Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Bad Opinion Generator
20 Of The Worst Opinions Ever (Buzzfeed)
The Week magazine's Bad Opinion Generator gives you a taste of what the world would be like if cool people did not exist.
Mac Botnet Has Infected Over Half a Million Computers (Talking Points Memo)
If you keep your computer up to date, you are protected from this nasty. Unfortunately, infection begins after computers visit any one of four million malicious websites, which then prompts the user to enter their username and password while posing as a Flash installer. Flashback is also clever enough to look for antivirus software before installing itself on computers, and in the past was able to lobotomize Apple's built in mal-ware protection. Apple users can receive an update from Apple which patches the Java vulnerability by selecting "software update" from the Apple menu …
Feminist Ryan Gosling
"Hey, girl. When a state passes a law sanctioning medically unnecessary transvaginal ultrasounds but Viagra is still covered by medical insurance, it is time to stop denying that your country is waging a war on women."
Anna: "The Feministing Five: Feminist Ryan Gosling" (feministing.com)
If you haven't heard of Feminist Ryan Gosling yet, you've probably been living under a rock.
Froma Harrop: The Car the Right Wing Can't Kill (Creators Syndicate)
Imagine that. Former Republican President George H.W. Bush recently bought his son Neil a Chevrolet Volt as a birthday present. This is the car that all right-thinking right-wingers demand we hate. In their political prism, the Volt has everything going against it: It's beloved by environmentalists for getting 61 miles to the gallon. It's assembled by unionized workers at General Motors' Detroit-Hamtramck plant. It enjoys government subsidies intended to encourage the production of fuel-efficient cars ….
Emily Yoffe's Advice Column: The Wrong Touch (Slate)
I am a freshman at college. My roommate is pretty great-except for one thing. I'm pretty sure she "takes care of herself" after we turn out the lights and she thinks I'm asleep. The motions and noises she makes are consistent with this theory. I have no problem with her doing that, but it makes me uncomfortable that she does it while I'm in the room. I'm also absolutely mortified about possibly discussing this with her. They did not cover this in freshman orientation, so I'm counting on you for some insight.
Colby Hess: The Politics of Belief (Disinformation)
While absence of belief says nothing one way or the other about how someone is likely to act, strongly held, emotionally charged convictions are powerful influencers of behavior, and if those beliefs are irrational, then look out. This is why atheists will no longer remain silent as we watch our country heading down the road toward theocracy. We will not stand for it, and we are legion. Expect us.
Michael Dirda: Philip Larkin complete (New Criterion)
On Larkin's poetry and two new collections of his work.
The trials of life in a rock band (Guardian)
When rock critic Dave Simpson's covers group split up before they'd even played a gig, it made him realise what being in a band can do to well-adjusted people.
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
Pochards
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and windy.
FEC To Deny Proposal
Dianne Feinstein
A draft opinion that the Federal Election Commission issued Friday indicates that it probably will reject a request from Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein's re-election campaign to allow her to replace millions of dollars in contributions embezzled by her treasurer with new donations from the original donors.
The FEC is likely to take a final vote on her request Thursday, but the issuance of just one draft advisory opinion is a signal of some consensus among commissioners.
Feinstein's campaign treasurer, Kinde Durkee, pleaded guilty last week to defrauding numerous California politicians of at least $7 million. Feinstein was the hardest hit, losing an estimated $4.5 million.
The senator had hoped that her largest supporters could contribute again without the original donation being counted against federal caps of $2,500 per election from individuals and $5,000 per election from political action committees. But the draft advisory said that any contributions deposited in a bank account or cashed must be counted against the cap.
Feinstein's campaign is unlikely to be significantly harmed if the final decision doesn't go her way. She lent the campaign $5 million soon after Durkee's arrest became public, and she's still considered a heavy favorite to win re-election. Still, the opinion is significant for those lawmakers who likely would have gone back to some of their biggest donors if Feinstein had been successful in her quest. Reps. Loretta Sanchez, Linda Sanchez and Susan Davis have reported that their campaigns are also out hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Dianne Feinstein
Running For Senate
Park Overall
"Empty Nest" sitcom star Park Overall is adding her name to the list of actors-turned-politicians with a run for a Senate seat in Tennessee.
"I have officially filed (papers) to run against Bob Corker (R-Neanderthal) for the U.S. Senate," Overall told The Greenville Sun on Thursday. "Somebody had to do it and if nobody else will do it, I will do it."
Tennessee native Overall, 55, is best known as sassy nurse Laverne on the 1988-1995 NBC sitcom "Empty Nest," a spin-off of "The Golden Girls." She also had recurring roles on "Reba" and "The Critic," and starred in Lifetime movies "Fifteen and Pregnant" and "The Price of a Broken Heart," about a wife who sues her husband's mistress.
Park Overall
Countersues Olbermann, Seeks Damages
Current TV
Current TV offered its rebuttal to a scathing lawsuit filed by Keith Olbermann by filing a countersuit Friday detailing alleged bad behavior by its former talk show host and seeking a judge's ruling that he is not entitled to any more money from the network.
The network's filing accuses Olbermann of breaching his contract by disclosing terms of the lucrative deal, refusing to cooperate in promoting the show and taking days off without permission.
The countersuit comes one day after Olbermann sued his former employer, claiming it violated his agreement, engaged in shoddy production values and owed him more than $50 million.
Current's suit claims Olbermann has damaged the network and will continue to do so. It seeks unspecified damages.
The networks' filing paints Olbermann as a petulant figure after he was hired to be Current's signature host, rejecting seven limousine companies, refusing to cooperate in promotional discussions and taking vacations with little notice. The complaint claims Olbermann wrote to Current co-founder Joel Hyatt to complain about a problem with a guest, "Give me a name so I know which of them to kill with my bare hands," and threw a glass mug on the set, which prompted a complaint from the set's landlord.
Current TV
Show Leaving Vegas
Muscular Dystrophy Association
A year after the Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon split with comedian and longtime host Jerry Lewis, the Labor Day weekend show is leaving Las Vegas.
An official at the South Point Hotel Casino & Spa, where the event was held last year without Lewis, said Friday that association executives had decided to move it to the Los Angeles area.
"Last year the MDA made us aware they were looking to make a change, so the recent news comes as no surprise," resort marketing chief Tom Mikovits told The Associated Press. "We are proud to have hosted the Labor Day Telethon for the last six years and we wish the MDA all the best in the future."
Hotel owner Michael Gaughan told a Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist that the show would be shortened to three hours and broadcast from CBS studios in Culver City, Calif. Gaughan was traveling and unavailable Friday.
Muscular Dystrophy Association
Employee Resigns Amid Celeb Tip-Off Claims
Virgin Atlantic
A Virgin Atlantic employee has resigned following allegations she routinely fed information about the airline's celebrity clientele - from Madonna to Sienna Miller - to a paparazzi agency.
The employee was a junior member of the team that looks after high-profile clients, Virgin said Friday. She quit Thursday before reports published in the Guardian and the Press Gazette alleged that she had passed the booking information of more than 60 celebrities on to the Big Pictures photo agency.
Among those allegedly targeted: Britain's Princess Beatrice; singers Madonna and Rihanna; actors Charlize Theron, Kate Winslet, Daniel Radcliffe and Miller; comedians Sacha Baron Cohen and Russell Brand; and a slew of U.K. celebrities and sports figures.
In a statement, Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. called the allegations "extremely serious" and said it had launched an investigation. The airline, which is majority-owned by billionaire adventurer Richard Branson, confirmed that high-profile clients were involved but declined to comment on the British newspapers' figures.
Virgin Atlantic
Arrested On Suspicion Of DUI
Amanda Bynes
Authorities say actress Amanda Bynes has been arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence after she grazed a sheriff's patrol car.
The 26-year-old actress was arrested around 3 a.m. Friday in West Hollywood.
The Los Angeles County sheriff's department says that Bynes attempted to pass a patrol car making a right turn when she hit it. Deputies who arrested her suspect she was drunk at the time.
Bynes is being held on $5,000 bail. Her publicist, Melissa Raubvogel, did not immediately return a call and an email from The Associated Press.
Amanda Bynes
Military Board Recommends Dismissal
Sgt. Gary Stein
A Marine who criticized President Barack Obama on his Facebook page has committed misconduct and should be dismissed, a military board recommended late Thursday.
The Marine Corps administrative board made the decision after a daylong hearing at Camp Pendleton for Sgt. Gary Stein.
The board also recommended that Stein be given an other-then-honorable discharge. That would mean Stein would lose his benefits and would not be allowed on any military base.
The board's recommendations go to a general who will either accept or deny them. If the general disagrees with the board, the case could go to the secretary of the Navy.
Sgt. Gary Stein
South Bay Galleria
Redondo Beach
Two Marines from a California desert base were in custody after police found simulator explosives used in military training in their pickup truck at a Los Angeles-area shopping mall, authorities said Friday.
Three large stores were evacuated at the South Bay Galleria in Redondo Beach after Marine Corps officials alerted police Thursday night, police said. Corps officials told them two active-duty Marines were driving a white pickup truck and had explosives.
Officers found the Marines at the mall and they acknowledged having the explosives, police said. A bomb squad from the Los Angeles County sheriff's office found 10 artillery simulator training devices, which are similar to police "flash-bang" grenades.
Thomas Bazer, 20, and Devin Gajewski, 24, were taken into the custody of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
The two are stationed at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, about 180 miles northeast of the mall. It was not immediately known why they had the explosives and what they were doing in Redondo Beach.
Redondo Beach
Clouds Olympic Doping Tests
Green Tea
Olympic doping officials are considering whether to tweak their tests after a recent British study showed green tea might hide testosterone from the standard test used to spot it.
The study was a test in a lab dish so scientists aren't sure if the effects will be the same in people. But some experts say the results are intriguing enough that Olympic testing could be updated to include that possibility.
"It's interesting that something as common as tea could have a significant influence on the steroid profile," said Olivier Rabin, scientific director of the World Anti-Doping Agency, or WADA. He said other foods and beverages, such as alcohol, are also known to muddle test results.
In the study, researchers added green and white tea extracts - or catechins - to testosterone and tested whether the enzyme that usually detects testosterone in the body could still identify it. Tea seemed to reduce the testosterone concentration by up to 30 percent and appeared to work best when testosterone was only slightly higher than normal. Similar results have been found in rodent studies, Rabin said.
Green Tea
In Memory
Thomas Kinkade
Artist Thomas Kinkade, whose brushwork paintings of idyllic landscapes, cottages and churches have been big sellers for dealers across the United States, died Friday, a family spokesman said.
Kinkade, 54, died at his home in Los Gatos in the San Francisco Bay Area of what appeared to be natural causes, David Satterfield said.
Kinkade's sentimental paintings, with their scenes of country gardens and churches in dewy morning light, were beloved by middlebrow America but reviled by the art establishment. He claimed to be the nation's most collected living artist, and his paintings and spin-off products were said to fetch some $100 million a year in sales, and to be in 10 million homes in the United States.
His paintings generally depict tranquil scenes with lush landscaping and streams running nearby. Many contain images from Bible passages.
"I'm a warrior for light," Kinkade, a self-described devout Christian, told the San Jose Mercury News in 2002, in reference to the medieval practice of using light to symbolize the divine. "With whatever talent and resources I have, I'm trying to bring light to penetrate the darkness many people feel."
Kinkade was born and raised in the Placerville, Calif. He studied at the University of California at Berkeley and the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.
"Thom provided a wonderful life for his family," his wife, Nanette, said in a statement. "We are shocked and saddened by his death."
Thomas Kinkade
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