaq language option that recently went live on Facebook for those who employ the social media giant's community translation tool. Launched a decade ago, the tool has allowed users to translate bookmarks, action buttons and other functions in more than 100 languages around the globe.
For now, Facebook is being translated into Inupiaq only on its website, not its app.
Besides the Inupiaq option, Cherokee and Canada's Inuktut are other indigenous languages in the process of being translated, according to Facebook spokeswoman Arielle Argyres.
Inupiaq
Athletes Should Be Grateful For Kaepernick
Serena Williams
Serena Williams said every athlete "should be completely grateful and honored" for the protests started by former NFL players Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid.
Kaepernick and Reid, two former San Francisco 49ers now out of the league, were each given huge ovations when they were introduced and shown on the big screen during the match between Serena and Venus Williams at the U.S. Open on Friday night. Serena Williams said she was focused on the match and did not notice the pair in the stands. Reid raised his fist and Kaepernick smiled for the fans.
Kaepernick tweeted a photo of his young niece with Serena and wrote, "Lani lost it when Serena surprised her after the match!!! Thank you so much Serena !!!"
Serena said she was grateful for the stand they took that has seen both players take on the NFL. An arbitrator is sending Kaepernick's grievance with the NFL to trial, denying the league's request to throw out the quarterback's claims that owners conspired to keep him out of the league because of his protests of social injustice. A similar grievance is still pending by unsigned safety Eric Reid, who played with Kaepernick in San Francisco and joined in the protests.
"I think every athlete, every human, and definitely every African-American should be completely grateful and honored how Colin and Eric are doing so much more for the greater good, so to say," Serena said. "They really use their platform in ways that is really unfathomable. I feel like they obviously have great respect from a lot of their peers, especially other athletes, people that really are looking for social change."
Serena Williams
2024 Presidential Run
Kanye
Kanye West has said he is serious about a run for the presidency, but that it will not happen until 2024.
"If I decide to do it, it will be done, I'm not going to try," the rapper and fashion designer said in a radio interview with Power 92 Chicago's DJ Pharris, adding: "Yes, 100 per cent it could happen… 2024."
West first announced plans for a White House bid during an appearance at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards.
"One of my main things once I'm president is the medical industry. I'm going to make sure that the medical industry flourishes," West said on Thursday.
He added: "I'm not going in, when I become president, to f*** up the paper, because I tell you what? Trump ain't f***ing up the paper. Those jobs are up, those taxes are being saved."
Kanye
'Archive' of Heat Hiding
Arctic Ice
Warm water has penetrated deep into the frozen Arctic.
So far, it's still hiding out far beneath the surface, but according to a new study, there's a serious risk that this warm water could rise and trigger a new wave of melting in the interior of our planet's already shriveled northern ice cap.
Using older data from ships and newer data from permanent probes installed deep in the water, researchers showed that water in the Arctic Ocean's Canadian Basin has warmed significantly in recent years. That's thanks to a circular ocean current called the Beaufort Gyre, which pulls southern water north and under the Arctic's ice, the researchers wrote.
As the planet has warmed, they found, the water delivered north along the Gyre has gotten warmer, too. And once that heat gets to the Arctic Ocean, it gets trapped there, so those permanent probes detect it year-round. [Photos Reveal How Earth's Glaciers Have Rapidly Disappeared]
The trapping effect is the result of the Arctic Ocean's distinct layers of water, said lead study author Mary-Louise Timmermans, a professor of geology and geophysics at Yale University.
Arctic Ice
Blowing The Perfect Bubble
Precise "Recipe"
A team of mathematicians has devised the most precise recipe yet for blowing perfect bubbles, and it's not just for fun and frolics. Achieving a better understanding of the dynamics at work could lead to more efficient industrial production of commercial sprays and foams, like shaving cream or Reddi-Wip-pretty much anything that has drops or bubbles in it.
Bubbles have long been serious science. Back in the 1800s, Belgian physicist Joseph Plateau outlined four basic laws of surface tension that determine the structure of soapy films. Surface tension is why bubbles are round; that shape has the least surface area for a given volume, so it requires the least energy to maintain. (As gravity pulls the liquid downward in a process known as coarsening, the shape starts to look more like a soccer ball rather than a perfect sphere.) American botanist Edwin Matzke used to build foams by hand in his lab in the 1940s, bubble by bubble, the better to examine their structure.
More recently, Irish mathematicians used computer modeling in 1994 to determine the best geometric shape bubbles can take for most efficient packing, while other scientists have used acoustic levitation-powerful sound waves-to suspend bubbles in mid-air. In 2006, Harvard University scientists figured out that adding tiny colloidal particles to the mix created a kind of coating or armor, producing much more stable bubbles that could be reshaped and molded at will. It's even possible to build rudimentary microfluidic bubble-based logic devices to transport therapeutic drugs or chemical reagents.
Just two years ago, French physicists worked out a theoretical model for the exact mechanism for how soap bubbles form when jets of air hit a soapy film. They tested their model by hanging weighted fishing line from a three-foot contraption. Then they carefully dripped a soapy solution (a bit of Dawn dish soap in plain tap water) onto the top of the wires so the wires stuck together as it dribbled down. Gently pulling the wires apart again created a thin soap film. Then they zapped the film with jets of gas to see which speeds of blowing air produced bubbles, filming it all with a high-speed camera.
Precise "Recipe"
Weekend Box Office
'Crazy Rich Asians'
"Crazy Rich Asians" isn't slowing down at the box office even in its third weekend in theaters, and is helping to send a strong summer moviegoing season off on a high note.
Studios on Sunday say the romantic comedy has topped the domestic charts again. Warner Bros. estimates that the film added an additional $22.2 million through Sunday, down only 10 percent from last weekend. To date, the film has grossed nearly $111 million from North American theaters, passing the lifetime domestic total of 2015's "Trainwreck," one of the last big studio rom-com success stories.
Warner Bros.' shark pic "The Meg" took second place with an additional $10.5 million, bringing its global total to $462.8 million. "Mission: Impossible - Fallout," in its fifth weekend, added $7 million for a third place finish.
"Operation Finale" landed in fourth place with $6 million. The film starring Oscar Isaac and Ben Kingsley tells the story of how Mossad agent Peter Malkin captured Adolf Eichmann.
And the John Cho-led computer screen mystery "Searching" performed better than expected in its expansion to 1,200 screens, bringing in an estimated $5.7 million through Sunday and rounding out the top five.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to comScore. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Tuesday.
1."Crazy Rich Asians," $22.2 million ($10.4 million international).
2."The Meg," $10.5 million ($17.7 million international).
3."Mission: Impossible - Fallout," $7 million ($89.1 million international).
4."Operation Finale," $6 million.
5."Searching," $5.7 million ($5.9 million international).
6."Christopher Robin," $5 million ($4.7 million international).
7."Alpha," $4.5 million ($6.6 million international).
8."The Happytime Murders," $4.4 million ($1.5 million international).
9."BlacKkKlansman," $4.1 million ($4.8 million international).
10."Mile 22," $3.6 million ($6 million international).
'Crazy Rich Asians'
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