Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Rachel Maddow: Video
"One way to increase investor wealth is to bring back child labor. Another forward-looking Republican initiative."-Andrew Tobias
Fred Reed: Joe Bageant Moves On
Joe could fool you. He talked slow and Southern, lacked pretensions, and you could talk to him for weeks without realizing how very damned smart he was.? One day we dropped in and he said he had just found that he had cancer. It went fast. He died Saturday.
Roger Ebert's Journal: A quintessence of dust
An idle comment caught my eye: "After all, no one saw the Big Bang." Somewhere else I read, "The universe has no opinion." Then I read that the next Hubble telescope will be able to peer six times as far into space and time as the one now in orbit.
Paul Krugman: The Mellon Doctrine (New York Times)
Two weeks ago, Republican staff at the Congressional Joint Economic Committee released a report, "Spend Less, Owe Less, Grow the Economy," that argued that slashing government spending and employment in the face of a deeply depressed economy would actually create jobs. In part, they invoked the aid of the confidence fairy...
Froma Harrop: Foggy Thinking in the Sunshine State (Creators Syndicate)
You'd think that a state knocked cold by the real-estate meltdown would invest in a future not based on housing bubbles. And that if the feds dangled a bag of money to help it address a serious economic drag - a gridlocked highway system that turns off tourists, retirees and business travelers - you'd think the state would grab it.
Deborah Orr: Don't knock the U-turn - it's what this [British] government does best (Guardian)
The [British] government's proposals are so often so patently misguided that I can't help thinking 'You fools! That's never going to happen.'
Jim Hightower: DEALING WITH JOBLESSNESS BY CAUSING MORE OF IT
It took him some 80 years, but he has now made what looks to be a full comeback to power. He is Herbert Hoover.
Bill Press: Another Muslim Country, Another War (Tribune Media Services)
We are at war. Again. Against a third Muslim country. On top of Afghanistan and Iraq, it's now Libya. And the question every American must ask is: "Is this a war I can support?"
Mark Yost: Bob Uecker Is Still on the Active Roster (Wall Street Journal)
No one's more amazed than this 76-year-old former player, the beloved radio announcer of the Milwaukee Brewers, that he's hung around baseball this long.
Ellen Tarlin: Eating Healthfully, Because You're Worth It? (Slate)
Six weeks ago I set out to improve my eating. Instead of focusing on weight loss and calories, I decided to zero in on health and habits and why it's so hard to change them, even though most of us know the basics of eating right.
Stephen Miller: Screen Star Showed Independent Streak (Wall Street Journal)
Farley Granger, who died Sunday at age 85, was an actor who played many roles on and off screen. He was a mid-century idol who played a thrill-killing preppie with weak nerves. He flouted Hollywood convention by dating stars of either sex. And he quit movie acting for the stage just as his film career blossomed.
Paul Constant: I Have Gazed Into the Depths of Zack Snyder's Soul (The Stranger)
... he packs the soundtrack with atrocious covers of great songs, without even realizing that that is the truest part of the whole Sucker Punch experience; it's a bad cover of a bad cover of a bad cover of a bad cover, to the point where the original text is reduced to meaninglessness.
David Bruce has 41 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $41 you can buy 10,250 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," and "Maximum Cool."
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Reader Suggestions
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Suggestion
some guy
this is thom hartman with the REAL history of the boston tea party
i've also included a link to the book that he uses as proof "see for yourself"
some guy
Thanks, guy!
From the "This is Really Creepy' File...
BadtotheboneBob
CBBC - Newsround - PICTURES: Spider webs cocoon trees after Pakistan floods
Arachnophobe Alert! Proceed if you dare! You are warned! I will not be responsible for any nightmares incurred due to the viewing of these disturbing photos!
BadtotheboneBob
Thanks, B2tbBob! (I think ; ))
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and hot.
Sunday's page may be late or on the light side (then again, it may not) - the kid & I are having a Hollywood adventure today.
There was a play writing contest, sponsored by a theater group in Hollywood, and the kid wrote one of the 5 'winning' plays.
The theater group assigns a pro to help with re-writes, then they cast the works, which will be performed over 2 weekends in May.
Today we meet the directors, and witness the casting process.
In a perfect world, afterwards we'd end up at Musso & Frank's, but we'll make do with just walking by.
There ARE Atheists In Foxholes
MASH
The cliche notwithstanding, there are atheists in foxholes. In fact, atheists, agnostics, humanists and other assorted skeptics from the Army's Fort Bragg have formed an organization they hope will be a pioneering effort to ensure fair treatment and win recognition for nonbelievers in the overwhelmingly Christian U.S. military.
"We exist, we're here, we're normal," said Sgt. Justin Griffith, chief organizer of Military Atheists and Secular Humanists, or MASH. "We're also in foxholes. That's a big one, right there."
For now, the group meets regularly in homes and bars outside of Fort Bragg, one of the biggest military bases in the country. But it is going through the long bureaucratic process to win official recognition from the Army as a distinct "faith" group.
That would enable it to meet on base, advertise its gatherings and, members say, serve more effectively as a haven for like-minded soldiers.
MASH
Tea Party Puts Off Crime Writer
Patricia Cornwell
She's a longtime supporter of Republican hopefuls, but best-selling American crime writer Patricia Cornwell says the Tea Party is sending a chill down her spin.
In Paris to promote the French translation of her latest book "Mortuary Port", Cornwell also explained her about-face on capital punishment and her mixed feelings with Barack Obama's turn in the White House.
"I think that the Tea Party is terrifying," the 54-year-old novelist told AFP in an interview, referring to the populist conservative movement that has been rattling the US political landscape.
"It's discriminatory and racist. I don't want our democracy turning into a theocracy."
Politically, she has backed a number of Republicans, plus the odd Democrat, but social conservatives no doubt frown on her relationship with a female neurologist she married after Massachusetts approved gay weddings in 2004.
Patricia Cornwell
1st Gay Character
Archie Comics
His debut in "Veronica" No. 202 caused Archie Comics to do a second printing for the first time in its history. Now, the publisher is giving its first openly gay character his own mini-series this summer.
Dan Parent, who is writing and drawing the four-issue series that comes out in June, tells The Associated Press that the character, Kevin Keller, has connected with the comic book publisher's fans.
Parent says there have been gay characters in other comics, but Kevin Keller's role as a friend to Archie, Veronica and the others at Riverdale High is part of the company's push to keep them relevant and contemporary.
Archie Comics
Online Spoofs
April Fools' Day
The online world got an April Fools' Day makeover as YouTube rolled out 1911 viral videos and the Huffington Post put up a mock pay wall.
Lighthearted pranks are an annual Web tradition on April Fools' Day, with jokey redesigns and parody products.
Comedy video website Funny or Die, which last year became "Bieber or Die," turned into "Friday or Die." The site's home page was taken over by teenage viral video star Rebecca Black, complete with "Behind the Music"-style featurettes on her song "Friday." Escape was futile: Even pressing "back" in one's browser only added Black's lyrics to the address bar.
Google, always one of the most ardent April Fools' Day celebrators, launched "Gmail Motion," which allows users to mime directions to their email. Google also played a trick on typeface fans, claiming that after extensive research, it would on Monday make Comic Sans the default font across all Google products. Search the more beloved "Helvetica" on Google, and results come in the less esteemed Comic Sans.
YouTube remade viral videos like the Annoying Orange and the Keyboard Cat in scratchy black-and-white silent clips, purportedly from 1911. (Keyboard Cat became Flugelhorn Feline.) Hulu took a similar approach, dating their video repository to the Web's dial-up days of 1996.
April Fools' Day
Prosecutor Facing Drug Charge Quits
Las Vegas
A Las Vegas prosecutor who handled recent drug cases involving Paris Hilton and pop singer Bruno Mars has resigned following his arrest in a crack cocaine case.
Clark County District Attorney David Roger tells The Associated Press he accepted David Schubert's resignation Friday.
The 47-year-old Schubert was arrested March 19 after Las Vegas police reported watching him in a white BMW sedan buy $40 worth of rock cocaine in a neighborhood east of the Las Vegas Strip.
Schubert was a 10-year veteran prosecutor and liaison for the last two years to a federal drug task force.
Las Vegas
Pays Snooki More Than Nobel Winner
Rutgers
Big hair scores big bucks in speaking fees at New Jersey's state university. A Nobel prize? Not so much.
Rutgers University on Friday defended spending about $32,000 to bring reality television star Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi to campus this week, despite several students questioning if it was a wise use of money.
That's $2,000 more than the school is paying Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winning author Toni Morrison to speak at graduation on May 15.
Student Hina Rehman, 20, said she found it "disappointing" her tuition money was going to fund the event.
Rutgers
Calif. Event For Book Canceled
Gandhi
An educational organization has canceled an event planned for a Mahatma Gandhi biography that was banned in part of India after reviews hinted the father of the nation's independence had a homosexual relationship.
The event, in honor of Pulitzer Prize-winner Joseph Lelyveld's "Great Soul," was to have been hosted April 13 in Santa Clara, Calif., by the Foundation for Excellence, a nonprofit that provides scholarships for students in India.
"We didn't want to be involved with any controversy because that is not the purpose of our organization - we are not a literary society that encourages debate and discussion on different authors and their books," foundation spokesman Abhu Shukla told The Associated Press on Friday. "So, it is correct that we canceled because of the controversy."
Although not out yet in India, "Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle With India" has been banned by a western state there after reviews suggested Gandhi had a homosexual relationship with a German named Hermann Kallenbach. More bans have been proposed in India, where homosexuality was illegal until 2009 and still carries social stigma.
Gandhi
Drummer's Drug Conviction Overturned In NZ
AC/DC
The drummer with rock band AC/DC has had his cannabis conviction quashed by a court in his adopted homeland of New Zealand on the grounds that it would have interfered with his globe-trotting exploits.
Phil Rudd, 56, appeared in Tauranga District Court on Thursday seeking to have his 2010 conviction for possession of 27 grams (0.95 ounces) of marijuana wiped from his record, according to the Bay of Plenty Times.
The Australian native had pleaded guilty to the charge and was fined US$190 plus $101 in court costs in December after failing in his bid for a discharge without conviction.
Judge Alayne Wills said Rudd's offense was at the "lower end of scale," and she discharged him without conviction provided that he paid $1,100 to cover prosecution costs.
AC/DC
Finale Pulled In Tokyo
"24"
Broadcast of the final season of "24" has been pulled by Tokyo TV because the plot featuring radiation has been deemed inappropriate in light of the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima Dai-Ichivnuclear power plant.
"With the many victims of the current disaster in Japan, and ongoing concerns about radiation leaks from the nuclear power station, TV Tokyo has decided not to show the planned final season and show season five instead," a TV Tokyo spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter.
Tokyo TV bought the rights to the "24" finale after the first seven seasons were shown on Fuji TV, Japan's biggest net.
"24" began its run in Japan on cable TV and became a big hit, with Kiefer Sutherland appearing in commercials for an energy bar, as Jack Bauer. Viewing figures have dropped off for later seasons.
"24"
Very Special Person
Ryan Kavanaugh
For months last fall, a movie producer's commute by helicopter woke babies, rattled windows and alarmed dogs in a quiet, leafy neighborhood near a landing pad atop a hotel.
Residents finally breathed a sigh of relief when the California Department of Transportation intervened, and Ryan Kavanaugh, chief executive of Relativity Media, stopped using the helipad meant for emergencies, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.
All buildings over 75-feet tall in Los Angeles are required to have a rooftop helipad for emergency use. Any other use requires a special permit.
Residents complained to state officials last November about Kavanaugh's use of the helipad for his commute from Malibu to the west side of Los Angeles. A month later, the Sofitel was ordered to end improper helicopter activity.
Kavanaugh, 36, is known as a high-flying Hollywood producer. His company's latest release is the thriller "Limitless." Its other recent films include: "Battle Los Angeles," "The Fighter" and "Little Fockers."
Ryan Kavanaugh
French Mayor Upset About Statue's Breasts
Neuville-en-Ferrain
The mayor of a town in France has thrown a patriotic female statue out of his town hall because its breasts were too big, his aides said on Friday.
The terracotta bust of Marianne -- the traditional female embodiment of the French Republic in a Phrygian cap -- was an original work by a local artist, installed in 2007 at the town hall in Neuville-en-Ferrain, population 10,000.
Mayor Gerard Cordon persuaded councillors to approve 900 euros (1,280 dollars) in this year's budget to buy a replacement, a more conventional bust of Marianne modelled on the statuesque French model Laetitia Casta.
The artist who made the rejected bust, Catherine Lamacque, said she gave it outsized breasts deliberately, "to symbolise the generosity of the Republic."
Neuville-en-Ferrain
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