Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Fly the Derpy Skies (NY Times)
Truly, we live in a world in which people feel entitled not just to their own opinions but their own facts.
Mark Morford: Save California! Take fewer showers! (SF Gate)
Listen, I know. Who doesn't love a long, hot shower? Who doesn't feel refreshed and transformed afterwards, as though the gods of effervescent life have rained their benevolent lovespit upon you, and you are now blessed and restored, ready for some coffee? Showers are fantastic.
Mark Morford: What should we do about all the pit bulls? (SF Gate)
Another horrific story, all too familiar: …
Mark Morford: Don't worry, gays are still horrible sinners (SF gate)
Just to be clear, just to make sure you don't get the wrong idea and think that somehow the Catholic church might, just might be shifting ever so slightly in the direction of love and tolerance toward gays, toward supporting alternative family structures, toward progress and light and allowing sexually active heathen liberal sluts (like you!) to walk around the place free of shame and guilt, here is a throng of old, curdled bishops to set you straight.
Hadley Freeman on the horror of eating fish: 'Weird - get this out of my mouth now' (Guardian)
When the lifelong vegetarian decided it was time to widen her diet, fish seemed the obvious choice. But she reckoned without the prawn goo, the squid-chopping and the mackerel-gutting ...
That never happened: the biopic conundrum (Guardian)
The new Hendrix film, Jimi: All Is By My Side, is entertaining - but is it true? Henry Barnes talks to the friends and families of those portrayed in biopics about the line between artistic licence and lies.
Interview by Laura Barnett: "Neil Pearson: why I love Henry Miller" (Guardian)
'You don't just get warts and all with him. You get abscesses and cancers, too.'
David Christopher Bell: 6 Halloween Pranks for Sociopaths With Unlimited Budgets (Cracked)
America's No. 1 holiday celebrating violence and candy is just around the corner, and this year it looks to be better than ever, as the glorious union of art and technology has given us several exciting new ways to decorate our houses for the bitchingest Halloween party in history. Provided you have, like, tons of money. Otherwise you can't afford any of this nonsense.
David Bruce: Wise Up! Food (Athens News)
A waitress once asked American Quaker Rufus Jones what he wanted for breakfast. He replied, "Coffee, boiled egg, toast, and a kind word, please." She quickly brought him the items of food he had ordered, and when he asked for the kind word, she replied, "I wouldn't touch the egg if I were you."
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David Bruce has approximately 50 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
wrote:
took the day off.
is semi-retired.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
David E Suggests
David
Thanks, Dave!
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
One of the kitties decided to start the day with a technicolor greeting, all over the bed, proving once again, that cats will puke on everything you love.
Adds Another $6.5 Million In TV Ads
Super PAC
The Koch brothers-backed super PAC is adding to its TV spending over the final two weeks leading up to the midterm elections, dropping an additional $6.5 million into six competitive U.S. Senate races.
Freedom Partners Action Fund is releasing new TV ads Wednesday in Iowa, Colorado, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Arkansas and Alaska.
Each 30-second ad begins with a few bullet-point criticisms of the Democratic candidate in that particular state ? often delivered by a female voter ? but all of the ads end similarly: linking the Democratic candidate to President Obama.
FPAF spokesman James Davis said in a statement that the ads are premised on the belief that "voters feel a country spinning out of control and see a government that is not acting responsibly."
Super PAC
Treated Differently
Elizabeth Warren
Sen. Elizabeth Warren says she has been treated differently as a woman in Congress.
But unlike Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who opened up about her experience with sexism on Capitol Hill in a recent book, Warren - the first woman ever elected to the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts - won't elaborate.
In an interview with CNN scheduled to air Wednesday, Warren was asked whether she had experienced treatment similar to what Gillibrand described.
"Yes," Warren said.
Would she care to elaborate?
"Nope," she said. "I've said all I'm going to say."
Elizabeth Warren
'IMDb For Cars'
IMCDb
Which episode of Doogie Howser, M.D. featured a Peterbilt 359?
Just this morning, I would've assumed that there was absolutely no way of answering that without watching all of Doogie Howser, M.D. (complication: it's not on Netflix, and the last thing you have time for is another series binge, anyway). You'd also need complete confidence in your ability to identify a Peterbilt 359 through the fuzzy standard definition and big hair of an early-'90s television program.
Thankfully, former Verge editor and all-around great guy Paul Miller brought my attention to IMCDb, which is literally IMDb for cars. You can search both ways, either retrieving a list of all cars found in a particular movie or TV show, or by choosing a model and getting a list of all the programs where it can be found. You also get a still of the actual scene where the vehicle appears.
IMCDb isn't new - it's actually been around since 2004, and they appear to have amassed a shockingly complete list of car cameos. You will be stuck on this site for hours, possibly days.
IMCDb
FX Cancels
'The Bridge'
FX is burning The Bridge. The cable network announced Tuesday that it has canceled the Diane Kruger-Demián Bichir drama after two seasons.
Based on the popular Danish-Swedish series of the same name, the series followed two detectives on opposite sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. (It's been a popular format, also translating to a U.K.-French version.) Both seasons were critically well-received, but FX's The Bridge suffered from a problem not uncommon to many prestige dramas in the ever-growing scripted landscape. It maintained a modest audience, and that critical favor never translated to any awards buzz.
While The Bridge did nab a Peabody in 2014, it never garnered any Emmy or Golden Globe nominations. And the ratings were small compared to FX juggernauts like American Horror Story and Sons of Anarchy. The 3 million viewers who tuned into the 2013 premiere were never duplicated, and much of the sophomore episodes hovered at or below the 1-million mark in live-plus-same day showings. Even as FX (and all networks) shift focus to time-shifting, The Bridge was not performing at the same level as much of its healthy catalog of originals.
FX has a rather large stable at the moment, recently ordering second seasons of freshman Tyrant, The Strain and Emmy darling Fargo - and giving a straight-to-series order to Ryan Murphy's Horror spin-off of sorts, American Crime Story.
On the comedy front, the network also has new seasons planned for Louie, Archer and Married (You're the Worst has also been picked up but is moving to FXX). Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll, The Comedians and Zach Galifianakis vehicle Baskets are also on deck.
'The Bridge'
Stops The Clock
FCC
The companies behind two pending mega mergers with the potential to dramatically alter the U.S. telecom market will have to wait a little while longer to find out if they have the blessing of regulators.
The Federal Communications Commission said in a filing on Wednesday that it is "suspending the pleading cycles" and pausing its self-imposed "180-day informal time clock" deadline for the reviews of Comcast's proposed $45 billion purchase of Time Warner Cable, and of AT&T's $48.5 billion deal to buy DirecTV, both announced earlier this year.
The FCC is stopping the clock in order to decide how they will deal with as issue related to "highly confidential" agreements between the respective pay-TV companies and various content providers, including broadcasters such as CBS and Twenty-First Century Fox, which the regulators had hoped to review. However, the FCC says that "certain third-party programmers" object to the idea of anyone at the FCC, along with any lawyers or outside experts, viewing the confidential content agreements. The content providers apparently fear that operational information in the agreements will somehow fall into the hands of their competitors, while regulators at the FCC argue that access to the agreements is crucial to their ability to review the potential mergers.
Now, the FCC says it will take an indefinite pause to consider and rule on the content providers' objections to regulators and others connected to the FCC gaining access to the documents. The FCC still had roughly 100 days left before hitting its own deadline in both reviews, in which regulators are deciding whether or not the respective deals are in the public's best interest.
FCC
Senator Blasts Fake Facebook Profile
DEA
The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is calling on the Justice Department to condemn the actions of a Drug Enforcement Administration agent who created a fake Facebook profile using a real woman's name and photos without her consent.
In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy blasted the DEA agent, calling his actions "appalling," "unethical" and "potentially dangerous."
"This extraordinary tactic placed this woman and her family at risk," Leahy wrote, "and I expect the Justice Department to reconsider the use of such techniques."
Earlier this month, the Justice Department launched a review of the case after BuzzFeed reported that the faux Facebook profile was created by DEA agent Timothy Sinnigen, using photos taken from Sondra Arquiett, an upstate New York woman. Facebook subsequently removed the profile.
In August, Arquiett filed a lawsuit against Sinnigen in federal court, arguing that he had violated her privacy. At the time, the DEA said creating fake social media accounts "is not a widespread practice among our federal law enforcement agencies."
DEA
Highest Court Orders Candidate Off Ballot
Navajo
A candidate for tribal president on the nation's largest Indian reservation lost another round in a language fluency dispute Wednesday, all but ending his bid for office.
The Navajo Nation's highest court dismissed an appeal from Chris Deschene, making a disqualification order from a lower court final and enforceable.
The lower court had disqualified Deschene from seeking the tribe's top elected post after he declined to demonstrate whether he is fluent in Navajo. Tribal law requires its presidential candidates to be fluent in the language, a defining part of Navajo culture.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more people speak Navajo than any other single American Indian language. More than half of the Navajo Nation's members speak the language.
Deschene refused to take a fluency test developed by the personnel in the tribe's education department. He also declined to answer questions in a deposition or as a witness in the case against him. He said it was not right that he be singled out and tested on his language ability.
Navajo
Faked Coma For 2 Years To Avoid Court
Alan Knight
He might have got away with it if it hadn't been for his supermarket loyalty card.
A British fraudster who pretended to be quadriplegic and sometimes comatose for two years to avoid prosecution has been convicted after police caught him on camera driving and strolling around supermarkets.
Alan Knight of Swansea, Wales, stole more than 40,000 pounds ($64,000) from the bank account of an elderly neighbor with Alzheimer's disease, prosecutors said.
When police began investigating, the 47-year-old Knight claimed to be quadriplegic and so sick he sometimes fell into a coma. He checked himself into a hospital to avoid court appearances, saying he was having seizures.
Warned that the trial would go ahead whether he was present or not, Knight arrived at Swansea Crown Court Tuesday in a wheelchair and neck brace. Faced with the video evidence, he pleaded guilty to 19 counts of forgery, fraud and theft. His wife has not been charged with any offense.
Alan Knight
WWII Ships Found
'Graveyard of the Atlantic'
Two sunken ships from World War II -- a German U-boat and an American merchant vessel -- have been found deep in the ocean off the coast of North Carolina, officials said Tuesday.
The ships clashed in the Battle of the Atlantic in 1942 and were lost for more than seven decades in an area known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic.
Researchers led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries discovered the vessels about 30 miles (48 kilometers) from shore.
The discovery of the German U-boat 576 and the freighter Bluefields offers "a rare window into a historic military battle and the underwater battlefield landscape of WWII," NOAA said.
The ships were found 240 yards apart.
'Graveyard of the Atlantic'
In Memory
Raphael Ravenscroft
Musician Raphael Ravenscroft, who played one of the most famous saxophone solos of all time on Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street," has died. He was 60.
The haunting sax break helped make Rafferty's 1978 song a hit. It reached No. 3 in Britain and No. 2 in the U.S., and still receives considerable airplay.
But in a 2011 radio interview, Ravenscroft said "Baker Street" irritated him - because his solo was flat.
Ravenscroft went on to work with musicians including Pink Floyd, ABBA and Marvin Gaye, and wrote an instruction manual, "The Complete Saxophone Player."
His daughter, artist Scarlett Raven, told the BBC her father was actually "very proud of 'Baker Street' and that it made people feel good."
Raphael Ravenscroft
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