Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Jay Raynor: "The unromantic truth: supermarkets aren't dying, and that's a good thing" (Guardian)
Tesco et al are our only hope if we are to feed the nation sustainably. So we need a reckoning, not a revolution.
Suzanne Moore: Does free speech give us the right to anonymously troll strangers? (Guardian)
The McCann abuse dossier shows that, without any sense of accountability, we create an antisocial media in which the same people get shouted down.
Deborah Orr: What made Kate and Gerry McCann the object of so much anger? (Guardian)
The thing all parents dread, the McCanns experienced. Perhaps it is their defiance in the face of such dismal fortune that provokes their abusers.
Lucy Mangan: Did the Queen make David Cameron beg for forgiveness over his 'purr' gaffe? (Guardian)
Her Majesty is surely the only person in the land posh enough to make the PM grovel. I just wish we could have seen it.
Sophie Heawood: education? All students ever hear is money, money, money (Guardian)
I have never experienced such a rush of loving emotion towards Lower Saxony in all my life. The last German region to charge university tuition fees has just scrapped them. This makes university education, across their entire country, free. And if they can do it, why can't we?
Bim Adewunmi: "Crush of the week: Ben Affleck" (Guardian)
His response was quietly heroic. "How about more than a billion people who aren't fanatical, who don't punch women, who just want to go to school, have some sandwiches, pray five times a day, and don't do any of the things you're saying of all Muslims?" he asked. Oh, Ben. You had me at "sandwiches".
Simon Hattenstone: "Russell Brand: 'I want to address the alienation and despair'" (Guardian)
Power to the people is Russell Brand's new manifesto. He tells us why he's 'ready to die for this.'
Russell Brand's Revolution: an exclusive extract (Guardian)
In an exclusive extract from his new book, Revolution, Russell Brand explains how a celebrity telethon convinced him he had to change the world.
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
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David Bruce has approximately 50 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
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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
Bit of a marine layer.
From Rock Legends To Accused Spammers
U2
U2 and Apple planned the gesture for maximum publicity -- a concert by the Irish megastars at the tech giant's latest product launch, with the surprise that their new album had just been released for free to the world's half-billion iTunes customers.
As physical copies of the album, "Songs of Innocence," go on sale Monday, the band that earned global critical acclaim three decades ago has faced a backlash with some accusing U2 of turning music into spam.
The September 9 free release will still pay off handsomely for the already-wealthy rockers, with several reports saying that Apple has committed $100 million to distribute the album as part of its promotion campaign for the iPhone 6.
But few predict that U2 has created a new model, with lesser-known bands unlikely to survive by giving away their music. So many people found it presumptuous that the entire world would want U2's album that Apple offered special advice on its website on how to delete it.
U2
Christian Clerics Urge Recognition
Palestinian State
Three leading Christian clerics in the Holy Land appealed Friday for more European governments to recognise a Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital.
The call from the Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Lutheran prelates -- all of them Palestinian -- came after EU member Sweden last week announced its intention to recognise Palestinian statehood, to the anger of Israel.
"From Jerusalem, our occupied capital, we send our urgent message to the whole world and particularly to Europe -- we are yearning for justice and peace," the three churchmen said in an open letter.
"Recognising Palestine and defining Israel's borders is a first step towards that goal."
Signing the letter were the former Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah, the Greek Orthodox archbishop of Sebastia, Atallah (Theodosios) Hanna, and Lutheran World Federation president Bishop Munib Younan.
Palestinian State
Learn How to Speak Dolphin
Killer Whales
Killer whales are known for their haunting songs consisting of complex whistles and clicks, but they can also learn "dolphin speak," a new study finds.
Most animals communicate with innate sounds, such as the barking of dogs and the gobbling of turkeys. But some species, humans, for example, can imitate new sounds and learn how to use them correctly in social situations. This ability, called vocal learning, is one of the foundations of language.
Vocal learning is present in bats, some birds and cetaceans - a group that includes whales, dolphins and porpoises. Avian scientists have identified specific neural pathways that play a role in learning birdsong, but studying language-learning in large marine animals is more difficult, the researchers said.
Now, researchers have evidence that killer whales (Orcinus orca) can learn vocalizations from other species. When killer whales were socialized with bottlenose dolphins at a water facility, they changed the types of sounds they made to resemble those of their social partners, the study found.
Killer Whales
Anthropologists Confirm Discovery Of Father's Remains
Alexander the Great
The remains of Macedonian King Philip II, who fathered Alexander the Great, have been confirmed as those found in a tomb in Vergina, Greece, Discovery News reports.
Greek archeologist Manolis Andronikos first discovered the tomb in 1977, one of three that were under a large mound known as the Great Tumulus. One of the tombs had been looted, but the second tomb contained a main chamber that held the remains of a male skeleton, while an antechamber housed the remains of a female skeleton. Since then, researchers have been trying to determine whether Tomb II's male occupant was Philip II or Philip III Arrhidaeus (Alexander the Great's half-brother).
On Friday, experts confirmed that the male remains were indeed those of King Philip II, based on "uncovered pathologies, activity markers and trauma," Discovery News notes. The findings, encompassing 3,000 digital color photographs supported by a variety of X-ray technologies, were announced at the Archeological Museum of Thessaloniki.
Alexander the Great
Internet Plan
'Fast Lane'
Amazing but true:
Appointing a former cable lobbyist to run the Federal Communications Commission might not be the best way to protect net neutrality. Nonetheless, President Barack Obama, who campaigned on defending net neutrality during his first presidential run in 2008, finds himself in just such a situation after seeing his own FCC chairman offer up a plan that would allow for the creation of Internet "fast lanes" where ISPs could charge companies more money to ensure the faster delivery of their content.
Time reports that Obama this week reiterated his support for network neutrality and signaled his opposition to paid priority schemes much like the one being proposed by FCC chairman Tom Wheeler (D-Comcast) as part of his new framework for net neutrality regulations.
"I know that one of the things people are most concerned about is paid prioritization, the notion that somehow some folks can pay a little more money and get better service, more exclusive access to customers through the Internet: that is something I'm opposed to," Obama said, per Time. "I was opposed to it when I ran and I continue to be opposed to it now."
Of course, whether Obama opposes Internet "fast lanes" right now is immaterial since the only thing that matters is the opinion of Wheeler, who had served as president the National Cable Television Association in the 1980s and as CEO of CTIA until 2004, and who was confirmed as the new chairman of the FCC last year. If Obama really wanted to preserve net neutrality, then maybe he should have put a little more thought into appointing the public official most responsible for deciding its fate.
'Fast Lane'
Koch $ At Work
Americans for Prosperity
Over scrambled eggs and croquettes, Andres Malave gave a last-minute pep talk to about a dozen volunteers in a Cuban restaurant before they left to meet voters.
"Don't just deliver a message," he said before beginning his own 3½-hour shift knocking on doors. "Try to get them engaged."
It's a strategy playing out in New England diners, Midwest truck stops and West Coast cafes: conservative organizers train and send out thousands of volunteers holding an iPad and an interest in helping fellow activists shift America's politics to the right.
They are the backbone of Americans for Prosperity, the flagship organization of the political network backed by industrialist billionaires Charles and David Koch. While the group's spending in Senate races has attracted national attention, it's these less noticed field efforts that could have greater impact and help reshape the Republican Party heading into the 2016 presidential election.
The organization has more than 500 paid workers in 35 states and has become one of the conservative movement's best organized, most powerful outside groups. Building on the community-based approach President Barack Obama used successfully in 2008 and 2012, it now has a political footprint unmatched among GOP-affiliated operations and is racking up legislative victories.
Americans for Prosperity
21 Times More Likely To Be Shot By Police
Black Teenagers
Michael Brown's death this summer in Ferguson, Mo., raised anew a question long believed to be true by the African-American community: Are young black men are more likely to be killed by police in America
A new study finds that the answer is a grim, resounding yes. Black male teenagers are 21 times more likely to be shot and killed by police than white males, according to "Deadly Force in Black and White
Between 2010 and 2012, there were 1,217 deadly police shootings reported to the FBI. Black males between the ages of 15 and 19 were killed at a rate of 31.17 per million, according to ProPublica's analysis. For white male teenagers, the rate dropped to 1.47 deaths per million.
The ProPublica study looked at more than 12,000 incidents of police homicide reported between the years 1980 to 2012, the last year for which data was available. Among its findings: In 77 percent of cases where the cause of incidents were "undetermined," the person shot was black. And certainly, there were many cases where an officer was afraid for his or her life. Between 2005 and 2009, 62 percent of cases reported "officer under attack" as the cause.
Black Teenagers
South Africa Denies Visa
Dalai Lama
row puts ANC on collision course with history
Johannesburg (AFP) - Most people would be reluctant to pick a fight with a revered Buddhist holy man and 14 other Nobel peace prize winners, but that's just what South African President Jacob Zuma has done.
When the Dalai Lama asked for a visa to attend next week's first ever summit of Nobel laureates in Africa, Zuma's government demurred and the Tibetan cancelled his trip.
It's the third time Zuma's government dragged its feet on a visa for the bespectacled monk, so the president knew exactly what to expect: public opprobrium and a pat on the head from Beijing, which calls the Dalai Lama a terrorist.
Zuma's decision resulted in the embarrassing cancellation of the Cape Town Nobel event, which -- as if to underscore the contrast of the ANC's idealistic past and its hard-nosed present -- had been scheduled to mark the 20th anniversary of apartheid's collapse and the election of Nelson Mandela.
The party of Nobel prizewinner Mandela, of the anti-apartheid struggle and the moral high ground had become a party in hock to dictatorships and authoritarians in Beijing and Moscow.
Dalai Lama
Software Error
Nielsen
The Nielsen company on Friday admitted to errors dating back to March in its measurement of television viewing, statistics that serve as the foundation for billions of dollars in advertising spending for the entire broadcast industry.
The company blamed a software glitch for errors that, industry officials said, mistakenly credited ABC for viewing that was in reality spread across all of the broadcast networks. Nielsen described the errors as minuscule, but the extent will become better known next week when the company issues corrected ratings for the first week of the television season.
Nielsen executives said the errors only became apparent in the past few weeks when the beginning of a new television season meant more people were tuning in.
The mistakes came up in adjustments Nielsen makes to its ratings each day between an early morning estimate of viewers and a more complete accounting that is released late in the afternoon. The morning estimate doesn't account for schedule changes in individual markets and sometimes doesn't assign some market results to individual networks.
Nielsen
In Memory
Pavel Landovsky
Pavel Landovsky, a Czech actor, anti-communist dissident and a friend of late president and playwright Vaclav Havel, has died.
Landovsky, 78, died Friday of a heart attack, his family announced to the national CTK news agency on Saturday.
Landovsky appeared in numerous movies, including "Closely Watched Trains," the Academy Award winner for the best foreign language film in 1967.
Many remember him for his role of a brewery official in Havel's play "Audience." In a famed 1976 recording he made with Havel, Landovsky tries to persuade a brewer worker-dissident to spy on himself.
After Landovsky signed the Charter 77 human rights manifesto, he faced communist persecution and emigrated to Austria. He returned home after the 1989 Velvet Revolution led by Havel ousted the communist regime.
Pavel Landovsky
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