Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: The Obamacare Disinformation Loop (NY Times Blog)
Over the past few weeks I've been watching a real-time demonstration of how American voters come to be misinformed about key policy issues. Yes, it's Obamacare again.
Paul Krugman: seriously Bad Ideas (NY Times Column)
The financial crisis has given remarkable staying power to false explanations of big events. And they continue to warp policy.
Brian Whitney: Free Speech for Murderers and Freaks (Disinformation)
I am sort of a live and let live kind of guy. I don't really care what you do. At one point, I was employed as a prisoner rights advocate for the ACLU. One time I tried to help a bunch of murderers start a chapter of the Church of Satan inside prison walls under the guise of freedom of religion. It didn't happen. The Department of Corrections sort of laughed at me.
Alexis Petridis: "James Last: ignore the kitsch and celebrate his Quincy Jones moment" (Guardian)
Amid the decades of tosh that adorned the record shelves of grannies everywhere, the musician, who died this week made two great disco-era records. Did he know what he was doing all along?
Gladstone: 5 Ethical Questions On Posting Photos Of Strangers Online (Cracked)
Recently, mediocre singer (but excellent future infomercial host) Michael Bublé got in hot water for posting a pic he snagged of a woman in shorty shorts: …
Emma Brockes: Why do some women artists pretend that success is the result of sorcery? (Guardian)
Elizabeth Gilbert didn't have the assistance of 'flying genies' or 'magical elves' for her career. There's no need to tout their help now.
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
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Patriot Act
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Overcast most of the day.
Letters Fail To Sell At Auction
Harper Lee
Six letters by "To Kill a Mockingbird" author Harper Lee to one of her close friends failed to sell at auction Friday.
The archive had been expected to bring as much as $250,000 at Christie's, which said the bidding did not reach the reserve price.
Four of the letters date from before "Mockingbird" while Lee was caring for her ailing father, Amasa Coleman Lee, the model for her protagonist Atticus Finch.
The signed and typed letters were written to Lee's friend, New York architect Harold Caufield, between 1956 and 1961, according to Christie's, which is selling them on Friday.
Harper Lee
Addresses Caitlyn Jenner 'Family Guy' Clips
Seth MacFarlane
Earlier this month, Caitlyn Jenner introduced herself to the world with a 22-page Vanity Fair photo shoot. Jenner had only publicly come out as transgender back in April in an interview with Diane Sawyer, which led many to wonder: Did "Family Guy" actually know about this years ago?
Recently, "Family Guy" clips have resurfaced that some are saying predicted Jenner's transition. In one clip from 2009, Stewie Griffin calls Jenner "an elegant, beautiful Dutch woman." In another, Jenner dances provocatively for a crowd while Peter Griffin says, "Just wanted to remind you fellas what you're all fighting for."
When asked how the jokes came about during a recent "Ted 2" conference call, "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane said he's "too savvy to comment on the issue to the media." He explained, "Once the outrage industry shuts down, I will be happy to have an adult conversation about all of this stuff anytime anyone wants, but, even though I'm on the side of support, I just don't think there's any way to … you just got to play it safe because the climate is just too charged. Anything I say can and will be used against me."
During the call, MacFarlane also addressed political correctness in comedy, saying that most of the perceived outrage over jokes comes from the media, not the public. He added, "Nobody sets out to -- at least I don't -- nobody sets out to offend or shock for the sake of shocking. You set out to get laughs."
Seth MacFarlane
Arrested In Moscow
Pussy Riot
A member of punk protest group Pussy Riot and a fellow activist were arrested Friday at a demonstration in Moscow demanding better conditions for women held in Russian prisons.
"I'm in the police van," Pussy Riot's Nadezhda Tolokonnikova told opposition radio station Echo of Moscow. "I haven't been told which police station we're headed to. There's another person with me."
The two activists were arrested for holding a "non-authorised protest" in which they planned to sew a Russian flag while wearing prison uniforms.
The protest was held at central Moscow's Bolotnaya Square, the scene of clashes between police and protesters in 2012 on the eve of Vladimir Putin's inauguration for a third presidential term.
Pussy Riot
Sagamore Hill Reopening
Theodore Roosevelt
The massive elk, moose and buffalo heads are back up. The lion-, tiger- and bearskin rugs are back down and the Lincoln, Jefferson and Grant portraits have been cleaned.
Sagamore Hill, the Long Island mansion that was Theodore Roosevelt's home and "Summer White House," is set to reopen following an extensive four-year, $10 million renovation by the National Park Service, a fitting custodian for the man who championed historic preservation.
Every one of the 12,000 items owned by the 26th president, including an estimated 10,000 books and dozens of "trophies" from his hunting expeditions, were removed from the 28-room, Queen Anne Shingle style mansion and then painstakingly repaired and replaced exactly where he left them.
The three-story home built in 1885 and named by Roosevelt after the Indian chief Sagamore Mohannis has 15 bedrooms and three bathrooms, as well as sitting rooms, offices and a large porch. It sits on 83 acres high atop a hill overlooking an inlet that leads to the Long Island Sound, about 35 miles east of Manhattan.
Theodore Roosevelt
No Janet Jackson
LeBron James
His team getting clobbered in the NBA Finals and his head bloodied in a collision with a camera was bad enough for LeBron James. Now he's trapped in the endless online loop of the moment he got caught with his pants down on national television.
James' wardrobe adjustment - briefly lowering his compression pants in the moments before his Cleveland Cavaliers took on the Golden State Warriors Thursday - was another example of television not moving fast enough to stop a moment best left off the air.
The moment flashed by so quickly, with James' body partially obscured by an onscreen graphic, that many viewers probably missed it in real time.
"You needed to have a really good DVR and a microscope, I think," said Tim Winter, president of the Parents Television Council. His watchdog group frequently encourages its members to file complaints to the federal government for violations of indecency standards but in this case he advised followers to stand down, calling it "much ado about nothing."
LeBron James
[VIDEO] LeBron James Flashes Penis During NBA Finals: ABC Accidentally Shows It - Hollywood Life - at the :20 mark
Statue Stirs Controversy In Moscow
Prince Vladimir
Scaffolding surrounds the vast clay sculpture-in-progress inside a warehouse on Moscow's outskirts, yet already the statue of Vladimir the Great has caused an outcry as big as the monument itself.
The 24-metre (78-feet) high likeness of the man who brought Christianity to Kievan Rus -- the forerunner of modern Russia and Ukraine -- is set to tower over the capital, the latest potent symbol in a surge of patriotism taking hold in Russia.
Prince Vladimir is revered as a saint by the Russian Orthodox Church and a hero by others, including the noted sculptor of the work, Salavat Shcherbakov. But not all Moscow agrees.
The final, cast bronze is scheduled for installation in September on a prime spot called Sparrow Hills, overlooking all of Moscow -- and where all of Moscow will see Vladimir.
In a flurry of public anger, more than 59,000 people joined an online petition against the planned location, one of the city's best-loved viewpoints high above Moscow's centre.
Prince Vladimir
Develop Taste For Dolphins
Polar Bears
Norwegian scientists have seen polar bears eating dolphins in the Arctic for the first time ever and blame global warming for the bears expanding their diet.
Polar bears feed mainly on seals but Jon Aars at the Norwegian Polar Institute has photographed dolphins being devoured by a bear and published his findings in the latest edition of Polar Research this month.
The first incident he documented was in April 2014 when his team came across a polar feeding on the carcasses of two white-beaked dolphins.
Although dolphins are regularly seen in the Norwegian Arctic in the summer months when the ice has melted, they have never been observed during winter or spring when the sea is usually still covered in sheets of ice.
Polar Bears
Misspelled Signs
Spelling Counts
Spelling counts - and sometimes it costs money.
A suburban Philadelphia county was victim to an embarrassing misspelling on signage posted around the local community: the word "commissioners" with only one "m'' on 26 signs.
Montgomery County officials say it will take about 10 days and $4,000 to correct the error with adhesive labels.
The 6-foot-tall signs bear the county's website and the names of the three county commissioners. They were posted in parks, along the county trail system and in front of the courthouse several months ago.
Spelling Counts
'Ten Commandments' Sphinx
Cecil B. DeMille
After spending more than 90 years in the sandy dunes of Guadalupe, California, a majestic plaster Hollywood sphinx, created for the 1923 blockbuster silent film "The Ten Commandments," is making its 21st century debut.
Researchers excavated the fragile plaster of Paris sphinx from the dunes in 2014, and let it dry for several months before art restorers used Elmer's Glue to piece it back together. It's now housed at the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes Center in Southern California, and goes on display for the public tomorrow evening (June 12).
The sphinx and its companions were the brainchild of director Cecil B. DeMille and his film crew. The silent movie had an enormous set to show the grandeur of Pharaoh's City, which was lined with 21 regal sphinxes, each standing 35 feet (11 meters) tall when they were on their pedestals.
Artifacts left by the crew suggest they had a good time on the set while making the movie. Archaeologists found tobacco tins and medicine bottles - the latter likely a ruse that carried moonshine because "The Ten Commandments" was filmed during America's Prohibition Era (1920-1933), when alcohol wasn't allowed, Jenzen said.
After filming ended, the crew apparently left the movie set to the elements. The statues were weathered by the rain, fog and wind and eventually buried by the sand on the ever-shifting dunes.
Cecil B. DeMille
In Memory
Monica Lewis
Actress, singer and voice of the Chiquita Banana cartoon character Monica Lewis has died.
Her former manager, Alan Eichler, says Lewis died Friday of natural causes at her home in the Los Angeles area. She was 93.
Lewis started her career as a vocalist with Benny Goodman's orchestra and went onto record several jazz hits in the 1940s. In 1950, she hit Hollywood, signing an exclusive contract for music and movies with MGM. Her film credits include 1951's "The Strip" with Mickey Rooney and "Excuse My Dust" with Red Skelton.
Lewis was also a popular pitchwoman, appearing in ad campaigns for Camel cigarettes, General Electric and Burlington Mills' hosiery. For 14 years, she voiced the Chiquita Banana cartoon character, who reminded Americans not to put bananas in the refrigerator.
She married production executive Jennings Lang in 1956 and the couple raised three sons together. Lewis made appearances in many of her husband's films, including "Earthquake" with Charlton Heston and Ava Gardner and "Charley Varrick" with Walter Matthau.
Lewis also guest-starred on various TV shows, including "Marcus Welby, M.D.", "Remington Steele," ''Ironside" and "Falcon Crest." She resumed her singing career in 1985 and recorded several new albums.
Lewis is survived by her two sons and three grandchildren.
Monica Lewis
In Memory
Jack King
"Lift-off! We have a lift-off... 32 minutes past the hour. Lift-off on Apollo 11."
It was with those words, on the morning of July 16, 1969, that Jack King - NASA's "Voice of Apollo" - gave start to the first mission to land men on the moon.
King, who served for 12 years as the space agency's chief of public information, spanning the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs, died on Thursday (June 11). He was 84.
As chief, King was the "voice of launch control" for almost every U.S. manned spaceflight from the Gemini 4 mission 50 years ago this month to the fourth moon landing, Apollo 15. He came to have one of the most recognizable voices in the world as a result of his Apollo 11 countdown.
The original broadcast of that launch and the subsequent replays over the past four decades have reached the ears of more than a billion people, according to NASA.
King was recruited by the space program in 1960 based on his work as a journalist for the Associated Press. From 1958 to 1959, King led the AP's Cape Canaveral bureau, reporting about what were then mostly classified military rocket launches.
Not long after Apollo 11, King was promoted to director of public affairs for NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center (now Johnson Space Center) in Houston. There he had a wider responsibility than just media service.
He directed a staff that also included education outreach, exhibit programs, astronaut appearances and community and inter-governmental relations. He was also a member of the three-man team that negotiated the joint information plan for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the first joint flight between the United States and the former Soviet Union, resulting in the first live television coverage of a Russian launch and Soyuz landing at the end of the 1975 mission.
He then moved to Washington, DC to become the director of public affairs for the Energy Research and Development Administration to develop an agencywide program in solar, fossil and nuclear energy.
Two years later, King left government service to work for Dr. Armand Hammer, chairman of Occidental International Corp., developing and implementing a wide-ranging public relations program. He also served as a speech writer and coordinator of media events in connection with Hammer's numerous travels and philanthropic activities.
After Hammer died in 1990, King became vice president of Powell Tate, a Washington public affairs firm, specializing in defense, space technology and energy issues.
King returned to Florida's Space Coast in 1997, assuming responsibilities for news media relations for United Space Alliance, NASA's contractor for space shuttle operations.
King retired in 2010, but continued to volunteer for NASA public affairs.
Born John W. King in Boston in 1931, he was the son of the sports editor for the Associated Press. In 1953, King earned his bachelor's in English from Boston College. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army artillery corps soon after graduation and served two years in Korea and Japan from 1953 through 1955.
King and his wife Evelyn were married for 39 years prior to her death in 2005. They are survived by three children and five grandchildren.
Jack King
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