Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Mark Morford: Don't believe women are endlessly harassed? Watch this (SF Gate)
It's a little surprising someone didn't think of this before. But here it is: hard evidence, irrefutable proof, upwards of 100 undeniable examples revealing just what kinds of casual, routine harassment await any young, "normal" American woman strolling around the city by herself, in a single day.
10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman (YouTube)
Walking alone.
Andrew Tobias: Ebola Update
The Republican agenda these past six years has been to block - and then vote 52 times to repeal - access to affordable health care . . . reject federal dollars to expand Medicaid . . . block investments in infrastructure . . . shut down the government . . . make it harder for people to vote (decried now even by a famously conservative judge who once ruled in their favor) . . . and block the right of women and their doctors to make reproductive health care decisions without government interference and mandated vaginal probes.
But we can change all that Tuesday.
Cezary Jan Strusiewicz, Lillian Sharrow, Alexander Kraft: 4 Horrifying Realities of Working at a Haunted House (Cracked)
If you haven't been to a haunted house recently, you're missing out on something truly unexpected: At some point they actually became scary. This isn't the dangling plastic skeleton and "Jello mold shaped like a brain" shit they put on for the kids. This is an intense form of full-contact live theater intended to make the customer piss their pants (and we mean literally: they have to clean up piss from their floor).
Gavin Edwards: Being Bill Murray (Rolling Stone)
When you're one of the most beloved stars in the world, you can get away with almost anything. So what's that kind of freedom like?
Patrick Collinson: Payday loan brokers regularly raid bank accounts of poor customers (Guardian)
Natwest receives hundreds of complaints daily from vulnerable people who have unexpectedly had money taken from accounts.
Kieron Monks: Are obese crash test dummies the key to preventing road deaths? (CNN)
"Obese people are 78% more likely to die in a crash," says O' Connor. "The reason is the way we get fat. We get fat in our middle range. And we get out of position in a typical seat."
Our Maisie wakes up dancing to Ed Sheeran's "Don't" (YouTube)
"Maisie is asleep in her carseat until the music starts. Once she hears the beat, she springs from sleep into action. Even wiping the sleep out of her eyes becomes a dance move. Maisie is a role model for dancing babies everywhere. There's no sleep for the rhythmic." - Neatorama
My Manager Quits (YouTube)
yea..... My manager quitting his job.... back in '07/'08 I can't remember.
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog
David Bruce's Lulu Storefront
David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
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'
Team Coco
CONAN
Reader Comment
World Series
I'm not a baseball fan - would rather play than watch, and would rather clean my gutters than be short-stop - but tonight's game was amazing. That pitcher, Madison Bumgarner, aka MadBum (I hope I never have one), was amazingly consistent and focused. It was a nail-biter of a game. And that's what made it fun to watch: People excelling at what they do, vs. people phoning it in. The Royals definitely showed up but the Giants dominated.
A few years ago the Giants were in the World Series with the Phillys. I was in Delran, NJ, close enough to my birthplace to appreciate the Home Team passion. We were riding our bikes around where I grew up and hanging with my sister. Went into an Irish pub mere minutes before the first pitch. I wanted so badly to cheer for SF; my husband talked me down. It was probably for the best.
The Giants won the game and a Muni bus was set afire during the "celebration" - I don't get the destruction as part of a celebration - my son had to bike-commute 5 miles out of his way to avoid the insanity. I'm glad he was safe.
I guess my point, a few tangents later, is that we saw history made tonight, from the comfort of our home, and were impressed by the Giants' team skills again.
So can we have official football season now?
Best,
Deborah
Thanks, Deborah!
Thanks to, or because of, trivia, every time Madison Bumgarner's name was mentioned, I wondered if he's related to
James Garner ( born James Scott Bumgarner).
I gotta get a hobby. ; )
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
Still sunny.
Mystery Money
Kentucky
The most mysterious force in Kentucky's pivotal U.S. Senate race is a ghost that dwells in a hole in a wall.
Hunt for the Kentucky Opportunity Coalition, and one finds no grassroots army, no canvassing operation, no office or headquarters at all - just a scuffed U.S. Postal Service box nestled inside a suburban shopping plaza about 10 miles from downtown Louisville.
About the only thing nearby that smacks of politics is an adjacent pop-up Halloween costume store. There, among monsters, ghouls and evil clowns, a vinyl President Barack Obama mask sells for $24.99 - the "scariest one of them all," one shopper mused.
Corporeal or not, the Kentucky Opportunity Coalition has nevertheless capitalized on such anti-Obama sentiment, and the freedom to largely operate with anonymity, to haunt Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes in her increasingly unlikely bid to unseat incumbent Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
About one in every seven of TV ads in Kentucky's Senate race - about 12,000 of the more than 79,000 ads that have aired through Monday - has been sponsored by Kentucky Opportunity Coalition, which operates as a "social welfare" nonprofit organization that, by law, is prohibited from making the influencing of elections its primary purpose.
Kentucky
Viewers Down
Al Jazeera America
The winner and loser of the lawsuit between Al Jazeera America and former Current TV CEO Al Gore is yet to be determined, but ratings comparisons between the two show a clear winner.
After buying Current TV in early 2013, and debuting over the summer that year, Al Jazeera has lost almost half of Current TV's audience.
Current TV's run with progressive news programming lasted from December, 2011 to August, 2013. In that timespan, the network ran programs like "The Young Turks," "Countdown with Keith Olbermann," "The War Room with Jennifer Granholm," "Viewpoint with Eliot Spitzer," and "Joy Behar: Say Anything." Upon being bought by Al Jazeera, Current was in 60 million American homes.
Al Jazeera America was born as the opposite of Current TV, possessing no political point of view and no opinion program in favor of hard news and in-depth reporting. It hired veteran news anchors and reporters from previous networks, including former NBC News anchor John Seigenthaler; former CNN anchors Tony Harris and Ali Velshi; former CNN correspondent Joi Chen; former MSNBC anchor David Shuster; former NBC News White House Correspondent Mike Viqueira, former PBS journalist Ray Suarez, and several other veteran TV news personalities.
Its lineup of journalists hasn't translated to ratings. When comparing Al Jazeera America's ratings to date to Current TV's ratings from December, 2011 to August, 2013, the numbers show significant losses. In total day, AJAM is down 44 percent compared to Current TV; in the 25-54 demo, the channel is down 55 percent. In primetime viewers, AJAM is down 49 percent compared to Current TV; in the primetime demo, down 54 percent.
Al Jazeera America
Final Film May Finally Be Released
Orson Welles
Orson Welles's last film may finally be nearing release after decades as one of cinema's most storied unfinished creations.
The New York Times reported Wednesday that a Los Angeles-based production company, Royal Road Entertainment, has agreed to buy the rights to Welles' largely unseen "The Other Side of the Wind." Producers are planning to unveil the film in time for the centennial anniversary of Welles' birth on May 6.
The semi-autobiographical film is about a movie director, played by John Huston, feuding with Hollywood over an ambitious film. Welles shot the movie in 1971 and spent the rest of his life editing it, before dying in 1985.
Director Peter Bogdanovich, who appears in the film, will help edit the footage, which includes a roughly 45-minute edited print.
Orson Welles
Metallica's Weeklong Residency
Craig Ferguson
With Craig Ferguson's final broadcast as host of The Late Late Show approaching, Metallica have booked a weeklong residency on the program to play him out in style. The band will sit for an interview with the Scottish comedian on November 17th and perform a song on the show every night that week. The group's appearance on the show coincides with the 10-year anniversary reissue of the Metallica documentary Some Kind of Monster, which will come out on November 24th, as well as a Record Store Day vinyl pressing of their new song "Lords of Summer," due out Black Friday.
"What better way to celebrate Craig's awesome tenure at CBS than to come and shake the rafters for a whole week," Lars Ulrich tells Rolling Stone. "Nothing to sell, nothing to promote (except a reissue DVD)...purely hanging at Craig's personal request. Bring it!"
After a decade as host of The Late Late Show, Ferguson announced his decision to step down as host of the program this past April, a few weeks after David Letterman revealed that he would be retiring as host of The Late Show. The Scot's final broadcast will take place on an as yet unspecified date in December. After that, British actor and comedian James Corden will take over the show.
Craig Ferguson
President Vetoes Language-Fluency Changes
Navajo
The president of the nation's largest Indian reservation stood behind a tribal law that requires people seeking the top elected post to be fluent in the Navajo language, dealing what could be a final blow to a candidate who had been criticized for his speaking skills.
The issue of fluency has deeply divided Navajos on and off the vast reservation that, while known internationally for its picturesque rock formations, struggles with high rates of unemployment, poor housing and a lack of electricity and running water.
At stake is the bigger question of how tribal leaders maintain ties to the language. More than half of the Navajo Nation's estimated 300,000 members speak the language, but knowledge of it fades among younger generations.
Navajo President Ben Shelly vetoed legislation Tuesday that would let voters decide whether presidential hopefuls are proficient in the Navajo language, prompting Chris Deschene to cease his campaign. In his veto message, Shelly said the requirements for president should be addressed through a reservation-wide vote, not by tribal lawmakers in the days leading up to the Nov. 4 general election.
"Every society has an obligation to hold on to their traditions," Shelly wrote. "If we lose our language and culture, who are we?"
Navajo
Racial Profiling
Arizona
A U.S. federal judge on Tuesday ordered a controversial Arizona sheriff to undergo the same training as his deputies to prevent racial profiling and unlawful detention in the wake of the lawman's recent comments.
U.S. District Court Judge Murray Snow criticized sheriff Joe Arpaio (R-Pink Panties) during a hearing in Phoenix for telling a reporter he would have no problem conducting an immigration sweep like one performed in the town of Guadalupe in 2008, which was later declared unconstitutional.
The judge ruled in May 2013 that Arpaio, who bills himself as "America's Toughest Sheriff," violated the rights of Latino drivers with his crackdown on illegal immigration and ordered him to stop using race as a factor in law enforcement decisions.
Snow said Arpaio's recent comments undermined his office's efforts to comply with the ruling.
Arizona
Fake News Site
FBI
The FBI has come under fire from media organizations following disclosures that it created a fake news website to track down a suspect in a bomb threat case.
Documents revealed the FBI created a fake Associated Press news article that appeared to be in the Seattle Times, to trick the suspect to install malware that would reveal his location.
The incident dates back to 2007, but the documents surfaced this week after a security research for the American Civil Liberties Union tweeted a link to the case file on Monday.
"The FBI impersonating the press is just as irresponsible as the CIA running fake immunization programs. Completely unacceptable," said ACLU researcher Christopher Soghoian in revealing the documents.
The Associated Press and Seattle Times also reacted angrily to the news.
FBI
Impersonated Repairmen
FBI
Federal agents turned off Internet access to three luxury villas used by Asian gamblers at a Las Vegas hotel then impersonated repair technicians to surreptitiously get inside and collect evidence in an investigation of online sports betting, according to defense lawyers challenging the practice.
The FBI employed the ruse against the recommendation of an assistant U.S. attorney, Kimberly Frayn, according to lawyers for four of eight men charged in the case. They filed a motion late Tuesday in federal court in Las Vegas to dismiss evidence in the case. According to a conversation recorded by an investigator for the hotel, the prosecutor told FBI agents "it was a consent issue," the lawyers said.
Under U.S. law, a person whose property is inspected generally must waive his constitutional protections against unreasonable searches unless authorities obtain a warrant. Evidence collected improperly is not supposed to be used at trial.
The FBI in Las Vegas referred questions about the practice to the U.S. Attorney's Office there. Natalie Collins, a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden, said prosecutors were aware of the allegations being made by defense lawyers but declined to comment, citing a pending trial.
FBI
International Survey
Modern Life
Italians and Americans score worst when it comes to correctly assessing basic facts of modern life, such as what proportion of the population are immigrants or Muslims and what percentage of teenage girls get pregnant.
Swedes and Germans do best, although even they consistently get things wrong, according to a survey of 14 industrialized countries released on Wednesday.
The analysis by market research organization Ipsos MORI shows how far perceptions stray from reality across a range of issues as people struggle to get a precise handle on aspects of society that are seen as risks or worries.
Levels of immigration -- a hot-button topic in many developed countries -- are overestimated everywhere but the United States veers further from reality than most, with an average guess that 32 percent of the population are immigrants when the reality is 13 percent.
Americans think 24 percent of girls aged 15 to 19 give birth each year, when the real figure is just 3 percent, and even the sensible Swedes are badly out, believing the annual teenage pregnancy rate is 8 percent compared to the actual 0.7 percent.
Modern Life
In Memory
Elizabeth Norment
Actress Elizabeth Norment, who portrayed the secretary to Kevin Spacey's hard-driving politico Frank Underwood in the Netflix series "House of Cards," has died. She was 61 years old.
Norment appeared as a guest in many other TV shows, including "Doogie Howser, MD," 'ER', "Party of Five" and "Law & Order." She also appeared in the movie comedies "The Woman in Red" and "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion."
She was born in Washington, lived in Japan and Germany while growing up, and graduated from Yale University.
Elizabeth Norment
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
