Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Tanya Gold: Dr Brooke Magnanti says she enjoyed her life as Belle de Jour (guardian.co.uk)
Please don't let this distort the grim reality of prostitution.
STEVEN PINKER: Malcolm Gladwell, Eclectic Detective (nytimes.com)
Have you ever wondered why there are so many kinds of mustard but only one kind of ketchup? Or what Cézanne did before painting his first significant works in his 50s? Have you hungered for the story behind the Veg-O-Matic, star of the frenetic late-night TV ads? Or wanted to know where Led Zeppelin got the riff in "Whole Lotta Love"?
Mark Morford: Sex tape tips from Carrie Prejean (sfgate.com)
Hi, I made a sex tape! Eight, actually! And you can too! Praise the lord!
Laura Potter: My body & soul (guardian.co.uk)
Will Self, writer, 48, on surviving a car crash, admiring drugs from afar, and living life intensely.
Aditya Chakrabortty: "Brain food: Rewriting the history books" (guardian.co.uk)
David Kynaston's new book, 'Family Britain,' represents a big shift in popular history.
George Varga: Hurricane Katrina Serves as Inspiration for Switchfoot's New CD (creators.com)
Few multimillion-selling rock bands can match Switchfoot when it comes to having no public image to speak of and maintaining a low profile. But that is exactly the way this veteran San Diego band - whose seventh album, "Hello Hurricane," is released Tuesday - likes it.
David Medsker: A Chat with Kaci Battaglia (bullz-eye.com)
"Sometimes when I meet people and I say, "Hey, my single is 'Crazy Possessive,' they are like, 'Okay, nice to meet you. Bye.'"
Interview by Laura Barnett: "Portrait of the artist: Diana Krall, jazz musician" (guardian.co.uk)
'I often take my children on tour. I order them room service, wash their clothes in the sink - then do my show'.'
Stephen Moss: "Michael Winner: 'The only purpose of life is to avoid boredom'" (guardian.co.uk)
Film director Michael Winner on cheating death, the awfulness of restaurants - and how he can't stand boring people.
JAMES KNIGHT: MICHAEL WINNER (viceland.com)
Michael Winner is the funny-looking man from those "Calm down, dear!" insurance Name another Brit filmmaker who cut pictures with Orson Welles, Marlon Brando, Burt Lancaster, Robert Duvall, Robert Mitchum and Sophia Loren. Struggling? Try adding to that the fact he basically created the careers of Oliver Reed and Charles Bronson for good measure.
David Bruce: "Teaching Problem-Solving: A Fun Activity" (lulu.com)
Free download. This little pamphlet contains a number of problem-solving scenarios that teachers can use to teach their students how to solve problems. These scenarios are humorous as well as thought provoking. Feel free to make and give away as many copies as you want to for educational purposes. Feel free to distribute this little pamphlet as a pdf file.
Go Betty Go: You're Your Worst Enemy (youtube.com)
The Weekly Poll
New Question
The 'Trials vs Tribunals' Edition
John Dickerson hosted a roundtable discussion of Eric Holder's decision to prosecute 5 Guantanamo Bay detainees in New York with Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton with National Security Network and Hamilton Peterson with Keep America Safe.
Unplugged: Pros and Cons Of 9/11 Trials In New York - CBS News Video
Do you support or oppose the Administration's decision to try the accused terrorism perpetrators in New York City?
Send your response to
Results Tuesday
answered:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Cooler, but still sunny.
Lucky me - got a jury duty summons for the week before Christmas.
Hollywood's Most Overpaid
Will Ferrell
Funnyman Will Ferrell and British actor Ewan McGregor on Wednesday headed a Forbes.com list of Hollywood's most overpaid stars when looking at the financial returns of their movies.
Billy Bob Thornton, Tom Cruise and Jim Carrey also made the top 10 tally of actors who cost more to hire than they appear to be worth at box offices.
Ferrell took first place largely due to the flop of his summer 2009 movie "Land of the Lost", which Forbes said cost an estimated $100 million to make but earned just $65 million at box offices worldwide for movie studio Universal Pictures.
Using a formula that calculated the actor's estimated salary on each film, including DVD and TV sales, compared to the film's revenues from theater box offices and elsewhere, Forbes.com said that for every dollar Ferrell was paid, his films earned an average $3.29.
Will Ferrell
Savannah Marks 100th Birthday
Johnny Mercer
Jeepers creepers! Savannah's got a Johnny Mercer statue for tourists' peepers.
The Savannah-born songwriter was honored in his hometown Wednesday with the unveiling of his lifesize likeness cast in bronze. About 150 onlookers turned out to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the celebrated lyricist, who gave a poetic grace and a slangy tang to songs such as "Moon River" and "Jeepers Creepers."
The statue in historic Savannah's Ellis Square gives Mercer an honor ordinarily reserved for the 18th-century founders and Revolutionary War heroes of Georgia's oldest city.
The songwriter's grandson, Jim Corwin of Los Angeles, said Mercer likely would have been embarrassed by all the fuss.
Johnny Mercer
Sets Limits On TVs
California
California regulators gave final approval Wednesday to the first mandatory U.S. energy curbs on television sets, a growing but often overlooked power drain that accounts for 10 percent of home electric bills in the state.
Supporters say the measure will save California consumers at least $8 billion over 10 years in electricity costs and enough energy to power 864,000 homes. California, which often leads the way in U.S. environmental initiatives, already boasts the lowest per-capita rate of electricity use in the United States.
The rules require all new TVs sold in California to consume 33 percent less energy than current sets starting with the 2011 model year, and 50 percent less starting with 2013 models.
The regulatory move was sparked in part by the surge in popularity of larger flat-screen televisions that gobble up on average at least 40 percent more electricity than the old-style cathode ray tube sets.
California
2009 Person of the Year
Roger Moore
Former James Bond actor Roger Moore has been named 2009 Person of the Year by the UK branch of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) pressure group for his campaign against foie gras.
The 82-year-old star joined the campaign three years ago when he narrated a PETA documentary depicting the treatment of birds used in the production of foie gras, which PETA said was banned in the United Kingdom although selling it was not.
Moore also wrote to members of parliament to enlist their support in getting foie gras off the shelves, penned columns in national newspapers and magazines on the issue and coined the phrase "torture in a tin."
Foie gras, a popular product of French cuisine, is made from the liver of a duck or goose which has typically been force-fed corn mash.
Roger Moore
Jewelry Line
Pitt & Jolie
Hollywood power couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are trying their hand at something new to dazzle their fans -- designing a jewelry collection.
The "Protector" collection, designed for luxury British jeweler Asprey, is a range of gold jewelry and silver accessories that features snakes, considered a symbol of protection and admired by Jolie.
All net proceeds from the jewelry will be donated to the charity Education Partnership for Children of Conflict (EPCC), which Jolie co-founded in 2006 to raise money for educating child victims of war, conflict and natural disasters.
Prices start at $525 for a silver spoon with a snaked-shaped handle. The line also including pendants, bracelets, rings and an egg cup.
Pitt & Jolie
Cronkite Award
Brian Williams
NBC newsman Brian Williams said Wednesday he's not sure if Walter Cronkite would have succeeded in the age of cable news, blogs and Twitter.
"I am convinced that had he come along today, I don't think he would have cracked through. I think there's too much noise, too much to cut through for a modest man from Missouri," Williams told an audience in Phoenix. "But God and history combined to give him to us right when we needed him."
Williams spoke at a luncheon, where he was given the Cronkite Award from Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism. The ceremony included videotaped congratulatory messages from Jon Stewart and fellow New Jersey native, Bruce Springsteen.
Williams did not address talk of cable TV operator Comcast Corp. preparing to buy a controlling stake in NBC Universal. He instead struck an optimistic tone, saying NBC News had more viewers than it did a year ago.
Brian Williams
Sued By Law Firm
Rod Stewart
A prominent entertainment law firm is suing Rod Stewart for $3.3 million in legal fees it claims he owes.
Glaser, Weil, Fink, Jacobs, Howard & Shapiro filed the case Tuesday in Los Angeles. The firm has numerous high-profile clients and recently won judgments for architect Frank Gehry and television host Bob Barker.
The lawsuit claims Stewart owes for work on three cases, including one involving the singer's cancellation of a December 2000 show in Las Vegas. A federal jury decided Stewart owed the Rio hotel-casino $2 million for canceling the show.
The firm also represented the Rock and Rock Hall of Famer in a trademark infringement case and a lawsuit filed by a concert promoter.
Rod Stewart
Couple Pleads Guilty
'Wife Swap'
A New York couple whose lavish lifestyle was featured on an episode of the ABC reality show "Wife Swap" have pleaded guilty to federal charges in Buffalo of hiding money from the government.
Sixty-two-year-old Ralph Guastaferro (gwah-stah-FEHR'-oh) faces up to nearly five years in prison for laundering $1.2 million for a Canadian telemarketing scheme through two business checking accounts he opened. His 55-year-old wife Karen could be sentenced to as many as 16 months for paying employees of the couple's glass-tinting business off the books.
Authorities were apparently investigating the Amherst, N.Y., couple before they appeared in 2008 on "Wife Swap." The show featured them giving their daughter presents every day. The couple's lawyers say the family is now suffering financially.
'Wife Swap'
Charges Dropped
Perez Hilton
Black Eyed Peas manager Liborio Molina apologized to celebrity blogger Perez Hilton as part of an agreement allowing assault charges against him to be dropped, lawyers said Wednesday.
Molina allegedly punched Hilton from behind outside a Toronto nightclub after the openly gay blogger called Black Eyed Peas' leader will.i.am a "faggot," a slur for homosexuals.
Molina has also agreed not to contact Hilton except through his lawyer, not to carry any weapons for 12 months and not to come within 100 meters (100 yards) of the night club where the dispute took place.
He was also required to donate $500 Canadian (US$476) to charity.
Perez Hilton
Wins Rock-Paper-Scissors Title
'Captain America'
A Michigan man has won the world Rock Paper Scissors championship in Toronto. Tim Conrad clinched the title after five hours of play and nine matches at the Steam Whistle Brewery on Saturday night.
Facing off against his best friend in the first all-American final in championship history, Conrad beat Tom Butkin with paper covering rock.
Organizers say Conrad dressed as Captain America during the competition to honor his home country.
Conrad takes home $7,000 in prize money.
'Captain America'
Oopsy
Door-To-Door Peddler
A 19-year-old man was jailed on a drug charge after he allegedly went door-to-door trying to sell marijuana. A Brownsville police spokesman said Anthony Carrazco's alleged scheme went awry when he knocked on a police officer's apartment door.
Spokesman Jimmy Manrrique said the episode happened Thursday downtown near the University of Texas-Texas Southmost College campus. He said Carrazco appeared to be intoxicated and allegedly had three ounces of marijuana with him that he tried to sell door-to-door. Finally, Manrrique knocked the off-duty police officer's door. The officer "said he would be right back and went to get his badge and handcuffs."
Manrrique said the officer, whose identity was withheld, also found a handgun hidden on the man. Carrazco remains in a Cameron County jail with bonds totaling $10,000. No attorney was listed in his booking record.
Door-To-Door Peddler
Prime-Time Nielsens
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Co. for Nov. 9-15. Listings include the week's ranking, with viewership for the week and season-to-date rankings in parentheses. An "X" in parentheses denotes a one-time-only presentation.
1. (2) "NBC Sunday Night Football: New England at Indianapolis," NBC, 22.39 million viewers.
2. (1) "NCIS," CBS, 20.96 million viewers.
3. (3) "Dancing With the Stars," ABC, 17.62 million viewers.
4. (7) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 17.38 million viewers.
5. (X) "CMA Awards," ABC, 17.18 million viewers.
6. (11) "Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick," NBC, 17.02 million viewers.
7. (5) "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 16.23 million viewers.
8. (11) "Dancing With the Stars Results," ABC, 16.23 million viewers.
9. (5) "The Mentalist," CBS, 16.17 million viewers.
10. (3) "Grey's Anatomy," ABC, 14.87 million viewers.
11. (9) "Desperate Housewives," ABC, 14.72 million viewers.
12. (18) "CSI: New York," CBS, 14.51 million viewers.
13. (11) "Two And a Half Men," CBS, 14.44 million viewers.
14. (15) "CSI: Miami," CBS, 14.38 million viewers.
15. (18) "The Good Wife," CBS, 13.35 million viewers.
16. (7) "House," Fox, 13.31 million viewers.
17. (16) "60 Minutes," CBS, 13.08 million viewers.
18. (22) "Survivor: Samoa," CBS, 12.94 million viewers.
19. (16) "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 12.8 million viewers.
20. (11) "Criminal Minds," CBS, 12.77 million viewers.
Ratings
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