Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Ted Rall: If You Can Get Fired Over Your Politics, What Good Is the First Amendment? (Creators Syndicate)
Now that the controversy over Mozilla's firing of CEO Brendan Eich over his anti-gay politics has subsided (and before something similar happens again, which it surely will), it's time for a brief tutorial on McCarthyism.
Alison Flood: Philip Pullman leads authors condemning inadequate prison libraries (Guardian)
Society of Authors' letter charges justice minister Chris Grayling with failure to fulfil statutory responsibilities.
Alison Flood: Scanner for ebook cannot tell its 'arms' from its 'anus' (Guardian)
A technical problem with optical character recognition software creates some awkward moments in romantic novels.
Lucy Mangan: how I missed out on the house price boom (Guardian)
I could have been sitting on a fortune now, if it weren't for my parents' lack of nous in the housing market.
Rosanna Greenstreet: "Q&A: Marc Quinn" (Guardian)
'What single thing would improve the quality of my life? More money.'
Emma Brockes: "Diane Keaton: 'I love Woody. And I believe my friend'" (Guardian)
Diane Keaton was dragged into the feud between Dylan Farrow and her father earlier this year. Is she resentful? Not at all. As she promotes her second memoir Let's Just Say It Wasn't Pretty, the Annie Hall actor talks about exes, surviving Hollywood and becoming a mother at 50.
Miss Lonelyheart's Advice to Skylar White (Winnepeg Free Press)
"Miss Lonelyhearts is an advice columnist for the Winnipeg Free Press. She is not, evidently, a Breaking Bad fan. If she had watched the show, then she might have realized that "Stressed and Confused" is actually Skyler White." - Neatorama
Charlotte Allen: So You Want to Live Forever (Weekly Standard)
Immortality through advanced technology and primitive diet.
Dr. David Lipschitz: The Key to Living Long and Aging Well (Creators Syndicate)
Half the over-85 demographic is independent, remains sharp as a tack and enjoys life to the fullest. My mother has moved in with her 94-year-old boyfriend, and my friend's 80-year-old mother just gave up riding her Harley. We can be like this, provided we pay close attention to our health.
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
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David Bruce has approximately 50 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
"Doug's Most Shared Facebook Post" Today
wrote:
, replied:
answered:
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
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.
So - to let you know what's going on, the guestbook on bartcop.com is
still open for those who want to write something in memory of Bart.
I did an interview on Netroots Radio about Bart's passing
( www.stitcher.com/s?eid=32893545 )
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
Thanks, Marc!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and a bit cooler.
Banned At Las Vegas Casino
Ben Affleck
Actor Ben Affleck was banned from playing blackjack at a Las Vegas casino because he was "too good," a source close to the Oscar-winner said on Friday.
Affleck, 41, was stopped earlier this week by security guards at the Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas while playing blackjack because "you are too good," the source said. He was told he could play other games at the casino.
The actor was on a short break in Las Vegas with his wife Jennifer Garner before he left to shoot Zack Snyder's upcoming "Man of Steel" sequel where he will play Batman opposite Henry Cavill's Superman.
An earlier story by celebrity news outlet TMZ.com said Affleck had been banned for life from the casino for counting cards, a method of using probability to predict the next hand.
Ben Affleck
Commencement Speaker Declines
Rutgers
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (R-Peter Principle) has decided against delivering the commencement address at Rutgers University following protests by some faculty and students over her role in the Iraq War.
Rice said in a statement Saturday that she informed Rutgers President Robert Barchi that she was declining the invitation.
The school's board of governors had voted to pay the former secretary of state under resident George W. Bush and national security adviser $35,000 for her appearance at the May 18 ceremony.
But some students and faculty had protested, staging sit-ins and saying Rice bore some responsibility for the Iraq War as a member of the Bush administration. Barchi and other school leaders had resisted the calls to disinvite Rice, saying the university welcomes open discourse on controversial topics.
Rutgers
Signs With Nonesuch for New Album
Robert Plant
Rock legend Robert Plant has signed a deal with Nonesuch Records ahead of the release of a new album. The label announced that the Led Zeppelin alum's upcoming release, his tenth solo effort, will feature his roots and psychedelic-inspired backing band, The Sensational Space Shifters.
"I'm pleased to find such a reputable home for our renegade departures," Plant says in a statement from the label. "The support and encouragement we have received has been strong and refreshing."
Further details, including a release date, will be announced soon. The album will be released worldwide on Nonesuch/Warner Bros. Records.
Plant and the Space Shifters are spending this summer on tour, with dates in Europe that include festival stops at Pinkpop, Glastonbury and Montreux. Their live shows are peppered with re-imagined versions of familiar Led Zeppelin songs, which Plant has said keeps him excited about getting the Led out.
Robert Plant
Optimal Hours
Sleep
Seven. That seems to be the magic number when it comes to optimal sleep time, according to new research that looked at the connection between sleeping habits and age-related memory loss.
In what's described as the first study of its kind, researchers at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Massachusetts found that extreme sleep duration -- either too much or too little -- in middle-aged women led to worse memory later in life.
The same was observed in women who reported erratic sleep patterns: those whose sleep durations changed by more than two hours a day also increased their risk of developing faulty memories later in life compared to those who kept regular sleep schedules.
"Our findings suggest that getting an 'average' amount of sleep, seven hours per day, may help maintain memory in later life and that clinical interventions based on sleep therapy should be examined for the prevention of cognitive impairment."
Sleep
'Searching for Sugar Man'
Sixto Rodriguez
Those who have seen Searching for Sugar Man might think they know the astonishing tale of Sixto Rodriguez, but there's an important aspect of the musician's story that is now coming to light, thanks to a lawsuit that was filed on Friday.
As the the Oscar-winning documentary detailed, Rodriguez recorded a couple of albums in the 1970s that seemingly were commercial bombs. Unbeknownst to the Michigan-born songwriter was the fact that his songs had made him a star on the scale of Elvis Presley in South Africa. Fans there took up his songs as anti-apartheid anthems, and only decades later, after Rodriguez slipped into obscurity and had been rumored to have committed suicide, did he triumphantly make it to South Africa to discover his tremendous success.
That story is premised upon the idea that Rodriguez and his reps did all they could to try to hit it big in the United States before things turned out amazingly different. But a new lawsuit could provoke some questions about those surrounding Rodriguez in the '70s, and at very least, details the possibility that songs released in South Africa constitute fraud and copyright infringement.
The complaint filed in Michigan federal court introduces some allegations against Clarence Avant, an influential music executive who years after signing Rodriguez in 1970 to make the album Cold Fact, became chairman of the board at Motown Records.
Sixto Rodriguez
Journalist Gets Award, Denied Bail
Mohamed Fahmy
The brother of Mohamed Fahmy, an Egyptian-Canadian journalist imprisoned in Cairo, says that his brother's World Press Freedom Award 'couldn't have come at a better time."
"It was certainly very optimistic for Mohamed," Adel Fahmy told CBC News on Saturday. "[The award] serves many purposes."
The Canadian Committee for World Press Freedom recognized the Al-Jazeera English producer at a luncheon in Ottawa on Friday.
Fahmy and two colleagues, his Al-Jazeera English co-workers, Baher Mohammed and Australian Peter Greste, were arrested in December and face terrorism-related charges. They are on trial along with 17 others.
Mohamed Fahmy
Wynn Suit Can Proceed
Nevada
A Nevada state judge ruled on Friday that a civil lawsuit between Wynn Resorts and Japanese billionaire Kazuo Okada could proceed, rejecting the U.S. government's request to keep it on hold for another six months to protect the identity of witnesses in a criminal probe into Okada's business in the Philippines.
Clark County District Judge Elizabeth Gonzales, who had already granted two previous motions suspending the civil proceedings for a total of 12 months, said the U.S. government had already been given enough time.
She did, however, grant the government's request to have the names of anyone cooperating with the investigation redacted in court files.
For more than two years, Okada has been locked in a legal battle with Wynn Chief Executive Steve Wynn, during which the former business partners have exchanged allegations of illegal conduct.
Wynn forcibly redeemed Okada's 20 percent stake in the U.S. casino operator in 2012 at a discount, alleging Okada had made improper payments to Philippine government officials to advance his planned $2 billion casino project there. Wynn's civil lawsuit against Okada centers on allegations that Okada breached his fiduciary duties as a director in making those payments.
Nevada
US Pushes to Militarize
Japan
Japan marked the 67th anniversary of its postwar constitution Saturday with growing debate over whether to revise the war-renouncing charter in line with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push for an expanded role for the military.
The ruling conservative party has long advocated revision but been unable to sway public opinion. Now Abe is proposing that the government reinterpret the constitution to give the military more prominence without having to win public approval for the revisions.
His push, backed by the U.S. which wants Japan to bear a greater burden of its own defense, has upset the liberals who see it as undermining the constitution and democratic processes.
The ruling Liberal-Democratic Party has long denounced the postwar constitution as one imposed by the U.S., which occupied Japan from the end of World War II until 1952. Abe's grandfather and role model Nobusuke Kishi - who was arrested as a suspected war criminal but never charged and later became prime minister - was among vocal opponents of the constitution.
Japan
Drones A Daily Sight
Yosemite
The bald eagle, the yellow warbler and the peregrine falcon have been joined in the skies above Yosemite National Park by a noisy newcomer: the drone.
The National Park Service issued a statement Friday reminding visitors that federal regulations actually ban the use of unmanned aircraft within the park's boundaries.
Yet that hasn't stopped drone sightings from becoming a nearly daily occurrence in one of the nation's most venerated national parks in recent years, said Scott Gediman, a park ranger for nearly two decades.
The drones can often be seen buzzing loudly near waterfalls, above meadows or over treetops as guests use them to capture otherwise impossible-to-get photographs of the breathtaking landscape.
"Most if not all of the people using these are simply unaware that they're illegal," Gediman told The Associated Press.
Yosemite
In Memory
Efrem Zimbalist Jr.
Handsome, debonair and blessed with a distinguished voice that reflected his real-life prep school upbringing, Efrem Zimbalist Jr. seemed born to play the television roles that made him famous, that of hip Hollywood detective and brilliant G-man.
A prolific actor who also appeared in numerous films and stage productions, Zimbalist became a household name in 1958 as Stu Bailey, the wisecracking private investigator who was a co-partner in a swinging Hollywood detective agency located at the exclusive address of "77 Sunset Strip."
When the show of the same name ended in 1964, Zimbalist became an even bigger star playing the empathetic, methodical G-man Lewis Erskine in "The F.B.I."
The actor, who in recent years had retired to his ranch in Southern California's bucolic horse country, died there Friday at age 95.
"We are heartbroken to announce the passing into peace of our beloved father, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., today at his Solvang ranch," the actor's daughter Stephanie Zimbalist and son Efrem Zimbalist III said in a statement. "He actively enjoyed his life to the last day, showering love on his extended family, playing golf and visiting with close friends."
Zimbalist's stunning good looks and cool, deductive manner made him an instant star when "77 Sunset Strip" began its six-season run in 1958.
He and his partner Jeff Spencer (played by Roger Smith) operated from an office in the center of Hollywood where, aided by their sometime helper, Kookie, a jive-talking beatnik type who doubled as a parking lot attendant, they tracked down miscreants.
Kookie's character, played by Edd Byrnes, helped draw young viewers to the show, and his constant hair combing created the national catchphrase, "Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb."
When the program's run ended in 1964, Zimbalist segued seamlessly into "The F.B.I." the following year and that program aired until 1974.
At the end of each episode, after Zimbalist and his fellow G-men had captured that week's mobsters, subversives, bank robbers or spies, the series would post real photos from the FBI's most-wanted list. Some of them led to arrests, which helped give the show the complete seal of approval of the agency's real-life director, J. Edgar Hoover.
The son of violin virtuoso Efrem Zimbalist and acclaimed opera singer Alma Gluck, young Efrem initially appeared headed for a musical career himself. He studied violin for seven years under the tutelage of Jascha Heifetz's father, but eventually developed more interest in theatre.
After serving in World War II, he made his stage debut in "The Rugged Path," starring Spencer Tracy, and appeared in other plays and a soap opera before being called to Hollywood. Warner Bros. signed him to a contract and cast him in minor film roles.
He also had a recurring role in the hit Western series "Maverick," playing con man Dandy Jim Buckley.
His daughter Stephanie also took up acting - and small-screen detective work, in the hit 1980s TV series "Remington Steele." Her father had a recurring role in that show, again playing a con man.
During summer breaks between his two hit series, Warner Bros. cast Zimbalist in several feature films, including "Too Much Too Soon," ''Home Before Dark," ''The Crowded Sky," ''The Chapman Report" and "Wait Until Dark." In the latter, he played the husband of Audrey Hepburn, a blind woman terrorized by thugs in a truly frightening film.
Zimbalist also appeared in "By Love Possessed," ''Airport 1975," ''Terror Out of the Sky" and "Hot Shots."
Efrem Zimbalist Jr. was born in New York City on Nov. 30, 1918.
In 1945, Zimbalist married Emily McNair and they had a daughter, Nancy, and son, Efrem III.
After his wife died in 1950 he gave up acting for a time to teach at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, where his father was an artist in residence. He returned to Hollywood five years later, marrying Loranda Stephanie Spalding in 1956, and she gave birth to their daughter Stephanie.
Zimbalist was preceded in death by his second wife and by his daughter Nancy.
In addition to his son and other daughter, Stephanie, he is survived by four grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.
Efrem Zimbalist Jr.
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