Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Hilarious Response to Cease and Desist Letter (Freetail Brewing Company) (pdf. file)
"The Freetail Brewing Co. of San Antonio, Texas discovered that its company logo was claimed by another company. It learned this fact when it received a threatening letter from the attorney of that company. The brewers decided that fighting the issue wasn't worth the trouble, but wanted to have a bit of fun with their response. Pictured above is a screenshot of part of the letter, which can be found at the link. Much to Metzger's credit, even though he didn't go to law school, he knew about the advantage of sending a copy to the Flying Spaghetti Monster."--Neatorama
The World's Best Trained Chinchilla (YouTube)
Now chin can give kisses and walk without directly following a treat. :)?Enjoy.
Jesse Rosten: Fotoshop by Adobé (Vimeo)
This commercial isn't real, neither are society's standards of beauty. (Satire is a Weapon.)
Paul Krugman: America Isn't a Corporation (New York Times)
… in real life, Gekkoism triumphed, and policy based on the notion that greed is good is a major reason why income has grown so much more rapidly for the richest 1 percent than for the middle class.
Froma Harrop: The Missing 'Humanity Clause' at Bain (Creators Syndicate)
During the Great Depression, my father toiled in a box factory. The workers were all flat broke, he recalled, and desperate for every nickel. But when overtime hours appeared, the men made sure they went to a guy with kids. The laborers were obeying the unwritten and unenforceable "humanity clause," whereby one gives up some personal gain in deference to another's screaming need.
Connie Schultz: Time To Talk Politics at the Dinner Table (Creators Syndicate)
I grew up in a small working-class town in northeast Ohio. In our Protestant home, the dining room table faced the Jack-and-Jesus wall. Under Mom's watchful gaze in 1961, Dad had hung a painting of Christ next to an official-looking portrait of President John F. Kennedy. Once, a neighbor and fellow Presbyterian breathlessly pointed to the wall and declared that Kennedy was a Catholic. Mom smiled and assured her that God loved everyone - even bigots. That was a short visit.
Ted Rall: Republican Socialists, Democratic Capitalists
"There's a company in The Wall Street Journal today that Bain [Capital, Romney's company] put $30 million into, took $180 million out of and the company went bankrupt," Newt Gingrich said on January 10th. "And you have to ask yourself: Was a six-to-one return really necessary? What if they only take $120 million out? Will the company still be there? Will 1,700 families still have a job?"
Eddie Deezen: Why Do Nerds So Often Wear Glasses? (Neatorama)
The word "nerd" was actually coined by my favorite fiction writer, the great Dr. Seuss. In 1950, in Dr. Seuss's book If I Ran the Zoo, Seuss drew a non-human creature called a 'nerd" from the land of Ka-roo. This is the first instance of the word "nerd" in print.
Henry Rollins: The Time I Made A Punk Rocker Cry (LA Weekly)
He asked me how long this tour was. I told him that it would start to show signs of fatigue around the end of February 2013. "Would you write about some of the places you'll be, and perhaps send some old war stories from past deployments?" he asked.
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."
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
BadtotheboneBob
Tiniest Vertebrate
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and summery.
United States of South Carolina
Stephen Colbert
Late night comedian Stephen Colbert has dropped a fat hint that he is exploring a run in the Republican presidential primary in South Carolina, although the deadline has passed to get on the ballot.
But that may not be the point. His announcement on Thursday's satirical "The Colbert Report" on Comedy Central gave Colbert an avenue for poking fun at how well-funded political action committees, operating at arm's length from a candidate, can spend to support that candidate.
The Republican presidential primary in South Carolina will be held on January 21, and political experts say it could help seal frontrunner Mitt Romney's hold on the nomination.
To a cheering studio audience, Colbert joked on his show that "for over a day now" residents of South Carolina had been "crying out for someone who can restore our nation's former greatness to its current perfection."
"Well America, that someone is now," he said. "I am proud to announce that I am forming an exploratory committee to lay the groundwork for my possible candidacy for the president of the United States of South Carolina."
Stephen Colbert
Hosting Obama Fundraiser
Spike Lee
Director Spike Lee will hold a high-dollar fundraiser for President Barack Obama next week at his New York home.
A Democratic official says the president will attend the fundraiser for his re-election bid. About 40 people are expected there next Thursday, with tickets costing $35,800 per person. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the event has not been announced.
Lee is the director of films and documentaries including "Do the Right Thing," ''Malcolm X" and "Inside Man."
Spike Lee
Bicycle Accident
Gene Hackman
Oscar-winner Gene Hackman was briefly hospitalized with bumps and bruises Friday after a pickup truck hit him from behind while he was riding a bicycle in the Florida Keys, his publicist said.
The 81-year-old Hackman was airlifted to a Miami hospital and released several hours later after routine tests, said publicist Susan Madore.
Hackman was riding without a helmet on an Islamorada street around 3 p.m. when the pickup hit him, throwing him onto the grassy shoulder, according to a Florida Highway Patrol report. No charges were immediately reported.
During a career that has spanned five decades, Hackman has won two Academy Awards and been nominated for three others.
Gene Hackman
Hollywood Eats Its Own
MPTF
Three years after announcing a controversial plan to close its money-losing longterm and acute care facility, the nursing home at the Motion Picture and Television Fund's Woodland Hills campus has defied the odds to remain open.
Thanks to a sustained grassroots campaign from Saving the Lives of Our Own, a collection of residents and their families, the MPTF board has abandoned plans to the shutter the home, pledging to keep the facility open if it can find a partner.
However, the nursing home is a shadow of what it once was. At a busy facility that once offered the "gold standard" in comprehensive care for the aged and frailest members of the Hollywood community, there are only a handful of residents who remain behind.
The number of patients has dwindled to 29 from the nearly 140 people who called the facility home when the closure was first announced, officials say. Some residents moved in the wake of the closure announcement, others succumbed to old age and disease.
Resident's families still praise the nursing staff at the home, but say that residents have grown depressed as their friends die with no fresh faces joining their ranks. Where once the halls of the longterm care facility bustled with activity, resident's family members say that the nursing home has become a bleak environment.
MPTF
UK Student Faces U.S. Extradition In Copyright Case
Richard O'Dwyer
A London court ruled on Friday a British student can be extradited to the United States for breaching U.S. copyright law by running a website that allowed users to access films and TV programs illegally.
Richard O'Dwyer's website, TV Shack, provided links to other websites where users could access content but did not host any of the content itself.
The 23-year-old, who says he started the project to improve his computer programming skills and help him get a work placement, did not charge users but sold $230,000 worth of advertising on the site, according to U.S. authorities.
O'Dwyer's lawyer Ben Cooper argued that by linking to other websites, his client had done nothing more than the likes of Google Inc or Yahoo Inc.
He said the student's activities would not be criminal in Britain, and he should be tried at home if anywhere.
He described O'Dwyer as a "guinea pig" as no British citizen had been extradited to the United States for a copyright offence before.
Richard O'Dwyer
"Screwed Up"
MySpace
Justin Timberlake wants to inject some life into ailing social network MySpace, but as anyone following the rise and fall of the former juggernaut knows, there are years of failures to address before MySpace can reclaim its glory. Heck, even News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch (R-Evil Incarnate) knows his company didn't do the best job of handling the social network after it purchased MySpace in 2005, and he recently said as much - in surprisingly blunt terms - on Twitter.
"Many questions and jokes about MySpace," he tweeted. "Simple answer - we screwed up in every way possible, learned lots of valuable expensive lessons."
Murdoch's News Corp. acquired MySpace just over six years ago, paying $580 million dollar for the popular social network. Years of subsequent mismanagement and failure to compete with the meteoric rise of Facebook took their toll on the social network, and Murdoch eventually sold off MySpace to advertising company Specific Media and pop star Justin Timberlake last year for $35 million - a small fraction of its original purchase price.
While Murdoch's company still holds a small stake in MySpace, the network has seen its membership drop from 73.6 million users at its peak (October 2008) to less than 30 million current users.
MySpace
Appears In Court
Griffin O'Neal
A judge on Friday canceled an arrest warrant for the son of "Love Story" actor Ryan O'Neal after Griffin O'Neal appeared in court on his driving under the influence case.
Griffin O'Neal's failure to go before the judge on Thursday for sentencing had prompted the order for his arrest.
On Friday, Griffin O'Neal, 47, checked out of the Choices in Recovery rehabilitation center in Vista, in north San Diego County, long enough to make his court appearance, and then returned to the facility, said San Diego District Attorney's Office spokesman Steve Walker.
San Diego Superior Court Judge Eugenia Eyherabide rescheduled Griffin O'Neal's sentencing hearing to February 3 and restored his bail to $35,000.
Griffin O'Neal
Pompous Buffoon
Piers Morgan
After spending two hours dining with Piers Morgan, two things are clear: he loves Twitter, and he loves to talk, mainly about himself and Twitter.
Morgan and a handful of CNN executives and journalists convened in the back room of the Landmarc restaurant in Columbus Circle here on Friday to celebrate the celebrity interviewer's first year as Larry King's primetime replacement. Morgan spoke candidly on a wide-range of topics (politics, Twitter, phone-hacking, 50 Cent, Piers Morgan, Twitter). But the bulk of discussion focused on the challenges of adapting his British brand to American viewers, the cutthroat race for ratings on cable news, and some planned changes to the show that will sound familiar to fans of Fox News and the Daily Show.
"I love Bill O'Reilly and I love Jon Stewart," Morgan said, his face caked in makeup for an interview taping with Rosie O'Donnell scheduled immediately after the meal. "It doesn't matter who their guests are--you tune in to watch them."
"We've been at the mercy of bookings," Morgan, 46, said between bites of a Caesar salad. "We want viewers to tune in because of me and the show. We want to showcase more of my personality."
And Morgan is very fond of O'Reilly's personality. "'Pinheads and Patriots' always makes me laugh," he said, adding that they are at the early stages of adding similar segments to his show. "I think you'll start to see a lot more writing."
Piers Morgan
Moving Headquarters From Chicago To L.A.
Playboy
Playboy is shuttering its Chicago offices and relocating the company's headquarters to Los Angeles, the magazine confirmed to TheWrap on Friday. The Chicago offices will close April 30.
It had previously been reported that founder Hugh Hefner, after buying back Playboy Enterprises for $207 million in March, was moving the company's editorial and art departments to L.A. Some employees had been asked to relocate.
But now the entire headquarters are leaving the city where Playboy magazine was created in 1953. Chicago is also where Hefner was born, on April 9, 1926; he moved to L.A. in 1975.
In August, Playboy Enterprises partnered with Manwin, one of the largest names in pornography's online industry, which took over management of Playboy's TV and Web properties.
Playboy
In Memory
Richard Threlkeld
Richard Threlkeld, a far-ranging and award-winning correspondent who worked for both CBS and ABC News during a long career, has been killed in a car crash on New York's Long Island.
The 74-year-old Threlkeld died Friday morning in Amagansett, N.Y., when his car collided with a propane tanker. He was pronounced dead at Southampton Hospital, according to the East Hampton, N.Y. Police Department. He lived in nearby East Hampton.
The driver of the tanker, Earl Fryberger Jr., of Coatesville, Penn., was not injured, said police, who are investigating the accident.
Threlkeld spent more than 25 years at CBS News, retiring in 1998. He was a reporter, anchor and bureau chief who covered the Persian Gulf War and the Vietnam War, the Patty Hearst kidnapping and trial, and the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.
He worked alongside Lesley Stahl as co-anchor of "The CBS Morning News" from 1977-79, and reported for "CBS Sunday Morning" from its inception in 1979, as well as for "The CBS Evening News With Dan Rather."
In 1981, Threlkeld decided to jump to up-and-coming ABC News without fanfare and without telling CBS.
At ABC News, he reported for "World News Tonight" in a role Threlkeld tailored for himself as a sort of roving news analyst.
Threlkeld returned to CBS News in 1989. His final assignment at CBS was as Moscow correspondent.
He originally joined CBS News in 1966 as a producer-editor based in New York.
Born on Nov. 30, 1937, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, he was raised in Barrington, Ill. He graduated from Ripon (Wis.) College and earned a master's degree from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.
During his career, he won several Emmy and Overseas Press Club awards and an Alfred I. du Pont-Columbia University Award.
He is survived by his wife, Betsy Aaron, a former CBS and CNN correspondent; a brother, Robert, of Port Townsend, Wash.; two children, Susan Paulukonis, of Alameda, Calif., and Julie Threlkeld of Yonkers, N.Y.; and two grandchildren.
Richard Threlkeld
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