Recommended Reading
from Bruce
CAREFUL: Paul Krugman: Where's The Rubiomentum? (NY Times Blog)
The thing is, if Rubiomentum doesn't surface soon, it's hard to see why it ever will. And I must say, it will be fun watching supposedly moderate Republicans explain why Trump or Cruz are, in the end, better than Hillary.
David Ignatius: Obama is a rationalist president in the age of anxiety (Washington Post)
As Obama prepares to begin the last year of his presidency, he stands in an unusual position on the national stage: He is the rationalist, a creature of intellect rather than emotion. Dry as a bone, often disdainful of politics, averse to selling his policies (and also not very good at it) […]. But compared with our other recent two-term presidents who stumbled as they neared the finish line, Obama seems to be gaining strength.
Jennifer Acker: My husband read to me while I was sick. It changed our marriage. (Washington Post)
The extravagant romance of reading aloud.
Kate Hutchinson: "Riot grrrl: 10 of the best" (The Guardian)
With Sleater-Kinney, Babes in Toyland and L7 all back in action, we look back at the life and legacy of punk's great feminist movement
Karren Ablaze!: "Riot grrrl: searching for music's young female revolutionaries" (The Guardian)
It's 20 years since Bikini Kill and Huggy Bear undertook a tour of the UK. But did riot grrrl actually change anything?
Olivia Laing: "Riot grrrl: when teen sisters were doing it for themselves" (The Guardian)
At the start of the 1990s, a movement sprang up among young women whose feelings of frustration, alienation and solidarity were expressed through music and fanzines. As an archive of their art and jottings is published, Olivia Laing recalls the 'riot grrrl' phenomenon - and how it changed her life.
Laura Barton: Grrrl power (The Guardian)
The Riot Grrrl scene brought feminism to alternative rock in the 90s. Fifteen years on, the aftershocks are still making waves, says Laura Barton.
Joshua Rivera: How one mischievous cosplayer helped Deadpool become one of Marvel's most popular characters online (Tech Insider)
There are a lot of Deadpool fans out there, enough to clamor for - and eventually, get - what looks like a faithful feature-film adaptation. That's no easy feat. He's quite possibly one of the top ten barely-filmable Marvel comics characters in existence.
Everett True: The 10 myths of Riot Grrrl (The Guardian)
1. That it existed as a moment in time
No. It was always fluid, always changing. The name wasn't supposed to stick. The musical style wasn't supposed to gel. It wasn't intended to be particularly about music: more, a way of seeing, a means to empowerment. It was as much about walks on the beach in the early morning as it was eschewing pen and paper for sloganeering. It became codified far too rapidly into a handy tag - but hell, what a great tag.
Deadpool vs Gangnam Style | PSY Parody (YouTube)
Deadpool rides an invisible horse.
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M Is FOR MASHUP - December 22nd, 2015
A Package For You From Me.
From DJ Useo
This is written before I know how our move back into our formerly flooded home has gone. Right now, we're a few hours behind schedule. Much more to do.
I wanted to leave you all a Christmas package now, as our new phone & net may not be on till the new year. Here's my
twitter post with links for both of my "Christmas Packages" intended for any of my online pals. -
( twitter.com/DJUseo/status/678750449659346945 )
Located inside are no mashups at all, just
remasters of beloved tracks I've heard through the years. Most are from 1980's & 1990's, but there's one from the 1940's. I hope you like some of them. They'll be a great respite from the barrage of Christmas tunes. I hit my limit last week, when I heard Sheldon Cooper's version of Good King Wenceslas. ( ! )
( www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7DagmBUOpc )
Have fun, all. I'll be back soon.
wrote:
said:
has returned to semi-retired status.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Gare Says...
Holiday Astro Column
Reader Comment
Wasilla
Gary in PA
Thanks, Gary!
from Marc Perkel
Patriot Act
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
A MUSLIM CASE FOR LIBERTY
THE "DECIDER" PARTY. HEE HAW!
"YES, WE HAVE NO BANANAS!"
"RESPECT ALL SENTIENT BEINGS"!
THE BABES STRIKE BACK!
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Overcast and a bit more rain.
Hollywood's Most Overpaid Actor
Johnny Depp
Film awards season is upon us, but this year, Johnny Depp has received a less-than-thrilling distinction. The actor has earned the top spot on Forbes magazine's list of Hollywood's most overpaid actors of 2015.
While the list isn't a coveted honor, it's not all bad news for the actor. He's joined on the list by other big names, including Denzel Washington, Liam Neeson, and Brad Pitt. If you have to find yourself with this dubious honor, you might as well be in good company.
Forbes puts together the list annually, looking each actors' last three films prior to June 2015. Anything animated, however, is excluded, and the actor must actually have a starring role. On top of that, only films that were released on least 2,000 screens are considered. To rank the actors, the difference between their films' global box offices and estimated production costs are compared to their compensation for the projects.
For Depp, the picture was bleak. Forbes found that he returned just $1.20 for ever $1 that he is paid. His return was much lower than any of the others on the list; in second place, for example, Washington, reportedly returned $6.50 for every $1 paid. Following behind in the top ten (in order) were Will Ferrell, Neeson, Will Smith, Christian Bale, Channing Tatum, Pitt, Ben Affleck, and Tom Cruise.
Johnny Depp
Pirated Screener
'Hateful Eight'
A copy of the new Quentin Tarantino movie The Hateful Eight that leaked online earlier this week has been linked to a top Hollywood film executive, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter.
Andrew Kosove, co-CEO of production-finance company Alcon Entertainment, was sent the "screener" copy of Hateful Eight for year-end awards consideration. That copy was signed for by an office assistant and later shared online, where it is now circulating on multiple file-sharing sites. Sources say officials with the FBI, working in conjunction with distributor The Weinstein Co., have been able to pinpoint Kosove's copy of the film as the source of the leak from a watermark on the DVD sent to him. FBI agents are visiting Alcon's Century City headquarters Tuesday to determine the chain of custody of the DVD and who is responsible for its uploading. Alcon is cooperating fully in the investigation.
"I've never seen this DVD," Kosove tells THR in an interview. "It's never touched my hands. We're going to do more than cooperate with the FBI. We're going to conduct our own investigation to find out what happened."
Indeed, it is likely that Kosove is a victim in this leak rather than the perpetrator. Another employee at Alcon could have obtained and uploaded the DVD, or someone who either was given the screener or stole it could be responsible. Regardless, between 200,000 and 600,000 downloads of the film, depending on various reports, occurred the first day it was available online. Physical copies of Hateful Eight have been seen for sale on street corners in China and other markets.
'Hateful Eight'
Concealed-Carry Gun Permits
Virginia
Virginia will no longer recognize concealed-carry handgun permits from 25 states that have reciprocity agreements with the state, effective Feb. 1, Attorney General Mark Herring said on Tuesday.
Virginia took the step because laws in those states are less restrictive, Herring's office said in a statement.
The change prevents people convicted of a felony, domestic abusers, those adjudicated mentally ill or incompetent, recently convicted drunk drivers and dishonorably discharged military personnel from using a permit from those states in Virginia.
The change came after a review by Herring's office and the Virginia State Police of the 30 states whose concealed handgun permits are valid in Virginia under a reciprocity policy.
Virginia will continue to recognize concealed-carry permits from Michigan, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.
Virginia
Final Curtain For Giant Junkyard
Hollywood
It's not just a junkyard - or even a really big junkyard - but a living, breathing monument to Los Angeles pop culture. And now it's headed for the dustbin of history itself.
For 54 years, Aadlen Brothers Auto Wrecking, in a moonscaped, god-forsaken-looking section of the San Fernando Valley, has collected far more than thousands of burned-out, smashed-up, rusted automobiles on its sprawling dirt and asphalt lot.
It's also taken in just about every type of movie and TV prop imaginable while serving as the site of more than 200 Hollywood film shoots.
Now everything must go, says Nathan Adlen, owner of this hybrid junkyard-Hollywood backlot that's been in his family since 1961, when this part of the valley was mainly a warren of sand-and-gravel quarries and garbage dumps.
By New Year's Eve, he promises, it will be 26 acres of bare land surrounded largely by warehouses and car-repair places as he contemplates what to do next with the property.
Hollywood
5th State With Rigged Lottery
Kansas
The former security chief for a national group that operates state lotteries personally bought two prize-winning tickets in Kansas worth $44,000, investigators said Monday, bringing to five the number of states where he may have fixed games to enrich himself and associates.
Investigators recently linked the winning 2010 Kansas tickets to Eddie Tipton, former security director of the Multi-State Lottery Association, Iowa assistant attorney general Rob Sand disclosed in court documents. The evidence will show that Tipton associates who claimed the prizes returned half of the money in cash directly to him in early 2011, he wrote.
Tipton allegedly purchased two winning tickets to the "2by2" game at separate locations while traveling through Kansas on business in December 2010, the Kansas Lottery said. Each was worth $22,000, the prize for any player with the day's winning numbers, and were allegedly passed on from Tipton to individuals from Iowa and Texas who claimed them, the lottery's statement said.
In his job at the association managing lotteries for 37 states and territories, Tipton managed random number generators that pick winning numbers for some national games such as Hot Lotto and games played in individual lotteries.
Kansas
Boosts Arctic Precipitation
Vanishing Sea Ice
The Arctic is seeing more precipitation as sea ice diminishes from climate warming, according to a research paper by U.S. and Canada scientists.
The study by three Dartmouth College researchers and one from Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, concludes the effects from a changed hydrologic cycle is a potential major component of climate change that could create uncertainty in climate predictions. They also say it's too soon to tell whether more precipitation will slow warming or add to it.
Scientists have generally assumed that less sea ice would mean more evaporation and more precipitation, said Ben Kopec, a Dartmouth earth sciences doctoral student and lead author of the paper published Monday in the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The scientists studied precipitation data collected between 1990 and 2012 at three sites in the Canadian Arctic and three in the Greenland Sea, looking for changes in the source of precipitation as sea ice has diminished. Moisture from a warm source can be distinguished from a cold source through measurements of isotope compositions, Kopec said.
As sea ice diminished over two decades, precipitation at the Arctic sites increased and the percentage from local sources grew. The researchers concluded that when sea ice decreases by 100,000 square kilometres, or 38,610 square miles, the percentage of local-sourced moisture increased by 18.2 per cent in the Canadian Arctic and 10.8 per cent in the Greenland Sea.
Vanishing Sea Ice
Gun Maker Admits Breaking Law
Stag Arms
A Connecticut gun manufacturer pleaded guilty on Tuesday to violating U.S. firearms laws and its founder agreed to resign and sell the company in a move to prevent its shutdown.
Stag Arms LLC President Mark Malkowski pleaded guilty on the company's behalf in U.S. District Court in Hartford to possessing an unregistered machine gun after a search of the New Britain-based manufacturer found 62 machine guns and machine gun components that were either unregistered or improperly registered.
Federal inspectors have been probing Stag since 2007, when ATF inspectors first cited it for violating firearms regulations. A search showed some 3,000 weapon components lacking proper serial numbers and 62 machine guns and machine gun components that were unregistered or registered to another entity, prosecutors said.
"It is critically important for those who are responsible for manufacturing firearms, especially high-powered semiautomatic rifles, to diligently comply with federal firearms laws throughout the production and distribution process,"
"Stag's misconduct has resulted in hundreds of these weapons being lost or untraceable," said U.S. Attorney for Connecticut Deirdre Daly.
Stag Arms
China In Drive To Discredit
Dalai Lama
Thousands of Buddhists from all over Britain packed into the Aldershot football stadium southwest of London on June 29, quietly waiting under a hot sun to see the Dalai Lama.
Just outside the turnstiles, another group of Buddhists awaited the Tibetan spiritual leader.
"False Dalai Lama, stop lying, false Dalai Lama, stop lying!" they chanted over and over through megaphones, drummers pounding out a rhythmic tempo. When he spoke, only snippets of his remarks could be heard above the cacophony.
The Aldershot demonstration was part of a pattern: Noisy protesters are following the globetrotting Dalai Lama almost everywhere he goes, denouncing him in terms that echo the invective heaped upon the Nobel Peace laureate by China's ruling Communist Party.
On the surface, the commotion appears to stem from an arcane, centuries-old schism in Tibetan Buddhism. But a Reuters investigation has found that the religious sect behind the protests has the backing of the Communist Party. The group has emerged as an instrument in Beijing's long campaign to undermine support for the Dalai Lama, a political exile who commands the loyalty of millions of Chinese citizens and whom Beijing accuses of plotting secession for Tibet.
Dalai Lama
Prime-Time Nielsens
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Dec. 14-20. Listings include the week's ranking and viewership.
1. Nevada GOP Debate, CNN, 18.17 million.
2. NFL Football: Arizona at Philadelphia, NBC, 18.11 million.
3. "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 17.23 million.
4. "NCIS," CBS, 15.53 million.
5. Nevada GOP Debate (Introduction), CNN, 15.38 million.
6. "The Voice" (Monday), NBC, 14.03 million.
7. "Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick," NBC, 13.44 million.
8. "60 Minutes," CBS, 12.70 million.
9. "The Voice" (Tuesday), NBC, 12.69 million.
10. "NCIS: New Orleans," CBS, 12.09 million.
11. NFL Football: New York Giants at Miami, ESPN, 11.55 million.
12. "Adele Live in New York," NBC, 11.27 million.
13. "Life in Pieces," CBS, 10.27 million.
14. "Football Night in America," NBC, 9.65 million.
15. "Survivor," CBS, 9.46 million.
16. "Scorpion," CBS, 9.28 million.
17. "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 9.22 million.
18. "Anderson Cooper: 360," CNN, 9.10 million.
19. "Mom," CBS, 8.95 million.
20. "The Voice," NBC, 8.47 million.
Ratings
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