Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Addicted to Inflation (NY Times)
The right is obsessed with the claim that runaway inflation is either happening or about to happen.
Pauli Poisuo: 4 Reasons Porn Stars Are Nothing Like You Think (Cracked)
Porn star is one of the few professions that comes with its own cultural shorthand: Whenever someone mentions the job, a very specific picture pops in our minds, just like when someone says "cowboy" or "gangster."
Walter Hill: a life in the fast lane (Guardian)
Director Walter Hill turned the action movie inside out with his beautiful yet brutal brand of cinema, which is still influencing films such as Drive today. He talks to John Patterson.
Peter Bradshaw: Some Like It Hot review - close to perfect (Guardian)
Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis keep this joyous Billy Wilder comedy fizzing from start to finish.
I Am Divine review - frothing with funny, salty anecdotes (Guardian)
The man behind the mascara in this entertaining doc cleverly channelled hatred into cheering confrontational spectacle, writes Mike McCahill.
Rob Bricken: The 12 Labors Of Hercules, Ranked (io9)
After Hercules murdered his family in a fit of madness - a tragedy engendered by the goddess Hera, who hated him - the demi-god and son of Zeus was ordered to do penance by performing 12 Labors for the weaselly King Eurystheus of Tiryns. Here are those feats, ranked from most to least badass.
Lori Day: "Grownups: You Can Read YA, and Why Not Read It With Your Kids?" (Huffington Post)
Ever since Ruth Graham wrote "Against YA" for the Slate Book Review last month -- the article that launched a thousand blog posts -- I've been reading the scathing responses as they roll in one by one. The Barnes and Noble Book Blog calls it the best debate on the internet. Indeed.
Kendra Alvey: 7 Reasons It's OK to Love Your eReader (Huffington Post)
I'm a book lover from way back. Instead of riding bikes or building forts all summer like the other kids on my block, I'd hide under a tree with a stack of books I got from the library downtown, my favorite place in West Texas. I'm from a long line of book lovers. When my grandfather passed away, his legacy to us grandkids was not money or knick-knacks. It was floor to ceiling stacks of books, everything from World War II History to Lovecraft to Harry Potter.
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
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David Bruce has approximately 50 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
wrote:
answered:
has retired.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
David E Suggests
David
Thanks, Dave!
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 with a nice breeze.
Pulls Reporter
CNN
CNN has pulled reporter Diana Magnay out of the Middle East after she referred to a group of Israelis who had allegedly threatened her while reporting on Gaza as "scum" in a tweet.
Magnay was reporting live on the air as a group watched the Israeli bombardment of Gaza around her. After the report was over, she wrote on Twitter: "Israelis on hill above Sderot cheer as bombs land on #gaza; threaten to 'destroy our car if I say a word wrong.' Scum."
CNN said in a statement Friday that Magnay was referring specifically to those who threatened her. CNN said the network and Magnay are sorry if anyone was offended.
The network said Magnay has been reassigned to Moscow.
CNN
Hid In A Bathroom
Scott Brown
Given the party's past experiences, it makes sense that Republicans would go out of their way to avoid discussing women's reproductive health issues. Scott Brown, the Republican and former Massachusetts senator running for Jeanne Shaheen's seat in New Hampshire, hid in a bathroom to avoid answering questions about the Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby decision, as The Guardian's Paul Lewis discovered recently.
Brown isn't the first person to see the wisdom in staying Republicans staying silent on Hobby Lobby. Strategists on both sides of the aisle noted that even though the ruling was a win for conservatives, talking about it too loudly would only hurt the GOP. "It'll reinforce overall perceptions of the right as hostile to women," Democratic pollster Anna Greenberg told Politico. "Even though it's in the court, and not Congress, it'll still be seen as part of the broader narrative of the war on women."
Meanwhile, Shaheen currently leads Brown by about 8 percentage points (with a 6 point margin of error) and also has the support of women's groups and female Independent voters, according to Talking Points Memo. And yet, Lewis' account doesn't reflect well on the candidate. According to Lewis, Brown walked to the restroom when Lewis brought up the ruling. After a brief exchange:
Brown stood up, walked to the back of the diner, and took shelter in the bathroom. A campaign aide, Jeremy, looked bewildered. He lingered beside me for a few moments, before politely excusing himself - "Nice to meet you" - and joining his boss in the bathroom.
Scott Brown
The Saga Continues
Casey Kasem
A judge in Washington state has granted Casey Kasem's daughter a temporary restraining order preventing the famous radio host's wife from cremating or removing his remains from a funeral home.
Kasem, the radio host of "American Top 40" and voice of animated television characters like Scooby-Doo's sidekick Shaggy, died June 15 at a hospital in Gig Harbor, Washington. But court records show his body remains at a funeral home in Tacoma, south of Seattle, more than a month later.
Daughter Kerri Kasem on Wednesday asked a Pierce County Superior Court judge for authorization to seek an autopsy on her father as well as a temporary restraining order to ensure his body is held in cold storage and not cremated until that autopsy is completed.
Pierce County Superior Court Judge Ronald Culpepper ordered Kasem's second wife of 34 years, Jean, to ensure that the radio hosts' remains are preserved and that his body remains at the funeral home until the court decides on the autopsy petition.
Casey Kasem
UK Court Orders Name Change
'Glee'
Glum news for "Glee" - Britain's High Court ruled Friday that the musical TV show must change its name because it breaches the trademark of a chain of comedy clubs.
A judge told Twentieth Century Fox that it had to re-name the series in Britain, though the order won't take effect until an appeal has been heard.
The studio was sued by Comic Enterprises, which operates a string of venues called The Glee Club.
Judge Roger Wyand ruled in favor of Comic Enterprises in February, saying there was a "likelihood of confusion" between the two brands.
'Glee'
Testimony Ends In Defamation Trial
Jesse Ventura
Attorneys for both sides rested their cases Friday in former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura's defamation lawsuit against the estate of "American Sniper" author Chris Kyle.
Closing arguments are scheduled for Tuesday, the Star Tribune reported. On Monday the two sides will meet with the federal judge overseeing the trial to work out the instructions he will give to the jury.
Ventura's lawsuit claims that Kyle, who died last year in Texas, ruined his reputation by writing in his 2012 best-selling book that he punched a man he called "Scruff Face" at a California bar in 2006 after the man said U.S. Navy SEALs "deserve to lose a few." Kyle later identified the man as Ventura.
Ventura is pursuing the lawsuit against Kyle's estate. Attorneys for Kyle's widow, Taya Kyle, presented several witnesses including a former SEAL who testified he saw the punch.
Jurors also saw a video deposition that Chris Kyle gave in November 2012. Near the start, Kyle told Ventura's attorney, David Bradley Olson, that he wasn't concerned about the lawsuit. But later on, Kyle, who's regarded as the deadliest sniper in U.S. military history, acknowledged he was indeed afraid of being sued.
Jesse Ventura
Doesn't Want To Offend Racists
CBS
CBS won't dictate to its announcers whether or not to use the nickname of Washington's NFL franchise during televised games this season.
CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus said Thursday he hasn't told on-air talent such as Jim Nantz and Phil Simms what to say regarding the controversy surround the Redskins' name.
"We don't tell our announcers what to say about any topic," McManus told the summer TV critics' meeting. "That is true about team names also. We haven't made any specific plans as far as the name. We're looking at it, but right now we don't have any change in our plan."
NFL Commissioner and sock puppet Roger Goodell added, "We don't dictate to our broadcast partners how they cover the game. That's their decision."
CBS
Another Reporter Quits
Russia Today
A London-based reporter for Russia's state-owned English-language channel RT quit Friday in protest at its coverage of the Malaysia Airlines crash in Ukraine.
Sara Firth is the second person since March to publicly resign from RT, formerly known as Russia Today, over its coverage of the Ukraine crisis.
"I resigned from RT today. I have huge respect for many in the team, but I'm for the truth," Firth wrote on her Twitter account @Sara__Firth.
The Kremlin-funded channel, which provides a staunchly pro- Russia Putin version of events, told AFP that Firth "has declared that she chooses the truth; apparently we have different definitions of truth".
Russia Today
Claims Victim Status, Blames Media And Turd Blossom
Todd 'Legitimate Rape' Akin
Two years after declaring that some rape is "legitimate," former Congressman Todd Akin is making headlines again.
Akin now says that he was the real victim, after his headline-grabbing comments derailed his Senate campaign and made him a national punch line. Akin was a member of Congress for more than 20 years before most of the political class even knew he existed.
But the Missouri Republican became the center of a national political debate in 2012, when his Senate campaign was turned upside down after Akin made his infamous comments about cases of "legitimate rape" and whether or not rape victims could "shut that whole thing down" and prevent themselves from becoming pregnant.
"Legitimate rape is a law enforcement term, and it's an abbreviation for 'legitimate case of rape,'" Akin said in an interview with NBC News' Chuck Todd (R-Apologist). "Do you know of anybody who thinks that rape is legitimate? That doesn't even make sense. I know of no conservatives who think rape is legitimate."
Akin went on to say that fallout from his comments should actually be blamed on the national news media, President Obama and even Republicans, including Karl Rove and unnamed members of the Republican Senate leadership.
Todd 'Legitimate Rape' Akin
Church Appeals 'Refrocking'
Methodists
A Methodist minister ousted and then reinstated after performing his son's gay marriage said Friday that a church official is appealing his refrocking.
The Rev. Frank Schaefer said he is disappointed to learn of the appeal, but not surprised.
Schaefer is moving to a California diocese this week after his decision to officiate at his son's 2007 same-sex marriage thwarted his church career in Pennsylvania. He has since become a gay rights activist. He said he hoped the church's Judicial Council would decline to take up the appeal.
The issue of gay marriage has long divided the United Methodist Church, the nation's second-largest Protestant denomination. Hundreds of Methodist ministers have publicly rejected church policies that allow gay members but ban "self-avowed practicing homosexuals" from becoming clergy and forbid ministers from performing same-sex marriages.
Methodists
Finds Link Between Quakes And Wastewater Wells
Colorado
Colorado regulators said on Thursday that the disposal of oil and gas wastewater at a well in Weld County likely caused a series of small earthquakes this year, in another sign that a U.S. drilling boom is contributing to higher seismic activity.
The issue of wastewater disposal disturbing underground faultlines has become a national issue in the United States where drilling and wastewater disposal have increased sharply in recent years.
The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) halted activity at a wastewater disposal site owned by NGL Water Solutions DJ LLC on June 23, after a 3.2 magnitude quake on May 31 was followed by other smaller tremblers in the area. COGCC is investigating whether the company exceeded permitted injection volumes.
Since the shutdown, the seismic activity continued but occurred at "lower levels" COGCC said in a statement. "Actions at the location are potentially related to low-level seismic activity nearby," it said.
Colorado
Crater Just One Of Many Mysterious Holes
Siberia
A new-found cavernous crater has been spotted in a remote region of Siberia that has left experts scratching their heads and the internet abuzz with speculation as to its origin.
Video shot from a helicopter flying over Russia's Yamal Peninsula - a place so remote that locals call it the 'End of the World' - shows what looks like a deep, gigantic hole measuring 80 metres across with debris piled up around its rim.
Weird holes in the ground are nothing new. For some reason, we humans have always been fascinated and drawn to the mysteries of gaping geological voids found around the world.
Sinkholes have made the headlines in recent years, but a whopper appeared in a Guatemala City back in February 2007 that swallowed not just one house, but an entire neighbourhood, killing three people and causing 1000 to evacuate. This subterranean monster reached more than 100 meters deep - enough to bury the Statue of Liberty twice over.
More recently at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, about an hour from Chicago, the sand dunes unexpectedly began acting like quicksand, forming holes. Park rangers were alerted last year July to these weird formations when a 6-year-old boy was climbing a dune that suddenly gave way and swallowed him up whole. After three hours of frantic rescue efforts, they managed to extract him from an 11-foot-deep cavern, and he fortunately survived.
Siberia
In Memory
Hank Hartsfield
NASA astronaut Henry "Hank" Hartsfield, who in 1984 commanded the maiden mission of the space shuttle Discovery, died on Thursday (July 17). He was 80.
Hank Hartsfield's death came as a result of complications from back surgery he had several months ago, according to his fellow astronaut and STS-41D crewmember Mike Mullane.
Hartsfield became a NASA astronaut in September 1969, just two months after the first moon landing. He waited 13 years to make his first spaceflight, serving as the pilot on shuttle Columbia's STS-4 mission, the fourth and final test flight of the winged orbiter program.
Launching on Columbia on June 27, 1982, Hartsfield and commander Thomas "Ken" Mattingly circled the Earth 112 times while performing experiments and operating a pair of classified missile launch-detection systems. Returning to Earth a week later on Independence Day, the STS-4 crew was greeted by then-President and First Lady Ronald and Nancy Reagan at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
Hartsfield's second shuttle mission assignment came two years later as the commander Discovery's first flight, but the STS-41D mission set another first before ever leaving the launch pad.
Originally scheduled to lift off in June 1984, Hartsfield and his crew of five were just four seconds from launch when a faulty main engine forced the shuttle program's first-ever abort, followed by a hydrogen fire on the pad. It took two months to recover, but Discovery safely launched on Aug. 30 on a six-day flight to deploy communication satellites and conduct science.
During the mission, Hartsfield and his crewmates gained a nickname, the "Icebusters," after using the shuttle robotic arm to successfully knock off a hazardous ice buildup on the outside of the orbiter.
Hartsfield returned to orbit for his third and final flight as commander of Challenger's STS-61A mission in October 1985. In addition to being the first flight to be funded and directed by a foreign country (the former West Germany, overseeing the European-built Spacelab module mounted in Challenger's payload bay), the eight-member 61A crew set the record for the most astronauts to launch and land on the same spacecraft.
With STS-61A's landing, Hartsfield had logged a total of 20 days, 2 hours and 50 minutes in space, having circled the Earth 321 times.
Henry Warren Hartsfield, Jr. was born on Nov. 21, 1933 in Birmingham, Alabama. He earned his bachelor of science degree in physics at Auburn University in 1954, performed graduate work in physics and astronautics at the Air Force Institute of Technology and Duke University, and received his master of science degree in engineering science from the University of Tennessee in 1971.
Hartsfield joined the Air Force in 1955 and graduated from the test pilot school at Edwards Air Force Base, where he was serving as an instructor when he was recruited as an astronaut trainee for the Manned Orbital Laboratory. The project would have seen Hartsfield fly to space onboard a Gemini spacecraft to work on a reconnaissance platform, had it not been canceled in 1969.
With the end of the MOL program, Hartsfield and six other trainees transferred to NASA's astronaut corps. Before his own three shuttle flights, Hartsfield served on the support crews for the fifth moon landing, Apollo 16 in April 1972, and for all three missions to the United States' first space station, Skylab, between May 1973 and February 1974.
Before leaving NASA in 1998 to become an executive at the Raytheon Corp., Hartsfield helped set the ground work for the International Space Station, serving as the deputy manager of the space station projects office, among other positions related to the orbiting laboratory. He retired from Raytheon in 2005.
Hartsfield is survived by his wife Judy Frances Massey, daughter Judy and two grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his daughter Keely, who worked as a contractor to the space shuttle program and died in March 2014.
Hank Hartsfield
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