Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: The Incompetence Dogma (NY Times)
Have you been following the news about Obamacare? The Affordable Care Act has receded from the front page, but information about how it's going keeps coming in - and almost all the news is good. Indeed, health reform has been on a roll ever since March, when it became clear that enrollment would surpass expectations despite the teething problems of the federal website.
Paul Krugman: Zero for Six (NY Times)
For reference: I count at least six distinct predictions of Obamacare doom made by the usual suspects, not one of which has come true. Here they are: […]It's quite an impressive track record, actually. And what's even more impressive is that none of the usual suspects will even consider admitting having been wrong.
Andrew Tobias: Intelligent Life On (Lots Of) Other Planets
But first, to get you in the mood, take two minutes to watch the history of the world. It certainly drives home my point that, after 5 billion years, we have just a decade or two to get onto a trajectory that will lead to unparalleled well-being - or hurtle off the rails. After thousands of generations of suffering and struggling to get this far - and in the footsteps of DaVinci, Galileo, and Einstein . . . Jefferson, Franklin, and Lincoln . . . Gandhi, Mandela, and King - are we really going to look to Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber for leadership to get us across the finish line?
The Fermi Paradox (Huffington Post)
Our Story In 2 Minutes (YouTube)
The history (and future) of the Universe.
How to Train Your Dragon 2 review - an efficient franchise sequel (Guardian)
This followup to the 2010 animated hit is attractive enough but lacks fire, writes Peter Bradshaw.
Tokyo Faces
Tokyo street fashion.
ihazahapee, "I manage a bookstore and I just made this for a window display. Some people think it should be on here :) (my apologies for the quality!)" (Imgur)
I LIKE BIG BOOKS AND I CANNOT LIE.
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David Bruce has approximately 50 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
"Doug's Most Shared Facebook Post" Today
wrote:
answered:
has retired.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Reader Suggestion
Populaire
Speaking of typewriters...
There is an absolutely adorable 2012 French movie starring the gorgeous
Romain Duris called
Populaire. The costumes are cute, colorful, & kitsch. There is a fun jazzy song that you go out humming. It's a funny, and delightful movie. If you can find, it's worth seeing. Who knew a typewriter film could be so engrossing?
IMDB plot summary:
Spring, 1958. 21-year-old Rose Pamphyle lives with her grouchy widower father who runs the village store. Engaged to the son of the local mechanic, she seems destined for the quiet, drudgery-filled life of a housewife. But that's not the life Rose longs for. When she travels to Lisieux in Normandy, where charismatic insurance agency boss Louis Echard is advertising for a secretary, the ensuing interview is a disaster. But Rose reveals a special gift - she can type at extraordinary speed. Unwittingly, the young woman awakens the dormant sports fan in Louis. If she wants the job she'll have to compete in a speed typing competition. Whatever sacrifices Rose must make to reach the top, Louis declares himself her trainer. He'll turn her into the fastest girl not only in the country, but in the world! But a love of sport doesn't always mix well with love itself ...
Linda >^..^
We're all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
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 seasonal.
For Anyone Who Can Prove Climate Change Isn't Real
$10,000
Earlier this month Neil DeGrasse Tyson gave climate change deniers an incredible two-minute smackdown, adding his authoritative views to a broad chorus of scientists who say our world is changing for the worse and we need to do something about it.
Despite mountains of evidence, there are still politicians and pundits who claim the polar vortex and California's extreme drought are totally normal and not at all caused by humans.
Fed up, Texas-based physicist and author Christopher Keating is ponying up $10,000 of his own money to anyone who can prove that man-made global warming isn't happening.
Last week Keating launched "The $10,000 Global Warming Skeptic Challenge!" To win the cash, entrants only need be over the age of 18 and able to provide scientific method-verified proof that climate change is a hoax.
"I have heard global warming skeptics make all sorts of statements about how the science doesn't support claims of man-made climate change," wrote Keating on his blog. "I have found all of those statements to be empty and without any kind of supporting evidence. I have, in turn, stated that it is not possible for the skeptics to prove their claims. And I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is.
$10,000
Writes For New Season Of 'Under the Dome'
Stephen King
The fictional Maine town of Chester's Mill is "Under the Dome" for a second season, and author Stephen King, on whose novel the popular show is based, has written the first episode for this summer's run.
The CBS miniseries that led the ratings much of last summer returns for another 13 episodes beginning Monday (10 p.m. EDT), with King telling viewers that no one in Chester's Mill is assured of making it through the season alive.
Working with other writers is different from writing a book that you do yourself, King said. "It's a really collaborative effort and you have to be willing to give up some of your ideas for the other ideas and try to get something everyone is happy with."
In "Under the Dome," a dome suddenly encapsulates a small Maine town, cutting off its residents - and in the show's opening, cutting a cow in half - from the rest of the country, leaving them to their own resources to survive.
Stephen King
Most Famous Line Is a 'Crock'
'Love Story'
It's been 44 years since an ethnic working-class girl named Jenny fell in love with a waspy "preppie" named Oliver. And yet, on a recent afternoon in Malibu, it seemed barely a day had passed since the stars of director Arthur Hiller's 1970 tragic romance Love Story - Ryan O'Neal, 73 and Ali MacGraw, 75 - had last shared the screen. The longtime friends reflected on the seeming impossibility of selling a terribly sad love story to the masses (especially one wherein it's revealed in the first minutes that the leading lady dies), the film's unique legacy in Hollywood and how O'Neal really felt about MacGraw - famously once the spouse of Hollywood legends Robert Evans and Steve McQueen - while they were making the now-classic tearjerker.
MACGRAW To this day, I go to the strangest places-India, Africa, South America-and people know the movie. Maybe because there really wasn't a lot of dialogue?
Love is universal, after all.
O'NEAL "Love does mean never having to say you're sorry …" for goodness sake.
That, of course, is the most famous line from that film, which, in hindsight, is maybe not the best relationship advice.
MACGRAW It's a crock!
'Love Story'
Cleans House
'The View'
Friday's edition of the ABC chat show found its three panelists - Whoopi Goldberg, Sherri Shepherd and Jenny McCarthy - predictably chipper, loquacious and sisterly, especially when they welcomed the show's creator, Barbara Walters, for her first visit back since relinquishing her on-air role last month.
But the happy mood was undercut, and even puzzling, for viewers who had learned just hours earlier that Shepherd and McCarthy are leaving the show, and not under especially happy circumstances: Shepherd is exiting after seven years since she and ABC failed to agree on a new contract, and McCarthy wasn't being asked to renew her one-year contract, according to a person familiar with the situation who wasn't authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Friday's show of unity was explained by the fact that, unlike most mornings, when "The View" airs live, this particular installment was pre-taped on Wednesday.
Both Shepherd and McCarthy are expected to be on hand when the show resumes live broadcasts the week of July 7. Then they'll make their official departure when the end-of-season hiatus starts a month later.
'The View'
Foreign Diplomats Seek Asylum
Canada
Dozens of foreign diplomats have requested asylum in Canada, the daily French-language newspaper La Presse reported Friday, citing secret government documents.
They include 38 Afghanistan envoys and their families, from 2009 to 2014, as well as 16 diplomats from countries such as Syria, Iraq, Greece, Honduras, and even an American embassy staffer.
Former head of Canada's consular affairs, Gar Pardy, told the Montreal newspaper this is an "unprecedented number" of refugee claims by foreign officials.
Experts said they are motivated by the hope for a better life, or are aware of rights abuses in their homeland that they can no longer support, or they have simply become accustomed to a North American lifestyle and do not wish to return home after their assignment ends.
Canada
Christian Rock Oxymoron
Tim Lambesis
Tim Lambesis, the As I Lay Dying frontman who was sentenced to six years in prison for conspiring to kill his estranged wife in May, has claimed that his band faked their faith in order to continue to appeal to Christian fans.
Speaking to Alternative Press in the days ahead of his sentencing, Lambesis described his obsession with the gym and steroids, as well as his views on philosophy and relationship with religion. Although often touring with a circle of Christian bands, the singer said that he and his bandmates gradually lost their faith, but did not express their atheism for fear of upsetting fans. "I actually wasn't the first guy in As I Lay Dying to stop being a Christian. In fact, I think I was the third," he said.
He also stated that he and his bandmates were not alone in their "cowardly" posturing, claiming that they toured with 'Christian bands' who did not subscribe to the faith at all: "In 12 years of touring with As I Lay Dying, I would say maybe one in 10 Christian bands we toured with were actually Christian bands."
Lambesis, who gave an undercover detective $1,000, photographs of his wife Meggan Lambesis and the security codes for her house, pleaded guilty to soliciting murder. He told Associated Press that his actions were in part influenced by steroids and a change in spiritual perspective. "I'm not blaming religion. But this was one of the factors that sent me into this massive moral decline," he said.
Tim Lambesis
Actor Charged
Shia LaBeouf
Actor Shia LaBeouf, who starred in the "Transformer" movies and with Harrison Ford in "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" was arraigned on Friday on charges of disorderly conduct and harassment at a Broadway theater.
LaBeouf, 28, did not enter a plea on five charges in the tiny, packed courtroom at Manhattan's Midtown Community Court. He was arrested on Thursday evening inside New York's Studio 54, where police said he disturbed a performance of the musical "Cabaret," used obscene language and became belligerent when security guards asked him to leave.
He was charged with two counts of disorderly conduct, one count of trespass, one count of criminal trespass and harassment in the second degree.
The hearing was adjourned until July 24 and LaBeouf was released on his own recognizance. All of the charges are misdemeanors or violations so the actor would face minimal or no jail time if convicted.
Shia LaBeouf
Constitutional Limits
Japan
Japan is poised for a historic shift in its defense policy by ending a ban that has kept the military from fighting abroad since World War Two, a major step away from post-war pacifism and a big political victory for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
The change will significantly widen Japan's military options by ending the ban on exercising "collective self-defense", or aiding a friendly country under attack. It will also relax limits on activities in U.N.-led peace-keeping operations and "grey zone" incidents short of full-scale war, according to a draft government proposal made available to reporters.
For now, however, Japan is likely to remain wary of putting boots on the ground in future multilateral operations such as the 1990-1991 Gulf War or the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, activities Abe himself has ruled out.
The change will likely rile an increasingly assertive China, whose ties with Japan have chilled due to a maritime row, mutual mistrust and the legacy of Japan's past military aggression, but will be welcomed by Tokyo's ally Washington, which has long urged Japan to become a more equal partner in the alliance.
Japan
Must Compensate Workers
Wal-Mart
Canada's Supreme Court ruled Friday that Wal-Mart must compensate former workers at a Quebec store that was closed after they voted to become the first Wal-Mart store in North America to unionize.
The high court ruled in 2009 that Wal-Mart was entitled to close the store in Jonquiere in 2005, seven months after workers voted to unionize. But the workers filed a new case that said Wal-Mart contravened a section of Quebec labor law, which says working conditions must not be altered in any way, shape or form during a unionization process.
The court ruled in a five-to-two decision that the world's largest retailer modified working conditions for the employees without a valid reason when it shut down. The court ruled an arbiter will determine appropriate reparations, possibly with damages and interest. The store never re-opened.
The Arkansas-based company opened its Jonquiere store in 2001. In September 2004, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union was certified to represent employees of the store.
Wal-Mart closed the store in April 2005, just before an arbitrator was to impose a collective agreement for the 190 recently unionized employees.
Wal-Mart
Swimmers Beware
U.S. Beaches
Every summer millions of American families head for beaches, but few stop to think of the possibility that the water they swim in may harbor enough bacteria to cause stomach flu and a host of other illnesses.
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) found that 10 percent of water quality samples collected from nearly 3,500 coastal and Great Lakes beaches in 2013 contained levels of harmful bacteria that exceeded "safe to swim" thresholds recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The findings - published on Wednesday in the NRDC's 24th annual report on beach water quality - confirm that serious water pollution persists at many U.S. beaches, largely the result of stormwater runoff and sewage overflows that carry human and animal waste into waters where people swim, surf and sail.
Illnesses associated with polluted beach water include stomach flu, skin rashes, pinkeye, respiratory infections, meningitis and hepatitis. Children are especially vulnerable, as they tend to submerge their heads more often than adults and are more likely to swallow water when swimming, the report said.
U.S. Beaches
Lawmakers Introduce Bill
Marilyn Monroe
Several members of California's congressional delegation are pushing to name a new post office after the late actress Marilyn Monroe.
Democratic Rep. Tony Cardenas says he introduced legislation that would name a post office in Van Nuys, California, after Monroe. She attended Van Nuys High School in the 1940s and once referred to her time living in the community as the happiest in her life.
Cardenas said the facility's name would be a constant reminder for nearby high school students what heights they can reach if they work hard.
Cardenas says 18 California lawmakers have signed on as co-sponsors of the legislation.
Marilyn Monroe
In Memory
Bobby Womack
Bobby Womack, a colorful and highly influential R&B singer-songwriter who influenced artists from the Rolling Stones to Damon Albarn, has died. He was 70.
Womack was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease two years ago and overcame addiction and multiple health issues, including prostate cancer, to pull off a second act in his career.
Womack performed recently at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival and seemed in good health and spirits. He had been scheduled to perform at multiple events across Europe in July and August.
He told the BBC in 2013 the Alzheimer's diagnosis came after he began having difficulty remembering his songs and the names of people he had worked with.
And there have been many. The soul singer cut a wide path through the music business as a performer and songwriter in a career that spanned seven decades. Womack was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009, long after he'd lost his fortune and his career to addiction.
According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame website, Womack was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and sang gospel music at a young age, performing with his brothers in The Womack Brothers. Under the influence of gospel and R&B legend Sam Cooke, who signed the group to his personal label, Womack moved into secular music. In the early 1960s his group recorded "It's All Over Now," which was covered and by the Stones and became the band's first number-one hit.
His songs have been recorded by multiple artists, and he played as a session musician in Memphis in the 1960s.
Bobby Womack
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