Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Ana Marie Cox: "Jason Richwine is a bigot who shows the pitfalls of partisan 'analysis'" (Guardian)
The disgraced Heritage Foundation fellow isn't just racist, he uses bad science. How did he get this far?
Froma Harrop: Democrats and the 'Ethics' of Max Baucus (Creators Syndicate)
Max Baucus' reputation as one of the most ethically challenged members of the U.S. Senate is well earned. The Montana Democrat's decision to retire in 2014 can't help but improve the chamber's sorry record of self-enrichment at taxpayers' expense. But Baucus has over a year left to do more mischief.
Deborah Orr: As someone who uses alcohol as a prop myself, I can see there's a problem (Guardian)
A new study, from the universities of Newcastle and Sunderland and published in the public health journal BMC, claims that: "Middle class professionals who drink at home are the country's biggest problem drinkers because they think they know better than health experts." I'm not sure that drinking because you think you know better than experts can really be more detrimental to health than drinking because you have absolutely no idea what experts may think.
Lucy Mangan: "The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken" (Guardian)
When I was 13, we all had to do a school project on the Brontės, and once you've given teenage girls a taste of their alienated, agonised, windswept history ("God, they're just like me but without central heating!") the mental and temporal distances between you telescope nicely and the hitherto imposing books on the shelf suddenly transform from menacing to manageable.
President Barack Obama: "Reach Back" (2012 Commencement Address at Barnard College)
Every day you receive a steady stream of sensationalism and scandal and stories with a message that suggest change isn't possible; that you can't make a difference; that you won't be able to close that gap between life as it is and life as you want it to be. My job today is to tell you don't believe it. Because as tough as things have been, I am convinced you are tougher.
Flash mob in the Copenhagen Metro (YouTube)
Copenhagen Phil playing Peer Gynt.
Hadley Freeman: Angelina Jolie has done something extraordinary (Guardian)
In publicly discussing her double mastectomy, the actor has challenged the celebrity industry to rethink its bizarre values - and she has done all women a huge service.
Ryan J. Leeds and Chan Teik Onn: "5 Well-Known Tips for Healthy Eating (That Don't Work)" (Cracked)
#5. Diet Soda Helps You Lose Weight.
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David Bruce has approximately 50 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Spike Jensen « My POV
Hoop Dreams 2
I had this really strange dream last night. Must have had some connection with me watching the NBA playoffs lately. Anyway, it seemed so real. I was at the YMCA walking by the basketball court when 4 guys yelled over to me saying they needed a 5th to run with them in the next game. I think I was on my way to the treadmill to do my regular 4 or 5 minutes when one of the guys I think was Kobe Bryant said if I didn't play they couldn't get next game as there was no else around. When I tried to ignore him and keep walking Carmelo Anthony asked me if I was deaf or just a little bitch. When I said thanks but no thanks I think it was Michael Westbrook who finally talked me into playing with them. He said all of them would sign my Sonicsgate T-shirt I had on afterwards so I gave in and said ok. The 4th guy was Brandon Jennings but he didn't say much to me at all which was surprising. Now I should say for those reading this that are not hoop fans I think you need to understand this story is not really about sports but more about being around really, really selfish assholes. I'm guessing that topic is one just about everyone deals with each day so bear with me as I throw this out on that world wide web thingy. I mean who doesn't have a person at the office who takes 3 or 4 donuts to bring home to the kids when some generous co-worker buys a dozen for everyone? Or the relative at a gathering who always takes the last piece of pizza before he has eaten the other 2 already on his plate? And I know just about everyone has had to put up with the jerk on the freeway who refuses to let you merge into his lane because he would lose one car length in his commute home. I am pretty sure you already get how many "me first" humans take up space around us so yeah, this dream could have just as easily been about my ex girl-friends older brother or my aunt's husband but guess my messed up mind was still focused on the NBA for some reason.
What I still remember now is before we checked the ball in to the other team I could see how scared they were. I mean one of the guys actually had to run to the locker room as he peed right on the floor. I don't think they were freaked out about getting beat cuz that was guaranteed even with me playing, no I think they were worried that after this game they would never, ever set foot on a basketball court again as it wouldn't just be an ass whupping, it would be worse, much worse. These dudes knew there would be no mercy given and the scars left could quite possibly kill their love of the game forever. I know if I was on their team I would fake an injury or pay some staff member at the front desk to page me over the intercom with some lame ass story about having to go home ASAP as my kid just ran over the wife with our riding lawnmower. Something dramatic but believable enough to allow a graceful exit. Anyway, the guy who peed all over himself slowly walked back on the court in a new pair of shorts with a look on his face that said he had made peace with his god and was ready to get this thing over with. As usual the game was to 11 by 1's and no 2's. I think it was Kobe who did the required throat slash gesture before tossing the ball in to those poor bastards. The score was still 0-0 and I totally felt their pain.
The first couple times down the court I didn't take it personal that the 4 of them never even looked at me let alone offered me the chance to touch the ball. The one time it bounced off the head of the guy guarding me before landing in my hands I was actually thinking about putting up a shot but Carmelo stole it from me before I could even decide on what kind of shot I should try, maybe a hook, a step back jumper or even a floater off the glass. Since I can't hit any of those shots when I'm wide awake I do understand he did what had to be done if we were going to win this thing 11-0 but it still hurt man. Even though Westbrook patted me on the rear end when we went back on D I was pretty bummed. I mean if I can't get off at least one shot in my dreams how sad is that? When it was 9-0 I think Brandon Jennings even looked like he felt a little sorry for me and almost passed it to me to when I was wide open under the basket. That could have been the moment, something that I would never, ever forget the rest of my life even if this wasn't real life but no, he put up a 30 foot fade away instead. An air ball by the way but you could tell it never fazed him and that was something that has always amazed me about these kind of NBA stars, no guilt whatsoever. No matter how much they ignore their teammates and always demand the ball, no matter how many guys are guarding them, they will still put it up regardless cuz that's how they're wired. Must have come out of their mother's womb screaming for the ball and who is going to tell them no? Certainly not me in a stupid dream!
Of course the game did end up 11-0 and was done in like 3 minutes. Most of that time was taken up by the other team taking the ball out of bounds before Westbrook or Kobe ripped it from them and dunked on their ass. Carmelo even played a few seconds of D himself but mostly he just had his hand in the air screaming about being wide open. As far as myself went I was sorta sweating a little afterwards so I felt I was a tiny part of the win but mostly I was just relieved it was over and I didn't pull a hammy or groin. I kinda remember shaking the other team's hands too and they had this vacant look in their eyes, sort of like those guys in that Apocalypse Now movie towards the end when they went after Col Kurtz. The next time I hit the Y when I'm awake I'm pretty sure I will be bypassing the court just in case my manhood gets challenged again. At least for a couple weeks I'll be checking out the senior's water aerobics classes for my workout. Sometimes in life a man just needs to feel physically dominant in something. Doesn't matter what it is, all that is important is being able to impose your will on someone and I feel bad for those who have never destroyed someone else in an athletic activity. Sure being the top dog in a low impact exercise class in the shallow end with people my grandmother's age is nothing to brag about. I get it but still it will feel awesome to leave that pool knowing no one could touch me and be confident most of the class members will remember my face when they see me again. Respect is a tough thing to earn so I will take what I can get at this point in my life. I am not ruling out a return to the court for real again down the road but before that I think I should probably work on my lay-ins first. As John Wooden said in his Pyramid of Success, "There is no substitute for work. Worthwhile things come from hard work and careful planning." Later.
Hoop Dreams 2 « My POV
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Lovely May gray.
Men With An Opinion
Cheech and Chong
The Grammy Award-winning comedy duo Cheech and Chong based their 42-year career on counterculture humor with a particular emphasis on marijuana use. But these days Tommy Chong sees the recreational drug as something more than fodder for jokes about stoned hippies.
The 74-year-old comedian thinks legalizing marijuana on a federal level would offer numerous benefits, including a boost to the U.S. economy if it were taxed.
"Look at the situation we're in now. Sequesters. Cuts. Everything cut across the board. Now, the government is tapped into the biggest cash crop in the world," Chong said. "There's little manufacturing cost. You don't have to do anything except watch it grow and get a couple of hippies to cut it and then put it in a bag."
Chong's comedy partner, Richard "Cheech" Marin, 66, thinks legalization will come in the next couple of years.
"The tipping point is 24 states to legalize medical marijuana, so it's coming soon," said Marin.
Cheech and Chong
Dr. Dre, Iovine Give $70 Million
USC
Rapper Dr. Dre and music mogul Jimmy Iovine have donated $70 million to establish an entrepreneurial undergraduate program at the University of Southern California, the Los Angeles school said on Wednesday.
The gift will create a new degree pulling faculty members from the university's business, fine arts, music and engineering departments.
The Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation will begin in the fall of 2014 and enroll a first class of 25 students, USC said.
Dr. Dre, whose real name is Andre Young, and Iovine created the popular headphones Beats by Dr. Dre in 2006, successfully transitioning Dr. Dre's popularity as a rapper and hip-hop producer into the consumer electronics market.
Dr. Dre, 48, rose to fame in the 1980s as an hip-hop producer and member of gangster rap group N.W.A. He is also credited with helping develop the careers of rappers Snoop Dogg and Eminem in the 1990s.
USC
Sean "Diddy" Combs' Favorite Show?
'Downton Abbey'
Music mogul and rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs will not be appearing in British period TV drama "Downtown Abbey," U.S. broadcaster PBS said on Wednesday, despite tweets saying he would be joining the hit show's upcoming season.
Diddy set social media abuzz on Wednesday after posts on his verified Twitter account said, "MY BIG NEWS: So happy to announce that Im a series regular on DOWNTON ABBEY-my favorite show+i'll be debuting a sneak peek tonight 12am PST!."
It is unknown whether or not Diddy's Twitter account @iamdiddy, followed by 8.7 million people, was hacked after the "Downton Abbey" logo was added as the avatar and background on the account.
Diddy, 43, rose to prominence in the 1990s for founding New York rap label Bad Boy Records, which helped launch the career of late rapper Notorious B.I.G.
'Downton Abbey'
Compassionate Conservatives At Work
South Korea
A gay South Korean film director is set to symbolically marry his long-term partner, saying he aims to pry open the closet in this conservative Asian country where homosexuality is still taboo and gays have been subjected to hate crimes.
Kim Jho Gwang-soo announced plans to marry his partner of nine years on Wednesday, becoming the first South Korean show business personality to do so and only the second to ever come out. The other, an actor, now says he regrets his decision.
Kim has directed a handful of films that were well received by domestic audiences and came out in 2005 during a screening for one of them. When not producing movies, he works for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) rights advocacy.
Homosexuality is not illegal in Korea, but like elsewhere in Asia the pressure to marry someone of the opposite sex to continue the family blood line is strong and leads many to hide their homosexuality.
Some South Korean lawmakers have pushed the country to adopt a comprehensive anti-discrimination law that would embrace gay rights, but amendments have foundered due to conservative Christian legislators who oppose recognition.
South Korea
Judge Scolds
T-rump
A scowling Donald Trump raised his voiced on the witness stand Wednesday while an attorney grilled him and then rolled his eyes at the "Apprentice" star's answers, leading a federal judge to scold both men in open court and order them to behave.
The admonition came during Trump's second day on the stand at a civil trial where he is accused of making false promises to an 87-year-old investor to get her to purchase condos at his glitzy Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago.
Aggressive questioning on Wednesday focused on what Trump knew and when regarding the alleged bait-and-switch in which a profit-sharing plan was promised to Jacqueline Goldberg but withdrawn after she agreed to buy two condos.
The testimony offered a rare inside look at the management style of the 66-year-old Trump, known for scrutinizing the competence of contestants on his "Apprentice" TV show and then firing them.
Pressed over and over, the real estate magnate insisted he couldn't remember just when key business decisions were made or by whom, or even if he was present - telling jurors neither he nor his top executives made a habit of taking notes.
T-rump
Mark 1948 Displacement
Palestinians
Tens of thousands of Palestinians marked the 65th anniversary of their mass displacement during the war over Israel's 1948 creation, marching in the streets and in some parts of the West Bank clashing with Israeli security forces.
Every May 15, Palestinians hold rallies to commemorate the "nakba," or "catastrophe" - the term they use to describe the displacement, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes during the fighting. The dispute over the fate of those Palestinians and their descendants, now numbering several million people, remains at the core of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The United Nations General Assembly approved a partition of British-ruled Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states in 1947. In May 1948 Israel declared independence.
On Wednesday, the Palestinian statistics bureau in the West Bank issued a statement saying the number of Palestinians today has reached 11.5 million. Of those, 4.4 million live in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza; 1.4 million in Israel while the remainder live in the diaspora.
Palestinians
CBS Fall TV Lineup
Robin Williams
Top-rated U.S. broadcast network CBS will bring comedian Robin Williams back to television next season to plug one of the few holes in its primetime schedule.
CBS Corp unveiled eight new series on Wednesday ahead of its upfront presentation in New York, an annual rite when broadcasters try to persuade advertisers to spend billions of dollars in commercials for their new shows.
CBS is riding a stable of megahits, including crime drama "NCIS" and comedies "The Big Bang Theory" and "Two and a Half Men." Last week, the network had five of the six highest-rated programs on broadcast primetime TV, according to Nielsen ratings.
The Williams vehicle "The Crazy Ones" also stars Sarah Michelle Gellar of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" fame and is produced by David E. Kelly, best known for shows like "Ally McBeal."
Williams plays an eccentric advertising executive who works alongside his daughter, played by Gellar. The show will air Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET.
Robin Williams
Painting Breaks Record For Living Artist
Gerhard Richter
A 1968 oil painting by German artist Gerhard Richter sold for some $37 million at Sotheby's contemporary art auction on Tuesday, a new record for a work by a living artist.
The sale took in $293,587,000, at the low end of the pre-sale estimate of $284 million to $383 million, with 83 percent of the 64 lots on offer finding buyers.
It featured some big numbers with five works selling for more than $20 million. But results were uneven as offerings by such contemporary stars such as Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Jeff Koons either underperformed or failed to sell.
But it was the 81-year-old Richter's "Domplatz, Mailand (Cathedral Square, Milan)," offered by the Hyatt Hotels Corp., which broke the record already held by Richter for a work at auction by a living artist. It sold for $37,125,000, near the middle of the $30 million to $40 million estimate.
The work, which Sotheby's sold about 15 years ago for about $3.5 million, was bought by collector Don Bryant, founder of Napa's Bryant Family Vineyard. He pumped his fist in the air as the hammer came down with his winning bid.
Gerhard Richter
Mutts No More In D.C.
'Xoloitzcuintli'
Say you've got a dog and you're not sure what breed it is. Maybe it's part poodle? With a little bit of Labrador? And it drools a lot, so maybe there's some St. Bernard mixed into the DNA?
Most people call these dogs "mutts." But in Washington, D.C., owners are being asked to refer to them as "Xoloitzcuintli" when filling out pet-licensing paperwork with the District's health department, according to the Washington Post.
"Our new system requires a primary breed be entered. If your dog was previously entered as a 'Mix,' the pet is now entered as a Xoloitzcuintli (a rare, hairless dog)."
OK, but why? According to the Washington Post, the breed finder is used in the event a dog becomes lost. But, as the Post puts it, "it's not at all clear how listing a non-Xoloitzcuintli dog as a Xoloitzcuintli-that's pronounced show-low-eats-QUEENT-lee-will help anyone find anything."
'Xoloitzcuintli'
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