Recommended Reading
from Bruce
A Choreographer's Voyage Within Dante's Inferno (YouTube)
Original Choreography by: Vivian Reach. Winifred Smith Hall, UCI. April 11, 2017 7:30 PM.
Garrison Keillor: So I was Up in Alaska (Washington Post)
Knowledge there comes from direct experience. And I just directly experienced the professionalism of police officers.
Greg Sargent: Trump may be about to break another big promise. That's very good news. (Washington Post)
President Trump has reversed himself on a lot of campaign promises lately, and some have rushed to credit him with learning on the job. While one hopes he is capable of this, his reversals also reflect the less admirable factor that his original campaign agenda was mostly fraudulent - and is now colliding violently with reality.
Mark Morford: We're all post-apocalyptic outlaws now (The Guardian)
Translation, this is the perfect time. To advance the cause. To birth the warrior. To deepen your resolve for more life at all costs. At the gates of hell, you plant seeds. In the midst of mania, you intend calm. You create fighters, resistance, you double, triple, quadruple your efforts as you join with the hundreds of millions of others of the same ilk, and you pass around the SPF 10,000 as you blink hard, deepen your intention and grab hands with those nearest to you. Then you lean into the fire, and laugh.
Claire Landsbaum: This Woman Has No Time for a Group of Far-Right Protesters (NY Mag)
"He put his finger in my face," she said. "It was very aggressive. A police officer was there, and the man took his finger out of my face. I wouldn't have responded violently." She added that she "wasn't intimidated in the slightest."
TERRY TEACHOUT: What Price Zelda? (Commentary Magazine)
The extraordinary afterlife of an ordinary writer.
Terry Teachout: The Greater Renoir (Commentary Magazine)
The son also rises.
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.
answered:
took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Reader Comment
Current Events
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
Reader Recommendation
Teacher of the Year - TODAY!
See that woman in the lower left corner? That's the Maryland State Teacher of the Year. That's Sia Kyriakakos, she's one of the four finalists for National Teacher of the Year. She's also my daughter-in-law and mother of my two beautiful, talented granddaughters. I think she's gonna win.
Peace
--Joe
Thanks, Joe!
Good luck, Sia!
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Team Coco
CONAN
from Marc Perkel
Patriot Act
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
HOW DO YOU LOSE A CARRIER?
FUN AND GAMES AT CAMP RUNAMUCK.
IT'S A START.
STOP THIS ASSHOLE NOW.
SECRET WHITE HOUSE MAN!
THERE IS AN EVIL ALL ACROSS THE WORLD!
POP GO THE WEASELS.
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and breezy.
Rupert News Finally Fires
O'Really
In a shocking reversal of fortune for one of the most prominent voices in TV news, Bill O'Reilly has been ousted from Fox News Channel amid the firestorm over sexual harassment allegations leveled against the host in recent years.
Parent company 21st Century Fox said Wednesday: "After a thorough and careful review of the allegations, the Company and Bill O'Reilly have agreed that Bill O'Reilly will not be returning to the Fox News Channel."
The decision to turn O'Reilly loose appears to have been made between Tuesday and Wednesday by the Murdochs, the family who control the operations of Fox News parent 21st Century Fox. O'Reilly has been off the air since last Wednesday, part of what was billed a planned vacation around the Easter holiday. He had initially planned to return to his 8 p.m. show "The O'Reilly Factor" on April 24. But as outrage mounted and new allegations of inappropriate behavior surfaced, it became clear to the Murdochs and other leaders of Fox News parent company 21st Century Fox that the company could no longer afford to back the star who helped bring Fox News to prominence nearly 20 years ago.
O'Reilly has been enmeshed in controversy since the start of this month after The New York Times reported that five women have received payments coming to about $13 million in exchange for agreeing not to pursue litigation or speak about accusations related to sexual harassment or inappropriate behavior. O'Reilly has denied the allegations and said he entered into settlements to spare his family. O'Reilly's attorney said Tuesday that the host was the target of a "smear campaign" funded by far-left advocacy groups.
As the controversy snowballed Dozens of advertisers have yanked their commercials from his program and insisted they run elsewhere in Fox News' programming schedule. Producers have had to prepare for eight to ten minutes of additional content each night on the network's "Factor" to make up for the migrating ad time.
O'Really
Calls Off Coulter Talk
UC Berkeley
Ann Coulter's (R-Ghoul) planned appearance at the University of California, Berkeley next week has been called off for security concerns.
UC Berkeley officials say they were "unable to find a safe and suitable" venue for the right-wing provocateur who was invited to speak by campus Republicans on April 27.
In a letter to Berkeley College Republicans sent Tuesday, Vice Chancellor Scott Biddy said officials made the decision in consultation with campus police who determined they could not ensure the safety of Coulter, audience members or protesters expected at the event.
The cancellation comes days after violent clashes between far-right and far-left protesters Saturday at a rally supporting Donald Trump (R-Loser) in downtown Berkeley.
UC Berkeley
Ice Sheets Could Disappear Faster Than Previously Thought
Antarctica
Antarctica's ice may melt faster than previously thought as result of a newly discovered network of lakes and streams that destabilize the continent's ice shelves, according to new research
Scientists have long understood that water from melted ice harm ice sheets by flowing into cracks and refreezing, but that phenomenon was thought to be limited to a small part of the continent. Researchers behind a new study published in the journal Nature this week found that the process has been ongoing for decades and actually occurs across the continent including in places where scientists did not think liquid water was commonly found. The pace of the damage will increase as temperatures continue to rise as a result of man-made global warming.
"This is not in the future-this is widespread now, and has been for decades," says study author Jonathan Kingslake, who studies glaciers at Columbia University, in a press release. "I think most polar scientists have considered water moving across the surface of Antarctica to be extremely rare. But we found a lot of it, over very large areas."
The study draws on satellite images of the continent dating back to 1973 and aerial photos collected by military planes from as early as 1947. The scale of some of the water systems is staggering with some streams extending as long as 75 miles and some lakes stretching several miles across, according to the study.
Antarctica holds 90% of the world's ice and rapid ice melt and the associated collapse of ice sheets could have profound effects across the globe, including a steep rise in sea levels, but much remains unknown about the speed at which Antarctic ice is melting. An accompanying study
Antarctica
Unearthed In Philippines
Giant Shipworm
An enormous black worm that lives in the mud of the sea floor and survives on the remnants of noxious gases digested by bacteria has been unveiled by scientists for the first time.
The slimy giant shipworm can grow up to 155 centimetres (five feet) in length, despite living a sedentary life in ocean sediment and apparently eating nothing more than the waste products of the micro-organisms that live in its gills.
The shipworm is a not actually a worm at all, but a bivalve -- like mussels and clams -- and has its own brittle, tusk-like shell.
Researchers who analysed the creature found that although it had its own digestive system, this was shrunken and appeared to be largely redundant.
Instead, Kuphus Polythalamia relies on bacteria that live in its gills, which digest hydrogen sulphide -- a gas that smells of rotten eggs -- from the mud and emit traces of carbon.
Giant Shipworm
Not Reopening Under T-rump
Coal Plants
The CEO of the nation's biggest public utility said Tuesday that the agency isn't going to reopen coal-fired power plants under Donald Trump (R-Fabulist), who has promised a comeback for the downtrodden coal industry.
Tennessee Valley Authority CEO Bill Johnson said he thinks very little will actually change for the federal utility under Trump.
TVA has said it's on track to cut its carbon emissions by 60 percent by 2020, compared with 2005 levels. By the end of 2018, the utility will have retired five of its original 11 coal-fired power plants.
Trump, meanwhile, has begun repealing President Barack Obama-era environmental regulations aimed at reducing pollution from mining and burning coal. He has promised to repeal and already ordered a review of the Clean Power Plan, Obama's centerpiece push to curb climate change by limiting carbon dioxide emissions from coal plants.
Johnson said the retirement of many of TVA's coal plants was the cheapest way to serve customers, which include more than 9 million people in seven southeastern states. Natural gas prices, not regulation, caused the recent downturn for coal, Johnson said.
Coal Plants
Won't Run For Re-Election
Chaffetz
Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Weasel), a Republican who doggedly investigated Hillary Clinton before the 2016 presidential election but declined to investigate Donald Trump (R-Grifter), abruptly announced Wednesday that he won't run for re-election.
Chaffetz, who has been rumored as a possible candidate for Senate or governor, said that after consulting with his family and "prayerful consideration, I have decided I will not be a candidate for any office in 2018."
The 50-year-old Chaffetz had strolled to four easy re-elections in his Republican-friendly congressional district. But he was facing a surprising challenge from a Democratic newcomer who raised more than a half-million dollars by tapping into anger over Chaffetz's recent comment suggesting people should spend their money on health insurance instead of iPhones.
Chaffetz, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, also drew fire from Democrats after saying he would not investigate Trump's business empire, given that he had promised before the presidential election that he would investigate Clinton "for years" if she was elected.
Still, Chaffetz has run into political turbulence. He was met by frequent, deafening boos at a February town hall as constituents grilled him on everything from investigating Trump's tax returns to Planned Parenthood. Chaffetz repeatedly said, "hold on," and "give me a second," as audience members in a Salt Lake City suburb reacted negatively to nearly all of his statements and implored him to "do your job" and investigate Trump.
Chaffetz
Cuts US Flights, Blaming T-rump
Emirates
Emirates, the Middle East's largest airline, slashed its flights to the United States by 20 percent Wednesday, blaming a drop in demand on tougher U.S. security measures and Trump administration attempts to ban travelers from some Muslim-majority nations.
The Dubai government-owned carrier's decision is the strongest sign yet that new measures imposed on U.S.-bound travelers from the Mideast could be taking a financial toll on fast-growing Gulf carriers that have expanded rapidly in the U.S.
Dubai was one of 10 cities in Muslim-majority countries affected by a ban on laptops and other personal electronics in carry-on luggage aboard U.S.-bound flights.
Emirates' hub at Dubai International Airport, the world's third-busiest, is also a major transit point for travelers who were affected by Donald Trump's (R-Crooked) executive orders temporarily halting entry to citizens of six countries.
Emirates said the flight reductions will affect five of its 12 U.S. destinations, with the first cutbacks starting next month.
Emirates
Climate Change-Driven
'River Piracy'
Over the course of just a few days last spring, a river fed by a melting glacier in Canada's Yukon region completely changed course - an unprecedented event that scientists say is the first case of "river piracy" observed over such short period of time. The culprit? Greenhouse gas-driven climate change.
Geologists have seen river piracy, but nobody to our knowledge has documented it happening in our lifetime. People had looked at the geological record - thousands or millions of years ago - not the 21st century, where it's happening under our noses," Dan Shugar, a geoscientist at the University of Washington Tacoma, and lead author of a study detailing the observations, said in a statement. "So far, a lot of the scientific work surrounding glaciers and climate change has been focused on sea-level rise. Our study shows there may be other underappreciated, unanticipated effects of glacial retreat."
While studying the Slims River - which, for hundreds of years, was fed by meltwater from Kaskawulsh Glacier in northern Canada and which, in turn, fed the Kluane Lake in Yukon - Shugar and his colleagues discovered an abrupt drop in water levels over four days, from May 26 to 29. By late summer, they found that there was barely any water flowing in the river.
Further observations revealed something even more surprising. Much of the meltwater that flowed into the Bering Sea via the Slims River had been, as a result of the glacier's receding toe, redirected south toward the Gulf of Alaska. As a result, even as the Slims River dried up, the south-flowing Alsek River, a popular whitewater rafting river that is a UNESCO world heritage site, began running higher.
Until now, scientists thought that such "river piracy" phenomenon, wherein the waters of one stream are diverted into another one, only took place over a period of centuries, not days.
'River Piracy'
May Not Exist
'Sterile' Neutrinos
Proposed elusive subatomic particles that only fleetingly interact with matter through gravity may not exist, at least if new data from a nuclear reactor is any indication.
Scientists had long noticed a discrepancy between the predicted and actual number of antineutrinos, or the antimatter partners to neutrinos, produced in nuclear reactors. Now, a new analysis suggests that this reactor antineutrino discrepancy isn't the result of a new hypothetical particle known as a sterile neutrino. Instead, the theoretical models may have been wrong all along, data from the Daya Bay nuclear plant in China suggests.
"Among the possible explanations, the most exciting one is that we have a new piece of physics," such as sterile neutrinos, said Kam-Liu Bak, the spokesperson for the Daya Bay Collaboration. "That explanation is now unlikely."
Neutrinos are nearly massless, chargeless and incredibly elusive particles. The ghostly particles are produced in the sun's fiery heart and 100 billion pass through each centimeter of our bodies unnoticed every day. Their antimatter partners, called antineutrinos, form in nuclear reactors (on Earth) during beta decay, a process whereby a heavy isotope ejects a neutron from its nucleus, which then converts into an electron and an antineutrino.
It is this beta decay process that is at the heart of the so-called reactor antineutrino anomaly. In 2011, scientists updated a theoretical particle physics model that predicted how often antineutrinos should be detected inside nuclear reactors. Based on this new model, data from around the world revealed that reactors were producing fewer antineutrinos then expected: Some of the predicted antineutrinos were somehow vanishing.
'Sterile' Neutrinos
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
