Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Andrew Tobias: Guess Who Came to Dinner
So the President came to New York Tuesday and one of his stops elicited this fundraising appeal from the American Family Association: …
Paul Krugman: Veterans and Zombies (NY Times)
The Hype Behind the Health Care Scandal.
Jacopo della Quercia, Matthew Moffitt: 5 Geniuses Whose Careers Peaked at a Shockingly Young Age (Cracked)
Despite what your graduation speaker might have told you, no one really expects miracles from anyone under 30. Arts, sports and computers are pretty much the only career paths where no one bats an eyelid if you become an expert at a young age. Of course, this is just a bunch of bullshit.
John Cheese: "5 Pieces of Advice Your Dad Gave You (That Are Total B.S.)" (Cracked)
I've always been an advocate for talking with our elders because they've seen some shit and can be excellent warning devices for those of us who are willing to listen. However, there comes a point where generation gaps render certain advice useless, like "Never lend your good horse to a drunken pilgrim."
Alison Flood: George RR Martin uses 'Gay of Thrones' to make camp complaint to readers (Guardian)
Author makes cameo in comedy web series, telling impatient fan to 'get off my back … these things take time.'
Joe Queenan: "Cult films: just bad movies in a good disguise?" (Guardian)
The 'cult classic' label can mean many things: from an underappreciated gem to an out-and-out stinker with sentimental value attached. But Big Trouble in Little China just sucks.
Mark Beaumont: "Iron Maiden: 'Fame is the excrement of creativity'" (Guardian)
What happened when Maiden superfan Frank Turner met his hero Bruce Dickinson? We listen in to the singers' rants about music snobs, big egos and Autocues.
Peter Bradshaw: "The Fault in our Stars review - manipulative and crass" (Guardian)
This phoney-baloney cancer fantasy based on John Green's novel aims straight for the tear duct, but you have to accept its laser-sharp accuracy.
Adam Frucci: "To Russell, My Brother, Whom I Slept With"
When Bill Cosby peeked out from behind the curtain at Cleveland's Public Auditorium, he saw a performer's nightmare. The 10,000-seat venue was the biggest the young comic had ever played, and minutes before showtime it was rife with empty seats.
First Moon Party (YouTube)
"Do you recall The Camp Gyno? Now HelloFlo, a company that sells menstrual supplies, is back again with a new ad about a girl's first period, and the party her mom throws to celebrate it. Technically safe for work, but be warned that there are plenty of jokes and imagery you might not want to share with your boss or co-workers. You'll never look at Florida the same way again." - Neatorama
The Camp Gyno (YouTube)
"This ad for a tampon delivery service features a 12-year-old who was the first at her summer camp to get her first period. The whole thing is quite funny and will no doubt benefit the company, but the most unrealistic parts are 1. summer camp that lasts more than five days, and 2. young girls who have regular cycles. Oh, and if you're squeamish, be warned that this contains girl talk." - Neatorama
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"Doug's Most Shared Facebook Post" Today
wrote:
answered:
has retired.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
from Marc Perkel
BartCop
Hello Bartcop fans,
As you all know the untimely passing of Terry was unexpected, even by
him. We all knew he had cancer but we all thought he had some years
left. So some of us who have worked closely with him over the years are
scrambling around trying to figure out what to do. My job, among other
things, is to establish communications with the Bartcop community and
provide email lists and groups for those who might put something
together. Those who want to play an active roll in something coming from
this, or if you are one of Bart's pillars, should send an email to
active@bartcop.com.
The most active open discussion is on Bart's Facebook page.
( www.facebook.com/bartcop )
You can listen to Bart's theme song here
or here.
( www.bartcop.com/blizing-saddles.mp3 )
( youtu.be/MySGAaB0A9k )
We have opened up the radio show archives which are now free. Listen to
all you want.
( bartcop.com/members )
Bart's final wish was to pay off the house mortgage for Mrs. Bart who is
overwhelmed and so very grateful for the support she has received.
Anyone wanting to make a donation can click on this the yellow donate
button on bartcop.com
But - I need you all to help keep this going. This note
isn't going to directly reach all of Bart's fans. So if you can repost
it on blogs and discussion boards so people can sign up then when we
figure out what's next we can let more people know. This list is just
over 600 but like to get it up to at least 10,000 pretty quick. So
here's the signup link for this email list.
( mailman.bartcop.com/listinfo/bartnews )
Marc Perkel
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and humid.
Confidence Hits Fresh Lows
US News Media
Americans' confidence in the news media has tumbled to fresh lows -- and it doesn't much matter whether the source is newspapers, television or the Internet.
A Gallup poll released Thursday found the level of faith in each of three major news media platforms -- television news, newspapers, and news on the Internet -- is at or tied with record lows, extending a longstanding trend
Confidence in US newspapers was marginally better than rival media, but dropped to 22 percent in the June 5-8 survey -- declining more than half from a 1979 peak of 51 percent.
For television news, the percentage of respondents with a good deal of confidence was 19 percent, extending the decline from its 1993 peak at 46 percent.
Those identifying themselves as liberals had slightly more confidence in newspapers, while conservatives had a higher level of trust in TV news.
US News Media
Chinese Sponsor Demands Changes
'Transformers 4'
A Chinese investment firm has demanded that Paramount Pictures remove scenes from the upcoming action film "Transformers: Age of Extinction" because it believes the movie studio did not meet the obligations of a sponsorship deal between the two companies.
Beijing Pangushi Investment Co. Ltd., in a statement dated June 18, said it terminated its contract with Paramount, a unit of Viacom Inc, and that any images featuring the company's building should be deleted from the film or its marketing materials.
The movie, the fourth installment in the blockbuster "Transformers" series, is set for worldwide release on June 27.
A Paramount spokesman said on Friday that Pangu Plaza, owned by the Beijing investment firm, has a "prominent placement in Transformers 4 and it looks beautiful on screen."
'Transformers 4'
Gay Marriage Is Christian
Presbyterians
The top legislative body of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has voted by large margins to recognize same-sex marriage as Christian in the church constitution, adding language that marriage can be the union of "two people," not just "a man and a woman."
The amendment approved Thursday by the Presbyterian General Assembly requires approval from a majority of the 172 regional presbyteries, which will vote on the change over the next year. But in a separate policy change that takes effect at the end of this week's meeting, delegates voted to allow ministers to preside at gay weddings in states where the unions are legal and local congregational leaders approve. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia recognize same-sex marriage.
The votes, during a national meeting in Detroit, were a sweeping victory for Presbyterian gay-rights advocates. The denomination in 2011 eliminated barriers to ordaining clergy with same-sex partners, but ministers were still barred from celebrating gay marriages and risked church penalties for doing so. Alex McNeill, executive director of More Light Presbyterians, a gay advocacy group, said the amendment was "an answer to many prayers."
The conservative Presbyterian Lay Committee decried the votes in Detroit as an "abomination." The assembly voted 371-238 to allow ministers to celebrate same-sex marriages, and 429-175 in favor of amending the definition of marriage in the constitution.
Presbyterians
Hospital News
Tracy Morgan
Actor-comedian Tracy Morgan has been moved from a hospital to a rehabilitation facility as he recovers from a serious auto accident, his spokesman said Friday.
The former star of "30 Rock" is showing signs of improvement but has a long road to full recovery, spokesman Lewis Kay said in an email. Morgan suffered a broken leg and broken ribs in the June 7 crash.
Kay didn't identify the rehab facility where Morgan is staying, saying only that it is in New Jersey.
Morgan's assistant, Jeffrey Millea, of Shelton, Connecticut, has been upgraded from serious to fair condition, according to Kay. Hospital officials said this week that comedian Ardie Fuqua, of Jersey City, remains in critical condition.
Tracy Morgan
Hawaii Unable To Prove Wrongdoing
'American Jungle'
Hawaii officials investigating a History channel television show called "American Jungle" were unable to prove any laws were violated during filming.
The state Department of Land and Natural Resources began investigating after an episode aired in November raised concerns that unpermitted hunting was taking place on state land on the Big Island.
The show depicts "clans" fighting over access to territorial hunting grounds, and using knives and spears to take down prey. DLNR Chairman William Aila and Gov. Neil Abercrombie have criticized how the show portrays hunting in Hawaii.
The first episode, broadcast Nov. 10, shows hunters using spears and dogs to hunt a cow, the department said, even though it's illegal to hunt cattle without a special feral cattle control permit. The department noted there is no evidence that Native Hawaiians ever used spears to hunt cattle or pigs in the forest.
'American Jungle'
Cracking Down On Foreign-Funded Charities
India
India is cracking down on foreign-funded charities after receiving an internal report alleging they are costing the country up to 3 percent of its GDP by rallying communities against polluting industries.
The national Investigative Bureau's report - a copy of which was obtained Thursday by the Associated Press - also accuses the groups including Greenpeace, Amnesty International and Action Aid of providing reports "used to build a record against India and serve as tools for the strategic foreign policy interests of Western Governments."
The Home Ministry said Thursday it would neither confirm nor deny the existence of the report, which has sparked a firestorm of debate in Indian newspapers and on TV news channels.
But in a letter last week, the ministry ordered the Reserve Bank of India to hold all foreign contributions to India-based charities until they are cleared by the ministry, spokesman K.S. Dhatwalia said. He said Thursday the order would help the government control how much money was coming into India, and how it was being spent. The charities had previously reported annually on how they used their funding.
The report specifically criticized the charities for organizing public protests against nuclear power plants, uranium mines, coal-fired power plants, genetically modified crops and electronic waste.
India
Threatens OR-7
Logging
A conservation group is challenging a national forest timber sale because it may be too close to the den where Oregon's famous wandering wolf, OR-7, is raising pups.
Oregon Wild filed the lawsuit Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Medford against the U.S. Forest Service over the Bybee timber sale on the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest in the Cascade Range of southwestern Oregon.
It asks a judge to order a closer examination of the harm logging may do not only to potential wilderness and spotted owls, but to wolf habitat as well.
After years of wandering across Oregon and Northern California, OR-7 found a mate last winter in the southern Cascades, establishing the first known pack there since the last known wolf in Oregon was killed by a bounty hunter in the nearby Rogue-Umpqua Divide region in 1946. Biologists have not wanted to disclose the location of the den, but have said it is in the Cascade Range on the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest.
But the timber industry, which supports the timber sale, said OR-7 and his family would be better served if the project goes ahead because it would reduce the risk of wildfire and increase the amount of food available to deer and elk, which wolves eat.
Logging
Sherpas Drift Away From Mountaineering
Nepal
Cheddar Sherpa has scaled Mount Everest seven times while guiding Western climbers to the top of the world. He has narrowly escaped three avalanches and seen a dozen of his friends perish on the icy Himalayan slopes.
But an avalanche in April that swept 16 Sherpas to their deaths - the deadliest climbing accident on Everest - has shaken him. He's decided that the dangers of his job outweigh the financial benefits.
The April 18 disaster on the treacherous Khumbu Icefall, where a group of Sherpas were carrying clients' equipment up the mountain before the peak climbing season, has accelerated an exodus of Sherpas from the mountain-climbing business. The younger generation has become more educated and many are moving away to less grueling jobs in the capital Kathmandu or outside Nepal. Thousands have migrated to the United States and Europe.
But even before the accident, Sherpas - an ethnic group that many also use as a last name - have been drifting away from mountain work. Cheddar, for example, forbade his four sons from becoming guides and instead insisted they go to college. One is now an engineer.
One of the big draws of the job is its relatively good pay. In a country where the average annual income is just $700, a high-altitude Sherpa guide can make $7,000 during the three-month climbing season. Foreign climbers can pay $100,000 for a chance to summit Mount Everest.
Nepal
Wacky Plots
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency secretly developed an Osama bin Laden action figure whose face peeled off to reveal a scary devil beneath, according to an account first published this week in The Washington Post.
The 2005 effort was meant to produce a toy that could be distributed in Afghanistan. The point was to frighten children and their parents and lower their esteem for the then-hidden Al Qaeda leader, said the Post.
The project was code-named "Devil Eyes" and progressed to at least the prototype stage. Some sources said a substantial number of the figures - whose face reportedly changed when exposed to heat - were actually produced at a factory in China.
Does that sound like an off-beat approach to psychological warfare operations? Sure, but it also sounds like the CIA. In the past the agency has occasionally hatched humorous, bizarre, or downright wacky plans to fulfill a variety of missions. In the 1960s and '70s the orders for these things often came directly from the CIA's cadre of top career officials.
CIA
Stricter Booze Rules For Fremont Street
Las Vegas
Las Vegas officials are banning people from drinking out of aluminum cans and glass bottles at the Fremont Street Experience, saying they want to cut down on the rowdy revelry that has led to fights and even a shooting that wounded two people last summer.
An ordinance passed Wednesday by the City Council aims to discourage people from getting drunk on cheap liquor from the souvenir stores along the pedestrian mall, and push them to buy more expensive drinks poured into cups at casinos and restaurants flanking the attraction.
The measure, which takes effect Sunday and carries fines up to $500, is an expansion of an existing, difficult-to-enforce rule that banned drinking packaged liquor within 1,000 feet of the store where it was purchased.
The Fremont Street Experience, which is bordered by some of the city's oldest casinos, is covered by a giant video canopy that features periodic light shows. Bands play free rock concerts on a stage sandwiched between casinos, and street performers and costumed characters flock to the corridor in hopes of hustling tips from the crowds.
But city officials fear that the abundant alcohol, the panhandling and the aggressive tactics of some of the performers are beginning to turn people away.
Las Vegas
Happy Summer!
Surprise Snowstorm
The summer solstice is right around the corner, but winter isn't going down without a fight this year: A bizarre June snowstorm hit Glacier National Park in Montana and parts of Utah and Idaho this week, leaving many residents and visitors in the northern Rockies wondering what season it is.
Glacier National Park saw almost 4 inches (10 centimeters) of rain and more than a foot (0.3 meters) of snow, according to the National Weather Service.
Yesterday (June 18), the National Weather Service issued a flood warning for the northern Rocky Mountains and a winter storm warning for elevations above 6,500 feet (1,980 m). Park officials were on high alert and were prepared to issue an evacuation. Flooding in some areas has already forced the park to close campgrounds and paths.
Like the icebergs still lingering in Lake Superior, the unexpected snowstorm is a reminder of the year's harsh winter. The park is a popular summer destination for tourists, and those visiting the park were forced to seek shelter in lodges while snow plows swept the area and began clearing the snowpack.
Surprise Snowstorm
In Memory
Stephanie Kwolek
Police Lt. David Spicer took four .45-caliber slugs to the chest and arms at point-blank range and lived to tell about it. Like thousands of other police officers and soldiers shot in the line of duty, he owes his life to a woman in Delaware by the name of Stephanie Kwolek.
Kwolek, who died Wednesday at 90, was a DuPont Co. chemist who in 1965 invented Kevlar, the lightweight, stronger-than-steel fiber used in bulletproof vests and other body armor around the world.
A pioneer as a woman in a heavily male field, Kwolek made the breakthrough while working on specialty fibers at a DuPont laboratory in Wilmington. At the time, DuPont was looking for strong, lightweight fibers that could replace steel in automobile tires and improve fuel economy.
"I knew that I had made a discovery," Kwolek said in an interview several years ago that was included in the Chemical Heritage Foundation's "Women in Chemistry" series. "I didn't shout 'Eureka,' but I was very excited, as was the whole laboratory excited, and management was excited because we were looking for something new, something different, and this was it."
Kwolek is the only female employee of DuPont to be awarded the company's Lavoisier Medal for outstanding technical achievement. She was recognized as a "persistent experimentalist and role model."
During the "Women in Chemistry" interview, Kwolek recounted the development of Kevlar. She said she found a solvent that was able to dissolve long-chain polymers into a solution that was much thinner and more watery than other polymer solutions. She persuaded a skeptical colleague to put the solution into a spinneret, which turns liquid polymers into fibers.
"We spun it and it spun beautifully," she recalled. "It was very strong and very stiff, unlike anything we had made before."
The exceptionally tough fibers she produced were several times stronger by weight than steel. So strong, according to friend and former colleague Rita Vasta, that DuPont had to get new equipment to test the tensile strength.
While Kevlar has become synonymous with protective vests and helmets, it has become a component material in products ranging from airplanes and armored military vehicles to cellphones and sailboats.
Vasta said Kwolek had been ill about a week, although she didn't know the cause of death. Vasta said a Catholic funeral Mass is scheduled June 28.
Stephanie Kwolek
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