Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Marc Dion: Riots Lack Diversity (Creators Syndicate)
To our great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers, "race riot" meant white people took beating and killing black people, though, sometimes, depending on location and availability of black people, white people would beat and kill Mexican or Chinese people.
Tim Parks: Reading Upward (NY Review of Books)
"Frankly, I don't mind what they're reading, Twilight, Harry Potter, whatever. So long as they are reading something there's at least a chance that one day they'll move on to something better." How many times have we heard this opinion expressed?
Lucy Mangan: sitting exams is a game, and the game is rigged (Guardian)
'Play the game as best you can while you have to, but try not to believe that it defines you.'
Oliver Burkeman: "This column will change your life: a holiday shared is a break for us all" (Guardian)
'In Sweden, the more people holidayed at the same time, the greater the rate at which antidepressant prescriptions decreased.'
What I'm really thinking: the mountain guide (Guardian)
'Inside I am churning with worries, about my own adequacy, about yours, and about the unforeseeable events of our imminent trip together.'
The Art of Paper Marbling (Vimeo)
"The process of paper marbling […] is captured here in this footage shot by Turkish filmmaker Oguz Uygur. Uygur's parents practice the art, also called erbu, in which paint or ink floats in water as the artist creates patterns in the ink by hand. ??After the design is formed, a piece of washi paper is laid on the surface, which transfers the pattern. The decorative paper is used in book covers, endpapers and stationery. Paper marbling originated in Asia and the Middle East.?[…] the artist manipulate the inks to make the pattern is mesmerizing." - Neatorama
Evan V. Symon, Ivan Farkas, Jordan Rudow: 5 Mundane Things That Caused Earth-Shattering Destruction (Cracked)
Hurricanes, tornadoes, avalanches, Johnny Cash -- all well-known sources of disaster. The damage they cause is tragic, but at least they come from an understandable place. You can see the storm clouds brewing, or that the whiskey bottle is 3/4 empty. You have advance notice that something bad is coming your way.
Mark Lawson: "George RR Martin: '"Selfies"! If I could burn out every camera phone, I'd do it'" (Guardian)
The Game of Thrones author talks about celebrity, Scotland and the unused material that he's tempted to publish.
Jesse Walker: the Greatest Fake Religion of All Time (io9)
Over fifty years ago, a group of pranksters founded a satiric religion devoted to creating conspiracy theories so insane that nobody would ever believe uncritically in conspiracies again. They called themselves the Discordians. And their weird ideas are still influencing us today.
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:
took the day off.
has retired(?).
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.
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
Sunny but with a nice breeze.
Doctors Decline To Join Anti-Marijuana Campaign
Canada
The main groups representing Canadian doctors have declared they will not participate in Health Canada's upcoming anti-drug campaign targeting young people.
"The educational campaign has now become a political football on Canada's marijuana policy," said a joint statement released Saturday by the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC), Canadian Medical Association (CMA) and Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.
"We did not, and do not, support or endorse any political messaging or political advertising on this issue."
The release said all three organizations had been "invited to co-brand and provide expert advice" on the public campaign, initiated and funded by Health Canada.
They emphasized, however, that they will "continue working to enhance public education and increase awareness of the health risks of drug and alcohol consumption by Canada's young people."
Canada
In Negotiations for New Talk Show
Craig Ferguson
Craig Ferguson, the outgoing host of The Late Late Show, is in final talks with Tribune Media for a new syndicated talk show, Variety reports.
Slated to premiere in the fall of 2015, the show will air weeknights at 7 p.m. across Tribune stations as part of a lead-in to primetime. Reruns of popular sitcoms like The Big Bang Theory would then follow at 7:30 p.m.
Not long after news broke that Stephen Colbert would be taking over for David Letterman, CBS' other late-night host announced in April that he was stepping down as host of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson after 10 years. "CBS and I are not getting divorced, we are 'consciously uncoupling,'" Ferguson said at the time. "We will still spend holidays together and share custody of the fake horse and robot skeleton, both of whom we love very much."
Ferguson officially signs off in December, but reports are already circulating that British comedian and Tony winner James Corden will replace him. CBS has not yet officially announced Ferguson's successor.
Craig Ferguson
Jury Duty
Mr. T
Lawrence Tureaud, better known as Mr. T, was in true form as he waited outside a suburban Chicago courthouse to be called for jury duty.
Sporting his usual Mohawk and wearing an FBI sweatshirt and hat, but not a gold chain, the star of "Rocky III" and TV's "The A-Team" signed autographs and made his feelings known.
He said, "I pity the criminals today," as he explained he had been designated a potential juror for a trial scheduled for Friday.
The Daily Herald in Arlington Heights reports the 62-year-old Tureaud said he never considered "playing hooky" after receiving the jury summons to the Rolling Meadows court.
Tureaud wasn't picked as a juror.
Mr. T
Asked To Reveal Policies
UK Councils
Is your town safe from dragon attack? Inquiring minds want to know.
A list of the top 10 strangest questions posed by Freedom of Information Act petitioners has been published Saturday by England's Local Government Association.
The group, which represents more than 350 councils, asked the public not to burden its staff with questions deemed "vexatious," a.k.a. ridiculous.
Rossendale Council was asked to detail its employment of exorcists and faith healers. Worthing Council was asked to explain its emergency plans for meteor strikes and solar flares. Birmingham was asked to reveal how many requests it's had to screen public buildings for ghosts.
And there be dragons in northwest England, apparently. One fact-seeker asked Wigan Council: "What plans are in place to protect the town from a dragon attack?"
UK Councils
OSHA Cites Film Company
"Midnight Rider"
A production company formed to make a biographical film about singer Gregg Allman was cited by federal regulators Thursday for workplace safety violations stemming from a train crash in rural Georgia that killed a camera assistant and injured six others.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration proposed $74,900 in fines against Film Allman LLC, a company incorporated in 2013 to make the movie "Midnight Rider." The company was cited for two safety violations saying it willfully put workers in danger of being struck by a live train and put them at risk of falling off a railroad bridge where they were shooting a scene.
Filming had just begun on "Midnight Rider" when a freight train plowed into the crew Feb. 20 on a railroad trestle spanning the Altamaha River in rural Wayne County southwest of Savannah. The collision killed 27-year-old Sarah Jones. Investigators say fellow crew members were injured either by the train itself or flying shrapnel from a bed that had been placed across the tracks as a movie prop.
The citations don't name any individual officers associated with Film Allman LLC. The company's incorporation papers list the same Pasadena, California, address as Unclaimed Freight Productions, which is owned by "Midnight Rider" director Randall Miller and his wife, Jody Savin. Their attorney, Don Samuel, declined to comment.
"Midnight Rider"
Can Be Used Against Suspects
Silence
The California Supreme Court has ruled that the silence of suspects can be used against them.
Wading into a legally tangled vehicular manslaughter case, a sharply divided high court on Thursday effectively reinstated the felony conviction of a man accused in a 2007 San Francisco Bay Area crash that left an 8-year-old girl dead and her sister and mother injured.
Richard Tom was sentenced to seven years in prison for manslaughter after authorities said he was speeding and slammed into another vehicle at a Redwood City intersection.
Prosecutors repeatedly told jurors during the trial that Tom's failure to ask about the victims immediately after the crash but before police read him his so-called Miranda rights showed his guilt.
Legal analysts said the ruling could affect future cases, allowing prosecutors to exploit a suspect's refusal to talk before invoking 5th Amendment rights against self-incrimination.
Silence
Teen Sentenced
Paul Walker
A teenager who stole a rooftop panel from the wrecked Porsche of actor Paul Walker, soon after the "Fast and Furious" star was killed in a crash, was sentenced on Thursday to six months in jail, a spokesman for prosecutors said.
Jameson Brooks Witty, 18, who is one of two people arrested for taking the car part, pleaded guilty this month to grand theft of property, destroying evidence and obstructing a peace officer, said a statement from the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
A Los Angeles County judge on Thursday sentenced Witty to six months in county jail and three years of probation, said Ricardo Santiago, a spokesman for the District Attorney's Office. Anthony Edward Janow, 26, who pleaded guilty to the same charges, is scheduled to be sentenced in October, prosecutors said.
On the day of crash, someone using the Instagram handle "jamesonwitty" posted photos of a portion of the roof of a red Porsche and wrote, "Piece of Paul walkers car, took it off a tow truck at a stop light."
Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies arrested Witty in December after searching his home.
Paul Walker
Pays German Fine
Bieber
German authorities say Justin Bieber has paid 8,000 euros ($10,700) he owed after attempting to bring a pet monkey into the country last year without the necessary papers.
Bieber failed to produce vaccination and import papers for Mally the monkey on arriving in Munich in March 2013, and the animal was seized by customs. Mally became the German government's property after the singer failed to claim his pet, and now lives at a zoo in northern Germany.
Franz Emde, a spokesman for the German Federal Nature Conservation Agency, said that Bieber this week paid a 2,100 euro fine for the monkey's import plus the costs of several weeks' care at an animal shelter.
Failure to pay could have put Bieber in legal difficulty if he travelled in the EU.
Bieber
Beer Shortage And A Heatwave
Cuba
Cuba has been hit by a severe beer shortage during one of its hottest summers on record, sparking hoarding and driving thirsty drinkers to pay greatly inflated prices.
A sharp fall in production at the island's main brewery, Bucanero, at the beginning of the year has trickled its way down the supply chain at the worst possible time: the third-hottest summer since 1951.
Bucanero makes four brands of beer: Bucanero, Cristal, Cacique and Mayabe. The company has a virtual monopoly in Cuba, though some imported beers are also available, albeit at a large mark-up.
Cuban media said the problem was caused by delayed imports of malted barley in the first four months of the year.
That hit production at Bucanero, a joint venture between the Cuban state and brewing giant Anheuser-Busch InBev, and reached consumers just as summer set in.
Cuba
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