Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: March of the Peacocks (nytimes.com)
Our budget problems won't be solved with gimmicks like a temporary freeze in nondefense discretionary spending.
CHARLES McGRATH: J. D. Salinger, Literary Recluse, Dies at 91 (nytimes.com)
J. D. Salinger, who was thought at one time to be the most important American writer to emerge since World War II but who then turned his back on success and adulation, becoming the Garbo of letters, famous for not wanting to be famous, died on Wednesday at his home in Cornish, N.H., where he had lived in seclusion for more than 50 years. He was 91.
Daniel Ellsberg: A Memory of Howard (huffingtonpost.com)
This morning, I was being interviewed by the Boston Phoenix and the interviewer asked me who my own heroes were -- I had no hesitation in answering, first, "Howard Zinn."
Wajahat Ali: An Interview With the Late, Great Howard Zinn (huffingtonpost.com)
In a 2008 interview, the progressive icon told me he believed that "the American people have the capacity to change the direction of our nation from being a military power to being a peaceful nation, using our enormous wealth for human needs."
Mark Morford: 10 amazing truths you already suspected (sfgate.com)
What do basketball, baseball, soccer, hockey, lumberjacking and "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" all have in common? That's right, none of them causes nearly as much brain damage as America's most beloved sport-of-thugs: football.
John P. Hussman, Ph.D.: A Blueprint for Financial Reform (hussmanfunds.com)
It remains important to get this right sooner rather than later. The social cost of misallocating trillions of dollars is difficult to overstate.
Dan Vergano: "Psychologists: Propaganda works better than you think" (USA TODAY)
Science seldom interacts with the legal world, more's the pity. But the latest big Supreme Court decision, Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission, has some scientists talking about the difference between the legal view of human psychology and what the evidence shows.
Garrison Keillor: Running on anger
There they all were on the Sunday-morning chatfests, droning on about the anger of the American people as shown by the election in Massachusetts of a pickup truck to the U.S. Senate - ever ready, as pundits are, to take one good story and extrude it into a national trend portentous with meaning.
Miles Jaffe: THE REPUBLICAN HEIST (Posted on andrewtobias.com)
I, like millions of others, watched the eight years of GWB government, appalled by its errant policies, incompetence and greed, but, I confess, I entirely misunderstood the plot. This was not the gang that couldn't shoot straight; this was the most highly competent group of bank robbers since the Lavender Hill Mob.
George Lakoff: Where's The Movement? (huffingtonpost.com)
We can no longer sit on our hands and just criticize the President, or give him advice and hope he can do it alone. We have to provide the answer to his question: Where's the movement?
Bob Sullivan: How To 'Stop Getting Ripped Off' (huffingtonpost.com)
The crossroads for American consumers have arrived much sooner than expected. If you're not paying close attention, you might not have noticed: America's best (last?) hope at restoring a sense of fairness and honor to our marketplaces is about to go up in flames.
Kimberly Thorpe: "How Craig Cunningham Gets Bill Collectors Off His Back: He Sues Them" (Dallas Observer)
While most Americans with unpaid bills dread the collector's call, Craig Cunningham sees them as opportunities. Many collection and credit card companies violate little-known consumer rights laws, and Cunningham's favorite pastime is catching them doing so and suing them.
NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF: What Could You Live Without? (nytimes.com)
It all began with a stop at a red light. Kevin Salwen, a writer and entrepreneur in Atlanta, was driving his 14-year-old daughter, Hannah, back from a sleepover in 2006. While waiting at a traffic light, they saw a black Mercedes coupe on one side and a homeless man begging for food on the other.
Tom Danehy: Tom brags about all of the cool people he knows (tucsonweekly.com)
... I grabbed my notebook and made a list of the 10 coolest people I know. It made me feel so good that I was able to switch over to ESPN to watch SportsCenter.
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From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
13 Countries Agree To Save
Wild Tigers
A dozen Asian nations and Russia vowed Friday to double the number of wild tigers by 2022, crack down on poaching that has devastated the big cats and prohibit the building of roads and bridges that could harm their habitats.
However, the historic declaration adopted by the 13 countries that have wild tigers includes no new money to finance the conservation efforts. The agreement only includes plans to approach international institutions like the World Bank for money and to develop schemes to tap money from ecotourism, carbon financing and infrastructure projects to pay for tiger programs.
The declaration will now be considered for approval by heads of state of the 13 countries in September at a meeting in Vladivostok, Russia.
Tiger numbers in recent decades have plummeted because of human encroachment - with the loss of more than nine-tenths of their habitat - and poaching to supply a vibrant trade in tiger parts. From an estimated 100,000 at the beginning of the 20th century, the number of tigers today is less than 3,500.
Wild Tigers
Worldwide Celebrations
Anton Chekhov
Literature lovers around the world held celebrations and paid tribute to Anton Chekhov on Friday, on the 150th birthday of Russia's most universally acclaimed playwright.
Chekhov fans said the author famed for combining a raw emotional writing style with detailed studies of the human condition at the turn of the last century maintains his relevance more than 100 years after his death.
At his snow-covered grave in Moscow's Novodevichy cemetery, where he lies beside his wife, actress Olga Knipper, theater enthusiasts huddled in -20 C (-4 F) temperatures to pay homage to the writer who was born on January 29. 186
Russia this week launched a nationwide, six-month festival in honor of Chekhov, who lived throughout the Russian empire working as a doctor, including a stint in the Far East island of Sakhalin on the Pacific.
Anton Chekhov
Chocoholics Flock To Beijing Park
'World Chocolate Wonderland'
Thousands of Chinese on Friday flocked to a new chocolate theme park, gobbling the sweet treat and savouring the visual feast of replicas of the Great Wall, the Terracotta Army and even a sleek BMW.
Organisers are hoping that Beijing's "World Chocolate Wonderland", on the Olympic Green near the Bird's Nest Stadium, will boost the chocolate market in China, where the candy is not as popular as it is in Western countries.
The 20,000-square-metre (215,000 square-foot) venue includes three halls full of exhibits and demonstrations, all temperature-controlled to keep the elaborate replicas -- safely behind huge glass panes -- from melting.
At the entrance -- where tickets cost a steep 80 yuan (12 dollars), a high price for the average Chinese consumer -- men dressed in purple cloaks and pointed hats welcomed visitors.
'World Chocolate Wonderland'
Cancels Show
Willie Nelson
Singer and guitarist Willie Nelson canceled a North Carolina concert because of a bum hand about an hour after several band and crew members were busted for allegedly possessing moonshine and marijuana.
Alcohol Law Enforcement spokesman Ernie Seneca said Friday that six members of Nelson's band and crew have been charged with misdemeanor possession offenses. They were issued citations before the Texas singer was scheduled to take the stage Thursday night.
Longtime Nelson bass player Dan Edward "Bee" Spears, 60, Franklin, Tenn., and five others were charged with possession of non-tax-paid alcohol, Seneca said. Two of the six were also charged with marijuana possession.
The charges came after officers smelled marijuana aboard a tour bus and were given permission to search it, Seneca said.
Willie Nelson
Hospital News
Etta James
Etta James' son says the 72-year-old R&B singer is hospitalized in Southern California with a serious infection but he expects her to be released soon.
Donto James says his mother has been at Riverside Community Hospital for about a week and is recovering from sepsis caused by a urinary tract infection.
He says James, who lives in Woodcrest, entered a treatment program about a month ago to shake a dependency on painkillers and over-the-counter medicine. She was transferred to another facility and then the hospital when her physical condition worsened.
James, who sang everything from blues to jazz, is best known for the hit "At Last."
Etta James
Bail Reduced
Joseph Brooks
The Academy Award-winning songwriter of "You Light Up My Life" has gotten a slight reprieve in his bid to stay free while fighting charges of sexually assaulting would-be actresses who thought they were auditioning in his Manhattan apartment.
A judge reduced Joseph Brooks' bail by about 16 percent Friday. The 71-year-old Brooks now has until Tuesday to come up with $1.25 million in cash or a $2.5 million bond.
His bail shot up last week from $250,000 to $1.5 million after prosecutors added new charges in the 7-month-old case. Brooks had been given until Friday to produce the money.
Brooks has pleaded not guilty to predatory sexual assault and other charges. He's accused of forcing himself on 13 women.
Joseph Brooks
"Caligula" Director Making 3D Porn
Tinto Brass
Veteran erotic film director Tinto Brass, best known for his 1979 release "Caligula," said Thursday he would produce what he called the world's first-ever 3D pornographic production.
With "Avatar" recently becoming the biggest film of all time, the 76-year-old Italian filmmaker said the time is right for 3D technologies to be used to create an erotic film. He noted that the project, which he said will be the world's first 3D erotic film, will also be the first 3D film of any type made in Italy.
Brass said he plans to "revisit an abandoned project about a Roman emperor that was ruined by Americans, and go from there," a reference to "Caligula," which he has criticized because of hard-core sex scenes added during postproduction without his consent. He collaborated on that project with author Gore Vidal and Penthouse magazine publisher Bob Guccione.
Brass said he would start work on casting and the script immediately, and that he planned to start filming in May or June.
Tinto Brass
Painted Himself As "Mona Lisa"?
Leonardo da Vinci
The legend of Leonardo da Vinci is shrouded in mystery: How did he die? Are the remains buried in a French chateau really those of the Renaissance master? Was the "Mona Lisa" a self-portrait in disguise?
A group of Italian scientists believes the key to solving those puzzles lies with the remains - and they say they are seeking permission from French authorities to dig up the body to conduct carbon and DNA testing.
If the skull is intact, the scientists can go to the heart of a question that has fascinated scholars and the public for centuries: the identity of the "Mona Lisa." Recreating a virtual and then physical reconstruction of Leonardo's face, they can compare it with the smiling face in the painting, experts involved in the project told The Associated Press.
The leader of the group, Silvano Vinceti, told the AP that he plans to press his case with the French officials in charge of the purported burial site at Amboise Castle early next week.
Leonardo da Vinci
Offices Close
Miramax
Some offices of award-winning Miramax Films closed this week, but owner Walt Disney Co. says the brand will continue to exist.
A Miramax employee sent out an e-mail this week saying Miramax offices will be closed as of Friday. The e-mail directed all inquiries for upcoming Miramax projects to a Disney employee.
The offices' closure was in line with plans announced in October to slash Miramax's movie production to three per year, down from six to eight, and eliminate 50 jobs in New York and Los Angeles.
Some 20 employees that remained, mostly at the New York headquarters, were asked to move to Disney's headquarters in Burbank.
Miramax
Tudor Version Of Movie Popcorn
Oysters
Elizabethan theater-goers chomped on an exotic array of foods while enjoying the latest plays of the day, new evidence found at the sites of Shakespearean playhouses in London suggests.
Archaeologists say choice Tudor snacks included oysters by the cartload, crab and other shellfish like mussels, whelks and periwinkles.
Dried raisins and figs, hazelnuts, plums, cherries and peaches were also consumed in great quantities, according to experts who excavated The Rose and The Globe theatres on the south bank of the River Thames.
New published research also suggests that the theater diet varied along social and class lines.
Oysters
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