Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Tina Nguyen: TRUMP GRILL COULD BE THE WORST RESTAURANT IN AMERICA (Vanity Fair)
And it reveals everything you need to know about our next president.
Marc Dion: The Gift Returned (Creators Syndicate)
You know why I dislike Donald Trump? Because I can remember American poet Robert Frost reciting his poetry at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy.
Froma Harrop: Trump Blows Off the Working Class (Creators Syndicate)
A friend of mine, an expert car mechanic, once told me of losing $30,000 in a commodity deal. It was one of those investment swindles then making the rounds. I asked my friend whether he felt angry. "No," he answered. "I could have tripled my money." He had no idea that he had been hosed.
Froma Harrop: Let Republicans Fix What They Break (Creators Syndicate)
What if Republicans abruptly repealed Obamacare, chaos ensued and Democrats sat on their hands and watched? Democrats would be doing the right thing, both for the American people and for themselves.
Clive James: 'My behaviour at the Christmas table is based on hard-won learning' (The Guardian)
For years, I took it to be mandatory that I should be as entertaining as possible, so as to ensure being given first crack at the goose's legs.
What I'm really thinking: the vegan (The Guardian)
In recent years, I've found being vegan makes romantic relationships difficult.
Hadley Freeman: AA Gill's fearless journalism was an inspiration - so why didn't I tell him that? (The Guardian)
Great writers make you see the world the way they see it and, in doing so, show you how to find your own voice.
"The silence that protects people who do terrible things is breaking down" (Stylist)
Lucy Mangan on the hope in the abuse headlines.
Marina Hyde: The last acceptable prejudice? Sadly, pale, stale males aren't the only victims (The Guardian)
Perhaps, to settle the matter, these prejudices need to compete in a knockout competition. Then again, maybe the US election was that knockout competition - a sort of World Cup of Last Acceptable Prejudices, in which the metaphorical Germans win again.
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David Bruce has over 80 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
took the day off.
took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
from Marc Perkel
Patriot Act
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
NATTERING NABOTH.
IT'S DOWN TO "KID CROCK" AND "TED NOUGAT"
GOOD RIDDANCE!
WHAT A PAL!
"EL CAUDILLO DEL MAR-A-LAGO"
"THEY'RE ALL WHITE MEN."
"CALIFORNIANS DO NOT NEED HEALING. WE NEED TO FIGHT."
THE EMOLUMENTS ARE COMING! THE EMOLUMENTS ARE COMING!
THE TRUMP CABINET.
DINNER WITH THE DEVIL!
THE LINE OF SUCCESSION.
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and brisk (for these parts).
Subscription Record
Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair has had the last laugh after President-elect Donald Trump (R-Grifter) blasted the magazine over a snooty review of one of his restaurants: its subscription numbers have broken a company record.
"Has anyone looked at the really poor numbers of @VanityFair Magazine?" the incoming Republican commander-in-chief asked his 17.4 million followers on Twitter bright and early Thursday.
"Way down, big trouble, dead! Graydon Carter, no talent, will be out!" he added for good measure in reference to the magazine's editor, with whom he has a feud dating back decades.
A magazine spokeswoman said Vanity Fair that day collected the highest number of subscriptions sold in a single day for any Conde Nast company publication, clocking up 13,000 new subscriptions in a single 24-hour period.
The magazine has added a banner to its website, calling itself the "magazine Trump doesn't want you to read" and encouraging readers to subscribe.
Vanity Fair
Mysterious Metallic Sound Finally Identified
Mariana Trench
An otherworldly noise that was recorded near the Mariana Trench could be a never-before-heard whale call.
Dubbed the "Western Pacific Biotwang," this newly discovered call might be from a minke whale - a type of baleen whale - according to the researchers who documented the vocalization.
Regardless of what species it is, this whale has range: The call includes sounds that span frequencies that reach as low as 38 hertz and as high as 8,000 hertz. Humans can hear sounds between 20 and 20,000 Hz.
The call was recorded with autonomous seafaring robots, known as "passive acoustic ocean gliders," which can dive up to 3,280 feet (1,000 meters) below the surface. Scientists can send these devices out on solo missions to eavesdrop on whale conversations. Nieukirk and her colleagues collected their acoustic data in the fall of 2014 and the spring of 2015, in an area in the Pacific Ocean east of Guam around the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the ocean.
Mariana Trench
Form in Strange 'Metal Pools'
Biggest Diamonds
The world's largest, most valuable diamonds may be born in pockets of liquid metal located deep within the Earth, a new study finds.
This discovery suggests that pockets of liquid metal peppered throughout Earth's mantle layer, between the planet's crust and core, may play a key role in how carbon and other elements key to life cycle between the Earth's interior and the planet's surface, the researchers said.
In general, diamonds form deep in the hot rock of Earth's mantle, rising to the surface with volcanic eruptions. The biggest gem-quality diamond found to date is the Cullinan diamond, which was unearthed in South Africa in 1905. The 3,106.75-carat diamond, which was later cut up into several polished pieces, originally weighed 1.37 lbs. (621.35 grams), and was about 3.86 inches (9.8 centimeters) long.
Previous research found that the world's largest gem-quality diamonds stand out from smaller jewels not just in size, but also in composition and structure.
In addition, when the biggest diamonds are in their rough, unpolished state, "they're irregular in shape, like a lollipop that's been in someone's mouth for a while, instead of the nice, symmetrical crystals one often thinks of with diamonds," Smith told Live Science.
Biggest Diamonds
Plan Proposed
Dusky Sharks
The federal government isn't going far enough with a plan to protect a threatened shark that lives off the East Coast and has been decimated by the fin trade, some conservationists argue.
The National Marine Fisheries Service is proposing changes to federal fishing rules with the goal of protecting dusky sharks, a large species that is down to about 20 percent of its 1970s population off the East Coast and in the Gulf of Mexico because of commercial fishing for the species that's now illegal off the U.S.
Dusky sharks were long hunted for their meat and oil, as well as their fins, which are used to make soup in traditional Chinese cooking.
The fisheries service is proposing a suite of new rules for recreational and commercial fishermen designed to protect the shark, which is sometimes still killed via accidental bycatch by fishermen seeking other species. But conservation group Oceana said the rules aren't strict enough and leave the sharks vulnerable.
Dusky Sharks
Global Warming's Fingerprints
Weird Weather
A new scientific report finds man-made climate change played some role in two dozen extreme weather events last year but not in a few other weird weather instances around the world.
An annual report released Thursday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found climate change was a factor, however small or large, in 24 of 30 strange weather events. They include 11 cases of high heat, as well as unusual winter sunshine in the United Kingdom, Alaskan wildfires and odd "sunny day" flooding in Miami.
The study documented climate change-goosed weather in Alaska, Washington state, the southeastern United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, China, Japan, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the western north Pacific cyclone region, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Ethiopia and southern Africa.
The report also found an increase in tropical cyclone activity and strength in the western Pacific can be blamed partly on climate change and partly on El Nino, the now-gone natural weather phenomenon. But similar storm strengthening hasn't increased noticeably around the United States yet, said study co-editor Martin Hoerling, a NOAA scientist.
The report was published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. Using accepted scientific techniques, 116 scientists from around the world calculated whether the odds of the extreme weather events were increased by global warming. They based their calculations on observed data, understanding of the physics of the climate and computer simulations - techniques that the National Academy of Sciences said were valid earlier this year.
Weird Weather
Bathroom Signs Law
Oklahoma
An Oklahoma Republican lawmaker on Friday abandoned a measure that required public bathrooms to display anti-abortion signs after an outcry from business leaders and health providers who said it would cost millions of dollars.
Republican Sen. A.J. Griffin, who had sponsored the original bill passed by the Legislature, proposed an amendment that would require the signs only at abortion providers and would direct the state Department of Health to launch a social media campaign on how to avoid abortions.
The State Board of Health on Tuesday approved regulations requiring posting of the signs in public bathrooms at hospitals, nursing homes, restaurants and public schools advising pregnant women where to find services to avoid abortion. Griffin said the department is now being asked to halt any further work toward implementing the regulations while her new proposal is considered by the Legislature, which convenes Feb. 6.
Griffin said the changes preserve the intent of the law while responding to private businesses concerned about a cost estimated at $2.3 million.
Republicans hold overwhelming majorities in both chambers of the Oklahoma Legislature, as well as the governor's office.
Oklahoma
Leaving Viacom Board
Sumner Redstone
Sumner Redstone, the 93-year-old media tycoon whose health has been questioned, is stepping down from the board of his conglomerate Viacom, the company announced Friday.
Redstone will remain chairman emeritus and "will continue to participate in meetings of the board in a non-voting role," a regulatory filing said.
The statement indicated Redstone would no longer play a role on the board after the February 6 annual meeting.
It marks a further step back for Redstone, whose failing health has been the object of litigation as his daughter Shari assumes increasing control of his corporate empire.
The Redstone family, through its National Amusements holding company, controls Viacom, which includes an array of television operations and the Paramount studios in Hollywood, as well as television giant CBS.
Sumner Redstone
Terrorism Law
UK
A neo-Nazi organization that praised the murderer of lawmaker Jo Cox has become the first far-right group in Britain to be banned as a terrorist organization, the Home Office said on Friday.
National Action was banned under the Terrorism Act 2000 meaning that to be a member or open supporter of the group is now a criminal offence, punishable by up to 10 years' imprisonment.
"National Action is a racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic organization which stirs up hatred, glorifies violence and promotes a vile ideology," said Home Secretary Amber Rudd in a statement.
The Home Office said Rudd's decision to proscribe the organization was made before the trial this year of Thomas Mair who was sentenced to life last month for the murder of Cox who was shot and stabbed to death in the street before a meeting with constituents.
It becomes the 71st organization to be proscribed in Britain, alongside 14 organizations connected to Northern Ireland.
UK
China Protests Meeting
Dalai Lama
China has objected to the Dalai Lama meeting with Indian President Pranab Mukherjee earlier this month, saying the talks had negatively impacted ties between the Asian neighbours.
The Tibetan spiritual leader met with Mukherjee at the Indian presidential palace in New Delhi during a child welfare summit attended by Nobel laureates and world leaders on December 10-11.
India's external affairs ministry brushed off Beijing's objections, saying the Dalai Lama and Mukherjee had met at a "non-political" event, local media reported.
The Dalai Lama fled to India after a failed uprising in 1959, but is still deeply revered by many Tibetans in China.
Dalai Lama
In Memory
Henry Heimlich
The surgeon who created the life-saving Heimlich maneuver for choking victims died early Saturday in Cincinnati. Dr. Henry Heimlich was 96.
His son, Phil, said he died at Christ Hospital after suffering a heart attack earlier in the week.
Heimlich was director of surgery at Jewish Hospital in Cincinnati in 1974 when he devised the treatment for choking victims that made his name a household word.
Rescuers using the procedure abruptly squeeze a victim's abdomen, pushing in and above the navel with the fist to create a flow of air from the lungs. That flow of air then can push objects out of the windpipe and prevent suffocation.
The Wilmington, Delaware, native estimated the maneuver has saved the lives of thousands of choking victims in the United States alone. It earned him several awards and worldwide recognition. His name became a household word.
The maneuver was adopted by public health authorities, airlines and restaurant associations, and Heimlich appeared on shows including the "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" and "The Today Show."
Peter Heimlich has called many of his father's theories dangerous and spent years challenging many of his claims and trying to discredit them. The elder Heimlich maintained that his relationship with his son was a family matter refused to comment on it to the media.
The elder Heimlich attended Cornell University undergraduate and medical schools and interned at Boston City Hospital. During World War II, the U.S. Navy sent him to northwest China in 1942 to treat Chinese and American forces behind Japanese lines in the Gobi Desert.
Beginning in the 1950s, he held staff surgeon positions at New York's Metropolitan Hospital and Montefiore Hospital and Medical Center. He later was an attending surgeon on the staffs at Jewish and Deaconess hospitals in Cincinnati and a researcher at his nonprofit Heimlich Institute.
Heimlich's wife Jane, daughter of the late dance teacher Arthur Murray, died in November 2012.
He is survived by two sons and two daughters.
Henry Heimlich
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