Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Garrison Keillor: A walk down the aisle
The old need to look after the young and honor the future. I run into people who retired on lovely pensions at 62 and now enjoy making bad art and writing stuff nobody wants to read, an enormous bulge of aging boomers squeezing through the pension pipeline, their expensive health care paid for by semi-literate 30-year-olds penalized by lousy schools where languages were dropped and tests dumbed down and class size rose past 30 and 35, who are now forced to support a growing population of seashell collectors and bad poets and people making videos of the Grand Canyon. After 27 years as Assistant Vice President for Institutional Advancement at the Associated Federation of Organizations, you now get to be a teenager again.
Jonathan Jones: Monet & Architecture review - glorious pleas for humanity show Monet in a new light (The Guardian)
He is known as a joyful painter of lilies and picnics. But this thrilling show recasts Monet as an artist aghast as the world hurtled towards calamity.
Jonathan Jones: Van Gogh and Japan review - the painter as tortured apprentice (The Guardian)
There is no doubting Van Gogh's reverence for the Japanese masters such as Hiroshige, but his attempts to re-create their calm artistry surely added to his personal torment.
Steven Poole: Macbeth by Jo Nesbų review - Shakespeare reimagined (The Guardian)
Scandinavia's king of crime turns the tragedy into a deliciously oppressive page-turner.
Brian O'Flynn: "10 years of Lady Gaga: how she queered mainstream pop forever" (The Guardian)
It's a decade since Lady Gaga burst into the charts with "Just Dance," and showed a new generation how to create a vivid identity for yourself, anywhere.
Maev Kennedy: "'He was a great man. I was just pretty': photos tell story of Jane and Serge" (The Guardian)
Exhibition in Calais captures intimate moments from Birkin and Gainsbourg's relationship.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
answered:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
David E Suggests
Coffee
David
Thanks, Dave!
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Current Events
The Notorious and FABULOUS RBG
She is so cool:
from Marc Perkel
Marc's Guide to Curing Cancer
So far so good on beating cancer for now. I'm doing fine. At the end of the month I'll be 16 months into an 8 month mean lifespan. And yesterday I went on a 7 mile hike and managed to keep up with the hiking group I was with. So, doing something right.
Still waiting for future test results and should see things headed in the right direction. I can say that it's not likely that anything dire happens in the short term so that means that I should have time to make several more attempts at this. So even if it doesn't work the first time there are a lot of variations to try. So if there's bad news it will help me pick the next radiation target.
I have written a "how to" guide for oncologists to perform the treatment that I got. I'm convinced that I'm definitely onto something and whether it works for me or not isn't the definitive test. I know if other people tried this that it would work for some of them, and if they improve it that it will work for a lot of them.
The guide is quite detailed and any doctor reading this can understand the procedure at every level. I also go into detail as to how it works, how I figured it out, and variations and improvements that could be tried to enhance it. I also introduce new ways to look at the problem. There is a lot of room for improvement and I think that doctors reading it will see what I'm talking about and want to build on it. And it's written so that if you're not a doctor you can still follow it. It also has a personal story revealing that I'm the class clown of cancer support group. I give great interviews and I look pretty hot in a lab coat.
So, feel free to read this and see what I'm talking about. But if any of you want to help then pass this around to both doctors and cancer patients. I need some media coverage. I'm looking for as many eyeballs as possible to read these ideas. Even if this isn't the solution, it's definitely on the right track. After all, I did hike 7 miles yesterday. And this hiking group wasn't moving slow. So if this isn't working then, why am I still here?
I also see curing cancer as more of an engineering problem that a medical problem. So if you are good at solving problems and most of what you know about medicine was watching the Dr. House MD TV show, then you're at the level I was at when I started. So anyone can jump in and be part of the solution.
Here is a link to my guide: Oncologists Guide to Curing Cancer using Abscopal Effect
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
DOWN THE DRAIN.
ADIOS AMIGO.
Nefarious Rat Association.
'motherf**ker'
TRUMP UNHINGED.
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and seasonal.
'The Law Is Coming'
NYT Editorial Board
The New York Times editorial board has issued another searing indictment on President-for-now Donald Trump's (R-Crooked) character and leadership.
In a blistering piece published Tuesday, the Times' editorial board taunted the president about Monday's FBI raid of the office of Michael Cohen, Trump's personal lawyer, and warned that "the law is coming."
"Mr. Trump has spent his career in the company of developers and celebrities, and also of grifters, cons, sharks, goons and crooks," the editorial board wrote. "He cuts corners, he lies, he cheats, he brags about it, and for the most part, he's gotten away with it, protected by threats of litigation, hush money and his own bravado."
This isn't the first time the editorial board has unloaded on Trump. In January, it published a piece titled "Why Does President Trump Fear The Truth?" In March, it published another called "Donald Trump Sure Has A Problem With Democracy."
Read the full editorial at The New York Times
NYT Editorial Board
Pluto's Largest Moon
Charon
Space nerds and science fiction fans, rejoice! Some of the craters, mountains, and other features of Pluto's largest moon Charon just got official names, and they're nerdy as hell.
From a mountain named after Stanley Kubrick to a crater named for Captain Nemo, many of Charon's features have now been named for the "literature and mythology of exploration," according to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the organization responsible for assigning such monikers
Have you ever wanted to visit a mountain named for Octavia Butler? Well, take a trip to Charon and visit Butler Mons to honor the science fiction writer and her Xenogenesis trilogy.
The IAU also named a crater for Revati, the protagonist of the Mahabharata, and a crater for Sadko, an ocean explorer in the Russian story Bylina, the IAU explained in a statement.
Charon
Mapped in Stunning Detail
Oceans' Magnetic Field
Satellites circling Earth have mapped an elusive, invisible force in unprecedented detail: the magnetic field created by the currents in the planet's salty oceans, according to new research.
Most people are familiar with the powerful magnetic field produced by Earth's molten iron core, but less is known about the field generated by its oceans.
To learn more, the European Space Agency (ESA) directed three identical spacecraft, which the agency launched in 2013 and collectively calls Swarm, to map the mysterious magnetic field emanating from the oceans' tides.
The new research, as well as the digital 3D map it helped create, is providing new insight into how the protective, cocoon-like magnetic shield is generated, as well as how it behaves and changes over time.
The magnetic field - that is produced by the oceans, the molten core and rocks in the crust and upper mantle - protects the planet from streams of charged particles known as the solar wind. If these charged particles weren't deflected by the magnetic field, they could jumble the navigation of satellites and aircraft and even interfere with electrical power grids, University of Leeds geophysicists Phil Livermore and Jon Mound wrote in an article for The Conversation. Not to mention, the radiation could wreak havoc on human health.
Oceans' Magnetic Field
Worth $2M
500 Pounds
It was a stunning drug bust in metro Atlanta as investigators seized $2 million-worth of meth hidden in Disney figurines.
The Drug Enforcement Agency made the bust in Gwinnett County. Agents said the meth was coming from Mexico, crossed the border in Laredo, Texas and was destined for the streets of Atlanta.
The special agent said each figurine was individually hand painted and shaped into the mold of actual Disney products for sale. Each figure contained a full pound of full crystal meth.
Agents said the alleged drug runners filled wax copies of the Disney figurines with drugs and hid them among actual ceramic figurines, something they said was a sign of a sophisticated operation.
"Not only the amount, this is a significant amount anywhere in the U.S.," agents said. "Five hundred pounds is a lot of methamphetamine to be seized, but the level and the ingenuity that went in to hide this."
500 Pounds
Sinclair Takes A Swipe
CNN
As critics continue to accuse Sinclair Broadcast Group of bias toward President-for-now Donald Trump (R-Corrupt), the media giant is defending itself by taking aim at one of the president's favorite targets: CNN.
In a four-minute YouTube video linked at the top of the websites of several of its local television stations, Sinclair accuses CNN of "dishonesty and hypocrisy." The cable network was one of the first to report on a script blasting media bias that Sinclair pressured its local news anchors to read on air.
Sinclair's video, however, is fraught with misleading statements about the shifting concept of "fake news," sending a disingenuous message to its viewers ? of which there are many. The broadcaster currently reaches around 40 percent of U.S. homes and is gearing up to acquire more stations, which would increase its reach to around 70 percent.
Much of the video focuses its attack on Brian Stelter, CNN's senior media correspondent. It begins with a March 7 clip in which Stelter said Sinclair had taken "a page out of Trump's playbook" by forcing its journalists to read the controversial script, which criticized "false news" stories and reporters who "use their platforms to push their own personal bias and agenda."
Patching together CNN segments, the video attempts to show that Sinclair's message to viewers about "false news" and Stelter's warnings about "fake news" amount to the same thing - and that CNN's criticisms of Sinclair are thus dishonest.
CNN
New Gig
Boehner
Former U.S. House Speaker John Boehner said Wednesday he has had a change of heart on marijuana and will promote its nationwide legalization as a way to help veterans and the nation's deadly opioid crisis.
The Ohio Republican, an avid cigarette smoker, has joined the advisory board of Acreage Holdings , a multistate cannabis company. The company also announced that former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld has joined its advisory board.
Weld, a Republican as governor, ran in the 2016 presidential election on the Libertarian Party ticket that was headed by legal-pot advocate Gary Johnson.
Boehner said in a statement his position "has evolved" from opposing to supporting legalization of marijuana.
"I decided to get involved because of the struggles of our country's veterans and the opioid epidemic, after learning how descheduling the drug can potentially help with both crises," said Boehner, now 68.
Boehner
New Gun Restrictions
Vermont
Vermont on Wednesday raised the age to buy firearms, banned high-capacity magazines and made it easier to take guns from people who pose a threat - the first significant gun ownership restrictions in state history, signed into law by the Republican governor.
It's a remarkable turnaround for the largely rural state that traditionally has refused to impose restrictions on gun ownership.
Standing on the Statehouse steps, Gov. Phil Scott signed the three bills into law before a crowd of gun rights activists and supporters of gun control.
"This is not the time to do what's easy, it's time to do what's right," the governor said.
Scott, a gun owner, had urged the Legislature to pass gun restrictions in the aftermath of what police called a narrowly averted school shooting in Fair Haven by a teenager. He said the incident proved to him that Vermont isn't immune from the school violence that has plagued other parts of the country.
Vermont
On The Rise
Ocean Heatwaves
Ocean heatwaves which can have "devastating and long-term impacts" on ecosystems have become longer and more frequent over the past century, according to an international study published Tuesday.
From 1925 to 2016, the number of annual marine heatwave days globally jumped by 54 percent, with a noticeable acceleration over the last three decades, a paper in the journal Nature Communications said.
Similar to an atmospheric heatwave, a marine heatwave is a prolonged period of unusually warm water.
The heatwaves are linked to an overall rise in average sea surface temperatures consistent with climate change effects, the study found.
"With more than 90 percent of the heat from human-caused global warming going into our oceans, it is likely that marine heatwaves will continue to increase," co-author Neil Holbrook from the University of Tasmania said.
Ocean Heatwaves
Go The Way Of The Tobacco Lobby?
NRA
Survivors of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., joined the chorus of Americans denouncing the National Rifle Association's (NRA) influence on elected officials over the gun control issue. But will this moment lead to substantive change in the nation's gun laws, or will it be subsumed into Washington's larger gridlock - forgotten until the next school shooting, as has happened repeatedly in the past?
There may be a clue in the history of the regulation of another dangerous product, cigarettes. Gun-control groups say the firearms industry is using some of the same tactics the tobacco lobby used to forestall regulations for most of the 20th century, including the suppression of potentially damaging research and casting the issue in terms of "rights" and "freedom." But the record shows that over the course of several decades, and over the well-funded opposition of a powerful industry, public-health advocates (mostly) prevailed in the battle against smoking.
"The tobacco industry is built on profiting from a product that kills and causes disease for hundreds of thousands of Americans. Unfortunately, the same is true for the gun industry. While there are legitimate uses for firearms - for example in the military - for the most part firearms, particularly assault weapons, are marketed to civilians in a way which increases and continues a legacy of death and injury," Mark Pertschuk, former president of Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights and former legislative director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, said to Yahoo News.
A study published in the American Journal of Medicine in February 2016 found that Americans are 10 times more likely than citizens of other developed countries to be shot and killed. Researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the University of Nevada at Reno analyzed World Health Organization mortality data for 23 high-income nations. Though the U.S. only had half the population of the other 22 nations combined, Americans accounted for 82 percent of all gun deaths. Gun-murder rates are 25 times higher in the U.S. than in similar wealthy nations. The U.S. also accounted for 90 percent of all women, young adults (under 25) and children killed with a gun.
NRA
In Memory
Mitzi Shore
Mitzi Shore, founder and owner of the famed Comedy Store club in Los Angeles, died Wednesday morning at the age of 87, according to a statement from The Comedy Store.
Shore, who is the mother of former MTV host Pauly Shore, had been battling Parkinson's disease before her death, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times. Her official cause of death has not yet been provided.
Shore was often considered the godmother of comedy on the LA comedy scene, as her comedy club was an essential venue for up and coming stand-ups, particularly during the 1970s and '80s. Wielding her power as the club's founder and owner, she influenced the careers of famed comedians like Robin Williams, Richard Pryor, David Letterman, Jay Leno, Jim Carrey, Gary Shandling, Marc Maron and many more-all of whom worked for Shore at her club when they were starting out. Famously, Shore did not pay these "up and coming" comics, claiming the payment was the exposure comics received at her club. In 1979, comedians at her club went on strike, and Shore eventually settled and agreed to pay most comics $25 per set.
Shore was previously married to comedian Sammy Shore, whom she divorced in 1974. The couple had four children: Pauly and his three siblings, Peter, Scott and Sandy.
Mitzi Shore
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