Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Democrats Against Reform (NY Times)
No, Obamacare wasn't a mistake. Democrats should be celebrating that they did the right thing.
U.S. hospitals make fewer serious errors; 50,000 lives saved (Reuters)
About 50,000 people are alive today because U.S. hospitals committed 17 percent fewer medical errors in 2013 than in 2010, government health officials said on Tuesday. […] Hospitals have made a concerted effort to improve safety, spurred in large part by changes in how Medicare pays them. President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law requires CMS to reduce the reimbursement rate for hospitals that re-admit too many patients within 30 days, an indication of poor care the first time.
KEN DILANIAN: House intel panel debunks many Benghazi theories (AP)
A two-year investigation by the Republican-controlled House Intelligence Committee has found that the CIA and the military acted properly in responding to the 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, and asserted no wrongdoing by Obama administration appointees.
David Jenkins: "My Darling Clementine: The Great Beyond" (Criterion)
"What you see is what you get." So said Winston Miller, coscreenwriter of John Ford's My Darling Clementine (1946), in a terse rejoinder aimed at those searching for motivation, commentary, or other subtextual delights in the work. Miller bellyached that critics tended to read things into his script that simply weren't there, a line that Ford was also known to toe. Were one to abide by the wishes of its no-muss-no-fuss creators, a gentle wallow in the film's superficial pleasures (which are ample) would be all that was required. But that would be selling the film, and yourself, short.
Amanda Madden: 5 Huge Upcoming Movies That Are Completely Doomed (Cracked)
We previously told you all about a bunch of movies that seemed destined for failure, but thankfully for us, Hollywood hasn't learned its lesson. Cruel fate and spectacular incompetence have once again teamed up in an unholy alliance to stop movies like ...
Katharine Trendacosta: "The James Bond Movies Had to Go Darker Because 'Mike Myers f-ed us'" (io9)
With the announcement of the title and cast of the 24th James Bond movie this week, MI6 Confidential found a quote from Daniel Craig that explains why Austin Powers forced them to go a darker direction.
The Couch Gag Before Christmas (YouTube)
"Homer and Marge are elves, cats and dogs pull sleighs, and Lisa stars in a tribute to the Disney movie Frozen. There's a lot more going on in this short clip; you may have to see it twice to catch all the references." - Neatorama
This. Is. Target! BLACK FRIDAY PEP TALK. (YouTube)
"Only in America do we conflate Christmas shopping with an epic battle between warring nations. As opening time on Black Friday approaches, Target employees get an inspirational speech from a guy the uploader says is named Scott, but I believe it may actually be William Wallace or Leonidas. Considering how outnumbered the Target crew will be in the looming melee, they will need all the inspiration they can get." - Neatorama
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wrote:
answered:
returned to semi-retired status.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Reader Comment
Re: yahoo
marty-
over the last few days yahoo has instituted videos dispersed among their home page stories.
does anyone know how to stop the movement of these videos short of clicking each of them individually
I realize ads are the lifeblood of such corporate shills as yahoo
however why do I have to SEE THEM MOVE CONSTANTLY.
along their trick of having big stuff march across my screen,
and with their "sponsored" stories now they
nearly lost me till I found yahoo Canada and yahoo uk
I don't like google for their gimmicry and now that yahoo brought in googles ceo as a leader they are now as horrible
so I am searching for a browser that brings up a few news/entertainment stuff on opening
not bing not google certainly not msn
gary in pa
Thanks, Gary!
Nobody has ever asked, but this is one of the big reasons so many of the stories I use come from yahoo.canada
Yahoo canada is easy to navigate and doesn't bog everything down with hyper-active, power-sucking advertising.
So they like to use an extra "u" after the occasional 'o", at least their pages don't induce seizures and they respect my industrial strength pop-up blocking system..
For a great search engine, I highly recommend DuckDuckGo
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Comment
Re: Beach Battle
Ha! I want to yell "Suck it, bitches!" although it won't make the victory any sweeter. Why I love this state…and Jerry Browns's Welsh Corgi, Sutter. He runs the state, I'm sure.
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
Some sun, some clouds.
1.3M Miles
The Knorr
A ship that sailed more than 1.3 million miles in the name of science is back at port for the last time.
The research vessel Knorr is being decommissioned after more than 40 years as the workhorse of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution research fleet. It docked for good Wednesday to fireworks and a cannon salute.
The Cape Cod Times reports that the crew placed handmade farewell signs on the sides of the ship. One banner read: "1,360,630 miles for science." Another said simply: "So long, old girl."
The Knorr will be sold by the Navy, which owns it, and will be replaced next spring by a new $74 million research vessel, the Neil Armstrong.
The Knorr
Leaving CNN
Candy Crowley
Veteran newswoman Candy Crowley is leaving CNN after 27 years.
Crowley, the network's chief political correspondent and anchor of "State of the Union," will exit at the end of this month, she said Friday. Her final appearance hosting the "State of the Union" political broadcast is Dec. 21.
She said she doesn't yet know her next stop, but said her departure has been years in the making. She first got the itch just before the 2008 campaign, she recalled - then things got interesting with the entry of Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama into the race. She couldn't tear herself away.
"Now I'm at the point where I want another chance to do something new, somewhere new," said Crowley, who turns 66 the day after Christmas. She says she made her decision at summer's end.
Candy Crowley
CBS Goes Dark
Dish
CBS has chosen not to blink in its standoff with Dish Network.
Effective 7 p.m. ET Friday, CBS programming is no longer available in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Dallas, Denver, Boston, Chicago, Pittsburgh and several other markets, the network said.
The decision to go dark in those cities follows a protracted dispute between the two companies over how much Dish should pay to carry CBS programming, a dispute that has occasionally turned ugly, with harsh words being hurled on both sides.
In a statement issued Friday, CBS said that it has attempted to resolve the dispute for six months, granting two extensions, and accused Dish of "dragging its feet at our many attempts to negotiate in good faith."
For its part, Dish claims that the blackout is due to an impasse on negotiations for the "unrelated" CBS Sports Network.
Dish
Hospital News
Beanie Sigel
Rapper Beanie Sigel was shot in the abdomen outside a home in New Jersey on Friday, police said.
Authorities and Sigel's lawyer initially called the wound life-threatening, but hospital officials told police that the 40-year-old rapper was awake Friday afternoon after surgery, Pleasantville police Chief Jose Ruiz told The Associated Press. Investigators were on their way to try to interview him, he said.
Sigel, whose real name is Dwight Grant, and another man were found injured outside the home Friday morning. The other man refused medical treatment and was uncooperative, police said.
There may be "some type of family relationship" between the two men, but investigators aren't sure yet, Ruiz said. "Apparently, there was a struggle of some type, which led to Mr. Grant being shot and that is all we have at this point," Ruiz said.
Beanie Sigel
Offshore Fracking Quietly On The Rise
Gulf of Mexico
A little-noticed expansion of hydraulic fracturing of deepwater oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico is unnerving environmental watchdogs as federal regulators keep a lid on information about the operations.
Now fracking is moving offshore. Unlike the thousands of highly visible drilling rigs that sit atop shale formations across the United States, deep ocean fracking is largely out of sight, out of mind.
"We've been hearing a lot about inland fracking in St. Tammany Parish, but nobody knew anything about what was going on in the Gulf," said Jonathan Henderson of the Gulf Restoration Network. "There's not much information out there about what is happening on these rigs. There have been no environmental reviews, and we don't know what the risks are, the chemicals being used in the process, or what's being discharged. These unknowns are unacceptable."
An Associated Press investigation earlier this year uncovered a dozen offshore fracking operations in California and some 200 others in nearshore waters. The revelation got Henderson and others in the Gulf environmental community wondering if similar practices are being employed in their home waters. They say they're still waiting for answers.
Gulf of Mexico
Worst Conditions In 1,200 Years
California
A combination of record high temperatures and sparse rainfall during California's three-year drought have produced the worst conditions in 1,200 years, according to a study accepted for publication by the American Geophysical Union (AGU).
The state has gone through numerous periods of dry weather, with as little or less rainfall as the past few years, but scientists looking at the cumulative effects of temperature, low precipitation and other factors said that it all adds up to the worst conditions in more than a millennium.
The study by the University of Minnesota and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution said that warm, dry conditions have shrunk the supply of surface water from reservoirs, streams and the Sierra Nevada snowpack in the state, even as demand from people and farms has gone up, resulting in unprecedented scarcity.
Despite its conclusion that several factors add up to the worst conditions in 1,200 years, the report's authors point out that six years during that period were possibly drier than 2014, and that three-year-droughts are not unusual in the state.
California
Organs For Transplants
China
China, the only country that still systematically takes organs from executed prisoners for use in transplant operations, plans to end the controversial practice from next month, a state-run newspaper said on Friday.
The government has over the last year flagged plans to end the practice, which has drawn criticism from rights groups, who have accused authorities of taking many organs without consent from prisoners or their families, a claim Beijing has denied.
The official China Daily said that human organ transplants will from Jan. 1 rely on voluntary public donations and on donations from living relatives.
Supply of human organs falls far short of demand in China, due in part to a traditional belief that bodies should be buried or cremated intact. An estimated 300,000 patients are wait-listed every year for organ transplants, and only about one in 30 ultimately receives a transplant.
China
Marines To Conduct Training
Downtown LA
Residents in and around downtown Los Angeles could hear helicopters or other military aircraft over the coming days as Marines and sailors from Camp Pendleton train in preparation for a deployment.
The training is part of a two-week military exercise that starts Friday and extends through Dec. 16 and involves about 2,400 members of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, according to the Associated Press.
While residents could see as many as six military helicopters buzzing over the downtown area over the next week, raids being held at several undisclosed locations in the city will be off limits to the public for safety reasons, Capt. Brian Block told the Associated Press.
Dozens of Marines will raid buildings and shoot paintballs from modified M-15s as part of the exercise, but no residents live in the spots where the pseudo-combat will take place, according to Block.
Similar exercises will also take place at various California military bases, at a site near Las Vegas, and another site outside Flagstaff, Ariz., according to officials. Block said the Los Angeles portion will take place over a couple of days next week.
Downtown LA
Engineer Tried To Steal
Schematics
A Navy civilian engineer has been indicted on charges he tried to steal schematics of an aircraft carrier under construction and have them sent to Egypt.
Federal prosecutors said Mostafa Ahmed Awwad, 35, of Virginia was arrested Friday on two counts of attempted exportation of defense articles and technical data.
Prosecutors said Awwad tried to steal technical data in the designs of the USS Gerald R. Ford in late October. Awwad provided computer drawings downloaded from the Navy to an undercover FBI agent posing as an Egyptian intelligence officer.
The Ford is the lead ship in a new class of carriers. It is scheduled for delivery to the Navy in 2016.
According to an FBI affidavit, Awwad began working for Navy last February in the Norfolk Naval Shipyard's nuclear engineering and planning department.
Schematics
60 Years Left
Soil
Generating three centimeters of top soil takes 1,000 years, and if current rates of degradation continue all of the world's top soil could be gone within 60 years, a senior UN official said on Friday.
About a third of the world's soil has already been degraded, Maria-Helena Semedo of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) told a forum marking World Soil Day.
The causes of soil destruction include chemical-heavy farming techniques, deforestation which increases erosion, and global warming. The earth under our feet is too often ignored by policymakers, experts said.
Unless new approaches are adopted, the global amount of arable and productive land per person in 2050 will be only a quarter of the level in 1960, the FAO reported, due to growing populations and soil degradation.
Soil
Always A Class Act
$chwarzenegger
The official portrait of former California Gov. Arnold $chwarzenegger (R-Family Values) was hung Friday alongside past governors at the state capitol after getting a touch-up on the spot where his wife's image was removed.
Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwein smoothed out a smudge that once featured a lapel button showing the face of wife Maria Shriver, Capitol curator Koren Benoit said. That part had been noticeably painted over when the portrait was unveiled in September.
The two separated after revelations emerged about an affair $chwarzenegger (R-Der Groper) had with his their maid that produced a son. It's not clear who removed the Shriver image in the first place.
The realist-style portrait features a steel frame and captures a youthful heavily botoxed $chwarzenegger (R-Two Passports) standing in front of the state seal.
$chwarzenegger
In Memory
Frank and Louie
A feline named Frank and Louie after he was born with two faces, two mouths, two noses and three blue eyes has died at the age of 15.
The Telegram of Worcester reports that Frank and Louie died Thursday at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University in North Grafton.
The cat's owner, Marty Stevens, said veterinarians believe the cause of death was cancer.
Frank and Louie made it into the 2012 edition of Guinness World Records as the longest-surviving member of a group known as Janus cats, named for a Roman god with two faces.
Janus cats almost never survive, and most have congenital defects.
Frank and Louie
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