Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Mark Morford: The Saddest Job in the World (SF Gate)
How about middle manager for a Midwestern Monsanto subsidiary specializing in the eradication of parasitic weevils but really dedicated to poisoning all earthly soils with your company's noxious biochemicals, as manufactured by deformed knaves living in oily warehouses that smell like rancid oysters and bloated profit margins? Were you thinking Mitch McConnell? You might be right. Or rather, you might be almost right.
Tania Browne: "Dietary supplements: who needs them?" (Guardian)
A Guardian article that claimed to 'tune out the hype' was far too eager to recommend vitamins and other supplements. In reality, most of us are better off without them.
Bim Adewunmi: "Web comedy star Issa Rae: 'I think TV will become the internet's poor cousin'" (Guardian)
Issa Rae started out making fun of herself online, and now she's got US TV sewn up. But the internet is still where it's at, she reckons.
Kira Cochrane: Homoerotic artist Tom of Finland gets the official stamp of approval (Guardian)
The Finnish postal service's decision to use the artist's bold images on a new set of stamps will make philatelic history, but he's not the first gay hero to grace an envelope.
Robert Evans: 6 Insane Drug Myths People Used to Teach as Fact (Cracked)
Life has never been good for people who like drugs. Well, unless you're including every second of every day before the 1920s. Children's medicinal heroin is still a few years of hard lobbying from finding its way back to the shelf, but pot users finally have a light at the end of the tunnel, and there's even hope for MDMA, thanks to Zoloft's shit-eating incompetence at treating PTSD.
Jordan Weissman: "Small Private Colleges Are in Deep Trouble (as They Should Be)" (Slate)
"What we're concerned about is the death spiral-this continuing downward momentum for some institutions," analyst Susan Fitzgerald tells Bloomberg. "We will see more closures than in the past." And that, I will add, might be a very good thing. Small private colleges aren't necessarily nefarious institutions, but they're not exactly the heroes of higher education either.
Rebecca Schuman: The Sad Demise of Collegiate Fun (Slate)
The helicopter generation has gone to university, and campus has never been more boring.
Christopher Shea: The New Academic Celebrity (Chronicle of Higher Education)
Why a different kind of scholar-and idea-hits big today.
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wrote:
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said:
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Comment
Re: Bellamy Salute
If the Bellamy Salute came first, shouldn't we still be doing it despite what Fascists and Nazis did? Why should/did we let them win?
Isn't that the stupid rationale for why we were supposed to go shopping after 9/11? For why runners from last year's Boston Marathon are supposed to show up and run this year? We can't let the terrorists win. Or is that only selectively applied when we want to use that excuse to force or shame someone to do or stop doing something?
Linda >^..^<
We're all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
Wikipedia explains it:
The similarity to the Bellamy salute led to confusion, especially during World War II. From 1939 until the attack on Pearl Harbor, detractors of Americans who argued against intervention in World War II produced propaganda using the salute to lessen those Americans' reputations. Among the anti-interventionist Americans was aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh. Supporters of Lindbergh's views would claim that Lindbergh did not support Adolf Hitler, and that pictures of him appearing to do the Nazi salute were actually pictures of him using the Bellamy salute. In his Pulitzer prize winning biography Lindbergh, author A. Scott Berg explains that interventionist propagandists would photograph Lindbergh and other isolationists using this salute from an angle that left out the American flag, so it would be indistinguishable from the Hitler salute to observers.
In order to prevent further confusion or controversy, United States Congress instituted the hand-over-the-heart gesture as the salute to be rendered by civilians during the Pledge of Allegiance in the United States, instead of the Bellamy salute. This was done when Congress amended the Flag Code on December 22, 1942.
There was initially some resistance to dropping the Bellamy salute, for example from the Daughters of the American Revolution, but this opposition died down quickly following Nazi Germany's declaration of war against the United States on December 11, 1941.
Bellamy salute - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
OTOH, in light of Lindbergh's three back-up German families, he kinda had a vested interest in his isolationism.
David E Suggests
David
Thanks, Dave!
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.
So - to let you know what's going on, the guestbook on bartcop.com is
still open for those who want to write something in memory of Bart.
I did an interview on Netroots Radio about Bart's passing
( www.stitcher.com/s?eid=32893545 )
The most active open discussion is on Bart's Facebook page.
( www.facebook.com/bartcop )
You can listen to Bart's theme song here
or here.
( www.bartcop.com/blizing-saddles.mp3 )
( youtu.be/MySGAaB0A9k )
We have opened up the radio show archives which are now free. Listen to
all you want.
( bartcop.com/members )
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
Thanks, Marc!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and seasonal.
Unhappy With Wisconsin's Walker
John Mellencamp
Liberal rocker John Mellencamp wants conservative Republican Gov. Scott Walker (R-Koch Sucker) to know he supports union rights and says Walker should think about that before using his songs on the campaign trail.
Two years ago, Mellencamp chided Walker, who effectively ended collective bargaining for most public workers in Wisconsin, for playing his song "Small Town" at campaign rallies.
Walker was targeted for recall in 2012 by those angered over the union law, which passed despite massive protests that elicited support from other liberal musicians, including Pete Seeger, Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello, Peter Yarrow and Billy Bragg.
When Mellencamp caught wind of Walker playing "Small Town" during the recall campaign, his publicist sent Walker an email letting him know that Mellencamp supports collective bargaining and union rights.
Mellencamp took the same approach in 2008 when Republican presidential hopeful John McCain played "Our Country" on the campaign trail. Mellencamp's publicist wrote McCain's camp a letter explaining Mellencamp's liberal leanings and said he was supporting Democrat John Edwards.
John Mellencamp
Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction
EL Doctorow
Novelist E.L. Doctorow will be honoured with the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction.
Librarian of Congress James H. Billington made the announcement Wednesday.
Billington said each of Doctorow's books is a "vivid canvas" filled with "colour and drama." He likens Doctorow to Charles Dickens.
The Bronx-born novelist majored in philosophy at Kenyon College in Ohio.
EL Doctorow
Jazz Journalists Association
2014 Jazz Awards
Saxophonist Wayne Shorter and composer-arranger Maria Schneider are each triple winners in the 2014 Jazz Awards presented by the Jazz Journalists Association.
Pianist Herbie Hancock is being honoured for Lifetime Achievement in Jazz. As a UNESCO goodwill ambassador, Hancock is organizing International Jazz Day celebrations April 30 in Osaka, Japan.
Shorter has won for musician of the year, best album ("Without A Net") and top midsize ensemble. Schneider tops the balloting in the composer, arranger and large ensemble categories.
Other multiple winners announced by the JJA on Tuesday include newcomer Cecile McLorin Salvant (up-and-coming artist and female singer) and veteran Joe Lovano (multi-reeds and tenor saxophone).
2014 Jazz Awards
Postal Stamps
"Tom of Finland"
Finland's postal service will honor "Tom of Finland" with stamps taken from his work - homoerotic drawings of muscular men wearing tight, black leather uniforms, when they wear anything at all.
The stamps, which will be issued in September, are based on the drawings of Touko Laaksonen, better known by the pseudonym "Tom of Finland," who split his time between Finland and California.
"Tom of Finland is considered one of the most well-known Finnish artists around the world," Finnish postal service Itella said in a statement issued this week regarding Laaksonen, who died in 1991. "His emphatically masculine homoerotic drawings have attained iconic status in their genre and had an influence on, for instance, pop culture and fashion."
Graphic artist Timo Berry, who designed the sheet of three stamps, said they portray a sensual life force and being proud of oneself.
"Tom of Finland"
35 Most Powerful People in Media
2014
Who says TV news is dead? The industry has produced record ratings over the past year (all three evening newscasts adding viewers in 2014, Good Morning America's ascent to the top of the morning heap has netted more than $100 million in ad revenue), as well as the most seismic changes in years with rarely seen network shake-ups in late night, the morning and daytime.
After 30-plus years in television, David Letterman, late night's last iconoclast, will retire next year. And, with Letterman's blessing, Stephen Colbert will inherit the Late Show mantle, shedding his conservative blowhard persona. Ben Sherwood's stewardship of ABC News earned him Anne Sweeney's $12 billion portfolio, while Sherwood's No. 2, James Goldston, a former BBC News producer and the first in his family to attend college (he went to Oxford), was named news division president April 10. Goldston is the second Brit to lead an American news division: Deborah Turness, who joined NBC News last summer from the U.K.'s ITV, is also the first woman to head a U.S. news organization.
Following multiple anchor exits (Sam Champion, Josh Elliott), GMA executives recruited Michael Strahan. And after a half-century in TV news, Barbara Walters on May 16 will make her final bow on The View, the daytime show she created that has spawned a stream of imitators.
There are new players in New York's churning media culture, too: the digital visionaries (Vice's Shane Smith, BuzzFeed's Jonah Peretti and Ben Smith) and the sports execs who spend billions to bring us the most potent TV content in a time-shifted universe (ESPN's John Skipper, NBC's Mark Lazarus, CBS' Sean McManus).
2014
Canadian Government Scolds
Jimmy Carter
The Keystone XL pipeline issue has created a tiff between a former U.S. president and the Canadian government.
The Prime Minister's Office reacted swiftly Wednesday to a letter signed by Nobel laureates, including Jimmy Carter, urging President Barack Obama to reject the pipeline.
Carter is the first former president to come out against Keystone.
The letter from the Nobel winners released Wednesday warned Barack Obama that the pipeline issue is key to his legacy.
"You stand on the brink of making a choice that will define your legacy on one of the greatest challenges humanity has ever faced - climate change," says the letter, also signed by nine other Nobel laureates, including South African archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Jimmy Carter
All Past, Present Co-Hosts
'The View'
As part of The View's week-long farewell to Barbara Walters, the ABC daytime show will reunite all 11 of its past and present co-hosts on Thursday, May 15.
This will be the first time ever all 11 women will share the same stage and could include some fireworks, given that it will involve the reunion of former adversaries Rosie O'Donnell and Elisabeth Hasselbeck.
Other former co-hosts attending include Meredith Vieira, Star Jones, Joy Behar, Debbie Matenopoulos and Lisa Ling.
Current panelists Whoopi Goldberg, Sherri Shepherd and Jenny McCarthy will also be on hand.
'The View'
Grumpiest At Age 70
Men
It seems the phrase "grumpy old men" has some truth to it.
According to a recently released report, the age when grumpiness kicks in for men is approximately age 70.
Researchers believe that from the age of about 50 onward, men have fewer obstacles to deal with in life, resulting in them being more equipped to deal with adversity. But at age 70, it's all downhill from there.
In the study published in the March issue of Psychology and Aging, 80% of the examined 1,315 men between the ages of 53 and 85 (mostly military veterans who participated in the 15-year survey) said that at age 50, life became easier.
Shockingly, all of them agreed that their life happiness began to decline at age 70 for reasons including health issues, their decline of cognitive responses and the loss of loved ones, such as a spouse.
Men
Video Doesn't Show Wreckage
Amelia Earhart
Experts retained by an aircraft preservation group say underwater video shot in the South Pacific yields no evidence of the wreckage of the missing plane piloted by aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart.
Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic in 1932. She was trying to become the first female to circle the globe when she and her navigator disappeared somewhere in the South Pacific in 1937.
The mystery of what happened to Earhart and the twin-engine Lockheed Electra she was piloting holds a continuing fascination for The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) of Pennsylvania and its executive director, Richard E. Gillespie.
Wyoming resident Timothy Mellon, son of the late philanthropist Paul Mellon, filed a federal lawsuit against the TIGHAR group and Gillespie last year. Mellon claims they had found the wreckage of Earhart's plane in 2010 but kept the discovery a secret so it could solicit money from him to continue the search.
Amelia Earhart
Judge Asked To Stop New Rule
Vidalia Onions
One of Georgia's most prominent growers of sweet Vidalia onions asked a judge Tuesday to protect him from possible sanctions by state agriculture officials as he prepares to ship his crop to grocery stores ahead of the official start date imposed by a new regulation aimed at keeping unripe onions off the market.
Delbert Bland, who grows onions on about 3,000 acres in southeast Georgia, is fighting both Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black and many of his fellow farmers who say onions are being shipped before they meet the high standard worthy of being labeled Vidalias. Bland insists he knows best when his crop is ready for market.
Bland won the first round of his legal battle in March when a new rule saying Vidalia onions can't be packed for shipping before the last full week of April was struck down in March by an Atlanta judge. However, the commissioner has told farmers he still plans to enforce the rule while the state appeals. That means he expects no Vidalia onions to be shipped before next Monday.
Growing Vidalia onions is restricted by state law to a 20-county region in southeast Georgia, and the crop has been valued at about $150 million per year. Previously, onion farmers were allowed to ship onions earlier than the official start date if federal inspectors gave them a U.S. 1 grade.
Walt Dasher was among about two dozen Vidalia onion farmers watching from the courtroom gallery Tuesday. He said early shipments of unripe onions last year was such a problem that supermarkets complained of customers returning them for refunds.
Vidalia Onions
Hipster Science
Women
The popularity of weird beards and mustaches among young men living in Brooklyn, N.Y., may be more than just a hipster fad. According to a new study, women and men find facial hair most attractive when it is rare.
When shown men's faces, men and women study participants consistently rated the faces with beards or stubble as more attractive than clean-shaven faces. But beards were most alluring when facial hair was rare, whereas clean-shaven faces gained in popularity when hairy faces were the norm.
The findings could explain why beards go in and out of style over time.
From muttonchops to soul patches, beards take many forms. People associate beards with age, masculinity and dominance, studies show. But the popularity of facial fuzz has waxed and waned over time. Sideburns peaked in popularity in 1853, sideburns with moustaches peaked in 1877, beards alone peaked in 1892 and moustaches alone peaked from 1917 to 1919, studies have found.
Women
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