Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Lucy Mangan on why women are most definitely not 'asking for it' when they become victims of crime (Stylist)
Right, sit up and pay attention at the back there. Get your List Of Things Women Are 'Asking For' out of your desks - yes, volume 806, that's the one - and open it up. The Patriarchy has had a busy week and we've some updating to do!
Clive James: 'I vowed that I would stay as cool as Yul Brynner when the god Chronos came for me' (The Guardian)
The final fade-out approaches, and the chances are that nobody now will make a movie of my book Unreliable Memoirs, the story of my growth to manhood.
Deborah Orr: "Peace in our dinnertime: what the new science on fussy eating could mean"(The Guardian)
Like millions of parents, I struggled with the unpredictable dietary choices of children. It is a comfort to know that genetics might explain it.
Jonathan Jones: As Aleppo burns in this age of lies, Picasso's Guernica still screams the truth about war (The Guardian)
MP Andrew Mitchell invoked the ghosts of Guernica in his speech on Aleppo this week. From the dead baby's face to the figure in the fire, Picasso's apocalypse will always outstare bloodthirsty dictators.
Jonathan Jones: Quote me on this, Grayson: you're not a true artist at all (The Guardian)
Grayson Perry has quoted my dismissal of him as 'suburban popular culture' on a new pot of his. But I'm no snob - and this is typical snark from an artist who makes dry jokes instead of feeling anything.
Marc Dion: So, Which Women Can I Grab? (The Guardian)
I like rules. You like to know where you stand when you start, so, if you break the rules, you at least know to stand by for punishment. One of our presidential candidates thinks the rules allow you to grab women, even if they don't want to be grabbed. I understand that rule, but it's a little too broad. I need more instruction.
Froma Harrop: The Importance of Keeping Donald Afloat (Creators Syndicate)
The importance of keeping Trump at the top of the Republican ticket could not be overstated. Democratic wish come true, Trump again bubbled up from the black lagoon and turned his malevolence on the Republican Party. Unleashing new chaos in the electoral ranks, he blasted Republicans who had broken with him over the tape. He poured hot new insults down on House Speaker Paul Ryan and Sen. John McCain. Cowed by the display, some Republicans who had disgraced themselves by not dropping Trump long ago disgraced themselves again by pedaling back.
Froma Harrop: Donald Trump Is Mentally Ill (Creators Syndicate)
Even his supporters don't argue that Trump is intellectually adequate to serve as U.S. president. (They say his advisers would make the big decisions.) That Trump is morally unfit to hold the highest office in the land is pretty much agreed on, as well. Left on the table is the biggest and most troubling question mark: whether Trump is mentally stable. Evidence overflows that he is not. That someone so clearly disturbed got this far in a presidential race is absolutely terrifying.
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog
David Bruce's Lulu Storefront
David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
David Bruce has over 80 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Reader Contribution
Lumpy
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
Bonus Links
from Marc Perkel
Patriot Act
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
FREE LUNCH!
THE 2016 RACE IS OVER. REPUBLICANS ARE NOW RUNNING FOR THE 2020 RACE.
SAVE THE ORCAS!
MIND YOUR OWN DAMN BUSINESS REPUGS.
YEAH!
IT'S ABOUT TIME!
WHO WILL WIN IN 2016?
A BEAUTIFUL NEW FILM ABOUT GROWING UP BLACK AND GAY.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT.
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Quiet night - no raccoons, no fireworks.
Celebrates Centennial
Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood's 100th anniversary celebrations this weekend come with a sense of relief for the group that traces its roots to a time when women could not vote and contraception was illegal. The organization, whose services include birth control, sex education and abortions, has survived largely intact in the face of violence, vilification and fierce efforts in Congress and many states to cut its funding.
There's been some adverse impact: In Texas and Wisconsin, for example, some Planned Parenthood facilities closed after the states cut off funding streams. But most of the Republican-led defunding efforts have been thwarted, and multiple investigations related to the disposition of fetal tissue have thus far failed to prove wrongdoing on Planned Parenthood's part.
Meanwhile, the organization has received strong backing from the Democratic Party, including presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, and says support from the public is robust.
"The attacks have only strengthened our resolve," said Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards. "I do believe we are in a stronger place today than a year ago, or five years ago."
Planned Parenthood
Cast With An Opinion
'Orange Is the New Black'
The cast of Netflix's Orange Is the New Black is joining a growing list of celebrities denouncing Donald Trump (R-Pinche Güerito).
Several stars have come forward in the past week in response to the GOP nominee's released audio recordings from 2005, in which he made lewd and sexually aggressive comments about women. Since he addressed the issue, denying any sexual assault during the second presidential debate, hosted by Anderson Cooper, women have continued to come forward to allege that Trump has groped, touched or offended them over the years, putting his campaign on the defensive.
On Friday, OITNB star Lea DeLaria, who plays Big Boo on the critically praised series, tweeted a photo of herself with some of the cast and crew of the prison dramedy with the caption, "CAST & CREW OF OITNB SAYS F - YOU TRUMP." Stars Taryn Manning, Emma Myles and Beth Dover were also in the Snap.
Several castmembers, including Uzo Aduba, Taylor Schilling, Natasha Lyonne and Lea DeLaria, starred in an ad with other stars this summer to endorse Hillary Clinton. In the video, Lena Dunham says, "If you believe in equality for women, LGTBQ, people of color and immigrants, then there is only one choice this November: Hillary Clinton."
Several TV casts have come out to endorse Democratic presidential nominee Clinton, including the casts of Empire, Scandal and Dunham's Girls.
'Orange Is the New Black'
Scientist Decoded The Mysterious Sounds
Northern Lights
For more than 15 years, a lone scientist in southern Finland has spent countless winter nights among the snowy fields and frozen lakes around his village, in pursuit of one of the most ephemeral mysteries of the heavens: the faint, almost phantasmagorical sounds heard during intense displays of the aurora borealis, or northern lights.
The epic study by acoustician Unto K. Laine includes the first audio recordings of the muffled crackling or popping sometimes heard overhead during spectacular aurora displays.
Over the years, the sounds of the northern lights have been explained as illusions, imagination, inebriation or even voices from the spiritual world.
But Laine has shown the sounds are real, and he thinks he has found what causes them: sparks of electricity discharging beneath the aurora in an inversion layer of the atmosphere that can form in clear and calm weather conditions.
In September 2011, during an intense aurora overhead, Laine's microphone array was able to triangulate the locations of several distinct "clap" sounds from the celestial display. To his surprise, the results showed the sounds were originating just 230 feet (70 meters) above the ground - much lower than the auroras themselves, which occur at altitudes of up to 300 kilometers (185 miles).
Northern Lights
'Cavities' In Great Pyramid
Egypt
Egypt's Great Pyramid of Giza could contain two previously unknown "cavities", scientists using radiography to scan the millennia-old monument said on Saturday.
On Thursday, the antiquities ministry cautiously announced finding "two anomalies" in the pyramid built 4,500 years ago under King Khufu, with further tests to determine their function, nature and size.
It has three known chambers, and like other pyramids in Egypt was intended as a pharaoh's tomb.
"We are now able to confirm the existence of a 'void' hidden behind the north face, that could have the form of at least one corridor going inside the Great Pyramid," scientists from Operation ScanPyramids said in a statement.
Another "cavity" was discovered on the pyramid's northeast flank, said the researchers who are using radiography and 3D reconstruction for their study.
Egypt
New Craters
The Moon
New craters are forming on the surface of the moon more frequently than scientists had predicted, a new study has found. The discovery raises concerns about future moon missions, which may face an increased risk of being hit by falling space rocks.
The moon is dotted with a vast number of craters, some billions of years old. Because the moon has no atmosphere, falling space rocks don't burn up like they do on Earth, which leaves the moon's surface vulnerable to a constant stream of cosmic impacts that gradually churn the top layer of material on its surface. You can see a before-and-after video of a new moon crater here.
Previous studies of lunar craters shed light on how they formed and on the past rate of cratering, which in turn yielded insights on the age of various features of the moon's surface. However, less was known about the contemporary rate of lunar crater formation, which could give insight on the risk of bombardment that any missions to the moon might face.
To find out more about the present lunar crater formation rate, a group of scientists analyzed more than 14,000 pairs of before-and-after images of the moon's surface, taken by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). These images covered 6.6 percent of the lunar surface - about 960,000 square miles (2.49 million square kilometers) - and could reveal when a spot was crater-free and when it later had a crater. The time gaps between observations spanned between 176 and 1,241 Earth days.
The researchers discovered 222 craters on the moon that appeared on the surface after the first LRO images were taken - that is 33 percent more than predicted by current models. These were at least 32 feet (10 meters) across, and ranged up to about 140 feet (43 m) wide.
The Moon
Distilleries Workers Walk
Jim Beam
Workers at two Jim Beam distilleries in Kentucky voted to go on strike Friday after they failed to reach a new contract agreement.
The workers said the owners of Jim Beam, the Japanese-based Beam Suntory, Inc., failed to address workers' issues related to job security and seniority, among other issues. Workers at facilities in Boston and Clermont, Ky., overwhelmingly rejected Beam Suntory's final contract offer Friday, setting the stage for Saturday's walkout.
Beam Suntory said the company will undertake "contingency plans" and will continue to operate the two facilities. A spokesman declined to tell The Wall Street Journal whether those contingencies call for the use of nonunion replacement workers. The company said it does not expect any shortages of Jim Beam or its other bourbons, including Knob Creek, as a result of the strike.
Jannelle Mudd, president of the United Food & Commercial Workers Local 111D, told the Journal that Jim Beam workers deserve a better standard of living than what the company offered in its new contract.
Jim Beam is the top global brand of Kentucky bourbon whiskey, a growing force in the international spirits industry. Globally, sales of American whiskey have increased 26 percent since 2010. Beam Suntory purchased the brand in 2014 with the hope of boosting sales in Japan, where American whiskey is becoming a popular choice.
Jim Beam
Cardinals In A Tizzy
McVatican
The new McVatican comes with a side order of outrage.
Plans to open a McDonald's next to Saint Peter's Square in Rome have angered cardinals, including a group of the red-hatted "Princes of the Church" who live above the proposed site.
"It's a controversial, perverse decision to say the least," Cardinal Elio Sgreccia said in an interview with La Repubblica daily on Saturday.
Opening a branch of the US fast-food chain in a piazza to the right of the Vatican's basilica is "by no means respectful of the architectural traditions of one of the most characteristic squares which look onto the colonnade of Saint Peters," he said.
One angry cardinal has even written a letter to Pope Francis urging him to intervene against a commercial decision which would bring 30,000 euros ($33,000) a month into the Vatican's coffers but at a noisy, burger-smelling price, La Repubblica said.
McVatican
Barrow, Alaska Votes To Change Name
Utqiagvik
Residents in the nation's northernmost community have voted to change the name of the Alaska town to its traditional Inupiat Eskimo name.
A slight majority of voters in the largely Inupiat city of Barrow approved efforts to change the community's name to Utqiagvik (oot-GHAR-vik) in their local election Oct. 4. The vote was tight, with 381 in favor of the name change and 375 against it.
"Basically, it reinforces the cultural identity of the people," said Mayor Bob Harcharek, who is not Native. He noted that early day missionaries set up schools in the area where students were forbidden to speak in their native language and were punished if they did so. "It caused some social psychological problems."
Barrow City Council member Qaiyaan Harcharek, the mayor's son, introduced a local ordinance in August that began the process ratified by voters. The younger Harcharek is Inupiat on his mother's side.
Another Alaska community in recent years to change its name is the western Alaska village now known as Numan Iqua, which was known as Sheldon Point until voters approved the new name in 1999.
Utqiagvik
Top 20
Global Concert Tours
The Top 20 Global Concert Tours ranks artists by average box office gross per city and includes the average ticket price for shows Worldwide. The list is based on data provided to the trade publication Pollstar by concert promoters and venue managers.
1. Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band; $5,615,906; $101.78.
2. Beyonce; $5,487,803; $109.09.
3. Coldplay; $5,435,928; $102.82.
4. Guns N' Roses; $5,421,632; $117.90.
5. Paul McCartney; $3,517,953; $132.86.
6. Kenny Chesney; $2,972,194; $80.73.
7. Drake; $2,368,654; $112.78.
8. Rod Stewart; $1,760,292; $116.82.
9. Sting / Peter Gabriel; $1,607,410; $117.02.
10. Dead & Company; $1,545,481; $69.85.
11. Justin Bieber; $1,434,498; $98.19.
12. Phish; $1,362,315; $50.20.
13. Lionel Richie; $1,237,930; $87.59.
14. Zac Brown Band; $1,122,178; $51.99.
15. "Bad Boy Family Reunion Tour" / Puff Daddy; $1,005,191; $82.59.
16. Jason Aldean; $943,716; $47.71.
17. Dixie Chicks; $919,686; $67.72.
18. The Cure; $873,573; $61.32.
19. Dave Matthews Band; $848,980; $47.74.
20. Florida Georgia Line; $683,465; $42.49.
Global Concert Tours
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
