Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Jonathan M. Katz: This is how ignorant you have to be to call Haiti a 'shithole' (Washington Post)
President Trump's defenders don't know anything about Haiti's history - or the United States's.
Nick Visser: "Aziz Ansari Responds To Sexual Assault Allegations: 'I Took Her Words To Heart'"(Huffington Post)
An unnamed woman accused the comedian of impropriety in an essay published on Saturday.
Michael Greger M.D. FACLM: What Do the Longest Living People Eat? (nutritionfacts.org)
The best of the best were Adventist vegetarians who also had healthy lifestyles, such as being exercising nonsmokers. They live to 87 and nearly 90, on average. That's 10 to 14 years longer than the general population. They have 10 to 14 extra years on this Earth by making simple lifestyle choices.
Michele Hanson: What I learned about capitalism from running a stall on Portobello market (The Guardian)
Bargains were snatched from the shoppers who needed them in order to make bigger profits from people with fatter wallets. It was the trickle-up effect at work - much like our system now.
Peter Bradshaw: Paddington 2 review - Hugh Grant steals the show in sweet-natured and funny sequel (The Guardian)
The unspeakable Phoenix steals a precious pop-up book from Mr Gruber's shop: a book which contains coded clues to where a fabulous cache of treasure may be found - and he frames Paddington for the crime. So poor Paddington goes to prison for something he didn't do, but there finds solace in friendship with the prison's hot-tempered cook, Knuckles, played by Brendan Gleeson. Together, they are to plan a daring escape and the show-stopping climax involves a daring dash to the west country from London's eponymous railway station. It's very silly, but very likeable, the kind of thing that looks easy, but really isn't.
Peter Bradshaw: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri review - darkly hilarious portrait of disenfranchised USA (The Guardian)
Frances McDormand gives her best performance since Fargo as a plucky vigilante who confronts both the police and the tragedy of her daughter's death by erecting roadside monuments to her grief and rage.
Peter Bradshaw: Wonder review - manipulative feelgood drama comes with hefty dollop of treacle (2 out of 5 stars, The Guardian)
Wilson drawls, Julia Roberts whispers and the audience snores in this ham-fisted heartwarmer about the trials of a disfigured boy and his family.
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David Bruce has over 80 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
Presenting
Michael Egan
wrote:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Team Coco
CONAN
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Current Events
Merriam-Webster strikes again!
I love these people!
from Marc Perkel
Marc's Guide to Curing Cancer
So far so good on beating cancer for now. I'm doing fine. At the end of the month I'll be 16 months into an 8 month mean lifespan. And yesterday I went on a 7 mile hike and managed to keep up with the hiking group I was with. So, doing something right.
Still waiting for future test results and should see things headed in the right direction. I can say that it's not likely that anything dire happens in the short term so that means that I should have time to make several more attempts at this. So even if it doesn't work the first time there are a lot of variations to try. So if there's bad news it will help me pick the next radiation target.
I have written a "how to" guide for oncologists to perform the treatment that I got. I'm convinced that I'm definitely onto something and whether it works for me or not isn't the definitive test. I know if other people tried this that it would work for some of them, and if they improve it that it will work for a lot of them.
The guide is quite detailed and any doctor reading this can understand the procedure at every level. I also go into detail as to how it works, how I figured it out, and variations and improvements that could be tried to enhance it. I also introduce new ways to look at the problem. There is a lot of room for improvement and I think that doctors reading it will see what I'm talking about and want to build on it. And it's written so that if you're not a doctor you can still follow it. It also has a personal story revealing that I'm the class clown of cancer support group. I give great interviews and I look pretty hot in a lab coat.
So, feel free to read this and see what I'm talking about. But if any of you want to help then pass this around to both doctors and cancer patients. I need some media coverage. I'm looking for as many eyeballs as possible to read these ideas. Even if this isn't the solution, it's definitely on the right track. After all, I did hike 7 miles yesterday. And this hiking group wasn't moving slow. So if this isn't working then, why am I still here?
I also see curing cancer as more of an engineering problem that a medical problem. So if you are good at solving problems and most of what you know about medicine was watching the Dr. House MD TV show, then you're at the level I was at when I started. So anyone can jump in and be part of the solution.
Here is a link to my guide: Oncologists Guide to Curing Cancer using Abscopal Effect
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
"I HAVE A DREAM."
'BONE SPURS' RUN IN THE FAMILY.
"JUST DO IT". NOW!
NEVER EVER TRUST A TRUMP!
OUR RACIST PRESIDENT.
RELEASE THE TAPES 'ANUS MAN'!
HOW TO MAKE ENEMIES AND AGGRAVATE FRIENDS.
"… WHAT SOME WOULD CALL VERY STABLE GENIUSES."
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Looks like a week of running late. Sigh.
Bans Spielberg Film
Lebanon
Lebanese authorities have banned Steven Spielberg's latest film, political thriller "The Post", and Australian drama "Jungle" to comply with a boycott of Israel, an official told AFP Monday.
"Screening of the film 'The Post' has been banned," said the official from Lebanon's General Security authority, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Spielberg "is blacklisted by the Arab League's boycott office, which Lebanon complies with", the official explained.
The pan-Arab body maintains a regional boycott of Israel, and blacklisted Spielberg after he donated $1 million to Israel during its 2006 war with Lebanon.
While Lebanon is generally considered the most liberal of Arab countries, it occasionally bans content considered immoral, inciteful, or supportive of Israel.
Lebanon
10th Highest-Grossing Movie Of All Time
'Star Wars: The Last Jedi'
A month after being released in theaters, episode eight of the "Star Wars" saga joins the previous installment -- "The Force Awakens" -- in the top 10 highest-grossing movies of all time at the global box office.
Now totaling $1,264,949,584 worldwide, "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" has become one of the top 10 highest-grossing pictures of all time. Sunday, January 14, Episode VIII, directed by Rian Johnson, moved ahead of 2017 box-office leader "Beauty and the Beast," which grossed $1.263 billion overall. Rey, Finn and Kylo Ren's latest adventure is now edging closer to "Frozen" ($1.276 billion).
Despite these excellent results, the record-breaking performance of the previous episode, "The Force Awakens," seems out of reach. By mid-January 2016 -- a month after its release -- J.J. Abrams' episode totaled $1.863 billion and was already the third highest-grossing movie of all time, behind "Avatar" and "Titanic."
In the USA, "The Last Jedi" is the sixth highest-grossing movie of all time, with $591M, behind "Star Wars Episode VII," "Avatar," "Titanic," "Jurassic World" and "The Avengers."
'Star Wars: The Last Jedi'
Past Presidents Volunteered
MLK Day
President-for-how Donald Trump (R-Crooked) is spending Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a federal holiday meant to honor the United States' most iconic civil rights leader, at his golf club in Florida.
Trump arrived at his Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach around 9 a.m. Monday, the White House press pool reported. His next public event was scheduled for 4:20 p.m., when he and first lady Melania Trump would depart Palm Beach International Airport for Washington.
A White House spokeswoman confirmed Trump was not participating in any public events related to MLK Day, but did not return requests for comment about why.
Monday is the 95th day Trump has spent at one of his golf clubs since becoming president, according to CNN's Manu Raju. Trump has been deeply critical of the time former President Barack Obama spent hitting the links during his presidency.
Trump's seemingly wide-open schedule offered a stark contrast with past presidents, such as Obama and George W. Bush, who spent MLK Day volunteering or visiting memorials in the civil rights leader's honor during their respective presidencies.
MLK Day
Giant Diamond
Lesotho
Lesotho's Letšeng mine recently delivered a 910-carat diamond to its owner, London's Gem Diamonds Ltd. The stone is believed to be the fifth-largest gem-quality diamond ever recovered.
According to the diamond grading system, this is a D-color, Type IIa diamond. Stones of this quality comprise about 1% to 2% of all natural diamonds. They are usually colorless and contain no measurable impurities. The diamond weighs 182 grams or about 6.42 ounces.
Since Gem Diamonds acquired Letšeng in 2006, the mine has produced some of the world's most remarkable diamonds, including the 603 carat Lesotho Promise, however, this exceptional top quality diamond is the largest to be mined to date and highlights the unsurpassed quality of the Letšeng mine. This is a landmark recovery for all of Gem Diamonds' stakeholders, including our employees, shareholders and the Government of Lesotho, our partner in the Letšeng mine.
The diamond is roughly the size of two golf balls and has an estimated value of $40 million.
Lesotho
A Quandary
America
When truck driver Chris Gromek wants to know what's really going on in Washington, he scans the internet and satellite radio. He no longer flips TV channels because networks such as Fox News and MSNBC deliver conflicting accounts tainted by politics, he says.
"Where is the truth?" asks the 47-year-old North Carolina resident.
Answering that question accurately is a cornerstone of any functioning democracy, according to none other than Thomas Jefferson. But a year into Donald Trump's fact-bending, media-bashing presidency, Americans are increasingly confused about who can be trusted to tell them reliably what their government and their commander in chief are doing.
Interviews across the polarized country as well as polling from Trump's first year suggest people seek out various outlets of information, including Trump's Twitter account, and trust none in particular.
Many say that practice is a new, Trump-era phenomenon in their lives as the president and the media he denigrates as "fake news" fight to be seen as the more credible source.
America
Found Out He Admitted Guilt
Arpaio
A segment on MSNBC Friday turned awkward for Joe Arpaio, the controversial former sheriff running for Senate in Arizona. The 85-year-old accepted an August pardon from President Donald Trump after being convicted of criminal contempt for ignoring a court order and continuing to racially profile.
Arpaio appeared on MSNBC's The Beat, hosted by Ari Melber, and discussed the pardon. "The president-I never asked for the pardon-pardoned me because he knew that this decision was wrong," Arpaio said, before claiming he had some sort of appeal in the works.
Melber then seized on the facts surrounding Arpaio's case, reminding viewers (and Arpaio) about the tent-city jail the sheriff once called "concentration camps" and an apparent $48 million legal bill run up by Arpaio. The former sheriff responded by saying that the folks in his jails violated the law, and that if they didn't like the conditions, they shouldn't have engaged in crimes.
"Let me ask you another important question because you brought up this unusual but lawful pardon that you received from the president," Melber responded. "As you know, when you take a pardon you're admitting guilt. Why did you take that pardon and admit guilt?"
From there, it seemed pretty clear Arpaio did not know everything that accompanied his pardon. "I didn't admit guilt. I said I was not guilty, and I say it today," Arpaio responded, causing Melber to raise his eyebrows in response.
Arpaio
Officials Warned
Jared
U.S. officials warned Jared Kushner earlier this year that his friendship with Wendi Deng Murdoch could be used as a conduit by the Chinese government, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
Unnamed sources told the outlet that counterintelligence officials had warned Kushner that Murdoch, a Chinese-American businesswoman who was married to News Corp. founder Rupert Murdoch (R-Evil Incarnate), could leverage her close relationship with Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, to push the interests of the Chinese government.
The Wall Street Journal is owned by News Corp.
Among U.S. officials' reported concerns was a proposed garden in Washington, D.C., funded by the Chinese government. The $100 million project has reportedly been declared a national security risk due to a tall tower that's part of the design, which intelligence officials worry could be used for surveillance.
The outlet notes that no one has been accused of wrongdoing, but said officials gave the warning "to highlight to Mr. Kushner, who was new to government, the need to be careful in his dealings with people whose interests may not align with those of the U.S."
Jared
Turkey Unveils Route
'Istanbul Canal'
The Turkish government on Monday unveiled the route of its planned new canal for Istanbul, a hugely ambitious 45 kilometre (28 mile) project designed to be its answer to the famed artificial shipping lanes in Panama or Egypt's Suez.
The project, first announced by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan while he was prime minister in 2011, is by far the most complex of a string of new ventures for the city.
The government argues it will create attractive new living areas and take pressure off the Bosphorus Strait that splits the European and Asian sides of the city and is one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.
Transport and Communications Minister Ahmet Arslan said that the canal would begin in the Istanbul district of Kucukcekmece on the Sea of Marmara, where there is already an inland lake.
It will then head north towards the Sazlidere reservoir before emerging into the Black Sea just north of Durusu.
'Istanbul Canal'
Chinese 'Rainbow Dinosaur'
Caihong
There's not a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. There's an iridescent dinosaur.
Scientists on Monday announced the discovery of a crow-sized, bird-like dinosaur with colorful feathers from northeastern China that lived 161 million years ago during the Jurassic Period.
They named it Caihong, the Mandarin word for rainbow. Microscopic structures in the exquisitely preserved, nearly complete fossil unearthed in Hebei Province indicated that it boasted iridescent feathers, particularly on its head, neck and chest, with colors that shimmered and shifted in the light, like those of hummingbirds.
The discovery "suggests a more colorful Jurassic World than we previously imagined," said evolutionary biologist Chad Eliason of the Field Museum in Chicago, one of the researchers in the study published in the journal Nature Communications.
Using powerful microscopes, the scientists detected within the feathers the remnants of organelles called melanosomes responsible for pigmentation. Their shape determines the color. Caihong's feathers had pancake-shaped melanosomes similar to those of hummingbirds with iridescent feathers.
Caihong
In Memory
Dolores O'Riordan
Dolores O'Riordan, the singer of the 1990s Irish band The Cranberries, died Monday in London, according to media reports. She was 46.
O'Riordan lived in Ireland but was in London for a short recording session, according to the BBC.
The Cranberries formed in 1989 and rose to international fame in 1993 with the release of their debut album, "Everybody Else Is Doing It So Why Can't We," and its accompanying hit single, "Linger."
The followup album, "No Need To Argue," kept up the momentum thanks to the worldwide smash "Zombie."
The band went on hiatus in 2003, and O'Riordan launched a solo career in 2007. The Cranberries reformed in 2009 and toured North America and Europe.
O'Riordan is survived by her son and two daughters with former husband of 20 years, Don Burton: Taylor, 20, Molly, 16 and Dakota, 12.
Dolores O'Riordan
In Memory
Edwin Hawkins
Grammy Award-winning gospel music composer, singer and chorus master Edwin Hawkins, whose arrangement of "Oh Happy Day" for a Bay Area church choir became an international hit, has died. He was 74.
Hawkins died early Monday at his home in Pleasanton. He had been suffering from pancreatic cancer, publicist Bill Carpenter told The Associated Press.
Along with Andrae Crouch, James Cleveland and a handful of others, Hawkins was credited as a founder of modern gospel music. Aretha Franklin, Sam Cooke and numerous other singers had become mainstream stars by adapting gospel sounds to pop lyrics. Hawkins stood out for enjoying commercial success while still performing music that openly celebrated religious faith.
Hawkins, who co-founded the Northern California State Youth Choir at Ephesian Church of God in Christ in Berkeley, first recorded "Oh Happy Day" as part of an 8-song, self-produced album to help finance his group's trip to a music competition. Bay Area radio stations began playing the song - a soulful, call-and-response arrangement of an 18th century hymn - and it became a local music phenomenon.
Featuring the vocals of Dorothy Combs Morrison, "Oh Happy Day" was subsequently released as a single - credited to the Edwin Hawkins Singers - and became a million-seller in 1969, showing there was a large market for gospel songs and for inspirational music during the turbulent era of the late 1960s.
Edwin and his brother, Walter Hawkins, who died in 2010, were self-taught keyboard players.
In 1970, the Hawkins singers backed Melanie on her top 10 hit "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)" and won a Grammy for best soul gospel performance for "Oh Happy Day."
George Harrison would cite "Oh Happy Day" as inspiration for his hit "My Sweet Lord," and Glen Campbell reached the adult contemporary charts with his own version of the Hawkins performance. Elvis Presley, Johnny Mathis and numerous others also would record it.
Edwin Hawkins is survived by his siblings Carol, Feddie, Daniel and Lynette.
Edwin Hawkins
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