Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Garrison Keillor: A good vacation, now time to head home
The jubilant humorous Kaja
Likes to get dressed up and tie a
Ribbon of bangles
Round each of her ankles
And boogie to Handel's "Messiah."
Jonathan Jones: Make America decay again - Thomas Cole and Ed Ruscha review (Guardian)
Cole seems to prophecy the civil war that would tear 19th-century America apart. For us, the doomed empire Cole imagined inevitably looks like the USA itself, its grand imperium no longer holding, its authority all gone. Ruscha looks at the empire with a colder eye. Cole wept and shuddered for the future. Ruscha shrugs and walks on. Empires fall. Deal with it.
Kristen Martin: Why We Love-and Need to Leave Behind-Dead Girl Stories (LitHub.com)
The paradox here is that women are most likely to be killed not by strangers or serial killers-as in most of the murders told on My Favorite Murder-but by acquaintances: in 2015, 93 percent of female murder victims were killed by someone they knew, and 64 percent were killed by intimate partners. We can prevent intimate partner murder if we educate and intervene. As Bolin points out in "The Husband Did It," domestic violence killings follow patterns: they're more likely to occur in "moments of upheaval"-when women try to leave their abusers, when the abuser is unemployed, or when abusers feel a loss of control.
Lucy Mangan: "Why cockroach milk has made me reach breaking point" (Stylist)
The advent of cockroach milk into our lives means I am now full of rage towards climate-change deniers. Those people who insist that climate change is a hoax or that mankind is not causing it and can therefore do nothing about it, despite more than 97% of climate scientists and studies agreeing that it is, we are, and we can. Cockroach milk, you see, is ?one of the results of new research on insects to see how we could potentially feed ourselves once the world is reduced to a spinning ball of dust. Crickets will provide our protein, cockroaches our liquid.
Lucy Mangan: "Men don't feel guilty about everything, so why should we?" (Stylist)
After years of berating herself for everything and anything, Lucy Mangan is finally giving guilt a rest.
Edmund White: The Bonds Between Sex and Books (New Yorker)
I've always associated reading and writing with sex. When I was in eighth grade, I would sit every afternoon for an hour in the school library across from a friend-tall, lean, freckled-whose hair was auburn and curly, and who had a scrubbed, pale, almost blue-lipped look. He resembled those actors who've cold-creamed away their mouths and eyebrows.
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog #1
David Bruce's Blog #2
David Bruce's Blog #3
David Bruce's Lulu Storefront
David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
David Bruce has over 80 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
Presenting
Michael Egan
took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Reader Comment
Current Events
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
from Marc Perkel
Marc's Guide to Curing Cancer
So far so good on beating cancer for now. I'm doing fine. At the end of the month I'll be 16 months into an 8 month mean lifespan. And yesterday I went on a 7 mile hike and managed to keep up with the hiking group I was with. So, doing something right.
Still waiting for future test results and should see things headed in the right direction. I can say that it's not likely that anything dire happens in the short term so that means that I should have time to make several more attempts at this. So even if it doesn't work the first time there are a lot of variations to try. So if there's bad news it will help me pick the next radiation target.
I have written a "how to" guide for oncologists to perform the treatment that I got. I'm convinced that I'm definitely onto something and whether it works for me or not isn't the definitive test. I know if other people tried this that it would work for some of them, and if they improve it that it will work for a lot of them.
The guide is quite detailed and any doctor reading this can understand the procedure at every level. I also go into detail as to how it works, how I figured it out, and variations and improvements that could be tried to enhance it. I also introduce new ways to look at the problem. There is a lot of room for improvement and I think that doctors reading it will see what I'm talking about and want to build on it. And it's written so that if you're not a doctor you can still follow it. It also has a personal story revealing that I'm the class clown of cancer support group. I give great interviews and I look pretty hot in a lab coat.
So, feel free to read this and see what I'm talking about. But if any of you want to help then pass this around to both doctors and cancer patients. I need some media coverage. I'm looking for as many eyeballs as possible to read these ideas. Even if this isn't the solution, it's definitely on the right track. After all, I did hike 7 miles yesterday. And this hiking group wasn't moving slow. So if this isn't working then, why am I still here?
I also see curing cancer as more of an engineering problem that a medical problem. So if you are good at solving problems and most of what you know about medicine was watching the Dr. House MD TV show, then you're at the level I was at when I started. So anyone can jump in and be part of the solution.
Here is a link to my guide: Oncologists Guide to Curing Cancer using Abscopal Effect
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
REPEATING STUPIDITY IS NOT A BRILLANT GAME PLAN.
TALK IS CHEAP!
PAVE PARADISE, PUT IN A POT FARM.
UNHINGED?
COOPERATING WITNESS!
"THE ADMINISTRATION HAS NO IDEA WHAT IT IS DOING."
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and seasonal.
Estate To Release Catalog
Prince
Sony Music on Wednesday announced a deal with Prince's estate to reissue the bulk of his catalog, the latest attempt to monetize the legacy of the pop legend.
Ironically for an artist who famously battled the music industry, with the latest deal Prince's estate has made announcements with all three major record label groups since his sudden death in April 2016.
Sony said that its Legacy Recordings imprint, which focuses on the archives of classic artists, would immediately have rights to 19 albums from 1995 to 2010 -- when Prince bolted from longtime label Warner Brothers.
Starting in 2021, Sony will also obtain the rights to 12 albums from Prince's golden era including "Controversy," "1999" and "Around the World in a Day." The contract notably excludes soundtracks -- namely 1984's "Purple Rain," Prince's best-known work.
His estate in recent months has put out morsels of new music including Prince's lighter original version of "Nothing Compares 2 U." The song, one of many Prince wrote for other artists, became a hit for Sinead O'Connor.
Prince
Bob Dylan Center
Tulsa
The development of the Bob Dylan Center is moving along as the George Kaiser Family Foundation announces a lead architect for the project.
The Bob Dylan Center, which will house The Bob Dylan Archive, is set to open in 2021 in the Tulsa Arts District near the Woody Guthrie Center.
"I'm glad that my archives, which have been collected all these years, have finally found a home and are to be included with the works of Woody Guthrie and especially alongside all the valuable artifacts from the Native American Nations. To me, it makes a lot of sense and it's a great honor," Bob Dylan said.
The foundation also finalized the location of the future Bob Dylan Center. It will be located on Martin Luther King Blvd. in Tulsa, in a space just southeast of the Woody Guthrie Center.
Several events will be held leading up to the opening of The Bob Dylan Center. Information on these events will be posted on www.BobDylanCenter.com.
Tulsa
New Misconduct Database
Hollywood
Abigail Disney is determined to exile "raping and pillaging" from Hollywood by backing Level Forward, a female-led company that will focus on producing a wide array of content from women and people of color, among other initiatives.
On Wednesday, Disney and her partner, Adrienne Becker, briefed reporters for the first time on their plans for Level Forward, which they launched in January. It turns out the company is a key investor in Rotten Apples, a website that serves as a database for consumers interested in learning whether anyone associated with a movie or TV show has been involved in allegations of misconduct. Rotten Apples launched in December in the wake of the #MeToo movement.
For example, type in the movie Shakespeare in Love, and the names Ben Affleck, Harvey Weinstein and Bob Weinstein pop up. In the case of Affleck, his name is linked to an article detailing the actor's apology for groping someone. Harvey Weinstein's name, of course, is linked to articles about the multitude of allegations brought against him.
Becker said Rotten Apples - which is clearly riffing on Rotten Tomatoes - is in the beta phase, and that it will be expanding. For example, it could begin including links to organizations helping victims of sexual misconduct or abuse.
Speaking from Europe via a video phone call, Disney - whose grandfather was Roy Disney, the brother of Walt Disney - said Level Forward is committed to backing authentic stories from women and minorities, as well as increasing diversity behind the camera. Only then will younger consumers hear the right message.
Hollywood
Borrowing From 'Seinfeld'
McDonald's
McDonald's, attempting to lure back breakfast customers, is ripping off an idea proposed by character Elaine Benes in a 1997 "Seinfeld" episode - selling muffin tops, sans bottoms.
In the season 8 episode, titled "The Muffin Tops," Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) has the brilliant and original idea to open a bakery that sells only the tops of muffins.
"It's the best part," Elaine explains. "It's crunchy, it's explosive, it's where the muffin breaks free of the pan and sort of does its own thing. I'll tell you, that's a million-dollar idea right there. Just sell the tops."
McDonald's agrees.
"Customers can … expect to see an elevated McCafé experience in our modernized U.S. restaurants - delicious menu items like muffin toppers, coffee cakes and apple pies," a company spokeswoman told the Daily News.
McDonald's
Website Is Down in China
HBO
Chinese authorities appear to have blocked U.S. film and television production company HBO's website after comedy show "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" aired a segment criticizing President Xi Jinping for censorship.
HBO.com, which offers programming information but no shows, was unavailable to internet users in China, according to Greatfire.org, a watchdog group. Bloomberg staff were also unable to access the company's website as of Tuesday morning. The watchdog Cyberspace Administration of China and the State Council Information Office didn't immediately respond to faxes requesting comments.
HBO, a unit of AT&T Inc., has been selling some content in China's fast-growing $14.5 billion online streaming market under tight censorship rules. HBO licenses shows in China such as TV dramas "Game of Thrones" and "Band of Brothers" through Tencent Holdings Ltd.'s streaming service, which had not been affected as of Tuesday morning.
U.S.-based television and movie production companies have been seeking more access to China's fast-growing entertainment market, where demand for premium content is surging. Online streaming revenue has been growing about 50 percent annually on average over the past five years, according to consulting group iResearch. Box office revenue in China is projected to overtake North America's as the world's largest by 2020.
On a recent "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" episode, the comedian criticized Xi for amassing political power and censoring online discussion, including banning references to Winnie the Pooh, which has been used to mock the Chinese president based on a perceived resemblance to the cartoon character.
HBO
Stolen Seat
Supreme Court
The Supreme Court handed two major wins to conservatives on Tuesday relating to President Donald Trump's travel ban and abortion, and perhaps nobody was celebrating more than Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
In one decision, the court ruled 5-4 that Trump was within his authority to enact a travel ban that restricts people from coming to the U.S. from five Muslim majority countries. In another, the court ruled 5-4 to reverse a lower-court decision upholding a California law requiring so-called crisis pregnancy centers to fully disclose their anti-abortion agenda.
In both cases, Justice Neil Gorsuch voted with the majority. Gorsuch wouldn't be on the court if it weren't for McConnell, who single-handedly blocked President Barack Obama from filling a Supreme Court seat and reshaped the nation's top court for a generation.
Within an hour after Justice Antonin Scalia died in Feb. 2016, McConnell announced that he would block any Obama replacement. Republicans followed his lead by denying a Senate confirmation hearing to Obama's choice for the court, Merrick Garland. It was a cynical tactic, and it worked: the seat sat empty for a year and Trump went on to fill it with Gorsuch, a staunch conservative.
McConnell has said "one of my proudest moments" was looking Obama in the eye and telling him he would block his Supreme Court nominee.
Supreme Court
NASA Delays Launch Until 2021
James Webb Space Telescope
Today, NASA's independent review board announced that it has unanimously recommended that development on the James Webb Space Telescope should move forward. As a result, NASA has a new official launch date for the space observatory: March 30, 2021.
It's welcome news for the embattled successor to Hubble. The telescope's launch has been delayed numerous times due to ongoing technical issues. The US Government Accountability Office released a report back in Marchthat outlined some of the problems with the telescope and predicted that JWST would miss its early 2019 launch window.
The problem was that the contractor, Northrop Grumman was working its teams in shifts around the clock to complete the telescope on time. There was no schedule flexibility, and too much work to get done on a very complex spacecraft. After all, if something goes wrong after the James Webb Space Telescope launches, we have no real options in terms of being able to fix it in orbit.
Not long after that, NASA announced a new target launch date of May 2020. This, the organization reasoned, would give Northrop Grumman time to test the components of the space observatory individually and together before assembly and launch.
The full independent review board report is 69 pages long, and it indicates that the reason for the additional delay beyond 2020 is because of a recent anomaly in acoustics tests for the spacecraft. Specifically, screws and washers came loose from the spacecraft; it appears they were from the sunshield. Northrop Grumman needs time to identify what is wrong and correct the anomaly.
James Webb Space Telescope
Botched Restoration
Spain
Spain is already home to the world's most notorious restoration disaster, caused by an amateur painter well into her 80's who attempted to touch up a priceless ancient fresco of Christ, the Ecce Homo, in the town of Borja in 2012.
Now another botched restoration attempt is causing outrage in the country.
In the church of San Miguel, in the northern town of Estella, a weathered 16th-century sculpture of St. George was painted over in bright colors, with the already simple visage also becoming yet more so in the process.
The job was apparently done by a local handicrafts teacher at the request of the parish priest.
According to Spanish press agency EFE, the plan was only to have the sculpture cleaned and not restored.
Spain
Colder Than Scientists Thought
Coldest Place on Earth
Scientists already knew that the lowest temperatures ever measured on Earth were on a frozen ice ridge in eastern Antarctica, near the South Pole. But they recently discovered that temperatures there can drop even lower than those previously measured.
In 2013, analysis of satellite data pinpointed scattered pockets of intensely cold air on the East Antarctic Plateau between Dome Argus and Dome Fuji - temperatures that dipped to a staggering minus 135 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 93 degrees Celsius).
However, new analysis of the same data suggests that under the right conditions, those temperatures can drop to nearly minus 148 degrees F (minus 100 degrees C), which is probably the coldest it can get on Earth, researchers reported in a new study.
On ice-covered Antarctica, the average temperature during the dark winter months is around minus 30 degrees F (minus 34.4 degrees C). For the new study, scientists analyzed data collected during July and August between 2004 and 2016. The temperatures were measured in small basins of the East Antarctic Plateau near the South Pole, at an elevation of 12,467 feet (3,800 meters), the highest part of the ice sheet.The new, record-breaking temperatures were widespread, appearing at 100 locations in depressions dotting "a broad region" of the plateau, the study authors reported.
During the polar winter, long stretches of time elapse with clear skies and weak winds. Together - as long as these conditions last - they can cool the snow surface and drive down temperatures, according to the study.
Coldest Place on Earth
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