Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Princess Vader goes to Disneyland
This little girl reportedly visited Disneyland with her parents in her adorable princess Vader Hallowe'en costume, taking it for a test drive. Rsharich, the redditor who posted the pic, doesn't mention how the day went, but I assume it was, you know, epic.
The Truth About GOP Hero Ayn Rand (YouTube)
During her lifetime, Rand advocated "the virtue of selfishness," declared altruism to be "evil," opposed Medicare and all forms of government support for the middle-class and the poor, and condemned Christianity for advocating love and compassion for the less fortunate.
Mark Morford: Love in the time of bitumen (SF Gate)
In my yoga studies, in the philosophy spanning back thousands of years to the Upanishads, in the teachings that are fundamental to yoga and life as I know them, comes this wonderful piece of wisdom and advice I try to carry through to my classes - and also to what I read, ingest, consume, drink and live and kiss and drive, et al - every single day. It goes like this: Whatever we contemplate, whatever we place our attention on, that we become.
Andrew Tobias: Yo Mama
"When you look at the Ryan budget, tax hikes for the rich can't be on the table, but we can put on the table Social Security, we can put on the table Medicare, we can put on the table Medicaid. So we're really saying: we can't touch the rich, we can't touch the elite, but seniors and those that are most vulnerable - they're up for discussion. That's why this election is not about Obama. It's about yo mama." - Al Sharpton, MSNBC
Richard L. Hasen: Wrong Number (Slate)
The crucial Ohio voting battle you haven't heard about.
Christian Stork: The Complete Idiot's Guide To Iran And The Bomb, Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Facts (whowhatwhy.com)
Given how easily the American public and media were manipulated into believing that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, this moment should give us some pause. The disastrous effects of that $3 Trillion Dollar War are still being felt across the world. For those not interested in seeing a much-bloodier, costlier sequel, I offer this introductory course in intellectual self-defense.
Russ Baker: 100 Percent Of Charitable Donations Kept By Telemarketer (whowhatwhy.com)
Are you good with 100 percent of the money you give for disease research being kept by the telemarketer who called you? Didn't think so.
Jason Gilbert: "Kindle Paperwhite Review: Amazon's New Kindle Has A Screen That Shines" (Huffington Post)
A luminescent e-reader screen is one of those new technologies, like HDTV or the bidet, that spoils you so badly, and so thoroughly changes your preferences and expectations, you won't want to go back to a device without it once you've tried.
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
David Bruce's Lulu Storefront
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog
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."
"Doug's Most Shared Facebook Post" Today
wrote:
answered:
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
BadtotheboneBob
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore - Pt. 3
'Nature's Graffiti'
Now we get to why it's called "Pictured Rocks"... See the ET in the brown patch?
The colors in the cliffs are created by the large amounts of minerals in the rock... Streaks on the face of the cliffs come from the groundwater leaching out of the rock (500 million year old Cambrian period sandstone). With it come iron (red), manganese (black-white), limonite (yellow-brown), copper (pink-green) and other minerals. As the water evaporates, these minerals leave streaks of color...
Some of the cliffs reach 200 feet in height. Those trees aren't miniatures... While the National Lakeshore extends for 42 miles, the cliffs area is about 15 miles long. The Lakeshore does have a few sandy beach areas and a large area of dunes further east. The boat tour is about 26 miles long from Munising to Spray Falls and back...
The water changes color from bright blue to green with the change in sun light on this particular mostly cloudy day. The rock colors intensity does, too. The vegetation clinging to the cliff face amazes me. Particularly when I know it must endure the northerly gales off Lake Superior...
See the Viking ship in the upper right?
The boat tour begins and ends with the Grand Island East Channel Light. One of the few remaining examples of wooden lighthouses on the Great Lakes. It was established in 1868 and discontinued in 1913 when replaced by range lights in Munising that lead vessels safely into harbor. It is privately owned and not open to the public...
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore - Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
Wild beauty on the Lake Superior shore...
photos by BadtotheboneBob
Thanks, B2tbBob!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
A bit cooler, but way too warm for the season.
"God Letter" To Be Auctioned
Albert Einstein
A letter handwritten by physicist Albert Einstein a year before his death, expressing his views on religion, will be sold on eBay this month with an opening bid of $3 million, an auction agency said on Tuesday.
Known as the "God Letter," the correspondence offers insights into the private thoughts about religion, God and tribalism of one of the world's most brilliant minds.
Einstein wrote the letter in German on January 3, 1954, on Princeton University letterhead to philosopher Erik Gutkind after he read Gutkind's book "Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt."
"...The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation, no matter how subtle, can (for me) change this," wrote the German-born scientist, who in 1921 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.
The anonymous seller of the letter, which will be auctioned with the original envelope, stamp and postmark, purchased it from Bloomsbury Auctions in London in 2008 for $404,000.
Albert Einstein
Museum Taking Charge Of House
Edgar Allan Poe
The city of Baltimore has turned over control of the Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum to a nearby railroad museum as part of a plan to make the attraction self-sufficient.
Over the next year, the B&O Railroad Museum will work with a newly established nonprofit on the plan to make it happen. After that, the nonprofit will take over operation.
The city had been spending $85,000 a year to keep the house open but cut off funding in 2010. The house is closed and is expected to reopen next year.
The city's spending panel approved the deal Wednesday and will pay the railroad museum $180,000. The new nonprofit envisions an annual budget between $200,000 and $300,000.
Edgar Allan Poe
Boyhood Home
Johnny Cash
Country stars Willie Nelson, Dierks Bentley, the Civil Wars and Rosanne Cash join forces this week in a fund-raising concert for the restoration of the boyhood home of late legend Johnny Cash.
Cash's humble home in the tiny town of Dyess, Arkansas, was acquired in 2011 by Arkansas State University, which is spearheading the drive to repair and furnish the 1930s era house where the "Ring of Fire" singer grew up with his six brothers and sisters.
Cash's family moved to rural Dyess in 1936 because they were given 20 acres of land under President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal plan to boost agriculture.
Arkansas State University is working to save the Cash house, and other historic buildings in Dyess, as heritage sites and to develop them as tourist destinations.
Johnny Cash
Visits Oregon
Louise Fletcher
Louise Fletcher says she was so cruel in her role as Nurse Ratched she can't bear to watch "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" any more.
The 78-year-old actress tells the Salem (Ore.) Statesman-Journal that she "can't watch movies that are inhumane." She says it's something that comes with age.
Salem is home to the Oregon State Hospital, where "Cuckoo's Nest" was filmed in 1975.
The institution has been rebuilt in recent years. Fletcher is returning this weekend for the opening of its Museum of Mental Health.
The movie is based on the novel by Oregon writer Ken Kesey. It centers on the struggle between Nurse Ratched and Jack Nicholson's character, Randall McMurphy, who eventually gets a lobotomy for leading a rebellion among the prisoners on his ward.
Louise Fletcher
Orchestra Renamed
Bronislaw Huberman Philharmonic
The Polish city of Czestochowa is renaming its orchestra to honor a native son: Bronislaw Huberman, a Polish-Jewish violin virtuoso who helped save hundreds of German Jews from the Holocaust and who founded the precursor to what is now the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
An inaugural concert by the Bronislaw Huberman Philharmonic on Wednesday evening comes amid a broader rediscovery of the importance that Poland's large Jewish community had on Polish culturebefore it was wiped out in the Holocaust.
The newly rebuilt and modernized philharmonic hall sits on the site of a former synagogue that was destroyed by German Nazis during their wartime occupation of Poland.
Czestochowa is home to Poland's most important Catholic pilgrimage site, Jasna Gora. Before World War II it was also home to 40,000 Jews, almost all of whom died.
Bronislaw Huberman Philharmonic
Invited To Join Grand Ole Opry
Darius Rucker
Darius Rucker's conversion to country is now complete: He's joining the Grand Ole Opry.
Rucker performed on Tuesday night's Opry and received a visit from unannounced guest Brad Paisley, who surprised him with the invitation.
The singer rose to fame as the frontman for South Carolina rockers Hootie & The Blowfish but began to pursue his lifelong passion forcountry music a few years ago. He's had a multiplatinum, award-winning run since and will release his third country album early next year.
The 46-year-old is the third black performer to hold Opry membership, joining Country Music Hall of Fame members DeFord Bailey and Charley Pride.
Darius Rucker
BBC In Spotlight Over Sex Claims
Jimmy Savile
To millions of Britons, Jimmy Savile was a flamboyant cigar-chomping disc jockey, children's TV presenter and dedicated charity fundraiser, instantly recognizable from his long blonde hair, eccentric clothing and flashy jeweler.
But claims Savile, who died last year and was knighted by the queen for his charitable work, had sexually abused schoolgirls while working at the BBC have shattered his reputation and raised suggestions the state-funded broadcaster covered up allegations against one of its top entertainers.
Savile was a household name in Britain, firstly as a pioneering BBC radio DJ in the 1960s before later hosting prime-time pop and children's TV shows, with his catchphrases becoming part of the national lexicon.
When he died in October last year aged 84, his gold coffin went on public display and he was lauded as a "national treasure" who had raised millions of pounds for good causes.
The victims' allegations include claims from one woman that she saw rock star Gary Glitter, who was convicted of abusing two girls in Vietnam in 2006, having sex with an underage girl in Savile's BBC dressing room while Savile abused another girl.
Jimmy Savile
NYC Seeks Central Park Footage
Ken Burns
Lawyers for New York City are seeking access to footage gathered by documentary filmmaker Ken Burns in research for his movie about the five men exonerated in the Central Park jogger rape case.
The city has issued a subpoena for the outtakes and other materials from the film "The Central Park Five," The New York Times reported in Wednesday's newspaper.
The request is connected to a $250 million federal lawsuit filed by the men against the city nine years ago, after their sentences were vacated. They were exonerated after a man already jailed for other crimes confessed to the attack, and DNA evidence supported his claim.
At the time of their arrest, the five suspects - then teens - were held for more than 24 hours before they confessed. All later recanted, and they claim the confessions were coerced. City lawyer Celeste Koeleveld has said the city stands by the decisions made by the detectives and prosecutors in bringing the case against the five men.
Ken Burns
New Zealand Bars
Mike Tyson
New Zealand canceled a visa for Mike Tyson on Wednesday because of his rape conviction, saying it reversed its earlier approval because a charity that would have benefited from his appearance says it wants nothing to do with the former heavyweight boxing champion.
Tyson had said he had been looking forward to meeting New Zealand's indigenous Maori people, the inspiration for his notorious facial tattoo. But now his whole Downunder speaking tour, scheduled for next month, is threatening to fall apart: Australian immigration authorities said they've yet to decide whether to let him in.
Tyson's 1992 rape conviction would normally prevent his entry in New Zealand and could be grounds for denial in Australia as well. New Zealand's denial came days after Prime Minister John Key spoke out against the visit.
Tyson was to speak at a November event in Auckland, the "Day of the Champions," which is being promoted by Sydney agency Markson Sparks. On Wednesday the agency continued to promote tickets for appearances in New Zealand and five major Australian cities.
New Zealand's Associate Immigration Minister Kate Wilkinson said she initially granted entry because a children's health charity would get some of the proceeds from Tyson's speech. She said in a statement her decision was "a finely balanced call" but that the charity that would have benefited, the Life Education Trust, withdrew its support Tuesday.
Mike Tyson
Settles Lawsuit Over 'Band Hero'
No Doubt
No Doubt has settled its lawsuit against gaming giant Activision over the use of band members' likenesses in the video game "Band Hero," court records state.
The settlement was reached Monday, a few weeks before trial was set to begin on the band's claims of fraud, violation of publicity rights, and breach of contract.
Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
The band sued Activision Publishing Inc. over a feature in the game that allows players to perform the songs of other artists using the likenesses of No Doubt front woman Gwen Stefani and other band members.
No Doubt's lawsuit was filed after the release of "Band Hero" and claimed it turned the group into a "virtual karaoke circus act."
No Doubt
'Biblical Families'
Chick-fil-A
Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy voiced his support for "Biblical families" in one of his first interviews since his earlier comments caused controversy regarding gay marriage.
Cathy told Atlanta TV station WXIA in an interview released Wednesday that families are important to "those of us who are concerned about being able to hang on to our heritage."
He added "we support Biblical families, and they've always been a part of that."
Cathy made the comments over the weekend at an event at his family's Georgia ranch.
Chick-fil-A
Secret Cold War Tests
St. Louis
Doris Spates was a baby when her father died inexplicably in 1955. She has watched four siblings die of cancer, and she survived cervical cancer.
After learning that the Army conducted secret chemical testing in her impoverished St. Louis neighborhood at the height of the Cold War, she wonders if her own government is to blame.
In the mid-1950s, and again a decade later, the Army used motorized blowers atop a low-income housing high-rise, at schools and from the backs of station wagons to send a potentially dangerous compound into the already-hazy air in predominantly black areas of St. Louis.
Local officials were told at the time that the government was testing a smoke screen that could shield St. Louis from aerial observation in case the Russians attacked.
But in 1994, the government said the tests were part of a biological weapons program and St. Louis was chosen because it bore some resemblance to Russian cities that the U.S. might attack. The material being sprayed was zinc cadmium sulfide, a fine fluorescent powder.
St. Louis
'Terrorist' Doctors
Akin in 2008
Missouri Rep. Todd Akin-who sparked a firestorm of criticism with his comments about "legitimate rape" in August-gave a speech on the House floor in 2008 in which he called those who perform abortions "terrorists" and claimed some do so on "women who are not actually pregnant."
"It is no big surprise that we fight the terrorists because they are fundamentally un-American, and yet we have terrorists in our own culture called abortionists," Akin said in the Jan. 22, 2008, speech. "One of the good pieces of news why we are winning this war is because there are not enough heartless doctors being graduated from medical schools. There is a real shortage of abortionists.
"Who wants to be at the very bottom of the food chain of medical profession?" Akin continued. "And what sort of places do these bottom-of-the-food-chain doctors work in? Places that are really a pit. You find that along with the culture of death go all kinds of other law-breaking: not following good sanitary procedure, giving abortions to women who are not actually pregnant, cheating on taxes, all these kinds of things, misuse of anesthetics so that people die or almost die."
"Akin's allegation of doctors performing abortions on non-pregnant women is particularly puzzling," Mollie Reilly wrote on the Huffington Post, "since, by definition, an abortion cannot be performed if there is no pregnancy to terminate."
Akin in 2008
Earth Overdue A Flip
Magnetic Field
The discovery by NASA rover Curiosity of evidence that water once flowed on Mars - the most Earth-like planet in the solar system - should intensify interest in what the future could hold for mankind.
The only thing stopping Earth having a lifeless environment like Mars is the magnetic field that shields us from deadly solar radiation and helps some animals migrate, and it may be a lot more fragile and febrile than one might think.
Scientists say earth's magnetic field is weakening and could all but disappear in as little as 500 years as a precursor to flipping upside down.
It has happened before - the geological record suggests the magnetic field has reversed every 250,000 years, meaning that, with the last event 800,000 years ago, another would seem to be overdue.
"Magnetic north has migrated more than 1,500 kilometres over the past century," said Conall Mac Niocaill, an earth scientist at Oxford University. "In the past 150 years, the strength of the magnetic field has lessened by 10 percent, which could indicate a reversal is on the cards."
Magnetic Field
Bell Factory Resumes Production
Bevin Bros.
The 180-year-old New England company that made the little bell that rings every time an angel gets its wings in the Christmas classic "It's a Wonderful Life" has resumed production in time for the holidays, four months after its 19th-century factory burned down.
Over the past few weeks, employees working at a temporary factory set up in a rented warehouse across the street from Bevin Bros. Manufacturing Co. began filling customer orders, including the annual one from the Salvation Army for the steel and brass bells it uses during its kettle drives.
The resumption of bellmaking, announced with fanfare Wednesday by Matthew Bevin, the sixth-generation owner of Bevin Bros., was welcomed by many in Belltown USA, as this town of 13,000 people 20 miles from Hartford has long called itself. Bevin Bros. is the last bell manufacturer in a town that had more than 30 of them generations ago.
Bevin Bros. Manufacturing was started in 1832 by four brothers. It made sleigh bells, school bells, wedding bells, doorbells, ship's bells. Bevin Bros. also claims to have invented the bicycle bell. For many years, the New York Stock Exchange opened and closed with a Bevin bell. And the USS Maine, destroyed by an explosion in 1898 that triggered the Spanish-American War, had a bell made by Bevin.
Bevin Bros.
In Memory
Yvonne Mounsey
Yvonne Mounsey, who danced major roles for George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins with the New York City Ballet in the 1950s and went on to found an influential West Coast ballet school, has died. She was 93.
Mounsey died of cancer on Saturday at her Los Angeles home, said her daughter, Allegra Clegg of Los Angeles.
Mounsey danced with the City Ballet from 1948 to 1958, rising from soloist to principal dancer.
Mounsey was born Yvonne Louise Leibbrandt in 1919 on a South African dairy farm outside of Pretoria. She began taking ballet lessons at 7 with a former member of Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova's company.
She later studied and danced in England and performed around the world with various companies, including the famed Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo.
She was with another company, the Original Ballet Russe, when Balanchine saw her in New York in 1940. He created a part for her in his 1941 "Balustrade."
After her New York City Ballet years, she helped co-found a ballet company in her native South Africa.
In 1966, Mounsey moved to Los Angeles and opened the Westside School of Ballet, teaching the neoclassical Balanchine technique, which has become a signature style of ballet in America. The Santa Monica school became influential and its students have included former City Ballet star Jock Soto and current company principal dancers Andrew Veyette and Tiler Peck. The school also counts Joy Womack, the first American woman to dance with the Bolshoi Ballet, among the world-class dancers it has trained.
Mounsey was married three times, to Duncan Mounsey, Albert Hall Hughey and Kelvin Clegg. In addition to her daughter, she is survived by two stepsons, a grandson and a sister.
Yvonne Mounsey
In Memory
Frank Wilson
Motown record producer and songwriter Frank Wilson, who worked with the Supremes, the Temptations and Marvin Gaye, has died in Southern California at 71.
Daughter Tracey Stein tells the Los Angeles Times that Wilson died of lung infection complications on Sept. 27 in a hospital in Duarte.
Wilson, who later became a minister, wrote or co-wrote the hits "Love Child" for Diana Ross and the Supremes, "Chained" for Marvin Gaye and "All I Need" for the Temptations.
After Eddie Kendricks left the Temptations, Wilson produced his 1973 hit "Keep On Truckin' (Part 1)."
Wilson also helped write "You've Made Me So Very Happy," a 1967 Top 40 single for Motown's Brenda Holloway that soon became an even bigger hit for Blood, Sweat and Tears.
Frank Wilson
In Memory
'Big Jim' Sullivan
Although his birth name was James Tomkins, the nickname suited him better. A benevolent, bear-like figure, whose snow-white beard of later years gave him an avuncular air, Sullivan was an notable personality on the anonymous session scene of the 1960s.
While most hired hands were known only to producers and forensic fans who pored over album credits, his face was familiar and his name dropped by the rising stars of London's nascent rock scene. "Big Jim was a big influence," noted Deep Purple's Ritchie Blackmore, who had been taught guitar by Sullivan. "He'd only been playing about two years, but he was just about the best guitarist in England."
His talents were in demand by Lulu, Tom Jones and The Small Faces, and led to a huge catalogue of hits . Averaging three sessions a day at his most prolific, he brought his light touch and adaptable technique to cuts as disparate as Frankie Vaughan's Tower Of Strength (1960), Marty Wilde's Rubber Ball (1961), The Small Faces' Itchycoo Park (1967) and, not least, Shout (1964), the breakout hit of a 14-year-old Lulu ("This little girl was screaming and shouting with incredible dexterity," he recalls of that recording. "She made my hair curl!")
Only a pre-Zeppelin Jimmy Page had such a lofty reputation on the session circuit (and, indeed, sometimes the songs were credited to the wrong Jim).
James George Tomkins was born on February 14 1941 at Uxbridge, Middlesex. He wasted little time "doing teenage things", but instead began learning guitar at 14 and within two years had achieved sufficient mastery of the instrument to survive the trial-by-fire of shows at Army bases.
In 1959 he joined Marty Wilde's backing band, The Wildcats, on a weekly wage of £30, and played a 1960 tour backing Eddie Cochran that opened the ears of Britain's musical youth. Soon enough, the pop Svengali Jack Good had lured him into regular session work.
After leaving Jones's line-up in 1974, Sullivan formed the Retreat record label with the producer Derek Lawrence and relocated to America, where the pair produced albums by such mid-level acts as the glam-metallers Angel. He took work where he found it, whether with a post-Grease Olivia Newton-John or the James Last Orchestra ("He paid lots of dosh").
Heart troubles and diabetes curtailed Sullivan's performing career ("the two working together knacker me"), but his humour endured. From his home in Surrey he enjoyed swimming and collecting guitars, and always appreciated that he had spent his life "with my hobby as my profession".
"Big Jim" Sullivan is survived by his wife Norma.
'Big Jim' Sullivan
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