Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Andrew Tobias: Singarich
INFRASTRUCTURE: All we have to do is grab 30-year money at ultra-low interest rates and put millions of unemployed to work modernizing our crumbling national infrastructure. This would jump start our economy; shrink our deficit; reinvigorate millions of families; assure our long-term competitiveness and prosperity; and save a fortune in the long run, because (speaking here as the Georgia Tech engineer I am not) it costs so much less to maintain a bridge than to deal with its collapse.
Simon Bowers: Amazon's fees hike for third-party traders provokes fury (Guardian)
'Marketplace' traders in UK and major European markets to be hit by fee hikes of up to 70% after Easter, following similar rises in US.
Emine Saner: Summly creator Nick D'Aloisio: 'I try to maintain a level of humbleness' (Guardian)
We met in London several days earlier - the day after internet giant Yahoo announced it had bought D'Aloisio's app for a reported $30m [£19m]. He has had about two hours' sleep. Everyone wants to speak to him - who doesn't love the fairytale story of how a British teenager came up with an idea in his bedroom and two years later sold it for millions?
Scott Burns: For Some Retired Singles, "The Golden Girls" May Be a Model Future (AssetBuilder)
There is nothing wrong with extended families living in the same house and many families would benefit by sharing shelter. This applies to friendships, too. While living with a stranger to save money would probably be a hardship for most people, it's hard to complain about sharing with good friends. Two can't live for the price of one, but they can certainly live for less than the price of two living separately.
Scott Burns: The Four Question Wealth Test (AssetBuilder)
Wealth is about income producing assets. It's not about consumption stuff. Lundberg's definition quickly eliminates the faux wealth exhibited by the folks we might call Monthly Payment Millionaires- people who flash all the stuff that makes them appear wealthy but which can disappear in a single missed sales quota, a short-term job loss or some other life hiccup.
Annalee Newitz: It Doesn't Have to Hurt (io9)
Breakthrough research suggests simple ways to reverse chronic pain.
Elaine Lipworth: "Salma Hayek: My family values" (Guardian)
The actor talks about her love of being a wife and homemaker.
Roger Ebert: From Up on Poppy Hill (2 ½ stars)
This was a day I didn't see coming. The latest film from Japan's Studio Ghibli, which sets the world standard for animation, is a disappointment.
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog
David Bruce's Lulu Storefront
David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
David Bruce has approximately 50 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
wrote:
took the day off.
responded:
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Comment
Richard Griffiths
Richard Griffiths was a wonderful comic actor.
If you've not seen the farce Blame It On The Bellboy, it's one of those comedies that tickle me every time I see it. Well worth seeing. Griffiths, Dudley Moore, Bryan Brown, Bronson Pinchot, and more. Cracks me up just thinking about it.
Linda >^..^<
We're all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny with a nice breeze.
They Get Paid For Their Opinions
Gas Lobbyists
A formal complaint filed with New York's lobbying board asks it to investigate whether Artists Against Fracking, a group formed by Yoko Ono and son Sean Lennon, is violating the state's lobbying law.
The complaint obtained by The Associated Press was made by the Independent Oil & Gas Association to the state Joint Commission on Public Ethics.
The energy trade group based its request for an investigation on an AP report that found that Artists Against Fracking and its advocates didn't register as lobbyists. Registration requires several disclosures about spending and activities.
A spokesman for Artists Against Fracking says the group's activities are protected because they were made during a public comment period. He also says celebrities involved in the group are protected because they are longtime activists, not lobbyists.
Gas Lobbyists
Didn't Plagiarize 'Blood and Honey'
Angelina Jolie
A federal judge says actress Angelina Jolie didn't steal the story for her movie "In the Land of Blood and Honey" from a Croatian author.
City News Service reports Friday's tentative ruling in Los Angeles will throw out the suit accusing Jolie of copyright infringement.
In 2011, author James Braddock sued Jolie and the film company that made the film, saying it was partly based on his book "The Soul Shattering."
U.S. District Judge Dolly M. Gee wrote in a tentative ruling that the plots, characters and themes in the two works were not "substantially" similar, though both centered on war romances.
Angelina Jolie
Laughs Off Skin-Lightening Talk
India.Arie
India.Arie is laughing off talk that she may have lightened her skin.
The R&B songstress is known for singing about being authentic and celebrating one's true self. But some accused India.Arie of lightening her skin when a publicity photo for her song "Cocoa Butter" released this week made it look as though she were several shades lighter than her dark brown complexion.
But India.Arie took to Twitter on Friday to deny the accusations, saying she has no desire to bleach her skin because she loves herself and her brown skin "more than ever." She also said that "magnificent lighting" is the cause for her "glow."
She added that she'd like to keep the conversation going, though, on the issue of racism and colorism in the black community.
India.Arie
Golden Gate Park
Elf Door
A tiny addition in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park is getting big attention on the Web. A photo on the neighborhood site Richmondsfblog.com first published a photo of a teeny wooden door that mysteriously appeared at the bottom of a tree with a small, gnome-sized gap.
The door has opened up plenty of interest on the Internet-and spurred visitors to the urban oasis to explore the door that's not on any map. It can be found by searching for the grove of old trees in the park's concourse near the Golden Gate Band Shell between the de Young Museum and the California Academy of Sciences.
Creative theories about how it got there abound-mostly as fanciful as the mystery door itself. An elf? A fairy? A house for a mouse?
The tiny tree door is not the first to mysteriously appear in a park. Commenters have pointed out there's the Elf Tree near Lake Harriet in Minneapolis that also has a tiny door in a living tree. Kids leave messages and candy for the invisible resident.
Golden Gate Park
Egypt's Jon Stewart
Bassem Youssef
Egypt's state prosecutors ordered the arrest Saturday of a popular television satirist for allegedly insulting Islam and the country's leader, in a move that government opponents say is aimed at silencing critics of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.
The arrest warrant for against Bassem Youssef, who has come to be known as Egypt's Jon Stewart, followed an order earlier this week by the country's top prosecutor to arrest five prominent pro-democracy activists in what the opposition has characterized as a widening campaign against dissent.
The acceleration in legal action targeting protesters, activists and critics comes against a backdrop of continued unrest in the country. Political compromise between the well-organized Islamists in power and their vocal liberal and largely secular critics remains elusive, while the country's economy is in near free fall, which has increasingly fueled popular frustration.
The warrant against Youssef is the latest in a series of legal actions against the comedian, whose widely-watched weekly show, "ElBernameg" or "The Program," has become a platform for lampooning the government, opposition, media and clerics. He has also used his program to fact-check politicians.
Bassem Youssef
Indoor Gardening
Kansas
Two former CIA employees whose Kansas home was fruitlessly searched for marijuana during a two-state drug sweep claim they were illegally targeted, possibly because they had bought indoor growing supplies to raise vegetables.
Adlynn and Robert Harte sued this week to get more information about why sheriff's deputies searched their home in the upscale Kansas City suburb of Leawood last April 20 as part of Operation Constant Gardener - a sweep conducted by agencies in Kansas and Missouri that netted marijuana plants, processed marijuana, guns, growing paraphernalia and cash from several other locations.
April 20 long has been used by marijuana enthusiasts to celebrate the illegal drug and more recently by law enforcement for raids and crackdowns. But the Hartes' attorney, Cheryl Pilate, said she suspects the couple's 1,825-square-foot split level was targeted because they had bought hydroponic equipment to grow a small number of tomatoes and squash plants in their basement.
"With little or no other evidence of any illegal activity, law enforcement officers make the assumption that shoppers at the store are potential marijuana growers, even though the stores are most commonly frequented by backyard gardeners who grow organically or start seedlings indoors," the couple's lawsuit says.
The couple filed the suit this week under the Kansas Open Records Act after Johnson County and Leawood denied their initial records requests, with Leawood saying it had no relevant records. The Hartes say the public has an interest in knowing whether the sheriff's department's participation in the raids was "based on a well-founded belief of marijuana use and cultivation at the targeted addresses, or whether the raids primarily served a publicity purpose."
Kansas
Museum of Natural History
Paris
Authorities say a man has been arrested overnight for allegedly breaking into Paris' Museum of Natural History and cutting off a tusk from a centuries-old elephant skeleton with a chainsaw.
A police official said a neighbor of the Left Bank museum alerted authorities after hearing the sawing sound at around 3 a.m. Saturday.
The suspect, about 20 years old, had the tusk in his possession when police arrested him soon afterward outside the museum. Paris prosecutors' office spokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre said the motive of the suspect wasn't immediately clear.
Museum official Jacques Cuisin told BFM-TV that the skeleton, which was draped under a plastic covering Saturday, belonged to an elephant that Portugal's king gave to French King Louis XIV in the late 17th century. Cuisin said it can be repaired.
Paris
It's All In The Details
California Reward
A second group has pulled its money from a pooled $1.2 million reward offered during a manhunt for a renegade former California policeman who died in a fiery standoff, a Los Angeles television station said.
The Peace Officers Research Association of California withdrew the $50,000 it pledged for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Christopher Dorner, KNBC said.
An official for the association, which represents 64,000 police union members, told the television station on Friday that the conditions for the reward had not been met because Dorner was not arrested.
On Monday, the city of Riverside, California, pulled its $100,000 contribution to the reward pool for similar reasons. It said its offer was contingent on Dorner's capture.
California Reward
For All Your Horsemeat Needs
Oklahoma
Oklahoma took a step toward allowing livestock owners to slaughter horses for food on Friday when the governor signed a bill that permits the practice, but processing plants must first be authorized by the federal government.
Governor Mary Fallin's action legalized the slaughter of horses so that their meat may be prepared and packaged for export. But slaughterhouses must get U.S. Department of Agriculture authorization, Fallin said.
The slaughter of horses for food had been illegal in Oklahoma since 1963 and was carried out only in Texas and Illinois until Congress stopped it in 2006. The congressional ban was lifted in 2011.
The United States Humane Society and animal rights activists opposed the new law in Oklahoma, while livestock interests said the change preserves their private property rights and will benefit horse owners.
Oklahoma
Dive Toward Extinction
Yangtze Finless Porpoises
Giant pandas have become China's poster child for endangered species, but now another iconic animal in the country can claim to be even rarer than the bears.
There are just 1,000 individual Yangtze finless porpoises left in the wild, according to a new report. That's less than half of what a similar survey of the porpoises found six years ago.
Yangtze finless porpoises, the only freshwater finless porpoise in the world, live mainly in the Yangtze River and China's Dongting and Poyang lakes. They are threatened by shrinking food resources and man-made disturbances like shipping traffic.
The expedition, which took place over 44 days last fall, comes after a similar trek along the Yangtze in 2007 failed to find any surviving Baiji dolphins, a close relative of the finless porpoise that was subsequently declared functionally extinct.
Yangtze Finless Porpoises
Smuggler With 10 Percent Of Entire Species
Ploughshare Tortoises
A man was arrested at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok after authorities say they discovered he was attempting to claim a piece of luggage full of extremely rare tortoises.
Traffic.org, a self-described wildlife trade monitoring network, reports that the man is accused of trying to pick up 54 ploughshare tortoises. "The wild population of Ploughshare Tortoises, considered among the rarest species in the world, is estimated to be as few as 400 individuals, and is declining fast," according to the site. As Popular Science points out, the man is accused of attempting to smuggle more than 10 percent of the entire species.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources has classified the ploughshares tortoise as critically endangered.
The piece of luggage had been registered to a woman who was arrested as well, according to reports. In addition to the 54 ploughshare tortoises, 21 radiated tortoises, also endangered, were being smuggled, authorities say. They believe the tortoises were going to be sold as pets.
Ploughshare Tortoises
In Memory
Phil Ramone
Phil Ramone, the masterful Grammy Award-winning engineer, arranger and producer whose platinum touch included recordings with Ray Charles, Billy Joel and Paul Simon, has died at 72, his family said Saturday.
Ramone's son, Matt Ramone, confirmed the death. The family did not immediately release details of the death, but Matt Ramone said his father was "very loving and will be missed."
Few in the recording industry enjoyed a more spectacular and diverse career. Ramone won 14 competitive Grammy Awards and one for lifetime achievement. Worldwide sales for his projects topped 100 million. He was at ease with rock, jazz, swing and pop, working with Frank Sinatra and Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney, Elton John and Tony Bennett, Madonna and Lou Reed.
One of the biggest names not to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Ramone was on hand for such classic albums as The Band's "The Band" and Bob Dylan's "Blood On the Tracks." He produced three records that went on to win Grammys for album of the year - Simon's "Still Crazy After All These Years," Joel's "52nd Street" and Charles' "Genius Loves Company."
Fascinated by the mechanics of the studio, Ramone was a pioneer of digital recording who produced what is regarded as the first major commercial release on compact disc, "52nd Street," which came out on CD in 1982. He was even part of political history, advising presidential administrations on musical events and how to properly tape a news conference and helping to record the storied 1962 party for John F. Kennedy at Madison Square Garden that featured Marilyn Monroe's gushing rendition of "Happy Birthday."
He thrived whether producing music for the stereo, television, film or the stage. He won an Emmy for a TV special about Duke Ellington, a Grammy for the soundtrack to the Broadway musical "Promises, Promises" and a Grammy for the soundtrack to "Flashdance."
He had uncanny instincts and made an art out of the "Duets" concept, pairing Sinatra with U2 frontman Bono, Luther Vandross and other younger artists, Bennett with McCartney and Barbra Streisand, and Charles with Bonnie Raitt and Van Morrison. In Ramone's memoir, "Making Records," he recalled persuading a hesitant Sinatra to re-record some of his most famous songs.
"I reminded Frank that while Laurence Olivier had performed Shakespeare in his 20s, the readings he did when he was in his 60s gave them new meaning," Ramone wrote. "I spoke with conviction. 'Don't my children - and your grandchildren - deserve to hear the way you're interpreting your classic songs now?'"
A request from Sinatra led to another Ramone innovation: Singers performing simultaneously from separate studios.
A native of South Africa, Ramone seemed born to make music. He had learned violin by age 3 and was trained at The Juilliard School in New York. He might well have enjoyed a traditional concert career, but he was drawn as a teenager to the popular music he secretly listened to on his portable radio, the music people actually listened to, he explained.
Before he turned 20, he and partner Jack Arnold had opened a recording studio, A&R Recording, where he served as engineer for such visiting artists as Count Basie and Sarah Vaughan. He had known Quincy Jones since he was a teenager and in his 20s became close to Streisand. By the end of the 1960s, he had worked on "Midnight Cowboy" and other movie soundtracks and would credit composer John Barry with helping him become a producer.
His credits as a producer, engineer and arranger make it hard to believe they belong to just one person: Joel's "The Stranger," Simon's "There Goes Rhymin' Simon," concert albums by Dylan and the Rolling Stones, such popular singles as Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant," Streisand's "Evergreen," Lesley Gore's "It's My Party," Judy Collins' "Send in the Clowns" and Stan Getz's and Astrud Gilberto's "The Girl from Ipanema."
The bearded, self-effacing Ramone was among the most famous and welcome faces within the business, yet he could walk down virtually any street unnoticed. He was not a high-strung visionary in the tradition of Phil Spector, but rather a highly accomplished craftsman and diplomat who prided himself on his low-key style, on being an "objective filter" for the artist, on not being "a screamer."
Ramone's many industry honors were returned in kind. He was chairman emeritus of the board of trustees of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) and produced Grammy tributes for James Taylor, Brian Wilson and other artists. He was an advocate for musical education and a trustee for the National Recording Preservation Board of the Library of Congress.
Phil Ramone
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
