Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Marc Dion: America's in the Liquor Store (Creators Syndicate)
I've worked seven of the last eight days, three of them night shifts, and, while I am "grateful just to have a job," as you must be in 2014 America, I get a little tired sometimes.
Daniel O'Brien: What Our Reaction to the Nude Celeb Leaks Says About Us (Cracked)
A few days ago, the naked, personal photos of over 100 celebrities including Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, and Ariana Grande were published to the Internet without consent from the people pictured. A few of the celebrities have responded (they're not happy!) and most of the pictures have since been taken down, but you can still probably find them by Googling "Hello, I'm kind of a shitty person, give me something that does not legally belong to me as quickly as possible."
J.F. Sargent, Chris: 5 Things You Didn't Know Surgeons Do With Your Body (Cracked)
If you think about it, surgery is kind of insane. "Here, stranger," you say, "these other strangers told me you're pretty smart, so go ahead and cut me open with all the knives you have. I'll go to sleep while you do it. And can you make sure not even my family can monitor it? Great. Here's all the money I will ever make!"
Lucy Mangan: a death in the family. Or planning for it, anyway (Guardian)
Mum and Dad say they want to talk death and taxes, but they really just want to put us in our place.
Nick Andrew: I Live in My Car (Guardian)
'I always said I'd have my own estate by the time I was 40, but I didn't think it would be like this.'
Laura Dodsworth: "United front: breasts without the airbrush" (Guardian)
The shocking thing about Laura Dodsworth's pictures of 100 women's breasts isn't the flesh on show, or the many shapes and sizes, but the realisation that images of unairbrushed, non-uniform breasts seem to be so rare. "We see images of breasts everywhere," says the 41-year-old photographer, "but they're unreal. They create an unflattering comparison but also an unobtainable ideal. I wanted to rehumanise women through honest photography."
Oliver Burkeman: This column will change your life: habit chaining (Guardian)
'Ready? Here's the tip: just do those things. You know - as opposed to not doing them.'
What I'm really thinking: the lollipop man (Guardian)
'Not that the kids are that much of a problem. Parents, though, now that's another story.'
Teller: Teller Reveals His Secrets (Smithsonian)
The smaller, quieter half of the magician duo Penn & Teller writes about how magicians manipulate the human mind.
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
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David Bruce has approximately 50 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
wrote:
took the day off.
has retired.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Learn About Those Hungry Ambitious Ones
September Column
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 and seasonal.
Proposes At US Open
Martina Navratilova
Tennis great Martina Navratilova proposed to her girlfriend on the big screen of Arthur Ashe Stadium between the U.S. Open men's semifinals.
Navratilova popped the question to Julia Lemigova in the Tennis Channel suite Saturday, drawing a loud cheer from the crowd.
"I was very nervous," Navratilova said later. "It came off. She said yes. It was kind of an out-of-body experience. You've seen people propose at sporting events before, in movies, in real life. Here it was happening to me. It was like I was watching myself do it."
The 57-year-old Navratilova won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, a mark she shares with Chris Evert. Serena Williams will try to match it in Sunday's women's final.
Navratilova said somebody suggested she propose during a changeover in the first match between Kei Nishikori and Novak Djokovic, but she didn't want to disturb the players in any way. The only problem was that Navratilova was later scheduled to play a "Champions" doubles match with Jana Novotna against Tracy Austin and Gigi Fernandez. She tried unsuccessfully to get the start postponed without telling anybody why, so she was fretting that the Nishikori-Djokovic match would go five sets. Fortunately, it ended in four.
Martina Navratilova
Networks "Handle" Name Controversy
Washington
The 2014 NFL season will kick off in full force Sunday following Thursday's opening game with a mounting controversy over the racial connotations that the Washington Redskins' name that has created an uncomfortable dilemma for sportscasters: how will they refer to the team?
The New York Daily News announced this week that the paper is not going to refer to the franchise as the Redskins, nor will it feature the Native American feathered logo. Instead the Daily News will print an image that uses the team's burgundy and gold colors to alert readers to stories, columns and statistics relating to Washington. A week earlier, the team's local Washington Post banned the "R-word" from its editorial page.
The team, which originated as the Boston Braves in 1932 but had its name changed to the Boston Redskins a year later, has been the focus of a racial debate raging throughout the NFL off-season, with owner Dan Snyder saying he won't give in to pressure to change it.
Even Capitol Hill is split on the issue, according a Washington Post poll, with 48 Democrats and one Repbublican saying it should be changed, 33 not offering an opinion and 11 thinking Congress should weigh in.
Washington
"Forgetting to be Afraid"
Wendy Davis
Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis reveals in a new campaign memoir that she terminated two pregnancies for medical reasons in the 1990s, including one where the fetus had developed a severe brain abnormality.
Davis writes in "Forgetting to be Afraid" that she had an abortion after an exam revealed that the brain of the fetus had developed in complete separation on the right and left sides. The Associated Press purchased an early copy of the book, which hits stores Tuesday.
The memoir also describes ending an earlier ectopic pregnancy, in which an embryo implants outside the uterus. Davis disclosed the terminated pregnancies for the first time since her nearly 13-hour filibuster last year over a tough new Texas abortion law.
Both pregnancies happened before Davis, a state senator from Fort Worth, began her political career and after she was already a mother to two young girls.
Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards, daughter of former Texas Gov. Ann Richards, said in a statement that she was grateful for Davis sharing her story, though "no woman should have to justify her decision."
Wendy Davis
Exhibit Examines
'Gone With the Wind'
While public debate raged over who should play Southern belle Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone With the Wind," producer David O. Selznick was trying to figure out how to get the movie past Hollywood's morality censors by tamping down the novel's racist overtones while portraying the South in the Civil War.
Thousands of fans sent letters about wanting to play Scarlett, and the Ku Klux Klan offered to serve in an advisory role on the film. Black activists implored Selznick not to make the movie, with the African Youth Congress calling it "un-American, anti-Semitic, anti-Negro, pro-KKK and a glorification of Southern lynch society."
Of course, Selznick pressed on and made one of the most popular films in history. And on Tuesday, hundreds of items that he saved, including dresses worn in the film, scripts, story boards and other things, will go on display at the University of Texas' Harry Ransom Center as part of a 75th anniversary tribute, "The Making of Gone With the Wind."
Among the costumes on display will be three original gowns worn by Vivien Leigh as Scarlett, including her iconic green curtain dress.
'Gone With the Wind'
Gigantic For-Profit Family Lockup in Texas
ICE
Faced with a growing number of families from Central America attempting to illegally cross the Texas-Mexico border and complaints about the inhumane treatment of those families, federal officials are planning a new for-profit detention facility in South Texas for immigrant children and their parents.
The facility, which will be named the "South Texas Family Detention Center," is meant to hold 2,400 beds on a sprawling 50-acre site 70 miles southwest of San Antonio, the Texas Observer reports.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) insists everything is aboveboard, but there are some details that could raise some eyebrows.
The property is part of Sendero Ranch, a "workforce housing community," better known in the oil patch as a "man camp" for oilfield workers. Sendero Ranch is owned by Koontz McCombs, a commercial real estate firm connected to San Antonio mogul Red McCombs. Loren Gulley, vice president for Koontz McCombs, said the company is still negotiating the deal but Corrections Corporation of America-the world's largest for-private prison company-is expected to run the detention center, and Koontz McCombs would lease the existing "man camp" to ICE. A detailed site map provided to Frio County shows a large fenced campus, including both residential housing as well as a gym, chapel and "community pavilions." The "man camp" has enough space to temporarily house 680 detainees while new structures are being built, ICE spokesman Bryan Cox said.
ICE
Bush-Era Memos
Stellar Wind
The US Justice Department has released two memos detailing the George W. Bush administration's legal justification for monitoring the phone calls and emails of Americans without a warrant.
The documents, released late Friday, relate to a secret program dubbed Stellar Wind that began after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
It allowed the National Security Agency to obtain communications data within the United States when at least one party was a suspected Al-Qaeda or Al-Qaeda affiliate member, and at least one party in the communication was located overseas.
The document was obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union rights group through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
Goldsmith at the time also headed the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel under then-attorney general John Ashcroft and then-deputy attorney general James Comey, who now heads the FBI.
Stellar Wind
Koch Group Cancels Ad Time In Oregon
Freedom Partners
The political group linked to the conservative Koch brothers has canceled television ad time reserved in October for the race between Sen. Jeff Merkley and Republican challenger Monica Wehby.
Freedom Partners spokesman James Davis confirmed the decision Friday.
Politico reported Wednesday that Freedom Partners officials acknowledged the possibility of canceling October ads if polling didn't show Wehby making headway.
Oregon has not voted for a Republican in a statewide race since 2002, when then-Sen. Gordon Smith won six more years. Merkley defeated him in 2008 and has been deemed the favorite for his re-election bid against Wehby, a pediatric neurosurgeon.
Freedom Partners
Extends Activist's Custody
Bahrain
A Bahrain court ruled Saturday that prominent rights activist Maryam al-Khawaja be kept behind bars for an extra 10 days despite a UN call for her release, her lawyer said.
The Bahraini co-director of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, who also has Danish nationality, was arrested for assaulting police after arriving at Manama airport on August 30.
In a hearing held in the judge's office, and attended only by Jishi and a Danish diplomat, Khawaja insisted the charges against her were "vindictive and fabricated," said the lawyer.
On Friday, the United Nations called for Bahrain to release Khawaja, a member of the island kingdom's Shiite majority and the daughter of prominent opponent Abdulhadi al-Khawaja.
Bahrain
Mother Gets Prison
Pennsylvania
A Pennsylvania woman has been sentenced to up to 18 months in prison for obtaining so-called abortion pills online and providing them to her teenage daughter to end her pregnancy.
Jennifer Ann Whalen, 39, of Washingtonville, a single mother who works as a nursing home aide, pleaded guilty in August to obtaining the miscarriage-inducing pills from an online site in Europe for her daughter, 16, who did not want to have the child.
Whalen was sentenced on Friday by Montour County Court of Common Pleas Judge Gary Norton to serve 12 months to 18 months in prison for violating a state law that requires abortions to be performed by physicians. She was also fined $1,000 and ordered to perform 40 hours of community service after her release. The felony offense called for up to seven years in prison and a $15,000 fine.
Whalen told authorities there was no local clinic available to perform an abortion and her daughter did not have health insurance to cover a hospital abortion, the Press Enterprise newspaper of Bloomsburg reported.
Her daughter experienced severe cramping and bleeding after taking the pills and Whalen took her to a hospital hear her home for treatment, the newspaper said.
Pennsylvania
Under Satan's Influence
Putin
President Vladimir Putin has fallen under the spell of Satan and faces eternal damnation unless he repents, a top Ukrainian clergyman said on Saturday in an unusually blunt statement that squarely blamed the Russian leader for the war in Ukraine.
Patriarch Filaret heads the Kiev Patriarchate, a branch of the Orthodox Church that broke away from Moscow in 1992 after the fall of the Soviet Union and the declaration of an independent Ukraine.
His church, a rival of the Moscow Patriarchate which is closely linked to Putin, strongly supports Ukrainian nationhood and the Kiev government's struggle to defeat pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
"With great regret I must now say publicly that among the rulers of this world ... there has appeared a new Cain, not by his name but by his deeds," Patriarch Filaret said, invoking the Biblical character who killed his brother Abel.
The statement, entitled "New Cain", was released on the first full day of a ceasefire between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebels. At least 2,600 people have died in fighting in eastern Ukraine since it erupted in April.
Putin
Climate Puzzle
Greenland
Greenland began heating up around 19,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age, just like the rest of the northern hemisphere, researchers said in a report that resolves a paradox over when that warming happened.
Previous studies had suggested this warming went back only 12,000 years, according to the study published in the US journal Science.
Huge sheets of ice covered North America and northern Europe some 20,000 years ago during the coldest part of the ice age. At the time, global average temperatures were about four degrees Celsius (seven degrees Fahrenheit) colder than during pre-industrial times.
Then, changes in the Earth's orbit around the sun increased solar energy reaching Greenland beginning some 19,000 years ago, causing the release of carbon from the deep ocean. This led to a gradual rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2).
In the past, studies of ice cores from Greenland did not show any warming response as would be expected from an increase in CO2 and solar energy flux, said lead author Christo Buizert of Oregon State University.
Greenland
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