Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Lucy Mangan: how do I do? Much better without canapes and kisses, thanks (guardian)
When you meet someone new, do you shake hands or kiss? Once? Twice? I don't kiss my parents twice. Or once, if I can help it.
Sam Leith: From teledildonics to interactive porn: the future of sex in a digital age (Guardian)
Can you have sex with a computer? And would you want to? We consider a brave new world of infinite possibilities.
Stuart Jeffries: "Viral videos: around the world in 18 seconds" (Guardian)
You make a video for your friends, or to impress a date. Then, overnight, it gets an audience of millions - and not all of them like it... We find out what happened next.
Taryn Brumfitt: Dear Maria Kang, THIS is my excuse for not having a body like yours (MamaMia)
Maria is a mum of three and she's recently been shamed online and criticized for "fat-shaming women" after she posted this image of her post-baby body on her Faceboook page with the caption "What's your excuse?"
Marc Dion: George In the Garden of Eden (Creators Syndicate)
He has a bear's face and a body that makes him look like a beaver. My wife named him "George" when he wandered onto our tiny urban yard early last fall. George is a groundhog, a rarity in my neighborhood, where the houses are 100-year-old vinyl-sided three-deckers that are, in many cases, less than 15 feet apart.
Robert Evans, Cedric Coleman: 7 Horrifying Things You Didn't (Want to) Know About Prison (Cracked)
Say what you want about America, but one thing is certain: We are awesome at putting people in prison. One out of every 32 of you is either in prison now or on parole.
Tissue Animals (nepia)
"Normally we think of facial tissue as nothing more than snot collectors or eye wipers, but artist Yuki Ariga has found a much cooler use for facial tissues- she folded them into animal shapes and created a cute stop motion animation short where the little paper animals come to life. Tissue Animals was created as an ad for the Japanese paper manufacturer Nepia, and Yuki will no doubt see her original concept duplicated by other paper artists who may have previously overlooked the value of an unsnotty tissue when it comes to creating unique papercraft creations." - Neatorama
"On Your Mark & Castles in the Air (CHAGE & ASKA PV)" (Vimeo)
"In 1995, Hayao Miyazaki had writer's block while working on Princess Mononoke. So he took a break to direct this music video for Chage and Aska's song 'On Your Mark.' And while it may have been a short film, Miyazaki didn't skimp on the visuals. 'On Your Mark' let Miyazaki play with his storytelling through repetition and alternate endings for her trio of protagonists. It's not hard to imagine it fleshed out into a feature-length, time-looping film, but it's perfectly lovely as this self-contained nugget of brilliance." - Lauren Davis of io9
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David Bruce has approximately 50 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
wrote:
has retired.
took the day off.
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.
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
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Marine layer morning, sunny afternoon.
'Calvin and Hobbes' Creator Secretly Returns
Bill Watterson
Bill Watterson, the creator of the beloved "Calvin and Hobbes" comic strip series, secretly returned to the pages of newspapers across the world this week.
The reason no one noticed is that he wasn't creating new stories for his signature characters but was instead making an unannounced guest appearance in Stephan Pastis' "Pearls Before Swine" strip for three days (June 4th-6th).
Watterson asked Pastis to keep their collaboration a secret until all three strips had run.
Pastis posted an entry to his personal blog where he explained how the strange and unexpected collaboration came to be. Like many other artists, he had tried to contact the reclusive Watterson to no avail. But Watterson finally responded after Pastis ran a strip in which his character claims to be the "Calvin and Hobbes" creator in order to pick up a date at a bar.
You can view the three Pearls Before Swine collaboration strips
here,
here and
here.
Bill Watterson
Making Goebbels Proud
Fox 'News'
Fox News is ready to unfurl the mission accomplished banner on its coverage of the Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl prisoner exchange, now that it has a report sourced to a private intelligence firm that, among other things, claimed Bergdahl kind of looked and acted like a jihadist during his long captivity. Based on what Fox 'News' says is a purported eyewitness account of Bergdahl's captivity, James Rosen reports that it included times when he was much more "accepted" by his captors than one would assume, and appeared to convert to Islam. On the other hand, he was also caged "like an animal" after an escape attempt in 2010.
The intelligence comes from a private company owned by Duane Clarridge, a former CIA agent best known for his indictment for lying during the Iran-Contra scandal (he was later pardoned). In 2011, the New York Times described the intelligence dispatches from Clarridge's Eclipse Group as "an amalgam of fact, rumor, analysis and uncorroborated reports." Occasionally, however, those reports have helped military officials. Mainly, they show up in the work of conservative theorists from Oliver North on down.
The reports span from October 2009 to August 2012. Here's an excerpt from one of those reports, which will surely be the one focused on by Bergdahl truthers:
Conditions for Bergdahl have greatly relaxed since the time of the escape. Bergdahl has converted to Islam and now describes himself as a mujahid. Bergdahl enjoys a modicum of freedom, and engages in target practice with the local mujahedeen, firing AK47s. Bergdahl is even allowed to carry a loaded gun on occasion. Bergdahl plays soccer with his guards and bounds around the pitch like a mad man. He appears to be well and happy, and has a noticeable habit of laughing frequently and saying 'Salaam' repeatedly.
The source is someone close to a Haqqani commander tasked with overseeing Bergdahl's captivity, but as Rosen writes, his "trustworthiness had not been fully vetted by the group." There is no evidence that Bergdahl's conversion was genuine, as opposed to coerced or the result of Stockholm Syndrome, as Rosen also notes.
Fox 'News'
Hospital News
Tracy Morgan
Actor and comedian Tracy Morgan was critically injured Saturday after a tractor-trailer rammed into his chauffeured limousine bus, setting off a chain-reaction crash that left one member of his entourage dead and two others seriously hurt, authorities said.
The former "Saturday Night Live" and "30 Rock" cast member was returning from a standup comedy show in Delaware when his Mercedes limo bus carrying seven people overturned on the New Jersey Turnpike near Cranbury Township at about 1 a.m., state police Sgt. 1st Class Greg Williams said.
James McNair, 62, of Peekskill, New York, a passenger in the limo bus, died at the scene, Williams said. Morgan, 45, and Jeffrey Millea, 37, of Shelton, Connecticut, were flown from the accident scene to Robert Wood Johnson Hospital, where they remained in critical condition, hospital spokesman Peter Haigney said.
A fourth passenger, comedian Ardie Fuqua Jr., was also in critical condition at the hospital, while a fifth passenger, Harris Stanton, was treated and released, Haigney said. Two others in the limo were uninjured, Williams said.
Tracy Morgan
3D Pterosaur Eggs Discovered
China
The world's first 3D pterosaur eggs have been discovered among hundreds of fossils in China's Turpan-Hami Basin.
Five eggs were found well preserved and three-dimensional. with some complete specimens, said Xiaolin Wang, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology.
There has been little information on pterosaurs, with only four flattened eggs previously known to science. The fossil record also showed little information about their populations.
Published in the journal Cell Press, the find represents evidence that pterosaurs, which were flying reptiles with wingspans up to 12m, lived together in colonies.
China
Sues Colorado Edible Pot Company
Hershey
The Hershey Co. has sued a Colorado marijuana edibles maker, claiming it makes four pot-infused candies that too closely resemble iconic products of the chocolate maker.
The trademark infringement lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Denver this week against TinctureBelle LLC and TinctureBelle Marijuanka LLC.
It alleges TinctureBelle's Ganja Joy, Hasheath, Hashees and Dabby Patty mimic Hershey's Almond Joy, Heath, Reese's peanut butter cups and York peppermint patty candies, respectively.
Pennsylvania-based Hershey says TinctureBelle products are packaged in a way that will confuse consumers, including children. Hershey's suit says TinctureBelle "creates a genuine safety risk with regard to consumers" who may inadvertently eat them thinking they are ordinary chocolate candy.
Hershey
Reveals Scale Of Government Snooping
Vodafone
Government snooping into phone networks is extensive worldwide, one of the world's largest cellphone companies revealed Friday, saying that several countries demand direct access to its networks without warrant or prior notice.
The detailed report from Vodafone, which covers the 29 countries in which it operates in Europe, Africa and Asia, provides the most comprehensive look to date at how governments monitor mobile phone communications. It amounts to a call for a debate on the issue as businesses increasingly worry about being seen as worthy of trust.
Wiretapping of phones and accessing of call records for law-enforcement purposes is a decades-old and accepted practice even in the most open democracies. With backing from courts, police can request cooperation from phone companies, a valuable tool for the pursuit of criminals.
But the most explosive revelation in Vodafone's report is that in six countries, authorities require direct access to an operator's network - bypassing legal niceties like warrants and eliminating the need to get case-by-case cooperation from phone-company employees. It did not name the countries for legal reasons and to safeguard employees working there.
By making its report public, together with a breakdown on requests for information, Vodafone took the unusual step of entering the international debate about balancing the rights of privacy against security. Rather than being stuck with responsibility and consumer backlash when consumers realize their data has been scooped up without their knowledge, companies like Vodafone have decided it is time to push for a debate.
Vodafone
Hired By Ukrainian Energy Firm
Hunter Biden
Vice President Joe Biden's visit Saturday to support Ukraine's fragile democracy came soon after his youngest son was hired by a private Ukrainian company that promotes energy independence from Moscow.
Yet that company leases natural gas fields in the breakaway Russian-backed state of Crimea and is owned by a former government minister with ties to Ukraine's ousted pro-Russian president.
The hiring of Hunter Biden, 44, by Burisma Holdings Limited in April was approved by the company's owner, a former senior minister and political ally of Viktor Yanukovych, the exiled Ukrainian president. Yanukovych fled to Russia in February after protests erupted over his efforts to establish closer economic ties with Moscow.
American conflict-of-interest laws and federal ethics rules essentially do not regulate the business activities of adult relatives of those who work in the White House.
Hunter Biden
Approves Crow Hunt
Utah
Utah will hold its first ever crow hunt this fall as authorities try to contain the noise and mess from a population of the big, black birds that officials say has tripled over the last 12 years.
The state's Wildlife Board voted 3-2 on Thursday to let hunters cull up to 10 crows each per day in September, and then again between Dec. 1 and Feb. 28, an official said on Friday.
State data shows the crow population has grown some 300 percent since 2002, in part because they live mostly in urban areas across northern Utah where they are relatively safe from predators and have easy access to food.
Bird enthusiasts and other opponents of the plan say it will not solve the problem because hunting will remain prohibited in the urban neighborhoods where most crows are found.
Utah
Tule Fog Becoming Increasingly Rare
California
Tule fog season in California is traditionally between November and March, when rains bring moisture to the state's Central Valley. The term "tule" comes from the plant of the same name (Schoenoplectus acutus), which dominates marshes in the region.
But tule fog may not be the defining feature of Central Valley winters for much longer. A new study, published May 16 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, found that the number of winter fog events declined by 46 percent over the past 32 winters.
The conditions varied year by year depending on the level of moisture, study leader Dennis Baldocchi, a biometeorologist at the University of California, Berkeley, said in a statement.
The decline of tule fog has pros and cons. Dense fog frequently causes traffic accidents in the Central Valley, some on a very large scale. In 2007, for example, dense fog on California's Highway 99 near Fresno caused an 108-car pileup that killed two people. Fewer days of fog means less risk of deadly accidents.
But tule fog is also crucial to the Central Valley's fruit and nut crop, which represent about 95 percent of U.S. production of foods such as cherries, almonds, peaches and apricots, according to UC Berkeley. Fruit and nut trees need a winter chill period to become dormant, and tule fog helps contribute to that chill.
California
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