Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: The Obamacare Shock (New York Times)
… important new evidence - especially from California, the law's most important test case - suggests that the real Obamacare shock will be one of unexpected success.
Deborah Orr: The rot has set into the high street as we opt for Tesco over local grocers (Guardian)
Before the crash, in 2005, figures collated from different sources suggested that Britain was wasting between 30% and 40% of all the food it bought or grew, at a cost of somewhere between £8bn and £16bn each year. A lot of this waste was due to the rigid and controlling processes of the industry. But a lot of it was just people buying more grub than they were going to use.
Paul Krugman: The Closing of the Conservative Mind (New York Times)
The point is that being a good liberal doesn't require that you believe, or pretend to believe, lots of things that almost certainly aren't true; being a good conservative does.
Emily Bazelon: Is Kaitlyn Hunt Being Punished Because She Is Gay? (Slate)
It looks that way. But her case is about more than gay rights.
How We Eradicated Nutrition From Food (Disinformation)
Jo Robinson, author of Eating on the Wild Side: The Missing Link to Optimum Health, reveals how humans have purposefully bred out the best parts of many staples of our diet. Corn of course is the prime example, but how many of you knew it all started when George Washington's troops were wiping out the Iroquois Indians?
Mick LaSalle: "Review of Romantics Anonymous" (SF Gate)
The word "delightful" is thrown around so much that it often means nothing. Movies that truly have the capacity to delight - that amuse and lift the spirits and create a warm feeling - are rare. Romantics Anonymous is one of those rare delights. … The American title, Romantics Anonymous, is a little misleading, in that the movie is not about romantics so much as it's about people so fearful and self-conscious that they are flummoxed by every social encounter.
Rosecrans Baldwin: Popcorn: Cinema's Worst Enemy (Slate)
An admittedly irrational screed against the snack.
Camille Paglia: Scholars in Bondage (Chronicle of Higher Education)
Dogma dominates studies of kink.
Lucy Mangan: "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain" (Guardian)
I was, as may have become apparent to you during our weeks in the book corner together, really more clam than child when I was growing up. Lifeless and inert to the casual observer, fit only for a few specific functions (eating, excreting, diverging only in my preference for reading rather than burying myself in sand) and beyond that, useless. I was always delighted to read about children roaming free and having boisterous adventures, because it meant that I didn't have to.
Scott Burns: The Age of IRAs (AssetBuilder)
If you are in your twenties or thirties, I have a tip for you: Learn about IRA accounts. They are the retirement vehicles for your future. Few have figured this out.
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Trees
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From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Soupy morning, sunny afternoon.
Honorary Doctorate From Brown
Ben Affleck
Academy Award-winning actor and director Ben Affleck has received one of six honorary doctorate degrees from Brown University.
Affleck was among artists, writers, scientists and educators to receive the degrees from the Ivy League school at commencement exercises Sunday. He received a doctor of fine arts degree. The Massachusetts native directed, produced and starred in "Argo," which won this year's Oscar for Best Picture.
Others getting honorary doctorates were author and MIT Professor Junot Diaz; retired Stanford University bacteriologist Stanley Falkow; Tougaloo College President Beverly Wade Hogan; medical doctor and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation President Risa Lavizzo-Mourey; and Miami Dade College President Eduardo Padron.
The university conferred more than 2,400 degrees Sunday.
Ben Affleck
1st Visit To Graceland
Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney made his first visit to the one-time home of the King of Rock 'N' Roll and left a gift behind.
According to the official Twitter account of the former Beatle, McCartney dropped a personal guitar pick on Elvis Presley's grave and said it was "so Elvis can play in heaven."
The lifelong Elvis fan toured Graceland, the Memphis mansion, on Sunday.
He was in Memphis to play a show on the North American leg of his "Out There" tour.
Paul McCartney
Astronaut Packs Crafts
Karen Nyberg
When NASA's Karen Nyberg, the European Space Agency's Luca Parmitano and Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin officially launch on board a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station on May 28, the American astronaut will bring a few key creative items with her.
"I actually enjoy sewing and quilting and I am bringing some fabric with me and thread and I'm hoping to create something," Nyberg said. "I don't know yet what it will be but that's part of creativity is that it comes with the feeling of the day so I have the supplies in my hands to create if I get the opportunity and the creative notion to do so."
Although the six-month-stint will be Nyberg's longest in space, it is not her first time visiting the International Space Station.
Nyberg, 43, is planning on sharing her experiences on board the station with the world using social media, although she has only be using Twitter (where she posts from the account @AstroKarenN) for a little over a month. She is also on Pintrest with the handle: knyberg.
Karen Nyberg
Franz Kafka Prize
Amos Oz
Acclaimed Israeli author Amos Oz has won the prestigious Franz Kafka Prize in the Czech Republic.
An international jury that included prominent German literary critic Marcel Reich-Ranicki selected Oz for the prize, which is awarded annually with a $10,000 prize.
It is awarded by the Prague-based Franz Kafka Society to authors whose works "appeal to readers regardless of their origin, nationality and culture."
The society said in a statement Monday that Oz has agreed to travel to Prague with his wife for an October ceremony to receive the prize.
Amos Oz
Blocking Access
Navajo
A uranium mining company seeking a mineral lease on state land in northwestern Arizona could have a hard time transporting the ore off-site because of the Navajo Nation's objections to an industry that left a legacy of death and disease among tribal members.
The section of land in Coconino County is surrounded by the Navajo Nation's Big Boquillas Ranch. The tribe has said it will not grant Wate Mining Company LLC permission to drive commercial trucks filled with chunks of uranium ore across its land to be processed at a milling site in Blanding, Utah.
The Navajo Nation was the site of extensive uranium mining for weapons during the Cold War. Although most of the physical hazards, including open mine shafts, have been fixed at hundreds of sites, concerns of radiation hazards remain.
The tribe banned uranium mining on its lands in 2005, and last year passed a law governing the transport of radioactive substances over its land. The ranch itself is not part of the reservation, although the Navajo Nation owns it.
"Given the (Navajo) Nation's history with uranium mining, it is the nation's intent to deny access to the land for the purpose of prospecting for or mining of uranium," officials from the Navajo Department of Justice wrote in response to the mineral lease application.
Navajo
150th Anniversary
Gettysburg
The commemoration of this year's milestone anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg will include amenities that soldiers would have relished 150 years ago.
A groomed path to the top of Little Round Top. Expanded cellphone coverage. Dozens of portable toilets.
The National Park Service and a cadre of community organizers are busily putting the finishing touches on preparations for the commemoration of the pivotal battle of the American Civil War that cemented this small Pennsylvania town's place in U.S history. Tens of thousands of visitors are expected for a 10-day schedule of events that begin June 29.
But that doesn't necessarily mean just flooding the historical 6,000-acre battlefield, and surrounding town, with the modern comforts of home. To help visitors better understand what happened at the Battle of Gettysburg on July 1-3, 1863, the National Park Service first decided to look back.
Gettysburg
Selling Off Camps
Girl Scouts
When it came time to draw up a budget, one of Iowa's regional Girl Scout councils reviewed its programs and made a proposal that would have been unthinkable a generation ago: selling its last four summer camps.
Troop leader Joni Kinsey was stunned. For decades, the camps had been cherished places where thousands of young girls spent summer breaks hiking, huddling around campfires and building friendships. Kinsey, whose daughter learns to train horses at camp, immediately started a petition to fight the idea.
Other scouting alums and volunteers have taken up the cause, too, packing public meetings, sending letters to newspapers and recording a protest song for YouTube. When those efforts failed, they filed a lawsuit.
Nationwide, Girl Scout councils are confronting intense opposition as they sell camps that date back to the 1950s and earlier. Leaders say the properties have become a financial drain at a time when girls are less interested in camp. Defenders insist the camping experience shaped who they are and must be preserved for future generations.
Girl Scouts
Watch Them Live - Cicada Cam
Cicadas
If you live on the East Coast you've started to witness the invasion. Their shells have started to cover the ground and their high-pitched buzzing has begun to fill the air. They're the Cicadas and the bugs have begun to emerge for the first time in 17 summers.
But if you're not in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Virginia or one of the other East Coast states that will be home to the insects this summer, you can still see them. And not just in some photos.
The Science Channel has launched a Cicada Cam, which will live stream a group of the soft-shelled bugs through Monday evening. According to The Los Angeles Times, the channel launched the stream to promote the channel's "Swarm Chasers" and "Cicada Invaders 2013? shows, which premiered on Sunday night. Nevertheless, you can see the bugs crawl around a terrarium that's been decorated with a Capitol building model.
According to National Geographic, the species spends much of their early life underground. When they emerge after two to 17 years, they latch on to trees and within a week they shed their nymph exoskeleton. Without the skin, they have stronger wings and the male cicada make the loud, noisy sounds to woo the female cicadas. And then the cycle begins again. There are more than 1,500 Cicada species; it's Magicicada septendecim species that arrive every 17 years.
Cicadas
Weekend Box Office
"Fast & Furious 6"
After a lackluster start to the year, the movie industry enjoyed its most robust Memorial Day weekend ever at the box office, with "Fast & Furious 6" speeding to the top spot.
The sixth installment of the "Fast & Furious" franchise debuted at No. 1 with $120 million, making it the biggest opening weekend for a Universal Pictures release, according to Hollywood.com.
"The Hangover Part III," starring Zach Galifianakis, Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms, opened in second place. The final chapter in the Warner Bros. raunchy comedy trilogy collected $51.2 million.
Paramount Pictures' "Star Trek: Into Darkness," which opened last week, added $47 million to its domestic ticket sales, landing at No. 3.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Monday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Tuesday.
1. "Fast & Furious 6," $120 million ($158 million international).
2. "The Hangover Part III," $51.2 million ($19.2 million international).
3. "Star Trek: Into Darkness," $47 million ($13.1 million international).
4. "Epic," $42.6 million ($23.1 million international).
5. "Iron Man 3," $24.4 million ($17.4 million international).
6. "The Great Gatsby," $17 million ($24.4 million international).
7. "Mud," $2.5 million ($400,000 international).
8. "The Croods," $1.6 million ($5.8 million international).
9. "42," $1.6 million.
10. "Oblivion," $1.1 million ($2.3 million international).
"Fast & Furious 6"
In Memory
Otto Muehl
Austrian painter Otto Muehl, whose radical notions of art were only exceeded by the excesses in his lifestyle, has died. He was 87.
Muehl died Sunday in Portugal, according to Daniele Roussel, the head of his archived works. In his statement Monday, Roussel did not provide the cause of death.
Muehl was a co-founder of the Vienna Actionism, a controversial art movement in the 1960s, and his works shocked audiences with their use of blood, excrement and the human body as materials.
He was convicted in 1991 of crimes including illicit drug use and sex with minors while heading a commune. He was imprisoned for nearly seven years.
Muehl apologized to his juvenile victims in 2010.
Otto Muehl
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