Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Todd VanDerWerff: 13 classic scenes that explain how horror movies work (Vox)
During Halloween season, horror movies are everywhere - on cable, in theaters, and in endless marathons you curate for yourself at home. But what makes scary movies tick? What sort of techniques do directors use to make you scream? Here is a broad overview of those techniques, using 13 classic horror-movie scenes
Marc Dion: Ebola Is Famous (Creators Syndicate)
I was driving home from a night shift at the newspaper where I work last week, about 10 p.m., and I passed the string of three or four street prostitutes who work out in front of the public library and I thought, "at least they don't have Ebola."
Diane Dimond: What Glorifying the Game of Football Says About Us (Creators Syndicate)
This question is going to sound like blasphemy to some, but here goes: Why do we glorify the game of football and its players the way we do?
Scott Burns: The Hedonic Clock (AssetBuilder)
Anticipating the future is confusing. It's unknown, for one thing. And we don't have any tools for measuring. What I can tell from reader mail is that we put a steep discount on the future. If it ain't soon, it ain't. You would be amazed at the number of 55-year-old people who casually assume they will be dead and buried by 70.
I, Anonymous: You Can't Keep a GeekGirl Down (The Stranger)
Who the fuck calls in a bomb threat at GeekGirlCon? Have you seen the kind of people who go to GeekGirlCon?
Rosanna Greenstreet: "Q&A: Anne Rice" (Guardian)
'I settle in a recliner every evening with a Diet Coke, to watch the best TV I can find.'
What I'm really thinking: the fracker (Guardian)
'"What's wrong with solar energy?" you say, accusingly. But I don't see any solar panels on the roof of your house and I know the 4x4 in the driveway doesn't run off a wind turbine.'
Sophie Heawood: Jude Law and the accidental babies (Guardian)
Call it a one-night stand, call it a "thing", an affair, call it love. But you don't get any brownie points in life just because your parents planned your arrival and longed for you for years. It's what you do next that counts.
Sean McElwee: Why Turning Out The Vote Makes A Huge Difference In Four Charts (Talking Points Memo)
Despite the best efforts of Lil' Jon, the most recent Gallup poll suggests that turnout in the upcoming midterm election will be one of the lowest in the last five cycles. If trends hold up, it will also be heavily biased in favor of the rich (see chart). This turnout gap will have important effects on elections and policy.
Isaac Asimov Asks, "How Do People Get New Ideas?" (MIT Technology Review)
Presumably, the process of creativity, whatever it is, is essentially the same in all its branches and varieties, so that the evolution of a new art form, a new gadget, a new scientific principle, all involve common factors. We are most interested in the "creation" of a new scientific principle or a new application of an old one, but we can be general here.
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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 & breezy.
Hollywood Walk O'Fame
John Denver
Things are a little sunnier on the Hollywood Walk of Fame following the posthumous unveiling of a star for John Denver.
The "Sunshine on My Shoulders" singer received the walk's 2,531st star on Friday, 17 years after his death.
Denver's son, Zak Deutschendorf, and daughter, Jesse Belle Denver, attended the unveiling.
Friday's unveiling coincided with the opening of a Hollywood exhibition of photos called "Sweet Sweet Life: The Photographic Works of John Denver."
John Denver
New 'Harry Potter' Short Story
J.K. Rowling
J.K. Rowling may not be writing more Harry Potter novels, but she's far from leaving the world behind. This Halloween, she's planning to release another short story fleshing out the Harry Potter universe, specifically, focusing on the backstory of the highly disliked one-time Hogwarts professor Dolores Umbridge. The story will indeed be a short one, coming in at 1,700 words, and it's said to include "Rowling's revealing first-person thoughts and reflections about the character." As with Rowling's other recent Potter stories, this one will be published on Pottermore, her web community for fans of the series.
Back in July, Rowling wrote a new story that discussed Harry Potter himself, also giving updates on many of his friends. Rowling is also writing the first in a new series of Harry Potter spin-off movies called Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The first film is scheduled for a release on November 18th, 2016, with another two films coming in 2018 and 2020. It's not clear how involved Rowling will be beyond this first film, but Harry Potter fans should expect this world to continue for a while, one way or another.
J.K. Rowling
Finds Secret Buyer
Gold Nugget
One of the largest gold nuggets in modern times pulled from Northern California's Gold Country has sold to a secret buyer.
The new owner of the so-called Butte Nugget and its exact price will both remain mysteries at the buyer's request, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Saturday.
But Don Kagin, the Tiburon-based coin dealer who brokered the deal, said that a "prominent Bay Area collector" paid about $400,000 for the nugget weighing 6.07 pounds (2.8 kilograms). That wasn't far off from the asking price, he said.
Historically, prospectors found giant gold nuggets in California during the 19th century Gold Rush days, including a 54-pound chunk found in Butte County in 1859. It has been decades since a report of anyone discovering a rock of 6 pounds or more in California.
Gold Nugget
Permanent Winter Time
Russia
Russia on Sunday is set to turn back its clocks to winter time permanently in a move backed by President Vladimir Putin, reversing a three-year experiment with non-stop summer time that proved highly unpopular.
Russia will also tinker with its time zones in order to revert to the full 11 zones from Kamchatka in the Pacific to Kaliningrad on the borders of the European Union -- reduced to nine by previous president Dmitry Medvedev.
In one of his highest-profile reforms, Medvedev had backed Russia's move to permanent Summer Time (Greenwich Mean Time plus four hours) in 2011 on the basis that changing clocks upset people's biorhythms and made for "unhappy cows".
The Soviet Union introduced a switch to summer time in 1981.
Russia
Finds Online Harassment Widespread
Pew Survey
A new study confirms what many Internet users know all too well: Harassment is a common part of online life.
The report by the Pew Research Center found that nearly three-quarters of American adults who use the Internet have witnessed online harassment. Forty per cent have experienced it themselves.
The types of harassment Pew asked about range from name-calling to physical threats, sexual harassment and stalking. Half of those who were harassed said they didn't know the person who had most recently attacked them.
Young adults - people 18 to 29 - were the most likely age group to see and undergo online harassment.
Pew Survey
Officials Mull Election
Navajo
With their presidential election less than two weeks away, Navajo Nation officials are weighing how to proceed with a race that has become increasingly embroiled in confusion amid a debate involving the tribe's language.
Navajo election officials failed to decide Friday whether to follow an order by the tribe's top court to postpone the Nov. 4 election. The board will reconvene Monday at 9 a.m., said Navajo Board of Election Supervisor Lenora Fulton.
According to Fulton, the board wants more legal information in regard to the court's order.
The Navajo Board of Election Supervisors meeting came hours after the tribe's council voted to effectively erase a law requiring that candidates for tribal president be fluent in Navajo.
Navajo
Stealing Nude Photos From Arrestees
California Highway Patrol
The California Highway Patrol officer accused of stealing nude photos from a DUI suspect's phone told investigators that he and his fellow officers have been trading such images for years, in a practice that stretches from its Los Angeles office to his own Dublin station, according to court documents obtained by this newspaper Friday.
CHP Officer Sean Harrington, 35, of Martinez, also confessed to stealing explicit photos from the cellphone of a second Contra Costa County DUI suspect in August and forwarding those images to at least two CHP colleagues. The five-year CHP veteran called it a "game" among officers, according to an Oct. 14 search warrant affidavit.
Harrington told investigators he had done the same thing to female arrestees a "half dozen times in the last several years," according to the court records, which included leering text messages between Harrington and his Dublin CHP colleague, Officer Robert Hazelwood.
Contra Costa County prosecutors are investigating and say the conduct of the officers -- none of whom has been charged so far -- could compromise any criminal cases in which they are witnesses. CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow said in a statement that his agency too has "active and open investigations" and cited a similar case several years ago in Los Angeles involving a pair of officers.
In the search warrant affidavit, senior Contra Costa district attorney inspector Darryl Holcombe wrote that he found probable cause to show both CHP officers Harrington and Hazelwood and others engaged in a "scheme to unlawfully access the cell phone of female arrestees by intentionally gaining access to their cell phone and without their knowledge, stealing and retaining nude or partially clothed photographs of them." That behavior constitutes felony computer theft, the affidavit said.
California Highway Patrol
Buried Golden Palace
Nero
The golden palace that the Emperor Nero built as a monument to himself after half of ancient Rome was consumed by fire is reopening to the public even though its renovation isn't finished yet.
The main palace of the "Domus Aurea" or "House of Gold" complex, which once included an artificial lake where the Colosseum now stands, was closed in 2005 for emergency repairs and briefly reopened in 2007 before closing again.
From Sunday, visitors can come for a tour of the almost 2,000-year-old site, where they will be kitted out with protective helmets and guided by an archaeologist.
The Domus Aurea is the second of Rome's monuments this year to be showcased during renovation. A bridge was put up around the Trevi Fountain to let tourists get closer while its marble facade has a 2.2 million euro ($2.79 million) facelift.
Nero
Found In 16th Century Painting
'UFO'
A strange disc pouring smoke and hovering over buildings has been found in a monastery wall painting thought to date from the 16th century - and UFO researchers claim it is just one of many old paintings which seem to show evidence of visitors from another world.
The image is painted on the wall on a 14th century church in Sighisoara - thought to the birthplace of Vlad the Impaler, the historical figure on whom the Dracula legend is based.
The photograph was taken by a tourist, Catalina Borta, and sent to UFO experts at the Israeli Extraterrestrials and UFOs Research Organization (EURA).
The caption on the painting says, 'Israel, put your hope in the Lord,' and the image is thought to date from just after 1523, when the Bible was first translated into German.
'UFO'
In Memory
Joan Quigley
In his 1988 memoir, Donald T. Regan, a former chief of staff for President Ronald Reagan, revealed what he called the administration's "most closely guarded secret."
He said an astrologer had set the time for summit meetings, presidential debates, Reagan's 1985 cancer surgery, State of the Union addresses and much more. Without an O.K. from the astrologer, he said, Air Force One did not take off.
The astrologer, whose name Mr. Regan did not know when he wrote the book, was Joan Quigley. She died on Tuesday at 87 at her home in San Francisco, her sister and only immediate survivor, Ruth Quigley, said.
Mr. Regan said that Miss Quigley - a Vassar-educated socialite who preferred the honorific Miss to Ms. (she never married) - had made her celestial recommendations through phone calls to the first lady, Nancy Reagan, often two or three a day. Mrs. Reagan, he said, set up private lines for her at the White House and at the presidential retreat at Camp David.
Further, Mrs. Reagan paid the astrologer a retainer of $3,000 a month, wrote Mr. Regan, who had also been a Treasury secretary under Reagan and the chief executive of Merrill Lynch.
In an interview with "CBS Evening News" in 1989, after Reagan left office, Miss Quigley said that after reading the horoscope of the Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev, she concluded that he was intelligent and open to new ideas and persuaded Mrs. Reagan to press her husband to abandon his view of the Soviet Union as an "evil empire." Arms control treaties followed.
Reagan denied that he had ever acted on the basis of heavenly guidance. In her 1989 book "My Turn: The Memoirs of Nancy Reagan," Mrs. Reagan described Miss Quigley as warm and compassionate but played down her influence.
Mrs. Reagan wrote that the president, speaking of her astrological bent, had told her: "If it makes you feel better, go ahead and do it. But be careful. It might look a little odd if it ever came out."
In the battle of memoirs, Miss Quigley may have had the last word. The title of her own 1990 book - "What Does Joan Say?" - was the question that she said the president had habitually asked his wife.
Joan Ceciel Quigley was born in Kansas City, Mo., on April 10, 1927, at 4:17 p.m. - exact birth times being critical to accurate astrological readings. Her father, John, a lawyer, went to San Francisco in 1942 after buying the Drake-Wilshire Hotel. (It is now the Taj Campton Place, a boutique inn.)
Mr. Quigley and his wife, Zelda, reared their daughters in a penthouse apartment in the high-end Nob Hill area and sent them to private schools. The "Quigley girls," as they were known, were chauffeured to parties in a Rolls-Royce and regularly mentioned in society columns.
Joan Quigley graduated from Vassar with a degree in art history. Intrigued by her mother's interest in astrology, she apprenticed herself for a year to a soothsayer named Jerome Pearson. Her father disapproved of astrology, however, so she prepared her charts in secret at first while busying herself with the Junior League and charities. After college she wrote an astrology column for Seventeen magazine.
Miss Quigley met Nancy Reagan through the entertainer Merv Griffin, a client. From 1972 to 1985, Miss Quigley was a regular guest on his syndicated talk show. A Republican, she had earlier worked on Reagan's campaigns for governor of California.
Her relationship with Mrs. Reagan really began in 1981, after the first lady asked her if she could have predicted the assassination attempt against him that March. She said yes, if she had been looking at her charts at the time. The first lady, Mr. Regan wrote, then began paying her for advice on scheduling the president's time and movements.
After Mr. Regan divulged Miss Quigley's astrological role, Mrs. Reagan never spoke to her again, Miss Quigley said. She likened the slight to "buying a Picasso and putting it in your living room and putting adhesive tape over the signature."
Joan Quigley
In Memory
Jack Bruce
Jack Bruce was part Mississippi Delta and part Carnaby Street. In his glorious heyday as bassist and lead vocalist of 1960s power trio Cream he helped create a sound that combined American blues and psychedelia to thrill audiences throughout the world.
Bruce, who died Saturday of liver disease at age 71, enjoyed a long, respected solo career after the band's acrimonious breakup, but will be best remembered for his stint with Cream and for classics like "Sunshine of Your Love" and "I Feel Free."
Much of the attention was focused on guitar wizard Eric Clapton, but Bruce wrote many of the band's signature tunes and served as lead vocalist. He also provided the intense bass guitar that, with Ginger Baker's explosive drums, underpinned Cream's rhythmic, driving sound.
Cream, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, played a mix of traditional blues songs, with long, often improvised instrumental breaks, and their own tunes. They enchanted critics and fans alike at first, but after two years some found their extended jams to be self-indulgent, with band members seeming to show off their musical virtuosity rather than trying to complement each other.
Bruce enjoyed a long career after Cream's acrimonious breakup, and in 2005 he reunited with former Cream bandmates for critically acclaimed concerts in London and New York City.
Five years later, however, Bruce said Cream was "over" - an indication of ongoing tensions between the band members. Clapton had said the familiar problems were just beneath the surface during the band's reunion performances.
The band started out playing traditional blues tunes, but quickly added a psychedelic flavor that brought still more popularity at the height of the flower power era.
But they broke up with little warning, in the midst of their commercial success. Clapton wrote in his 2007 autobiography that the band lost its direction musically and that "any sense of unity" had disappeared.
Bruce went on to record the first of his solo albums, "Songs For a Tailor." He also fronted many of his own bands.
He was born to musical parents in Glasgow, Scotland on 14 May 1943. His parents travelled extensively in Canada and the U.S., and the young Bruce attended 14 different schools. He finished his formal education at Bellahouston Academy and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music, to which he won a scholarship for cello and composition.
He left Scotland at the age of 16 and in 1962 joined his first important band, the influential Alexis Korner's Blues Inc., in London. The band featured drummer Charlie Watts, who later joined the Rolling Stones.
Bruce was playing and touring with his Big Blues Band until recently. In 2012 he played in Cuba, and performed in London at the famed bar Ronnie Scott's. His 14th solo album, "Silver Rails," was released earlier this year.
He is survived by his wife, Margrit, four children and a granddaughter. Funeral arrangements were not immediately announced.
Jack Bruce
[FULL ALBUM] CREAM - "Disraeli Gears" - YouTube
Cream - White Room - YouTube
Cream - Strange Brew - YouTube
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