Recommended Reading
from Bruce
David Moye: Trump Asks For Van Gogh, Museum Offers Solid Gold Toilet Instead (Huffington Post)
The artist of the piece says, "Everything seems absurd until we die and then it makes sense."
Paul Krugman: The Economics of Dirty Old Men (NY Times Column)
The Trump administration makes war on solar power.
Lucinda Everett: Morbid? No - Coco is the latest children's film with a crucial life lesson (The Guardian)
Some say we're forcing children to face issues beyond their years. But films can help make them resilient, self-aware adults.
Ryan Gilbey: The 20 greatest Oscar snubs ever - Ranked! (The Guardian)
From Alfred Hitchcock to River Phoenix, from Taxi Driver to Brokeback Mountain, here are 20 instances where the Academy Awards flubbed their lines
Daniel Shaviro: Now, that's what I call a bargain
According to the International Business Times, the 2017 tax bill may cause the Koch brothers to clear an extra $1 billion after-tax each year that it remains in force. Given that point, what a bargain for them to have paid Paul Ryan's fundraising committee a mere $500,000 shortly after the tax act passed. That's only about 0.05% of a single year's yield - although it's obviously true that they've paid off plenty of other people as well.
Ursula K Le Guin, by Margaret Atwood: 'One of the literary greats of the 20th century' (Guardian)
The author of The Handmaid's Tale bids hail, farewell and thank you to the revered sci-fi and fantasy author, who has died aged 88.
Ursula K Le Guin by David Mitchell: 'She was a crafter of fierce, focused, fertile dreams' (The Guardian)
The Cloud Atlas author and Earthsea devotee reflects on his encounters with a formidable and pioneering novelist.
John Wray: The Category-Defying Genius of Ursula K. Le Guin (NY Times)
"We don't know what we're looking for when we pick up a book, no matter how clear-cut the genre," she said. "We think we do, but we don't. Don't ever give people the thing they expect just because they expect it. Our job is to surprise them, to shake them - to turn their expectations on their heads. And do you know why, Wray?" Why, I managed to mumble. "Because that's when the MRI of their brain lights up, and they begin to see."
Aamna Mohdin: A POWERFUL EXHIBITION SHOWS WHAT RAPE SURVIVORS WORE WHEN THEY WERE ATTACKED (Quartzy)
What were you wearing? The simple question strikes at the heart of one of the most persistent myths around rape. And it's now the subject of a new exhibit in the Molenbeek district of Brussels, Belgium.
Umair Haque: What Do You Call a World That Can't Learn From Itself? (Eudaimonia)
Why Don't Americans Understand How Poor Their Lives Are?
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Presenting
Michael Egan
replied:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
from Marc Perkel
Marc's Guide to Curing Cancer
So far so good on beating cancer for now. I'm doing fine. At the end of the month I'll be 16 months into an 8 month mean lifespan. And yesterday I went on a 7 mile hike and managed to keep up with the hiking group I was with. So, doing something right.
Still waiting for future test results and should see things headed in the right direction. I can say that it's not likely that anything dire happens in the short term so that means that I should have time to make several more attempts at this. So even if it doesn't work the first time there are a lot of variations to try. So if there's bad news it will help me pick the next radiation target.
I have written a "how to" guide for oncologists to perform the treatment that I got. I'm convinced that I'm definitely onto something and whether it works for me or not isn't the definitive test. I know if other people tried this that it would work for some of them, and if they improve it that it will work for a lot of them.
The guide is quite detailed and any doctor reading this can understand the procedure at every level. I also go into detail as to how it works, how I figured it out, and variations and improvements that could be tried to enhance it. I also introduce new ways to look at the problem. There is a lot of room for improvement and I think that doctors reading it will see what I'm talking about and want to build on it. And it's written so that if you're not a doctor you can still follow it. It also has a personal story revealing that I'm the class clown of cancer support group. I give great interviews and I look pretty hot in a lab coat.
So, feel free to read this and see what I'm talking about. But if any of you want to help then pass this around to both doctors and cancer patients. I need some media coverage. I'm looking for as many eyeballs as possible to read these ideas. Even if this isn't the solution, it's definitely on the right track. After all, I did hike 7 miles yesterday. And this hiking group wasn't moving slow. So if this isn't working then, why am I still here?
I also see curing cancer as more of an engineering problem that a medical problem. So if you are good at solving problems and most of what you know about medicine was watching the Dr. House MD TV show, then you're at the level I was at when I started. So anyone can jump in and be part of the solution.
Here is a link to my guide: Oncologists Guide to Curing Cancer using Abscopal Effect
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
HOT DAMN!
"WE ARE TEACHING HATE IN OUR SCHOOL SYSTEMS."
"LOOK AT THE CAR WRECK! OH MY GOD."
"THE STENCH OF AUTHORITARIANISM."
HANKY, PANKY.
TO BE CONTINUED.
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Back to sunny and seasonal.
On Kimmel After State of the Union
Stormy Daniels
Jimmy Kimmel just landed the biggest interview of the year.
The late-night talk show host has booked porn star Stormy Daniels - aka Donald Trump'salleged former mistress - to appear on his Tuesday, Jan. 30 broadcast, just hours after the president gives his first-ever State of the Union address. Kimmel made the announcement on Twitter late Thursday night:
Daniels - whose real name is Stephanie Clifford - is said to have had an affair with Trump in 2006, just months after wife Melania gave birth to their son Barron. The adult film star detailed the alleged tryst in a 2011 interview with In Touch Weekly that was not made public until earlier this month. The full transcript was released after The Wall Street Journal reported that Daniels signed a nondisclosure agreement in October 2016 - just one month out from the presidential election - to keep quiet about the affair. The agreement also included a $130,000 payment, as negotiated by Trump's lawyer Michael "Says Who?" Cohen.
Stormy Daniels
3 Legs
Reese Witherspoon
Vanity Fair's 24th annual Oscar issue features some of Hollywood's biggest stars, including Oprah Winfrey, Tom Hanks and Nicole Kidman, but the photo shoot by famed photographer Annie Liebowitz fell victim to some bush-league Photoshop fails.
It didn't take long for people to notice something the photo editors clearly didn't: Winfrey has three hands. Her right hand is on her right hip, her left is in her lap, and her other left hand is clasping Reese Witherspoon around her waist.
Some claimed Witherspoon had a little something extra, too: a third leg.
Vanity Fair said in a tweet that editors would correct the number of Winfrey's hands online, but Witherspoon's "extra leg" was actually the seam of her dress, the magazine noted.
For their part, the celebs had fun with the gaffe. On Twitter, Witherspoon copped to having another leg to stand on, while Winfrey applauded her bravery. "I accept your 3d leg. As I know you accept my 3d hand," the mogul posted, complete with emoji for three hands and a heart.
Reese Witherspoon
Joins 'Star Trek' Parody
Snoop Dogg
Gangsta rapper turned entertainment icon Snoop Dogg has joined the cast of long-gestating "Star Trek" parody "Unbelievable!!!!!," the production announced on Thursday.
The West Coast hip-hop legend will co-star as Major LeGrande Bushe opposite co-producer Nichelle Nichols, who played communications officer Nyota Uhura in the original NBC series and six of the movies.
Snoop -- real name Calvin Broadus -- will also serve as an executive producer on the project, which has been in production since 2013, said Steven and Angelique Fawcette, the husband and wife team behind "Unbelievable!!!!!"
The movie follows the exploits of four astronauts -- one of whom is an animatronic marionette resembling Captain James T. Kirk -- who travel to the moon to rescue missing comrades.
The film features more than 40 actors from the five live-action series -- not including "Discovery," which is currently in its debut season -- and the various movies.
Snoop Dogg
New Colonel Sanders
Reba McEntire
Country crooner Reba McEntire has become the first female to suit up as Colonel Sanders for KFC.
Brace yourself for a lot of honky tonk jamming in KFC's newest ad campaign. Set in a country saloon, McEntire takes to the stage as the brand's first silver-haired, tassel-tossing, female mustachioed Colonel who asks the audience to "please ignore any likeness to a famous country singer."
In the one-minute clip, the singer taps into her southern roots and promotes KFC's new Smoky Mountain BBQ fried chicken, described as a blend of barbecue recipes from Memphis and the Carolinas.
"I grew up with Kentucky Fried Chicken," McEntire said in a press release.
Watch McEntire sing about fried chicken.
Reba McEntire
Rocket Lab
Humanity Star
On Thursday, the rocket company Rocket Lab announced that it had secretly launched the Humanity Star, a satellite in the shape of a reflective sphere that effectively works as a disco ball and could at times become the brightest object in the night sky.
The Humanity Star was launched as a way to unite all who see it under the night sky, according to Rocket Lab.
But certain people on Earth aren't exactly pleased.
Just after Rocket Lab announced the surprise launch of the satellite, many astronomers tweeted their annoyance that the New Zealand-based company would build and launch this bright object.
The quickly spinning satellite will orbit the Earth every 90 minutes and its orbit should decay in about 9 months, forcing the Humanity Star to harmlessly burn up in the atmosphere. That said, it could create a bit of a headache for astronomers trying to peer deeply out into the cosmos during the time that it's in orbit.
Humanity Star
Derived From Uncredited Play?
'The Shape of Water'
The estate of late playwright Paul Zindel is slamming Fox Searchlight for allegedly borrowing the story behind Guillermo del Toro's Oscar hopeful The Shape of Water from a 1969 play without asking for rights.
David Zindel, the son of the playwright and manager of his father's estate, told The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday that the film was "obviously derived" from the 1969 play Let Me Hear You Whisper, which follows a recently hired cleaning lady at a lab experimenting on mammals. The protagonist, Helen, takes pity on a dolphin the scientists have scheduled for a brain dissection after having failed to make it talk, and rescues the dolphin, putting it out to sea.
The Shape of Water, similarly, follows a mute cleaning lady at a government lab who establishes a connection with a sea creature from the Amazon that scientists are experimenting on. She ultimately falls in love with the creature and plans to rescue it before the scientists can dissect it.
"We are shocked that a major studio could make a film so obviously derived from my late father's work without anyone recognizing it and coming to us for the rights," Zindel told THR. Zindel's claims were first reported in The Guardian.
Zindel said that he first learned of the similarities from fans of his father's work. "A lot of people are telling us they are struck by the substantial similarities and we are looking into it," he wrote. "We are very grateful to Paul Zindel's fans for bringing this to our attention."
'The Shape of Water'
Vets Use Fish Skin To Heal Bears
California
When two bears suffered painful burns while escaping Southern California's wildfires, veterinarians used an unconventional bandage to treat the animals' paws: fish skin.
The bears, along with a young mountain lion with less severe burns, were treated by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife after the Thomas Fire burned through Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. The wildfires that swept through California in late 2017 were the worst in the state's history. The Thomas Fire was the largest ever recorded, burning through 273,400 acres.
According to a statement by the CDFW, the bears' injuries were severe, with "oozing wounds, and, in some cases, paw pads that were completely burned off."
Deana Clifford, senior wildlife veterinarian at the CDFW, and Jamie Peyton, chief of integrative medicine at the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital at the University of California, Davis treated the animals by using fresh tilapia skin instead of traditional bandages.
They opted to use fish skin because its collagen levels and moisture retention abilities are similar to human skin. Researchers in Brazilhave used fish skin, in favor of human skin grafts, to bandage burn victims, but the practice hasn't been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use on humans in the United States.
California
More Reboots Ordered
CBS
The age of reboots continues.
CBS has ordered pilots for reboots of "Magnum P.I." and "Cagney & Lacey."
The original "Magnum P.I." aired from 1980-1988 and starred Tom Selleck as the title character.
The original aired from 1981-1988 and starred Sharon Gless as Christine Cagney and Tyne Day as Mary Beth Lacey.
The news of these reboots come the same week CBS announced the revival of "Murphy Brown."
CBS
10,000 Years Old
Ancient 'Crayon'
Archaeologists may have stumbled upon one of the first-ever "crayons" used thousands of years ago by hunter-gatherers.
The coloring utensil, which is a shade of reddish brown, was discovered in the 1980s but had never been studied. When archaeologist Andy Needham learned that no one had ever attempted to learn about the object, he jumped on the chance for a closer look in the hope that it might reveal something about what our ancestors were doing in the area where it was found.
The ancient object was found in England at a site called Star Carr, in Scarborough, Yorkshire, near what was once Lake Flixton, which was filled in with peat throughout the Mesolithic period. The region in Europe is a well-known site for artifacts from the Middle Stone Age, which dates from 8,000 B.C. to 2,700 B.C. In addition to the crayon, a similar pebble with deep grooves was discovered in the area in 2008. Both artifacts are made of ocher, a natural clay-earth pigment.
Archaeologists may have stumbled upon one of the the first-ever "crayons" used thousands of years ago by hunter-gatherers. The crayon revealed a sharpened end. Credit: Paul Shields/University of York
Although ocher has a long list of recorded uses, including as a sunscreen or insect repellant, the various markings and shapes of these particular ocher objects led the researchers to hypothesize they were instead used for art. Using various methods, the researchers were able to look at the items on an intensely magnified level.
Ancient 'Crayon'
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