Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Marc Dion: Training a Cat to Nap (Creators Syndicate)
When I was a boy, growing up in Missouri, there were people who would say that a particularly challenging task was, "like herding cats." The simile does not have to be explained.
Froma Harrop: Oh, for a Table to Eat On (Creators Syndicate)
I was hungry and between flights at Atlanta's airport, "the world's busiest." So I wandered the corridor looking for a clean place to sit and eat something not dripping in grease.
Froma Harrop: Castrating Conservative Principles in Iowa (Creators Syndicate)
There exists a government boondoggle that offends conservatives, liberals, environmentalists, oil refiners, cattle ranchers and taxpayers alike. It's not easy to get that kind of Kumbaya going, but the corn-based ethanol program has done it.
Ted Rall: I'm Not Changing My Passwords Just Cuz Hackers (Creators Syndicate)
Bear in mind, when someone steals your credit card data and makes unauthorized purchases or withdrawals, you're not responsible. In short, it's not your problem. But the media is colluding with the megabanks in order to make us care about something that we really shouldn't.
David Farley: "John Waters on hitchhiking across the US: 'I wanted something I couldn't control, something I couldn't plan'" (Guardian)
You're driving along and you see a guy hitching. Turns out, it's the director of Hairspray! David Farley joins the cult filmmaker to hear why he decided to hitchhike across America, and takes a trip with him to Divine's grave.
Atul Gawande: 'If I haven't succeeded in making you itchy, disgusted or cry I haven't done my job' (Guardian)
The surgeon-author talks to Sukhdev Sandhu about the limits of medicine, our view of death, and battles over taste with the editor of the New Yorker.
12 Celebs Who Look Just Like Their Famous Parents (Buzzfeed)
"Buzzfeed put together this list of 12 Celebrities Who Look Just Like Their Parents, but they did something really cool with the pics in the list (which I have no idea how to do right now). When you scroll over a pic, the photo splits between the actor (or actress) and their parent, so you can see side by side just how similar they are in looks. It is a slightly interactive post, which makes it a lot of fun (if you are as easily amused as me, that is)." - Neatorama
Six Free Stephen King Stories: Presented in Text, Audio, Web Comic & a Graphic Novel Video (Open Culture)
In Stephen King's first televised interview from way back in 1982, the horror writer revealed that he sleeps with the lights on. He may have grown out of the habit by now, but it's no wonder if he hasn't. A macabre imagination like his probably sees all sorts of creepy things lurking in the dark.
Small Plates | The New York Times (YouTube)
"The New York Times Magazine took six children from the second grade at P.S. 295 in Brooklyn to a restaurant. Not just any restaurant, though: they were treated to a seven-course tasting meal at Daniels, which runs $220 a head." - Neatorama
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
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David Bruce has approximately 50 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
wrote:
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is semi-retired.
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
Sunny and seasonal.
Chaplin Award
Robert Redford
The Film Society of Lincoln Center, the Gotham nonprofit that presents the New York Film Festival, has tapped Robert Redford to receive its 42nd annual Chaplin Award.
The laurel, which honors the film industry's most notable talents, will lionize Redford for a career that has included iconic acting work ("Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," "All the President's Men," "The Sting," "The Natural"); a string of films as a director ("Ordinary People," "A River Runs Through It," "The Company You Keep"); Broadway credits ("Barefoot in the Park"); and staunch support of independent cinema as the founder of the Sundance Institute and its influential film festival.
Last year's "All is Lost," the J.C. Chandor film that Redford toplined, had a slot in the 2013 New York Film Festival. He just wrapped "A Walk in the Woods," based on the Bill Bryson memoir, and is now at work on "Truth," in which he stars as Dan Rather opposite Cate Blanchett.
Redford will take home the award April 27. FSLC finishes up the 2014 edition of NYFF tonight with closing film "Birdman."
Robert Redford
Calls In The Army
Italy
Italy legalized marijuana for medical use last year, but the high cost of buying legal pot in a pharmacy meant few people signed up. Now, the government has found a solution: get the army to grow it.
Starting next year, a high-security lab in a military compound in Florence will grow cannabis for Italy's health care system in an experiment the government says could bring safe, legal and affordable marijuana to suffering patients.
The new army supply should allow the government to lower the price for consumers, who now have to pay up to 10 times as much at a pharmacy for marijuana officially imported from Holland as they might for a bag on the street from a local drug dealer.
Regional health authorities are expected to offer it to qualified patients cheaply or for free, helping to put mafia-linked drug dealers out of business. But whether large numbers sign up will depend on cultural factors in a Catholic country with an historic stigma against drugs.
Italy
Ratings Hit Low
'Saturday Night Live'
Saturday Night Live has not been able to recover from the the cast exodus that included a number of long-time favorites, including Andy Samberg, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Fred Armisen, Jason Sudeikis and Seth Meyers.
The ratings for NBC's venerable late-night program started sliding last season, and the slump continues this fall. Ironically, with one of the members of SNL's most recent golden generation, Hader, back as host, SNL hit new lows.
Last night, Saturday Night Live hosted by Hader averaged a 3.8 rating in metered-market households and a 1.8 in adults 18-49 in the Local People Meters. That was down a tenth in each category from last week's show hosted by Sarah Silverman (3.9, 1.9) and a season low. The Hader-hosted show tied the May 10 telecast hosted by Charlize Theron as the lowest rated SNL ever in household and 18-49 ratings.
'Saturday Night Live'
Large Mosaic In Ancient Tomb
Greece
Archaeologists digging through a vast ancient tomb in Amphipolis in northern Greece have uncovered a floor mosaic that covers the whole area of a room seen as the antechamber to the main burial ground.
The mosaic, 3 meters (10 feet) long and 4.5 meters (15 feet) wide, depicts a horseman with a laurel wreath driving a chariot drawn by two horses and preceded by the god Hermes. According to a Culture Ministry announcement on Sunday, Hermes is depicted here as the conductor of souls to the afterlife.
The mosaic is made up of pebbles in many colors: white, black, gray, blue, red and yellow. A circular part, near the center of the mosaic, is missing, but authorities say enough fragments have been found to reconstruct a large part.
The ministry says that archaeologists have dated the mosaic to the last quarter of 4th century B.C. (325-300 B.C.), consistent with their belief the grave contains the remains of a contemporary of Alexander the Great, the ancient Greek King of Macedonia, who conquered the Persian Empire and reached present-day India, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan in a whirlwind campaign, from 334 to 323 B.C. The grave may be that of a relative or general of Alexander's, archaeologists have speculated.
Greece
New Jersey Enforces Quarantine
NBC
New Jersey officials have issued a mandatory quarantine order for members of an NBC crew that was exposed to a cameraman with Ebola.
The order went into effect Friday night after state health officials said a voluntary 21-day isolation agreement was violated.
Officials with the state Health Department told The Associated Press that the crew remains symptom-free and there is no reason for concern of exposure to the deadly virus to the community.
The NBC crew included medical correspondent Nancy Snyderman, who lives in New Jersey. She was working with Ashoka Mukpo, a cameraman who was infected in West Africa. He is being treated in Nebraska.
NBC
Cleared To Fly
7 Plaintiffs
Seven people who challenged their placement on the government's no-fly list are now free to fly, the first time the U.S. has ever informed someone whether they are or are not excluded.
The six men and one woman were part of a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of 13 people denied the right to fly. The plaintiffs wanted to be removed from the list or told why their names appear.
The government, citing national security, long maintained it could not tell anyone whether they were on the list or provide a reason for their inclusion. But U.S. District Judge Anna Brown of Portland ruled that people placed on the list have a constitutionally protected interest in traveling by air, and the right to due process when it's denied.
Brown ordered the government to notify the plaintiffs of their no-fly status by Friday. In the coming months, those who remain on the list will be told why and be given a chance to challenge those reasons.
7 Plaintiffs
Judge Closes Casino
Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino
A U.S. judge has ordered the closure of an American Indian casino in central California following an armed standoff between one tribal faction that was running the gambling establishment and other members of the tribe who stormed the business.
U.S. District Judge Lawrence O'Neill of the Eastern District of California on Friday issued the decision to close the Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino in Coarsegold and set a hearing for Wednesday to hear from the two factions involved in the dispute and attorneys for the state.
On Thursday night, one faction of the tribe entered the casino and confronted another tribal group that ran the business, in a dust-up that sent guests fleeing from the gambling tables, said Madera County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Erica Stuart.
No shots were fired in the confrontation between the two factions and no one was badly hurt, Stuart said. At one point, casino patrons were locked out of their rooms, she said.
Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino
Megachurches Use US Business Model
Nigeria
When a guesthouse belonging to one of Nigeria's leading Christian pastors collapsed last month, killing 115 mostly South African pilgrims, attention focussed on the multimillion-dollar "megachurches" that form a huge, untaxed sector of Africa's top economy.
Hundreds of millions of dollars change hands each year in these popular Pentecostal houses of worship, which are modelled on their counterparts in the United States.
Some of the churches can hold more than 200,000 worshippers and, with their attendant business empires, they constitute a significant section of the economy, employing tens of thousands of people and raking in tourist dollars, as well as exporting Christianity globally.
But exactly how much of Nigeria's $510 billion GDP they make up is difficult to assess, since the churches are, like the oil sector in Africa's top energy producer, largely opaque entities.
In 2011, Forbes magazine estimated the fortunes of Nigeria's five richest pastors. Oyedepo topped the list, with an estimated net worth of $150 million.
Nigeria
Britain To Hunt For Body
King Harold
King Harold II, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, has long been thought to have been killed at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. But British archaeologists are to test a theory he survived on the anniversary of the famous battle this Tuesday.
The battle, on October 14 1066, marked a turning point in British history as the Normans conquered medieval England.
There are different accounts of how he was killed, one of them pictured in the Bayeux Tapestry, which appears to have him gripping an arrow that had pierced his eye.
Another account of the battle, said to have been written shortly afterwards by Guy, Bishop of Amiens, has Harold being killed by four knights and his body dismembered.
But Peter Burke, an amateur historian in southern England, has said an alternative version of events exists in a 12th century document called Vita Harold, which is housed in the British Library.
King Harold
Creepy Clowns
Bakersfield
Reports of creepy clowns carrying knives and other weapons have been scaring people in the California city of Bakersfield for the past week, police said on Sunday.
In the latest incident, a person telephoned the Bakersfield Police Department on Saturday night, reporting a clown armed with a firearm, said watch commander Lieutenant Jason Matson.
The Bakersfield Californian newspaper reported earlier in the week that at least some of the reports were hoaxes. Matson said he did not know whether the incidents were pranks.
At least one of the reports was not a hoax - police arrested a teen on Friday who had dressed up as a clown and was chasing children on the west side of town, Matson said. The juvenile, whose name was not released, said he was doing it to perpetrate a hoax he had seen online.
Bakersfield
Weekend Box Office
'Gone Girl'
Four new films couldn't catch "Gone Girl" at theaters this weekend.
The Fox thriller starring Ben Affleck as a man whose wife goes missing is poised to top the box office for a second week with $26.8 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Universal's "Dracula Untold" opened in second place with $23.4 million. The Disney family romp, "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day," debuted in third with $19.1 million.
Two Warner Bros. films round out the top five. The horror "Annabelle" claimed fourth place in its second week of release with $16.3 million, followed by the Robert Downey Jr.-Robert Duvall drama, "The Judge," which debuted with $13.3 million.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak. Where available, the latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. "Gone Girl," $26.8 million ($27 million international).
2. "Dracula Untold," $23.4 million ($33.9 million international).
3. "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day," $19.1 million ($2.8 million international).
4. "Annabelle," $16.3 million ($27 million international).
5. "The Judge," $13.3 million ($1.6 million international).
6. "The Equalizer," $9.7 million ($11.5 million international).
7. "Addicted," $7.6 million.
8. "The Maze Runner," $7.5 million ($13.7 million international).
9. "The Boxtrolls," $6.6 million ($3.6 million international).
10. "Meet the Mormons," $2.9 million.
'Gone Girl'
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