Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Business Vs. Economics (NY Times)
Why corporate chieftains and money managers give such bad advice about the economy.
Sam Jackson: 5 Unknown People Who Secretly Made All Your Favorite Music (Cracked)
What sucks about the entertainment industry is that usually a very small group of very pretty people get all of the credit for work done by an army of talented folks behind the scenes. For instance, the odds are overwhelming that you know who Nicki Minaj is, but don't know who writes her songs -- even though she'd be nothing without them. So occasionally we like to take a moment to shine the spotlight on where it really belongs …
Dennis Hong, Teddem Yee, Rachel P.: 5 Things You Won't Believe Can Brainwash You on Election Day (Cracked)
Nov. 4 is Election Day in America, something that a huge percentage of you didn't even know because it's one of those off-year elections that nobody votes in. But that actually means that the people who do show up to elect a new congress for the world's lone superpower will wield an incredible amount of power. When no one else votes, the man willing to leave his sofa is king.
GDP Performance for Unified and Divided Government (Politics That Work)
"Look at this graph. The red line shows how he economy did in years when Republicans controlled both Congress and the Presidency (rotten!); the green: how it did in years of divided government (better!); the blue: how it did with just Democrats (great!)." - Andrew Tobias
Andrew Tobias: "Be Healthier AND Wealthier: Vote Democrat"
… THE ECONOMY DOES BETTER UNDER DEMOCRATS
Jessica Valenti: The secret to success? 'Bitchiness' (Guardian)
Take it from Amy Poehler: modesty and niceness are overrated - and they are not the traits of wildly successful women.
Helen Lewis: All public art is a political statement - the best marks a rich, changing society (Guardian)
From white male heroes to bronze single mothers, our choices reflect shifts in prevailing attitudes.
David Bruce: Wise Up! Courage (Athens News)
Clara Harlowe Barton risked her life working as a nurse during Civil War battles. On a battlefield, she was giving a soldier a drink of water when a bullet tore through her skirt and hit the soldier, killing him.
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
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David Bruce has approximately 50 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
wrote:
took the day off.
is semi-retired.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
David E Suggests
David
Thanks, Dave!
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
from Marc Perkel
BartCop
Hello Bartcop fans,
As you all know the untimely passing of Terry was unexpected, even by
him. We all knew he had cancer but we all thought he had some years
left. So some of us who have worked closely with him over the years are
scrambling around trying to figure out what to do. My job, among other
things, is to establish communications with the Bartcop community and
provide email lists and groups for those who might put something
together. Those who want to play an active roll in something coming from
this, or if you are one of Bart's pillars, should send an email to
active@bartcop.com.
Bart's final wish was to pay off the house mortgage for Mrs. Bart who is
overwhelmed and so very grateful for the support she has received.
Anyone wanting to make a donation can click on this the yellow donate
button on bartcop.com
But - I need you all to help keep this going. This note
isn't going to directly reach all of Bart's fans. So if you can repost
it on blogs and discussion boards so people can sign up then when we
figure out what's next we can let more people know. This list is just
over 600 but like to get it up to at least 10,000 pretty quick. So
here's the signup link for this email list.
( mailman.bartcop.com/listinfo/bartnews )
Marc Perkel
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and warmer.
Marks 45th Birthday
Sesame Street
You don't get to be the longest-running children's show in U.S. TV history by doing the same thing over and over. So even though parents who grew up watching "Sesame Street" can still see old favorites like Big Bird, things on the street have changed since the show debuted 45 years ago on Nov. 10, 1969.
Cookie Monster now exercises self-control and sometimes eats fruits and vegetables. Millions of kids watch the show on phones and computers instead of TV. And there's less time spent on the street with human characters. They're just not energetic enough for today's viewers.
In Britain, a BBC kids' show, "Blue Peter," is even older - on since 1958 - but that "Sesame Street" still exists in the U.S. at all, given the competition here, says a lot. In 1973, it was one of two shows on U.S. television for preschoolers. Now it's competing with 84 kids' shows on TV and countless others online. Yet "Sesame Street" still holds its own, ranking 20th among kids ages 2 to 5 with 850,000 viewers per TV episode, according to Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind the show.
But now half the viewers watch it in digital formats. Options include SesameStreet.org, PBSKids.org, Netflix, Amazon, iTunes and some 50 apps. A "Sesame Street" YouTube channel has a million subscribers and 1.5 billion views. And touchscreens have been "a magic wand for us in terms of engagement," says "Sesame Street" senior vice president Scott Chambers. Kids can trace letters or point to colors or shapes, and the app provides positive reinforcement.
Sesame Street
Public Domain
Sherlock Holmes
The US Supreme Court refused to hear a petition by the heirs of author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on Monday, leaving the adventures of fictional crime solver Sherlock Holmes in the public domain.
A ruling by an appeals court in June allowed a US writer and editor to publish a book whose characters were inspired by the Scottish writer, without paying royalties.
In that decision the court ruled that, since the characters in the Sherlock Holmes books were created before 1923, they can no longer be protected by copyright.
Since the Supreme Court took no action on the challenge, the appeals court decision remains in effect.
Sherlock Holmes
Back On 'Tonight'
Leno
Jay Leno is coming back to the "Tonight" show - at least for one night.
The show's former host will be a guest on Jimmy Fallon's version of "Tonight" on Friday. It will be the first time he's been back at the NBC institution since signing off after nearly 22 years as host last February.
Leno briefly appeared in one of Fallon's TV parodies, "House of Cue Cards," but has not returned as a guest.
There was some talk after Leno left that he might make a guest appearance on David Letterman's competing CBS show. That hasn't happened yet, but the "Late Show" said Leno has a "standing offer" to appear before Letterman retires next year.
Leno
Fell In Vegas Jail
Marion 'Suge' Knight
Rap music figure Marion "Suge" Knight will post bail and return to California to face a robbery charge following treatment at a Las Vegas hospital for a blood clot in his chest discovered after he fell in jail, his attorneys said Monday.
A judge set bail at $75,000 for the 49-year-old Knight, who attorneys Richard Schonfeld and Julie Raye said also was being treated for a painful bruise on the back of his head and neck after falling back against a metal post while doctors checked him in jail on Thursday for dizziness and chest pain.
Raye traced Knight's medical problems to six bullet wounds she said Knight suffered in an early Aug. 24 shooting at a West Hollywood nightclub. Two other people also were injured in the gunfire at 1OAK on Sunset Boulevard. Authorities have not identified a suspect.
Raye said she visited Knight in the hospital on Friday and Sunday. She said Knight had said he felt short of breath Thursday before appearing before a Las Vegas judge who reduced a June 2013 suspended license charge to a parking ticket and fined Knight $190 on what had been a suspended license warrant.
Marion 'Suge' Knight
Told To STFU
Navy SEALs
The commander of US Navy SEALs has issued a stinging rebuke to troops who have broken the elite force's hallowed tradition of secrecy and humility by publishing memoirs and speaking to the media.
Days after the Fox News network announced it would broadcast a documentary with a commando who claims to have shot Osama bin Laden, Rear Admiral Brian Losey, the head of Naval Special Warfare Command, wrote to his troops denouncing anyone who seeks fame or fortune by revealing details of secret missions.
"A critical tenet of our Ethos is 'I do not advertise the nature of my work, nor seek recognition for my actions,'" Losey and the top enlisted sailor, Force Master Chief Michael Magaraci, wrote in the letter, obtained by AFP on Monday.
The strict code of humble anonymity represented a "life-long commitment and obligation" and those who flouted it were no longer teammates "in good standing," it said.
The commander warned in the letter that "we will actively seek judicial consequence for members who wilfully violate the law" by revealing classified information.
Navy SEALs
Ex-Officers Urge Peace With Palestinians
Israel
Over 100 former high-ranking Israeli army members, police officers and spy chiefs have called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pursue peace with the Palestinians, media reported Monday.
"We, the undersigned, reserve IDF (army) commanders and retired police officers, who have fought in Israel's military campaigns, know first-hand of the heavy and painful price exacted by wars," 105 signatories said in a joint letter addressed to Netanyahu.
It called on Netanyahu to embark on a "courageous initiative" and make peace with the Palestinians and other Arab states.
The website said the letter was the brainchild of major general Amnon Reshef, a former armoured corps commander.
Israel
Polish Official Criticizes US
Roman Polanski
An adviser to the Polish president accused U.S. authorities on Monday of "absolute ignorance" in seeking the arrest of film director Roman Polanski, a Holocaust survivor, while he was in Poland last week for the opening of a Jewish history museum.
The comments underline the dilemma of Poland in the face of continued attempts by the U.S. to seek Polanski's arrest on 1977 charges of having sex with a minor.
Poland is a close U.S. ally. But the Polish political class has shown a strong aversion to arresting and extraditing the Oscar-winning Polish-French filmmaker, who made his first films in Poland and is admired as a representative of Polish culture.
"I think that Polish citizens, especially in cases of crimes whose statute of limitations have run out, should not be subject to extradition," Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz said when asked about the Polanski case.
Polanski, 81, who lives in France, attended the opening of the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw on Oct. 28 before traveling to Krakow, his childhood city. Polish authorities questioned him there because of the U.S. request, but refused to arrest him.
Roman Polanski
American Arrested Over Photo
Emirates
A 70-year-old American man who came to the United Arab Emirates to speak at a conference on creative thinking was arrested last month for taking a photograph of a subject deemed off-limits by authorities, his daughter and a friend said Monday.
Robert Alan Black is the latest foreigner to be arrested for breeching rules limiting what can be photographed in the oil-rich Gulf federation. The country is an important American ally that boasts cutting-edge architecture, including a vertical disc-shaped office building and the world's tallest tower.
Black's daughter, Jessica Beasley, said she is concerned about her father's health in jail and believes any inappropriate pictures that the Athens, Georgia, man may have taken were unintentional.
A number of foreigners have been prosecuted by a state security court in recent years for taking pictures of subjects deemed prohibited by Emirati authorities, such as palaces or embassies.
Emirates
Fluffing Pooti
ZEFS
A memorial to Apple Inc founder Steve Jobs has been dismantled in the Russian city of St Petersburg after the man who succeeded him at the helm of the company, Tim Cook, came out as gay.
The two-meter (more than six-feet) high monument, in the shape of an iPhone, was erected outside a St Petersburg college in January 2013 by a Russian group of companies called ZEFS.
Citing the need to abide by a law combating "gay propaganda", ZEFS said in a statement on Monday that the memorial had been removed on Friday -- the day after Apple CEO Cook had announced he was homosexual.
"In Russia, gay propaganda and other sexual perversions among minors are prohibited by law," ZEFS said, noting that the memorial had been "in an area of direct access for young students and scholars".
"After Apple CEO Tim Cook publicly called for sodomy, the monument was taken down to abide to the Russian federal law protecting children from information promoting denial of traditional family values."
ZEFS
Up For Auction
Apple-1
An early Apple device sold by Steve Jobs from his parents' garage goes under the hammer in New York next month valued at $400,000-600,000 in an increasingly competitive computer relic market.
Christie's says the Apple-1 is the only surviving such computer documented to have been sold directly by the late Apple founder to a customer from the garage in Los Altos, California.
The Apple-1 is considered a vanguard of the personal computer revolution, being the first pre-assembled personal computer ever sold.
Christie's says its estimated value of $400,000 to $600,000 is the highest pre-sale estimate for an Apple-1 offered at auction.
Apple-1
Weekend Box Office - Updated
'Ouija'
Ahead of Election Day, Hollywood had its own version of a recount. "Ouija" squeaked past "Nightcrawler" in final tallies to belatedly claim the top spot at the box office.
Estimates Sunday had the two films in a dead heat with $10.9 million each. But actual receipts Monday confirmed "Ouija" narrowly surpassed "Nightcrawler." The supernatural thriller earned $10.7 million in its second weekend, while the Jake Gyllenhaal noir took in $10.4 million.
The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Rentrak, are:
1. "Ouija," Universal, $10,740,980, 2,899 locations, $3,705 average, $34,803,950, 2 weeks.
2. "Nightcrawler," Open Road, $10,441,000, 2,766 locations, $3,775 average, $10,441,000, 1 week.
3. "Fury," Sony, $8,819,506, 3,313 locations, $2,662 average, $60,156,907, 3 weeks.
4. "Gone Girl," 20th Century Fox, $8,480,992, 2,834 locations, $2,993 average, $136,282,506, 5 weeks.
5. "The Book Of Life," 20th Century Fox, $8,206,797, 2,794 locations, $2,937 average, $40,430,592, 3 weeks.
6. "John Wick ," Lionsgate, $7,994,044, 2,589 locations, $3,088 average, $27,533,170, 2 weeks.
7. "St. Vincent," The Weinstein Company, $7,226,450, 2,552 locations, $2,832 average, $19,001,327, 4 weeks.
8. "Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day," Disney, $6,585,707, 2,896 locations, $2,274 average, $53,726,331, 4 weeks.
9. "The Judge," Warner Bros., $3,364,195, 1,942 locations, $1,732 average, $39,513,928, 4 weeks.
10. "Dracula Untold," Universal, $2,983,825, 1,913 locations, $1,560 average, $52,896,750, 4 weeks.
11. "The Best Of Me," Relativity Media, $2,736,279, 2,327 locations, $1,176 average, $21,894,683, 3 weeks.
12. "Birdman," Fox Searchlight, $2,390,377, 231 locations, $10,348 average, $4,884,635, 3 weeks.
13. "The Maze Runner," 20th Century Fox, $2,272,263, 1,620 locations, $1,403 average, $97,002,434, 7 weeks.
14. "Annabelle," Warner Bros., $1,959,047, 1,755 locations, $1,116 average, $82,459,183, 5 weeks.
15. "Before I Go to Sleep," Freestyle Releasing, $1,843,347, 1,935 locations, $953 average, $1,843,347, 1 week.
16. "The Equalizer," Sony, $1,782,064, 1,108 locations, $1,608 average, $96,440,830, 6 weeks.
17. "The Boxtrolls," Focus Features, $786,168, 812 locations, $968 average, $48,607,705, 6 weeks.
18. "Dear White People," Roadside Attractions, $743,175, 392 locations, $1,896 average, $2,841,724, 3 weeks.
19. "Addicted," Lionsgate, $673,432, 555 locations, $1,213 average, $16,444,683, 4 weeks.
20. "Saw 10th Anniversary," Lionsgate, $650,051, 2,063 locations, $315 average, $650,051, 1 week.
'Ouija'
In Memory
Tom Magliozzi
Tom Magliozzi, one half of the brother duo who hosted National Public Radio's "Car Talk," where they bantered with callers and commiserated over their car problems, died Monday of complications from Alzheimer's disease, the news organization said. He was 77.
"Car Talk" was NPR's most popular entertainment program for years, reaching more than 4 million people a week on more than 600 radio stations across the country.
It continued to be a top-rated show even after the brothers stopped taping live shows in 2012, and the network began airing repurposed and archived materials.
The duo, which called themselves "Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers," dispensed humour and advice about repairing cars. They ended their shows with a catchphrase - "Don't drive like my brother" - delivered in their signature Boston accents.
In a statement posted on Car Talk's website, Ray Magliozzi affectionately teased his late brother, who was 12 years his senior: "Turns out he wasn't kidding....He really couldn't remember last week's puzzler."
The Magliozzis were an unlikely radio duo.
The Cambridge, Massachusetts, mechanics and Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduates began their show on WBUR, Boston's NPR affiliate, in 1977 as volunteers. The weekly program became nationally broadcast starting in 1987 after building a steady local following.
Magliozzi was born June 28, 1937, in a largely Italian-American section of East Cambridge. According to NPR, he was the first in his family to attend college, earning a chemical engineering degree from MIT.
Magliozzi is survived by his first and second wives, three children, five grandchildren, and his close companion of recent years, Sylvia Soderberg, NPR said in a statement. In lieu of followers, the family has requested fans make a donation in his memory to either their local NPR station or the Alzheimer's Association.
Tom Magliozzi
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