Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Solar Highways (Video)
Pave our roads with solar panels.
US Army: Don't Ask, Don't Tell
Official Army Web site about the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.
Pride comes in All Ages
Welcome to AARP's online home for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.
Mark Morford: Ash Me About My Agony and Despair (SF Gate)
How do you avoid becoming horribly soiled and tainted, downtrodden and depressed every single day by the relentless onslaught, the endless horrors and bleakness hurled forth by the blood-soaked and desperately panicky mainstream media, inside of which you apparently still writhe and (mostly, sporadically, drunkenly) thrive?
Jim Hightower: GOP SHUCKING AND JIVING ON MEDICARE
In an astonishing observation, Rep. Paul Ryan recently declared: "Washington has not been honest with you."
Tanya Gold: Marching with the SlutWalkers (Guardian)
The SlutWalk movement has divided feminists. Should women try to reclaim the word? And is undressing the best way to protest against rape?
JOE QUEENAN: The Agenda of the 'Stop Doing That' Fund (Wall Street Journal)
Last week, the Thiel Foundation, funded by the libertarian hedge-fund manager Peter Thiel, gave $100,000 apiece to 24 people under the age of 20 who agreed to drop out of school and start high-tech companies. No, not MonsterKegger.com.
Stanley Fish: Faculty Governance in Idaho (New York Times)
If you're a college or university teacher, whom do you work for?
Christopher Beam and Jeremy Singer-Vine: Slate's Hollywood Career-O-Matic
What Rotten Tomatoes data tell us about the best, worst, and most bizarre Hollywood trajectories.
Roger Ebert: Review of "An Autumn Afternoon" (1962; A Great Movie)
Two middle-aged students take their old teacher out to dinner, and he gets thoroughly drunk and is overtaken by sadness. We are alone in life, he tells them. Always alone. He lives with his daughter, who takes care of him, who has never married, who will be left all alone when he dies. He tells Hirayama, the hero of "An Autumn Afternoon," to avoid the same mistake: Marry his daughter now, before she is too old.
Roger Ebert: Review of "The Young Poisoner's Handbook" (4 stars; An Overlooked DVD)
Graham Young fatally poisoned his stepmother, caused many others to become ill, was sentenced to prison, bamboozled the prison psychiatrist, was set free, and went in for experiments on a larger scale when he was unwisely given the responsibility for preparing the tea at his new job.
Roger Ebert: Review of "The Tree of Life" (4 stars)
Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life" is a film of vast ambition and deep humility, attempting no less than to encompass all of existence and view it through the prism of a few infinitesimal lives.
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."
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Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Suggestion
Cats
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Harry Potter - Through the Pensieve
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Thick marine layer hung around til mid-afternoon.
No Kid Hungry Campaign
Jeff Bridges
Oscar winner Jeff Bridges is lending his star power to a public-private partnership in Virginia to combat childhood hunger.
Bridges joined Gov. Bob McDonnell and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack at Barcroft Elementary in Arlington for the start of Virginia's No Kid Hungry campaign. The program will connect low-income kids to federal nutrition programs, like those that provide lunches during summer when school's out.
Currently fewer than 20 percent of kids in Virginia who are eligible for free and reduced price school lunches participate in summer meal programs.
Bridges, who won an Academy Award for his role in "Crazy Heart," serves as a national spokesman for the No Kid Hungry campaign. Bridges said he'd feel miserable if he didn't do his part to alleviate childhood hunger.
Jeff Bridges
To Appear On "iCarly"
Michelle Obama
First lady Michelle Obama will appear on children's TV show "iCarly," -- a favorite program of her daughters -- to promote her initiative to support military families, the network behind the show said on Wednesday.
Michelle Obama chose "iCarly" because the lead character, Carly Shay who is played by Miranda Cosgrove, is the daughter of an Air Force colonel, according to the cable network Nickelodeon.
In the episode that will feature the first lady, Carly's father is not able to make it home for his birthday as planned. Michelle Obama will talk to Carly about how she is serving her country by being in a military family, the network said.
The episode will be shot on Monday and is scheduled to air in early 2012.
Michelle Obama
Quits "CSI"
Laurence Fishburne
Laurence Fishburne is leaving his starring role on TV forensic investigation drama "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" after a little more than two seasons, Hollywood publications reported on Wednesday.
Fishburne, 49, who plays former pathologist Dr. Raymond Langston on the worldwide hit, has opted not to renew his contract when the show returns in September for its 12th season, said Deadline Hollywood and The Hollywood Reporter.
The Emmy- and Tony award-winning actor joined the cast in the middle of the 2008-09 season as a replacement for original headliner William Peterson.
Once the biggest show on television, "CSI" ranked No. 10 last season with 13 million viewers in the United States, down from 17.6 million for the first episode since Petersen's departure. Its producers gave Fishburne's character a wardrobe make-over in 2009, dropping his glasses and suits look for more casual clothing that they hoped would appeal more to viewers.
Laurence Fishburne
2 New Elements Officially Added
Periodic Table
They exist for only seconds at most in real life, but they've gained immortality in chemistry: Two new elements have been added to the periodic table.
The elements were recognized by an international committee of chemists and physicists. They're called elements 114 and 116 for now - permanent names and symbols will be chosen later.
You're not likely to run into any of this stuff. Scientists make them in labs by smashing atoms of other elements together to create the new ones.
Both elements were discovered by a collaboration of scientists from Livermore and Russia. They made them by smashing calcium ions into atoms of plutonium or another element, curium. The official recognition, announced last week, cites experiments done in 2004 and 2006.
Periodic Table
Smithsonian's New App
What's That Tree?
IIf you've ever wondered what type of tree was nearby but didn't have a guide book, a new smartphone app allows users with no formal training to satisfy their curiosity and contribute to science at the same time.
Scientists have developed the first mobile app to identify plants by simply photographing a leaf. The free iPhone and iPad app, called Leafsnap, instantly searches a growing library of leaf images amassed by the Smithsonian Institution. In seconds, it returns a likely species name, high-resolution photographs and information on the tree's flowers, fruit, seeds and bark.
Users make the final identification and share their findings with the app's growing database to help map the population of trees one mobile phone at a time.
Leafsnap debuted in May, covering all the trees in New York's Central park and Washington's Rock Creek Park. It has been downloaded more than 150,000 times in the first month, and its creators expect it to continue to grow as it expands to Android phones.
By this summer, it will include all the trees of the Northeast and eventually will cover all the trees of North America.
What's That Tree?
Unpublished Lyrics To Be Sold
Bob Dylan
A selection of previously unpublished draft lyrics by legendary songwriter Bob Dylan is hitting the auction block this month, Christie's said on Wednesday.
The heavily annotated, sometimes in crayon, lyrics date from the mid-1960s, during one of Dylan's most productive periods. They will be sold at Christie's auction of fine printed books and manuscripts in New York on June 23.
The items for sale include early, formative versions of five songs from 1965's "Bringing It All Back Home" album, including "I Ain't Gonna Work on Maggie's Farm No More," a draft for "Maggie's Farm," estimated to sell for $70,000 to $90,000.
Christie's said the newly discovered drafts once belonged to Dylan's manager, Albert Grossman. They feature some of Dylan's best-known songs, including "Subterranean Homesick Blues," "Queen Jane Approximately" and "Visions of Johanna."
Bob Dylan
New Vegas Show
Shania Twain
Shania Twain is headed to Las Vegas.
The country superstar announced a headlining residency on Wednesday. It will be at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace starting Dec. 1, 2012. Her new show is called "Shania: Still The One" and will feature all of her biggest hits, including "You're Still The One" and "Forever And For Always".
Twain had been out of the spotlight since the mid-2000s. Since that time she has gone through a number of personal struggles including the break-up of her marriage, losing her voice and a fear of returning to the stage. She has documented her comeback throughout her OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network show "Why Not? With Shania Twain?"
Shania Twain
$500 Fine Plus Court Costs
Willie Nelson
When Willie Nelson is on the road again, he will be traveling without a Texas drug charge hanging over his head.
A West Texas prosecutor said on Wednesday that the legendary singer and songwriter has pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of possession of drug paraphernalia and has agreed to pay a $500 fine plus court costs of about $280.
"I have given him the option to do it by mail," said C.R Bramblett, the county attorney in remote Hudspeth County, where Nelson was charged with marijuana possession last November. A Border Patrol officer smelled pot inside Nelson's tour bus when it was pulled over at a checkpoint on Interstate 10.
Bramblett said he has spoken with Nelson's attorney, and the singer has agreed to the plea deal. Bramblett expects the case to be settled within two weeks.
Willie Nelson
Senate Panel Backs Auctions
TV Airwaves
A Senate committee backed giving U.S. communications regulators authority to auction some airwaves currently used by broadcast television and to shift their use to mobile broadband.
The auction authority is seen as key to a Federal Communications Commission plan to free up additional airwaves to meet the booming demand for wireless services.
I
ncentive auctions, where some of the proceeds would go to the broadcasters giving up spectrum, are part of a bill to build a nationwide public safety network that was approved in a 21-4 vote by the Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday.
Some 25 million Americans already watch video on smartphones and tablet computers like Apple Inc's iPad, putting 120 times more demand on spectrum than older phones.
The FCC hopes to repurpose 120 megahertz of spectrum through voluntary auctions of television airwaves.
TV Airwaves
Considering the precedent has already been set, gotta wonder
how many commissioners will resign within weeks of this passing, and start their new jobs with the corporate media.
Oh, and the money from the auction goes to broadcasters, not that they are the freaking corporate media.
Talk about having one's cake while eating yours, too.
Sentenced To 2 Years
Ja Rule
Ja Rule is headed to a New York prison for up to two years in a gun case.
The platinum-selling rapper and actor was sentenced Wednesday. He pleaded guilty in December to attempted criminal weapon possession.
Authorities said he had a loaded gun in his luxury sports car when it was stopped as he left a Manhattan concert in July 2007.
Ja Rule was nominated for a 2002 best rap album Grammy Award for "Pain Is Love." His movie credits include 2001's "The Fast and the Furious" and 2003's "Scary Movie 3."
Ja Rule
Transfers In DC Cop Unit
District of Columbia
Two District of Columbia police officers assigned to the unit that provided an 80-mph escort for actor Charlie Sheen from a Virginia airport to his show in Washington have been transferred.
An internal police document obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press shows that Lt. Stuart Emerman and Capt. Robert Atcheson have been removed from the department's Special Operations Division, which provides escorts.
Officers from that division gave Sheen an escort April 19 from Dulles International Airport to a performance at DAR Constitution Hall. The escort drew attention after Sheen tweeted about it and posted a photograph showing a speedometer register about 80 mph.
Emerman was a lieutenant in the division's planning unit, which oversees escorts and major details, and Atcheson was his captain. The two were transferred to patrol services and school security bureaus in different police districts. A third member of the division who was involved in canine patrol was also transferred. Three officers were transferred into the division.
District of Columbia
Wants To Bar Media From Deposition
Paulina Rubio
Singer and actress Paulina Rubio wants the media barred from attending a deposition by her manager in a Miami breach contract lawsuit.
Rubio's lawyers are asking a judge to keep reporters out of Thursday's scheduled deposition by manager Marya Meyer. They say it would lead to a media circus and cast Rubio in a poor light. The judge is holding a hearing Thursday morning on the motion.
Rubio was sued in 2010 by Miami-based CMG Entertainment over her failure to show up at a concert in Tunja, Colombia. The lawsuit seeks just over $985,000 in damages.
CMG Entertainment opposes closing the manager's deposition. Its lawyers say Rubio hasn't shown sufficient legal cause to bar the media and that her status as a star isn't a good enough reason.
Paulina Rubio
Ex Files Appeal
Mel "Sugar Tits" Gibson
Mel Gibson's ex-girlfriend has asked an appeals court to disqualify the Oscar winner's attorneys handling a bitter custody dispute because she consulted with one of their partners in a paternity dispute with another actor.
Attorneys for Oksana Grigorieva asked the California 2nd District Court of Appeal to intervene in the case on Monday. They sought to either disqualify Gibson's attorneys or require a judge hearing the case to review records of the Russian musician's dealings with the firm.
Grigorieva met with a partner in the firm of Kolodny and Anteau in 2008 at Gibson's suggestion, while she was dealing with custody issues involving her son with British actor Timothy Dalton, according to court filings.
The appeal said Gibson's attorneys sought records of the dispute with Dalton, including emails, text messages and other correspondence between the former couple. Dalton played James Bond in two films in the late 1980s.
Mel "Sugar Tits" Gibson
High Roller Heaven?
Tropicana Casino
Lightning has struck twice at the Tropicana Casino and Resort, which has lost more than $11 million to just two high-stakes gamblers since April.
Just weeks after a blackjack player beat the casino for $5.8 million, a different gambler won $5.3 million last week.
Yet despite the huge losses, the Tropicana is sticking with its new emphasis on high-stakes table games play, confident that things will eventually run it its favor.
"That's just how it goes sometimes; if you bet more, you can win more," said Tony Rodio, the Tropicana's president and CEO. "We have a strategy of offering the most aggressive and highest table games limits in the Atlantic City market and we're not going to change that. If someone wants to take the shot, we'll take the action."
Tropicana Casino
For Sale In Utah
Nuremberg Chronicle
A partial copy of the 500-year-old Nuremberg Chronicle is now on sale for $35,000 at a rare book shop in Utah.
It's considered one of the earliest and most lavishly illustrated books of the 15th century and coveted by collectors. Published in Germany in 1493, the book is a world history beginning in biblical times.
Ken Sanders, who appraises items for PBS's Antiques Roadshow, came across the copy in April while volunteering at a fundraiser for the small town Sandy museum, about 15 miles south of Salt Lake City.
The book's owner says it was passed down by his great uncle and had been gathering dust in his attic for decades. He had no idea of its worth or significance until bringing it to Sanders in April.
Nuremberg Chronicle
Seniors' Collective Stirs Up Trouble
Medical Pot
Joe Schwartz is a 90-year-old great-grandfather of three who enjoys a few puffs of pot each night before he crawls into bed in the Southern California retirement community he calls home.
The World War II veteran smokes the drug to alleviate debilitating nausea and is one of about 150 senior citizens on this sprawling, 18,000-person gated campus who belongs to a thriving - and controversial - medical marijuana collective operating here, in the middle of one of the largest retirement communities in the United States.
The fledgling collective mirrors a nationwide trend as more and more senior citizens turn to marijuana, legal or not, to ease the aches and pains of aging. But in Laguna Woods Village, tucked in the heart of one of the most conservative and wealthiest counties in California, these ganja-smoking grandparents have stirred up a heated debate with their collective, attracting a crackdown from within the self-governed community.
Many members of the 2-year-old collective keep a low profile, but others grow seedlings on their patios and set up workshops to show other seniors how to turn the marijuana leaves into tea, milk and a vapor that can be inhaled for relief from everything from chemotherapy-related nausea to multiple sclerosis to arthritis.
The most recent project involves getting collective members to plant 40 seeds from experimental varieties of marijuana that are high in a compound said to have anti-inflammatory properties best suited for elderly ailments. The tiny plastic vials, each containing 10 seeds, are stamped with names like "Sour Tsunami."
Medical Pot
Inspiration For Ophelia?
Shakespeare
The death of William Shakespeare's relative may have provided the inspiration for tragic heroine Ophelia, the doomed object of Hamlet's love, Oxford University researchers claimed Wednesday.
Coroner's reports of accidental deaths in Tudor England showed that a Jane Shaxspere drowned aged two-and-a-half while picking corn marigolds 20 miles (32 kilometres) from Shakespeare's Stratford-upon-Avon home, researchers found.
In Shakespeare's classic, Ophelia drowns in a brook after hanging flowers in a willow tree. The poetic moment is famously captured in John Everett Millais's 1852 painting.
The Bard would have been five at the time of Jane Shaxspere's 1569 death, and the Oxford team believe the two children may have been related.
Shakespeare
Cable Nielsens
Ratings
Rankings for the top 15 programs on cable networks as compiled by the Nielsen Co. for the week of May 30-June 5. Day and start time (EDT) are in parentheses:
1. "Pawn Stars" (Wednesday, 10 p.m.), History, 3.64 million homes, 5.22 million viewers.
2. "Pawn Stars" (Monday, 8:30 p.m.), History, 3.57 million homes, 5.19 million viewers.
3. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.44 million homes, 5.02 million viewers.
4. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.17 million homes, 4.86 million viewers.
5. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 10:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.09 million homes, 4.39 million viewers.
6. "American Pickers" (Wednesday, 9 p.m.), History, 3.07 million homes, 4.27 million viewers.
7. "2011 MTV Movie Awards" (Sunday, 9 p.m.), MTV, 3.04 million homes, 4.5 million viewers.
8. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.02 million homes, 4.21 million viewers.
9. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 9 p.m.), USA, 2.99 million homes, 4.51 million viewers.
10. "Law & Order: CI" (Sunday, 9 p.m.), USA, 2.98 million homes, 3.9 million viewers.
11. "Pawn Stars" (Wednesday, 10:30 p.m.), History, 2.957 million homes, 4.12 million viewers.
12. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 11 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.955 million homes, 4.12 million viewers.
13. "So Random" (Sunday, 8:30 p.m.), Disney, 2.94 million homes, 4.07 million viewers.
14. "NCIS" (Wednesday, 10 p.m.), USA, 2.92 million homes, 3.66 million viewers.
15. "Good Luck Charlie" (Sunday, 8 p.m.), Disney, 2.87 million homes, 4.02 million viewers.
Ratings
In Memory
Leonard Stern
Leonard Stern, a prolific writer-producer-director whose credits include "The Honeymooners," "Get Smart," and "McMillan and Wife," died Tuesday. He was 87.
Stern died of heart failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said his spokesman, Dale Olson.
A native of New York City, Stern found early success in TV writing for Jackie Gleason in "The Honeymooners" as well as the classic 1950s sitcom "The Phil Silvers Show" and "The Steve Allen Show."
In the 1960s he produced the spy satire "Get Smart," and in the 1970s wrote, directed and produced "McMillan and Wife," the lighthearted crime drama starring Rock Hudson.
Film credits included screenplays for the 1952 version of "The Jazz Singer" starring Danny Thomas, as well as a pair of Abbott and Costello comedies. Three decades later, he wrote and directed "Just You and Me, Kid," starring George Burns and 14-year-old Brooke Shields. In 1985, he wrote the script for the action-thriller "Target," starring Gene Hackman and directed by Arthur Penn.
Stern was also involved in publishing, including the word game Mad Libs, which he co-created.
During his career he won three Emmy awards, two Golden Globes and a Peabody award.
Stern is survived by his wife of 55 years, actress Gloria Stroock, as well as a son, Michael Stern, a daughter, Kate Stern, two grandchildren, and a great-granddaughter.
Funeral services were scheduled Friday at Mt. Sinai.
Leonard Stern
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