Recommended Reading
from Bruce
J. F. Sargent: 7 Famous Movies That Got Tiny Details Absolutely Perfect (Cracked)
I've learned something doing these articles, and that's that good movies don't just happen.
Michael Hossey: 5 Game Of Thrones Scenes That Don't Make Any Damn Sense (Cracked)
The phenomenon that is Game of Thrones […], of course, is based on 20 years of books by George R.R. Martin, which require a fair bit of streamlining and condensing to tell the story in a visual format that isn't 700 hours long. Sometimes, though, the showrunners decide to make changes to the source material that wind up making certain scenes and characters make no goddamn sense whatsoever.
Phil Hearn: 5 Creepy Mysteries With Simple Solutions No One Saw Coming (Cracked)
If there's one thing the news media loves more than spreading bullshit, it's a good unsolved mystery. And that's completely understandable, because we - the news-consuming public - love it just as much.
Mark Morford: The Mercedes pickup of your pampered redneck dreams (SF Gate)
There was a brief blip there, when gas prices were skyrocketing and American automakers were tanking due to their unutterable blandness, bloat, arrogance and shaky build quality - not to mention the fact that the Bush years decimated the U.S. economy - that efficient, well-designed small foreign cars were the best selling vehicles in America.
Mark Morford: Want better sex? Better memory? Better life? Here's the secret (SF Gate)
What, you need to hear it again? OK then. Another study. Another obvious conclusion. Want to improve your libido? Be a more vital and awake, energized lover? Want to, simultaneously, be more productive and focused, healthier and happier, nicer to animals and children and trees? That's easy. Get a decent amount of sleep. Regular, easeful, deep.
Adharanand Finn: What I learned when I met the monk who ran 1,000 marathons (Guardian)
In their quest for enlightenment the legendary monks of Mount Hiei put themselves through an excruciating endurance challenge: 1,000 days of long-distance running. Do they have any wisdom to share with us?
Simon Parkin: "Bloodborne creator Hidetaka Miyazaki: 'I didn't have a dream. I wasn't ambitious'" (Guardian)
He is a video games visionary, the creator of intricate gothic fantasies regarded by some as the best titles of the last 20 years. In a rare interview, Hidetaka Miyazaki explains how he rose from unwanted coder to company president.
Simon Parkin: "Bloodborne review - elegant, precise and irresistible" (Guardian)
Game designer Hidetaka Miyazaki returns with another obtuse but enthralling masterpiece that both mirrors and subverts his previous classics.
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog
David Bruce's Lulu Storefront
David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
David Bruce has over 80 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
, wrote:
took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Spud Goodman « My POV
The Hate Pass
The Hate Pass
In my life I have found it's always helpful to have a free pass in your hip pocket before jumping into a heated battle of words and deeds. The sort of pass that allows you to say or do something that might normally upset others but with this chit you pay no price personally or professionally. It is of course very unusual and may only come your way a few times in your adult existence so savor it when it is in play. This is how the current residents of the states of Indiana and Arkansas must feel right now. Or should I say the homophobes there now playing the religious persecution card. They now have the legal option to just say no in terms of basic rights to people they find objectionable per their lifestyles. For the record, this is not some country in that sandy part of the world or even our ex cold war foe Russia, we are talking about states in the USA in 2015. Stunning yes but with the current make up of GOP state legislatures and governorships it is a logical extension of what this party has made a priority of in their platform. The gist of it is let's turn the clock back as far as possible, cross our fingers and wait for the Supreme Court's decision on gay marriage. Most of the solid 4 conservatives and swinger Justice Kennedy will surely crack under the current momentum of this countries evolution to support basic human rights for all people and will in the end leave only the 2 cavemen (Scalia & his Tonto Clarence Thomas) clinging for all they are worth to the dark ages.
As I really had no understanding of the inner turmoil private sector religious conservatives had been dealing with having to treat LGBT consumers like humans beings this has been an eye opener. Fighting for the right to say no to a gay man or woman buying a wedding cake, flowers or maybe renting a hotel room? It seems the opportunity to play Mr. Peabody and jump into "The Way Back Machine" is undeniably alluring for this group of Americans. They wish for a return to the early 20th century so bad they can taste it. Maybe almost as bad as ISIS is longing for the 12th century. What's up with all the clamoring for the "good old days?" I'm pretty sure even the evangelical Christians who deem homosexuality more offensive than homicide don't long for the days of the plague and locust infestations so they best be careful for what they wish for right now. Sure they could get a roll back on the rules of how we legally treat each other in this country but when that box is opened some may not appreciate a few other previously held positions being rolled back out too. I will submit slavery into evidence as my initial example of such. Oh wait, on second thought that may still have limited appeal in some regions of this country so scratch that one. In lieu of that then how about child labor laws? Though I know with day care prices these days there might actually be a slice of society that lusts for the days when kids did something more useful than playing video games all day but after the first few kids croak in the coal mines the blow back on both CNN and MSNBC would be significant so that issue will probably remain dormant for the time being.
If this "Hate Pass" thing catches on in blue states too then it could get really interesting as I can see maybe New York passing a law allowing businesses to refuse service to anyone with a mullet or maybe California fast food establishments refusing to serve anyone in a pick-up truck coming through the drive thru's with a confederate flag somewhere on their license plate. The pay back mentality will be tough to reject initially but I am in hopes that common decency will prevail. Don't get me wrong here, as satisfying as it would be to deny service to someone flying the flag of the confederate army it's just not the right thing to do because of that stupid constitution. Yes that document is about all we have to save us from our own version of the Taliban and a prime example of such would be state legislator Sylvia Allen (R) of Arizona who discussed a potential bill that would mandate compulsory church attendance. She evidently felt this would be just what this country needs to return to the halcyon days of the 1950's before our moral erosion. Not quite sure what was so special about that decade Sylvia, a member of the Mormon faith was referring to but it does seem to be a common theme with those who wish to possess a "Hate Pass." I do sorta remember her faith in that era was big on black people being the devils creation and thus unfit for church participation. Not sure you would pick that up from current church pamphlets being dropped on your doorstep by wandering youth on bicycles so maybe keep that one in the back of your mind whenever the Sylvia Allen's of your state try to force you into "The Way Back Machine" too. The past is highly over rated in my opinion so my recommendation is to stay in the here and now. I mean who really needs to see a re-run of flat tops, cardigan sweaters and malt shops? Not me. Later.
The Hate Pass « My POV
Newest Podcast - DL Hughley and Ty Barnett
Thanks, Spud!
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
Figs are early this year. Really early.
DWB
Chris Rock
Some of Chris Rock's best comedic routines have been about how police officers interact with black men. Take this bit, addressed to black people, on "how not to get your ass kicked by the police."
Like the best comedians, Rock speaks from personal experience. On Monday, he posted this photo for his followers on Facebook and Twitter, along with the caption, "Stopped by the cops again wish me luck."
It's not the first time Rock's been stopped by police and taken photos of those encounters. In fact, photographing his police stops has sort of become a thing. He did the same thing here and here. In total, Monday marked the third time in seven weeks that Rock has posted a photo of himself being pulled over by a police officer. It's unclear, at this point, why he was pulled over or if he was ever arrested.
Rock's point is clear: Racial profiling is endemic in many of America's police departments. Take New York City, for instance. Black men make up more than 25 percent of the New York Police Department's stops but comprise just under 2 percent of the city's population. As Emily Badger pointed out at the Washington Post late last year, it's a problem that both the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations have tried-and failed-to address.
Chris Rock
Recipients On 'Strike'
Student Loans
Pamela Hunt is so overwhelmed by her $56,000 in student loans for what she considers a worthless criminal justice master's degree that she's joined others on a "debt strike" and refusing to pay back the money.
On Tuesday, she walked out of a meeting with officials from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Education Department she and other former students from for-profit colleges attended on behalf of the "Corinthian 100" feeling cautiously optimistic about the burden being eased.
"I think it can go either way," said Hunt, 55, who works in home health care in Ledyard, Connecticut. She obtained her degree online through Everest College.
The group's name comes from troubled Corinthian Colleges, Inc., which operated Everest College, Heald College and WyoTech before agreeing last summer to sell or close its 100-plus campuses. About 100 current and former students are refusing to pay back their loans, according to the Debt Collective group behind the strike. The former students argue that the department should have done a better job regulating the schools and informing students that they were under investigation.
Student Loans
Ottawa Refuses To Issue Passport
Mohamed Fahmy
A Canadian journalist on trial in Egypt on widely denounced terror charges expressed shock and anger Wednesday over Ottawa's refusal to issue him a passport while he awaits the outcome of his case.
Mohamed Fahmy, who was born in Egypt but immigrated to Canada with his family as a teenager, said his original Canadian passport was seized by Egyptian authorities when he was first arrested in Cairo in December 2013, and has never been returned.
The 40-year-old, who spent more than a year in a Cairo prison, has been trying to acquire a new passport ever since being released on bail in February.
The issue of Fahmy's passport was brought up at his last court hearing, where the judge gave the Canadian Embassy a "green light" to issue a new passport once Fahmy filed a report with police stating that his original one had been lost.
Being out on bail without a passport has left Fahmy without any official identification, which means, among other things, that he has trouble with banking procedures, can't get married to his fiancee, and has trouble moving around Cairo.
Mohamed Fahmy
Playwright Wins Infringement Case
David Adjmi
A playwright who was accused of copyright infringement by lawyers representing the TV show "Three's Company" over his parody of 1970s sitcoms has won a victory in court.
Loretta A. Preska, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, ruled Tuesday that David Adjmi, whose play "3C" had a run at Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre in 2012, is protected under the doctrine of fair use.
"The play is a highly transformative parody of the television series that, although it appropriates a substantial amount of 'Three's Company,' is a drastic departure from the original that poses little risk to the market for the original," the judge wrote, noting that copyright law "is designed to foster creativity."
Adjmi had the backing of many theatre community heavyweights, including Jon Robin Baitz, Stephen Sondheim, Tony Kushner, John Guare and Terrence McNally.
The play is about two girls - one a tomboy, the other a sexy ditz - and a guy who spontaneously become roommates in a rundown Santa Monica apartment after a wild party.
David Adjmi
Gaza Man Duped
Banksy
A Palestinian man was lamenting his misfortune on Wednesday after selling his bombed-out doorway to a local artist without realizing that the image painted on it was by Banksy and could be worth a small fortune.
Rabea Darduna, a father of six from northern Gaza, said he sold the iron-and-brick doorway of his destroyed house to a local man who offered him 700 shekels ($175) for it.
Banksy, a British street artist who is famed for his ironic murals in unexpected places, visited Gaza earlier this year and spray-painted an image of a goddess holding her head in her hand on the door, one of a handful of paintings he did in Gaza.
"I had no idea what the value of the painting was or who this Banksy is," a frustrated Darduna told Reuters by telephone. "If I knew I would never have sold the door so cheap."
Darduna said he felt swindled and had been trying to call the man who bought the door but had got no reply.
Banksy
May Be a Fake
Egypt's 'Mona Lisa'
An ancient Egyptian masterpiece, hailed by some scholars as the "Mona Lisa" of Egyptian painting, is in fact a fake created in the 19th century, a researcher says. But the painting may conceal an authentic Pyramid Age piece underneath.
The "Meidum Geese," as modern-day Egyptologists and art historians call it, was supposedly found in 1871 in a tomb located near the Meidum Pyramid, which was built by the pharaoh Snefru (reign 2610-2590 B.C). The tomb belonged to the pharaoh's son, Nefermaat, and the painting itself was supposedly found in a chapel dedicated to Nefermaat's wife Atet (also spelled Itet). A man named Luigi Vassalli discovered and removed the painting, which is now located in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
"Some scholars compared it, with due respect, to 'The Gioconda' (Mona Lisa) for the Egyptian art," wrote Francesco Tiradritti, a professor at the Kore University of Enna anddirector of the Italian archaeological mission to Egypt, in a summary of his finds sent to Live Science. The painting's beauty and detail has helped it gain this level of fame.
Tiradritti is set to publish his findings on April 5 in the art specialty papers Giornale dell'Arte and The Art Newspaper, in Italian and English, respectively.He sent Live Science an advance summary of his finds. Tiradritti examined the painting in-person and used high-resolution photographs in his study.
The first clues that led Tiradritti to doubt the authenticity of the painting came from studying the birds depicted on it. Two of these birds were unlikely to have flown to Egypt.
Egypt's 'Mona Lisa'
For Profit Prison Profits
Aramark
Prison food is notoriously unappealing, but one Michigan prison kitchen hit a new low when it served meat from the garbage to inmates. Employees of private food vendor Aramark removed food from the trash, rinsed it off, and reheated it before serving it to inmates at Saginaw Correctional Facility, according to emails uncovered through a Freedom of Information Act request from the accountability watchdog group Progress Michigan.
The incident is just one of many scarring Aramark's abysmal record as a food service provider for prisons. A representative for Aramark did not respond to a request for comment.
Prisoners in Ohio reported last year that they repeatedly found maggots in Aramark-prepared meals, and in Kentucky, prisoners rioted over the increasingly low quality of food served by Aramark. In 2008, two hundred seventy-seven prisoners in Florida reported cases of food poisoning after eating chili served by the company.
In Michigan last year, the state fined the company $200,000 for employee misconduct and-here we go again-maggots in food served to inmates.
Aramark
Doctors Explanation
Iced Tea
Doctors traced an Arkansas man's kidney failure to an unusual cause - his habit of drinking a gallon of iced tea each day.
They ruled out several potential causes before stumbling on a reason for the 56-year-old man's kidney problems. He said he drank about 16 8-ounce cups of iced tea every day. Black tea has a chemical known to cause kidney stones or even kidney failure in excessive amounts.
"It was the only reasonable explanation," said Dr. Umbar Ghaffar of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock. She and two other doctors describe the case in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.
The unidentified man went to the hospital last May with nausea, weakness, fatigue and body aches. Doctors determined his kidneys were badly clogged and inflamed by the food chemical called oxalate. The man is on dialysis, perhaps for the rest of his life, Ghaffar said.
At 16 cups of iced black tea each day, he was taking in three to 10 times more oxalate than the average American, Ghaffar and her colleagues reported.
Iced Tea
Tiny Songbird Tracked
Blackpoll Warbler
A tiny songbird that summers in the forests of northern North America has been tracked on a 1,700-mile, over-the-ocean journey from the northeastern United States and eastern Canada to the Caribbean as part of their winter migration to South America, according to a new study.
Scientists had long suspected that the blackpoll warbler had made its journey to the Caribbean over the ocean, but the study that began in the summer of 2013 when scientists attached tracking devices to the birds was the first time that the flight has been proven, according to results published Wednesday in the United Kingdom in the journal Biology Letters.
"It is such a spectacular, astounding feat that this half-an-ounce bird can make what is obviously a perilous, highly risky journey over the open ocean," said Chris Rimmer of the Vermont Center for Ecostudies, one of the authors.
The warblers, known to bulk up by eating insects near their coastal departure points before heading south, are common in parts of North America, but their numbers have been declining. "Now maybe that will help us focus attention on what could be driving these declines," Rimmer said.
Blackpoll Warbler
In Memory
Cynthia Lennon
Cynthia Lennon, the first wife of former Beatles guitarist John Lennon, died of cancer Wednesday at her home in Spain. She was 75.
Her death was announced on the website and Twitter account of her son, Julian Lennon and confirmed by his representative.
A statement from Julian's representative said Cynthia died at her home in Mallorca "following a short but brave battle with cancer." It said Julian was at his mother's bedside throughout.
Cynthia and John Lennon met at art school in Liverpool in 1957 and married shortly before the Beatles shot to worldwide fame. Julian was their only child together.
The couple divorced in 1968 after John Lennon started his much publicized relationship with Japanese artist Yoko Ono. They had spent 10 years together as a couple.
Cynthia remarried several times.
Author Hunter Davies, who wrote the only authorized Beatles biography in 1968, described Cynthia as a "lovely woman" who was ill-treated by her famous husband.
He said she wasn't at all like her husband, but was "quiet and reserved and calm" and "not a hippy at all."
He said their friends at art school never thought the relationship would last because they were so different.
Cynthia Lennon
In Memory
Gary Dahl
Gary Ross Dahl, the creator of the wildly popular 1970s fad the Pet Rock, has died at age 78 in Oregon.
Dahl's wife, Marguerite Dahl, confirmed Tuesday that her husband of 40 years died March 23 of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
The smooth stones came packed in a cardboard box containing a tongue-in-cheek instruction pamphlet for "care and feeding." Dahl estimated he had sold 1.5 million of them at roughly $4 each by the time the fad fizzled. The Pet Rock required no work and no time commitment.
Born Dec. 18, 1936, in North Dakota, he was an advertising execution in California when he came up with the Pet Rock idea in 1975.
Dahl also penned "Advertising for Dummies."
In addition to his wife, he is survived by a sister, Candace Dahl of Spokane; daughters Chris Nunez and Samantha Leighton; son Eric Dahl; stepdaughter Vicki Pershing and grandchildren.
Dahl and his wife were avid sailors on San Francisco Bay, where she plans to sprinkle his ashes in May.
Gary Dahl
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
