Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Andrew Tobias: The Market Is A Barometer
And here we are, with housing prices having rebounded a good bit (we don't want them all the way back to top-of-the-bubble crazy levels any time soon, do we?) . . . with the $1.5 trillion deficit outgoing President Bush handed incoming President Obama having been slashed by two-thirds . . . with the economy much weaker than it would have been if the Republicans had not blocked The American Jobs Act (borrowing at record-low rates to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure) . . . but growing nonetheless . . . and with the Dow nearly triple that March, 2009, low.
Arwa Mahdawi: Satire is dying because the internet is killing it (Guardian)
Facebook's [satire] tag may prevent people believing Kim Jong-un was voted the sexiest man alive, but the damage is done.
Ryan Menezes: 5 Classic Songs That Were Originally Creepy as Hell (Cracked)
We get furious at Hollywood for cranking out endless adaptations and reboots of old stories, but famous musicians do it almost as much -- with the right combination of talent, production, and MC Hammer, any moldy old song can become a brand-new hit. However, some George Lucas-style wizardry is occasionally called upon to "update" the lyrics, because the words of those forgotten originals are routinely bizarre, racist, and/or totally insane.
Karl Smallwood, Jack Hall, Sara Ohlms: The 7 Sneakiest Ways Corporations Manipulated Human Behavior (Cracked)
In a perfect world, there would be no substitute for a quality product offered at a bargain price. But this is not a perfect world, and a lot of times the only thing between mediocrity and market dominance is the kind of devious plan that would make a supervillain proud.
Dave Cox: "The psychology of comedy: where humour and psychosis overlap" (Guardian)
New research shows that comedians have a remarkable amount in common with people who have schizophrenia or manic depression - and that this could be what makes them funny.
Tom Service: "Peter Maxwell Davies at 80: 'The music knows things that I don't'" (Guardian)
Last year Peter Maxwell Davies was given six weeks to live. Despite 'absolutely revolting' chemotherapy and a blood clot that almost killed him, he went on to complete his 10th Symphony, and now he's about to celebrate his 80th birthday.
Eddie Deezen: "Help!: The Beatles' Second Movie" (Neatorama)
The huge success, financially, critically, and personally, of the Beatles' first film A Hard Day's Night in 1964 made a follow-up film an inevitability. And everything pointed to this next film being superior to A Hard Day's Night. After all, the locations for this second film would be the Bahamas and the Austrian Alps.
Henry Rollins: Invisible Cities (LA Weekly)
To feel the full effect of Las Vegas, I think you have to get off the street and spend as much time as you can in an air-conditioned, windowless, dimly lit hotel casino, until you lose track of hours and minutes altogether. This gives one the potential to enter into the sanity-challenging reality bend that Hunter S. Thompson experienced in his Fear and Loathing period.
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"Doug's Most Shared Facebook Post" Today
wrote:
took the day off.
has retired(?).
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
David E Suggests
David
Thanks, Dave!
Gare Says...
Astrology
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
Nice morning marine layer kept it kinda nice.
Well-Funded Women
Senate
The political tilt of the Senate during President Barack Obama's final two years in office is likely to hinge on a handful of female contenders in tight and costly races.
Donors and fundraisers are catching on.
Five female Senate contenders recently created a joint fundraising committee, Blue Senate 2014, to appeal to donors. Separately, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg last month wrote a $2 million check to a political committee linked to Emily's List, the biggest player helping elect women to office.
So far this election cycle, donors have handed over $46 million to a collection of political committees and candidates linked to Emily's List, which backs female contenders who support abortion rights. The Emily's List network of committees raised more than most other outside groups, including the GOP-backed American Crossroads and the anti-tax Club for Growth.
Senate
Afghanistan Orders US Reporter To Leave
Matthew Rosenberg
Afghanistan on Wednesday ordered a New York Times correspondent to leave the country after he wrote an article saying government ministers and officials were threatening to seize power to end a stand-off over election results.
The attorney general's office said the article was "against the national interests and the national security of Afghanistan" and that Matthew Rosenberg must depart within 24 hours.
The move underlined fears that media freedoms gained since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001 are being lost as the US-led military intervention and civilian aid programme in Afghanistan wind down.
Rosenberg said the newspaper was seeking legal advice and no decision had been made on whether he would soon fly out of Afghanistan.
Matthew Rosenberg
Says Lie Would Have Continued
Lance Armstrong
Lance Armstrong says he would still be issuing strident denials if he hadn't been caught and then forced to admit to using performance-enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France.
"If this stuff hadn't taken place with the federal investigation, I'd probably still be saying 'no' with the same conviction and tone as before. But that gig is up," Armstrong said in an interview with US news broadcaster CNN.
For more than a decade, the disgraced American cyclist Armstrong repeatedly denied he ever used banned drugs and bullied others who accused him of being a cheater.
"No one forced me or bullied me, so I am not going to say 'It's not my fault' I blame myself, that's the bottom line," he said.
Lance Armstrong
Neanderthals & Humans
Coexistence
Humans and Neanderthals may have coexisted in Europe for more than 5,000 years, providing ample time for the two species to meet and mix, according to new research.
Using new carbon dating techniques and mathematical models, researchers examined about 200 samples found at 40 sites from Spain to Russia, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature. They concluded with a high probability that pockets of Neanderthal culture survived until between 41,030 and 39,260 years ago.
Although this puts the disappearance of Neanderthals earlier than some scientists previously thought, the findings support the idea that they lived alongside humans, who arrived in Europe about 45,000-43,000 years ago.
While it's known that Neanderthal genes have survived in the DNA of many modern humans to this day, suggesting that at least some interbreeding took place, scientists are still unclear about the extent of their contact and the reasons why Neanderthals vanished.
Coexistence
Pay To Play Super Bowl Halftime
NFL
Musicians typically don't get paid for playing at the NFL's Super Bowl halftime show. Having 115.3 million people watch your performance is payment enough, really. But this year the NFL is using the big game's unrivaled power of exposure to its advantage - or at least trying to, according to The Wall Street Journal. The league has apparently whittled its list of potential acts down to three: Coldplay, Rihanna, and Katy Perry. (Sorry, Weird Al fans.) But when approaching representatives for each artist with the good news, the NFL reportedly made an unprecedented request. It's asked three of pop music's most popular performers whether they'd "willing to contribute a portion of their post-Super Bowl tour income to the league, or if they would make some other type of financial contribution" to headline the 2015 halftime show.
Whichever act agrees to hand over cash would presumably have better odds of being chosen. But unfortunately for the NFL, it seems the pay-to-play plan may be backfiring. Rihanna, Perry, and Coldplay have all come back with a "chilly reception" to the idea, according to the Journal. Music sales are dipping, but these are three acts that can endure the trend; they still top the Billboard charts with every new release and sell out concerts more often than not. For example, Coldplay's Ghost Stories sold 383,000 copies in its first week of release (245,000 of those were downloads), the biggest opening week since Beyoncé's self-titled album took iTunes by storm late last year. Katy Perry's Prism sold 286,000 copies in its first week.
NFL
Pentagon Fires Back At Critics
Police Militarization
The Pentagon on Tuesday mounted a vigorous defense of the surplus military equipment transfer program that has drawn criticism following the police crackdown in Ferguson, Missouri.
The Defense Department's chief spokesman, John Kirby, told reporters during a briefing that the 1033 program was not "some program run amok," despite images of heavily armored officers in Ferguson that have fed concerns about the "militarization" of local law enforcement.
Congress created the program in 1990 to allow police departments to apply for free transfers of excess military equipment as local authorities sought to beef up security to combat drug gangs. Transfers have increased as the Pentagon wound down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
While a House proposal seeks to boost accountability and limit the kind of equipment that the military can give to local law enforcement, Kirby said there were already safeguards in place and that the Pentagon had the authority to stop future transfers to police departments.
Police Militarization
Mormon H8
Hallmark
Greeting cards celebrating same-sex marriages turned up at the Brigham Young University bookstore Tuesday.
Placed by Hallmark, the cards reading "Mr. and Mr." and "Mrs. and Mrs." were quickly removed when bookstore staff discovered them after photos surfaced online. The outside vendor stocked the shelves without realizing the school wouldn't want to sell the cards marketed to buyers celebrating unions between two brides and two grooms, BYU spokeswoman Carri Jenkins said.
It wasn't immediately clear when they were placed, but Jenkins said they weren't up long. BYU staffers have spoken with the company about leaving similar cards off university store shelves in the future. The school doesn't plan on ending its contract with Hallmark.
Asked why they were removed, Jenkins referenced the BYU honor code. It states that while being attracted to people of the same gender doesn't violate the honor code, acting on those feelings is a violation.
Hallmark
Texass
'Affluenza'
The father of the Texas teenager who killed four people while driving drunk and claimed his family's wealth was partially to blame has been arrested for impersonating a police officer, legal documents showed.
Frederick Anthony Couch was arrested on Tuesday for an incident that occurred on July 28 in the Fort Worth suburb of North Richland Hills.
Couch is the father the then 16-year-old boy who was sentenced to probation for the deadly accident after his lawyers argued the enormous wealth of the youth's family blinded him to responsibilities resulting from his actions. An expert witness for the defense described the boy's condition as "affluenza."
Police said in a statement that officers encountered Couch during a disturbance call. Couch identified himself as a reserve officer with a police department in another Fort Worth area community.
Officers at the scene later determined that Couch was not a police officer and never has been licensed as a police officer in Texas, the statement said.
'Affluenza'
Supernatural Cause of Mental Illness
'Jinn'
It may be common for psychiatric patients who are Muslim to attribute their hallucinations or other symptoms to "jinn," the invisible, devilish creatures in Islamic mythology, researchers in the Netherlands have found.
The findings demonstrate one way in which culture may influence how people perceive their psychotic symptoms, and could help Western psychiatrists better understand patients who have an Islamic background.
Moreover, in today's connected world, patients may fuse the symbols from their own backgrounds with those of other cultures to explain their symptoms, study leader Dr. Jan Dirk Blom, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Groningen, told Live Science.
In Islamic mythology, Jinn, or djinn, are supernatural creatures made of smokeless fire. They are frequently found in Islamic folklore and are mentioned in the Quran, the religious text of Islam. Historically, they are portrayed as menacing creatures that can harm humans, or drive them mad. People in Muslim societies have traditionally seen jinn as the cause of mental illness and neurological diseases, especially epilepsy.
To get a better idea of how commonly Muslim psychiatric patients consider jinn in the course of their diseases, the researchers looked into the scientific literature. They found 105 articles about jinn and their relationship with mental disorders, including 47 case reports. About 66 percent of those reports included a medical diagnosis. Nearly half of the cases involved a person with schizophrenia or a related disorder, while the rest of the patients had mood disorders, epilepsy or obsessive-compulsive disorder.
'Jinn'
Lucrative Contract Up For Bid Again
Grand Canyon
A lucrative contract to operate some of the most iconic lodging and food locations at the Grand Canyon has been reopened for bidding in a process that will bring changes affecting the millions of people who visit the landmark each year.
The contract first went out for bid a year ago. But Grand Canyon Superintendent Dave Uberuaga said the park didn't receive any bids adhering to the conditions called for in the 15-year pact.
The new contract requires that the winning bidder operate food trucks on the South Rim and expand patio dining at the historic El Tovar lodge to accommodate crowds during the busy summer months.
It also calls on the winning bidder to demolish six outdated Maswik South lodge units and replace them with 90 standard rooms and 30 rooms with kitchenettes by 2017. In addition, rooms at the rustic Bright Angel lodge must be upgraded.
Other requirements include eliminating on-site laundry services to conserve water, and instituting a lottery system for the cabins and dorms at Phantom Ranch that sits at the bottom of the canyon and can be reached only by mule, foot or rafting the Colorado River.
Grand Canyon
"The Galloping Ghost of the Java Coast"
USS Houston
Navy divers from the U.S. and Indonesia confirmed that a sunken vessel in the Java Sea is the World War II wreck of the USS Houston, a cruiser sunk by the Japanese that serves as the final resting place for about 700 sailors and Marines, officials announced Monday.
The Japanese sank the Houston during the Battle of Sunda Strait on Feb. 28, 1942. The ship carried 1,068 crewmen, but only 291 sailors and Marines survived both the attack and being prisoners of war. The Houston's commanding officer, Capt. Albert H. Rooks, posthumously received the Medal of Honor for extraordinary heroism.
Assessments conducted in June to determine the condition of the Houston found that hull rivets, a metal plate and unexploded ordnance were removed from the ship. There is also oil actively seeping from the hull.
The Houston was nicknamed the "The Galloping Ghost of the Java Coast." Resting off the west coast of Java, Indonesia, the ship, which remains sovereign property of the United States, is a popular recreational dive site, the Navy said.
USS Houston
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