Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Apocalypse Fairly Soon (New York Times)
Suddenly, it has become easy to see how the euro - that grand, flawed experiment in monetary union without political union - could come apart at the seams.
KATE BRIQUELET: 'Free'quent flier has wings clipped after American Airlines takes away his unlimited pass' (New York Post)
'Lifetime' pass nixed at 10M miles.
Japanese lesbian can't wait for Disneyland 'wedding' (Reuters)
"We have never refused a request for a same-sex marriage," said a spokeswoman at Milial Resort Hotels, a subsidiary of Tokyo Disney Resort.
WILL DOIG: "Rust Belt chic: Declining Midwest cities make a comeback" (Salon)
Gritty Rust Belt cities, once left for dead, are on the rise -- thanks to young people priced out of cooler locales
Caity Weaver: All the Most Delicious Foods Are Making You Dumb (Gawker)
Turns out it might not be your laziness, stubbornness, or general God-given incompetence making you stupid: it could just be all the delicious high fructose corn syrup you eat.
Thomas Hayden: How to Hatch a Dinosaur (Wired)
In 1982, on the strength of seven years of undergraduate study, a stint in the Marines, and a gig as a paleontology researcher at Princeton, [Jack] Horner got a job at Montana State University's Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman. He was hired as a curator but soon told his bosses that he wanted to teach paleontology. "They said it wasn't going to happen," Horner recalls. Four years and a MacArthur genius grant later, "they told me to do whatever I wanted to."
Stuart Heritage: The actor who printed his life on a business card (Guardian)
Thomas F Wilson, who played Biff Tannen in the 'Back to the Future' movies, has a unique way of dealing with over-curious fans.
Peter Hall: "George Lucas Does Something Likeable For a Change: Revenge on Rich Neighbors" (Movies.com)
He's working with the Marin Community Foundation to instead construct affordable housing for either low-income families or seniors living on small, fixed incomes. In order to smooth along the development, he's already given them all of the pricey technical studies and land surveys Lucasfilm spent years conducting. And we think that's just great. Because if there's one thing rich people will hate more than having movie magic made in their backyard, it's poor people moving in.
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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Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
BadtotheboneBob
Whales Adjust Hearing
Blah, blah, blah... I can't hear you! Blah, blah, blah...
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Back to sunny and seasonal.
And A Rolling Stone
Cyndi Lauper
Cyndi Lauper and a Rolling Stone are hooking up for a good cause.
The American singer and guitarist Ron Wood are appearing on stage together Friday night in Cannes, for an exclusive nightclub show that benefits (RED).
Lauper, who had a reality TV crew following her in France, says it'll be an experimental collaboration: "I'm trying something new and I think Ron Wood is stepping on. I've never worked with him before, so we'll see what happens."
Money raised will go from (RED) to the Global Fund, a program to fight HIV/AIDS.
Cyndi Lauper
Married At 15, Not 13
Loretta Lynn
Country music legend Loretta Lynn is three years older than she has led people to believe, an age change that undermines the story she told of being married at 13 in "Coal Miner's Daughter," documents obtained by The Associated Press show.
Lynn's birth certificate on file at the state Office of Vital Statistics in Frankfort, Ky., shows that Loretta Webb was born on April 14, 1932, in Johnson County, Kentucky. That makes her 80 years old, not 77. Also on file is her marriage license and two affidavits from her mother, Clara Marie Ramey, and S.W. Ward Jr., who was not related to the family, listing the same birthdate.
The records weren't filed until 1965, which meant that Lynn needed multiple documents to prove her age at that time. Lynn's signature appears on the document as Loretta Webb Lynn.
Melvin Webb lists his daughter "Loretta" as 7 years old for the 1940 Census, according to a digital copy on file at the Kentucky Historical Society. Lynn's marriage license, obtained by the AP from the Johnson County (Tenn.) clerk's office lists her as 15 on Jan. 10, 1948.
In "Coal Miner's Daughter," the autobiography that became an Academy Award-winning film, Lynn told a different story - that she was married at 13 and was a mother of four by 18. Most books and public references to Lynn list her current age as 77.
Loretta Lynn
Banned In Repressive Country
'The Dictator'
Sacha Baron Cohen has been banned in another Central Asian country. According to The Guardian, Tajikistan has banned Baron Cohen's latest film The Dictator, about the corrupt and murderous leader of a fictional nation. Their official reason is a little confusing.
A representative of the nation's sole film distribution company issued a statement that seems to conflate The Dictator with Borat:
It's wrong to compare us with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and with other countries. It's incorrect because we have a different mentality. We're not going to give Dictator a premiere because of these considerations.
So wait, is he saying that if Borat was a condemnation of Kazakhstan that The Dictator (whose fictional country is in North Africa) is about Tajikistan? Touchy, touchy! Though, to be fair, yeah Tajikistan's president, Emomali Rahmon, has been in office for almost twenty years, ruled through a catastrophically bloody civil war which saw outbreaks of ethnic cleansing, and is alleged to be funneling much of the revenue from a state-owned aluminum company (aluminum being the country's chief export) into private bank accounts accessible to only his family.
'The Dictator'
Mutual Admiration Society
Willie Nelson
When Snoop Dogg passed through Willie Nelson's neck of the woods during South By Southwest in March, he took some time to pay tribute to his unlikely friend.
He regaled reporters with mostly NSFW stories about time the pair spent together in Amsterdam, sharing their mutual love of music, marijuana and fried chicken. The always lighthearted Snoop also got serious when talking about his friendship with Nelson and the 79-year-old singer's unique role as a musical ambassador.
"When I first met him you would think he was a hip-hop artist because he showed love to me as if I was in his world and I never made country music or none of that, but he understood who I was," Snoop said. "And it drove me to make country music. I made a couple of country records and was a part of his album and went to the Country Music Awards and worked with Brad Paisley, went to Johnny Cash's house. I was getting heavy into it and finding country music is a form of hip-hop music. It's the same thing. We're the same people. Don't let the rhythm fool you. It's the same game."
The feeling is mutual, which is why Nelson included Snoop on his newest album, "Heroes," a collection of songs sung with Nelson's musical heroes that came out this month. The 40-year-old rapper is the only musician on the album not connected to country music in some way.
"I just like the guy personally and his music is great," Nelson said. "I'm not a big rapper-type fan, but I know he's great because he's already a legend and he's not that old, and there's a lot of people out there who are huge Snoop fans. He and I have a lot in common because we both smoke a little dope together now and then. Mainly we like to get together and play a little music and hang out any chance we get."
Willie Nelson
George Clinton, Black Eyed Peas Settle Suit
"(Not Just) Knee Deep"
George Clinton and the Black Eyed Peas have settled a lawsuit in which the funk pioneer accused the pop group of using his music without proper permission.
The settlement was reached after mediation and was reported to a federal judge on Monday, records show. The judge has canceled an upcoming trial as attorneys work to finalize settlement documents, and no further details were provided.
Clinton sued the Peas in December 2010, claiming the group used elements of his 1979 song "(Not Just) Knee Deep" in remixes of their international hit "Shut Up." The song first appeared on the group's 2003 album "Elephunk," and it released "Shut Up Remix" the same year. It also was used in another remix included on the deluxe edition of the Peas' 2009 release, "The E.N.D.," according to Clinton's lawsuit.
The group and its label, Universal Music Group, claimed they licensed the music, but Clinton says he never granted permission. He claimed producers tried to license "(Not Just) Knee Deep" in 2009, but he refused. Clinton alleged his signature was forged on a release form later provided to his attorneys and that he has never been paid royalties on the remixes.
"(Not Just) Knee Deep"
Sued Over Las Vegas Museum Plans
Wayne Newton
Plans to turn Wayne Newton's sprawling Las Vegas estate into a celebrity museum have shifted into an ugly legal battle citing mismanagement, animal abuse and sexual harassment.
The company that purchased the rights to convert Newton's home into "Graceland West" filed a lawsuit this week in Las Vegas against Newton, his wife and her 76-year-old mother that claims the family unreasonably delayed the project to ensure it never opens.
The Newton family claims the lawsuit is a preemptive strike because they had planned to sue the company for breach of contract after multiple construction delays. The family plans to file a counter lawsuit challenging the allegations made by CSD, LLC.
The legal wrangling paints an uncertain future for Newton's 40-acre estate featuring South African penguins, Arabian horses, Impressionist paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir and 17th-century antiques collected from European castles.
The lawsuit also claims Newton sexually harassed a young female employee hired to train his 55 horses by repeatedly kissing her on the mouth. The worker quit and has threatened to sue Newton and CSD, according to the lawsuit.
Wayne Newton
Drops Horse Show Sponsorship
Pepsi
Soft drink maker Pepsi said on Thursday that it was dropping sponsorship of a prestigious national horse show, one day after ABC News broadcast footage of a horse in training for a show being beaten by a trainer.
The Walking Horse National Celebration said that Pepsi had been a sponsor since 2010 of the nation's leading competition for Tennessee Walking Horses, a breed known for its high-stepping gait.
Neither Pepsi nor officials of the horse show would confirm the reason for the cancellation of the sponsorship. But an expert on the Tennessee Walking Horse show circuit, who asked not to be identified, said he believed it was because of the ABC News report, which showed an abusive practice known as "soring."
The Humane Society of the United States conducted an undercover investigation and filmed the video which was given to ABC News and broadcast, said Keith Dane, the society's director of equine protection.
An animal rights activist went to work in a horse barn and secretly taped the abuse in March and April, 2011. It shows the horses being beaten with wooden sticks and poked with electric cattle prods. The horses' ankles were slathered with caustic chemicals and ankles wrapped with plastic to amplify the pain.
The chemicals induce pain and cause the horse to raise its front legs high while in the show ring.
Pepsi
800 Years Old
Red Cedar
A giant 800-year-old red cedar tree has been poached from a provincial park on southern Vancouver Island, but the culprits who repeatedly returned to the site to hack it down may never be brought to justice.
Torrance Coste of the Wilderness Committee said consistent budget cuts over the last decade mean park rangers rarely monitor remote sites such as the Carmanah-Walbran Provincial Park, from where the cedar was chopped.
"Whoever's doing this knows that no one's going to have eyes on this park for months at a time so it's exceptionally easy to do what they've done," Coste said Thursday.
He said that last month, a member of the environmental group became aware of the poached tree and took a photo of about 20 per cent of its remains.
Coste said 10 full-time park rangers monitor about 1,000 parks and protected areas across British Columbia, down from about 40 full-time positions in 2001.
Red Cedar
UK Library Acquires For $14 Million
St. Cuthbert Gospel
A seventh century gospel discovered in a saint's coffin more than 900 years ago, and the oldest European book to survive fully intact, has been acquired by the British Library for nine million pounds ($14 million), the library said on Tuesday.
The manuscript copy of the Gospel of St. John called the St. Cuthbert Gospel was produced in the northeast of England in the late 7th century and was placed in the saint's coffin on the island of Lindisfarne, probably in 698.
His remains were carried to the mainland when the monks and people of the island fled Viking invaders, and ended up in Durham where the coffin was opened in 1104 and the gospel discovered.
The manuscript features an original red leather binding in excellent condition and is the only surviving "high status" manuscript from this period of British history to retain its original appearance both inside and out.
St. Cuthbert Gospel
In Memory
Ed Ray
The nation called Ed Ray a hero when he led a terrified group of children to safety after they were kidnapped aboard their school bus and held underground for ransom in the summer of 1976.
But the unassuming bus driver from a dusty farm town in Central California never saw himself that way, even after news of the infamous Chowchilla kidnapping grabbed headlines and inspired a TV movie.
As for the 26 children he saved, Ray became their lifelong friend until he died Thursday at 91 from complications of cirrhosis of the liver.
The dramatic ordeal and Ray's role in it left an indelible mark on Chowchilla, where Ray and most of the children lived. The city then had a population of 5,000.
Five hours after the hijacking, police found the bus, hidden in a drainage slough. It was empty, with no trace of blood or any other clues.
A day later, Ray's family and frantic parents got word: The bus driver and children, ages 5 to 14, were safe.
Ray, the only adult on board, later recounted how he stopped the bus on that steamy July day to see if people in a broken-down van needed help. Three armed, masked men forced Ray and the children into two vans.
They meandered for hours before stopping at a quarry 100 miles to the north in Livermore. The kidnappers sealed the children and Ray inside the storage van and covered it with 3 feet of dirt as part of their plan to demand $5 million ransom.
At the time, the Chowchilla Police Department was swamped with calls, and the kidnappers decided to take a nap before calling in their demand.
While they slept, Ray and two older children dug themselves to safety.
"He told me that he felt it was his responsibility to get the kids back home to their parents safely, that's all he could think about," Ray's son, Glen Ray, said. His father loved kids and they were his life, the son said.
Family members said Ray collected newspaper clippings about the kidnapping and bought the school bus he drove in 1976 for $500 as a memento and because he didn't want it to go to scrap iron.
"He parked it in the barn and he'd go out and start it once in a while," Glen Ray said.
He kept the bus for several years then gave it to an old equipment museum in Le Grande, where it's still available for public viewing.
Ray is survived by his wife, Odessa, his two sons, three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. A funeral services will be held Tuesday at Chowchilla Cemetery.
Ed Ray
In Memory
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, the renowned German baritone who performed for more than five decades on stages in Berlin, Vienna, London and New York, died Friday. He was 86.
The art songs and opera singer died at his home in the southern German city of Starnberg, Berlin's Deutsche Oper said.
The Berlin-born Fischer-Dieskau started performing in the 1940s and quickly rose to prominence after World War II. The former Wehrmacht soldier, who had been an American prisoner of war for nearly two years, soon became a regular fixture at European opera houses.
He also performed at Germany's annual Wagner opera festival in Bayreuth, and appeared 123 times since 1951 at Austria's Salzburg Festival. Fischer-Dieskau ended his long career, during which he also worked as conductor and writer, with a farewell concert in Munich in 1992.
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
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