Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Marc Dion: The Presidential Marriage Slide (Creators Syndicate)
Best of all benefits is the marriage slide, the new-found ability to get out of things because your wife needs you to take her somewhere or do something around the house. When one of your friends wants you to "go in" on a shaky business opportunity/IPO/Super Bowl bet, you can likewise slide. And when you are out in a bar, a flash of your wedding ring shackle keeps the friendlier female occupants at bay, where once her kittenish, vodka-roughened voice would have led you only to misery and quite possibly to an arraignment for beating up her abusive ex-boyfriend.
Michael Moore: "'President Romney' - How to Prevent Those Two Words From Ever Being Spoken"
I'm going to go with my optimistic side here (sorry, cynics, you know I love you) and imagine a Second Term Obama (and a Democratically-controlled Congress) who will go after all the good that our people deserve and put the power of our democracy back in our hands. There's good reason why the Right is terrified of a Second Term Obama because that is exactly what they think he'll do: the real Obama will appear and take us down the road to social justice and tolerance and a leveling of the economic playing field.
Andrew Tobias: At the Convention
Republicans held the reins in the eight years of rising inequality leading up to the crash of 1929 and then gave us Herbert Hoover; Republicans held the reins in the eight years of rising inequality leading up to the crash of 2008 and now want to give us Mitt Romney.
Susan Estrich: That Old Clinton Magic (Creators Syndicate)
… 12 years after leaving office, President Clinton returned to the Democratic convention more popular than ever. And to listen to the people who tried to destroy his presidency now heaping praise on his tenure so they can knock Obama with it confirms once again the divide between politics and principle. The Clinton triumph is not just the product of nostalgia - although there certainly is nostalgia for those years of peace and prosperity - but of his tireless efforts and commitment to helping the world's least fortunate in the years since. He has been an admirable former president.
Amanda Marcotte: Sandra Fluke's Speech Made Republicans Crazy. Which Is Just What the Democrats Want (Slate)
After decades of playing along with conservatives who dress up their hostility to female sexuality as nothing more than an interest in "life," Democrats have finally realized that baiting the anti-choice right into showing its misogynist, sex-phobic side may just be a winning strategy.
Patton Oswalt: I'm Voting for Obama Because I Love Money, But I'm Not Money's B*tch
Obama wants to make a world in which every strata can live, happily, on their own terms. In recoiling from the gorgeous messiness of America, Romney is building a scrubbed-clean, fenced-off citadel, surrounded by a worker dorm shantytown. I'm voting for Obama. I'm voting for the messiness.
Stuart Heritage: Clint Eastwood lambasted President Obamachair and Chuck Norris warned of 1,000 years of socialism (Guardian)
David Cameron can only dream of such support.
Lenore Skenazy: Let's Hear It for Non-Organic Food (Creators Syndicate)
… as Dr. Ruth Kava, senior nutrition fellow at the American Council on Science and Health, just reminded me in a phone chat, "On the whole, we're pretty healthy." After all, we are living longer than at any other time in human history, and famine is at bay. These are incredible blessings that we simply shrug off because now they are a given. But what gave them to us?
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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
Still hot. Still humid.
Venice Rules
"The Master"
Jurors at the Venice Film Festival loved "The Master," a film inspired by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, but strict rules kept them from giving it the top Golden Lion prize along with the other awards it garnered.
Venice rules for the annual festival in the Italian lagoon city say the film that receives the Golden Lion cannot get any other awards.
The jury announced Saturday night it was giving "The Master" the Silver Lion for best director (Paul Thomas Anderson), and that its stars Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman would share the prize for best actor. The Golden Lion instead went to "Pieta," a South Korean film about a brutal debt collector.
Milan daily Corriere della Sera reported Sunday that the jury wrestled with its decision "for hours and hours" over which film met the Golden Lion criteria for merit, excellence, ability to stir emotions, the director's artistic ambitions and esthetic value.
"All those qualities are wrapped up in one work, 'The Master,' which would have won the Golden Lion if it weren't for the Venice rule," Corriere wrote, saying the jurors concluded that "the only way" to shower several prizes on "The Master" was to give the Golden Lion to the South Korean movie.
"The Master"
French Legion Of Honor
Paul McCartney
France's Elysee Palace says former Beatle Paul McCartney has been decorated with the legion of honor for services to music.
On Saturday the presidential office said that seventy-year-old McCartney - who sang and co-wrote hits like "Hey Jude" and "Yesterday" - was decorated at the rank of officer by French President Francois Hollande at the Elysee Palace, with members of McCartney's family attending.
McCartney joins the ranks of other singers to have received the honor. Barbra Streisand and Liza Minnelli were similarly honored by former President Nicolas Sarkozy.
McCartney - often referred to as "Sir Paul" or "Macca" in his native Britain - has already received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II, who watched him perform at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
Paul McCartney
Concerned About Crisis In Spain
Penelope Cruz
Oscar-winning actress Penelope Cruz says she is deeply concerned about the financial crisis engulfing Spain and how it might affect the future of the film industry in her native country.
The Hollywood star said she would like to encourage film-makers to choose Spain as a location and perhaps use her status to promote co-productions there.
In a statement released Sunday through her agent Katrina Bayonas, Cruz said she also wanted "to rectify" what she called a misinterpretation of her words.
Cruz said an unnamed publication had quoted her as saying, "I will produce a couple of films a year in Spain to provide work for hundreds of people."
Cruz said the published words had "an arrogant tone" that had "nothing to do" with what she had wanted to say.
Penelope Cruz
Hospital News
Richard Bach
Writer Richard Bach, author of the inspirational best-seller "Jonathan Livingston Seagull," is able to speak a few words and respond to simple commands as he remains hospitalized in intensive care more than a week after his small plane went down in Washington state.
The 76-year-old Bach continued to recover from head and shoulder injuries Sunday at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, but the healing process has been slow, his son said in an email to The Associated Press.
James Bach described his father as in "sort of a daze" from the Aug. 31 accident in which his small plane flipped over after hitting power lines on San Juan Island.
"Actually I'm learning that consciousness is not an all or nothing thing," James Bach said of his father's gradually improving condition. "Although he can say a few words and respond to simple commands, he does not seem to know why he's in the hospital. It's possible that, at any moment, he may snap into lucidity."
Richard Bach
Tattooing Is Protected Speech
Arizona
Arizona's Supreme Court, stepping into a zoning dispute over a tattoo parlour, ruled on Friday that tattooing was a constitutionally protected form of free speech, the first such decision by any state high court in the country, lawyers said.
The ruling stemmed from a dispute between tattoo artists Ryan and Laetitia Coleman and the Phoenix valley city of Mesa, which denied the pair a business permit three years ago to set up shop in a local strip mall.
The Colemans, an American-French couple who live and work in the French city of Nice, originally applied to Mesa in July 2008 for a business permit, and city zoning staff recommended it be issued to them the following February.
After a public hearing, the board voted to recommend the council deny the permit, arguing the shop was "not appropriate for the location or in the best interest of the neighbourhood," according to court documents.
The Colemans filed a lawsuit in 2009 alleging violations to their rights to free speech, due process and equal protection under both the U.S. and state constitutions. The suit was dismissed by the Maricopa County Superior Court.
The ruling does not mean that Mesa must allow the Colemans to open their tattoo parlour, only that the court erred in dismissing their suit. It noted that cities had the right to regulate business location through zoning ordinances and that the "factual dispute" between the parties would have to be determined at trial.
Arizona
Box-Office Slump
Movies
The North American box office hit a slump at the weekend, with top earner "The Possession" taking in less than $10 million and what could be the gloomiest overall haul since the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.
With only a couple of new releases to tempt movie fans, horror movie "The Possession" pulled in an estimated $9.5 million in the United States and Canada.
That's the first time since 2008 that no film took $10 million or more at the domestic box office.
Early September is historically sluggish. After blockbuster releases over the summer, Hollywood studios reserve their big films for the November and December holidays.
Movies
Bible Fetches $94,600 At Auction
Elvis Presley
A bible which once belonged to Elvis Presley and contains his handwritten notes and thoughts has sold for 59,000 pounds ($94,600) at an auction in England, the auction house said.
The bible, given to the singer on his first Christmas at his home in Graceland in 1957, was bought by an American man based in Britain, Omega Auctions said on its website.
The religious book, used by Presley until his death on August 16, 1977, was expected to fetch around 25,000 pounds but went for more than double its value.
But a pair of Presley's unwashed and soiled underpants, worn underneath his famous white jumpsuit during a 1977 concert, went unsold.
Elvis Presley
Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy Camp
Las Vegas
After traveling the world and giving aspiring musicians a chance to jam with their favorite stars, the Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy Camp announced Thursday it was setting up a permanent home in Las Vegas.
Starting in October, aspiring rockers who have dreamed of playing with their musical heroes can sign up for the camp's courses at theMGM Grand hotel and casino. Upcoming camps will feature rock legends as Roger Daltrey, Jack Bruce, Alice Cooper, Dave Navarro,Sammy Hagar, Gene Simmons and Vince Neil.
Camp founder David Fishof, a former manager and tour producer for Ringo Starr and The Monkees, said he had been looking for a permanent location for some time to cope with growing demand.
Prices vary but a five-day camp with a star like Simmons is about $9,500 including hotel accommodation and meals, instruments and a performance at the MGM Grand hotel.
Las Vegas
Mysterious Changes
Ocean Salt
Over the past 50 years, the salty parts of the oceans have become saltier and the fresh regions have become fresher, and the degree of change is greater than scientists can explain.
Researchers are heading out into one particularly salty ocean region, in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, in the hopes of better understanding what drives variation in salinity in the upper ocean.
Ultimately, they hope, research like this will offer insight on the dynamics behind the dramatic changes in the ocean's salt content .
Many oceanographers have a hunch about what is going on: Climate change, Ray Schmitt, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, told journalists during a news conference Wednesday (Sept. 5).
Ocean Salt
Violin Industry
Fungus
A Stradivarius is the best violin a player could ask for thanks to a very specific biological reaction in the wood used to construct them during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. But a new study reveals that fungus might be the trick to making new violins that sound nearly identical.
Science Daily reports Professor Francis W. M. R. Schwarze
discovered a way to use a fungus treatment on two of the most common kinds of wood used for violin making so their biological structure would be ideal for a violin, and the results were even comparable to a Strad:
He discovered two species of fungi (Physisporinus vitreus and Xylaria longipes), which decay Norway spruce and sycamore -- the two important kinds of wood used for violin making -- to such an extent that their tonal quality is improved. "Normally fungi reduce the density of the wood, but at the same time they unfortunately reduce the speed with which the sound waves travel through the wood," the researcher explained. "The unique feature of these fungi is that they gradually degrade the cell walls, thus inducing a thinning of the walls. But even in the late stages of the wood decomposition, a stiff scaffold structure remains via which the sound waves can still travel directly." Even the modulus of elasticity is not compromised; the wood remains just as resistant to strain as before the fungal treatment -- an important criterion for violin making.
"Low density, high speed of sound and a high modulus of elasticity," is what signifies good wood for violin making. This process recreates the same treatment effect the "long winters and the cool summers," had on the wood Antonio Stradivari used to make his famous violins. Previously, researchers have tried for years to figure out how or why the wood used by Stradivari has such an amazing structure for violins, but haven't been able to come up with a rock solid answer. When Schwarze took his fungolin and put it against a Strad in a blind test the panel of judges and the audience thought the fungus violin was actually the Strad.
Fungus
Weekend Box Office
"The Possession"
"The Possession" occupied the top spot at a nearly comatose box office.
The fright flick with Kyra Sedgwick and Jeffrey Dean Morgan playing the parents of a girl possessed by a demon earned $9.5 million in its second outing, the lowest grossing weekend for the box office this year and one of the worst weekends at the box office in a decade. It marked the first time since 2008 that no film managed to crack the $10 million mark.
The bootlegging tale "Lawless" starring Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy and Jessica Chastain kept a lock on the No. 2 position in its second weekend with $6 million, bringing its total haul to $23.5 million, while "The Words" featuring Bradley Cooper as an aspiring writer and Zoe Saldana as his girlfriend debuted in third place with $5 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. "The Possession," $9.5 million.
2. "Lawless," $6 million.
3. "The Words," $5 million.
4. "The Expendables 2," $4.7 million.
5. "The Bourne Legacy," $4 million.
6. "ParaNorman," $3.8 million.
7. "The Odd Life of Timothy Green," $3.6 million.
8. "The Campaign," $3.5 million.
9. "The Dark Knight Rises," $3.3 million.
10. "2016: Obama's America," $3.3 million.
"The Possession"
In Memory
Dorothy McGuire
Dorothy McGuire Williamson, who teamed with sisters Christine and Phyllis for a string of hits in the 50s and 60s as the popular McGuire Sisters singing group, has died. She was 84.
Williamson died Friday at her son's home in the Phoenix suburb of Paradise Valley, daughter-in-law Karen Williamson said. She had Parkinson's disease and age-related dementia.
The McGuire Sisters earned six gold records for hits including 1954's "Sincerely" and 1957's "Sugartime." The sisters were known for their sweet harmonies and identical outfits and hairdos.
They began singing together as children at their mother's Ohio church and then performed at weddings and church revivals. They got their big break on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts show in 1952 where they continued to perform for seven years.
The group made numerous appearances on television and toured into the late 1960s, making a last performance together on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1968. Dorothy stepped back to raise her two sons, Williamson said. Christine also raised a family while Phyllis pursued a solo career, according to a 1986 profile in People Magazine after the trio reunited and began doing nightclub and Las Vegas performances again.
The sister last performed together in the mid-2000s, and are featured on a 2004 PBS show called "Magic Moments - Best of 50s Pop."
The group performed for five presidents and Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain. They were inducted into the National Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2001.
Christine and Phyllis, 86 and 81 respectively, live in Las Vegas.
McGuire was married for 53 years to Lowell Williamson, a wealthy oilman. The couple had two sons, Rex and David.
In addition to her husband and sons, she is survived by two step-children and nine grandchildren.
Dorothy McGuire
In Memory
Bill Moggridge
Bill Moggridge, a British industrial designer who designed an early portable computer with the flip-open shape that is common today, has died. He was 69.
The Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum said Moggridge, its director since 2010, died on Saturday from cancer.
Moggridge is credited with the design of the Grid Compass, a computer that had a keyboard and yellow-on-black display that sold for $8,150 when it was released in 1982. It was encased in magnesium and seen as rugged, and was used by the U.S. military.
The computer made its way into outer space aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1985.
Although there were many portable computers being developed around that time, Grid Systems Corp. won the patent for the clamshell design with the foldable screen hinged toward the back of the machine, said Alex Bochannek, a curator at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif.
Moggridge pushed for this foldable design when it was realized the flat-panel screen, keyboard and circuitry could all fit snugly together.
Until that point, portable computers resembled portable sewing machines that weighed more than 20 pounds and had a big handle, he said.
It was after using the machine that Moggridge's ideas about design began to change, Bochannek said. His work began to focus more on how people interacted with devices, rather than just making sure they were enclosed well.
He is survived by his wife of 47 years, Karin, and two sons Alex and Erik.
Bill Moggridge
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