Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Krissy Clark: Hungry for Savings (Slate)
Walmart donates billions to anti-hunger initiatives. Some of those efforts benefit its own employees.
Paul Krugman: Rube Goldberg Survives (NY Times)
Why those seven million enrollments in Obamacare matter.
Affordable Health Care Act is a Success (YouTube)
Health care reform changed the course of history in our country, and you played a part.
Sugar: The Bitter Truth (89 minutes; 7/27/2009; YouTube)
Robert H. Lustig, MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology, explores the damage caused by sugary foods. He argues that fructose (too much) and fiber (not enough) appear to be cornerstones of the obesity epidemic through their effects on insulin. (#16717)
The Skinny on Obesity - UCTV Prime (University of California)
Many health-related videos.
Jacopo della Quercia, Eric Yosomono, Josh Hrala, Monstroso Yojimbo: 5 Survival Stories Too Miraculous to Be Real (Cracked)
Eventually, Death will claim every one of us (we intend to begin every article with this reminder from now on). But that doesn't mean we have to go down easily. That's why we here at Cracked like to take time every once in a while to salute those who looked Death in the eye and made it back down and apologize. These are the unkillable badasses who did things like ...
Ian Gittins: "From John Lennon to Michael Jackson: rock stars on their dead heroes" (Guardian)
With the 20th anniversary of Kurt Cobain's death this weekend, Ozzy Osbourne, Blondie, Katy B and others talk about when they heard their musical hero had died.
CIRCUS IN AN ABANDONED FACTORY // CIRCULUS (YouTube)
"The new British acrobatic group Circulus chose an abandoned Victorian sail factory in London's East End as the backdrop for their first video. Their act combines acrobatics and dance into a mesmerizing circus performance! The talents each performer brings to the group include "tricking, hand-to-hand, free running, dancing, juggling, tumbling, aerial hoop, cyr wheel, banquine, breakdancing, hand balancing, trampoline and more." - Neatorama
Eddie Deezen: Babe Ruth's Love Life (Neatorama)
Most men, even the greatest ladies' men, have particular "favorite types" of women, subjective turn-ons, and particular traits they especially like in the opposite sex. Ruth seemed unusual in his complete lack of this quality. Ruth just simply loved women- of all types, sizes, races, and personalities.
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog
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David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
David Bruce has approximately 50 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
wrote:
, took the day off.
is still under the weather.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Team Coco
CONAN360°
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.
So - to let you know what's going on, the guestbook on bartcop.com is
still open for those who want to write something in memory of Bart.
I did an interview on Netroots Radio about Bart's passing
( www.stitcher.com/s?eid=32893545 )
The most active open discussion is on Bart's Facebook page.
( www.facebook.com/bartcop )
You can listen to Bart's theme song here
or here.
( www.bartcop.com/blizing-saddles.mp3 )
( youtu.be/MySGAaB0A9k )
We have opened up the radio show archives which are now free. Listen to
all you want.
( bartcop.com/members )
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
Thanks, Marc!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Mostly cloudy and on the cool side.
To Retire In 2015
Dave Letterman
David Letterman's departure from the late-night realm won't just end an unmatched run on television. It also will close the book on an era reaching almost to the birth of TV.
During a taping of Thursday's edition of "Late Show," Letterman startled his audience with the news that he will step down in 2015, when his current contract with CBS expires.
He specified no end date, saying he expects his exit will be in "at least a year or so, but sometime in the not too distant future - 2015, for the love of God, (band leader) Paul (Shaffer) and I will be wrapping things up."
What he'll be wrapping up is three decades on the air - the longest tenure of any late-night talk show host in U.S. television history - since he launched "Late Night" at NBC in 1982.
Dave Letterman
No Drama
Hall & Oates
As usual, there's a whole lot of drama surrounding the upcoming Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
KISS's Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley said they wanted to play with their current bandmates, and former members Peter Criss and Ace Frehley were welcome to sit in, but that didn't set well with Criss and Frehley, so now they won't perform. There was also confusion about whether former Nirvana drummer Chad Channing would be inducted. (For the record, he will not.) Linda Ronstadt isn't attending the ceremony due to health reasons; and Cat Stevens, now know as Yusef Islam, wants to attend, but is waiting on his visa.
Don't, however, expect any such conflict and confusion from Hall & Oates. "There won't be any drama from Hall & Oates. I can tell you that," singer/guitarist John Oates tells us. "We'll get up there and we'll deliver just like we do every night when we're on tour. And it will sound good because we have an amazing band and then I'm going to sit back and watch the movie unfold."
As for the drama surrounding the other inductees, Oates notes, "We might be one of the few [inductees] performing the way things are going. It's all personal stuff and it's a shame it has to be that way, but every artist and every band has their own set of experiences and ways of dealing with things. That's their business. It has nothing to do with me."
Still, Oates is happy to be included with this year's inductees. "I think it's a great class. I think the artists are great -- Kiss, Linda Ronstadt and Peter Gabriel, Cat Stevens -- this is a really great group of people to be inducted with, and I'm proud to be included in the group."
Hall & Oates
Final Movie
Brittany Murphy
Brittany Murphy's final movie opens Friday in Eugene, Ore.
The actress died at age 32 in December 2009. That year she worked on a psychological thriller called "Something Wicked," and much of it was filmed in Eugene.
The movie failed to get a distribution deal with the large studios. But producer and local businessman Scott Chambers told The Register-Guard (http://is.gd/OjF8vD ) that Regal Cinemas is giving the film a four-state test run over the coming month before deciding whether to roll it out beyond the Northwest.
Crews filmed at nearly 30 Oregon locations over a 40-day span in 2009.
Brittany Murphy
Wedding News
Pintauro - Tabares
Danny Pintauro is now a married man.
The star of the popular '80s sitcom "Who's the Boss?", married his partner Wil Tabares on Thursday at a sunset beach ceremony in Dana Point, California.
The couple, who reside together in Las Vegas, got engaged in April 2013 after being together for a year. Pintauro, who came out as gay in 1997, reportedly works now as a restaurant manager. Wil works as an entertainer and casino employee at the Cosmopolitan hotel.
Pintauro and Tabares set up a personal wedding website where they live streamed their Thursday nuptials. The site says that friends and fans will be able to watch the wedding video online soon. The ceremony will reportedly stream again Friday night from 6:30-7:30 p.m. PT. The newlyweds also posted a few photos from their wedding to social media.
Pintauro - Tabares
Can Reapply For Visa
Nigella Lawson
U.S. officials invited Nigella Lawson on Thursday to reapply for a visa to enter the United States after the television celebrity was barred for boarding a flight last weekend.
According to the Daily Mail newspaper, Lawson, dubbed the "Domestic Goddess" after the title of one of her cookery books, was prevented from flying to the United States because she had confessed to taking drugs during a recent court battle with her former assistants.
A spokeswoman from the U.S. Embassy in London confirmed Lawson had been refused entry but declined to provide an explanation, adding the chef was welcome to reapply for travel documents.
British police decided not take any action against the 54-year-old following her admission which was made during the trial of her two former assistants who were later cleared of charges of defrauding the couple of 685,000 pounds.
But when Lawson went to London's Heathrow airport on Sunday to catch a flight to Los Angeles, she was told she would not be allowed on the flight and returned home, according to the Daily Mail newspaper.
Nigella Lawson
Lawsuits In Backstage Dispute
David Copperfield
Attorneys for magician David Copperfield and several current and former Las Vegas stagehands said Friday they're in talks to make lawsuits they've traded in a backstage dispute disappear.
A Feb. 15 federal wage-abuse lawsuit filed by seven stagehands alleges that over the past three years the veteran Las Vegas illusionist sometimes made them work 14 hours a day and seven days a week without paying overtime.
A Jan. 3 state court lawsuit lodged by Copperfield business entities Backstage Employment and Referral Inc., David Copperfield's Disappearing Inc. and Imagine Nation Company Inc. accuses six stagehands of breach of contract, conspiracy and disclosure of trade secrets.
The federal complaint said employees "were constantly reminded" that they were bound by secrecy agreements prohibiting them from discussing the conditions of their employment with others, and that any dissent would be punished.
"As a result of this coercive system, throughout the years the defendants were able to exploit their employees while earning tens of millions of dollars from their labour," the civil lawsuit said.
David Copperfield
Shuts Restaurants in Crimea
McDonald's
McDonald's has "temporarily" suspended operations at its restaurants in Crimea, citing only "manufacturing reasons" out of its control. The fast-food chain's locations in the cities of Simferopol, Sevastopol, and Yalta were affected.
A statement on the company's Ukrainian website said it hoped to resume operations as soon as possible. McDonald's made no mention of Crimea's controversial annexation by Russia last month, but the company appeared to make a few subtle political swipes in its statement
The restaurant offered Crimean employees a comparable position at a McDonald's restaurant in Ukraine and offered to pay for relocation expenses plus three months of housing. The company also said that employees who wish to remain in Crimea will be able to terminate their employment, but only under Ukrainian law, not Russian law.
Crimea's first deputy prime minister suggested Russian fast-food chains would quickly fill the void.
McDonald's
Lawsuit Revived
Hebrew National
A year after ConAgra Foods Inc won the dismissal of a lawsuit claiming that its Hebrew National hot dogs were not kosher, a higher authority has given the case new life.
A federal appeals court in St. Paul, Minnesota on Friday said a trial judge erred in dismissing the lawsuit brought by 11 consumers in its entirety on the ground that the First Amendment barred him from addressing the underlying religious questions.
Instead, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found simply that the case did not belong in federal court, and returned it to the Dakota County, Minnesota state court where it began.
The consumers had sued Omaha, Nebraska-based ConAgra in May 2012 on behalf of a nationwide class they claimed was misled into paying more for Hebrew National products.
Hebrew National
Police Detain Health Project Staffer
Uganda
A U.S.-funded health project in Uganda has suspended operations after police arrested a staff member on suspicion of promoting homosexuality, highlighting the mounting legal risks confronting the gay community in the east African state.
Uganda enacted legislation in February that strengthened punishments for anyone caught having gay sex, imposing jail terms of up to life for "aggravated homosexuality" - including sex with a minor or while HIV-positive.
The United States, one of Uganda's major bilateral sources of aid, and other Western donors have halted or re-directed some $118 million in aid since President Yoweri Museveni signed the law, which also criminalised lesbianism for the first time.
In a notice on its website on Friday, Makerere University's Walter Reed Project, a collaboration between Uganda's biggest public institute of higher learning and the U.S. Military HIV Research Program, said it would temporarily halt its work until it established the legal basis for the arrest.
A U.S. State Department official said the health project conducts important research into Ebola, Marburg disease and HIV. One of the project's aims is to develop vaccines for these diseases. It has been in operation since 2002.
Uganda
Satellites And Sensors
Pompeii
The ruins of ancient Pompeii will be monitored by satellites and sensors under an agreement with Italian defense and technology group Finmeccanica to try to stop the UNESCO world heritage site from crumbling.
The state-controlled group will help train staff and donate its technology for free for three years in an investment worth up to 2 million euros ($2.75 million), after which the equipment will be left to the restoration project.
Regular collapses of walls and houses in the treasured Roman town that was covered by ash in a volcanic eruption in 79 AD have caused an international outcry and increased pressure for an end to delays dogging a 105-million-euro restoration project part-funded by the European Union and launched last year.
Soil movements, a major risk to the ruins especially during bad weather, will be monitored through high resolution images captured by the COSMO-SkyMed group of satellites, controlled by the Italian Space Agency, Finmeccanica said.
Pompeii
New Atomic Clock
NIST-F2
Time may be real or illusory, and it's certainly relative, but regardless of any of that, thanks to scientists working at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Time (NIST), we now know how to measure it more accurately than we ever have before.
The new atomic clock produced by the NIST scientists, called NIST-F2, which is now the official time standard for the United States, is so accurate that you could run it for 300 million years before it either lost or gained a second. That translates to an accuracy of 10 trillionths of a second per day, or three times more accurate than the atomic clock that's been setting the U.S. time standard since 1999.
"Most people don't realize it, but we all rely on the exquisite precision of atomic clocks for much of the technology we use every day," Tom O'Brian, the chief of the Time and Frequency Division at NIST, said during a press conference on Thursday. According to him, modern telecommunications and computer network systems, as well as electric power grids, all require synchronization to about 1 millionth of a second per day. GPS tracking needs to be even more accurate, down to about 1 billionth of a second per day.
This level of accuracy was achieved by using a special new system to cool and manipulate cesium atoms in such a way that we can use their natural resonance frequency to define exactly what a second is. Steve Jefferts, the NIST project leader that led the efforts to develop NIST-F2, talks about the new atomic clock, and exactly how they went about achieving this, in this video.
NIST-F2
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