Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Trump, Trade and Workers (NY Times Column)
Bashing China doesn't make you labor's friend.
Andrew Tobias: The Brexit Solution
Two Washington Post headlines tell it all: "Young Brits are angry about older people deciding their future, but most didn't vote"
Three-quarters of Brits aged 18-24 voted to remain in the E.U. But only 36% of them turned out - versus 83% of those over 65. "Brexit leaders are walking back some of their biggest promises"
Guess what: much of what the "leave" proponents promised simply wasn't true.
Source: Julia Brucculieri, "Zendaya Masterfully Shut Down This Twitter Troll's Rape 'Joke'" (Huffington Post)
On Sunday [3 July 2016], the singer and actress caught wind of a disgusting tweet sent by a user who goes by @ogxbenson and shut it down like a boss. The tweet, which has since been deleted, featured photos of Beyoncé, Zendaya, Rihanna and Nicki Minaj and referenced "The Purge," a movie in which nothing is illegal for one night every year. It read: "If the purge was real who y'all raping?"
Dustin Illingworth: An Incomplete Eloquence (LA Review of Books)
In 2005, the University of Chicago Library held an exhibition entitled Book Use, Book Theory: 1500-1700. Its curators, Bradin Cormack and Carla Mazzio, displayed various books from the library's collection that sought to reveal the agency and character of early modern readers by way of the marginalia, marks, lists, and doodles left behind within the blank spaces of the texts themselves.
Simon Pegg: 'It's terrible! I have become the very thing I feared' (The Guardian)
From Spaced to Star Trek by way of Star Wars, Simon Pegg has become Hollywood's hottest geek. He tells Carole Cadwalladr where it all went interstellar.
Sylvia Patterson: The 1990s were the best of times … until the Spice Girls ruined everything(The Guardian)
A decade of unbridled musical creativity also saw the rise of brand-pop muses the Spice Girls, celebrity culture and hyper-capitalism.
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wrote:
took the day off.
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
from Marc Perkel
Patriot Act
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
TRUMP GOING DOWN!
HANDS OFF YOU MONEY GRUBBING ASSHOLES!
THE RACIST!
POVERTY HAS ALWAYS ACCOMPANIED CAPITALISM.
BENGHAZI! BENGHAZI! BENGHAZI!
NEW EVIDENCE HILLARY KILLED LINCOLN!
"THIS IS CRAP"
THE RAPIST?
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Fireworks still going off at 2:30am, and Tilly the kitty has been damn near velcro'd to me all day.
Online Museum Unveiled
Prince
An online museum, dedicated to the late rock star Prince, has launched exactly 10 years after the artist closed his award-winning digital NPG Music Club.
The internet archive, which features 12 of Prince's most popular official websites from the past 20 years, is an ode to the singer's accomplishments as an independent artist and his work with online communities.
Like Prince, the Museum also supports the organization #YesWeCode, which has the goal to connect 100,000 low-opportunity young adults with high-paying careers in tech noted Billboard.
Commenting on its launch, Prince Online Museum director Sam Jennings said the initiative was "a labor of love."
"The Museum was built by the people who worked directly with Prince on these projects," he adds. "We are the originators, we are the experts. It is a labor of love, no money has been exchanged. There will be no downloads sold and no membership fees required. But we do have working versions of almost all of Prince's official websites."
Prince
Flees Louisiana
Hollywood
It's the middle of a recent work day inside a Hollywood-style movie studio in downtown New Orleans, and Trey Burvant turns off the lights on an empty Stage 1.
He heads over to stages 2 and 3, and they're empty, too.
He's a Louisiana-raised actor and producer who came back from the East Coast when the movie industry started to take off a decade ago in his home state, thanks to generous tax breaks for movie makers.
But now the slick $32 million state-of-the-art studio Burvant runs - with its air conditioning turned off, its stages dark and its empty parking lot - is a forlorn window into the volatile business of America's race to attract movie makers with tax breaks.
Louisiana's once-booming film industry - dubbed "Hollywood South" - was off by as much as 90 percent this past year, according to the Louisiana Film Entertainment Association. The drop is all attributed to the state's decision to wind down its generous incentives last July, scaring off movie makers.
Hollywood
'Purple Rain' Outfit Sold
Prince
The signature ruffled shirt and black-and-white blazer worn by late rock star Prince in the film "Purple Rain" have been sold at auction for US$96,000 each to unnamed buyers.
The items were part of a showcase in the recent "Profiles in History" auction that took place from June 29 to July 1, and were reportedly acquired after a a make-up artist who worked on "Purple Rain" gave the items to her sibling, the original seller, noted Rolling Stone.
The 1984 Oscar-winning film is one of the star's most iconic works -- although, according to the auction house, the outfit was scheduled to headline their Hollywood Auction before Prince's death on April 21 this year.
The New Romantic-style ivory silk shirt can be recognized as the one he wore playing "The Kid" in the film, along with the signature motorcycle jacket he sported, which can be spotted in scenes where he is shopping for a guitar and riding his bike with Appollonia.
Prince
Queen's Wardrobe On Display
Buckingham Palace
A selection of outfits worn by Britain's Queen Elizabeth go on display at her London Buckingham Palace residence as part of an exhibition marking the monarch's 90th birthday this year.
"Fashioning a Reign: 90 Years of Style from The Queen's Wardrobe" showcases royal outfits from occasions such as family weddings as well as state visits.
The Buckingham Palace exhibit, part of the summer opening of its State Rooms, is one of three such royal fashion displays taking place at the monarch's official residences, including Windsor Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.
Elizabeth turned 90 in April, months after surpassing the 23,226-day reign of her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria.
Buckingham Palace
Prosecutors Seek Prison Terms
'Vatileaks'
Vatican prosecutors Monday demanded prison sentences for a senior clergyman, a communications consultant and a journalist accused of involvement in the leak of sensitive Holy See documents dubbed "Vatileaks".
The prosecution called for three years and nine months prison for communications consultant Francesca Chaouqui who had been involved in a review of Vatican finances and is accused of both "inspiring" and of ultimate responsibility for the leaks.
Chaouqui is accused of conspiring with a Spanish Vatican official, monsignor Angel Vallejo Balda, and his assistant, to leak data and documents they had access to as members of a commission appointed by Francis to spearhead a financial clean-up shortly after his election in 2013.
Prosecutors called for a sentence of three years and one month for Balda who is being held on remand in Vatican prison but is being allowed out on day release and one year and nine months for his assistant Nicola Maio.
The two journalists on trial, Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipaldi, have published books based on the documents at the heart of the trial.
'Vatileaks'
Pacific Ocean Radiation
Fukushima
Radiation levels across the Pacific Ocean are rapidly returning to normal five years after a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant spewed gases and liquids into the sea, a study showed Monday.
Japan shut down dozens of reactors after a magnitude 9.0 earthquake-generated tsunami on March 11, 2011 triggered one of the largest ever dumps of nuclear material into the world's oceans.
In the days following the quake and explosions at Fukushima, seawater meant to cool the nuclear reactors instead carried radioactive elements back into the Pacific, with currents dispersing it widely.
Five years on a review by the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research, which brings together ocean experts from across the world, said radioactive material had been carried as far as the United States.
But after analysing data from 20 studies of radioactivity associated with the plant, it found radiation levels in the Pacific were rapidly returning to normal after being tens of millions of times higher than usual following the disaster.
Fukushima
Theft Of Ancient Bones
National Park Service
A 1990 theft of historically significant Native American remains by a national monument superintendent entrusted with protecting them was larger and more harmful than previously acknowledged, internal National Park Service documents show.
After decades of investigations and cover-ups, the case is scheduled to end in a federal courtroom Friday when retired Effigy Mounds National Monument superintendent Thomas Munson is sentenced for carrying out the theft. The 76-year-old has apologized and hopes to avoid a prison sentence.
But documents obtained by The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act point to wider problems at the federal park along the Mississippi River in northeast Iowa. A series of superintendents were warned that the museum's entire collection of human bones had gone missing under Munson, but they did little to find them and failed to notify affected tribes. Even the current superintendent called it a devastating "debacle" that would hurt the agency for years.
"The one conclusion that can't be argued by anyone is our lack of competence as an agency," one National Park Service manager told an investigator in 2012, calling the case the "most glaring example" of that incompetence.
The documents shed light on Munson's motive for stealing the bones, which were from more than 40 Native Americans who lived and died in the area between 700 and 2,500 years ago. The bones had been dug up from sacred tribal burial sites during archaeological excavations from the 1950s through the 1970s and were kept in the museum's collection.
National Park Service
Mystery Disease Kills Baobabs
Zimbabwe
A black baobab tree stands forlornly on the side of a highway in Chimanimani district, in the east of Zimbabwe. The tree is one of many in this region afflicted by a mysterious disease, which turns the baobabs black before they lose their branches and die.
The giant trees, which dwarf their more common acacia and mopani neighbours in this dry part of the country, have long been revered as a way to survive drought.
Families cook and eat the leaves as a vegetable. The fruits can been eaten raw or cooked into porridge. Baobab seeds substitute for coffee. And the bark fibre can be woven into mats.
But environmentalists fear a disease that is now attacking baobabs - particularly those that have had part of their bark harvested - could wipe out entire baobab populations and leave people battling drought with fewer survival options.
With Zimbabwe struggling with a devastating El Nino-induced drought, which has decimated more than half of the country's food crops, many people in drought-hit areas of the east are now depending on baobabs for survival.
Zimbabwe
Bison Might Become Hunting Trophies
Grand Canyon
A report from the National Park Service has granted the 600 or so bison roaming near the North Rim of the Grand Canyon "native" status but also claims that there are way too many of them in the region and the herd must be thinned.
That's good and bad news for the species.
First, the designation as native wildlife means the option for wildlife officials to completely remove the animals from the park is off the table. But the report suggests that hundreds of the animals need to be removed to get the herd down to a "sustainable" level-estimated at between 80 and 200 individuals.
Identical bills introduced in the House and the Senate this year by Rep. Paul Gosar and Sen. John McCain (both Arizona Republicans) would pave the way for state-licensed hunters to kill bison within the park's boundaries and harvest the meat. The bills tout the hunts as a cost-saving measure that would expedite delayed action from the National Park Service.
Arizona permits hunting for bison at the House Rock Wildlife Area just outside the park boundaries. Permits are highly sought after, but opportunities to kill bison have diminished, as the animals are spending more time within the hunting-free confines of Grand Canyon National Park.
Grand Canyon
In Memory
Noel Neill
Noel Neill, who played foolhardy Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane on the 1950s TV series Adventures of Superman, then walked away from show business, has died. She was 95.
Neill died Sunday at her home in Tucson, Ariz., after a long illness, her friend, manager and biographer, Larry Thomas Ward, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Neill became the first actress to play the legendary damsel in distress on the screen when she starred opposite Kirk Alyn as the Man of Steel in a 15-chapter serial for Columbia Pictures that played in movie theaters in 1948.
The pair then reunited in 1950 for another serial, Atom Man vs. Superman, which spanned 15 chapters as well.
Phyllis Coates played Lois in the first season (1952) of the syndicated Adventures of Superman, but when she committed to another project and could not return to the series, Neill reclaimed the role in 1953. She was rescued a countless number of times by George Reeves' Superman in 78 episodes until the show's conclusion in 1958.
Neill's favorite episode was said to be the 1956 installment "The Wedding of Superman," where the hero proposes to her. But alas, it was only a dream.
Neill, who earned $225 an episode, quit acting after the series ended in 1958. "I just figured I'd worked enough, I didn't have any great ambition," she told The New York Times in a 2006 interview. "Basically, I'm a beach bum. I was married, we lived near the beach, that was enough for me."
Neill was born on Nov. 20, 1920, which was Thanksgiving Day. Her father was an editor for the Minneapolis Star Tribune and wanted his daughter to become a reporter, arranging her to write for Women's Wear Daily, but she wanted to be a performer. She played banjo in a musical trio on the fair circuit, and during a visit to Southern California, she got a job singing at a restaurant at the Del Mar racetrack.
Bing Crosby, who was a Del Mar shareholder, spotted her and helped her land a contract with Paramount Pictures, for whom she appeared in bit roles in such films as Henry Aldrich's Little Secret (1944), with Crosby in Here Come the Waves (1944) and in The Blue Dahlia (1946).
Later, you could spot her in The Big Clock (1948), the Charlie Chan film The Sky Dragon (1949), The Greatest Show on Earth (1950), American in Paris (1951), Invasion U.S.A. with Coates (1952) and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953).
The 5-foot-2 Neill, who had dark red hair and blue-gray eyes, was past 25 when she played bobbysoxer Betty Rogers in a series of breezy "Teenager" musicals for Monogram Pictures that included Junior Prom (1946), Freddie Steps Out (1946), High School Hero (1946), Vacation Days (1947), Sarge Goes to College (1947), Smart Politics (1948) and Campus Sleuth (1948).
Sam Katzman, who had produced several of these films, thought she's be just right for Lois in the first Superman serial, the first time the superhero was portrayed outside the comics or radio. (Later, Katzman produced the 1949 serial Batman and Robin, starring Robert Lowery as the Caped Crusader.)
She kept her connection to the character when she briefly appeared as the mother of Lois (Margot Kidder) in Superman (1978), the hero's return to the big screen that starred Christopher Reeve. (Alyn played Lois' father in the Richard Donner film.)
Neill also showed up on a 1991 episode of the syndicated series Superboy, and she was Gertrude Vanderworth, who on her death bed signs all her money over to bad guy Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey), in the opening scene of Bryan Singer's Superman Returns (2006), starring Brandon Routh.
Noel Neill
In Memory
Abbas Kiarostami
Acclaimed Iranian film-maker Abbas Kiarostami has died at the age of 76 in France following a battle with cancer, Iranian media reported on Monday.
Kiarostami, who won the coveted Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997 for "Taste of Cherry", left Tehran last week to undergo treatment in France, the ISNA news agency said, adding that his death had been confirmed by Iran's House of Cinema.
One of the brightest stars of Iran's cinema, Kiarostami was born in Tehran in 1940 and rose from relatively humble origins before becoming part of the so-called Iranian New Wave of cinema in the 1960s.
He stayed on in his country after the Islamic revolution in 1979, but had been working internationally for the past decade.
The news agency IRNA reported that he had undergone several unsuccessful operations in Iran between February and April, and that his body would be repatriated for burial.
Abbas Kiarostami
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