Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Matthew Yglesias: James Comey isn't the hero we deserve. But he's the hero we need. (Vox)
Bureaucrats who are willing to say no count for a lot these days.
Joe Bob Briggs: Reviewing the Plots Against the Clean Water/Clean Air Guy (Taki's Magazine)
At first I was just like everyone else. Why would Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, need twelve extra highly trained SWAT-team-capable security guards and a $43,000 Maxwell Smart-style soundproof phone booth in his office? The guy's job is clean air and clean water, right? He's heading the agency signed into law by Nixon after Lady Bird Johnson bitched for ten years about litter on the highways. He's basically muscle for the garden clubs of America.
Joe Bob Briggs: Last of the Hippie Filmmakers (Taki's Magazine)
There are four great Texas film directors-the other three are King Vidor, Richard Linklater, and Robert Rodriguez-and all except Hooper were able to acquire enough power to distance themselves from Hollywood dealmakers and make the films they wanted to make. Tobe Hooper was the exception. He got beat up by the system his whole life.
Marie Helweg-Larsen: Why Denmark dominates the World Happiness Report rankings year after year (Conversation)
Yes, Danes have a stable government, low levels of public corruption, and access to high-quality education and health care. The country does have the the highest taxes in the world, but the vast majority of Danes happily pay: They believe higher taxes can create a better society. Perhaps most importantly, however, they value a cultural construct called "hygge" (pronounced h?g?). The Oxford dictionary added the word in June 2017 , and it refers to high-quality social interactions.
Anna North: Matt Lauer, Mario Batali, and Garrison Keillor are all eyeing a return. #MeToo is at risk. (Vox)
Employers need to be held accountable, not just a few bad actors.
Steve Rose: "Jean-Luc Godard nostalgia: is it time to stop pining for the great director's past?" (The Guardian)
Redoubtable is a new biopic which focuses on the French-Swiss auteur's early career. But in obsessing over the old Godard, it obscures the fact that he's still making radical films.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
David E Suggests
Flag Tattoos
David
Thanks, Dave!
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Suggestion
Rocky Mountain Mike
Hi Marty,
Here's something especially for those of us old enough to remember teen idol Bobby Sherman ("Julie, Do Ya Love Me").
Reader Contribution
ALF
Doug Gauss
"What we think, or what we know, or what we believe is, in the end, of little consequence. The only consequence is what we do."
- John Ruskin -
Thanks, Doug!
You made my day!
FWIW, that quote was the inspiration for yesterday's trivia question about ALF.
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
HO HUM.
'DONALD TRUMP IS A TRAITOR'.
"...LOOKING POSITIVELY CHEERY."
THE FANTASTIC, PLASTIC CLEANUP.
THE END NOW LOOMS.
"MOSTLY FOR THE WORSE."
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Marine layer has returned - overcast morning.
To Deliver Mandela Lecture
Obama
Former US president Barack Obama will deliver the annual Nelson Mandela memorial lecture at a 4,000-capacity arena in Johannesburg in July, South African organisers announced on Monday.
Obama, who met with Mandela in 2005 and who made an emotional address at his funeral, will speak at the lecture marking 100 years since the anti-apartheid icon was born.
"President Barack Obama -- we will be looking forward to hosting him as he will be addressing this esteemed Nelson Mandela annual lecture," Sello Hatang, head of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, said.
Hatang said the foundation had been seeking someone with "an Africa heritage" to deliver an address that will "deal with issues of democracy" facing the world today.
The New York Times said that Obama would spend five days in Johannesburg holding meetings, workshops and training for 200 young people in his most significant international project as an ex-president.
Obama
Loses Bid To Stop Auction
Madonna
Madonna lost Monday a nearly year-long bid to stop an auction of intimate items, including a breakup letter from rap legend Tupac Shakur.
A judge ruled that the Material Girl had directed her legal action against the wrong target in going after Darlene Lutz, a New York art dealer who helped Madonna build a collection before falling out with her.
Lutz had been the main source for 22 items, including love letters, cassettes and a hairbrush, that were up for sale by auction house Gotta Have Rock and Roll until a judge issued an injunction in July.
New York Judge Gerald Lebovits, in a ruling based on narrow legal grounds rather than on Madonna's claims of violations of privacy, agreed with Lutz, who said that her disputes with Madonna were settled by a 2004 legal agreement between the former friends.
Lebovits, in a decision dated last week but made public Monday, also questioned why Madonna was pursuing Lutz and not the singer's assistants, who Madonna said had handed items to the art dealer.
Madonna
Sought Movie Theaters
Netflix
Streaming service Netflix has been looking to buy its own series of movie theaters, according to The Los Angeles Times.
The newspaper, citing sources familiar with the matter, reported that the company attempted to reach a deal with L.A.-based Landmark theaters, but negotiations went south because Netflix believed the asking price was too high.
Why the streaming giant would need to buy theaters may have something to do with its strained relationship with the Cannes Film Festival.
Netflix, still looking to be seen as a legitimate filmmaking entity, pulled out of Cannes this year after the festival decided movies without theater distribution in France would not be allowed to compete for prizes. This continues a storied war between the streaming service and the French festival.
As filmmaking evolves in the streaming age of Netflix and Amazon, it's difficult to know what role brick-and-mortar theaters will play in the future of the movie-making business. Maybe Netflix knows something we don't?
Netflix
Regains Stolen Mosaic
Cyprus
A rare 6th century mosaic depicting the St. Andrew that was taken from a looted church in the Cyprus' breakaway north has been returned after four decades, the head of the island nation's Orthodox Christian Church said Monday.
Archbishop Chrysostomos II said that the artistry that went into the mosaic coupled with its rarity made the work a symbol of Cyprus' "stolen heritage."
It is among only a handful of mosaics to have survived a period during the 8th and 9th centuries when many Orthodox icons were destroyed.
The mosaic showing a bearded St. Andrew - among Christ's first Apostles - was one of several that went missing from the Church of Panayia Kanakaria after Cyprus split into ethnic Greek and Turkish sides in 1974.
A Turkish art dealer, Aydin Dikmen, was arrested a quarter-century later for selling that piece and others from Kanakaria Church, as well as artworks from other churches.
Cyprus
Profits Über Alles
Pruitt
TIME magazine announced last week that Trump's EPA administrator Scott Pruitt is among their 100 most influential people of 2018. George W. Bush's former EPA administrator Christine Todd Whitman delivered the scathing explanation:
If his actions continue in the same direction, during Pruitt's term at the EPA the environment will be threatened instead of protected, and human health endangered instead of preserved, all with no long-term benefit to the economy.
As a perfect example of those actions, the Daily Caller recently reported that at a gathering at the fossil fuel-funded Heritage Institute, Pruitt announced that the EPA and federal government will soon end two important science-based practices in evaluating the costs and benefits of regulations.
When the EPA regulates pollutants, the practice often yields what are called "co-benefits." For example, limiting allowable mercury pollution can force dirty coal power plants to install pollution-control equipment or shut down. Since coal plants produce other pollutants like soot, the regulations not only reduce mercury levels, but also particulate matter in the air. The latter isn't an intended consequence of the regulations, but creating cleaner air and healthier Americans are unintended "co-benefits" of limiting another pollutant.
Pruitt wants to disregard this Bush-era guidance and instead consider only the costs and benefits of regulating the "targeted pollutant" (mercury, in our example). They want to ignore the lives saved by also incidentally reducing particulate matter pollution. To be blunt, this makes no sense, unless your goal is to protect polluters at the expense of public and environmental health.
Pruitt
Defends Real Estate Empire
Hannity
Fox "News" host Sean Hannity (R-Elite) is speaking out following a report that he purchased discounted and foreclosed properties as investment tools through shell companies, all the while receiving support from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The "Hannity" talk show host, in a statement Monday, defended his choice to not publicly disclose what he described as his "personal" investments.
His real estate portfolio was disclosed by The Guardian on Sunday, following an investigation into President-for-now Donald Trump's (R-Corrupt) attorney, Michael Cohen (R-The Fixer), whom Hannity had undisclosed ties to before his name surfaced in court last week. Hannity had said last week that he was not a client of Cohen's but had sought his advice on real estate. Among the documents the FBI seized from Cohen were details on the real estate investments.
Hannity, whose salary from Fox News is estimated by Forbes to be $36 million annually, acknowledged in his statement that he received loans from HUD to invest in properties during President Barack Obama's administration.
Those mortgage loans, which, according to the Guardian, were acquired through HUD's National Housing Act, offered investors protection against loan defaults when purchasing rental properties. There were larger loan guarantees given to buyers who offered housing to low-income tenants. Two of the most expensive properties reportedly purchased by Hannity in Georgia used $17.9 million that he acquired through HUD's program.
Hannity
New Study
Artificial Sweeteners
Sugar may have overtaken fat as enemy number one when it comes to avoiding weight gain and chronic diseases, but a new study has suggested that artificial sweeteners could be linked to diabetes and obesity.
In what researchers believe is the largest study to assess the biochemical changes artificial sweeteners and sugars cause in the body, the team at the Medical College of Wisconsin and Marquette University tested their hypothesis on rats and cell cultures. As is the case with all rodent studies, the results may differ in humans but offer a useful insight into sugar and sweeteners that scientists can build on with further research.
The study was presented on April 22 at the American Physiological Society's annual meeting, during the Experimental Biology 2018 meeting in San Diego.
Dr. Brian Hoffmann, assistant professor in the department of biomedical engineering at the Medical College of Wisconsin and Marquette University and lead author of the study, said in a statement: "Despite the addition of these non-caloric artificial sweeteners to our everyday diets, there has still been a drastic rise in obesity and diabetes.
"We observed that in moderation, your body has the machinery to handle sugar; it is when the system is overloaded over a long period of time that this machinery breaks down," Dr. Hoffmann said. "We also observed that replacing these sugars with non-caloric artificial sweeteners leads to negative changes in fat and energy metabolism."
Artificial Sweeteners
Weather 'Whiplash'
California
California will suffer more volatile weather this century with a "whiplash" from drought to rain and mounting risks a repeat of the devastating "Great Flood" of 1862, scientists said on Monday.
Climate change, driven by man-made greenhouse gas emissions, would drive more extreme shifts between hot and dry summers and wet winters in the most populous U.S. state, they wrote in the journal Nature Climate Change.
Global warming is making California and other regions with similar Mediterranean-style climates, from southern Europe to parts of Australia, drier and warmer in summer, said lead author Daniel Swain of the University of California, Los Angeles.
In California in winter "an opposing trend toward a strong Pacific jet stream is projected to locally enhance precipitation during the core months of the 'rainy season'," he told Reuters.
They projected "a 25 percent to 100 percent increase in extreme dry-to-wet precipitation events" this century.
California
Bend And Stretch Like Rubber
Diamonds
Diamond is one of the hardest materials on the planet. Created under extreme pressure, the crystals are used in all manner of applications where rigidity is the top priority. You'd never think of a diamond as being pliable, but strange things happen to materials when they are observed on a much smaller scale, and scientists have now developed a method for growing diamonds so that they actually bend like rubber.
Researchers from MIT, in partnership with others from Hong Kong, Korea, and Singapore, just released a report explaining how, when grown into incredibly fine needle-like cones, diamond can bend and flex. Larger diamond shapes are much more rigid, and have flexibility of less than 1%. The tall, thin diamond needles can be bent as much as nine percent before springing back to their original shape.
To test the flexibility of the diamond needles, the team used a scanning electron microscope to observe how the thin structures reacted to being bent. They then measured the tensile strength of the tall diamond cone up to an including the point at which it broke. At any point prior to breaking, the diamond returned to its original form if pressure was released. The team released a short animation showing the diamond actually bending, and it's pretty cool to see.
The thin diamond shapes are incredibly tiny, measuring only a few hundred nanometers across. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter, to give you an idea of just how small we're talking. At that size, the potential applications for a flexible diamond are many, including potential uses in modern medicine. As MIT News reveals, the team is considering how the tiny diamond needles could be used for everything from data storage and sensors to delivering drugs to the heart of cancer cells.
This is obviously just the first step in a much larger effort if the nanodiamond needles are to find any meaningful use, but the research already seems quite promising. It'll be interesting to see what problems the scientists attempt to tackle with their new, flexible diamond tools.
Diamonds
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