Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Ryan Gilbey: "Groundhog Day: the perfect comedy, for ever" (Guardian)
Speak to any of the film's admirers and one word comes up repeatedly: perfect. "I thought straight away that it was a classic," says Wearing. "It's like a Billy Wilder film: other generations will understand immediately what's so good about it. To me, it's a perfect film."
Paul Krugman: Francs, Fear, and Folly (NY Times Column)
Switzerland shows us how hard it is to fight the deflationary vortex that's dragging down the world economy.
Paul Krugman: Regime Change in Switzerland (NY Times Blog)
Blogging will be limited for the next few days, unless I can resolve the tech problems here in Delhi. But I did want to say something about the Swiss de-pegging, beyond what I put in the column.
Brian McMahon: 10 Living Things Thriving in Death Valley (Neatorama)
There's a reason it's called Death Valley. This vast expanse of the Mojave Desert gets less than 2 inches of rain per year, the daytime temperatures can reach upwards of 120 degrees, and the landscape is so salt-laden and windswept that it's nearly impossible for anything to take root. But there's more life in Death Valley than you'd imagine. Here are 10 stubborn plants and animals that refuse to retire to greener pastures.
Charlie Jane Anders and Diana Biller: Top 10 Biggest Design Flaws In The U.S.S. Enterprise (io9)
Star Trek broke new ground by having a spaceship without fins and rockets, and by consulting with the RAND Corp. on its design. And the Enterprise is indeed a beauty. But the Federation's coolest starship isn't flawless, by any means. Here are the 10 biggest design flaws in the U.S.S. Enterprise.
Molly Beauchemin: The Truth About Your Smile (The Hairpin)
4.) Floss More, Brush Less
CBC News: Tattoo camouflages scars and burns (YouTube)
Basma Hameed provides para-medical tattoo treatments to help patients hide scars and burns.
Miss Cellania: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Neatorama)
Paul took over the reigns for the recording of Sgt. Pepper, and the album was to be pretty much the swan song of the Lennon/McCartney songwriting partnership, the most successful partnership in the history of popular music.
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"Doug's Most Shared Facebook Post" Today
said:
took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
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 than seasonal.
Reuniting For Concerts
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead is coming back to life for final concerts in July.
The band announced Friday that surviving members Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh and Bob Weir will perform three shows from July 3-5 at Soldier Field in Chicago.
The band is celebrating its 50th anniversary, and the shows will mark its final performances, the band said. They last performed at the Chicago venue in 1995 with band member Jerry Garcia, who died a month after the show.
Tickets for "Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of Grateful Dead" will be available through a mail order system on Jan. 20. They go on sale online Feb. 14.
The Grateful Dead will be joined by Phish's Trey Anastasio, keyboardist Jeff Chimenti and pianist Bruce Hornsby at the concerts.
Grateful Dead
"Civil Liberties"
Asset Seizure
State and local police in the United States will no longer be able to use federal laws to justify seizing property without evidence of a crime, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said on Friday.
The practice of local police taking property, including cash and cars, from people that they stop, and of handing it over to federal authorities, became common during the country's war on drugs in the 1980s.
Holder cited "safeguarding civil liberties" as a reason for the change in policy.
The order directs federal agencies who have collected property during such seizures to withdraw their participation, except if the items collected could endanger the public, as in the case of firearms.
Asset Seizure
Best-seller Pulled
Malarkey
A best-selling account of a 6-year-old boy's journey to heaven and back has been pulled after the boy retracted his story.
Spokesman Todd Starowitz of Tyndale House, a leading Christian publisher, confirmed Friday that Alex Malarkey's "The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven: A Remarkable Account of Miracles, Angels, and Life Beyond This World" was being withdrawn. Earlier this week, Malarkey acknowledged in an open letter that he was lying, saying that he had been seeking attention. He also regretted that "people had profited from lies."
"I did not die. I did not go to Heaven," he wrote. "When I made the claims that I did, I had never read the Bible. People have profited from lies, and continue to. They should read the Bible, which is enough."
"The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven" was first published in 2010 and told of a 2004 auto accident which left Malarkey in a coma. According to the book, co-written by Alex's father, Kevin Malarkey, he had visions of angels and of meeting Jesus. In 2014, Tyndale reissued "The Boy," which on the cover includes the billing "A True Story." As reported by Nielsen BookScan, which tracks around 85 percent of the print market, the book has sold nearly 120,000 copies.
Malarkey
Personal Injury Lawsuit
Rick Springfield
A jury has ruled that 1980s pop star Rick Springfield didn't injure a woman at a New York State Fair concert a decade ago.
The state Supreme Court jury reached its verdict Friday morning after deliberating for an hour.
The singer known for his 1981 hit "Jessie's Girl" was sued by 45-year-old Vicki Calcagno of Liverpool, New York. She says she suffered serious injuries when Springfield fell into her during a 2004 concert in suburban Syracuse. She said Springfield's buttocks hit her head, causing lasting injuries.
His lawyer said in closing arguments there were no witnesses, photos or video to support Calcagno's claim.
Calcagno sued in 2007 and there was an earlier mistrial in 2013.
Rick Springfield
Probation Revoked
Chris Brown
A judge revoked Chris Brown's probation on Thursday but allowed him to remain free for now after the R&B singer traveled without approval for a concert and failed to complete community service on time.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James R. Brandlin said Brown can remain free at least until a March 20 hearing when the judge will receive an update from probation officials.
Brown was ordered by those officials in December not to leave Los Angeles County without permission. However, the Grammy-winning singer performed at a nightclub in San Jose on Jan. 11 without obtaining permission to travel.
Defense attorney Mark Geragos told Brandlin that his office incorrectly advised Brown that he didn't need permission to travel for the show.
The judge said he accepted Geragos' explanation, but needed to revoke the singer's probation to keep control of the case. Brandlin also said it was not unexpected that Brown failed to complete his community service on time.
Chris Brown
What Climate Change?
2014
Record-breaking temperatures scorched the planet last year, making 2014 the hottest in more than a century and raising new concerns about global warming, US government scientists said Friday.
The much-anticipated report by scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was confirmed by an independent analysis from the US space agency NASA that reached the same conclusion.
For the year, the average temperature was 1.24 degrees Fahrenheit (0.69 Celsius) above the 20th century average, beating the previous record-holding years of 2005 and 2010 by 0.07 F (0.04 C).
Parts of the world that saw record heat included Russia, western Alaska, the western United States, parts of interior South America, parts of eastern and western coastal Australia, north Africa and most of Europe.
Land surface temperature was 1.80 F (1.00 C) above the 20th century average, marking the fourth highest in history.
2014
$43.7M in 2014
Disney CEO
Disney Chairman and CEO Robert Iger's compensation jumped to $43.7 million in 2014 as the company had a blockbuster year.
Iger's pay package was up 27 per cent from 2013, when he received $34.3 million in compensation. The change came in the form of a larger bonus: $22.8 million, up 68 per cent from the year before.
The company disclosed the compensation package Friday in its annual proxy statement filed with regulators.
Iger's salary was unchanged at $2.5 million. The value of his stock awards and other compensation grew slightly and the value of his options inched lower.
Disney CEO
13 More Cases
Measles
California health officials on Thursday confirmed 13 new measles cases connected to an outbreak at Disney theme parks last month, bringing the total number of illnesses to 39.
The new cases of the airborne illness include five in Los Angeles County and one in San Diego County.
Craig Sturak with the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency said Thursday that the public may have been exposed at that clinic and eight other places including drugstores, grocery stores and gyms.
Officials said 35 of the confirmed cases are in California, two are in Utah and one apiece in Colorado and Washington.
Of the 10 total cases in San Diego, only one patient had been vaccinated, Sturak said. Exact figures were not immediately available for other areas.
Measles
University Issues Beard Guidelines
Brigham Young
Utah's Brigham Young University, the Mormon Church's flagship education institution, has for the first time issued guidelines on when students may grow beards without violating its rule that men must be clean-shaven.
Under the private school's honor code, which forbids premarital sex, tattoos and drinking alcohol, and requires that men and women dress modestly, only certain students will be permitted to grow facial hair.
Exceptions will include medical conditions, theatrical production requests from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints media and drama departments, as well as religious observance and practice, according to the new standards published on Wednesday by the university in Provo, 50 miles (80 km) south of Salt Lake City.
BYU spokeswoman Carri Jenkins said religious cases, including for example beards worn by Sikh and Muslim students, will be worked out in coordination with the school's chaplain. Students with skin conditions that prevent shaving must get a note from the campus doctor.
Brigham Young
Seen On Mars
Beagle 2
A British-built probe which vanished 11 years ago has been found on the surface of Mars, scientists said on Friday, solving an enduring mystery of space exploration.
Joy at the discovery was tinged with sadness that it came a year after the death of Professor Colin Pillinger, the eccentric but brilliant driving force behind the 2003 mission.
Pillinger, whose mutton-chop sideburns helped make him one of Britain's favourite mad scientist figures, raised much of the money for the launch himself and died frustrated at the lack of support for a follow-up mission.
The Beagle 2 was a £50 million (65 million euros, $76 million) mission to establish whether there was, or had ever been, life on Mars but it was lost without trace on December 26, 2003.
The probe was detected during an analysis of images taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) last year but scientists said it would now be impossible to retrieve the data which it gathered.
Beagle 2
Volcano Creates New Island
Tonga
A Tongan volcano has created a substantial new island since it began erupting last month, spewing out huge volumes of rock and dense ash that has killed nearby vegetation, officials said Friday.
The volcano, about 65 kilometres (40 miles) southwest of the South Pacific nation's capital Nuku'alofa, rumbled to life on December 20 for the first time in five years, the Lands and Natural Resources Ministry said.
It said the volcano was erupting from two vents, one on the uninhabited island of Hunga Ha'apai and the other underwater about 100 metres offshore.
The ministry said experts took a boat trip to view the eruption on Thursday and confirmed it had transformed the local landscape.
"The new island is more than one kilometre wide, two kilometres long and about 100 metres high," it said in a statement.
Tonga
In Memory
Kim Fowley
Kim Fowley, the colorful rock musician who produced for The Runaways and co-wrote songs for Kiss and Alice Cooper, has died after a long battle with bladder cancer. He was 75.
His wife, Kara Wright Fowley, said in an email Friday to The Associated Press that her husband died Thursday morning at their home in Hollywood.
"Even from a hospital bed, Kim worked all the time," said Wright Fowley. "He gave the world over 55 years of entertainment that still exists ... from 'Nutrocker' to 'Alley-Oop' to the Runaways to KISS to Helen Reddy to 'Guardians of the Galaxy' ... and was respected all the way. Kim was also one of the most caring people in the universe."
Fowley's career ranged from promoter to musician to manager to record producer. In the 1970s, he launched the all-female rock band The Runaways - a rarity at the time - thus introducing the world to a then-teenage Joan Jett.
Fowley was based in Los Angeles. He released several solo albums. His father is actor Douglas Fowley, best known for his role in the film "Singin' In the Rain."
Kim Fowley
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