Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Mark Morford: A brief interview with the devil (sfgate.com)
Given how he was a little busy, what with the world the way it is, and such.
John Timpane: "Farewell: They lit up our screens, lent their talent to our arts and letters" (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
We lost them this year - but also we had the great luck to be on the same planet with them.
Marie Louise Sjølie: The Danish cartoonist who survived an axe attack (guardian.co.uk)
Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard has been living in fear since he drew his notorious Muhammad cartoon. But even that could not prepare him for being attacked in his own home by a Muslim seeking revenge
Chuck Myers: National Gallery of Art exhibit spotlights the flip side of impressionism (McClatchy-Tribune News Service)
During the late 19th century, the art world experienced an explosion of color, light and energy, as the celebrated impressionism movement created moments on canvas instilled with a beguiling joie de vie.
shathley Q: Review of "MAD #502: 20 Dumbest People, Events & Things 2009"
"MAD: 20 Dumbest People, Events & Things 2009" pulls no punches. Its acerbic reframing of the life and world of 2009, its madcap, non-jaded look at the motives of personalities who found themselves in the limelight and its tireless pursuit of the innate satire of darker times really does live up to the magazine's branding as 'humor, in a jugular vein'.
Michael Metivier: Remembering Vic Chesnutt (popmatters.com)
The regrettable tendency for audiences when any great artist dies is to hear that person's music in the past tense.
Greg Kot: Kid Sister grows up, but Melisa Young holds onto her suburban roots (Chicago Tribune)
Melisa Young - better known in the pop world as Kid Sister - has just gotten off a plane and stepped inside her North Side apartment for the first time in weeks.
Mike Boehm: The Genesis of a progressive trend? (Los Angeles Times)
Is the impending induction of Genesis the beginning of progressive rock getting its long-denied due from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?
BARBARA STRAUCH: How to Train the Aging Brain (nytimes.com)
The problem is, as much as I've enjoyed these books, I don't really remember reading any of them. Certainly I know the main points. But didn't I, after underlining all those interesting parts, retain anything else?
Nicholas Kristof: World's Healthiest Food (nytimes.com)
So what's the most scrumptious, wholesome, exquisite, healthful, gratifying food in the world?
Dr Luisa Dillner's guide to ... a healthy 2010 (guardian.co.uk)
Don't bother with detox diets, give up smoking, drink sensibly - and give to charity.
Michael Pollan: "Food Rules": A Completely Different Way To Fix The Health Care Crisis (huffingtonpost.com)
I set out to collect and formulate some straightforward, memorable, everyday rules for eating, a set of personal policies that would, taken together or even separately, nudge people onto a healthier and happier path.
The Weekly Poll
New Question
The "That's Mr. Flipper to you, bub" Edition...
Dolphins have been declared the world's second most intelligent creatures after humans, with scientists suggesting they are so bright that they should be treated as "non-human persons"... The researchers argue that their work shows it is morally unacceptable to keep such intelligent animals in amusement parks or to kill them for food or by accident when fishing...
Scientists say dolphins should be treated as 'non-human persons' - Times Online
Do you agree with the scientists's assertions?
Send your response to
wrote:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
Backs Anti-Whaling Push
Bob Barker
Television game show host Bob Barker knew anti-whaling work could be dangerous even before his $5 million donation to a conservation group, but he was shocked to hear about Wednesday's violent crash between a Japanese whaling ship and one of the group's speedboats.
The collision off the coast of Antarctica sheared the bow off the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society speedboat and injured one crew member aboard. A new ship funded by Barker's donation, the 1,200-ton Bob Barker, rescued all six crew members from the speedboat.
"To think I had just become involved in it, then they had the worst accident that they've had," he said. "I thought, 'Barker, what have you brought on to these people?'"
The longtime animal activist said he was aware of Sea Shepherd's tactics before contributing to the organization.
"I knew that they get in there and try to get between the whalers and the whales," Barker said. "They are just doing wonderful things. Sea Shepherd operates under the UN World Charter for Nature to uphold international conservation laws and directly intervene against illegal activities on the high seas."
Bob Barker
UK Stamps
Classic Album Covers
Legendary Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page has launched a new set of stamps featuring classic album covers from the last 40 years.
Royal Mail went through thousands of pieces of artwork to draw up a shortlist of ten for the set, released today.
They include Led Zeppelin IV, the classic 1971 allbum that contained Stairway To Heaven and which sold 32 million copies.
Page, who helped design the artwork for IV, said: "Almost 40 years after the album came out, nobody knows the old man who featured on the cover, nor the artist who painted him - that sort of sums up what we wanted to achieve with the album cover, which has remained both anonymous and enigmatic at the same time."
The stamps depict the covers of albums from the past 40 years including Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, The Division Bell by Pink Floyd and Parklife by Blur.
Classic Album Covers
Joins Jenny Craig
Jason Alexander
Jason Alexander, the former star of 1990s hit television sitcom "Seinfeld," on Wednesday joined the ranks of celebrities working with weight control company Jenny Craig, Inc. to lose pounds in the new year.
Alexander, 50, joins the ranks of Valerie Bertinelli, Queen Latifah and others who have worked with Jenny Craig to lose weight and promote the company's programs and products.
Alexander, who played Jerry Seinfeld's sidekick George Constanza on the top-rated sitcom, said he realized last fall while taping a "Seinfeld" reunion that he put on more weight than he wanted. His goal is to lose 30 pounds (13.6 kg).
Patti Larchet, chief executive for California-based Jenny Craig, said the company expects Alexander will inspire other men to lose weight.
Jason Alexander
May Get Reprieve
Kirkus Reviews
Kirkus Reviews, a longtime publishing magazine that was supposed to shut down, may be getting a reprieve.
According to a posting Tuesday on the Kirkus Web site, a potential buyer has emerged and the magazine will continue publishing at least until negotiations have finished, likely within the next 2-3 weeks.
Last month, the Nielsen Co. announced it would close Kirkus
Kirkus Reviews
Hospital News
Gary Coleman
"Diff'rent Strokes" actor Gary Coleman is in a Los Angeles hospital for tests after complaining that he didn't feel well.
Coleman's agent, Robert Malcolm, says the 41-year-old actor was doing promotional work at a hotel Wednesday morning and went to his room to rest.
The Los Angeles Fire Department says an ambulance was sent to the hotel shortly after 8 a.m.
Malcolm says Coleman was taken to a hospital for tests. He says the actor is doing well but he doesn't know when Coleman will be released.
Gary Coleman
Cancels Concerts
Seiji Ozawa
Japan's most famous orchestral conductor, Seiji Ozawa, has been diagnosed with cancer and will cancel all performances for the next six months to concentrate on treatment, his office said on Thursday.
One of the first Asian classical musicians to be widely recognized in the West, 74-year-old Ozawa has made efforts to revitalize the music scene in his home country, founding an annual festival in the castle town of Matsumoto.
The mop-haired conductor was already due to step down as musical director of the Vienna State Opera later this year, a post he took up after serving almost three decades as director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Seiji Ozawa
Attorney Requests Sentencing In Absentia
Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski sent a letter from house arrest in Switzerland asking a Los Angeles judge to sentence him in a sex case without making him return to the U.S., but a ruling was postponed Wednesday.
The notarized letter signed by Polanski on Dec. 26 in Gstaad was filed by his lawyer. It said Polanski understood he had the right to be present at all legal proceedings, but "I request that judgment be pronounced against me in my absence."
Deputy District Attorney David Walgren objected to Polanski's request and demanded he "show his face" in court before he was sentenced.
Superior Court Judge Peter Espinoza accepted the letter but said he wanted to see legal briefs that state why sentencing Polanski in absentia was appropriate.
Judge Espinoza said earlier this year there appeared to be substantial judicial misconduct, but Polanski had to return to this country to argue for the case to be tossed out.
Roman Polanski
Court Declines To Rehear Hanks Case
Idaho
The Idaho Supreme Court has refused to reconsider its ruling in a lawsuit pitting an Idaho contractor against Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson.
The Idaho Mountain Express reports the high court said last week its October ruling in favor of the acting and producing couple will stand.
The long-running dispute began after Hanks and Wilson hired Storey Construction to build their high-end villa in Ketchum. Both sides went into arbitration to settle disputes over payment and construction defect claims. Three years later, the couple sought a second arbitration, saying they'd found latent construction defects. The company said those matters had been settled in the first arbitration.
The Idaho Supreme Court ruled last year that a second arbitration was allowable under the contract.
Idaho
Delayng Warner Brothers' Latest
Netflix
Netflix's 11 million subscribers will have to wait nearly an extra month to rent the latest movies by Warner Bros.
Under an agreement announced Wednesday, Netflix's DVD-by-mail service won't send out Warner Bros.' latest DVD and Blu-ray discs during the first 28 days after they hit the market.
The moratorium will give Warner Bros. a chance to sell more discs to consumers who can't wait to see the studio's latest home releases.
In return for the concession, Netflix will get a discount on Warner Bros. discs. And it'll be able to offer more of the studio's movies and TV shows for subscribers to watch over the Internet.
Netflix
Officials Want Document
Davy Crockett
Officials in Tennessee want a 90-year-old Florida woman to turn over a marriage license application filed by legendary Alamo defender Davy Crockett more than two centuries ago.
Lura Hinchey, archive director for Jefferson County, Tenn., said the original marriage license application of Crockett and Margaret Elder belongs to the county because it is a permanent record. On Tuesday, Jefferson County officials filed papers in a Tampa-area court seeking its return.
The historic document is in the possession of Margaret V. Smith, whose son said she inherited it.
Vance Smith said Tennessee officials didn't ask for the license back until his mother appeared on the TV program "Antiques Roadshow." On the show, she told an appraiser her uncle, a Crockett fan, saved the 1805 document from being thrown out as a Tennessee courthouse was being cleaned out.
Davy Crockett
3 Wives, No 'First Lady'
Jacob Zuma
The three wives of South African President Jacob Zuma will not vie for the position of "First Lady" because the constitution makes no provision for the title, his office said on Wednesday.
South Africa's media has speculated on which spouse might assume the role after Zuma married for the fifth time on Monday, giving the Zulu traditionalist his third current wife.
Zuma, who was previously also married to Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma before their divorce in 1998, while another wife committed suicide in 2000, has repeatedly defended his decision to take many wives.
He has 19 children, according to his official biography on the presidency website, and is also engaged to at least one other woman.
Jacob Zuma
Fairbanks Sculpture
'Frozen Gore'
Another two-ton ice sculpture of former Vice President Al Gore is back in front of a Fairbanks liquor store.
"Frozen Gore" is a dig at Gore's beliefs about climate change.
The first statue went on display last year. This year's version is hooked up to the exhaust of a pickup truck to make it appear Gore is spouting hot air.
The sculpture was commissioned by two businessmen, Craig Compeau and Rudy Gavora, who want Gore to discuss global warming in Fairbanks.
'Frozen Gore'
Must Rich Help Poor?
Think-Off Question
A Minnesota group has released its annual philosophy question that will lead to one entrant being named "America's Greatest Thinker for 2010."
This year's debate question is, "Do the wealthy have an obligation to help the poor?"
The 2010 Great American Think-Off is an amateur philosophy contest organized by the New York Mills Regional Cultural Center in Minnesota.
The nonprofit has been organizing the contest for 18 years. Anyone can enter free by submitting an essay of 750 words or fewer. Four finalists will debate the question in New York Mills on June 12 before a live audience.
Think-Off Question
In Memory
Tsutomu Yamaguchi
Tsutomu Yamaguchi, the only person officially recognized as a survivor of both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings at the end of World War II, has died at age 93.
Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima on a business trip for his shipbuilding company on Aug. 6, 1945, when a U.S. B-29 dropped an atomic bomb on the city. He suffered serious burns to his upper body and spent the night in the city.
He then returned to his hometown of Nagasaki, about 300 kilometers (190 miles) to the southwest, which suffered a second U.S. atomic bomb attack three days later.
Yamaguchi was the only person to be certified by the Japanese government as having been in both cities when they were attacked, although other dual survivors have also been identified.
In his later years, Yamaguchi gave talks about his experiences as an atomic bomb survivor and often expressed his hope that such weapons would be abolished.
Immediately after the war, Yamaguchi worked as a translator for American forces in Nagasaki and later as a junior high school teacher.
Certification as an atomic bomb survivor in Japan qualifies individuals for government compensation, including monthly allowances, free medical checkups and funeral costs.
Tsutomu Yamaguchi
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