Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Presidential Pickup Lines
Paul Krugman's Blog: Levels And Changes (New York Times)
Now, in my experience IBD [Investor's Business Daily] is a consistent source of misinformation. What's sad is that people pay money for this, believing that reading the thing will make them smarter, when in fact it actively makes them stupider.
Paul Krugman's Blog: Our Blogs, Ourselves (New York Times)
If some famous economists seem to be showing themselves intellectually naked, it's not really a change in their wardrobe, it's the fact that it's easier than it used to be for little boys to get a word in.
Froma Harrop: "Class Warfare: Q&A" (Creators Syndicate)
Demands to let taxes rise for Americans topping the income charts have led to charges of "class warfare" by the usual Republican suspects. To move the conversation forward, here are some questions and answers: …
Andrew Tobias: Herman Cain, Warren Buffett
Good sense from Andrew Tobias.
'Occupy the Tundra': One woman's lonely vigil in bush Alaska (LA Times Blogs)
She is standing alone with her dogs with an early frost on the grass, staking her claim as part of the 99%. "Occupy the Tundra," says the sign she holds, hand-lettered on an old piece of cardboard.
Jim Hightower: Knee jerks defend Wall Street
If you had any doubt about the seriousness of the "Occupy Wall Street" movement that is springing up from America's grassroots like hardy wildflowers, just note the frantic fulminations against it by assorted Wall Street toadies.
John Champion: 6 Inspiring Tales of Friendship in the Middle of Brutal Wars (Cracked)
As awful as war is, it's still being fought by human beings, and they don't just check their humanity at the door. Sometimes, right in the heat of battle, sympathy and simple human kindness breaks through. Spontaneous truces occur when groups of soldiers decide they just can't take it anymore.
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."
wrote:
answered:
Reader Suggestsion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Baron Dave
Occupy MN for Sally
Marty:
Humph, that what I get for not looking up a Trivia answer. Oh well. I got Homer's middle name right.
Since you're posting pics of Occupy Wall Street, you may appreciate this, from Anti-Columbus Day at Occupy MN last week:
For Sally:
Baron Dave's radio report on Indigenous People's Day at Occupy MN, made into a movie for jaded geeks.
Baron Dave's YouTube Channel with several more Occupy MN videos, among others.
Reader Suggestion
Kinzua Viaduct
Hey Marty,
Thought you'd like this article about the Kinzua Viaduct.
Railroad bridge named Eighth Wonder of the World when built in 1882 opens as sky walkway over valley 301-feet below
Your old pal,
Janice
Thanks, Janice!
Reader Review
GOP Debate
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Thick marine layer kept away the sun most of the afternoon.
Arrested While Defending Occupy Wall Street Protesters
Naomi Wolf
Author and activist Naomi Wolf was among about a dozen people arrested on Tuesday night outside of a Huffington Post event in New York.
A group of approximately 50 demonstrators from Occupy Wall Street showed up at the event--held at Skylight Studios in Manhattan--to protest in front of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who was being honored as a "game changer" by Arianna Huffington's site.
Wolf, who contributes regularly to the Huffington Post , was a guest at the event. According to Gothamist, the modern feminist icon challenged a police officer's claim that the protesters needed a permit to use a megaphone.
IAccording to Gothamist, the protesters left the event to march to the 1st Precinct, where Wolf had been taken by police. She was released from police custody early Wednesday.
Naomi Wolf
Alaska Woman Takes Stand
'Occupy the Tundra'
When Alaskan Diane McEachern heard about the Occupy Wall Street protests, she thought, "How can I get in on that?"
Soon after, she marched onto the tundra near her home, where she was pictured with a homemade cardboard sign bearing her protest message: "Occupy the Tundra."
Little did McEachern, 52, know then that her effort - and the photo of herself bundled up against the cold and holding her sign, with her three rescue dogs by her side - would become one of the more famous images of the Occupy Wall Street protest movement.
"It felt good to stand out there," she said Monday from her home in Bethel, a town of several thousand people that's not connected to any major road system.
"I think that Wall Street symbolizes the way our entire economic system affects every part of the United States from a small tundra community to a thriving metropolis like New York," she said.
'Occupy the Tundra'
Writing Harper's Column
Larry McMurtry
Larry McMurtry's newest job is not writing books but writing about them.
The author of "Lonesome Dove," ''Terms of Endearment" and other novels is stepping in for an indefinite period as the "New Books" columnist for Harper's Magazine.
The publication announced Wednesday that McMurtry's first column will appear in the issue that arrives next week.
McMurtry is filling in for "White Teeth" novelist Zadie Smith, who is on temporary leave.
Larry McMurtry
Yale Library Acquires 'Lost' Script
Eugene O'Neill
A recently discovered manuscript by Eugene O'Neill that's based on a suicide attempt by the playwright has been acquired by a library at Yale University.
All copies of the one-act play, "Exorcism," were assumed to be lost until a researcher sifting through another writer's papers discovered the manuscript earlier this year.
O'Neill, who died in 1953, is the only American playwright to receive the Nobel Prize for literature.
The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale purchased the script for an undisclosed amount. Curator Louise Bernard says the play set in 1912 intimates the overwhelming role that suicide would take in O'Neill's personal life.
Eugene O'Neill
Charity Restaurant Opens
Jon Bon Jovi
In three decades as one of the world's biggest rock stars, Jon Bon Jovi has eaten in some of the world's best restaurants, savoring the best food the planet has to offer.
Yet there's no place he'd rather have dinner than The Soul Kitchen, a "pay-what-you-can" restaurant he and his wife Dorothea established in a former auto body shop near the Red Bank train station in central New Jersey.
The restaurant provides gourmet-quality meals to the hungry while enabling them to volunteer on community projects in return without the stigma of visiting a soup kitchen. Paying customers are encouraged to leave whatever they want in the envelopes on each table, where the menus never list a price.
The restaurant is the latest undertaking by the New Jersey rocker's Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation, which has built 260 homes for low-income residents in recent years.
Jon Bon Jovi
Building 7 Homes In Joplin
"Extreme Makeover: Home Edition"
The effort to rebuild Joplin is getting a boost from a popular TV show.
ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" is building a dream home for not just one family, but for seven. The makeover work was beginning Wednesday and is expected to take a week. It is another effort by volunteers to reshape the southwest Missouri community devastated by a tornado on May 22 that killed 162 people and destroyed or damaged more than 7,500 homes.
The TV program has been coordinating with Joplin officials for several months. Organizers say the goal is to provide a foundation that will spur additional rebuilding.
Show host Ty Pennington will give the call on Oct. 26 to "move that bus" and reveal the new homes to the families for the first time.
"Extreme Makeover: Home Edition"
Baby News
Andrew Nicolas Hermann
"Law and Order: SVU" actress Mariska Hargitay and her husband have adopted a baby boy just six months after doing the same with a baby girl, the actress told People Magazine on Wednesday.
Hargitay, 47, who married theater actor Peter Hermann, 44, in August 2004, adopted Andrew Nicolas after he was born over the summer. The couple adopted Amaya Josephine in April this year, and they have a 5 year-old biological son named August.
The actress told People she was surprised at the speed of the second adoption, but said it "felt right."
Andrew Nicolas Hermann
Hollywood Groups Unite
Iranian Filmmakers
Hollywood organizations and entertainment unions are uniting in support of filmmakers jailed in Iran.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, American Society of Cinematographers, International Documentary Association and American Cinema Editors released statements Wednesday condemning the arrests of six independent filmmakers in Iran last month. The groups were joined by guilds representing directors, writers, actors and producers.
Earlier this week, an Iranian actress was sentenced to one year in prison and 90 lashes for her role in a film critical of the Iranian government.
Hollywood filmmaking groups urged Iranian officials "to remember that these are artists, not political enemies, (and) they have, as all free people do, the right to hold and express opinions."
Iranian Filmmakers
Probation Revoked
Lindsay Lohan
An angry Los Angeles judge on Wednesday revoked the probation for Lindsay Lohan because she failed to perform community service, and admonished the troubled actress for failing to treat her sentence seriously.
At a progress hearing for Lohan, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner called her previous ruling of probation on a theft charge a "gift" and told Lohan, "there's something called looking a gift horse in the mouth."
Lohan's attorney Shawn Chapman Holley tried in vain to argue that her client had complied substantially with other portions of Judge Sautner's sentence, including psychological counseling and attendance in a program for shoplifters, and should be allowed to continue uninterrupted on probation.
But Judge Sautner said she was troubled that Lohan had "blown off" the court's order to work at a downtown Los Angeles women's detention center, and instead was reassigned by city officials to work in a Red Cross program without court approval.
Lindsay Lohan
Provides Inspiration
'The Town'
Accused New York thieves have been using a Hollywood-born strategy to rob dozens of small stores, telling police they were inspired by the 2010 movie "The Town" to splash bleach on the crime scenes, according to the police.
In what were dubbed the "splash-and-dash" robberies, the suspects would throw bleach over cash machines and cash drawers in a bid to erase their DNA evidence, the New York Police Department said.
They targeted dozens of corner stores, discount stores and pizzerias, netting $217,000 in the past year, police said.
"(The suspects) told detectives that they were inspired by the Ben Affleck movie 'The Town' in which the protagonists used bleach to cover their tracks," police said in a statement.
'The Town'
Sued By Hairdresser
Heather Mills
Paul McCartney's ex-wife Heather Mills has been sued by a Los Angeles hairdresser who claims the former reality TV show contestant failed to pay as much as $80,000 as she pursued stardom in Hollywood.
David Miramontes, who works under the name David Paul, claims in the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday that he worked for Mills starting in 2005 and quit in 2008 after she repeatedly failed to pay him, saying she had no money until her divorce from the former Beatle was finalized.
Mills and McCartney ended their acrimonious marriage in 2008 and in December of that year, Mills began avoiding Miramontes. He prepared an invoice for $80,000, but it has yet to be paid. Miramontes charged as much as $5,000 per haircut for an out of office appointment, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit seeks payment plus punitive damages, court costs and attorney fees. Neither Mills, who resides in Great Britain and in New York, nor a representative for her could be reached late Tuesday.
Heather Mills
Cast Nuted During Outting
"Celebrity Apprentice 5"
The full cast of NBC's "Celebrity Apprentice 5" outed themselves in New York Tuesday, as the new assemblage of competitors hit the mean streets to test their sandwich-making skills in what appeared to be a one of the show's competitions, Reality Blurred reported.
From the looks of things, this season's cast should prove quite dynamic, featuring a healthy collection of reality-TV stars, eye candy and -- quite possibly, if we all cross our fingers -- a showdown between small-screen Italian divas Victoria Gotti and Teresa Guidice.
According to the site, the new cast will also consist of former "American Idol" favorite Clay Aiken, race-car driver Marco Andretti, radio and TV personality Adam Carolla, "Wayne's World" muse Tia Carrere, former bodybuilder and "Incredible Hulk" star Lou Ferrigno, "Shake Your Love" chanteuse Debbie Gibson, former late-night host Arsenio Hall, magician/rumor debunker Penn Jillette, "Making the Band" vet Aubrey O'Day, "American Chopper" dad Paul Teutal, models Cheryl Tiegs and Patricia Velasquez, former Miss Universe Dayana Mendoza, Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider, foul-mouthed funny lady Lisa Lampanelli and George Takei, known lovingly worldwide as Sulu from "Star Trek."
"Celebrity Apprentice 5"
Eyes Texas Megachurch
Beck
Glenn Beck, who is planning to open a Texas office/studio for his fledgling Web TV operation, is eyeing a former megachurch as its home.
According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Beck is considering the Gateway Church property near Dallas for his Mercury Radio Arts production company. The 60,774-square-foot building includes a 16,873-square-foot auditorium that seats 1,700 people, which would be used to tape Beck's web TV show. Gateway recently relocated to a larger campus in the area, opening the door for Beck.
The paper reported that a "handful" of supportive local residents attended a neighborhood meeting to hear more about Beck's potential move.
According to the zoning proposal, an eight-foot fence "would surround the facility, and select parking lots would be secured with gates." Joe Kerry, Beck's chief of staff, told the paper they would have security on site.
Beck
53 Days
Atlanta
An Atlanta woman says she was mistakenly imprisoned for 53 days because police confused her for someone else with the same first name.
Teresa Culpepper says she called police to report that her truck had been stolen in August. But when they showed up at her home, they arrested her for aggravated assault committed by another Teresa.
"All she has is the same first name. The only descriptions that match are 'Teresa' and 'black female,'" Culpepper's attorney, Ashleigh Merchant told The Lookout. Culpepper, who is 47, didn't have the same address, birth date, height, or weight as the Teresa who was supposed to be arrested.
Merchant says Culpepper, who was legitimately convicted of a misdemeanor in the 90s but otherwise has no criminal record, lives in a rough neighborhood where police are frequently on patrol. She and her family were unable to post the $12,000 bond to get her out of jail, so she wasn't released until her public defender found the victim of the assault and brought him to the court to say Culpepper was not the "Teresa" he had accused.
Atlanta
Cuddles With Mrs. Bachmann
Wayne Newton
Everyone who's seen Vegas Vacation knows what a charmer Wayne Newton can be, and last night he channeled his charisma toward Michele Bachmann (R-Crazy Eyes), the Republican presidential candidate and representative from Minnesota.
In a post-debate interview on Fox News' On The Record with Greta Van Susteren, Newton and Bachmann hit it off.
"I will support this beautiful lady as long as she wants to go," Newton said, as he repeatedly caressed Bachmann's arm.
At the end of the clip, Newton moves in for a kiss, which Bachmann adroitly dodges so that it lands on her forehead.
Wayne Newton
Archaeologists Find Viking Burial Site
Scotland
Archaeologists said Tuesday they have discovered the remains of a Viking chief buried with his boat, ax, sword and spear on a remote Scottish peninsula - one of the most significant Norse finds ever uncovered in Britain.
The 16-foot-long (5-meter-long) grave is the first intact site of its kind to have been discovered on mainland Britain and is believed to be more than 1,000 years old. Much of the wooden boat and the Viking bones have rotted away, but scraps of wood and hundreds of metal rivets that held the vessel together remain.
The archeologists also unearthed a shield boss - a circular piece of metal attached to the middle of a shield - and a bronze ring-pin buried with the Viking. They also found a knife, a whetstone to sharpen tools, and Viking pottery on the site on the Ardnamurchan peninsula on Scotland's west coast.
The boat and its contents were discovered by a team of archeologists from Manchester and Leicester universities working with the cultural heritage organization Archaeology Scotland and consultants CFA Archaeology.
Scotland
In Memory
Norman Corwin
Norman Corwin, the award-winning writer and director of golden-age radio plays who was also Oscar nominated for his work in films has died of natural causes at home in Los Angeles. He was 101.
Corwin died peacefully on Tuesday, according to a statement from the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, where Corwin had been a writer-in-residence.
Known as the "radio's poet laureate," Corwin, who also enjoyed success as a journalist, playwright and producer, wrote and narrated a host of legendary radio programs which were often aired by the CBS Radio Network without commercial sponsors.
Author Ray Bradbury called Corwin "the best radio writer-producer-director in the whole history of radio," telling the Los Angeles Times in 2002 "There was no one like him. He dominated the field."
During radio's heyday, Corwin, who was born in Boston, presented now-classic works such as "The Plot to Overthrow Christmas" and "They Fly Through the Air," about the Spanish Civil War.
Among his more famous pieces was "On a Note of Triumph," which celebrated the Allied victory in Europe. Tens of millions of people listened at a time when radio was the country's chief news and entertainment outlet.
Corwin won a host of awards, from Emmys and Golden Globes to Peabody Medals and a duPont-Columbia honor.
In 1957 he was nominated for an Oscar for his adapted screenplay of "Lust for Life," the story of Vincent van Gogh and his friendship with Paul Gauguin, which starred Kirk Douglas andAnthony Quinn.
Other screenplays included "The Story of Ruth, "The Blue Veil" and "Madison Avenue."
Corwin hosted a 13-episode CBC television series in 1972 entitled "Norman Corwin Presents."
In the 1990s, Corwin returned to his radio roots, producing plays for National Public Radio.
He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1993, and as late as 2001 NPR aired half a dozen new Corwin plays in a series "More by Corwin."
In 2006, a documentary about Corwin, "A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin," won an Academy Award as best documentary short.
He is survived by two children, a son and a daughter.
Norman Corwin
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
