Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Carolyn Foster Segal: "Mission (Statement) Impossible" (Irascible Professor)
Finally, the backlash against college mission statements seems to have begun: in "Saying More with Less," Kevin Kiley investigates the turn to the single-sentence mission statement (Inside Higher Ed, June 20, 2011). Is this a response to the bloat of academic documents? Perhaps it's just one more example of the influence of Twitter.
Paul Krugman: Janitors and Executives Have the Same Pay Packages (New York Times)
the argument that Ryancare is just like Obamacare is like saying that the company janitor, who gets paid $18,000 a year, and a senior vice president who gets paid 20 or 30 times that much both get paid salaries, so hey, they get exactly the same deal!
Froma Harrop: Why Tim Pawlenty Is No Reagan (Creators Syndicate)
Anyhow, the Tax Policy Center ran the numbers and estimates that Pawlenty's plan would reduce tax revenues by another $112 billion in 2012. Through 2021, tax revenues would be down $11.6 trillion. Now that's going to help restore global confidence in America's fiscal sanity. Not.
Susan Estrich: Slow Down (Creators Syndicate)
I was on my way to the hospital this morning to sit in the waiting room for six or eight hours while a family member was having surgery when I realized I had no gas. Running out of gas while you are taking someone to or (worse) home from the hospital is not good. I stopped at the gas station to fill up.
Scott Burns: How to survive on $15,000 a year (assetbuilder.com)
"Please write an article telling people with less than $15,000 a year of retirement income how they are supposed to survive." - R.S., by e-mail
Mark Bittman: No Food Safety in These Numbers (New York Times)
But as long as those pesky Republicans keep attacking the food supply for low-income people and food safety for all of us, and as long as most Democrats put up toothless defenses instead of actually trying to make things better, I gotta pay attention. If we needed further evidence that the party of "family values" only values wealthy families, we have it now; when these guys say "women and children first," they mean "first to throw overboard."
Angela Watercutter: Peanutweeter Brings Peanuts, Twitter Together With Hilarious Results (Wired)
To find the tweets, Agnello scours his own Twitter feed and engages in "follower-hopping" to locate messages from people followed by the folks in his Twitter timeline. (He occasionally picks a tweet or two from a current theme or trending topic.) Then he pairs the tweet with a frame from Charles Schulz's beloved comic strip that best suits the sentiment.
Carmela Ciuraru: The Story of the 'Story of O' (Guernica Magazine)
The Story of O shocked readers worldwide with its sadomasochistic love affair written in a style "too direct, too cool, to be that of a woman." Carmela Ciuraru examines the life of O's author.
Katie Crouch and Grady Hendrix: Writing Young-Adult Fiction (Slate)
It's better than going to the prom.
Carolyn Kellogg: Simon Pegg recounts his rise from daydreaming boy to Hollywood actor in memoir (Los Angeles Times)
Simon Pegg is as close as you can get to a real-life geek superhero; his special powers include a real affection for Comic-Con culture and stepping into that imaginary world. As a boy, Pegg was swept away by his geek loves: live theater and the fantastical worlds of "Star Wars," "Doctor Who," "Jason and the Argonauts" and "Star Trek." He now lives the impossible dreams of his youth, acting for Steven Spielberg and stepping onto the deck of the Starship Enterprise as Scotty in J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek" reboot.
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
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Cemetery Of Giant Creatures
From the 'Pravda actually means National Enquirer' File...
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Foggy morning, mostly sunny, but cool, afternoon.
Legalizes Gay Marriage
New York
New York lawmakers narrowly voted to legalize same-sex marriage Friday, handing activists a breakthrough victory in the state where the gay rights movement was born.
New York will become the sixth state where gay couples can wed and the biggest by far.
Gay rights advocates are hoping the vote will galvanize the movement around the country and help it regain momentum after an almost identical bill was defeated here in 2009 and similar measures failed in 2010 in New Jersey and this year in Maryland and Rhode Island.
Though New York is a relative latecomer in allowing gay marriage, it is considered an important prize for advocates, given the state's size and New York City's international stature and its role as the birthplace of the gay rights movement, which is considered to have started with the Stonewall riots in Greenwich Village in 1969.
The New York bill cleared the Republican-controlled state Senate on a 33-29 vote. The Democrat-led Assembly, which passed a different version last week, is expected to pass the new version with stronger religious exemptions and Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who campaigned on the issue last year, has promised to sign it. Same-sex couples can begin marrying begin 30 days after that.
New York
Plans Political Career
Eddie Izzard
Since breaking out of Britain's comedy ranks, Eddie Izzard has carved out a strong career in Hollywood movies and TV. His HBO comedy special, "Eddie Izzard: Dress to Kill" earned him two Emmy Awards, and his movie credits include the two "Ocean's Eleven" sequels.
Izzard, 49, a transvestite, is now voicing a role in animated movie "Cars 2," which opens in U.S. movie theaters on Friday. He sat down with Reuters to talk about his role in the film and his plans for a new career -- in politics.
Q: Why politics?
A: "I'm a radical centrist. I think most of the world is around the center of politics and that's where I want to be. I like people setting up businesses and creating wealth. I distrust the right wing and I don't like fascists. They keep rearing their heads and we fought a war to get rid of them. It should be about the people, about having a safety net and fighting to have health care for people."
Eddie Izzard
May Join "The Office"
James Spader
"The Office" is close to naming a new boss. According to sources, James Spader is finalizing a deal to become a series regular on U.S. network NBC's top-rated comedy.
The move, first reported by EW.com and confirmed by THR, would follow Spader's successful turn on the season finale as one of multiple celebrity guest stars who were vying for Michael Scott's job as boss at Dunder Mifflin's Scranton office.
But sources say the plan is for Spader to actually get an even better job: CEO of Dunder Mifflin, replacing Kathy Bates.
Spader does not have a deal, and talks are said to be in the early stage. But his character, the absurdly named Robert California, is expected to be introduced in the series premiere as a replacement for Steve Carrell's Scott. He'll immediately begin empire-building and get himself kicked upstairs, say sources.
James Spader
Kosher White Russians
Lebowski Fest
The White Russians were kosher, character costumes were topped off with yarmulkes, and participants were most certainly not rolling on Shabbos at Israel's first ever Big Lebowski festival.
The celebration of all things related to cult classic "The Big Lebowski" was a chance for Israeli fans of the movie to swap lines of dialogue and show off their skill at bowling, the preferred sport of the film's main characters.
The 1998 film stars Jeff Bridges as Jeffrey Lebowski, better known as "the Dude" -- a lovable slacker with a taste for White Russians, marijuana, and the band Creedence Clearwater Revival.
His quiet life of smoking and bowling is interrupted when he is mistaken for a businessman with the same name, the "Big Lebowski" of the movie's title, and is plunged into a world of blackmail, embezzlement and kidnapping.
Lebowski Fest
Hospital News
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis was hospitalized Friday after he was unable to perform at a show in suburban Sydney, but his publicist said he was simply overtired and was released after a few hours.
The 85-year-old actor, comedian and tireless advocate for muscular dystrophy research is on a fundraising tour for the Muscular Dystrophy Foundation Australia. He arrived at the Rooty Hill Returned Servicemen's League club, where he was to perform, but he couldn't get out of the car, said Ian Lowe, the club's general manager.
The foundation said the Sydney show had been sold out. CEO David Jack apologized in a statement, saying that Lewis was "not well enough to take the stage," without elaborating.
Candi Cazau, Lewis' Las Vegas-based publicist, said he was in the hospital for about three hours before going back to his hotel room, and that doctors concluded that he was simply overly tired.
Jerry Lewis
Faces 'Tax Dodge' Protest At Glastonbury
U2
U2 and its frontman Bono are known for their global poverty-fighting efforts but activists plan to protest their performance Friday at England's Glastonbury festival, accusing the Irish band of dodging taxes.
The anti-capitalist group Art Uncut said it would unfurl banners and placards in front of TV cameras filming the U2 gig on the festival's main Pyramid Stage.
Member Charlie Dewar said Bono campaigns against poverty in the developing world but has avoided paying Irish taxes at a time when his austerity-hit country desperately needs money.
Ireland, which has already accepted an international bailout, is suffering through deep spending cuts, tax hikes and rising unemployment as it tries to pull the debt-burdened economy back from brink of bankruptcy.
U2, the country's most successful band, was heavily criticized in 2006 for moving its corporate base from Ireland to the Netherlands, where royalties on music incur virtually no tax.
U2
Wins Lawsuit Over "My Humps"
Orrin Lynn Tolliver, Jr
Cleveland disc jockey and early rap artist Orrin Lynn Tolliver, Jr. has just been awarded nearly $1.2 million by a New York jury. The award comes after a former friend and collaborator allowed without permission his 1983 song, "I Need A Freak," to be sampled by the Black Eyed Peas for the group's hit song, "My Humps."
In the early 80s, Tolliver formed a concept band called Sexual Harassment and recorded "I Need A Freak" at his friend and collaborator James McCants' studio at Heat Records.
McCants registered the song with BMI, credited Tolliver as the songwriter, and agreed to pay him 75% of royalties.
During the preliminary stages of the case, McCants offered shifting excuses about what had happened. He first denied issuing a license. He then claimed he had co-authored the composition and owned it under the work-for-hire doctrine. He then attempted to obtain a musicologist expert's report that "My Humps" didn't sample Tolliver's work. Finally, he claimed that he owned the composition by virtue of a copyright assignment.
The judge didn't appreciate these inconsistent statements and ruled for Tolliver on summary judgment.
Orrin Lynn Tolliver, Jr
Judge Stops Indiana From Ending Funding
Planned Parenthood
A judge on Friday granted a preliminary injunction preventing the state of Indiana from enforcing a law that eliminated funding to Planned Parenthood because it performs abortions.
The Republican-led Indiana legislature had voted to strip the women's health group of funding, including money from the federal Medicaid program for the poor, and Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels signed the legislation into law.
But the decision by U.S. District Court Judge Sarah Evans Barker grants a preliminary injunction to block enforcement of the ban on Planned Parenthood offices in Indiana receiving reimbursement for Medicaid claims.
Indiana is one of three states that cut funds for Planned Parenthood because it performs abortions. The others are Kansas and North Carolina but they cut only state funding and not federal Medicaid funds.
Planned Parenthood
States Stop Funds Amid Budget Crisis
Circumcisions
A nationwide debate about circumcisions for newborn boys, combined with cash-strapped public health budgets, has Colorado taking sides with 17 other states that no longer fund Medicaid coverage of the once widely accepted procedure.
For years, Colorado lawmakers considered doing away with funding for circumcisions under Medicaid - a move that would save the state $186,500 a year. Now facing a seismic budget shortfall estimated to be $1 billion at the beginning of this year, lawmakers finally approved the change, which takes effect July 1.
"We were just looking at virtually every option and trying to decide what was absolutely urgent now," said Republican Sen. Kent Lambert, a member of the budget-writing Joint Budget Committee. "I think 99 percent of it was completely economic."
The World Health Organization reported that circumcisions are one of the most common procedures performed on newborn males in the United States, but the practice is not as common in the rest of the world. About 75 percent of baby boys in the U.S. are circumcised, compared to 30 percent elsewhere, the organization said. The figures refer to non-religious circumcisions.
Circumcisions
Dress Sold At Toronto Auction
Princess Diana
A dress worn by Princess Diana when she danced with John Travolta brought in the top bid at a Toronto auction that featured some of late princess' well-known designer gowns.
The midnight-blue silk velvet dress designed by Victor Edelstein sold for 800,000 Canadian dollars ($821,000). Diana wore the Edwardian-inspired gown with off-the-shoulder straps while taking a memorable spin on the dance floor with Travolta during a 1985 White House state dinner.
Prior to Thursday night's sale, auction house Waddington's had listed the estimated selling price of the dress between 800,000 Canadian dollars and 1 million Canadian dollars.
Stephen Ranger, vice president of business development for Waddington's, says it will take a few days to compile a final tally of all 14 dresses sold at the collection.
Princess Diana
Found at Auction House
Missing Moon Dust
It was one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind, and a lot of people wanted a piece of it. Now, some 40 years after moon dust brought back from the Apollo 11 mission went missing, it was recovered at a St. Louis auction house and returned to the Johnson Space Center in Houston this week.
"It's a speck - the size of a fingertip," said David Kols of Regency-Superior auction house, where the dust had been placed for sale. "But it's lunar material, and since we're not going back to the moon in my lifetime or yours, that makes it worth a lot to some people."
The U.S. Attorney's office in St. Louis, which announced the recovered moon dust on Thursday, said that investigators with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) believed the dust had come from the film cartridge of a camera used by astronauts on humanity's first trip to the moon in 1969. The dust was lifted from the cartridge using a 1-inch (2.5 cm) piece of clear tape. Somehow, it reached the black market and was sold in 2001, NASA investigators believe, to a German collector who cut up the tape into tiny slivers, rather than return it to the U.S. government.
When investigators from both NASA and the U.S. Attorney's office noticed moon dust listed for sale in St. Louis, they shut down the transaction with the cooperation of the auction house and the seller. The widow trying to sell the dust - her name was not released - said she didn't know where her late husband had purchased it. She "immediately and graciously agreed to relinquish it back to the American people," the U.S. Attorney's office said.
Missing Moon Dust
Alaskans Irked After Game Halted
Midnight Solstice Baseball
Baseball fans in Alaska were fuming after a traditional midnight game, held every year without lights during the twilight hours of the summer solstice, was postponed for the first time because a visiting California team complained it was too dark.
Umpires suspended the Alaska Baseball League amateur game with the score tied 1-1 in the 10th inning at about 1:30 a.m. local time (0930 GMT) Wednesday, about three hours into the contest.
The game between the home team, Goldpanners of Fairbanks, Alaska, and the Waves of Oceanside, California, resumed on Wednesday evening, and the Goldpanners ultimately won 2-1.
The "Midnight Sun Baseball Game" has been played in Fairbanks each year since 1906 on the night of the summer solstice June 21, when the glow from the year's longest day allows the game to continue into the wee hours without artificial light.
This year marked the first time in its history that the unilluminated night game had been postponed, though in 1984 a visiting team from Taiwan forfeited altogether when its players also complained of poor visibility, officials said.
Midnight Solstice Baseball
In Memory
Gene Colan
Comic book artist Gene Colan, whose career spanned seven decades and illustrated the adventures of characters like Dracula, Batman, Daredevil and the wise-cracking fowl Howard the Duck, has died in the Bronx at age 84.
Colan's impact on the industry was undeniable, developing a style both subtle and emotional that imbued characters he drew with a sense of vitality that seemed to leap off the pages. His work drew him the nickname Gene "The Dean" Colan.
Colan's art was a staple of the Silver Age era of comics, and his 70-issue run on "The Tomb of Dracula" that was written by Marv Wolfman in the 1970s remains critically lauded for returning horror to the pages of comics, along with creating the character, Blade.
Colan also worked on Marvel's satirical "Howard the Duck," written by Steve Gerber, and did art for other publishers, including DC Comics, Dark Horse Comics, Archie Comics and Eclipse.
Colan's time at DC was recorded in the pages of "Detective Comics," "Wonder Woman," "Batman," and the "Legion of Super-Heroes," as well as the "Phantom Zone."
Born in New York on Sept. 1, 1926, Colan began working in comics in 1944, drawing for "Wings Comics," before joining the U.S. Army Air Corps where he was stationed in the Philippines at the end of World War II. When he was discharged, he joined Timely Comics, the precursor to Marvel and then drew for National Comics, now DC.
He returned to Marvel in the 1960s as the industry entered what is widely known as comics' Silver Age. That period saw the revitalization of classic heroes from the 1940s, such as Superman, Batman and Green Lantern at DC, as well as the creation of Marvel's Fantastic Four, The Avengers, Captain America and Daredevil.
It was at Marvel that Colan became part of the company's fabled bullpen of artists who included Jack Kirby, John Romita Sr. and Sal Buscema, among others, along with writers such as Stan Lee.
Colan's work impressed then editor in chief Stan Lee and led to his doing artwork for the Sub-Mariner in "Tales To Astonish," and Iron Man in "Tales of Suspense." From there he tackled Dr. Strange, Marvel's sorcerer supreme and drew more than 80 issues of "Daredevil," the blind lawyer Matt Murdock who protected New York's so-called Hell's Kitchen.
While at Marvel, Colan and Lee co-created The Falcon, an African-American character that was a hero in his own right, working in tandem with Captain America, but never as a sidekick.
Colan returned to Captain America in 2009, illustrating the Ed Brubaker-written issue No. 601 titled "Red, White and Blue-Blood" that told a World War II-era tale of Steve Rogers and his then-sidekick Bucky. It went on to win the 2010 Eisner Award for best single issue.
Gene Colan
In Memory
Peter Falk
The best way to celebrate Peter Falk's life is to savor how Columbo, his signature character, fortified our lives.
Thanks to Falk's affectionately genuine portrayal, Lt. Columbo established himself for all time as a champion of any viewer who ever felt less than graceful, elegant or well-spoken.
Falk died Thursday at age 83 in his Beverly Hills, Calif., home, according to a statement released Friday by family friend Larry Larson. In a court document filed in December 2008, Falk's daughter Catherine Falk said her father was suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
But Columbo lives on as the ideal of anyone with a smudge on his tie, whose car isn't the sportiest, who typically seems clueless, who gets dissed by fancy people.
As a police detective, Columbo's interview technique was famously disjointed, with his inevitable awkward after-thought ("Ahhh, there's just one more thing...") trying the patience of his suspect when he was already halfway out the door.
Columbo was underestimated, patronized or simply overlooked by nearly everyone he met - especially the culprit.
And yet Columbo, drawing on inner pluck for only he (and an actor as skilled as Falk) could have accounted, always prevailed. Contrary to all evidence (that is, until he nailed the bad guy), Columbo always knew what he was doing.
Even more inspiring for viewers, he was unconcerned with how other people saw him. He seemed to be perfectly happy with himself, his life, his pet bassett, Dog, his wheezing Peugeot, and his never-seen wife. A squat man chewing cigars in a rumpled trench coat, he stands tall among TV's most self-assured heroes.
"Columbo" began its run in 1971 as part of the NBC Sunday Mystery Movie series, appearing every third week. The show became by far the most popular of the three mysteries, the others being "McCloud" and "McMillan and Wife."
NBC canceled the three series in 1977. In 1989 ABC offered "Columbo" in a two-hour format usually appearing once or twice a season. The movies continued into the 21st century. "Columbo" appeared in 26 foreign countries and was a particular favorite in France and Iran.
Peter Michael Falk was born in 1927, in New York City and grew up in Ossining, N.Y., where his parents ran a clothing store.
After serving as a cook in the merchant marine and receiving a master's degree in public administration from Syracuse University, Falk worked as an efficiency expert for the budget bureau of the state of Connecticut.
He also acted in amateur theater and was encouraged to become a professional by actress-teacher Eva Le Gallienne.
An appearance in "The Iceman Cometh" off-Broadway led to other parts, among them Josef Stalin in Paddy Chayefsky's 1964 "The Passion of Josef D." In 1971, Falk scored a hit in Neil Simon's "The Prisoner of Second Avenue," Tony-nominated for best play.
Falk made his film debut in 1958 with "Wind Across the Everglades" and established himself as a talented character actor with his performance as the vicious killer Abe Reles in "Murder, Inc."
Among his other movies: "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World," "Robin and the Seven Hoods," "The Great Race," "Luv," "Castle Keep," "The Cheap Detective," "The Brink's Job," "The In-Laws," and "The Princess Bride."
Falk also appeared in a number of art house favorites, including the semi-improvisational films "Husbands" and "A Woman Under the Influence," directed by his friend John Cassavetes, and Wim Wenders' "Wings of Desire," in which he played himself, wondering if the director approves of his work.
Falk became prominent in television movies, beginning with his first Emmy for "The Price of Tomatoes" in 1961. His four other Emmys were for "Columbo."
He was married to pianist Alyce Mayo in 1960; they had two daughters, Jackie and Catherine, and divorced in 1976. The following year he married actress Shera Danese. They filed for divorce twice and reconciled each time.
When not working, Falk spent time in the garage of his Beverly Hills home. He had converted it into a studio where he created charcoal drawings. He took up art in New York when he was in the Simon play and one day happened into the Art Students League.
Falk is survived by his wife Shera and his two daughters.
Peter Falk
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