Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Joe Bob Briggs: "The Fake 'Fake News' T-Shirt Story Perpetrated by Fake News Fakers" (Taki's Magazine)
After 24 hours of press attacks that amounted to "You're making a mockery-a mockery, I say-out of the profession of journalism," the museum supposedly dedicated to free speech expunged the "Fake News" T-shirt from their gift shop. But since the reporting on the "Fake News" fiasco was not quite accurate-No! You're kidding! How ironic! Really?-let me correct a few of the factoids: …
Joe Bob Briggs: Messieurs, Ship Some Burkinis Over Here (Taki's Magazine)
I need some French gendarmes in riot gear out here at Gunnison Beach. Can we borrow some? It's hard to find any American police officers who will walk up to sunbathing women and make aggressive comments about their body-and for good reason. They're gonna get a verbal smackdown, not just from the lady in question, but from any female within earshot.
Joe Bob Briggs: Muzzled! (Taki's Magazine)
Let's face it, though, nobody was gonna go out of their way to congratulate Kimberly Rhode, because Kimberly Rhode carries a shotgun.
She carries, to be precise, a custom-made Beretta DT11, which is the second gun she's competed with ever since "Old Faithful," the competition Perazzi she used for 18 years, was stolen by crackheads who broke into a locked compartment of her pickup while she was inside a shopping center in Lake Elsinore.
Paul Waldman: What Republican attacks on Nancy Pelosi are really about (Washington Post)
Oh, but aren't her approval ratings terrible? Indeed they are, almost entirely because she is universally reviled by Republicans, who watch Fox News and listen to conservative talk radio, where they imbibe a constant stream of attacks against her. But what you may not know is that the most unpopular congressional leader in America is not Pelosi but Mitch McConnell. How many Republican Senate candidates have been quizzed aggressively about whether they'll support McConnell to lead their caucus and whether voters will reject them if they do?
Frank Rich: In 2008, America Stopped Believing in the American Dream (NY Mag)
Today's America is instead marked by fear and despair more akin to what followed the crash of 1929, when unprecedented millions of Americans lost their jobs and homes after the implosion of businesses ranging in scale from big banks to family farms. It's not hard to pinpoint the dawn of this deep gloom: …
Donald Hall: "Notes Nearing Ninety: Learning to Write Less" (Paris Review)
Striving to pay the mortgage in the late seventies and eighties, some years I published four books. Now it takes me a month to finish seven hundred words. Here they are.
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David Bruce has over 80 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
Presenting
Michael Egan
answered:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
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
THE 'TOUR OF GRIEF' IS OVER.
HIS NEPHEW IS A NAZI.
'HALFWAY TO BOILING.'
THE LIFE AND TIMES IN 'NAZI AMERICA'.
BIG FAT TRUMP CAN'T STAND CRITICISM.
ROCK ON!
'SAY A LITTLE PRAYER' FOR ARETHA!
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Weather is finally back to sunny and seasonal (seasonal for here is between 82° & 84°).
Address New Oscars Category
Razzies
The Razzies on Sunday published an open letter to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences addressing the Oscars' new category honoring the best popular film.
"The Razzies don't always get it right. We get called on it. We usually ignore it because well - who takes the Razzies seriously?" began the letter from the organization, which recognizes the worst movies and performances of the year the day before the Academy Awards. "But seriously we're not the Oscars. The Oscars are not the low-brow $4.97 statuette that reminds otherwise good talent they done bad or the talent-free they done made too much money.
"The Oscars lowering themselves to 'honor' popular fare just to get more eyeballs is not conducive to their brand. Everyone depends on Oscar to point out the good stuff that might not otherwise be seen," the note continued.
The letter added that the new Oscar category may overshadow the Razzie Awards' work: "We sift through bottom-of-the-barrel mindless popular and sometimes unpopular entertainment. The Razzies invite the 'dis-honored' to humble themselves and 'own their bad.' That's our job."
The note concluded: "So a tip to our older more distinguished bald brother: You are our inspiration - don't fail us now. The Razzies are co-dependent on Oscar. If you are devalued - so are we."
Razzies
Cast Reunion
'Back To The Future'
The stars of the iconic '80s franchise "Back the Future" reunited at a convention on Friday, and they looked like they could take the DeLorean out for another spin if they wanted to.
Actors Michael J. Fox (Marty McFly), Lea Thompson (Lorraine Baines-McFly), Christopher Lloyd (Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown) and Thomas F. Wilson (Biff Tannen) appeared together at Fan Expo Boston. It was the first time the four had gathered together since a 30th anniversary reunion in 2015, Deadline noted.
The actors shared images of the reunion on Instagram, including Thompson, who wrote: "Four old friends get back from the future."
While a new sequel or reboot would no doubt be a box office monster, there are two pretty big obstacles: filmmaker Robert Zemeckis and writer/producer Bob Gale, who hold the rights to the series and are both adamantly against it.
"Oh, God no," Zemeckis told the Telegraph in 2015 when asked about rebooting the franchise. "That can't happen until both Bob and I are dead. And then I'm sure they'll do it unless there's a way our estates can stop it."
'Back To The Future'
Oliver Stone's Drama 'White Lies'
Benicio Del Toro
Benicio Del Toro is set to star in Oliver Stone's drama "White Lies."
Stone will direct from his own script in a project that's departure from his previous work, offering an intimate exploration of family, loss, and love. Nighthawk Capital Limited is financing the film, which will be produced by Fernando Sulichin with Ross Katz. Sulichin's New Element Media, which has worked with Stone on several projects, raised the financing for the film. Production will begin in New York City in the spring.
In a story covering three generations, Del Toro will portray a child of divorce now repeating his parents' mistakes in his own marriage and with his troubled son. Feeling trapped, he embarks on a lust-filled journey to free himself, but only becomes more lost. When he meets a woman whose life is the opposite of his own, he begins a journey of rediscovery. It's the first time that Del Toro and Stone have worked together.
Del Toro won the Academy Award for best supporting actor for 2000's "Traffic" and was nominated in the same category for "21 Grams." He most recently appeared in "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Sicario: Day of the Soldado." He will next star in the Ben Stiller-directed Showtime limited series "Escape at Dannemora," debuting this fall.
Stone is a three-time Academy Award winner. He won for adapted screenplay for "Midnight Express" in 1978, and twice for best director for "Platoon" in 1986 and "Born on the Fourth of July" in 1989. He has received eight other Academy award nominations - writing nominations for "Platoon," "Salvador," and "Nixon;" best picture, directing, and writing for "JFK;" and best picture and writing for "Born on the Fourth of July." Stone's most recent film was "Snowden," a biopic that starred Joseph Gordon-Levitt as whistleblower Edward Snowden that was released in 2016 and grossed $37 million worldwide.
Benicio Del Toro
Sells For Record Amount
Signed Baseball
The record for the most expensive signed baseball in history has been absolutely obliterated. On Sunday, a baseball with the signatures of 11 of the first Baseball Hall of Fame inductees sold at auction for over $600,000.
It's hard to imagine a baseball with more value and significance to the history of the game. It was signed by 11 of baseball's first Hall of Fame inductees, who were all present at the very first induction ceremony in June 1939.
The ball contains the signatures of Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Ty Cobb, Cy Young, Tris Speaker, George Sisler, Walter Johnson, Connie Mack, Nap Lajoie, Eddie Collins and Grover Cleveland Alexander. In other words, it's the ultimate historical baseball jackpot.
Those 11 baseball figures were all elected throughout the first four years of the existence of the Hall of Fame (1936-1939), but as the only living members of the original 25 inductees (not including Lou Gehrig, who wasn't inducted until December 1939), they were invited to an official induction ceremony to celebrate the opening of the physical Hall of Fame building. The signatures were all gathered during that first induction weekend.
The ball sold for $632,369, which is a record for a signed, non-game used ball. It almost doubles the previous record, held by a Babe Ruth signed ball, which was sold for $388,375 in 2014. What's even more amazing is how the worth of this baseball has increased in such a short time. According to Sports Collectors Daily, Christie's auction house sold the ball for $55,000 in 1997. In 21 years, the value of the ball increased more than tenfold.
Signed Baseball
Officials Survey Fire Devastation
California
Senior members of the Trump administration were due in California Monday as blazes that have killed at least eight people continued to cut a catastrophic swathe through the country's most populous state.
Tens of thousands have been forced to flee their homes over the last month, with more than 14 blazes still threatening land and property from south of Los Angeles to the state's border with Oregon.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke (R-Avaricious) -- wrapping a two-day tour of the Carr Fire's path to the west of Redding, northern California -- will meet rescuers alongside Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue.
Zinke's visit with Perdue comes days after President-for-now Donald Trump (R-OfPutin) suggested that California's environmental policies had deprived firefighters of water and left too many trees that could fuel fires.
Fourteen of California's 20 largest wildfires have started since 2003 -- a period boasting some of the hottest, driest years on record in the US.
California
Idiwhaa Gneisses
Acasta River
Rocks found in a Canadian river could be all that remain of a massive meteor barrage hitting the planet 4 billion years ago.
The pale stones of the Acasta River have long been considered unusual by geologists, and are thought to be the oldest rocks on Earth.
Understanding how these so-called Idiwhaa gneisses formed therefore provides an unmatched insight into the planet's violent history.
A new study presented at the Geochemical Society's Goldschmidt Conference has laid out a new theory that explains the formation of these ancient rocks.
The gneisses are felsic, meaning they are rich in silica and quartz, whereas the primitive Earth crust likely consisted of dark, silica-poor "mafic" rocks.
Acasta River
Completely New Form Of Carbon Created
Schwarzites
A new form of carbon has been created, opening up a whole new world of potential technological applications.
Carbon can already be moulded into precious diamonds, the graphite in pencils and graphene - the strongest material on Earth - and "schwartzites" are the latest addition to this family.
Schwarzites have long been predicted by chemists, who have suggested they would have unique properties that make them useful in batteries and as catalysts.
In a surprising turn of events, after decades of searching these theoretical materials were accidentally created by researchers working in South Korea and Japan.
The scientists were investigating zeolite-templated carbons (ZTCs) - crystalline forms of silicon dioxide with carbon structures built inside them - and checking for any interesting properties.
Schwarzites
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