Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Marc Dion: Welcome Back, Murderous Negro! We Missed You! (Creators Syndicate)
In the greasy little places where America's race issues are really worked out, between a liquor store and a nail salon, in some neighborhood that used to be white, they've been breaking windows and setting things on fire.
Charlyn Fargo: Nutrient Shortfalls (Creators Syndicate)
Face it, most of us don't get all the nutrients we need on a daily basis. In fact, there are four essential nutrients - potassium, dietary fiber, vitamin D and calcium - that are likely to be insufficient in most of our diets, based on the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
Lucy Mangan: Russell Brand and Neil Gaiman's childhood reinventions (Guardian)
A brash celebrity re-Branding is put to shame by a beautiful fairytale reworking.
Alison Flood: Terry Pratchett rethought as a philosopher in new study (Guardian)
Two professional philosophers - and Discworld fans - have produced a volume of essays examining the author's epistemological, moral and existential implications.
Alison Flood: Libraries show empty displays in protest against copyright law (Guardian)
Visitors to the Imperial War Museum in London, to the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh and to the University of Leeds have been brought up short by cases containing nothing but a note: "We would have liked to show you a letter from a first world war soldier here. But due to current copyright laws we are unable to display the original. Those laws mean that some of the most powerful diaries and letters in our collections cannot be displayed."
Marina Hyde: I'm confused about Britain and class: if I buy a telly on Black Friday does that make me a pleb? (Guardian)
Andrew Mitchell, David Mellor and even the judge may be snobs. But the real battle is inequality.
Oliver Burkeman: Want to succeed? You need systems not goals (Guardian)
A system, […], is "something you do on a regular basis that increases your odds of happiness in the long run", regardless of immediate outcome. Drawing one cartoon a day is a system; so is resolving to take some kind of exercise daily - rather than setting a goal, like being able to run a marathon in four hours.
Anonymous: A letter to … the girl who accused me of rape when I was 15 (Guardian)
I was 15 and you were 13. Exactly one year and four months apart. But they will say two years because apparently, in months, we are supposed to round up. I had never met you before, even though we went to the same school. After the usual Friday night routine of underage binge drinking and smoking to look cool, we ended up staying over at a mutual friend's house. His not-so-traditional parents made it an ideal hangout.
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returned to semi-retired status.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Novermber Astrology Column
Gare Says...
Might seem a tad serious, but I think it's an interesting point. There are still some punchlines, though.
Thank you for clicking!
Gare G
Thanks, !
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Comment
Op Ed
a good friend of mine died recently this is an op ed by his son.
I do not know if I agree with him although deep inside I have to.
I cannot put down a dog
(this needs publicized)
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 nearly seasonal.
Historian Spots Long-Lost Painting While Watching
'Stuart Little'
There's a mouse in the house - along with a long-lost 20th-century masterpiece.
An art historian was watching the movie "Stuart Little" with his daughter - and spotted in the background a painting long believed lost, it was reported Friday.
"I could not believe my eyes when I saw Bereny's long-lost masterpiece on the wall behind Hugh Laurie," said Gergely Barki, a researcher at the Hungarian National Gallery in Budapest who made the discovery on Christmas in 2009.
"Sleeping Lady with Black Vase," an avant-garde work by Hungarian painter Robert Bereny, was last seen in public in 1928 - and wound up as a prop in the 1999 children's movie, starring Michael J. Fox (as the voice of the titular mouse), Geena Davis, Laurie and Jonathan Lipnicki.
He eventually tracked down a set-designer assistant, who, unaware of the piece's significance, bought it as a prop for $500 at an antique shop in Pasadena, Calif.
'Stuart Little'
Lost Masterpiece Discovered In Background Of "Stuart Little"
Seven-Day March
Michael Brown
Civil rights activists embarked Saturday on a seven-day march to demand sweeping police reforms and denounce a US grand jury's decision not to indict a white officer who shot dead an unarmed black teenager.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is organizing the 120-mile (192-kilometer) "Journey for Justice" from the St Louis suburb of Ferguson where Michael Brown was killed to Jefferson City, the Missouri state capital.
A core group of around 100 marchers, who hope to be joined by thousands more by the end, are demanding the sacking of the Ferguson police chief, nationwide police reforms and an end to racial profiling.
It is the latest in a series of protests that erupted across the United States after a grand jury on Monday decided not to indict white police officer Darren Wilson for killing Brown in Ferguson on August 9.
Michael Brown
Seeking Asylum In US
Russian Gays
Had he stayed in Russia, Andrew Mironov would be settling in to a stable job with an oil company, likely with a newly awarded doctoral degree in electrical engineering.
Instead, he faces an uncertain future in New York City as one of scores of Russian gays seeking asylum in the United States because of hostility and harassment in their homeland.
"In Russia, I would have gotten my Ph.D. this fall, had a job and health insurance," said Mironov, 25. "Now, here, I'm nobody."
Yet the sacrifices have been worth it, Mironov says, given the fears that lingered after he was severely beaten by several assailants in the lobby of a gay bar in his home city of Samara.
There are no firm statistics on the number of gay Russian asylum seekers; U.S. government agencies that handle applications do not report such details. However, the Department of Homeland Security's latest figures show that overall applications for asylum by Russians totaled 969 in the 2014 fiscal year, up 34 percent from 2012.
Russian Gays
Making Comeback
Vinyl Records
There have been signs of revival in the vinyl record scene for quite some time. Back in early 2013, one of the most high-profile Kickstarter projects was the modern, minimalistic Orbit turntable with a cool USB connection twist. Orbit raced to $230,000 in fundraising, eclipsing its original target of $60,000 handily. Lately, mass market U.S. retailers like Best Buy have started stocking a surprisingly deep range of turntables, including offbeat, faux-'40s curios like Paprika and Victoria.
Of course, HiFi enthusiasts have been buying expensive turntables for decades, paying no mind to the mass market extinction of vinyl records. But now we are seeing a new wave of hip, cheap $100 turntables catering to a wider range of consumers.
The latest British music industry statistics highlight a remarkable surge in vinyl record sales over the past two years. Vinyl records are now expected to hit the 1.2 million unit mark in the U.K. market this year, which would be the highest total U.K. vinyl sales since 1997. This is up from fewer than 400,000 units in 2012 and is a notably abrupt and strong reversal of a long-term trend. Vinyl sales actually bottomed out in 2007 and then started a long, slow rebound that has turned into a boomlet in 2014.
American retailers have clearly noticed the trend and are responding to it - in addition to electronics chains, even Sears and Walmart have expanded their turntable ranges. Walmart is actually breaking new ground with super affordable models retailing as low as $40. The best-selling Walmart model is a sensible, stripped down Jensen. But even Walmart is courting the hipster crowd with models like the portable '50s throwback Crosby Cruiser.
Vinyl Records
Venezuelan Ballet
Hugo Chavez
In life, Venezuela's exuberant leader Hugo Chavez often captivated supporters by bursting into song, even the occasional dance. Now that he's gone, supporters are turning to the musical arts to help immortalize him.
A state-sponsored biographical ballet premieres on Saturday, with dozens of performers recounting Chavez's life, from humble roots, to failed coup, to international fame as leader of Venezuela's socialist revolution.
The hour-long show, presented by Venezuela's National Dance Company, blends classic and contemporary choreography, and draws on a range of music including Venezuelan folk melodies, African rhythms and symphonic scores.
The ballet, entitled "From Spider-Seller to Liberator," shows him shelving his dream of being a major league baseball pitcher to join the army at age 17. Then audience sees a disillusioned Chavez dancing against the background of the country's 1989 riots, in which several hundred people died in the streets.
Hugo Chavez
Film Critic
Rupert
21st Century Fox CEO and media mogul Rupert Murdoch is defending the Anglo-led cast of the upcoming Biblical epic "Exodus: Gods and Kings."
Murdoch, whose 21st Century Fox owns 20th Century Fox, the studio producing "Exodus," took to Twitter to shed some light about the race of the ancient Egyptians.
"Moses film attacked on Twitter for all white cast. Since when are Egyptians not white? All I know are."
"Everybody-attacks last tweet. Of course Egyptians are Middle Eastern, but far from black. They treated blacks as slaves."
"Okay, there are many shades of color. Nothing racist about that, so calm down!"
Rupert
Showdown Looms At Samoa Conference
Tuna
Small Pacific island states and powerful foreign fishing nations are heading for a showdown next week over management of the world's largest tuna fishery.
The islands want the annual meeting of the influential Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) in Samoa to limit fishing for bigeye, a tuna prized by sashimi markets in Asia, America and Europe.
They also want limits placed on catches of other tunas to maintain stocks.
Nearly 60 percent of global tuna supplies comes from the central and western Pacific which has been "fished unsustainably, in contradiction to strong scientific and management advice", said Amanda Nickson, director of Global Tuna Conservation at the Washington-based Pew Charitable Trusts.
Tuna
Beekeepers Eye Surface Mines
Appalachia
Up a tree-lined trail still marked "no blastin on Sundays," swarms of bees now patrol a mountain once partially broken apart for coal.
It's been 15 years since the severed West Virginia mountainside produced any of the fossil fuel. Pritchard Mining Company has filled the adjacent valley with broken-off rocks, re-sloped the mountain and planted new trees and flora.
"Mining for honey" is the new extractive business here, one with no impact on the land. Behind two security gates, seven small hive boxes are surrounded by a short electric wire fence, which helps fend off hungry adversaries of honey producers.
The controversial mining method often involves scraping off sides of mountains or literally blowing off their peaks for coal, and filling nearby valleys and streams with the remnants.
Environmental groups decry the footprint left on the land and polluting and health impact possibilities of what's being dumped. Several also say repurposing the land gives the industry a free pass to divert attention away from the harm being done.
Appalachia
56,000 People
Greenland
Greenland's ruling Siumut Party has narrowly won a snap election in the island nation that is hoping for independence from Denmark, backed by wealth from its natural resources.
New leader Kim Kielsen will need to build a coalition to form a government to deal with a shrinking, fragile economy and reassure foreign investors.
Population was 56,000 of which 17,000 live in the capital Nuuk. Men outnumber women by 3,000.
25,500 people employed in 2012. By far the largest employer, with just under 10,000 workers, was the state.
Aside from the 55,300 Danish citizens residing in Greenland the largest nationalities are from Iceland (177), Thailand (166) and the Philippines (130).
Greenland
Released Into Gulf Of Mexico
Green Sea Turtles
More than 50 green sea turtles were released into the Gulf of Mexico off the Texas coast on Friday after recovering from cold-stunning, or hypothermia, brought on by a drastic drop in water temperature.
The release has taken place in phases, with Friday being the last major release for sea turtles rescued after a mid-November cold snap in Texas sent temperatures below freezing in large parts of the state.
As with other reptiles, sea turtles rely on their external environment to regulate body temperature and cold-stunning occurs when water temperatures drop below 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius), she said.
Over 100 cold-stunned green sea turtles were found floating or washed ashore on the Padre Island National Seashore this month. Rescuers brought turtles swaddled in towels to the rehabilitation facility where they received treatment that included intravenous fluids in the most severe cases.
Green Sea Turtles
Ripples in Space
'Strange Stars'
By looking for ripples in the fabric of space-time, scientists could soon detect "strange stars" - objects made of stuff radically different from the particles that make up ordinary matter, researchers say.
The protons and neutrons that make up the nuclei of atoms are made of more basic particles known as quarks. There are six types, or "flavors," of quarks: up, down, top, bottom, charm and strange. Each proton or neutron is made of three quarks: Each proton is composed of two up quarks and one down quark, and each neutron is made of two down quarks and one up quark.
In theory, matter can be made with other flavors of quarks as well. Since the 1970s, scientists have suggested that particles of "strange matter" known as strangelets - made of equal numbers of up, down and strange quarks - could exist. In principle, strange matter should be heavier and more stable than normal matter, and might even be capable of converting ordinary matter it comes in contact with into strange matter. However, lab experiments have not yet created any strange matter, so its existence remains uncertain.
Now, researchers suggest they could detect strange stars by looking for the stars' gravitational waves - invisible ripples in space-time first proposed by Albert Einstein as part of his theory of general relativity.
'Strange Stars'
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