Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Evangelical Mortal Kombat (Disinformation)
A video of one cultural phenomenon interpreted through the lens of another.
Squeeze Out Your Creative Juices
John Cleese, a humorous and wise personality, discusses how to unleash the creativity that every individual possesses. Tapping into one's unconscious mind may be the key to unraveling its true power and magic.
Jim Hightower: PERRY'S "TEXANITY" EXPLAINED
Occasionally, we Texans have a responsibility explain our Texanity to befuddled out-of-staters.
Marc Dion: A Wad of Money in America (Creators Syndicate)
So, you got one guy, a Republican congressman, who wants to hold hearings into Muslim extremism in America, and you got another guy, a Muslim Democratic congressman, who starts crying.
Peter Brooks: Our Universities: How Bad? How Good? (New York Review of Books)
Research and teaching have always cohabited: anyone who teaches a subject well wants to know more about it, and when she knows more, to impart that knowledge.
Stephen C. Webster: Education Secretary: 82% of US public schools may 'fail' this year (Raw Story)
In testimony to Congress Wednesday, US Education Secretary Arne Duncan made a startling claim: This year, up to 82 percent of public schools could "fail" the government's "No Child Left Behind" standards. "No Child Left Behind is broken and we need to fix it now," he said, according to a transcript provided by the Department of Education.
Robert Lloyd: With everything available, what will you watch? (Los Angeles Times)
With choice upon choice from subscription services such as Netflix, you can have access without the burden of ownership. Choose wisely.
ROGER EBERT: Ip Man 2 (3 stars)
"Ip Man 2" is a reminder of the pleasure of classic martial-arts films in which skilled athletes performed many of their own stunts. In its direct and sincere approach, it's a rebuke to the frenzied editing that reduces so many recent action movies into incomprehensible confusion.
DAVID MERMELSTEIN: Master of the Mise-en-Scène (Wall Street Journal)
Josef von Sternberg may be best known today for having made Marlene Dietrich a star, but he first made a name for himself directing silent pictures.
Lykke Li: 'The slightest remark can get me crazy' (Guardian)
As her new album shows, Sweden's Lykke Li is a lover and a fighter. But why is she so sensitive, wonders Killian Fox.
The Duke, Before My Time (Wall Street Journal)
Having treasured his music of the 1940s, Nat Hentoff knew little about Duke Ellington's earlier recordings. Until now.
Tramp The Last Mile: Our Interview With Henry Rollins (culturebrats.com)
I don't feel old but the comedian in me cannot resist having fun with being fifty. Someone actually gave me a cane for a present and my assistant makes me use it around the office all the day. She's like (in crazy lady voice), "Here! Use your cane!" and I walk around with it like "Really?"
David Bruce has 41 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $41 you can buy 10,250 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," and "Maximum Cool."
wrote:
answered:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Suggestions
Michelle in AZ
BadtotheboneBob
Queen Victoria and Abdul
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny afternoon, foggy night.
Denial Is Not Just A River In Egypt
P.J. Crowley
Chief State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley quit on Sunday after causing a stir by describing the military's treatment of the suspected WikiLeaks leaker as "ridiculous" and "stupid," pointed words that forced President Barack Obama to defend the detention as appropriate.
"Given the impact of my remarks, for which I take full responsibility, I have submitted my resignation" to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, according to a department statement attributed to the office of the spokesman. In a separate statement released simultaneously, Clinton said she had accepted the resignation "with regret."
Crowley's comments about the conditions for Army Pfc. Bradley Manning at a Marine Corps brig in Quantico, Va., reverberated quickly, from the small audience in Massachusetts where Crowley spoke, to a White House news conference Friday where Obama was asked to weigh in on the treatment of the 23-year-old believed responsible for the largest leak of classified American documents ever.
Manning is being held in solitary confinement for all but an hour every day, and is stripped naked each night and given a suicide-proof smock to wear to bed. His lawyer calls the treatment degrading. Amnesty International says the treatment may violate Manning's human rights.
P.J. Crowley
Geography Lesson
Revolutionary War
U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Batshit Crazy) of Minnesota stood before New Hampshire Republicans with a tea bag clutched in her hand Saturday, but her grasp on Revolutionary War geography wasn't quite as tight.
Before headlining a GOP fundraiser, the possible presidential hopeful told a group of students and conservative activists in Manchester, "You're the state where the shot was heard around the world in Lexington and Concord."
But those first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired in Massachusetts, not New Hampshire.
Though Bachmann probably wasn't the first to confuse Concord, N.H., with Concord, Mass., her mistake was striking given her roots in the tea party movement, which takes its name from the dumping of tea into Boston Harbor by angry American colonists in December 1773, 16 months before the Battle of Lexington Green.
Revolutionary War
Flamenco Guitarist
Caroline Plante
On stage, she cuts a striking figure. It isn't her trendy clothes or Gypsy earrings, but her flamenco guitar: it's a man's instrument in a man's world. Spaniards are even more startled to discover Caroline Plante is a French-speaking Canadian.
But the insular and machismo-fueled world of Spain's most treasured music form has opened its arms to Plante, whose artistry has compelled even its most finicky fans to sit up and take notice.
At 35, after a life strumming and picking alongside flamenco singers and dancers, Plante (pronounced Plahn-tay) has just finished composing and recording what is considered the first complete record by a woman flamenco guitarist.
On it she is accompanied by no less than one of Spain's top flamenco singers, Duquende, and the disc was cut in one of the country's legendary flamenco recording studios, Musigrama.
Women have always played a key role in flamenco, but almost exclusively in dancing and singing. The instruments - and especially the quintessential guitar - have long been the domain of men.
Caroline Plante
Ice Age Dig
Los Angeles
With a dental pick in hand, Karin Rice delicately scraped off a clump of asphalt from a pelvic bone belonging to a horse that roamed Los Angeles tens of thousands of years ago.
Like many unsuspecting creatures of the last Ice Age, the horse probably stopped to take a sip of spring water only to be ensnared - and later preserved - in a pool of sticky asphalt that seeped from underground crude oil deposits.
"You're opening up this ancient world and getting to look back in time," Rice said during a recent dig at the La Brea Tar Pits in the heart of Los Angeles.
For the past three years, scientists have been sifting through a significant trove of bones and a nearly intact mammoth skeleton discovered in 2006 during the construction of an underground garage next to the tar pits.
Careful to avoid the mistakes of early diggers who only prized large mammals bones and little else, a small army of museum employees and volunteers painstakingly chisels away seven days a week, recovering not only animal bones, but also saving the dirt for later inspection for microfossils.
Los Angeles
Throw Him Off The Bench
Clarence "Slappy" Thomas
The criminal-law scholar George Fletcher once quipped that the maxim "ignorance of the law is no excuse" is one of the few fundamental principles of law that most people actually know. As harsh as this principle may sometimes be when applied to ordinary citizens, applying it to justices of the Supreme Court seems only reasonable.
Thus it's difficult to feel sympathy for Clarence Thomas, as he finds himself embroiled in a controversy over his failure to reveal the sources of his wife's non-investment income (or indeed that she even had any such income). The 1978 Ethics in Government Act requires all federal judges to fill out annual financial-disclosure forms. The relevant question on the disclosure form isn't complicated: Even if Justice Thomas wasn't a lawyer, he shouldn't have needed to hire one to explain to him that the box marked NONE next to the phrase "Spouse's Non-Investment Income" should only be checked if his spouse had no non-investment income.
In fact Ginni Thomas was paid nearly $700,000 by the Heritage Foundation, a "conservative think tank," between 2003 and 2007, as well as an undisclosed amount by another lobbying group in 2009. Justice Thomas' false statements regarding his wife's income certainly constitute a misdemeanor, and quite probably a felony, under federal law. (They would be felonies if he were prosecuted under 18. U.S.C. 1001, which criminalizes knowingly making false statements of material fact to a federal agency. This is the law Martha Stewart was convicted of breaking by lying to investigators.)
Thomas' behavior raises three obvious questions, the answers to which are all inter-related: Why is it likely that no consequences will be visited on a Supreme Court justice who has committed a series of criminal offenses? Why is this story not a full-blown scandal? And why did Clarence Thomas do what he did?
Thomas is very unlikely to be prosecuted or otherwise sanctioned for the simple reason that, in the United States in 2011, we have a two-tiered system of laws. As Glenn Greenwald explains in his forthcoming book With Liberty and Justice for Some, despite living in a country with an unusually harsh criminal code that has created by far the biggest prison population in the world, our political and financial elites operate with something approaching complete impunity, safe in the knowledge that demands they be subjected to the same laws as everybody else will be ignored.
This in turn helps explain why a Supreme Court justice's egregious flouting of the law doesn't rise to the level of a significant public scandal: Because nothing is going to happen to Thomas, the fact that he has spent the last several years repeatedly flipping off the very same legal system that has made him one of the most powerful people in the country doesn't qualify as significant news. In America today, after all, the president orders American citizens to be assassinated with no trial, investment bankers steal billions, prisoners are tortured in flagrant violation of both U.S. and international law, and the legal system simply looks the other way. In such an atmosphere, it stands to reason that a Supreme Court justice committing a few minor crimes is a dog-bites-man story.
Read the rest - Clarence "Slappy" Thomas
Website Hacked
Irrawaddy
A Thailand-based news website critical of
The Irrawaddy website is run by exiled Myanmar journalists. It said on its home page Sunday that it was trying to fix the problem and prevent further attacks.
The Irrawaddy's coverage of Myanmar has included exclusive photos of secret military missions to North Korea. It has been the target of several denial-of-service attacks that are meant to make the site unreachable.
The fake articles concerned an alleged feud between Irrawaddy's editor and pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, and the purported death of a popular singer.
Irrawaddy
140 Tons Of Dead Sardines
Redondo Beach
Cleaning crews on Sunday finished removing millions of fish found floating dead in a Southern California marina, five days after the slimy, stinking mass of sardines was discovered.
Crews from several coastal cities and more than 700 volunteers removed about 140 tons of dead sardines from King Harbor in Redondo Beach, city officials said in a statement.
The fish were taken to a composting center where they will be turned into fertilizer.
The sardines died late Monday and caked the water's surface the next morning, stacking up to 2 feet deep in some spots.
Redondo Beach
Pilots Lock Down Cockpit
Alaska Airlines
Pilots on an Alaska Airlines flight locked down the cockpit and alerted authorities after three passengers conducted an elaborate orthodox Jewish prayer ritual during their Los Angeles-bound flight.
Airline spokeswoman Bobbie Egan says the crew of Flight 241 from Mexico City became alarmed Sunday after the men began the ritual, which involves tying leather straps and small wooden boxes to the body.
FBI and customs agents, along with police and fire crews, met the plane at the gate at Los Angeles International Airport.
Airport police say two or three men were escorted off the plane, questioned by the FBI, and released. No arrests were made.
Alaska Airlines
Weekend Box Office
"Battle: Los Angeles"
The summer-style blockbuster "Battle: Los Angles" performed like one at the box office, opening to a strong debut of $36 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. The film stars Aaron Eckhart as a veteran soldier leading a platoon of Marines in combat against invading aliens.
For Columbia Pictures and Sony, the sci-fi action film recalls its 2009 Oscar-nominated hit, "District 9." "Battle: Los Angeles" hasn't received nearly as good reviews, but it benefited from a 68 percent male audience and a very successful marketing campaign.
In its second week of release, the animated Western spoof "Rango" came in second, adding $23.1 million for a cumulative total of $68.7 million. The critically acclaimed Paramount Pictures film appeared on its way to surpassing $100 million.
"Red Riding Hood," the updated fairy tale starring Amanda Seyfried and helmed by "Twilight" director Catherine Hardwicke, debuted to $14.1 million for Warner Bros.
Worse was Disney's animated 3-D family film "Mars Needs Moms!" It opened to a disappointing $6.8 million, well below expectations. With a voice cast including Seth Green and Joan Cusack, it also opened on more than 200 IMAX screens.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Battle: Los Angeles," $36 million.
2. "Rango," $23.1 million.
3. "Red Riding Hood," $14.1 million.
4. "The Adjustment Bureau," $11.5 million.
5. "Mars Needs Moms!" $6.8 million.
6. "Hall Pass," $5.1 million.
7. "Beastly," $5.1 million
8. "Just Go With It," $4 million.
9. "The King's Speech," $3.6 million.
10. "Gnomeo & Juliet," $3.5 million.
"Battle: Los Angeles"
In Memory
Joe Morello
Legendary jazz drummer Joe Morello, whose virtuosity and command of odd time signatures made him an integral part of the Dave Brubeck Quartet on such classic recordings as "Take Five" and "Blue Rondo a la Turk," has died at age 82.
Morello's decision to join Brubeck's quartet in 1956 paved the way for the leader's experiments in unusual rhythms on a series of groundbreaking "Time" albums in the late `50s and early `60s that earned popular and critical acclaim.
"Joe was a pioneer in odd time signatures and a vital part of the "Time" series the Quartet made at Columbia Records," said Brubeck. "His drum solo on 'Take Five' is still being heard around the world."
Brubeck got the inspiration for "Take Five" after hearing Morello playing a 5/4 beat while warming up backstage before a concert with alto saxophonist Paul Desmond. The pianist asked Desmond to write a melody in 5/4 time for a tune that would feature a Morello drum solo. Brubeck suggested combining two themes that Desmond wrote to create "Take Five," which became a surprise Top 40 hit on jukeboxes and one of the most best-known jazz recordings.
Raised in Springfield, Mass., with impaired vision from birth, Morello initially studied the violin before becoming a drummer in his teen years.
He eventually made his way to New York City, where he played with many leading jazz musicians over the years, and first came to prominence for his work as part of pianist Marian McPartland's Hickory House Trio in the early `50s.
In 1956, Morello turned down offers to join the Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey bands to go on a temporary tour with Brubeck's quartet after the pianist promised to feature him more prominently than was typical for jazz drummers at the time.
At their first concert, Brubeck gave him a drum solo, and Morello ended up staying with the pianist for 12 years. Morello won Downbeat magazine's best drummer award for five years in a row.
Morello recorded more than 60 albums with the quartet, starting with "Jazz Impressions Of The U.S.A." and "Dave Digs Disney" in 1957. He was with the quartet on its 1958 State Department-sponsored tour that took the group to 14 countries, including Poland, India, Turkey, Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq.
After Brubeck disbanded the quartet in late 1967 to focus on composing extended orchestral and choral works, Morello turned to teaching and writing instructional books while making occasional guest solo appearances and performing with his own group in the New York area. His discography includes more than 120 albums.
Joe Morello
In Memory
Owsley Stanley
Owsley "Bear" Stanley, a 1960s counterculture figure who flooded the flower power scene with LSD and was an early benefactor of the Grateful Dead, died in a car crash in his adopted home country of Australia on Sunday, his family said. He was 76.
The renegade grandson of a former governor of Kentucky, Stanley helped lay the foundation for the psychedelic era by producing more than a million doses of LSD at his labs in San Francisco's Bay Area.
"He made acid so pure and wonderful that people like Jimi Hendrix wrote hit songs about it and others named their band in its honor," former rock 'n' roll tour manager Sam Cutler wrote in his 2008 memoirs "You Can't Always Get What You Want."
Hendrix's song "Purple Haze" was reputedly inspired by a batch of Stanley's product, though the guitarist denied any drug link. The ear-splitting psychedelic-blues combo Blue Cheer took its named from another batch.
Stanley briefly managed the Grateful Dead, and oversaw every aspect of their live sound at a time when little thought was given to amplification in public venues. His tape recordings of Dead concerts were turned into live albums, providing him with a healthy income in later life.
"When it came to technology, the Bear was one of the most far-out and interesting guys on the planet," Cutler wrote. "The first FM live simulcast could be, in part, attributed to his vision, as could the first quadraphonic simulcast on radio."
The Dead, a fabled rock band formed in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1965 known for its improvisational live concerts, wrote about him in their song "Alice D. Millionaire" after a 1967 arrest prompted a newspaper to describe Stanley as an "LSD millionaire."
Steely Dan's 1976 single "Kid Charlemagne" was loosely inspired by Stanley's exploits.
According to a 2007 profile in the San Francisco Chronicle, Stanley started cooking LSD after discovering the recipe in a chemistry journal at the University of California, Berkeley.
The police raided his first lab in 1966, but Stanley successfully sued for the return of his equipment. After a marijuana bust in 1970, he went to prison for two years.
"I wound up doing time for something I should have been rewarded for," he told the Chronicle's Joel Selvin.
"What I did was a community service, the way I look at it. I was punished for political reasons. Absolutely meaningless. Was I a criminal? No. I was a good member of society. Only my society and the one making the laws are different."
He emigrated to the tropical Australian state of Queensland in the early 1980s, apparently fearful of a new ice age, and sold enamel sculptures on the Internet. He lost one of his vocal cords to cancer.
Stanley was born Augustus Owsley Stanley III in Kentucky, a state governed by his namesake grandfather from 1915 to 1919. He served in the U.S. Air Force for 18 months, studied ballet in Los Angeles and then enrolled at UC Berkeley. In addition to producing and advocating LSD, he adhered to an all-meat diet.
Stanley and his wife, Sheila, were driving to their home near the city of Cairns along a dangerous stretch of highway when he evidently lost control during a storm. He died instantly; his wife broke her collar bone.
Stanley is also survived by four children, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Owsley Stanley
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
