Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Mark Morford: Confirmed! Fracking - NOT gay marriage - causes earthquakes (SF Gate)
America! Turns out we had it all wrong. It's fracking - or more specifically, the brutal wastewater drilling practices that accompany it - that's causing all those earthquakes in all those states.
Mark Morford: Could this magic device prevent drunk texting? (SF Gate)
Procrastinate on the Internet too much? There's an app for that. Need to unlock the doors on your new Porsche? There's an Apple Watch app for that. I mean, thank God.
Marieles Dinner - Funny Dog eats elegant at table (YouTube)
Le dîner de Mariele - Chien drôle mange à table.
Dana Stevens: Avengers: Age of Ultron (Slate)
You know I can't totally support Joss Whedon's avenging.
Jesse Singal: "Why You Should Go to the Movies (and Do Other Stuff) Alone" (NY Magazine)
Would you go to a movie alone? For some people, the question elicits a quick and easy nod - of course! Why not? For others, panic: The idea of sitting there, all alone, surrounded by people who aren't alone is humiliating.
Suzi Gage: Diet Pepsi has dropped aspartame in the US, so why not anywhere else? (Guardian)
Ever since it was declared safe in 1974, there have been concerns about the sweetener. So what's the truth about its alleged harmful effects?
Fit-shaming: it's like fat-shaming, but the exact opposite (Guardian)
Protein World, unhappy that its controversial 'beach body ready' adverts are backfiring, has taken aim at its detractors and invented a whole new concept that could soon go global.
Kathy Benjamin: "5 Reasons Gay Marriage IS 'Traditional Marriage'" (Cracked)
#5. People Didn't Marry Young.
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.
"Doug's Most Shared Facebook Post" Today
, wrote:
said:
has returned to semi-retired status.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Team Coco
CONAN
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
Sunny, hot and dry.
Weighs In
David Letterman
Stephen Colbert may very well be the right man to fill David Letterman's shoes, but he wasn't the veteran talk show host's first choice.
In an exclusive interview with The New York Times, Letterman revealed that he wasn't consulted regarding his eventual successor on CBS' Late Show.
"I always thought Jon Stewart would have been a good choice," he said. "And then Stephen."
Though Letterman is interested in seeing how Colbert plays opposite future time slot rivals Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel, he acknowledges the need for more diverse voices in late night.
"I thought, well, maybe this will be a good opportunity to put a black person on, and it would be a good opportunity to put a woman on," he said. "There are certainly a lot of very funny women that have television shows everywhere. So that would have made sense to me as well."
David Letterman
Long-Lost Silent Film
"The Daughter of Dawn"
A long-lost silent film admired by historians as a rare visual account of Native American customs is being released after a private detective in North Carolina stumbled across a damaged copy.
"The Daughter of Dawn" - first screened in Los Angeles in 1920 - features a large cast of Comanche and Kiowa people and shows scenes of buffalo hunting and ceremonial dances obscured by time. The copy, discovered more than a decade ago, has been restored and was screened in Texas this week, ahead of its commercial release later this year.
The delicate restoration work took years, and an orchestral score was completed in 2012. A year later the Library of Congress added the movie to its National Film Registry, describing the work as "a fascinating example of the daringly unexpected topics and scope showcased by the best regional, independent filmmaking during the silent era. ..."
The year after the movie was first screened, a fire destroyed the Dallas warehouse where the small Texas Film Co., which produced "The Daughter of Dawn, stored most of its work.
Somehow, a copy later ended up in the care of a North Carolina resident, who offered five nitrate celluloid reels to the private detective as payment in an unrelated matter, Milestone Film owner Dennis Doros said.
"The Daughter of Dawn"
Trooper In Trouble Sues Bosses
Snoop Dogg
A Texas trooper has sued his bosses after being reprimanded over his photo with rapper Snoop Dogg at South by Southwest.
Department of Public Safety Trooper Billy Spears filed the civil lawsuit Wednesday, alleging retaliation by DPS, Director Steven McCraw and several executives.
The lawsuit says Spears was working off-duty security when an assistant for Snoop Dogg took the photo in March and posted it on Instagram. Spears was reprimanded because the rapper has several drug-possession convictions.
Spears is seeking unspecified damages and a jury trial.
Snoop Dogg
Frankie Gives Lip Service
Equal Pay
Pope Francis added his voice Wednesday to the feminist anthem of equal pay for equal work, saying it's "pure scandal" that women earn less than men for doing the same job.
Francis also lambasted the attitude of those who blame the crisis in families on women getting out of the house to work. He said such attitudes are a form of "machismo" that shows how men "want to dominate women."
"We should support with decisiveness the right to equal pay for equal work," he said. "Why is it a given that women must earn less than men? No! They have the same rights. The disparity is pure scandal."
Francis has spoken out frequently about how the Catholic Church in general must give greater value to the "feminine genius," and has called for women to take on greater decision-making roles in the church, though he has ruled out women's ordination or having women head Vatican congregations.
Equal Pay
GoDaddy Gone
Danica Patrick
It's been at least a dozen years, by Danica Patrick's count, that she has had to worry about sponsorship for her race car.
There has never been a shortage of companies lined up hoping to use one of the most recognized drivers in the world to push their brand.
Now she suddenly finds herself in the same boat as so many drivers: In need of sponsorship to fund her ride in NASCAR's top series. GoDaddy said Wednesday it was leaving NASCAR at the end of this season, but will likely continue working with Patrick on a personal services agreement.
The internet domain giant has been with Patrick in some form since 2007, and became her primary sponsor in 2010 when she raced in the IndyCar Series for Andretti Autosport. GoDaddy moved with Patrick to NASCAR, and is in its third year as primary sponsor of her No. 10 Chevrolet in the Sprint Cup Series.
GoDaddy's decision has been a possibility for several years as the company looked at marketing strategies to grow its international reach. GoDaddy is in the final year of its contract with Stewart-Haas Racing, which fields the car for the 33-year-old Patrick. Patrick is also in the final year of her contract with SHR.
Danica Patrick
Pressure From Parent Company
Al Jazeera America
On the heels of an explosive wrongful termination lawsuit, sources report that a major shakeup of operations and programming has been in the works for months at the Al Jazeera America cable news channel.
Sources familiar with the situation paint a picture of desperation inside the channel's New York headquarters and pressure coming from the parent company in Doha, Qatar, to improve the channel's fortunes. Al Jazeera America CEO Ehab Al Shihabi has been spending more time at AJA's central newsroom offices near Madison Square Garden than in the business office in Lower Manhattan.
Sources say Al Jazeera America has quietly been replacing some of its programs and newscast blocks with the feed from Al Jazeera English, the English-language service run by the parent company that predated the launch of AJA. At the time AJA bowed in 2013, Al Jazeera executives insisted that the cabler would be distinct from the pre-existing Al Jazeera English service. Al Shihabi also repeatedly stated that AJA's goal was not to generate profits but to build a credible newsgathering operation, focusing on hard news and substantive reporting.
The wrongful termination lawsuit filed Tuesday by Matthew Luke, AJA's former supervisor of media and archive management, claims that the behind the scenes executives have exhibited "anti-American" bias and have steadily recruited more Middle Eastern execs into the operation.
Al Jazeera America
Rape Humor
Bud Light
Anheuser-Busch is apologizing for ad copy that appeared on bottles saying Bud Light removes the word 'no' from drinkers' vocabulary.
Photos of the bottles went viral on social media Tuesday with widespread complaints about the slogan, particularly at a time of national debate about college rape.
"The perfect beer for removing 'no' from your vocabulary for the night," the copy read in full.
The response on social media ranged from crude jokes to criticism that the slogan is part of a culture that tacitly condones sexual assault.
Bud Light
Fake Painting Dupes
Dulwich Picture Gallery
The results are in of a battle that pitted London's culture vultures against a Chinese workshop churning out replicas of the world's most famous paintings, revealing a clear victory for the cut-price masters.
For nearly three months, visitors to London's Dulwich Picture Gallery have pored over 270 paintings in its permanent collection, including works by Rembrandt, Rubens and Gainsborough, knowing that there was one $120 (109-euro) fake in their midst.
Around 3,000 people voted for their pick of the replica, but only 300 correctly identified it as French artist Jean-Honore Fragonard's 18th century portrait "Young Woman".
The experiment was the brainchild of American artist Doug Fishbone, who wanted to "throw down the gauntlet" to museum-goers and make them look more closely at the great works.
Dulwich Picture Gallery
1990s-Built Weather Satellite
U.S. Air Force
plans to launch
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force on Wednesday said it plans to launch an aging weather satellite at an expected cost of hundreds of millions of dollars to prevent a gap in forecasting capability and provide another competitive launch opportunity for privately held Space Exploration Technologies Inc, or SpaceX.
General John Hyten, who heads Air Force Space Command, and Air Force Secretary Deborah James, said a decision had been made to launch the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Flight 20 satellite, which was built in the 1990s.
James told the strategic forces subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee that the Air Force had little choice but to launch the satellite after European allies reversed a decision to launch a weather satellite of their own.
Hyten said the decision would also give SpaceX another chance to compete against the current monopoly launcher, the United Launch Alliance, a 50-50 joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co.
No further details were immediately available about the exact cost, or when the satellite would be launched.
U.S. Air Force
In Memory
Jean Nidetch
Jean Nidetch, the founder of weight loss company Weight Watchers International Inc, died of natural causes early on Wednesday at age 91, a company spokeswoman said.
Nidetch struggled with weight throughout her life and founded the popular program in the early 1960s in her apartment in Queens, New York. She had most recently been living near Boca Raton in south Florida.
By 1963, Nidetch's meetings, which emphasized personal responsibility and physical activity along with a fish-heavy diet, outgrew her apartment.
As Nidetch's program and meetings became ubiquitous, she became a celebrity. Singer Jennifer Hudson and former professional basketball player Charles Barkley were among the millions of members who shed pounds through the program. The pair went on to star in the company's television ads.
Jean Nidetch
In Memory
Calvin Peete
Calvin Peete, who taught himself how to play golf at 24 and became the most successful black player on the PGA Tour before the arrival of Tiger Woods, died Wednesday morning, the PGA Tour said. He was 71.
Peete won 12 times on the PGA Tour, mainly on the strength of his uncanny accuracy off the tee. Peete led the PGA Tour in driving accuracy for 10 straight years starting in 1981, and he captured the Vardon Trophy over Jack Nicklaus in 1984. He also played on two Ryder Cup teams.
Born July 18, 1943, in Detroit, Peete used to pick beans and corn in the fields in Florida to make money for his family. He eventually financed a station wagon from which he sold vegetables and other goods to migrants. He wasn't interested in golf, even at the prodding of friends. Peete had spent enough time in the hot sun.
According to a 1983 profile in The New York Times, Peete became interested when he saw how much money golfers were making. He first took up the game in Rochester, New York, when he was 24. Within six months he was breaking 80, and a year later he was breaking par.
Even more remarkable is that Peete had a left arm he couldn't fully extend. He had fallen from a tree and broken his elbow as a kid, and it was never properly set. That didn't keep him from developing a repeatable swing that always seemed to find the fairway.
Four years after finally earning a card, he won the Greater Milwaukee Open in 1979 by five shots over Lee Trevino, Victor Regalado and Jim Simons. He finished 27th on the money list that year and cracked the $100,000 mark ($122,481) for the first time.
Peete won four times in 1982, tied for the most titles on the PGA Tour that year with Tom Watson and Craig Stadler. He won the Vardon Trophy for the lowest stroke average in 1984, and his biggest victory was a year later when he captured The Players Championship.
Peete finished his career with over $3.2 million in earnings from the PGA Tour and Champions Tour.
Peete is survived by his wife, Pepper, and seven children.
Calvin Peete
In Memory
Andrew Lesnie
Oscar-winning Australian cinematographer Andrew Lesnie, best known for his work on "The Lord of the Rings," has died, friends and colleagues said Wednesday. He was 59.
Lesnie died Monday after suffering from a serious heart condition for the past six months, the Australian Cinematographers Society said in a statement, after the group's president confirmed Lesnie's death with his family.
Lesnie, a Sydney native, won an Academy Award in 2002 for "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," the first film in the series. He worked with New Zealand director Peter Jackson on all six "Lord of the Rings" and "Hobbit" films, along with the 2005 remake of "King Kong" and "The Lovely Bones."
More recently, Lesnie worked on the Australian war drama "The Water Diviner" with Russell Crowe, who tweeted: "Devastating news from home. The master of the light, genius Andrew Lesnie has passed on."
Andrew Lesnie
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
