Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman's Column: Fear Factor (New York Times)
Despite what Republican presidential candidates are saying, regulation and taxes are not responsible for America's weak job growth.
Diane Ravitch: School 'Reform': A Failing Grade (New York Review of Books)
How a small group of extremely wealthy men captured national education policy.
Froma Harrop: Saving Civic Culture From Online Mayhem (Creators Syndicate)
More speech is not necessarily a positive development. News sites' online forums have unleashed speech in quantity, for sure. But they've given a stage to swarms of moronic insults and outright lies, most cloaked in anonymity or false identities. Such comments waste our time - but of larger concern, they degrade the civic culture and undermine thoughtful attempts to craft public policy.
Connie Schultz: Death Penalty Support May Be Dying (Creators Syndicate)
More than a week has passed since the execution of Troy Davis, who insisted he was innocent until his eyes closed forever.
Jim Hightower: The privileged v. the poor
More than 46 million Americans now live in poverty - 20 million of them in deep poverty - with some of the sharpest increases coming in suburbs. Young families with children have been especially hard hit - 37 percent of them dwell in poverty, the highest rate on record.
Jacopo della Quercia: 7 Famous Works of Art With Bizarre Mistakes You Can't Unsee (Cracked)
No one should be immune from criticism. Not even the great masters of the art world--they're humans just like the rest of us. So please indulge us while we take a look at lauded works of genius created by artists far, far more talented than we are, and laugh at them.
Henry Rollins: Ghosts of Los Angeles Music Past (LA Weekly)
Tonight I was driving to the Trader Joe's on Santa Monica Boulevard, east of Gardner. I reflected upon the fact that I have been based in Los Angeles for well over half my life. While not from here, I am definitely a local at this point.
William Deresiewicz: The Shaman (The New Republic)
With 'The Anatomy of Influence,' Harold Bloom has promised us his "swan song" as a critic. Fat chance.
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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Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Lots of clouds, a little rain.
Joins Egyptians In Tahrir Square
Sean Penn
U.S. actor Sean Penn joined thousands of Egyptian activists who packed downtown Cairo on Friday demanding that military rulers speed up the transfer of power to civilians and end emergency laws once used by Hosni Mubarak against his opponents.
Local media said Penn, holding an Egyptian flag, walked with Egyptian actor Khaled el-Nabawi in Tahrir Square, where Egyptians demonstrated in what they dubbed as "Reclaiming the Revolution" day amid growing discontent over the way military rulers had managed the transitional period.
"The world is inspired by the call for freedom by the courageous revolution of Egypt for its freedom," Penn said in remarks carried by Al-Ahram newspaper's online page.
"Clearly that is not a completion overnight, there are still struggles forward, there are constitutional issues, there is ... a transition of power from the military to the people," he added.
Nabawi said he had invited the Oscar-winning Penn to visit Egypt as part of efforts to demonstrate that Egypt was a safe place to visit despite the uprising. "We want to show that Egypt is safe," Nabawi said.
Sean Penn
Takes Top Honor At Bluegrass Awards
Steve Martin
Steve Martin and The Steep Canyon Rangers turned the International Bluegrass Music Association Awards into funny business Thursday night.
Martin and his group of crack bluegrassers took entertainer of the year, the night's top award at The Ryman Auditorium, while super group The Boxcars took home a leading four awards.
Martin, the Grammy and Emmy award winner best known as a comedian and writer, is also an accomplished banjo picker who has taken the medium to a wider audience with two albums of mostly original music and a high-profile series of performances. Entertainer of the year goes to the act that does the best job representing the genre.
"It really means a lot, sort of like winning two Oscars," Martin said afterward. "It's something we work very hard at and I kind of started from scratch. I mean I've been playing banjo for 50 years, but performing in a band I've never done. I've done it for about two years ... You know, the hardest part was talking and tuning."
It is the first IBMA award for Martin and the second for the Rangers, winners of the 2006 emerging artist of the year award. They snap Dailey & Vincent's three-year winning streak in the entertainer category.
Steve Martin
Challenged Books of 2010
Top 10
Danger! Books ahead! Each year during Banned Books Week, the American Library Association shares its list of the top 10 most frequently challenged books of 2010. Banned Books Week 2011 occurs Sept. 24 to Oct. 1. Few classics make the list, but there are penguins, vampires, a part-time Indian and angst-ridden, sexually-curious teens.
No. 1 "And Tango Makes Three" by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
Unlike the other books on the list, "And Tango Makes Three" is a picture book, inspired by the true story (based on an incident at Central Park Zoo in Manhattan) of two male penguins, Roy and Silo, successfully incubating an egg. According to the ALA , it has been challenged due to "homosexuality, religious viewpoint" and is considered "unsuited to age group" (preschool to grade 3) "And Tango Makes Three" has remained the number one challenged book since 2006, with the exception of 2009 when Lauren Myracle's "ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r" (series) was the most challenged book.
No. 2 "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie
No. 3 "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
No. 4 "Crank" by Ellen Hopkins
No. 5 The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins
No. 6 "Lush" by Natasha Friend
No. 7 "What My Mother Doesn't Know" by Sonya Sones
No. 8 Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
No. 9 "Revolutionary Voices" edited by Amy Sonnie
No. 10 "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer
Top 10
E-Book Postponed
Harry Potter
Harry Potter fans will have to wait a bit longer to buy the magic tales in electronic form.
The creators of the online Potter portal said Friday that the launch of an e-book store has been pushed back to next year.
The seven Harry Potter books had been due to go on sale in October, exclusively through the "Pottermore" website.
The site is a combination of virtual encyclopedia, role-playing game and online community for fans of author J.K. Rowling's boy wizard.
Harry Potter
Reporter Slams Ex-Employer
Rupert
A News of the World reporter implicated in Britain's phone hacking scandal has slammed Rupert Murdoch's News International for his sacking from the tabloid, insisting he was innocent and unfairly dismissed.
Neville Thurlbeck's comments Friday mark his first public defense of his role at the newspaper, which folded after 168 years under the weight of the scandal.
"I took no part in the matter which has led to my dismissal after 21 years of service," Thurlbeck, 49, said in a statement. "I say this most emphatically and with certainty and confidence that the allegation which led to my dismissal will eventually be shown to be false."
Thurlbeck's name has long been linked to the scandal that has enveloped Britain's press, and threatened Murdoch's global media empire.
Thurlbeck - then the News of the World's chief reporter - was arrested in April on suspicion of conspiring to intercept voicemail messages and released on bail.
Rupert
Nearly Loses Entire Ice Shelf
Canadian Arctic
Two ice shelves that existed before Canada was settled by Europeans diminished significantly this summer, one nearly disappearing altogether, Canadian scientists say in new research.
The loss is important as a marker of global warming, returning the Canadian Arctic to conditions that date back thousands of years, scientists say. Floating icebergs that have broken free as a result pose a risk to offshore oil facilities and potentially to shipping lanes. The breaking apart of the ice shelves also reduces the environment that supports microbial life and changes the look of Canada's coastline.
Luke Copland is an associate professor in the geography department at the University of Ottawa who co-authored the research. He said the Serson Ice Shelf shrank from 79.15 square miles (205 square kilometers) to two remnant sections three years ago, and was further diminished this past summer.
Copland said the shelf went from a 16-square-mile (42-square-kilometer) floating glacier tongue to 9.65 square miles (25 square kilometers), and the second section from 13.51 square miles (35 square kilometers) to 2 square miles (7 square kilometers), off Ellesmere Island's northern coastline.
This past summer, Ward Hunt Ice Shelf's central area disintegrated into drifting ice masses, leaving two separate ice shelves measuring 87.65 and 28.75 square miles (227 and 74 square kilometers) respectively, reduced from 131.7 square miles (340 square kilometers) the previous year.
Canadian Arctic
Paintings Come Under Fire
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan faced uncomfortable questions Wednesday over several paintings in a New York exhibition by the prolific singer-songwriter that appear to have been copied directly from other artists' photographs.
The paintings are part of a show at the Gagosian Gallery titled "The Asia Series," billed as "a visual reflection on his travels in Japan, China, Vietnam, and Korea."
According to the Gagosian, the art work, which went on display earlier this month, shows how Dylan "is inspired by everyday phenomena in such a way that they appear fresh, new, and mysterious."
But Dylan watchers and an article in The New York Times highlight another mystery behind the exhibition: that several paintings supposedly reflecting Dylan's globe-trotting artistic career are nearly identical to already published photographs.
Bob Dylan
Utah Theater Fined
"Hangover II"
A Utah movie theater that serves liquor has been fined more than $1,600 for showing "The Hangover Part II."
The fine issued by the state liquor board Thursday is the first for Brewvies, which only allows people 21 years and older to attend their movies and serves food and liquor to patrons. But under state law, many PG-13 and R-rated movies could net the theater a fine because of prohibitions on showing a film with sex acts, full-frontal nudity or even the "caressing" of breasts or buttocks.
While the fine for the first offense was $1,627, repeat offenders may be fined up to $25,000 and lose their liquor license for up to 10 days.
The law is generally used to regulate strip clubs, which aren't permitted to have nude dancers - g-strings and pasties are required to be worn - if they serve liquor. The law is applied only to businesses with liquor licenses, so it wouldn't apply to alcohol-free theaters.
The movie was in violation because of multiple scenes, patrol spokesman Dwayne Baird said. "Hangover II" includes full-frontal nudity from male, female and transvestite characters and also has a scene showing a monkey simulating a sex act on a monk.
"Hangover II"
"Delighted" By Al Jazeera
Rummy
The presidential administration of George W. Bush was never an advocate of Al-Jazeera. If anything, it viewed the network as a propaganda arm of radical Islamists.
But at least one of Bush's chief foreign policy advisors has changed his tune.
Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (R-Unindicted war criminal) granted an interview to Al-Jazeera English on Thursday, which will air Friday, and complimented the network for its service.
This statement stands in stark contrast to the tone Rumsfeld struck back in 2004 when he accused the network of lying and deemed its actions "vicious."
Rummy
Cancels Lashing Sentence
Saudi King
Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah on Wednesday overturned a court's sentence of 10 lashes for a woman arrested for driving in the kingdom.
The monarch's decision overturns a court ruling Tuesday against Shaima Jastaina, who was arrested for driving a relative to the hospital, the Associated Press reported .
"Thank God, the lashing of Shaima is cancelled," Princess Ameera Al-Taweel, wife of King Abdullah's nephew Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, posted to Twitter Wednesday. "Thanks to our beloved King. I'm sure all Saudi women will be so happy, I know I am."
The verdict and its reversal followed King Abdullah's decree Monday that Saudi women be allowed to vote in municipal elections in 2015. The aging Saudi monarch also said that women could be appointed to an advisory body called the Shura Council.
Saudi King
Axes Beauty Pageant
Swiss TV
Swiss national television says it will stop showing the country's "Miss Switzerland" beauty pageant because viewership has decreased.
The long-running show is a fixture of Swiss popular culture and winners are guaranteed lucrative advertising deals and society engagements for a year.
Swiss television said Friday that its 25.7 percent audience share for the final was below what it would expect for a Saturday evening broadcast.
Spokeswoman Manuela Kaech said the format "doesn't fit our entertainment profile anymore."
Swiss TV
Blongings To Auction
Dr. Jack Kevorkian
Paintings, writings and the iconic blue sweater of the audacious assisted suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian are going up for auction, his attorney and close friend said Friday.
Lawyer Mayer Morganroth said the late pathologist's artwork and items will be sold in late October at the New York Institute of Technology. Scheduled for auction are more than 20 paintings, Kevorkian's art kit and the sweaters he became known for donning during his high-profile assistance in the suicides of dozens of people in the 1990s.
Many of the paintings depict death or dying, and are often intended to provoke or disturb. One of those up for auction is entitled "Genocide," and features a bloody head being dangled by the hair and held by the hands of two soldiers: One wears a German military uniform from World War II and the other a Turkish uniform from World War I.
Morganroth said Kevorkian wanted to depict the mass killings of Armenians and Jews during World I and World War II, respectively. The doctor was of Armenian descent.
Morganroth said he doesn't know the value of the collection but most of the proceeds will go to Kevorkian's sole heir - a niece - and the charity Kicking Cancer for Kids.
Dr. Jack Kevorkian
Vted Mst Anoying Clebrity
Kim Kardashian
It probably won't surprise you, but at least you know you're not the only one: Kim Kardashian has been voted the Most Annoying Celebrity in a Parade magazine pop culture poll.
The famous-for-being-famous Kardashian sister nabbed 29 percent of the votes in the poll, followed by Charlie Sheen with 27 percent, "Jersey Shore" star Snooki with 21 percent, Lindsay Lohan with 16, Donald Trump with five percent and two-time "Bachelor" Brad Womack with one percent of the vote.
In other Parade pop culture poll categories, Emma Watson earned 79 percent of the votes as the Most Likely to Succeed from "Harry Potter"; Ryan Reynolds got 22 percent of the votes as the best potential suitor for royal sibling Pippa Middleton; and Jennifer Lopez got 40 percent of the votes -- to Randy Jackson's 36 percent -- as the Most Replaceable Judge on "American Idol."
Hey, it beats being voted most annoying. Sort of.
Kim Kardashian
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