Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Marc Dion: Everyday Benghazis (Creators Syndicate)
If the Islamic terrorists were really smart, they'd take the money they spend on bombs and guns, and they'd buy stock in American companies. Then, they could kill Americans and nobody would care because they'd be 'job creators" and therefore immune from all punishment.
Marc Dion: The Reluctant Veteran (Creators Syndicate)
"You ever been to the VFW?" he used to say. "You go down here and this one's the commander and this guy's the sergeant at arms and they're all wearing their medals and they're all saluting each other. "Didn't they get enough of that shit when they were in the service?" he'd say. "I got enough of that shit."
Paul Krugman: Crisis of the Eurocrats (NY Times)
A century ago, Europe tore itself apart in what was, for a time, known as the Great War - four years of death and destruction on an unprecedented scale. Later, of course, the conflict was renamed World War I - because a quarter-century later Europe did it all over again.
Tom Danehy: For Tom, breaking the law is breaking the law, even if the reasons are right (Tucson Weekly)
I don't get it. I just don't. I was watching the late local news the other night; they had a segment apparently aimed at my heart, but it hit somewhat lower and around the back.
Lucy Mangan: want to kill Cock Robin? (Guardian)
Once upon a time, you needed special permission to wipe out a family of robins or starlings or pied wagtails. Not any more…
What I'm really thinking: the backing singer (Guardian)
'I'm not yearning to be as talented as the lead singers, because I'm usually better than them.'
Oliver Burkeman: "This column will change your life: the what-the-hell effect" (Guardian)
The what-the-hell effect is usually interpreted, rightly, as an argument for setting more realistic goals.
Oliver Burkeman: "This column will change your life: open-plan offices" (Guardian)
'The "flexibility" of the modern office mainly just means freedom for the most powerful forces to assert themselves.'
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David Bruce has approximately 50 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
wrote:
is on sabbatical.
answered:
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.
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
May gray! Thank you, Coastal Eddy.
Antitrust Litigation Settled
Silicon Valley
Four major Silicon Valley companies have formally agreed to pay $324.5 million to settle claims brought by employees who accused them of limiting competition by colluding not to poach each other's talent.
The settlement, between Apple Inc, Google Inc, Intel Corp, Adobe Systems Inc and roughly 64,000 workers, was disclosed in papers filed late on Thursday with a federal court in San Jose, California.
U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh has been asked to preliminarily approve the accord at a June 19 hearing, over an objection by one of the four named plaintiffs, Michael Devine, who says the settlement let the companies off too easily.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs may seek up to 25 percent of the settlement amount in legal fees.
Koh on May 16 approved separate settlements totaling $20 million over alleged poaching by Walt Disney Co's Lucasfilm and Pixar units, and by Intuit Inc.
Silicon Valley
Wife Served
Casey Kasem
The wife of ailing radio personality Casey Kasem was served Friday with a California court order that temporarily suspends her powers to determine her husband's medical care amid concerns about his health and welfare.
The order Kitsap County sheriff's deputies said they delivered also expands daughter Kerri Kasem's authority to determine whether her father, who's now in Washington state, is receiving adequate medical care.
Wife Jean Kasem told KING-TV in an interview aired Friday evening that her husband is getting the best possible care and she is "not going to allow anybody to shred (her) family on unfounded facts and malicious accusations."
On Tuesday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Daniel S. Murphy ordered Jean Kasem to comply with court orders allowing doctors to evaluate her husband, and also allow his daughter Kerri to see him. He also ordered Jean Kasem to surrender her husband's passport and temporarily suspended her powers to determine her husband's medical care.
Casey Kasem
Returning Control Of Properties
Pentagon
The Pentagon said Friday it plans to give back 21 European properties it makes little or no use of and said returning the sites would have no military consequence.
Relinquishing the "minor" properties -- including a golf course, a hotel, and a skeet range -- will save US taxpayers some $60 million, the US Defense Department said in a statement.
The facilities' return to their host nations in Europe, "is part of a continued effort for US European Command (USEUCOM) to shed non-enduring and excess sites" from its real estate inventory, said Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby in a statement.
The sites to be returned in Germany include a golf course and skeet range in Garmisch and a recreation center in Wiesbaden.
Other facilities the US will relinquish include a munitions storage facility at Karup Air Base, Denmark and a former NATO headquarters facility outside Naples, Italy.
Pentagon
Omaha, Nebraska
Patty Duke
An organizer of a screening of "The Miracle Worker" in Omaha says one of the movie's stars - Oscar-winning actress Patty Duke - left the event because of stomach pain.
The Omaha World-Herald reports (http://bit.ly/1nfQmoN ) that the 67-year-old Duke was taken by a private vehicle Friday evening to the Nebraska Medical Center after complaining of stomach pain.
Organizer Bruce Crawford says Duke's medical condition was not serious, but that an Omaha doctor who had been running tests on Duke asked her to come in for more tests Friday night after she reported the pain.
Before seeking medical attention, Duke delivered a speech at Omaha's Joslyn Art Museum, where "The Miracle Worker" was shown. The movie tells the story of tutor Anne Sullivan's efforts to help a young Helen Keller.
Patty Duke
Visa Restrictions
Def Con
U.S. officials are considering using visa restrictions to prevent Chinese hackers from attending popular summer hacker conferences in Las Vegas as part of a broad effort to curb Chinese cyber espionage, a senior administration official said on Saturday.
The official said the U.S. government could use such visa restrictions and other measures to keep Chinese nationals from attending the Def Con and Black Hat conferences in August to help maintain pressure on China after the United States this week charged five Chinese military officers with hacking into U.S. nuclear, metal and solar companies to steal trade secrets.
China has denied the charges, saying the U.S. grand jury indictment was "made up" and would damage trust between the two nations.
Organizers of the two conferences said they knew nothing about the efforts under consideration by Washington, but that they believed limiting participation from China was a bad idea.
Def Con
Name Is 'Respectful'
Washington Football Team
Redskins President Bruce Allen said in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Saturday that the football team's nickname is "respectful" toward Native Americans.
On Thursday, half the U.S. Senate urged NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to change the Washington club's name, saying it is a racist slur and it is time to replace it.
The franchise responded by releasing Allen's letter.
"Our use of 'Redskins' as the name of our football team for more than 80 years has always been respectful of and shown reverence toward the proud legacy and traditions of Native Americans," he wrote.
The letter references research that "the term Redskins originated as a Native American expression of solidarity." It notes that the team's logo was designed by Native American leaders and cites surveys that Native Americans and Americans as a whole support the name.
Washington Football Team
Pose Dilemmas For Intervention
Wounded Wildlife
A moose was suffering from an open wound where its tail should have been. Wildlife managers concluded it was the result of a wolf attack and left it alone. But officials intervened on behalf of a baby eagle with a broken wing whose nest was the subject of a video feed watched by tens of thousands of people around the world.
These cases in Minnesota highlight a dilemma that's common across the country: when to intervene on behalf of wounded wildlife and when to let nature take its course.
"It depends on the circumstances in each case, and often it depends on how man has affected the situation," said Doug Inkley, a senior scientist with the National Wildlife Federation.
Inkley and other wildlife biologists have a strong preference for deferring to nature's wisdom, though he said intervention can be warranted with endangered species - because every animal is needed to maintain genetic diversity - or when humans caused the problem.
Wounded Wildlife
Hit By Ships
Whales
A cruise ship heading for New York this month struck and killed a whale and dragged it into the Hudson River, part of a higher-than-usual rate of strikes along the Eastern Seaboard for this time of year, a federal agency said.
There were three recent whale strikes recently, including one in which a cruise ship hit a sei (pronounced SAY) whale and did not discover it until it reached port, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.
In a similar case, a sei whale was found dead and attached to a container ship that was docking near Philadelphia, NOAA said.
The usual rate of whale strikes by ships is about one every few weeks, she said, compared with the three in the past few weeks.
NOAA said it counted 28 whale strikes in Northeastern waters between 2006 and 2010. Worldwide, a National Marine Fisheries Service survey covering 1975 through 2002 found 292 records of confirmed or possible ship strikes to large whales.
Whales
Sighted Off Nova Scotia
Seahorse
A marine biologist is praising two divers for filming a rarely seen seahorse and posting it on a website that collects information from amateur naturalists.
Nedia Coutinho and Martin Roy, owners of an underwater imaging company, spotted the lined seahorse in St. Margaret's Bay near Halifax on Oct. 12 last year and uploaded it to iSeahorse.orgiSeahorse.org on April 1.
Amanda Vincent, the project co-ordinator of Project Seahorse, said Thursday the last sighting of a seahorse in Canada was 13 years earlier, also off Nova Scotia's coast.
The professor of marine conservation at the University of British Columbia said the species is listed as being vulnerable to extinction. Vincent said harmful fishing practices and damage to habitat has caused their decline.
Seahorse
In Memory
Don Levine
Donald Levine, the Hasbro executive credited as the father of G.I. Joe for developing the world's first action figure, has died. He was 86.
He died of cancer early Thursday at Home & Hospice Care of Rhode Island, said his wife, Nan. They were just about to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary.
Levine shepherded the toy through design and development as Hasbro's head of research and development. He and his team came up with an 11 1/2-inch articulated figure with 21 moving parts, and since the company's employees included many military veterans, it was decided to outfit the toy in the uniforms of the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force, with such accessories as guns, helmets and vehicles.
Levine, who served in the Army in Korea, said he got the idea for the movable figure as a way to honour veterans.
G.I. Joe hit the shelves in time for the 1964 Christmas shopping season and soon became a big seller at $4 apiece.
It remained popular until the late 1960s, as opposition to Vietnam intensified and parents shied away from military-related toys. Hasbro countered in 1970 by introducing "Adventure Team" G.I. Joes that played down the military connection. Into the '70s, G.I. Joes featured "lifelike hair" and "kung-fu grip" and were outfitted with scuba gear to save the oceans and explorer's clothing for discovering mummies.
Over the decades, G.I. Joe has spawned comic books, cartoons, two movies starring Channing Tatum, and a G.I. Joe Collector's Club and its annual convention - GIJoeCon - held in Dallas in April.
Levine's funeral will be held Sunday morning at Temple Beth-El in Providence. He is survived by his wife, three children and four grandchildren.
Don Levine
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