Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Polltracker (TPM)
With the inclusion of [the Sept. 15] Fox Poll, the Polltracker Average is now exactly tied. Clinton 43.8%, Trump 43.8%.
Paul Krugman: Obama's Trickle-Up Economics (NY Times Column)
New statistics show that government can raise the quality of life for ordinary families without hurting the economy.
Oliver Wainwright: "Edward Burtynsky on his ravaged Earth shots: 'We've reached peak everything'"(The Guardian)
The 61-year-old Canadian photographer has devoted his career to capturing man's impact on the landscape from above, elevating the brutish debris of slag heaps and open-cast mines into sublime wall-sized hymns to how we've made our mark on the surface of the Earth. And he's on a mission to document it all before it's too late.
Jessica Valenti: Hillary Clinton, 'weak'? Not from where I'm standing (The Guardian)
Women's supposed fragility was used as an argument against giving us the vote. The debate about Clinton's pneumonia plays into the same old prejudices.
David Christopher Bell: "6 Geniuses Behind Classic Movies (Who Deserve More Credit)" (Cracked)
Movies are like hot dogs; they pass through a lot of mystery hands before you get to consume them. As ending credits get exponentially congested, so too does our ability to acknowledge many of the hidden geniuses who stuffed the most delicious morsels of entertainment. And with this awkward and completely inappropriate sausage analogy, it's time for yet another installment in our series devoted to the special people secretly behind some of your favorite moments in cinema.
HEATHER HAVRILESKY: Haunted Womanhood (Atlantic)
A biography by Ruth Franklin captures Shirley Jackson's punishing upbringing and marriage, which perhaps informed the destruction of heroines in her work.
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
David E Suggests
Greatest Cars
David
Thanks, Dave!
from Marc Perkel
Patriot Act
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
MOO!
THIS JERK JUST CAN'T SHUT UP!
"NOBODY LOVES ME. EVERYBODY HATES ME. I'M GOING OUT AND EAT WORMS."
LOVE THE OTTER!
"THE SAUSAGE PARTY"
CATS!
THE DEPLORABLES.
A ROGUES GALLERY
INFLATION
COMMUNITY CARETAKERS
NOTHING MADE IN THE USA
WISE CHILD
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
That skunk is one busy little beaver.
"Eight Days a Week: The Touring Years"
UK Premiere
The two surviving Beatles took to the blue carpet on Thursday for the London screening of a new documentary, with the film's archive footage described as "very emotional" by Paul McCartney.
"Eight Days a Week: The Touring Years" follows the band on the road for four years from their native Liverpool in 1962 through a series of US tours characterised by Beatlemania.
Appearing at the screening in London, which followed the world premier in Liverpool earlier on Thursday, McCartney said the documentary brought back fond memories.
McCartney, 74, was joined at the screening by fellow Beatle, 76-year-old Ringo Starr.
John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono, and Olivia Harrison, widow of George Harrison, also attended, in addition to celebrities including Madonna.
UK Premiere
Oldest Indigo-Dyed Fabric
Peru
The oldest indigo-dyed fabric ever found has been discovered in Peru, pushing back the use of this blue coloring to at least 6,200 years ago.
Previously, the oldest sample of blue-dyed fabric dated to around 4,400 years ago in Egypt, with the oldest written references to blue dye going back to around 5,000 years ago in the Middle East. The discovery in Peru, however, shines a spotlight on the Americas, which are less-discussed in terms of firsts, said study researcher Jeffrey Splitstoser, an archaeologist and textile expert at The George Washington University.
The dyed fabric pieces are small scraps made of woven cotton. They were excavated by archaeologists Tom Dillehay and Duccio Bonavia between 2007 and 2008 from a prehistoric site called Huaca Prieta, which is north of the city of Trujillo in coastal Peru. Huaca Prieta was a prehistoric dwelling that was covered by a mound and turned into a temple, Splitstoser said. The temple was made of a sort of concrete mixed from ash, shells and sand; over the years, many layers of this material had been applied to the structure as local people renovated and rebuilt the temple. The fabric scraps were found in bundles lining the ramp that led up to the top of the temple, embedded in the concrete-like layers. They all date to between 4,000 and 6,200 years ago.
The fabric pieces were all cut or torn before they were deposited on the temple ramp, which probably represented a ritual "killing," by peoples who viewed objects as living, Splitstoser said.
Peru
Stone Age Tools
Tunisia
Tunisian and British researchers have unearthed Stone Age tools showing humans lived in southern Tunisia nearly 100,000 years ago, they said Thursday.
The discovery could help explain the spread of Homo sapiens who appeared in eastern Africa 100,000 years earlier and emerged out of the continent around 65,000 years ago.
After a year and a half of digging near Tozeur, in southwestern Tunisia, researchers had identified a "promising" site of around 6,000 square metres (65,000 square feet), said researcher Nabil Guesmi.
The artefacts are the oldest evidence of human activity ever discovered in Tunisia, and include flint tools similar to those early humans in other areas used for hunting.
The researchers, from Tunisia's National Heritage Institute (INP) and the University of Oxford, also found tools from the Middle Stone Age that attest to the presence of Homo sapiens, said Guesmi.
Tunisia
Rare Gold Coin Discovered
Nero
Archaeologists have discovered an "exceptional" gold coin emblazoned with the Roman Emperor Nero's face at a site in Jerusalem.
The coin dates to around A.D. 60, shortly before the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in A.D. 70, sacking the city and tearing down the Second Temple, an important holy site for Judaism. It was discovered during excavations of Mount Zion and probably came from a Jewish home, according to archaeologists.
"The coin is exceptional," archaeologist Shimon Gibson said in a statement, "because this is the first time that a coin of this kind has turned up in Jerusalem in a scientific dig. Coins of this type are usually only found in private collections, where we don't have clear evidence as to place of origin."
The coin turned up in the ruins of wealthy villas from the first century A.D.
The coin shows the Emperor Nero, who ruled from A.D. 54 to 68, in profile, surrounded by the inscription "NERO CAESAR AVG IMP." The back of the coin shows an oak wreath and the inscriptions "EX S C" and "PONTIF MAX TR P III." These inscriptions date the coin's creation to either A.D. 56 or A.D. 57.
Nero
Drops Pardon Request
Mark Wahlberg
Mark Wahlberg's bid to get a pardon for his assault conviction has officially ended.
The Massachusetts Parole Board said that they recently sent a letter to Wahlberg asking if he wished to proceed with his pardon request and did not hear back. They therefore consider the matter closed, per Fox News.
During a Q&A Tuesday for the Toronto Film Festival premiere of his film "Deepwater Horizon," Wahlberg told TheWrap that his appeal to Massachusetts state officials to expunge the charges was ill-advised - but the process allowed him to meet with and apologize to one of his victims, Hoa Trinh.
"It was one of those things where it was just kind of presented to me, and if I could've done it over again I would never have focused on that or applied," Wahlberg said of the pardon application, which was met with protests from an Asian American activist group when it was announced in 2014.
Wahlberg, 16 at the time of the assault, was accused of beating Trinh so badly that the man lost sight in one of his eyes. The star said he was grateful to learn that those injuries were sustained a decade before. That same day, Wahlberg assaulted another man named Thanh Lam, knocking him unconscious with a piece of wood.
Mark Wahlberg
Judge Delivers Victory
BMI
A federal judge ruled that BMI can engage in fractional licensing of songs in its catalog, rejecting a Justice Department conclusion that such practices were not allowed under the terms of a 75-year-old consent degree.
U.S. District Court Judge Louis Stanton wrote that the consent decree "neither bars fractional licensing nor requires full-work licensing."
Last month, the Justice Department announced that it had completed its review of the consent decree over BMi and another major music rights organization, ASCAP, and concluded that "the current system has well served music creators and music users for decades and should remain intact."
That was a setback for BMI and ASCAP, not only because the Justice Department made no revisions, but that they also mandated a regime of 100% licensing. What that meant is that in the case of a song that has joint ownership, either organization could only represent the work if they had clearance from all of those who had interests. Under fractional licensing, they can grant rights to that part of the work they represent.
Mike O'Neill, the president and CEO of BMI, said that "as we have said from the very beginning, we believed our consent decree allowed for the decades-long practice of fractional licensing and today we are gratified that Judge Stanton confirmed that belief. Our mission has always been to protect the interests of our songwriters, composers and publishers, and we feel we have done just that. Today's decision is a victory for the entire music community."
BMI
Suspends Course
Berkeley
The University of California at Berkeley has suspended a course amid accusations it shared anti-Semitic viewpoints and was designed to indoctrinate students against Israel.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports Berkeley suspended "Palestine: A Settler Colonial Analysis" on Tuesday. The newspaper reports Thursday that a syllabus for the one-credit course taught by an undergraduate student says it examines the history of Palestine "through the lens of settler colonialism."
The suspension came on the same day 43 Jewish, civil rights and education advocacy groups sent a letter to Chancellor Nicholas Dirks office raising concerns about the course.
The letter says the class encourages students to accept the idea "that Israel is an illegitimate settler colonial state" and that course readings have "a blatantly anti-Israel bias."
Dirks' office told the groups that the course "did not receive a sufficient degree of scrutiny to ensure that the syllabus met Berkeley's academic standards."
Berkeley
Now With More Weed Killer
American Honey
What in the world to do now that glyphosate, the most heavily used weed killer in the world-a probable human carcinogen, no less-is showing up in everything from breakfast cereal to eggs?
The public interest group U.S. Right to Know announced this week that it has obtained documents showing the Food and Drug Administration has found residues of glyphosate in samples of American honey. Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup herbicide, the use of which has increased 15-fold since the company introduced its line of Roundup Ready crops genetically modified to withstand the chemical some 20 years ago.
Yet despite the skyrocketing use of glyphosate, federal regulators have long been pressing the snooze button when it comes to dealing with Big Ag's chemical onslaught. It was only this year that the FDA agreed to start testing samples of U.S. food for the presence of glyphosate, spurred by growing public unease about a herbicide that Monsanto and other chemical makers have long assured is safe-but that the International Agency for Research on Cancer declared last year likely can cause cancer in humans.
That it took a Freedom of Information Act request from a nongovernmental watchdog group to get some answers from the FDA on its testing only begins to point to the government's dysfunctional approach to regulating glyphosate-or, more aptly, not regulating it.
The newly obtained documents include the testing results for three honey samples, which contained glyphosate in concentrations of 22 parts per billion, 41 parts per billion, and 107 parts per billion. That's a small number of samples, but an FDA scientist lamented in an email, "One of the issues I found is that it is difficult to find blank honey that does not contain residue. I collect about 10 samples of honey in the market and they all contain glyphosate."
American Honey
Angering Activists
Norway
Norway was accused of authorising the "mass slaughter" of its endangered wolf population on Friday after announcing that 47 of the predators would be killed by hunters.
The move, which follows previous efforts to control the population, was hailed by farmers but condemned by outraged environmental groups.
Only 65-68 wolves were registered last winter in Norway, according to the specialised body Rovdata, but their numbers will have increased after the birth of an unknown number of pups in April and May.
Without setting an exact overall number of wolves allowed, the Norwegian parliament agreed in early June to limit the number of litters to between four and six per year, including at least three for the Norwegian wolf population and the rest in the cross-border packs.
The Norwegian wolf population currently has seven packs with one reproductive couple, which is "above the national population target" since each pack can be expected to deliver a new litter every year, the Norwegian environmental agency said.
Norway
In Memory
Edward Albee
Three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Edward Albee, who challenged theatrical convention in masterworks such as "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and "A Delicate Balance," died Friday, his personal assistant said. He was 88.
He died at his home in Montauk, east of New York, assistant Jackob Holder said. No cause of death was immediately given, although he had suffered from diabetes. With the deaths of Arthur Miller and August Wilson in 2005, he was arguably America's greatest living playwright.
Several years ago, before undergoing extensive surgery, Albee penned a note to be issued at the time of his death: "To all of you who have made my being alive so wonderful, so exciting and so full, my thanks and all my love."
Albee was proclaimed the playwright of his generation after his blistering "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" opened on Broadway in 1962. The Tony-winning play, still widely considered Albee's finest, was made into an award-winning 1966 film starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.
Albee challenged audiences to question their assumptions about society and about theater itself. He did it with humor and a sense of linguistic delight, using withering barbs and word play to hint at deeper meaning.
Albee's unconventional style won him great acclaim but also led to a nearly 20-year drought of critical and commercial recognition before his 1994 play, "Three Tall Women," garnered his third Pulitzer Prize. His other Pulitzers were for "A Delicate Balance" (1967) and "Seascape" (1975).
Albee was born in 1928 and was adopted by a wealthy suburban New York couple. His father, Reed Albee, ran the Keith-Albee chain of vaudeville theaters; his mother, Frances Albee, was a socialite and a commanding presence who kept a hold on him for much of his life.
Estranged from his parents, Albee moved to New York and worked as a messenger for Western Union before gaining notice with "The Zoo Story," a one-act play written in 1958 about two strangers meeting on a bench in Central Park.
Albee was honored by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 1996 for his lifetime contributions. Then-President Bill Clinton praised Albee as a man who inspired a generation of American dramatists. Clinton also awarded Albee a National Medal of the Arts that year.
Into his 70s, Albee continued to write provocative and unconventional plays. In "The Goat or Who is Sylvia?" the main character falls in love with a goat.
Albee's longtime companion, sculptor Jonathan Thomas, died in 2005.
Edward Albee
In Memory
W.P. Kinsella
Canadian author W.P. Kinsella, best known for his baseball novel "Shoeless Joe" which was adapted into the popular film "Field of Dreams," has died at the age of 81, his literary agent said on Friday.
Canadian media said Kinsella ended his own life under the nation's medically assisted-dying law. Canada is one of the few nations where doctors can legally help sick people die.
The Edmonton-born author wrote nearly thirty books of fiction, non-fiction and poetry, his agent said. His 1982 magic realism novel "Shoeless Joe" was the basis of drama-fantasy film "Field of Dreams," starring Kevin Costner, James Earl Jones, and Ray Liotta.
Kinsella's final work of fiction, Russian Dolls, about a struggling author who lives in a rooming house with an assortment of losers, will be published in 2017, his agent said.
In 2005, Kinsella was awarded the Order of British Columbia, and in 2009, he was awarded the George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award, according to a biography on his website.
Before becoming a professional author, he taught English at the University of Calgary, the biography said.
W.P. Kinsella
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