Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Truth About Jobs (New York Times)
Is the U.S. employment picture getting better? Yes, it is.
Gail Collins: Of Hooters, Zombies and Senators (New York Times)
Tea Party pressure produced several terrible candidates. We have all heard about Todd Akin in Missouri, who claimed after a recent debate that Senator Claire McCaskill wasn't sufficiently "ladylike." Since then, Akin has doubled down on a claim that doctors frequently perform abortions on women who aren't pregnant.
Roger Ebert: Would You Kill Baby Hitler?
Of course, you would have needed to know on April 20, 1889 that the little boy would grow up to become Adolf Hitler, and would commit all of the crimes we now know he committed. The only way you could know that, apart from precognition, would be to have traveled backward in time from a point when Hitler had committed all his crimes and you knew about them.
"Little Rock Confidential" (Arkansas Times)
Trade secrets from a pawn broker, retail manager and yoga instuctor. What a bikini waxer and a paramedic see. How a defense attorney feels about his clients and why a nanny stays with an unhinged mother's kids. The Arkansas Times asked people, what's your job really like? Here are their answers.
Joe Eskenazi: Top 5 Ways Bleacher Report Rules the World! (SF Weekly)
In August of this year, Turner Broadcasting announced it was quite willing to put its logo next to Bleacher Report's, scooping up the website for a purported $200 million. Bleacher Report has joined the Huffington Post in the exclusive club of web properties converting free, crowd-sourced content into nine-digit paydays. The transaction was not just a valuation, but a validation.
Maria Popova: Margaret Atwood's 10 Rules of Writing (Brain Pickings)
"Do back exercises. Pain is distracting."
Alexis Petridis: "Neil Young: 'You don't want to OD on music'" (Guardian)
Neil Young's marvellously idiosyncratic autobiography, 'Waging Heavy Peace,' rummages through his 50-year career - and offered its writer a relief from music.
David Bruce: Wise Up! Death (Athens News)
George McDougall, the father of Methodist preacher John McDougall, who learned to speak Cree so he could preach to that Native-American tribe, did a final good deed when he and some other people froze to death in a snowstorm outside Calgary, Canada. When he knew that he was going to die, he lay on the ground and folded his hands across his chest so that recovering his corpse would be easy. When people get together in a group and hold each other and freeze in that position, recovering their frozen corpses is difficult.
Free EBook by David Bruce (Smashwords)
"The Kindest People: Be Excellent to Each Other (Volume 1)" contains 250 stories about good deeds, including this one: On 5 September 2012, rapper Game helped a bicyclist who had crashed his bike and was lying in a Los Angeles, California, street with his bike on top of him. Game pulled his car over, and after finding that the bicyclist was unresponsive, he called 911. Game said, "I couldn't just keep driving seeing a man in pain with his head on the ground." Paramedics quickly arrived and took the bicyclist to a hospital. Game said, "If that was me in that situation, I'd want someone to do the same thing."
More Free EBooks by David Bruce
The Kindest People: Heroes and Good Samaritans: Volumes 1-7
The Kindest People Who Do Good Deeds: Volumes 3-7
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
David Bruce's Lulu Storefront
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog
David Bruce has 42 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $42 you can buy 10,500 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," "Maximum Cool," and "Resist Psychic Death."
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Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and breezy.
Does Willard Hate Kids?
Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon says Mitt Romney skipped the chance to take part in a "Kids Pick the President" special that includes his opponent.
The children's' TV channel said Monday that the GOP presidential contender declined be involved in the special, while President Barack Obama participated.
The program includes videotaped questions for the candidates from children nationwide. Afterward, viewers can vote for their pick for president.
Linda Ellerbee, the show's host and producer, said candidates show "respect for kids" by answering their questions and called Romney's decision disappointing.
Nickelodeon
Outpouring Of Support
Ryan Andresen
Ryan Andresen may have been shunned by the Boy Scouts, but not by scores of strangers who've stepped up to pledge their support over his plight.
The California teen made headlines around the world last week after his scoutmaster refused to approve his Eagle Scout award because Ryan is gay.
Since then, more than 350,000 people have signed an online petition urging the leaders of Troop 212 to ignore the Scouts' anti-gay policy and award Ryan the organization's highest honor.
"I'm just totally and completely blown away and amazed," said Ryan, who will appear on the "Ellen" TV talk show this Thursday. "I can't believe it. I really want to thank everyone for showing their support. It means so much to me."
His supporters include many former Scouts who say they plan to pledge their own coveted Eagle pins to Ryan.
Ryan Andresen
Tops Sexiest Women List
Mila Kunis
Mila Kunis has been crowned the sexiest woman alive in a new poll.
The Black Swan actress - who has been pictured stepping out with Ashton Kutcher - came first in the Esquire magazine poll, swiping the title from former winner Rihanna.
However, it seems Mila won't get too carried away with the honour, as she told the mag that she is very focused on staying true to herself.
"What I do and who I am are two different things. And they always will be," said the 29-year-old Ted star.
Mila Kunis
7-Figure Book Deal
Lena Dunham
"Girls" creator Lena Dunham has a seven-figure book deal with Random House.
The 26-year-old Dunham, who received Emmy nominations as producer, director, writer and actor for the HBO comedy, has an agreement for the essay collection "Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She's Learned."
"In the tradition of Helen Gurley Brown, David Sedaris and Nora Ephron, Dunham's book will offer frank and funny advice on everything from sex to eating to traveling to work," Random House said in an announcement Monday. Dunham said in statement that she was eager "to produce the most thoughtful and personal book" she could.
Numerous publishers bid for the book. Random House declined to offer financial details, but several competitors have said bidding exceeded $3.5 million.
Lena Dunham
Dress Set For Auction
"Wizard of Oz"
Judy Garland's blue-and-white pinafore from the beloved classic "The Wizard of Oz" is going up for auction, where it is expected to sell for more than a half a million dollars, auctioneers said on Monday.
The outfit, consisting of the gingham dress and white puffy-sleeved blouse, which Garland wore throughout the 1939 film, will be sold next month at Julien's Auctions in Beverly Hills, the auction house said in a statement.
Julien's estimated the outfit would sell for between $400,000 and $600,000, but similarly iconic Hollywood costumes have fetched many times the pre-sale expectations in recent years.
President Darren Julien told Reuters the dress, by MGM's famous costume designer, Adrian, had not been offered for sale, nor even publicly seen, since MGM costume designer Kent Warner sold it at Christie's in 1981.
"Wizard of Oz"
Wedding News
Stelly - Osbourne
Jack Osbourne has tied the knot with his fiancee, and the mother of his infant daughter Pearl - Lisa Stelly.
Jack and Lisa married on Sunday on the Kona-Kohala coast of West Hawaii, Hello! reported.
Four dozen members of Jack and Lisa's family and friends, including his parents, Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne, gathered as the couple said "I do. " Hello also reported that Jack's sister, Kelly Osbourne, served as a bridesmaid.
Stelly - Osbourne
Widens
Wealth Gap
According to a new report in The Washington Post, the median net worth of the current Congress rose 5% during the recession while it fell 39% for the average American. The wealthiest one-third of lawmakers saw their net worth rise 14%.
The Washington Post disclosed these statistics in a recent story on the wealth gap between Congressional members and the American public.
"These are supposed to be our representatives," says The Daily Ticker's Aaron Task. "If they're not living the same lives or understanding the lives that the average American is living, how can they really represent our interests?"
By 2010, the median estimated wealth for members of the House of Representatives was $746,000; for senators it was $2.6 million.
There was virtually no difference between the wealth of Republicans and Democrats in 2010. Just six years earlier, the net worth of Republicans was 44% higher than the net worth of Democrats.
28% of Congress, or 150 members, reported earning more income from outside jobs and investments than from their Congressional salary of $174,000.
Wealth Gap
"Stands For Something"
Kid Rock
Kid Rock hasn't been shy about supporting Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and running mate Paul Ryan, even if it costs him some fans.
The made-in-Michigan rock musician introduced Ryan during a rally Monday night in the Detroit suburb of Rochester.
The rapper, born Robert Ritchie, told the raucous crowd gathered at Oakland University that he believes "you have to stand for something" even if it may alienate a few fans.
Rock added that it was OK to disagree, particularly in a music business that he says "leans very left."
Kid Rock
Apologizes Over Sex Abuse Scandal
BBC
Britain's BBC on Monday apologized to a group of women who allege that one of the state-funded broadcaster's top entertainers sexually abused them decades ago, a scandal that has raised questions about the BBC's judgment then and now.
The man accused of using his status as a celebrity and prominent charity fund raiser to commit the crimes is Jimmy Savile, an eccentric BBC presenter who died last year aged 84.
Instantly recognizable for his shock of blonde hair, Savile was famous for his larger-than-life personality and for his love of smoking cigars, donning tracksuits and coming out with catch phrases that sometimes became part of the national lexicon.
The former DJ travelled around London in a Rolls-Royce and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth for his charitable work in 1990. When he died last year, he was buried wearing a tracksuit after his gold-colored coffin was put on public display in a hotel.
BBC
Bad Karma
'Wife Swap'
A former teen pageant princess featured in an eyebrow-raising episode of "Wife Swap" getting spray-tanned by her father and pitying the less attractive will plead not guilty this week to charges of prostitution and drug possession, her lawyer said.
Alicia Guastaferro was arrested at a western New York Thruway travel plaza in August. State troopers investigating a complaint of erratic driving reported finding her and a Rochester attorney "slumped over" and apparently passed out in a running car.
The 21-year-old Guastaferro told troopers she had met attorney James Doyle while bartending in Niagara Falls two years earlier and that he paid her $500 to $700 twice a month to spend the night with him and have sex, according to court documents. The drug charges involve prescription medication in her purse.
Guastaferro's appearance on a 2008 episode of ABC's "Wife Swap," recorded when she was 15, made her an instant target of ridicule at school and sent her into psychiatric care for post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, an eating disorder and panic attacks, Guastaferro said in a $100 million lawsuit she filed in 2010 against ABC and its parent company, Walt Disney Co.
The episode showed her parents doing Guastaferro's homework, tucking gifts beneath a yearround Christmas tree and buying her a Chevrolet Tahoe that she was too young to drive.
'Wife Swap'
"Yellowism"
Mark Rothko
A man who claims to have defaced a major painting by Mark Rothko over the weekend in London said on Monday that Marcel Duchamp, the French artist most famous for his 1917 urinal that shocked the art establishment, would be "happy" at what he had done.
Police are investigating the incident on Sunday at Tate Modern gallery on the River Thames, where witnesses saw a man approach Rothko's 1958 canvas "Black on Maroon" and inscribe it with black ink in the lower right-hand corner.
Although the ink had run down the canvas, a photograph posted by a witness on the Twitter website showed the words: "VLADIMIR UMANETS '12, A POTENTIAL PIECE OF YELLOWISM."
A man answering a mobile phone number provided via a link on the website of the "Yellowism" movement answered to the name of Vladimir Umanets and told Reuters he had carried out the attack.
Mark Rothko
New Rules For Tourists
Rome
It is one of the simplest, most affordable pleasures of any visit to Rome: tucking into a piece of pizza, or a panino stuffed with prosciutto and mozzarella, while marveling at the city's ancient monuments. But not anymore.
As of this week, anyone caught snacking around the Eternal City's centuries-old monuments and archeological sites could find themselves landed with a fine of up to 500 euros ($650).
Visitors may be happy to chow down on a slice of pizza or sandwich on the steps of a Renaissance church or ancient Roman monument, taking a rest from the exhausting challenge of touring the city on foot. But that leaves most Romans aghast - they rarely eat or drink on the street.
The center-right mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, is acting like a "sheriff" and "transforming Rome into a city of rules and regulations," said Angelo Bonelli, an opposition councilor in the city administration.
Others said Rome had more serious problems to contend with - streets are often strewn with rubbish, illegal hawkers and touts harass tourists outside St. Peter's Basilica and the Colosseum, and cars are allowed to double- or even triple-park.
Rome
Daniel Craig's Swim Trunks Fetch Nearly $72,000
James Bond Auction
We knew they had visual value, but now the blue swim trunks famously worn by Daniel Craig as James Bond in "Casino Royale" boast a hefty monetary value as well.
At a James Bond charity auction in London on Friday, the trunks sold for nearly $72,000, according to the BBC.
Dame Judi Dench, a Bond screen staple (she will appear alongside Daniel as his boss, M, in the upcoming "Skyfall"), was on hand to introduce the sexy swimwear.
"All I'm going to tell you is they're unwashed," she joked.
James Bond Auction
In Memory
John Tchicai
Danish saxophonist and pioneer of free jazz in Europe, John Tchicai, has died. He was 76.
Tchicai moved to New York in 1963 and co-founded The New York Contemporary Five with Archie Shepp. He later became a leading figure of the jazz avant-garde movement in Europe. He also played with John Coltrane, Milford Graves, Carla Bley and Steve Swallow.
Tchicai was born to a Danish mother and a Congolese father in Denmark. He returned to Europe in 2001 and eventually settled in southern France.
His former wife, Margriet Naber, said Monday that he had died in the hospital earlier that day. No cause of death was given but Tchicai has been in a coma since suffering a brain hemorrhage in June.
John Tchicai
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