Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: The Year of Living Stupidly (New York Times)
It has, after all, been quite a year - not just the sea-change in professional opinion on structural unemployment, but the collapse of the expansionary austerity doctrine and its replacement by the view that multipliers are quite large, the collapse of the 90 percent debt threshold view, the plunging deficit and the vanishing of medium-term debt concerns, and more. Yet policy hasn't changed at all, and elite views have hardly shifted. How is this possible?
Suzanne Moore: 10 rules for managing your penis (Guardian)
Recent news stories involving sexting, wine, toasters, politicians and penises indicate some men need a refresher course, so here are my 10 rules for keeping your penis out of trouble.
George Dvorsky: Why Freud Still Matters, When He Was Wrong About Almost Everything (io9)
In summation, Westen says there are five broad areas in which the work of Sigmund Freud remains relevant to psychology: the existence of unconscious mental processes, the importance of conflict and ambivalence in behavior, the childhood origins of adult personality, mental representations as a mediator of social behavior, and stages of psychological development.
Mark Morford: 100 Percent All Natural Lies (SF Gate)
Little things, but important. Things you wish everyone knew, across all cultures and genders and IQ levels, for then the world would only be a better place, healthier, less overtly depressed, disillusioned, poisoned. You know?
Andrew Tobias: People Versus Copper
As a centrist type, I am all about rejecting the extremes (as I'm sure Patrick and Artie would, too) - communism at one end, Darwinian capitalism at the other - and finding a good balance in between. That's why it's frustrating yet oddly validating when President Obama is simultaneously lambasted as a Marxist from the right and "Republican lite" from the left.
Mike Vuolo: Grammar Scolds Unite! (Slate)
Embracing the hand-slapping, prescriptivist schoolmarm in all of us.
John Farrier: How Teachers Can Use Neatorama
I teach a first year experience course to college students--a semester-long orientation to college life. When I do lesson planning for a class, I often begin with a search of Neatorama's archives. I look for neat videos, images or events that will grab the attention of my students. For example, when my students begin exploring potential careers, I start the class by showing this terrifying video of a man cleaning--by hand--a cobra pit:…
Dan Kois: Mass-Market Marathon (Slate)
Entry 6: The beauty of the pocket paperback: If it stinks, you can just throw it away!
My dad's friend made this after someone stole his package (Imgur)
Beware! 500-pound Robber!
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
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David Bruce has approximately 50 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Dueling Headlines
Six of 12 small cars do well in front crash tests - Yahoo! News
Half of small cars score badly on tougher U.S. crash tests - Yahoo! News
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Another atypical marine layer.
Tribute Set
Richie Havens
The ashes of Richie Havens will be scattered across the site of the 1969 Woodstock Festival on the anniversary of the final day of the concert he opened with a nearly three-hour performance.
Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, the music venue built on the Woodstock site in New York's Sullivan County, announced Tuesday that a musical tribute to the folk singer-guitarist will be held Aug. 18. That's the 44th anniversary of the final day of the three-day concert that drew more than 400,000 people to Max Yasgur's farm.
Havens died in April of a heart attack at age 72. He was Woodstock's first performer after massive traffic jams kept the scheduled opening acts from showing up on time. His performance of "Freedom" became a signature moment of the concert.
Richie Havens
YouTube's Most Popular Superhero
Batman
"Iron Man" is the top superhero at the box office, but Batman is the king of YouTube. As part of Geek Week, YouTube researched which superheroes are most popular on the video site.
Batman came out on top, with more than 3 billion views across 71,000 hours of video. Thor came in second, which may be a good sign for Marvel as "Thor 2" nears its release this November.
Superman, whom Warner Bros. rebirthed at the box office this summer, came in third.
There have been recent movies made about the top eight, but the last two spots, Justice League and Deadpool, are sore sports for comic book fans. They've been craving a Deadpool movie for years, and "Justice League" seems like DC Comics' natural follow to "The Avengers."
Batman
Cast As Charlie Harper's Daughter
Amber Tamblyn
The memory of Charlie Sheen's Charlie Harper lives alive and well in Amber Tamblyn.
The actress will play Jenny, the late Charlie's illegitimate daughter on the upcoming 11th season of the CBS Show, a network representative told TheWrap.
She'll appear in five episodes and apparently share much of her father's favorite things, including women. Yes, she will be a lesbian. The role may get bigger if the character works well for the show. The search for the actress to fill this role has been on since at least May.
In April, the comedy was renewed along with the news that Angus T. Jones, the titular "half" on the series, has been bumped down from series regular to a recurring role. Last year, the young actor had trashed the show in a religious video that went viral.
Amber Tamblyn
'Wizard of Oz' Tie
Syracuse, NY
If it weren't for one home in Syracuse, there would be no Wizard of Oz.
That's the contention of the Lyman Frank Baum Foundation, named for the central New York native who wrote "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." The book was the basis for the 1939 Judy Garland film.
The foundation is holding fundraisers this week in Syracuse to try to save a derelict home where Baum's sister, Harriet Baum Neal, lived in the 1880s. Foundation members tell The Post-Standard of Syracuse that Frank Baum met his future wife, Maud Gage, at the home.
The organization says Gage's mother was a prominent supporter of women's rights whose ideas influenced Baum's vision of Oz, where powerful women such as Glinda the Good Witch act for the betterment of society.
Syracuse, NY
Chicago Conference
ALEC
More than a thousand conservative lawmakers and business executives are gathering this week for a conference that could shape a new wave of Republican legislation in state capitols pushing for deeper tax cuts, limits on union powers and a private-sector makeover for government Medicaid programs.
Attendees at the American Legislative Exchange Council were countered Thursday by a roughly equal number of protesters upset by the close ties between big businesses and lawmakers. As meeting participants handed out awards and dined at a meal sponsored by the Texas Oil and Gas Association, picketers denouncing "corporate greed" paced the sidewalks and clogged the street in front of the Chicago hotel hosting the conference.
The conservative organization's 40th annual meeting comes as it is experiencing increased influence due to a growth in Republican-led legislatures and enhanced opposition from liberal-leaning groups that have successfully persuaded some corporations to drop their support of the council. Businesses provide the bulk of the financing for the association, and industry officials serve with lawmakers on closed-door, issue-oriented task forces that develop model legislation for states.
The organization has more than 600 current model bills spanning a full range of issues, from accountability in government to zoning regulations.
ALEC
Can Keep Spider-Man, X-Men
Marvel
Spider-Man, Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk can continue to reside in Marvel's offices after a federal appeals court on Thursday rejected an ownership claim by the children of the artist who helped create them.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan agreed with a lower court judge who denied claims by the family of Jack Kirby, the legendary artist who died in 1994 and whose work spanned more than half a century.
His heirs in California and New York wanted to terminate Marvel's copyrights from 2014 through 2019 to comics published from 1958 to 1963.
Marvel Worldwide Inc. sued in January 2010 to prevent it, leading U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon in July 2011 to conclude the work was done "for hire," a legal term that rendered the heirs' claims invalid.
Marvel
Highest Paid
TV Personalities
Simon Cowell, the acerbic judge on "The X Factor" talent show, tied for first place as the highest-paid personality on U.S. television with "America's Got Talent" judge Howard Stern, Forbes.com said on Thursday.
Cowell, 53, jumped from third place last year, while Stern moved up from No. 2. Both earned an estimated $95 million for the year up to June 2013, putting them ahead of conservative talk show host Glenn Beck (R-Delusional), at $90 million.
Oprah Winfrey, 59, dropped from first place last year to fourth with $77 million, followed by talk-show host and author "Dr." Phil McGraw, who hauled in an estimated $72 million and rounded out the top five.
Two other women also made the top 10. Talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres was No. 9 with earnings of $56 million, and Judge Judy Sheindlin, whose court show is one of the most watched syndicated daytime programs, was tenth with $47 million.
TV Personalities
Ashes Inspected
Romania
A Romanian museum official says some of the paint pigments recovered from an oven of a woman whose son is charged with stealing seven multimillion-dollar paintings in the Netherlands contain chemicals from colors used in the 19th and 20th century, but aren't commonly used anymore.
Forensic scientists at Romania's National History Museum examined ash from the stove of Olga Dogaru, whose son is the chief suspect in last year's theft of paintings, which include a Matisse, a Picasso and a Monet.
Authorities said Dogaru initially admitted burning the paintings to protect her son, but later denied it.
Museum director Ernest Oberlander Tarnoveanu said Thursday their investigation found traces of "very old" yellow arsenic, which painters say hasn't been in common use since World War II because of its toxicity.
Romania
$25 Million Gift
Steve Wynn
Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn will donate $25 million to the University of Iowa to accelerate the search for cures to rare eye diseases including the one that hampers his own vision, the school announced Thursday.
The donation, to be paid over five years, will support the Institute for Vision Research, will be renamed in honour of the billionaire chairman and CEO of Wynn Resorts Ltd. The institute is a leader in genetic testing for eye disease and seeks to develop gene and stem cell therapies that could restore vision.
Wynn, 71, has retinitis pigmentosa, a disease that affects one in 4,000 people and causes night blindness and weakness in peripheral vision. A fixture at Las Vegas galas, he's often seen leaning on an aide's arm at nighttime events.
Wynn, a University of Pennsylvania alum, has no prior ties to Iowa. But he and a longtime associate, Steve Dezii, who directs Wynn's foundation, have long-supported eye research and are acquainted with many top scientists, including institute director Ed Stone.
Wynn's deteriorating sight has caused problems. In 2006, he damaged a Pablo Picasso painting called "Le Reve" shortly after he had agreed to sell it for a record $139 million. Wynn was showing the painting to guests when he struck the painting with his elbow, tearing a silver dollar-sized hole in the canvas. In March, he sold the restored painting for $155 million.
Steve Wynn
U.S. Declares 'Unusual Mortality Event'
Dolphins
Federal scientists investigating an unusually high number of dead bottlenose dolphins washing up on the East Coast said on Thursday the carcasses are showing up at a rate that is seven times higher than usual.
More than 120 dead animals have been discovered since June from New Jersey to Virginia, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries Service said.
Federal scientists have declared it an "unusual mortality event" and are investigating the cause, said Maggie Mooney-Seus of NOAA Fisheries.
Although the cause has not been determined, early tissue analysis showed that one suspect could be morbillivirus, an infectious pathogen, said Teri Rowles, national marine mammal stranding coordinator for NOAA Fisheries.
It has been 25 years since the last large die-off of dolphins along the U.S. coast. In 1987, more than 740 animals died of morbillivirus on the coast from New Jersey to Florida.
Dolphins
Not So Color Blind
Americans
About 40 percent of white Americans and about 25 percent of non-white Americans are surrounded exclusively by friends of their own race, according to an ongoing Reuters/Ipsos poll.
The figures highlight how segregated the United States remains in the wake of a debate on race sparked by last month's acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting of unarmed black Florida teenager Trayvon Martin. President Barack Obama weighed in after the verdict, calling for Americans to do some "soul searching" on whether they harbor racial prejudice.
There are regions and groups where mixing with people of other races is more common, especially in the Hispanic community where only a tenth do not have friends of a different race. About half of Hispanics who have a spouse or partner are in a relationship with non-Hispanics, compared to one tenth of whites and blacks in relationships.
Looking at a broader circle of acquaintances to include coworkers as well as friends and relatives, 30 percent of Americans are not mixing with others of a different race, the poll showed.
As a group, Pacific states - including California, the most populous in the nation - are the most diverse when it comes to love and friendship. By contrast, the South has the lowest percentage of people with more than five acquaintances from races that don't reflect their own.
Americans
In Memory
Margaret Pellegrini
Margaret Pellegrini, one of the original Munchkins from the 1939 classic movie "The Wizard of Oz," has died. She was 89.
Pellegrini suffered a stroke Monday at her Glendale home and died Wednesday at a Phoenix-area hospital, said Ted Bulthaup, a Woodbridge, Ill., resident who owns a Chicago theater where Pellegrini and other Munchkins have made special appearances. Bulthaup said he learned of Pellegrini's death from her relatives.
Pellegrini has said she was 16 when "The Wizard of Oz" was filmed. She played one of the "sleepy head" kids and wore a flowerpot on her head in the movie.
With her death, only two of the original 124 Munchkins in the movie are still alive.
The surviving Munchkins are Jerry Maren, 93, who lives in Los Angeles, and Ruth Duccini, 95, who lives in Phoenix, Bulthaup said.
Margaret Pellegrini
In Memory
Barbara Mertz
Barbara Mertz, a best-selling mystery writer who wrote dozens of novels under two pen names, has died. She was 85.
Mertz died Thursday morning at her home, in Frederick, Md., her daughter Elizabeth told her publisher HarperCollins.
Mertz wrote more than 35 mysteries under the name Elizabeth Peters, including her most popular series about a daring Victorian archaeologist named Amelia Peabody. She also wrote 29 suspense novels under the pen name Barbara Michaels, and under her own name, she wrote nonfiction books about ancient Egypt.
Born Barbara Louise Gross, Mertz grew up in small-town Illinois during the Depression and went to the University of Chicago on scholarship, where she wrote on her website, "I was supposed to be preparing myself to teach - a nice, sensible career for a woman."
But her true love was archaeology, and she soon found herself drawn to the department of Egyptology. She received a Ph.D. at the age of 23.
In the post-World War II era, she wasn't encouraged to enter the field. "I recall overhearing one of my professors say to another, 'At least we don't have to worry about finding a job for her. She'll get married,'" she wrote.
She did, and while raising two children, she decided to try her hand at mystery writing. It wasn't until the family moved to Germany - and had the luxury of household help - that she wrote something that attracted an agent. She wrote two nonfiction books about Egypt under her own name before having her first fiction published, "The Master of Blacktower," under the Michaels name.
Under the Peters name - a combination of her children's first names - she produced several mystery series, including 19 books about Peabody. When the series began, with "Crocodile on the Sandbank" in 1975, Amelia pursued her adventures while pregnant. The series continued until her son, Ramses, was grown.
She divorced in the 1970s, but continued her fiction writing despite financial concerns.
In 1998, Mertz received the grandmaster lifetime achievement award from the Mystery Writers of America, the top award from the mystery writers group.
Mertz is survived by her children, Elizabeth and Peter, and six grandchildren.
Barbara Mertz
In Memory
Marilyn King
Entertainer Marilyn King, who spent decades singing with the King Sisters and also worked as a songwriter and actress, has died. She was 82.
King began her singing career at 13, eventually joining her sisters' quartet, which released more than 150 albums in the 1940s, '50s and '60s. She went on to appear with her sisters on The King Family Show, an ABC variety program in the 1960s.
She appeared on TV in "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet" and "MASH" and on stage in "Guys & Dolls" and "Hello, Dolly!"
King is survived by three children and seven grandchildren.
Marilyn King
In Memory
Karen Black
Karen Black, the prolific actress who appeared in more than 100 movies and was featured in such counterculture favorites as "Easy Rider," ''Five Easy Pieces" and "Nashville," has died.
Black's husband, Stephen Eckelberry, says the actress died Wednesday from complications from cancer. She was 74.
Known for her full lips and thick, wavy hair that seemed to change color from film to film, Black often portrayed women who were quirky, troubled or threatened. Her breakthrough was as a prostitute who takes LSD with Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda in 1969's "Easy Rider," the hippie classic that helped get her the role of Rayette Dipesto, a waitress who dates - and is mistreated by - an upper-class dropout played by Jack Nicholson in 1970's "Five Easy Pieces."
Cited by The New York Times as a "pathetically appealing vulgarian," Black's performance won her an Oscar nomination and Golden Globe Award. She would recall that playing Rayette really was acting: The well-read, cerebral Black, raised in a comfortable Chicago suburb, had little in common with her relatively simple-minded character.
The actress would claim that her career as an A-list actress was ruined by "The Day of the Locust," a troubled 1975 production of the Nathanael West novel that brought her a Golden Globe nomination but left Black struggling to find quality roles. By the end of the '70s, she was appearing in television and in low-budget productions. Black received strong reviews in 1982 as a transsexual in Altman's "Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean." But despite working constantly over the next 30 years, she was more a cult idol than a major Hollywood star. Her credits included guest appearances on such TV series as "Law & Order" and "Party of Five" and enough horror movies, notably "Trilogy of Terror," that a punk band named itself "The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black."
Black was born Karen Ziegler and grew up in Park Ridge, Ill. Her father was a sales executive and violinist, her mother the children's novelist Elsie Reif Zeigler. By grade school, she already knew she wanted to be an actress and was so advanced a learner that at age 15 she enrolled in Northwestern University to study drama, a time she remembered as stifling and discouraging. By the early 1960s, she had moved to New York; made her film debut, in "The Prime Time"; and had married Charles Black, whose last name she kept even though they were together only for a short time.
She studied acting under Lee Strasberg and through much of the '60s worked off-Broadway and in television, including "Mannix" and "Adam-12." Her first Broadway show, "The Playroom," lasted less than a month, but brought her to the attention of a young director-screenwriter, Francis Ford Coppola, who cast her in the 1966 release "You're a Big Boy Now."
Black was married four times. She is survived by Eckelberry, a son and a daughter.
Karen Black
In Memory
'Cowboy' Jack Clement
"Cowboy" Jack Clement, a producer, engineer, songwriter and beloved figure who helped birth rock 'n' roll and push country music into modern times, died Thursday morning at his home. He was 82.
His death came just months after he learned he would be joining the Country Music Hall of Fame, a fitting tip of the cowboy hat to the man whose personal story is entwined with the roots of modern music like few others. He was to be inducted at a ceremony later this fall.
At the top of his official Country Music Hall of Fame bio was one of Clement's favorite quotes: "We're in the fun business. If we're not having fun, we're not doing our job."
Clement could claim as much fun as anyone after a colorful career that left him a beloved figure in Nashville, known as much for his colorful personality and storytelling ability as his rather formidable place in music history.
A tribute benefit concert to Clement last winter drew video salutes from first lady Michelle Obama, former President Bill Clinton and pop phenom Taylor Swift, as well as performances and appearances by an all-star lineup of fans that included Kris Kristofferson, John Prine, Dan Auerbach from The Black Keys and Jakob Dylan.
Clement's career included stops in Memphis at Sun Records as an engineer for Sam Phillips, where he discovered Jerry Lee Lewis and recorded greats like Carl Perkins and Roy Orbison. He also came through Nashville, where he was a close collaborator of Johnny Cash, Charley Pride and many of his fellow hall of fame members, including fellow 2013 inductee Bobby Bare.
His impact was more than tangential. As the hall of fame noted, he was a catalyst who always seemed to bring the best out of those he worked with.
For instance, he convinced Lewis to put aside the country material he brought to Sun Records and stretch out with something a little more upbeat. The result? "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On," which soon hit radio like napalm.
And how about this? He convinced Kristofferson to move to town, changing just about everything in Music City.
He's also the guy who came up with the idea of putting Mariachi horns on Cash's "Ring of Fire," transforming a fairly sedate love song into an ascendant pop culture moment that would endure time.
Born in Memphis in 1931, Clement picked up music in his late teens and continued to perform after joining the Marines at 17. He abruptly ended his performance career after making one record in Boston in 1953 and returned home. He picked up the nickname "Cowboy" for his role in a radio show while attending Memphis State and soon built a garage recording studio.
He took the first records he made to Sun to master and was hired on the spot by Phillips. He also served as a producer, engineer and talent scout in Nashville for Chet Atkins during some of country music's most important years.
Along the way, he boosted George Jones' career with his composition "She Thinks I Still Care" and had songs recorded by Ray Charles, Waylon Jennings, Tom Jones, Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner and Elvis Presley.
As a producer, he helped break through the color barrier in country music through his discovery of Pride, established Jennings with their work on "Dreaming My Dreams" and touched the legendary careers of Louis Armstrong, Albert Collins, Prine, Townes Van Zandt and Hank Williams Jr., among others.
He also helped mark a turning point in the career of U2, recording their roots tribute "Rattle and Hum."
'Cowboy' Jack Clement
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