Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Apologizing to Japan (NY Times)
Western economists were scathing in their criticisms of Japanese policy, but the slump we fell into isn't just similar to Japan's. It's worse.
Luis Prada: 5 Actors Who Got Typecast in Bizarrely Specific Ways (Cracked)
Some actors win awards, like Oscars and Emmys. Others have to put on their forced smiles and tell reporters that they're just happy being nominated. But a much smaller group of actors are fortunate enough (or unfortunate, in some cases) to be the owners of achievements unique to them, achievements that are almost impossible for anyone else to duplicate.
Hannah Ellis-Petersen: Top literary agent Andrew Wylie calls Amazon 'Isis-like distribution channel' (Guardian)
He is the sinister "jackal" of the literary world who counts Salman Rushdie, Philip Roth and Martin Amis among his formidable roster of clients.
Claire Hynes: I don't want my kid to end up on the scrapheap. So I send her private (Guardian)
Middle-class parents who choose state schools for their kids shouldn't be so smug. It does little for equality.
Alison Flood: "Stephen King: 'Religion is a dangerous tool … but I choose to believe God exists'" (Guardian)
Blockbuster author reveals his spiritual side in lengthy Q&A to launch new novel that deals with a minister's loss of faith.
Stephen King Exclusive: Read an Excerpt From New Book Revival (Rolling Stone)
"I wanted to make this story as warm as possible," the horror master says. "It's the best way to scare people."
Adi Robertson: William Gibson interview: time travel, virtual reality, and his new book (Verge)
Our geography is dissolving into the digital.
Bill DeMain: "Light Heart, Dark Humor: The Man Behind The Addams Family"
Cartoonist Charles Addams was almost as bizarre as the characters he drew. His most famous creation, The Addams Family, has been reincarnated time and again during the past 70 years, coming back to life from the grave. Are his drawings morbid? Sure. But they're also immortal.
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
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David Bruce has approximately 50 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
wrote:
took the day off.
is semi-retired.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Message From That Madcat, JD
BEWARE!!!
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.
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
Rain!
Judge Suggests Bad PR Move
Washington's TWNWNBM
A federal judge seems to think Native Americans offended by the Washington Redskins team name Team Whose Name Will Not Be Mentioned are properly being sued by the NFL franchise.
Judge Gerald Bruce Lee suggested during a hearing Friday that it would be unprecedented to dismiss the team's lawsuit against five Native Americans who complained about the name to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
A trademark office board decided in June to cancel some of the Redskins Team Whose Name Will Not Be Mentioned trademarks, citing federal regulations against protecting words and images that are disparaging or offensive.
The team could have challenged the ruling in appellate court in Washington, but sought help instead in a venue that gives it more options, by going to a trial court to sue the Native Americans who complained in the first place.
Washington's TWNWNBM
Late Night Ratings
Fallon Repeats Beat Dave
NBC's Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon (3.237 million viewers, 0.89/4 demo rating) repeats won the late-night ratings the week of October 20-24, versus rebroadcasts of CBS' Late Show With David Letterman (2.699 million, 0.59/3) and a week of four originals and one encore for ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live (2.795 million, 0.65/3). The Fallon encores topped Letterman and Kimmel for the week in adults, men and women 18-34 and 25-54, as well.
Later in late night, NBC's Late Night With Seth Meyers encores (1.443 million, 0.45/3) beat CBS' Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson originals(1.423 million, 0.35/2) at 12:35 AM, while ABC's Nightline, against those two talkers' first half hour, logged 1.599 million viewers and a 0.40/2 demo rating.
Kimmel's show had drawn its biggest overall audience in 7 months, thanks in part to Taylor Swift's performance on Thursday, which logged 3.536 million viewers, the show's fifth most watched telecast ever on any night in late night. The broadcast sits behind only last September's season debut, last April's JKL: Behind The Scandalabra episode that followed the season finale of Scandal, and the January 24, '13 Matt Damon takeover of the show, and the February '14 Scandal Thursday-themed episode featuring Kerry Washington that had followed the drama series' midseason return.
Fallon Repeats Beat Dave
Satanic Coloring Book For School Children?
Florida
On the third page of a new coloring book, children are asked to solve seven word jumbles. One spells "justice," another "freedom." Later in the packet, children can connect dots to create an inverted pentagram.
These puzzles come inside the "Satanic Children's Big Book of Activities," published by the Satanic Temple, a New York-based religious group that says it encourages "practical common sense and justice."
The group has submitted the coloring book and other materials to Orange County Public Schools in Orlando, Fla., for review, to be distributed on National Religious Freedom Day. Their effort, and another by The Freedom From Religion Foundation to distribute a controversial atheist pamphlet, follows the distribution of Bibles at Orange County schools on National Religious Freedom Day in 2013.
The district's policy on distribution of religious materials states, "literature of a denominational, partisan, or sectarian nature shall not be distributed by school officials in any school."
But in 2013, a Christian group got approval from the school district to distribute copies of the Bible. Afterward, the Freedom From Religion Foundation also submitted material for review. When some of these materials were not accepted, the atheist group sued the district, says Kathy Marsh, the district's senior manager for public relations.
Florida
Cancels A to Z & Bad Judge
NBC
It was all tricks and no treats for two of NBC's freshman comedies this Halloween. Instead of lavishing A to Z and Bad Judge with delicious candy, the network has canceled the pair of struggling Thursday-night sitcoms, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
But if you're the type of person who appreciates a silver lining, the good news is that both series will remain on the air until they've finished out their 13-episode orders. Each show has aired five episodes so far, with eight still to go; production-wise, A to Z has two episodes left to shoot, while Bad Judge has three.
The reason for their demise is right there in the numbers. In their most recent airings, both A to Z and Bad Judge sank below a 1.0 rating in the 18-to-49 demographic, with Bad Judge drawing a 0.9 on Thursday at 9pm and A to Z following with an even lower 0.7 at 9:30pm.
A to Z and Bad Judge join ABC's Manhattan Love Story as the only new fall series to be canceled so far this season.
NBC
Pro-Stupid School Board
Gilbert, Arizona
An Arizona school board has voted to remove information about contraception methods from a biology textbook after a conservative majority decided it fell afoul of a state law that says materials should give a preference to childbirth or adoption over abortion.
The members of the Gilbert Public Schools board, which covers at least 38 schools and 39,000 students mostly in Chandler and Mesa, voted 3-2 on Tuesday night to excise two pages from "Campbell Biology: Concepts and Connections."
"By redacting, we are not censoring," board member Julie Smith told 12 News in Phoenix. "This school district does offer sexual education classes. If we were censoring, we would not offer anything on this topic whatsoever."
At the center of the Arizona controversy is a part of the textbook that describes contraception techniques, including explaining how the morning-after pill works. The text also notes that abstinence is the only fail-safe birth control method.
The mention of the morning-after pill being able to "induce an abortion" prompted a Scottsdale-based legal group, Alliance Defending Freedom, to write to the Gilbert Public Schools superintendent in August saying a parent had raised concerns the text was not compliant with state legislation. Some conservative Christians believe life begins at the moment of conception.
Gilbert, Arizona
Co-Founder Sentenced
Pirate Bay
A co-founder of the Swedish file-sharing website The Pirate Bay was sentenced on Friday to three and a half years in prison, in what the prosecutor called Denmark's biggest-ever hacking case.
Gottfrid Warg, 30, also known under his hacker alias "Anakata", was found guilty of hacking into the mainframe of IT provider CSC in Denmark, accessing the Danish Civil Registration System and local police's criminal register in 2012.
When sentencing, the Court of Frederiksberg in Copenhagen said the attack was systematic, intensive and took place over a long period of time.
Warg's accomplice, a 21-year-old Dane who successfully applied for his name not to be made public, was sentenced to six months in prison for complicity in a hacking attempt made by Warg in February 2012 but walked free from the court as he had already served 17 months in pre-trial detention.
Pirate Bay
Appeal Denied
Feminist Mormon
A feminist U.S. Mormon who was excommunicated after advocating for the ordination of women said on Friday her appeal against the ejection from her faith was denied by a panel of male Church leaders.
Kate Kelly, founder of the website Ordain Women, was excommunicated in June after Church leaders deemed her actions and public statements to have violated the "laws and order" of the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and amounted to apostasy.
In a blog post, Kelly, 34, said she received the news in a pro forma letter by email on Friday from a regional Church leader in Virginia, where she lived until earlier this year.
"The notice that my appeal to him was unsuccessful does not come as a shock. However, I will admit, it is tremendously disappointing to see it on paper," she wrote.
Kelly, a former Washington human rights attorney, said she plans to appeal the rejection directly to the First Presidency of the Church in Salt Lake City.
Feminist Mormon
Surgical Gowns Lawsuit
Kimberly-Clark
A $500 million lawsuit against Kimberly-Clark Corp. alleges the company falsely claimed its surgical gowns protected against Ebola and other infectious diseases.
The suit, filed Wednesday in federal court, alleges that the multinational company knew for at least a year that its Microcool Breathable High Performance Surgical Gown had failed industry tests of impermeability to blood and microbes, but it continued to claim the product provided the highest level of protection against diseases including Ebola.
Many of the gowns tested had "catastrophic" failures, according to the lawsuit, which called Kimberly-Clark's actions "utterly reprehensible."
The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, alleges fraud, false advertising, negligent misrepresentation and unfair business practices. It was filed by Hrayr Shahinian, a Los Angeles surgeon specializing in skull base and brain tumor operations who said he had used the gowns and thus was potentially exposed to harm.
Dallas-based Kimberly-Clark, which also makes consumer products such as Kleenex and Huggies, has more than half the worldwide market for surgical gowns that meet the highest level of resistance to transfers of bodily fluids, according to the lawsuit.
Kimberly-Clark
Election Postponed
Navajo
The elections director on the Navajo Nation under threat of a contempt charge said he will scrap Tuesday's election for tribal president and hold the contest at a later date.
The announcement Friday came amid a dispute over a requirement that presidential candidates be fluent in Navajo. Candidate Chris Deschene was disqualified from the race for the tribe's top elected post after refusing to show he met the requirement and ordered removed from the ballot.
Tuesday's election still features races for tribal lawmakers, election board and school board, and Navajos will be voting for other county, state and federal offices. Deschene's name will appear on the tribal ballot, but the presidential tally won't be released. The Navajo Election Administration said it would be too costly to reprint some 100,000 ballots and recalibrate the voting machines. Early voting ended Friday.
The Navajo Board of Election Supervisors had remained adamant about holding the presidential election as originally scheduled. The tribe's high court held the board in contempt Friday - basically stripping them of their posts - for defying a court order to postpone the presidential election, remove Deschene's name and replace him with the third-place finisher from the primary election.
The dispute over fluency has touched all branches of the Navajo Nation government and prompted a discussion over the role the Navajo language plays in the tribe's culture. More people speak the Navajo language than any other single American Indian language.
Navajo
Graffiti Suspect Identified
National Parks
Federal officials have publicly identified a woman suspected of graffiti vandalism in at least eight national parks across the West, including Yosemite and Death Valley in California, and credit social media for helping pinpoint the alleged culprit.
Casey Nocket of New York state has not been arrested or charged but was confirmed on Thursday as "the major suspect" in an investigation of one of the most widespread acts of serial vandalism documented in the National Park System.
The case was brought to light in a series of photos obtained and posted by the Internet blog Modern Hiker and furnished to the National Park Service picturing numerous graffiti drawings, all signed "Creepytings" and dated 2014.
One shows a woman the blog identified as Nocket putting the finishing touches on an acrylic drawing of a cigarette-smoking figure scrawled on a canyon wall at Utah's Canyonlands National Park in June.
Others show drawings of a woman with blue hair on a ledge overlooking Oregon's Crater Lake and a bald man with a snake protruding from his mouth on a trailside rock in California's Yosemite National Park.
National Parks
Megachurch Dissolves
Seattle
Two weeks after lead Mars Hill Church pastor Mark Driscoll resigned amid questions about his leadership, the Seattle megachurch he founded announced Friday it was dissolving its network of branches across four states.
The church said on its website that the best future for its branches would be for them to becoming "autonomous self-governed entities."
"This means that each of our locations has an opportunity to become a new church, rooted in the best of what Mars Hill has been in the past, and independently led and run by its own local elder teams," Pastor Dave Bruskas wrote on the church's website.
The megachurch's controversial founder resigned as elder and lead pastor on Oct. 14, following an investigation into formal charges brought against him.
The church said it found Driscoll had a domineering style with a quick temper and harsh speech, but it noted he was never charged with immorality or heresy.
Seattle
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