Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Tom Tomorrow (Cartoon)
Ten Years After.
Jonathan Capehart: "The birther lie: Whites hated it, too" Washington Post)
"I finally decided that this was not the political party that represented my values or that I wanted to be affiliated with, and I did not want them taking me for granted as a member. I therefore downloaded the voter registration paperwork, filled it out and mailed it in the following day. I do not regret my decision at all, and I will never return to the Republican Party as long as it exists in its current state."-- Jeffrey Whitbred, a fallen-away Republican from West Covina, Calif.
Froma Harrop: Often You Don't Need a Doctor (Creators Syndicate)
A nurse practitioner may be in your future - if he or she is not already in your present. This is a kind of super nurse, who's gone through four years of nursing school plus at least two more years of training in diagnosing and treating disease. Nurse practitioners may specialize in women's health, pediatrics or cardiac care.
Interview by Laura Barnett: "Keith Allen, actor - portrait of the artist" (Guardian)
Actor Keith Allen talks about screaming popes, his daughter Lily - and the time he lived on a theatre stage.
Alex Heimbach: Is Sherlock Holmes in the Public Domain? (Slate)
Is Sherlock Holmes in the public domain? In the United States, at least, it's a somewhat tricky question-one that may soon be settled in court. Lawyer and Holmes scholar Leslie S. Klinger has sued the estate…
Zip: Day 1 Thru Week 5 (Imgur)
Found a baby squirrel in a bag of mulch. Cut open the bag and this little guy fell out. It's now week 5 and this is the progress.
Tipping and Tooting (The Oatmeal)
A comic about people who wait tables.
"Social Farter" PSA by Canadian Health Ministry (YouTube)
"Social Farter" PSA is centered around the sarcastic tagline: "If you only fart with friends, you're not a farter. You're just a social farter and that makes it OK." It's all part of the Canadian Ministry of Health's "Quit the Denial" campaign
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
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David Bruce has approximately 50 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
David E Suggests
Vegas
Thanks, David!
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Zack Suggests
Greatest Cars
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From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and breezy.
Winners Announced
Peabody Awards
Irreverent U.S. cable television series "Girls" and "Louie" on Wednesday headlined the winners of the annual Peabody Awards, the oldest and one of the top honors in broadcasting.
The awards recognize excellence in television and radio broadcasting, as well as by webcasters, producing organizations and individuals.
The Peabody panel, which also honors international and local programs, awarded a prize to WVIT-TV, an NBC affiliate in West Hartford, Connecticut, for its coverage of the elementary school mass shootings in December in nearby Newtown.
Other notable winners include British broadcaster ITV's documentary on the late BBC presenter Jimmy Savile that explored allegations of decades-long sexual abuse by the once beloved star.
The BBC science-fiction drama "Doctor Who" won an Institutional Peabody Award for its ability to evolve with the times over its some 50 years in production.
Peabody Awards
Won't Run
Ashley Judd
Actress Ashley Judd announced Wednesday she won't run for U.S. Senate in Kentucky against Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, saying she had given serious thought to a campaign but decided her responsibilities and energy need to be focused on her family.
The former Kentucky resident tweeted her decision.
"Regretfully, I am currently unable to consider a campaign for the Senate. I have spoken to so many Kentuckians over these last few months who expressed their desire for a fighter for the people & new leader," Judd wrote.
"While that won't be me at this time, I will continue to work as hard as I can to ensure the needs of Kentucky families are met by returning this Senate seat to whom it rightfully belongs: the people & their needs, dreams, and great potential. Thanks for even considering me as that person & know how much I love our Commonwealth. Thank you!"
Ashley Judd
Renews 18 Prime-Time Series
CBS
There's little suspense ahead for CBS viewers. The network says it has renewed 18 of its prime-time series for next season.
The long-running comedy "Two and a Half Men" was not on the list, but CBS said Wednesday that it is discussing another season with the show's production company, Warner Bros. Television.
The renewals include "60 Minutes," ''The Amazing Race," ''NCIS" and "2 Broke Girls." CBS is television's most stable and popular network in prime time and in recent years has predated the annual May announcement of its fall schedule by confirming mass renewals earlier in the spring.
The shows still on the bubble are "CSI: NY," ''Vegas," ''Golden Boy" and "Rules of Engagement."
CBS
Science Fiction Series For Netflix
The Wachowskis
Netflix is teaming up with the creative force behind "The Matrix" action movie franchise for a new science fiction series that will be available only to subscribers of the video streaming service.
"Sense8," a 10-episode series described as a tale of minds linked and souls hunted, will debut on Netflix in late 2014, Netflix said in a statement on Wednesday.
"Several years ago, we had a late night conversation about the ways technology simultaneously unites and divides us, and out of that paradox 'Sense8' was born," directors Andy and Lana Wachowski said in a statement.
"Sense8" is the siblings' first television project. The Wachowskis were behind "The Matrix" movie trilogy and films like "V for Vendetta" and "Speed Racer."
The Wachowskis
Supports High School Chess Team
Alec Baldwin
Actor Alec Baldwin has donated $2,500 to help the chess team at Central Falls High School in Rhode Island defray the cost of traveling to a national tournament next month.
The city of Central Falls has made national news because of financial problems, and the news coverage previously caught Baldwin's attention. Baldwin also contributed $10,000 two years ago to the Central Falls library to help it reopen after it was forced to close because of money problems. The city emerged from bankruptcy last year.
WLNE-TV reports the chess team needs $8,000 to fund the trip to the national chess tournament in Tennessee. The team has competed in the national tournament six times.
Alec Baldwin
Glastonbury Festival
Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones will be taking the stage again this summer at one of Britain's leading music festivals.
The Stones' appearance at the 2013 Glastonbury Festival - set to take place from June 28 to June 30 - was revealed Wednesday in a line-up posted on the festival's website.
They confirmed their June 29 Glastonbury appearance in a post on their official website, with Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger taking to Twitter to say he "can't wait" to play the festival.
Referring to the farmland in southwestern England where the festival his held, Jagger said: "I have my wellies and my yurt," a portable dwelling used by nomads.
Rolling Stones
Weekend Gig
Little Tucker
Fox News Channel says veteran conservative commentator Tucker Carlson will become co-host of the network's weekend morning show, "Fox & Friends."
Carlson will replace Dave Briggs, who left Fox at the end of last year. His co-hosts on the weekend chat fest are Alisyn Camerota and Clayton Morris. Carlson will continue to make other appearances on Fox News programming.
The commentator, known for his bow ties, is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Daily Caller. He worked at both CNN and MSNBC before joining Fox News.
Little Tucker
Lawsuit Over Spoilers
"The Bachelor"
Another season of the ABC reality hit "The Bachelor" came to a close earlier this month. And now, as it turns out, so has a lawsuit over the show.
"Bachelor" production companies NZK Productions Inc. and Horizon Alternative Television have settled their lawsuit against Reality Steve website operator Stephen Carbone, over "Bachelor" spoilers that he had published on the site, according to papers filed in U.S. District Court in Central California on Monday.
This is actually the second time that the parties have settled over such matters; the original complaint against Carbone, filed in December, claimed that he had been obtaining and publishing spoilers on the recently wrapped 17th season of the series in violation of a May 2012 settlement agreement.
The original complaint, filed in December, claimed that Carbone had begun divulging secrets about the then-unaired 17th season in September, and accused him of "contacting and soliciting information from participants, cast, crew and/or other employees of The Bachelor Series and knowingly inducing them to breach their confidentiality obligations to Plaintiffs."
"The Bachelor"
Pre-Dawn Operation
Berlin Wall
Work crews backed by about 250 police removed parts of the Berlin Wall known as the East Side Gallery before dawn Wednesday to make way for an upscale building project, despite demands by protesters that the site be preserved.
Residents of the area expressed shock at the move, which followed several protests including one attended by American celebrity David Hasselhoff.
Police spokesman Alexander Toennies said there were no incidents as work began about 5 a.m. to remove four sections of the wall, each about 1.5 yards (1.2 meters) wide. That will make way for an access route to the planned high-rise luxury apartments along the nearby Spree River.
The East Side Gallery is the longest remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall. Construction workers removed a first piece earlier this month as part of a plan to make a road to a new luxury apartment complex . The public outcry brought a halt while local politicians and the investor said they were looking for a solution to keep the rest of the wall untouched.
The East Side Gallery was recently restored at a cost of more than 2 million euros ($3 million) to the city. The wall section stood on the eastern side of the elaborate border strip built by communist East Germany after it sealed off West Berlin in 1961. At least 136 people died trying to scale the wall until it was opened on Nov. 9, 1989.
Berlin Wall
CBS Buys Half
TV Guide
Broadcaster CBS Corp. is buying a 50 percent stake in TV Guide's pay TV channel and website for nearly $100 million, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The price is less than the $123 million that JPMorgan Chase's One Equity Partners paid for a 49 percent stake four years ago. It brings CBS Corp. into an equal partnership with Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.
CBS said the channel, available in more than 80 million homes, will continue to focus on entertainment. Details about rebranding it will come. It will combine CBS' programming, production and marketing with Lions Gate's resources in movies, TV shows and digital content.
Previously, the channel had mainly been used as a guide for other channels, but set-top boxes come with their own guides these days. The channel, called TVGN, currently shows reruns of such programs as "Who's The Boss," ''Ugly Betty" and older movies. Most viewers don't see the scrolling TV listings guide any more.
TV Guide
Quake Was Man-Made
Oklahoma
A team of scientists have determined that a 5.6 magnitude quake in Oklahoma in 2011 was caused when oil drilling waste was injected deep underground.
That makes it the most powerful quake to be blamed on deep injections of wastewater, although not everyone agrees. Oklahoma's state seismologists say the quake was natural.
The Nov. 6 earthquake near Prague, Okla., injured two people, damaged 14 houses and was the strongest Midwestern quake in decades.
The new report says there was a smaller quake at the site of an old injection well, and that triggered the larger tremor. Records show the well pressure rising dramatically in 2006. The scientists say both combine to make a strong case that waste injections caused the quake.
Oklahoma
Republicans Seek To Boycott
Colorado
Hunters across the country say they are boycotting Colorado because of recent legislation meant to curtail gun violence.
Colorado last week became the first Western state to ratchet back gun rights in response to mass shootings at a suburban Denver movie theater and an elementary school in Connecticut. Opponents warned that the gun controls would hurt hunters, especially an expansion of background-check requirements to apply to personal and online gun sales.
Republican opponents of the new background-check law said it would make criminals of hunters lending each other weapons for weekend hunting trips. In response, Democrats changed the bill to give people a 72-hour grace period to share guns without triggering background-check requirements. Republicans then said the bill would imperil weeklong hunting trips.
Gun rights advocates who said hunters would boycott Colorado in protest say they are following through on their threats.
Colorado
'Night Watch' Returned
Rembrandt
Rembrandt's iconic masterpiece the "Night Watch" has been painstakingly returned to the main building of Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum before its re-opening next month after a decade of renovations.
Removing the priceless painting from a temporary wing and moving it to the main building Wednesday was an operation of almost military precision.
Dozens of police stood guard as it was slid into a climate-controlled crate and cranes were used to lift it out of one gallery and into another.
The 1642 oil painting of one of Amsterdam's citizen militias, officially titled "The Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch," measures 3.79 meters by 4.53 meters (12.43 x 14.86 feet) and weighs 337 kilograms (743 pounds).
Rembrandt
In Memory
Fay Kanin
Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated screenwriter Fay Kanin has died. She was 95.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences confirmed Kanin's death Wednesday. She served as president of the film academy from 1979 to 1983.
Kanin was nominated for an Academy Award for 1958's "Teacher's Pet" alongside her husband and writing partner, Michael Kanin. The film starred Clark Gable and Doris Day.
Fay Kanin was also recognized for her television contributions, winning two screenwriting Emmys in 1974 and another for producing the TV special "Friendly Fire" in 1979.
Details on Kanin's survivors and cause of death were not immediately available.
Fay Kanin
In Memory
Gordon Stoker
Gordon Stoker, a member of The Jordanaires vocal group that backed up Elvis Presley, has died. He was 88.
His son, Alan, told The Associated Press that Stoker died Wednesday at his home in Brentwood, Tenn., after a lengthy illness. Stoker, who was born in Gleason, Tenn., got his start playing the piano on WSM radio and its signature show, the Grand Ole Opry.
He joined the Jordanaires as a piano player, but then took on a role as a vocalist singing tenor. The group was already well known for their gospel singing when Presley recruited them to perform on his recording of "Hound Dog," in 1956.
The group also performed with Patsy Cline, Jim Reeves, George Jones and Tennessee Ernie Ford.
Gordon Stoker
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