Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Lee Camp: This Is The Instruction Manual To Pillaging The World - MOC #25 (YouTube)
Brandon Weber: The Real Number Of Hours Teachers Work In One Eye-Opening Graphic (Upworthy)
When you look at the time teachers actually spend working, you can see that it's not a cakewalk - at all. The next time your city or state wants to cut back on teacher salaries or hammer their pensions, here's something to show around to folks before they make a decision.
Brandon Weber: Why Is The Middle Class Disappearing? Here Are Some Clues (Upworthy)
There was a time when the jobs our parents and grandparents had were pretty crappy, too. Folks got together and changed that for the better, much like some who work for minimum wage are trying to do now - or, in the case of the models starting at 0:50, who work for clothes instead of wages.
Paul Krugman: Singapore is the New Chile (New York Times)
Remember the 2005 Social Security debate? George W. Bush had just been returned to office; his campaign was focused on national security and social issues - as I like to say, he ran as America's defender against gay married terrorists - but as soon as the returns were in, he declared that he had a mandate to … privatize Social Security.
Joe Queenan: The future's bright. Shame cinema isn't (Guardian)
Tattooed thugs in vests using lasers that look like kids' water guns … Why can't sci-fi films get to grips with what the future might actually be like?
Harriet Gibsone: "Nigel Godrich: what he really thinks about Spotify" Guardian)
The award-winning producer on greed, technology, the future of the music industry and his creative partnership with Radiohead.
Adam K. Raymond: 6 Complicated Concepts Explained Using Kitchen Items
THE BIG BANG THEORY Explained by a Muffin.
World's Largest Record Collection is Worth $50 Million; No One Wants it for $3 Million (Gizmodo)
If you're looking for a sign that we live in a digital world that cares not for the physical manifestations of our analog past, you need only look at Paul Mawhinney's record collection. At over 3 million records, it's the largest in the world. He's trying to sell it due to his advancing age and health problems. Unfortunately, as he puts it, "no one gives a damn."
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
For once I was running early, and was in the middle of uploading the elements for the page last night, when I heard an odd noise on the porch.
Turned out to be a dog the size of small shetland pony with one of the kitties in his mouth. I ran out the door, kicked the dog and it dropped the cat. Then it turned it's head and chomped down on my left foot, and Clipper the cat escaped under a car.
The shetland-pony-dog had an assistant, a smaller white & black sorta-looked-like-a-terrier dog, that then flushed the cat out from under the car, and the shetland-pony-dog scooped up poor Clipper and took off at a gallop.
I grabbed a broom, and followed, but lost sight of them down the back alley.
Went back to the house for my glasses, a headlamp and a better weapon, my trusty 9-iron, then ran back down the alley. Found a decrepit house with a falling-apart fence and I heard the evil dogs barking.
I didn't realize that the dog bite had broken skin, and started getting upset over the amount of blood. Called 911, and they sent the paramedics, who really weren't needed, and then animal control came.
The animal control officer made out a report, took poor dead-with-her-throat-ripped-out Clipper, and left saying she'd drive by the house, but it was something best handled by the light of day.
She said the police probably wouldn't show up, but I sat up until 6am hoping they would.
Called the police today, but they said it's animal control issue, and gave me some information on how to get a copy of the report, and how to follow up on it.
Also called my councilman, but there has been no response. Yes, I know it's a Saturday, and, gee, it's only a dead cat and a dog bite, but I'm disappointed.
Walked down the alley this afternoon, and fence has not been fixed, and the killer dogs can still be heard.
Anyway, I'm a bit rattled, and angry, and sad, and just plain upset in general.
Astronaut Honors Legacy
JFK
An astronaut aboard the International Space Station has paid tribute to John F. Kennedy, flying a medallion to the orbiting outpost that bears the likeness of the 35th President of the United States.
NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, who is serving as a flight engineer on board the space station, sent down photos on Wednesday (Aug. 21) showing the medal floating in front of a window with a view of the Earth below.
"As an admirer of President John F. Kennedy and a friend of the Kennedy Library, [U.S. Naval] Commander Cassidy offered to bring a bronze medallion emblazoned with JFK's likeness and a quote from his inaugural address into space to honor President Kennedy's commitment to space exploration," the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum posted to Facebook on Thursday (Aug 22). "Just yesterday, Commander Cassidy sent us these photos of JFK's medallion in space."
The 3-inch (7.6 centimeters) bronze medallion that Cassidy flew to the space station was created as part of the U.S Mint's presidential medallion series. The commemorative's obverse (or front) features a high-relief bust of Kennedy.
JFK
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Foster's Comedy Award
Women's rights campaigner Bridget Christie won one of Britain's most prestigious comedy awards on Saturday for a polemical stand-up show against men's lifestyle magazines.
The Foster's Comedy Award for best act at the annual Edinburgh Festival Fringe brings with it 10,000 pounds ($15,600) and has been the launch pad for many stars.
Christie, 41, said she almost gave up comedy to look after her two children before the show, "A Bic for Her", drew sell-out crowds and critical acclaim.
Christie's show mainly targets "Lad's Mags", British magazines full of scantily-clad women and sports articles that can sit on the lower shelves of newsagents' stores because they are not classified as pornography.
Actor Hugh Laurie, star of U.S. TV medical drama "House", won the prize back in 1981 when it was called the Perrier Comedy Award. Steve Coogan and the sketch group behind the dark British TV comedy "League of Gentlemen" have also won the award.
Foster's Comedy Award
World Championship
Air Guitar
American Eric "Mean" Melin was crowned air guitar world champion on Friday after his fierce rendition of alternative rock band Weezer's "Hash Pipe" impressed judges at an annual competition in the northern Finnish city of Oulu.
Melin narrowly beat compatriot Doug "The Thunder" Stroock after a play-off by showing off a combination of energetic headbanging and charismatic stage presence.
The Finns started the competition in the 1990s and it is one of many offbeat events such as wife-carrying and mobile phone-throwing held in the summer, when normally reserved Fins like to celebrate the warmer weather with goofy games.
Melin wore a sleeveless T-shirt and dark jeans, while some rivals opted for more dramatic costumes including the leather, viking-style bodysuit of 2012 champion Justin "Nordic Thunder" Howard. Melin described his pursuit as both silly and serious.
"All the people from around the world who do this crazy thing that we do, that is so ridiculous and so nuts and so silly... we want to elevate the art of air guitar to performance art," he said. "We're not pretending to play the guitar, we're not playing invisible guitars. We're playing the air guitar."
Air Guitar
Mystery Gnome Homes
Kansas
Overland Park, Kan., has some new, pint-size residents. Or at least, residences. Tiny "gnome homes" have sprung up at the base of knotty trees, two at last count, around the city's Tomahawk Creek Trail.
"We don't know when they arrived or who's living in these little tree homes, but we welcome them to Overland Park," City spokesman Sean Reilly told local station KMBZ.
The city has rolled out the welcome mat for its gnome neighbors, providing the public with a map and an introduction on Facebook.
"It's recently been discovered that a small gnome population has become the city's newest residents" the Facebook post reads. "The gnomes are currently residing in trees along the Tomahawk Creek Trail. They just moved to the area and would love to meet any neighbors they may have. Here are the locations of their tiny houses, so feel free to stop by and say hello! They will even leave a note and tea if "Gnomebodies" home … how thoughtful!"
Kansas
Out of Tully's Coffee Venture
Patrick Dempsey
Actor Patrick Dempsey and his business partner in the venture that acquired Tully's Coffee out of bankruptcy have dissolved their partnership.
In a joint statement late Friday, the "Grey's Anatomy" star and California lawyer Michael Avenatti said their legal dispute has been "fully resolved to the satisfaction of all concerned."
Dubbed "McDreamy" on the TV hospital drama, Dempsey was the public face of the successful bid. He said Friday he was "happy to have been a part of the effort that brought awareness to the Tully's brand."
Court documents filed Aug. 20 in Dempsey's King County Superior Court lawsuit against Avenatti said the lawyer initially was the sole owner of Global Baristas LLC. The documents say Dempsey joined Global Baristas a short time later. The ownership group prevailed against other bidders including Starbucks in an auction last January that included more than 40 Puget Sound-area Tully's stores.
Patrick Dempsey
Back Gay Writer
Mormon Authors
More than 40 Mormon authors are backing a gay writer in his dispute with a Utah publisher over a reference to the writer's boyfriend.
Authors Michael Jensen and David Powers King say Sweetwater Books, a division of Cedar Fort Publishing & Media based in Springville, canceled publication of their young-adult fantasy novel "Woven" because of the flap.
The authors, in a news release, said the action was taken after Jensen demanded that his biographical blurb include the fact that he lives with his boyfriend in Salt Lake City.
Forty-one Mormon authors had signed a letter in support of Jensen as of Saturday morning, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.
"While publishers have the right to choose what they will and will not publish, we believe books should be accepted or rejected upon the merits of their content, quality, and commercial viability, not on any other factor," the letter states.
Mormon Authors
Selling Out?
Food Banks
Food banks, once humble distributors of excess food thrown off by supermarkets and manufacturers, have become corporate enablers of the industrial food system, according to one longtime food activist.
Amid a historic recession and food prices rising faster than wages, the number of people served by food banks in America rose by 46 percent between 2006 and 2010. But behind the stacked boxes and eager volunteers is what author Andy Fisher calls an unholy alliance between food banks and corporations, many of whom earn big tax credits and glowing PR for donating money and food to anti-hunger groups.
It gets worse, he says: The country's largest food banks are governed by boards dominated by corporations, including Fortune 500 industrial food companies like Walmart, ConAgra, and major grocery chains. As many as a quarter of the board members at major food banks come from Fortune 500 or Global 500 companies, Fisher found.
He adds that of the top 25 corporate donors to food banks, he considers "a third are good corporate citizens, a third are OK, and a third are scoundrels," where "corporate and social responsibility is lacking."
Fisher comes to his observations with intimate knowledge of the anti-hunger efforts in the United States. His Community Food Security Coalition was credited with spearheading efforts to link healthy, local food with underserved neighborhoods before its dissolution a few years ago. Since then, he's been working on food security issues in his own community, Portland, OR, and writing. This includes his current foray into the sticky world of corporations fighting hunger.
Food Banks
Mayor Defeats Hulk Hogan In Arm-Wrestling
Toronto
Toronto's larger-than-life mayor took down wrestling star Hulk Hogan in a friendly arm-wrestling match Friday to kick off an annual pop culture convention.
The 14-time world wrestling champion, in a T-shirt and his trademark bandanna, entered the room to applause and his old wrestling theme music, while Mayor Rob Ford strutted in to "Eye of the Tiger." Ford ripped off his jacket and tie, untucked his dress shirt and rolled up his sleeves.
"Big man, oh, that's all you got?" Hogan asked Ford, who weighs in at 307 pounds as the pair locked hands.
A sweating Ford seemed to struggle at first. But after 20 some seconds of trash talk and stalemate, he slammed Hogan's arm down.
Toronto
Germans Love It
'Django Unchained'
The British love "Les Miserables," Japan's favorite film this year has been "Monsters University" and in Germany, Austria and Sweden, the leader is still ... "Django Unchained"?
With Disney/Marvel's "Iron Man 3" blasting away overseas - more than $805 million of its $1.21 billion worldwide comes from abroad - it's easy to presume it No. 1 across the map. That's true in the majority of the biggest markets, including Russia, Brazil, France and Australia.
But a random (and unscientific) survey of the top films in various markets turns up a few anomalies that might surprise.
Piracy, varying screen-counts, release dates, local distributors - and cultural differences, of course - make pure apples-to-apples comparisons impossible. In the case of China, where the game is rigged to favor homegrown films, "Iron Man 3" is actually No. 2 with $121 million, behind local hit "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons," which has brought in $198 million, according to Box Office Mojo.
But in the U.K., Universal and Illumination Entertainment's "Despicable Me 2" moved into the top spot this week with $68 million. The minions are No. 2 on the list of overall foreign earners - so their leading is no shock.
'Django Unchained'
In Memory
Julie Harris
Julie Harris, one of Broadway's most honored performers, whose roles ranged from the flamboyant Sally Bowles in "I Am a Camera" to the reclusive Emily Dickinson in "The Belle of Amherst," died Saturday. She was 87.
Harris died at her West Chatham, Mass. home of congestive heart failure, actress and family friend Francesca James said.
Harris won a record five Tony Awards for best actress in a play, displaying a virtuosity that enabled her to portray an astonishing gallery of women during a theater career that spanned almost 60 years and included such plays as "The Member of the Wedding" (1950), "The Lark" (1955), "Forty Carats" (1968) and "The Last of Mrs. Lincoln" (1972).
Television viewers knew Harris as the free-spirited Lilimae Clements on the prime-time soap opera "Knots Landing." In the movies, she was James Dean's romantic co-star in "East of Eden" (1955), and had rolls in such films as "Requiem for a Heavyweight" (1962), "The Haunting" (1963) and "Reflections in a Golden Eye" (1967).
Yet Harris' biggest successes and most satisfying moments have been on stage. "The theater has been my church," the actress once said. "I don't hesitate to say that I found God in the theater."
The 5-foot-4 Harris, blue-eyed with delicate features and reddish-gold hair, made her Broadway debut in 1945 in a short-lived play called "It's a Gift." Five years later, at the age of 24, Harris was cast as Frankie, a lonely 12-year-old tomboy on the brink of adolescence, in "The Member of the Wedding," Carson McCullers' stage version of her wistful novel.
The critics raved about Harris, with Brooks Atkinson in The New York Times calling her performance "extraordinary - vibrant, full of anguish and elation."
The actress appeared in the 1952 film version, too, with her original Broadway co-stars, Ethel Waters and Brandon De Wilde, and received an Academy Award nomination.
Harris won her first Tony Award for playing Sally Bowles, the confirmed hedonist in "I Am a Camera," adapted by John van Druten from Christopher Isherwood's "Berlin Stories." The play later became the stage and screen musical "Cabaret." In her second Tony-winning performance, Harris played a much more spiritual character, Joan of Arc in Lillian Hellman's adaptation of Jean Anouilh's "The Lark." The play had a six-month run, primarily because of the notices for Harris.
Her third Tony came for her work in "Forty Carats," a frothy French comedy about an older woman and a younger man. It was a big hit, running nearly two years.
Harris won her last two Tonys for playing historical figures - Mary Todd Lincoln in "The Last of Mrs. Lincoln" and poet Emily Dickinson in "The Belle of Amherst" by William Luce. The latter, a one-woman show, became something of an annuity for Harris, a play she would take around the country at various times in her career.
In 2005, she was one of five performers to receive Kennedy Center honors.
Harris was born on Dec. 2, 1925, in Grosse Pointe, Mich., the daughter of an investment banker. She grew up fascinated by movies, later saying she thought of herself as plain-looking and turned to acting as a way of becoming other persons.
She made her stage debut at the Grosse Pointe Country Day School in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" at age 14. In the years that followed, she studied drama in finishing school, prep school, Yale University and the Actor's Studio.
Before "Knots Landing," Harris made numerous guest-starring television appearances on dramas and was a regular on two quickly canceled series - "Thicker Than Water" in 1973 and "The Family Holvak" in 1975.
Her Emmys were for performances in two "Hallmark Hall of Fame" presentations: "Little Moon of Alban" in 1958 and "Victoria Regina" in 1961.
Harris was married three times, to lawyer Jay I. Julian, stage manager Manning Gurian and writer William Erwin Carroll. She had one son, Peter Alston Gurian.
Julie Harris
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