Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Mark Morford: The wine-lover's guide to the apocalypse (SF Gate)
OMG, you guys! What if you woke up one morning and walked outside and, oh my God, everyone was completely gone?
Froma Harrop: Can We Break the China Habit? (Creators Syndicate)
It's been tough watching fellow shoppers fill their carts with Chinese imports as the People's Republic stomps on American interests and values. At WalMart, Bed Bath & Beyond and other big chains, it's hard to find goods NOT-made-in-China. Lamps, popcorn makers, kitty scratch boards. Cuisinart toasters and Emeril cookware. Made in China.
Jim Hightower: OBAMA BRINGS CORPORATE POWERS INSIDE
Of all the groups in America that need the President of the U.S. on their side, you'd think the last to win a pledge of support would be the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Frank Newport: Four in 10 Americans Believe in Strict Creationism (Gallup)
Belief in evolutionary origins of humans slowly rising, however
STANLEY FISH: We're All Conservatives Now (New York Times)
Academics from the left and right blame each other for the state of higher education, but they're in agreement more than they realize.
DAVID BROOKS: The Arduous Community (New York Times)
A visit with a teacher of Torah study groups and classes in Jewish thought sheds light on how this country neglects the promise of adult education.
Sam Leith: Grant Morrison, The Invisibles and the comics that put novels in the shade?(Guardian)
The Glasgow lad has cracked America with his exhilaratingly strange, puckish tales, despite having been abducted by aliens.
Michael Roth: Where Does Genius Come From? (Huffington Post)
Robinson … makes the important point that although these heroes of art and science knew their stuff, none of them became overspecialized. In other words, they had cultural breadth, which to varying degrees helped them avoid the trap of mere expertise. The best ideas, he notes, come from versatility as well as focus.
JOHN EDWARD HASSE: Man of Many Music Careers (Wall Street Journal)
At 85, Gunther Schuller remains a musical Renaissance man and vocal champion of the art.
Julien Temple: "The Kinks: They really got me" (Guardian)
I used to skive off school just to watch the Kinks drinking in a pub. So what did I learn from making a film about my heroes?
Interview by Laura Barnett: Another view on Gauguin: Maker of Myth (Guardian)
Julian Mills, director of Tahiti Tourisme, thinks Gauguin's paintings capture the intense colour and spiritual essence of the islands, despite the seedy depiction of women.
Susan King: "Classic Hollywood: For holiday cheer, check out these '30s and '40s comedies" (Los Angeles Times)
'Horse Feathers,' 'It Happened One Night,' 'It's a Gift,' 'Easy Living' and 'Ball of Fire' are a nice counterpoint to the traditional holiday movie fare.
David Bruce has 39 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $39 you can buy 9,750 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," and "Maximum Cool."
The Weekly Poll
The Weekly Poll returns December 28th with a 'Year in Review' sorta Poll. Until then, I wish you all a Merry Christmas
(Can I say that? Is it OK?... Sure, why not...)
BadToTheBoneBob
wrote:
answered:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Suggestions
Michelle in AZ
BadtotheboneBob
Bad News for Creationists
Hot on the heels of finding arsenic-loving life-forms,
NASA astronomers have uncovered amino acids-the fundamental foundation for life-in a place where they shouldn't be. The acids-precursors of proteins-have been unexpectedly found inside fragments of previously superheated meteorites that landed in northern Sudan 2008, a new study says... The discovery also "provides additional support for the theory that life's ingredients were delivered to the Earth by asteroids" (National Geographic)
Life Ingredients Found in Superhot Meteorites-A First
~ BadtotheboneBob
Thanks, B2tbBob!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still more rain. Sigh.
Julie Andrews, Dolly Parton & More
Lifetime Grammys
British actress Julie Andrews, country icon Dolly Parton, jazz drummer Roy Haynes, and punk pioneers the Ramones will receive Grammy Awards for lifetime achievement next year, organizers said on Wednesday.
Recipients also include the Juilliard String Quartet, folk revivalists the Kingston Trio, and 101-year-old gospel legend George Beverly Shea.
They will receive their statuettes at an event in Los Angeles on February 12, a day before the 53rd annual Grammy Awards ceremony is held.
With the exception of the Ramones, all the lifetime honorees have won competitive Grammys. The lifetime awards will also be posthumous for most of the founding members of the Ramones and the Kingston Trio. Two of the original members of the Juilliard String Quartet, formed in 1946, are still alive.
Lifetime Grammys
Crossing Wins Protected Status
Abbey Road
The most famous pedestrian crossing in popular music, outside Abbey Road Studios in north London, was designated a site of national importance by the British government on Wednesday.
Beatles fans from around the world flock to the road to pose for photographs imitating the picture on the "Abbey Road" album cover which shows Paul, John, George and Ringo strolling over the crossing.
John Penrose, Minister for Tourism, declared the crossing a Grade II listed site on the advice of national preservation body English Heritage.
This means the crossing can be altered but only with the approval of the local authorities which would make a decision based on the site's historic significance, function and condition.
Abbey Road
Midseason Changes
CBS
Prime-time leader CBS is tweaking its schedule to bring midseason shows aboard.
Joining the CBS lineup is spinoff series "Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior," which will debut Feb. 16. Other newcomers are the comedy "Mad Love," debuting Feb. 21, and the spy drama "Chaos" starting April 1.
As part of the shuffle, the Tom Selleck police drama "Blue Bloods" will move to 10 p.m. ET Wednesday for four weeks beginning Jan. 19, then return to its 10 p.m. ET Friday home in February.
"Rules of Engagement," now airing Monday, will pair with sitcom sibling "The Big Bang Theory" on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. ET starting Feb. 24. It's replacing "(Bleep) My Dad Says" with William Shatner, which will wrap for the season.
"The Defenders," starring Jim Belushi and Jerry O'Connell, will end its season run with a shift to 8 p.m. ET Friday starting Feb. 4. CBS didn't announce whether it or the Shatner comedy will be renewed for next year.
CBS
Enters The English Language
"Wikileaks"
It happened to Xerox and more recently to Google, and now "wikileaks" has joined the list of proper names that are common enough to enter the English language as their own word. Skip related content
Texas-based Global Language Monitor on Tuesday said the website WikiLeaks, which has publicly released thousands of confidential U.S. government documents, has been referred to by so many people that it has met the criteria of reach, depth and breadth to be considered its own word.
"Wikileaks joins a number of new media and high technology companies whose names and functions are being incorporated into the language," said Paul JJ Payack, who heads Global Language Monitor (GLM). "These include Google, Twitter and the 'friending' function of Facebook."
GLM's research shows the word first appearing in global media in 2006. It has now been cited more than 300 million times. The group's standards include a minimum of 25,000 citations in English-speaking media.
Payack said that as a word, wikileaks is spelled without the capitalized "W" or "L", but when referring to the website, the spelling remains WikiLeaks. It is similar to when Google is used as a verb, as in "googled," or searched, for a subject.
"Wikileaks"
Le Monde's 'Man of the Year'
Julian Assange
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been named "Man of the Year" by France's Le Monde newspaper, one of the five publications to cooperate with the whistleblowing website on its its latest release of leaked documents.
The newspaper names Assange in a weekly supplement magazine due to appear on Friday.
Visitors to the newspaper's website voted in favour of Assange with 56 percent backing him for the honour, compared to 22 percent for jailed Chinese dissident and Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo and 6.9 percent for American Facebook President Mark Zuckerberg.
Julian Assange
MTV College Network's 'Man of the Year'
Robert Gates
You know the 1960s are a long time ago when a TV network targeting college students names the civilian head of the military as its Man of the Year, but that's exactly what mtvU did on Wednesday.
The 24-hour offshoot of the MTV lifestyle cable network has picked Defense Secretary Robert Gates as its inaugural Man of the Year. A committee of mtvU staff also named Nicki Minaj, a rookie rapper with fluorescent hair, as Woman of the Year.
"It is somewhat counter-intuitive," MTV General Manager Stephen Friedman said of Gates. "But when you look at what he's done, especially this year ... he's really a role model as a public servant who has avoided the partisan rhetoric."
Gates, a former CIA operative who was recruited by the spy agency while studying at Indiana University, was named defense secretary in 2006 by Republican President George W. Bush. He retained the job after Democratic President Barack Obama took office in 2009.
Robert Gates
Jury Duty
Steve Martin
Leave it to Steve Martin to turn jury duty into performance art.
Tweeting over the last couple of days, the stand-up comedian and movie star has regaled his 380,000-plus followers on Twitter with observations inspired by the legal process unfolding before him.
Using his Twitter name @SteveMartinToGo, the comedian, a prospective juror, at 12:10 p.m. Monday tweeted: "REPORT FROM JURY DUTY: defendant looks like a murderer. GUILTY. Waiting for opening remarks."
Steve Martin
Settles Lawsuit Over Hiring Practices
Lucasfilm
Hollywood animation studio Lucasfilm Ltd on Tuesday settled civil charges brought by antitrust regulators that it and rival Pixar Animation teamed up to curb competition for each other's workers.
"The Department of Justice announced today that it has reached a settlement with Lucasfilm Ltd," the department said in a statement.
California-based Lucasfilm and Pixar had been accused of hatching an agreement that "eliminated important forms of competition to attract highly skilled employees and, overall, significantly diminished competition to the detriment of affected employees."
Pixar was not named in the charges because the subsidiary of Walt Disney Company had settled similar charges in September, along with Adobe Systems, Apple, Google, Intel and Intuit Inc, the statement said.
Lucasfilm and Pixar had allegedly agreed never to "cold call each other's employees" and to "notify each other when making an offer to an employee of the other company."
Lucasfilm
Bail Set For Stalker
Uma Thurman
Uma Thurman's stalker has a chance at getting out of jail while he awaits trial on charges of trying to contact her again.
Jack Jordan's lawyers said it's unclear whether he can post the $250,000 cash bail or $500,000 bond a Manhattan judge set Wednesday. Jordan had been held without bail since his latest arrest last month at his family's home in North Potomac, Md.
The former psychiatric patient was told not to try to contact the Academy Award-winning actress for five years after his 2008 stalking and harassment conviction. But prosecutors say he called her again on Oct. 29 and Oct. 30.
He has pleaded not guilty to charges including stalking and criminal contempt of court. Prosecutors say the 39-year-old told police the calls were drunken mistakes.
Uma Thurman
No Reagan Memorials
Berlin
A dispute over whether Berlin should honor late President Ronald Reagan for his 1987 speech urging the Soviet Union to tear down the Berlin Wall has divided the German capital.
Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg and other conservative leaders have criticized the local center-left Berlin government for its refusal to commemorate Reagan's 100th birthday in February.
Reagan has remained a controversial figure in Berlin, a left-leaning city. There are no memorials to Reagan in Berlin.
By contrast, U.S. President John F. Kennedy enjoys a towering reputation with a square, school and museum named after him. Kennedy visited West Berlin in 1963 and made his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech.
Berlin
Death In Store For One
Fantastic Four
The Fantastic Four - superheroes whose creation nearly 50 years ago helped usher in the Silver Age of comics for Marvel - is about to become a trio.
Marvel Comics said Wednesday that a member of the foursome - Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch and the Thing - will die in issue No. 587 next month, a change that the company said will ripple across the Marvel Universe like never before.
But who will die? That's a secret protected with more might than the Incredible Hulk and Sentry possess, but executive editor Tom Brevoort, who oversees the comic book, says plenty of clues have been offered during the course of writer Jonathan Hickman's run, including the current "Three" story line.
Readers will find out for themselves when "Fantastic Four" No. 587 is released in January, though it'll be wrapped in a black polybag designed to keep snoops from finding out and spilling the news.
Fantastic Four
New York's Met Says Painting Authenti
Velazquez
Experts at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art have determined that a 1624 portrait previously attributed to a follower of the Spanish painter Velazquez was done by the master himself.
The museum said the portrait of King Philip IV, which went on display on Tuesday, is authentic, reversing a 1973 finding that it had been done by an assistant to Velazquez.
The experts reached their conclusion after removing paint and varnish that had had been added to the damaged canvas over the years, the museum said.
The Met had downgraded the picture, determining it was likely done by an assistant or follower studying under Velazquez in his workshop, the Met said, confirming a story first reported in the New York Times on Tuesday.
Velazquez
Give Girl New Ear
Special Effects
Elise Lutz never let her friends see what was left of her ear.
She'd carefully style her long hair into a one-sided ponytail, or swelter under a swim cap for hours at meets, to cover the molten lump from a severe burn as a toddler in her native China.
But as a teenager, the North Carolina girl expressed her desire to be whole again with a simple request: She really wanted pierced earrings. Thus began a months-long quest for a new right ear, one made of silicone but so lifelike that it even glows a bit in the sun like real skin.
Elise benefited from a little known field called anaplastology, where medical artists make Hollywood-like special effects come alive to fix disfigurements that standard plastic surgery cannot.
Special Effects
Cable Nielsens
Ratings
Rankings for the top 15 programs on cable networks as compiled by the Nielsen Co. for the week of Dec. 13-19. Day and start time (EST) are in parentheses:
1. NFL Football: Baltimore vs. Houston (Monday, 8:30 p.m.), ESPN, 8.92 million homes, 11.92 million viewers.
2. "Pawn Stars" (Monday, 10 p.m.), History, 4.36 million homes, 6.38 million viewers.
3. "The Closer" (Monday, 9 p.m.), TNT, 4.08 million homes, 5.45 million viewers.
4. "American Pickers" (Monday, 9 p.m.), History, 3.66 million homes, 5.41 million viewers.
5. "Burn Notice" (Thursday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.57 million homes, 5.11 million viewers.
6. NFL Football: San Francisco vs. San Diego (Thursday, 8:30 p.m.), NFL Network, 3.36 million homes, 4.89 million viewers.
7. "Burn Notice" (Thursday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.31 million homes, 4.77 million viewers.
8. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 10:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.24 million homes, 4.88 million viewers.
9. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.23 million homes, 4.82 million viewers.
10. "WWE Entertainment" (Monday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.22 million homes, 4.9 million viewers.
11. "WWE Entertainment" (Monday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.21 million homes, 4.91 million viewers.
12. "Storage Wars" (Monday, 10:30 p.m.), History, 3.2 million homes, 4.67 million viewers.
13. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Sunday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.15 million homes, 4.49 million viewers.
14. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.13 million homes, 4.66 million viewers.
15. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Sunday, 9 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3 million homes, 4.14 million viewers.
Ratings
In Memory
Fred Foy
Fred Foy, an announcer best known for his booming, passionate lead-ins to "The Lone Ranger" radio and television series, died Wednesday of natural causes at his Woburn, Mass., home, his daughter said. He was 89.
The show's live lead-in introduced its masked cowboy hero and his trusted horse with the line: "A fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust and a hearty 'Hi-Yo Silver!' ... The Lone Ranger!"
Foy's dramatic introduction and narration, performed in a powerful baritone, were so good it "made many people forget there were others before him," said radio historian Jim Harmon, who called him "perhaps the greatest announcer-narrator in the history of radio drama.
"He pronounced words like no one else ever had - 'SIL-ver,' 'hiss-TOR-ee.' But hearing him, you realized everyone else had been wrong," Harmon wrote in his book, "Radio Mystery and Adventure and Its Appearances in Film, Television and Other Media."
Foy was born in Detroit in 1921, graduated from that city's Eastern High School in 1938 and landed a job on the announcing staff of radio station WXYZ in Detroit in 1942. He was drafted into the Army that year and served in an Armed Forces Radio unit in Cairo during World War II.
Foy returned to WXYZ in 1945, then three years later won the job on "The Lone Ranger," even stepping into the lead role for one radio broadcast when actor Brace Beemer had laryngitis.
Foy also performed on radio series including "The Green Hornet" and "Sgt. Preston of the Yukon."
In 1960, Foy began working for the ABC network. He spent five years as an announcer on the "The Dick Cavett Show" and narrated documentaries. He left ABC in the mid-1980s and later retired to Woburn, Nancy Foy said.
Foy is survived by his wife of 63 years, Frances Foy, their three children and three grandchildren.
Fred Foy
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
