Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Matthew 25:41-45 (New International Version)
'Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
Mark Morford: All the States That Hate You (SF Gate)
Perhaps "hate" is too strong a word.
June Gruber: Four Ways Happiness Can Hurt You (Greater Good)
Can feeling good ever be bad? New research says yes-and points the way to a healthier, more balanced life.
Neil Gaiman: Keynote Address (University of the Arts)
I never really expected to find myself giving advice to people graduating from an establishment of higher education. I never graduated from any such establishment. I never even started at one. I escaped from school as soon as I could, when the prospect of four more years of enforced learning before I'd become the writer I wanted to be was stifling.
Froma Harrop: The United States of Gambling (Creators Syndicate)
As gambling becomes widespread, clearly more of the money comes from locals. That is money the same people could have spent in other parts of the economy. Some state officials argue that with casinos flashing lights smack across their borders, they must already cope with the problems and costs of gambling, so they might as well enter the game. They may have a point, but it's a shabby scene nonetheless.
Pat Cunningham: Barack Obama and Jeremiah Wright, Mitt Romney and Jerry Falwell - and the damning of America (Rockford Register Star)
So, there you have it. Barack Obama has disowned the man who said "God damn America," but Mitt Romney has praised the man who said God has rightly punished America with horrendous acts of terrorism.
TAMARA KEITH: Sophomoric? Members Of Congress Talk Like 10th-Graders, Analysis Shows (NPR)
It turns out that the sophistication of congressional speech-making is on the decline, according to the open government group the Sunlight Foundation. Since 2005, the average grade level at which members of Congress speak has fallen by almost a full grade.
Michael L. Diamond: College graduates enjoy best job market in years (USA Today)
The unemployment rate for college graduates 24 and under averaged 7.2% from January through April. That rate, which is not adjusted for seasonal factors, is down from the first four months of 2011 (9.1%), 2010 (8.1%) and 2009 (7.8%). For all Americans, the unemployment rate is 8.1 percent.
David Bruce has 42 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $42 you can buy 10,500 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," "Maximum Cool," and "Resist Psychic Death."
The first remote intended to control a television was developed by Zenith Radio Corporation in 1950. The remote, called "Lazy Bones", was connected to the television by a wire.
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
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Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and seasonal.
Taps 25 Sounds For Registry
Library of Congress
From rare audio interviews of former slaves to recordings by Donna Summer and the Grateful Dead, 25 sounds that shaped the American cultural landscape are being inducted into the National Recording Registry.
Summer's 1977 hit "I Feel Love" is joining the Grateful Dead's famous 1977 Barton Hall concert as sounds of cultural significance, among 25 additions that are being announced Wednesday by the Library of Congress as part of its registry.
The world's largest library has chosen a diverse array of songs and sounds from history to retain for permanent preservation in the National Recording Registry. Among the new choices this year are Dolly Parton's "Coat of Many Colors," Prince's "Purple Rain" and more.
Some selections are truly historic and rarely heard. They include the only known audio of former American slaves who were interviewed in the 1930s, including one participant who had worked for Confederate President Jefferson Davis. There's also a cylinder from a talking doll created by Thomas Edison in 1888 that is the earliest known commercial sound recording. It was considered unplayable until last year, after new digital mapping tools were used to reveal its sound of a woman singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."
The library also is saving Leonard Bernstein's conducting debut with the New York Philharmonic in 1943 and "A Charlie Brown Christmas" by the Vince Guaraldi Trio from 1970, which introduced millions of people to jazz through the TV soundtrack.
Library of Congress
Master Hacker
Piers Morgan
A prominent British TV presenter said Wednesday that CNN talk show host Piers Morgan gave him a primer on phone hacking, a revelation that suggests he knew a fair amount about how the shady practice was carried out.
BBC quiz show host and television news presenter Jeremy Paxman told a media ethics inquiry that Morgan delivered his warning over lunch at the headquarters of the Mirror newspaper, which he was then editing, in 2002.
"He then explained the way to get access to people's messages was to go to the factory default setting and press either 0000 or 1234 and that if you didn't put on your own code, (in) his words, 'You're a fool.'"
Paxman testified before Lord Justice Brian Leveson, who is sifting through the fallout of the scandal over unethical and illegal behavior at Rupert Murdoch's News of the World newspaper, which Morgan briefly edited before moving to the Mirror.
Morgan testified before Leveson late last year, suggesting he'd only been aware of phone hacking in general terms.
Piers Morgan
Collection Fetches $65.5 Million
Gunter Sachs
One of Andy's Warhol's last self-portraits was the top selling item in a two-day sale in London of about 300 paintings, photographs and furniture from the collection of billionaire Gunter Sachs, which totaled more than $65.5 million.
"Self Portrait (Fright Wig), done by Warhol in 1986, sold for almost $8.5 million, more than double its pre-sale estimate, Sotheby's said on Wednesday.
Another Warhol work, "Flowers," which had been in the collection since it was purchased in 1979, fetched nearly $6 million.
Sachs, the German-born heir to the Opel car dynasty and a renowned jet-setter, killed himself last year in the Swiss resort of Gstaad at the age of 78. French actress Brigitte Bardot was his second wife.
He also was married to Anne-Marie Faure and is survived by his third wife, Swedish former model Mirja Larsson and his three sons.
Gunter Sachs
Show Must Go On
Michael McKean
Broadway producers scrambled Wednesday to fill Michael McKean's part in a revival of Gore Vidal's "The Best Man" as the actor recovers from a broken leg after being struck by a car.
Producer Jeffrey Richards said that McKean's role will be played by James Lecesne from now on after Tuesday night's accident.
McKean, 64, who portrayed the lead singer in the movie "This is Spinal Tap," was struck at West 86th Street and Broadway in Manhattan just before 3 p.m. Tuesday. Richards said McKean was in stable condition.
"I understand from his team that he has never missed a performance in his career," Richards said in a release. "So this is the kind of first we are reluctant to announce."
Michael McKean
Defends Cupp Image
Larry Flynt
Hustler Magazine publisher Larry Flynt told The Daily Caller Wednesday that he had a right to publish a fake image of conservative commentator S.E. Cupp engaging in a sex act.
"That's satire," Flynt explained in a Wednesday email to TheDC.
The latest issue of Hustler features an image of Cupp with a phallus in her mouth and a disclaimer that the picture is fake.
"S.E. Cupp is a lovely young lady who read too much Ayn Rand in high school and ended up joining the dark side," the magazine caption reads. "Cupp, an author and media commentator who often shows up on Fox News programs, is undeniably cute. But her hotness is diminished when she espouses dumb ideas like defunding Planned Parenthood. Perhaps the method pictured here is Ms. Cupp's suggestion for avoiding an unwanted pregnancy."
Larry Flynt
Former Nanny Sues
Sharon Stone
A former nanny for Sharon Stone sued the actress Wednesday claiming the Oscar-winner repeatedly insulted her Filipino heritage and fired her after discovering she had been paid overtime.
Erlinda T. Elemen's harassment lawsuit claims Stone insulted her accent, her religion and other aspects of her culture in the final months of her employment. Elemen worked for Stone for more than four years and was promoted to head nanny, a live-in position, but was fired after the actress discovered the overtime payments, the lawsuit claims.
The suit also claims Stone, who was nominated for an Oscar for her role in "Casino," forbade Elemen from reading the Bible in the actress' home.
Stone's publicist Paul Bloch called Elemen a disgruntled former employee who first sought disability and worker's compensation payments after she was fired roughly 15 months ago.
Sharon Stone
'Anti-Racists' Attack White Heritage Group
Tinley Park
A group of 18 people dressed in black, wearing masks, wielding steel batons and hammers and claiming to be extreme anti-racists allegedly stormed a suburban Chicago family restaurant in broad daylight to assault a meeting of alleged white supremacists, officials said.
Ten people were injured and at least three required treatment for head wounds as a result of the attack Saturday at the Ashford House Restaurant in Tinley Park, Ill., a quiet Chicago suburb. The restaurant sustained $15,000 in damages including broken plates, glasses and furniture.
Five of the attackers were caught and have now been charged with aggravated battery, mob action and criminal damage to property, all felonies. Brothers Jason, Cody and Dylan Sutherlin, along with Alex Stuck and John Tucker are all from Indiana. The men are connected to the Hoosier Anti-Racist Movement (H.A.R.M.) whose website now claims them as "The Tinley Park 5".
Meanwhile the targets of their attack were about a dozen members of the Illinois European Heritage Association, a group linked to the "White Pride" group Storm Front. Two of these victims were also caught up in the police investigation following the incident: Steven Speers of North Dakota was arrested on an outstanding warrant for possession of child pornography and Francis Gilroy of Florida was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.
The meeting of the Illinois European Heritage Association had been frequently mentioned on the "White Pride" webforum stormfront.org. It was called the "5 th Annual White Nationalist Economic summit" and promoted as an opportunity to "work for whites."
Tinley Park
Obama Birth Certificate OK
Arizona
Arizona's secretary of state said Wednesday that Hawaii's official verification of President Barack Obama's birth records meets necessary requirements, meaning the president's name will appear on Arizona's ballot in the fall.
The inquiry launched recently by Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett gave official weight to a long-simmering political controversy generated by those who say that Obama was not born in the U.S. and therefore is ineligible to hold the nation's highest office.
Bennett said in a written statement that Hawaii officials "have complied with the request, and I consider the matter closed."
Bennett's office says Obama's name will appear on Arizona's November ballot as long as he wins his party's nomination and all paperwork is properly completed.
Arizona
Ineffective Therapy
"Conversion Therapy"
Max Hirsh says he sensed something wasn't quite right when the psychiatrist focused on his failures with sports and teenage girls, as well as his deficient relationships with older men, particularly his father.
Hirsh became convinced of the psychiatrist's rationale for those questions by the fourth session, when he essentially told the openly gay Hirsh that his true sexuality was in the closet.
"But you're heterosexual," Hirsh recalls the psychiatrist telling him. Hirsh insisted he was gay; the psychiatrist wasn't buying it. "He said 'No,' like he had some extra information about my sexuality that I didn't," Hirsh said.
Hirsh, 22, contends the Oregon psychiatrist was practicing "conversion therapy" to change his sexual orientation. His experience is the subject of an ethics complaint filed this month by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which plans to take the same action in other states as part of a national campaign to stop therapists from trying to make gay people straight.
The complaint sent to the American Psychological Association and the Oregon Psychiatric Association arrived in what has become something of a watershed month for opponents of the form of psychotherapy. California legislators advanced a bill to the state senate that would ban children younger than 18 from receiving conversion therapy. And Dr. Robert Spitzer, a prominent retired psychiatrist, apologized to the gay community last week for a "fatal flaw" in his influential 2001 study that found conversion therapy to be a successful option for some people.
"Conversion Therapy"
Too Good To Be True?
Stevia
The meteoric rise of a natural, healthy alternative to sugar - a holy grail for the food industry - might just be a little too good to be true.
In two years stevia, a plant used for centuries by Paraguay's Guarani Indians, has shot to prominence in products by Coca-Cola, Danone and Merisant.
Encouraged by distrust of artificial sweeteners and demand for natural products, they have turned to extract of stevia, which is up to 300 times sweeter than traditional beet or cane sugar.
The problems are the aftertaste, the cost, and possible hurdles in defining it as natural in some European Union markets.
Stevia
World's Largest Bull Head
Porter Sculpture Park
Cartoonlike buzzards wielding a knife and fork, anvil and oversized mallet might seem like an odd way to welcome tourists, but Porter Sculpture Park is no typical roadside attraction.
The vultures representing reincarnated politicians are just a few of the more than 40 quirky creations originating in the mind of Wayne Porter, who uses his blacksmith know-how and appreciation of history to turn twisted concepts into metallic works of art.
The park's signature piece is a 60-foot-tall Egyptian-style bull's head that stares down Interstate 90 motorists as they head out to South Dakota's Black Hills. Porter spent three years creating the 25-ton monstrosity out of railroad tie plates, dubbing it the "World's Largest Bull's Head" on a nearby billboard.
Porter was born in 1959 in St. Lawrence, S.D., and learned to weld in his father's blacksmith shop. He created his first piece of art, a bronze metal horse, at the age of 12. After earning degrees in political science and history from South Dakota State University, he returned to the town of less than 200 to become a sheep rancher and help Dad in the shop.
Porter passed the nighttime hours by creating sculptures, many of which found display spots around town. An oversized pink metal rocking horse was a favorite of tipsy residents exiting the local bars.
Porter Sculpture Park
In Memory
Janet Carroll
Actress Janet Carroll, who played the mother of Tom Cruise's character in the movie "Risky Business," has died. She was 71.
Carroll's son, George Brown, said the actress died Tuesday in New York after a long illness.
Carroll worked steadily since that breakthrough role with Cruise in 1983. Her film credits include "Family Business," with Sean Connery and Matthew Broderick, and "Memories of Me" with Billy Crystal. On television, she appeared in such shows as "Murphy Brown," ''Melrose Place" and "Married With Children."
Carroll served as artistic director of the jazz series at the Simi Valley Cultural Center in Southern California for many years and performed on tour with the Beverly Hills Unlisted Jazz Band.
Janet Carroll
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