Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Elections Have Consequences (NY Times Column)
The difference that 2012 made shows us the stakes involved in 2016.
Paul Krugman: Academics and Politics (NY Times Blog)
So self-identifying as a Republican now means associating yourself with a party that has moved sharply to the right since 1995. If you like, being a Republican used to mean supporting a party that nominated George H.W. Bush, but now it means supporting a party where a majority of primary voters support Donald Trump or Ted Cruz. Being a Democrat used to mean supporting a party that nominated Bill Clinton; it now means supporting a party likely to nominate, um, Hillary Clinton.
Paul Krugman: Making and Using Models (NY Times Blog)
Larry Summers, Brad DeLong, and yours truly are having a bit of a three-cornered dialogue about the role of models in policy, set off by Larry's initial post about why he believes the Fed is making a mistake in raising rates. We're now in round two - and before I get to the specifics, let me ask: Don't you wish real life were like this?
Scott Burns: A Better Life in 5 Not-so-Easy Pieces (AssetBulder)
Reach for experiences, not things. In fact, we can have the experiences we seek without the financial burden of ownership. Here's a personal example: Over the last 10 years I have chartered sailboats in California, Florida, Maine and several other places. The cost: less than a nice hotel room. The experiences have been great. The total cost has been less than the annual cost of renting a slip for the same boat.
Talented 18-Year-Old Girl Sews Stunning Dresses That Look Straight Out Of A Disney Movie (Bored Panda)
Angela Clayton is an eighteen-year-old costume designer from Long Island, New York. She first started sewing three years ago when she got interested in cosplay; now, Clayton attends events less often, and has evolved to focus more on original designs. Her projects can take as long as 250 hours, and Clayton once used 11 meters (12 yards) of fabric for a costume!
A Few Facts About MAD Magazine (Neatorama)
The CCA prohibited not just sex, drugs, crime, depravity, lust, monsters, and vampires, but also anything that might promote "disrespect for established authority," something that Tales Calculated to Drive You Mad did regularly. There was a loophole, however: the CCA covered only "comic books." So Tales Calculated to Drive You Mad decided on a makeover and MAD "magazine" was born.
Eddie Deezen: Why Did the Beatles Split Up? (Neatorama)
… I guess I could neatly sum up the Beatles break-up by quoting one of my comedy heroes, Mr. Jerry Lewis. After Lewis' break-up with his partner Dean Martin, after ten hugely successful years together, someone told Jerry he loved him and Dean together and asked how the two could possibly have split up. Jerry answered with [this] parable: "A man said 'Those are beautiful shoes you're wearing' to another man and the second man answered back, 'Yes, but I'm the only one who knows how much they hurt'."
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took the day off.
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
David E Suggests
Spain
David
Thanks, Dave!
Reader Suggestion
'Bundy Follower'
Hilarious 'Bundy Follower' Captures A Federal Toilet, Makes Fools Of The Oregon 'Patriots' | If You Only News
Gary in PA
Thanks, Gary!
from Marc Perkel
Patriot Act
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
JESUS 'H' CHRIST!
"THE GREAT PENIS CHASE"
BONUS CLICK: "THE GREAT PENIS CHASE"
FUCK THIS SHIT!
Y'ALL QAEDA! PART TWO.
"I'M CAPTAIN MORONI, FROM UTAH." WOO WOO!
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Well, local TV got it wrong - no rain, just extra sunny and warm.
Four New Elements Added
Periodic Table
Four new elements have been permanently added to the periodic table, after their discoveries were verified by the global chemistry organization that oversees the table. The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) last week announced that elements 113, 115, 117, and 118 have met its criteria for discovery, making them the first elements to be added to the periodic table since 2011. Their addition also completes the seventh row of the periodic table.
All four man-made elements currently have placeholder names, and will be officially named over the next few months. Elements 115, 117, and 118 were discovered by a team of scientists from the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. The Russian-American team had also claimed discovery of element 113, currently known as ununtrium, but IUPAC credited a team from the Riken institute in Japan. Element 113 will therefore be the first element to be named by researchers in Asia.
Discovering superheavy elements has proven difficult because they rapidly decay. But research has revealed slightly longer lifetimes for more recent superheavy elements, raising hopes that scientists may eventually discover the so-called "island of stability" - a group of elements that are both superheavy and stable. Kosuke Morita, who led research on element 113 at Riken, said in a statement
"To scientists, this is of greater value than an Olympic gold medal," Ryoji Noyori, the former president of Riken and Nobel laureate in chemistry, tells The Guardian.
Periodic Table
Ending After Two Seasons
'Meredith Vieira Show'
The Meredith Vieira Show is coming to an end.
The NBCUniversal Domestic Television Distribution show will wrap production after its current second season, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
The news is not surprising. The daytime show was originally commissioned for two seasons. And while it bowed to solid ratings in September 2014, the program quickly shed viewers in a notoriously difficult daytime daypart. The second season premiered to a lackluster 0.8 household rating.
It's far cheaper for local stations to mount their own newscasts than pay high premiums for daytime shows. And after Vieira's show concludes in May, NBC-owned stations in New York (WNBC), Los Angeles (KNBC), South Florida (WTVJ) and Connecticut (WVIT) will launch 4 p.m. newscasts, shifting current 4 p.m. occupant Ellen DeGeneres to 3 p.m. and sliding Steve Harvey to 2 p.m., where Vieira's show currently airs.
'Meredith Vieira Show'
Seeks Dismissal
Sumner Redstone
Media mogul Sumner Redstone has filed a motion seeking the dismissal of a petition filed by his former girlfriend Manuela Herzer to have him examined to see if he was able to make healthcare decisions for himself.
The motion by Redstone, the controlling shareholder of Viacom Inc and CBS Corp, says he need not be examined since his own physician concluded that he was making such decisions by himself.
Sumner Redstone
Magnetic Field
The Sun
As stars age, their rotations slow. By modeling this process, researchers have been able to accurately estimate the age of stars. The dating strategy is called gyrochronology.
New research suggests gyrochronology models require recalibration, as the spin rates of aging stars don't slow as much as previously thought.
Stars expel mass in the form of stellar wind. This wind reacts with the star's surrounding magnetic field, acting as a breaking system on the star's rotational spin. But scientists at the Carnegie Institution for Science say older stars don't slow down quite as much as they thought. Researchers believe the change in deceleration is precipitated by a shift in the behavior of the star's aging magnetic field.
More than just requiring recalibration of models, the paper's results -- published this week in the journal Nature -- suggest Earth's sun may soon experience a change in its magnetic field.
Any shift would be gradual, but scientists are still trying to work out the timescale for a change in our sun's electromagnetic tendencies.
The Sun
Quits Over Lack Of Access
UN Rights Monitor
The UN expert on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories resigned Monday, complaining that Israel had never granted him access to areas he is meant to monitor.
Wibisono, who took up the independent role in June 2014, "expressed deep regret that, throughout his mandate, Israel failed to grant him access to the Occupied Palestinian Territory", it said.
"Unfortunately, my efforts to help improve the lives of Palestinian victims of violations under the Israeli occupation have been frustrated every step of the way," Wibisono said in the statement.
The Indonesian diplomat said he had been assured before taking up the position that he would have access to the occupied Palestinian territories.
By contrast, the Palestinian government had "cooperated fully" with his mandate.
UN Rights Monitor
Artist Charged
Universal Orlando
A recently fired caricature artist at Universal Orlando Resort tried to kill his manager by stabbing him in the head and neck with scissors on New Year's Day, according to a police report released Monday.
Frederick Torres, 33, was charged with attempted first-degree murder for his attack on Glenn Ferguson at the Islands of Adventure park. Both artists draw caricatures at Universal's parks but work for an outside firm, Orlando-based Fasen Artists, Inc.
The general manager of the firm, Anthony Fasen, told detectives he had fired Torres the day before the attack. On New Year's Day, Torres called Fasen, who said he reiterated that Torres was fired. Torres then said he was going to kill Ferguson, according to the police report.
The stabbings cut an artery in Ferguson's neck and caused brain leakage, according to the police report. He underwent surgery and was still hospitalized Monday, but his condition wasn't immediately known. The police report did not list his age, but Orlando Police spokeswoman Michelle Guido said Monday that he is 42.
Witnesses told detectives that they saw Torres chasing Ferguson through Islands of Adventure before the attack Friday morning. A security guard got between Torres and Ferguson, and another guard showed up at the scene. Despite that, Torres lunged at Ferguson and struck him several times. Ferguson tried to get up to run but fell to the ground, according to the police report.
Universal Orlando
Town Denies Detention
Tiverton, , R.I.
A town accused of detaining a third-grader for several hours after another child told adults she had chemicals in her backpack denied the allegations Monday in its first response to a lawsuit filed by her family.
The lawyer for the town of Tiverton, Marc DeSisto, did not explain in his filing what happened during the October 2014 incident or offer an alternate version of events. He would not comment further when reached by phone.
The family's lawyer has said the child's constitutional rights were violated when she was taken off a school bus, searched, put in the back of a police cruiser, taken alone to the police department and questioned, even though it was clear that she was the victim of a false accusation.
The lawsuit says another third-grader had falsely reported to adults that the girl and her friend had chemicals in their backpacks. Police found no dangerous chemicals when they searched the child or her friend.
The school district made automated calls that evening to all elementary school parents falsely stating that two students claimed to have chemicals and threatened to set a school bus on fire, according to the lawsuit.
Tiverton, , R.I.
States Divvy Up Grizzly Hunt
Yellowstone
Wildlife officials have divvied up how many grizzly bears can be killed by hunters in the Yellowstone region of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho as the states seek control of a species shielded from hunting for the past 40 years, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
The region's grizzlies have federal protections, but that could change in coming months, turning control over to the states. The AP obtained a draft agreement detailing the states' plans for the animals.
The deal puts no limits on grizzly bear hunting outside a 19,300-square-mile management zone centered on Yellowstone National Park. Inside the zone, which includes wilderness and forest lands near the park, hunters in Wyoming would get a 58 percent share of the harvest, a reflection that it's home to the bulk of the region's bears. Montana would get 34 percent, and Idaho, 8 percent.
Wildlife advocates say the bear population remains too small to withstand much hunting. That's a particular concern given the large numbers of bears already dying, including during surprise run-ins with hunters and after livestock attacks that prompt officials to trap and kill problem bears.
Yellowstone
Tax Fraud Trial
'Dallas-upon-Seine'
Several members of the Wildenstein art-dealing dynasty went on trial in Paris on Monday charged with stashing hundreds of millions of euros in inheritance money out of the reach of the French taxman.
Family patriarch Guy Wildenstein, 70, faces up to 10 years in prison for tax fraud and money laundering in a multi-generational inheritance squabble worthy of a soap opera.
The Franco-American Guy Wildenstein is the heir of three generations of wealthy art dealers and thoroughbred racehorse breeders.
French tax authorities say he owes them more than 550 million euros ($600 million) in family money that was hidden after the death of his father Daniel in 2001 and brother Alec in 2008.
Alec became famous during his messy divorce from Swiss socialite Jocelyne Perisse, nicknamed "Bride of Wildenstein" for her extreme facial cosmetic surgeries, reportedly to make her look more catlike.
'Dallas-upon-Seine'
In Memory
Robert Stigwood
Robert Stigwood, who acted as manager of Cream and the Bee Gees before producing some of the all-time great rock musicals including Saturday Night Fever and Grease, has died. He was 81.
Australia-born Stigwood's first major career success came when he started representing John Leyton in 1961, helping to secure the English singer and actor a role on the U.K. TV series Harpers West One. That deal included an arrangement for Leyton's character to perform a song on the show, which became the top-charting hit "Johnny Remember Me," produced by experimental pop producer Joe Meek.
The track launched a string of British hit recordings for the team of Leyton, Stigwood and Meek, as well as helped kick off a new era of independent British music production. It also helped the sort of joint management and recording deals Stigwood carried on through his career.
In 1966, Stigwood became The Who's booking agent by reportedly paying the band's managers £500. This deal also empowered him to lure the band away from Brunswick Records to record the now famous single "Substitute" on his own Reaction Records label.
That same year, Stigwood began managing a new band called Cream made up of the best musicians from two groups he had under contract - guitarist Eric Clapton from John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, and bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker from the Graham Bond Organisation. Stigwood's connection to The Who helped him showcase Cream overseas, in New York, and ultimately break the band in America with striking psychedelic imagery painted on its instruments, commissioned by Dutch art collective The Fool.
In 1967, Stigwood began managing the Australian teenage vocal group the Bee Gees. Though the U.K. release of the band's first Australian chart-topping hit "Spicks and Specks" was a flop, an intensive promotional campaign helped make "New York Mining Disaster 1941" the Bee Gees' first international hit, with many more following.
Stigwood made the leap into film and TV production by the early '70s. His first hit was an adaptation of Jesus Christ Superstar in 1973, followed by the film version of The Who's Tommy in 1975. Massive success came next with Saturday Night Fever in 1977, which included a two-LP soundtrack written by and featuring his client the Bee Gees, and then the beloved rock-and-roll musical Grease in 1978.
Though several commercial failures followed, he did find success later with the Madonna-starring musical Evita, which won the 1997 Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture.
Robert Stigwood
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