Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Tom Danehy: Tom has some thoughts about sacrifice and lent (Tucson Weekly)
My five toughest Lents have been: •1978, when I gave up meat and fish. I was the sports editor of the Arizona Daily Wildcat at the time. A guy named Steve Williams was a copy editor. (Yes, that job used to exist. I think about it every time a sportswriter in the morning paper uses "sprung" instead of "sprang" or "rung" instead of "rang" as the past tense of "spring" or "ring." That stuff drives me nuts!)
Angelica Jade Bastién: It Doesn't Take Much to Be Seen As an Unruly Woman (Vulture)
Here's the thing about being an unruly woman. It doesn't take much to gain that distinction. Talk too much, too loudly, and that's enough. … What makes Harley Quinn so thrilling is that she provides another option - one where the unruly woman is allowed to cut loose and triumph over the emblems of misogyny in her life.
Alison Wilmore: Birds of Prey Tries to Figure Out a Post-Joker Harley Quinn, to Mixed Results (Vulture)
The latest outing for Margot Robbie's comic book antiheroine has a lot of ideas, and less of a sense of what to do with them.
Lynn Steiger Strong: "A dirty secret: you can only be a writer if you can afford it" (The Guardian)
There is nothing more sustaining to long-term creative work than time and space - and these things cost money.
Charles Bramesco: "David Cronenberg: 'Movies were made for sex'" (The Guardian)
The acclaimed film-maker goes in front of the camera for a new thriller and talks about age, sex and how difficult he finds it to get funding for a new project.
Martin Farrer: "Coronavirus: Trump says US risk 'very low' as Australian PM warns pandemic is 'upon us'" (The Guardian)
US president says cases could fall to zero in a 'few days' but Scott Morrison launches emergency plan to deal with threat of global outbreak.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
BANDCAMP MUSIC
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC
Music: "You Can't Judge a Book by Looking at Its Cover"
Artist: katahoula
Artist Location: Seattle, Washington
Info: "Seattle psychedelic blues band that plays a wide range of blues, blues rock and folk, drums, bass, electric guitar, accordion and harmonies."
"We recorded this track for Bo Diddley's birthday."
Angelina Baldoz-bass, vocals
kevtone-drums
Eric Richards-guitar
Price: $1 (USD) for single.
Genre: Blues Rock.
Links:
katahoula on Bandcamp
"You Can't Judge a Book by Looking at Its Cover"
Other Links:
FREE BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATIONS PDF
FREE YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIND PDFS
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David Bruce has over 140 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
New Venture
Michael Egan
Team Coco
CONAN
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
from Bruce
Anecdotes
• A man lived near Rabbi Zusya. Because the Rabbi was very poor, the man gave him money each day so that the Rabbi could buy the necessities of life for himself and his family. Because of this, God rewarded the man handsomely. The man then thought, If God rewards me handsomely for what I give to Rabbi Zusya, wouldn't God reward me even more if I were to give money to Rabbi Zusya's master, who is an even better man than Rabbi Zusya? The man gave money to Rabbi Zusya's master, but the man then suffered financial misfortunes. Therefore, the man went to Rabbi Zusya and asked why this had happened. Rabbi Zusya answered, "As long as you gave to those who had need, and did not worry about their worth, God did the same. But when you sought to give only to those who were worthy, God did the same."
• During an audience that Pope John XXIII gave to several priests, he noticed one German priest who stood out because of his excellent clothing. As he discovered through the priest's answers to his questions, the priest came from a diocese of millionaires. As the two men talked, the priest volunteered information about how he was able to coax the rich people in his diocese to give generously during the collection at Mass. Before each collection, the priest always said, "When the basket goes around, I don't want to hear any clinking, only rustling." This information made Pope John XXIII sad. He told the well-dressed priest, "Do you know, dear friend, that when poor men sacrifice a coin of theirs, that a part of their heart goes into the collection basket with it? … That's the reason I would rather hear clinking."
• One day, Nasrudin saw a beggar who asked him for money. When Nasrudin asked what the beggar needed the money for, the beggar replied that he wanted money to buy himself new clothing, to take his friends to a good restaurant for a good meal, and to finish the evening by taking his friends to a coffeehouse. Therefore, Nasrudin gave the beggar a coin of great value. Soon, another beggar came to Nasrudin and asked for money. When Nasrudin asked this beggar what he needed the money for, the beggar replied that he wanted to buy some bread and cheese. Nasrudin asked whether the beggar wanted some new clothing and to treat his friends to food and coffee, but the beggar replied that he had simple tastes and spent most of his time praying. Therefore, Nasrudin gave this man a coin of small value.
• Dr. Alfred G. Robyn, the noted Bach authority, composer, organist, and pianist, once went to a dentist for bridge work. The dentist was pleased to discover that his patient was a famous pianist and asked him to serve as accompanist for a series of recitals at which he - the dentist - was singing. Dr. Robyn agreed, but he was surprised when, after the recitals, the dentist sent him a bill for the dental work, itemizing such tasks as "examining teeth, cleaning teeth, preparing teeth," and so on. In response, Dr. Robyn sent the dentist his own bill, itemizing such tasks as "opening piano lid, putting music on rack, playing on black keys, playing on white keys, closing piano lid," and so on. Finally, Dr. Robyn compared the two bills - the dentist's and his own - and added this P.S.: "You owe me fifty cents."
***
© Copyright Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
***
Reader Comment
Current Events
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
JD is on vacation.
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Cloudy, extra humid, and warmer than seasonal.
Skipping Cesars
Roman Polanski
Filmmaker Roman Polanski is skipping the awards ceremony for France's equivalent of the Oscars - where his latest movie leads this year's nominations - because of protests prompted by a new rape accusation against him.
Women's rights activists have called for a boycott of Friday's Cesars ceremony in Paris, and plastered anti-Polanski banners and graffiti at the event venue and the Cesar academy headquarters.
The entire male-dominated leadership of the Cesars stepped down recently amid a spat over its byzantine decision-making structure and over how to deal with the Polanski problem.
Last year, a Frenchwoman came forward to accuse Polanski of raping her in 1975 in his Swiss chalet when she was 18. Polanski denied it, and the allegations are too old for an investigation.
But the accusation put the director under fresh scrutiny in France, where he has long been revered as one of the country's premier filmmakers despite the outstanding rape charge in the U.S. Other accusations have also emerged.
Roman Polanski
Disney World Boat Sinks
Jungle Cruise
Around midday on Thursday, one of the boats used in the classic Jungle Cruise ride at the Orlando theme park started sinking while filled with passengers.
Witnesses documented the mishap on social media, showing guests still standing inside the boat as the murky water slowly rose around their legs. All those on board were safely rescued, but later images captured the vessel nearly completely submerged, its canopy roof still visible and what appears to be a lone park employee on board.
The ride, located in Magic Kingdom's Adventureland area, is for all ages and lasts approximately 10 minutes, according to the official Disney World website, which describes it as a "journey that you won't soon forget."
Everyone made it off the boat safely, and staff members worked individually with the guests to ensure the rest of their park visit went smoothly, the representative said. The attraction has since reopened.
Jungle Cruise
Inspects Russia's Answer To Disneyland
Puti
President Vladimir Putin inspected Russia's answer to Disneyland on Thursday, the country's first large-scale indoor theme park which Moscow says will be the biggest of its kind in Europe when it opens on Saturday.
The theme park, called "Ostrov Mechty" - or Dream Island - is built in the shape of a toy castle that spreads across 30 hectares in an industrial neighbourhood in southern Moscow and is filled with rides, attractions and restaurants.
Joined by Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, Putin strolled through the park inspecting a scale model of the facility and stopping to take pictures with a group of disadvantaged children brought in for his visit.
Russia has strived in recent years to build bigger and better facilities than the West to show it remains a force to be reckoned with, and has prided itself on major construction and infrastructure projects.
Municipal authorities say it is the largest indoor theme park of its kind in Europe and that its main glass dome is several times larger than the dome at the Galeries Lafayette in Paris and more than double the size of one atop the German Reichstag in Berlin.
Puti
Moscow Police Seize
Homemade 'Batmobile'
A homemade vehicle bearing a striking resemblance to the "Batmobile" featured in a recent Batman film has been seized in central Moscow, Russia's interior ministry announced.
Traffic police brought the all-black, lowrider vehicle with giant wheels to a screeching halt as it cruised down one of the main roads into the city centre on Saturday evening.
They impounded the car, styled after the famous car belonging to the superhero and owned by a 32-year-old Muscovite.
Police said Tuesday that the vehicle was assembled illegally at a private workshop, is not registered as a vehicle and does not adhere to road safety standards, as well as being supersized for a standard car at six metres (20 feet) long.
The car was built in the United States, then customised in Russia at an auto tuning workshop called Fast Boom Pro, whose logo is visible in a police video, Russian auto sites reported.
Homemade 'Batmobile'
Biggest Explosion
Ophiuchus Cluster
Astronomers have discovered the biggest explosion seen in the universe, originating from a super-massive black hole.
Scientists reported Thursday that the blast came from a black hole in a cluster of galaxies 390 million light-years away.
The explosion was so large it carved out a crater in the hot gas that could hold 15 Milky Ways, said lead author Simona Giacintucci of the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington.
It's five times bigger than the previous record-holder.
Astronomers used NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory to make the discovery, along with a European space observatory and ground telescopes. They believe the explosion came from the heart of the Ophiuchus cluster of thousands of galaxies: a large galaxy at the center contains a colossal black hole.
Ophiuchus Cluster
Biofluorescence
Most Amphibians
At first glance, most salamanders don't stand out: Their mottled, earth-toned skin helps them blend into the background of forests and streams around the world. But shine the right type of light at them, and they will light up like glow sticks.
That's the finding of a new study, which reveals for the first time that most amphibians, from salamanders to frogs, have biofluorescence, a trait in which fluorescent compounds in the body absorb surrounding light and re-emit it at specific wavelengths, including red, green, and blue. Previously, swell sharks, corals, and some fish were shown to glow when the right light hit, but only a few land-dwelling animals were known to biofluoresce.
In the new study, scientists placed specimens from 32 species-including salamanders; frogs; and limbless, wormlike amphibians known as caecilians-onto a dark background and shone a blue or ultraviolet light on them. Then, they took pictures using a digital camera with a filter that captures green to yellow wavelengths. The researchers found that all of the animals were biofluorescent, they report today in Scientific Reports.
Although there were some differences, such as the intensity of the color or the body parts that glowed, they all emitted a greenish to yellow light from their skin. Some had glittering bones (one salamander's finger bones flashed neon green, for example), and others had sparkling skin mucus and even urine.
This widespread occurrence suggests biofluorescence appeared early in the evolutionary history of amphibians, the researchers say. But why it appeared is another matter entirely. Although some animals use biofluorescence to find mates or communicate, scientists still aren't exactly sure how or why amphibians glow. But, they say, it could help them locate each other under the low light of their natural environments.
Most Amphibians
550 Times Usual Dose
LSD
A paper on three case reports has shown what can happen when you accidentally take more LSD than you bargained for, including one woman who accidentally snorted 550 times the average dose of LSD.
Recently, there has been a resurgence of interest in using LSD to treat addiction, PTSD, depression, and a range of other conditions. Studies have tended to focus on microdosing with LSD, or at least administering "normal" doses of the drug. Researchers aren't usually keen on giving people a gigantic overdose of LSD just to see what happens next.
However, there are cases of people out there who have taken unusually large doses all by themselves, and this new study explores what can happen, and the after-effects of an LSD overdose.
A third case, where the dose was well and truly above what is normal for a recreational dose, involved a woman in her 40s who accidentally snorted 55 milligrams of pure LSD, which she had thought was cocaine. That's 550 times the usual recreational dose of LSD.
Following the alarmingly high dose, the woman - who had been on morphine for foot pain for about a decade - reported positive effects on her pain levels, discontinued her morphine-use, and didn't even experience withdrawal. When the pain later returned, she used morphine at a lower dose, as well as regularly microdosing with LSD, eventually stopping morphine altogether, believing it to be unnecessary.
LSD
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. U2; $6,835,590; $136.37.
2. Elton John; $3,756,085; $136.12.
3. Andrea Bocelli; $2,642,269; $185.73.
4. Post Malone; $1,985,105; $116.11.
5. Cher; $1,626,347; $123.09.
6. Tool; $1,444,017; $114.76.
7. Marc Anthony; $1,401,295; $112.40.
8. Jonas Brothers; $1,328,951; $97.39.
9. Bad Bunny; $1,295,959; $95.74.
10. Shawn Mendes; $1,286,725; $68.99.
11. André Rieu; $1,252,373; $86.94.
12. The Black Keys; $1,082,906; $103.61.
13. Trans-Siberian Orchestra; $1,080,676; $65.83.
14. The Lumineers; $633,515; $56.27.
15. Bryan Adams; $620,556; $71.45.
16. Jerry Seinfeld; $592,045; $117.53.
17. The World of Hans Zimmer; $556,096; $67.21.
18. Casting Crowns / Hillsong Worship; $525,080; $43.91.
19. Pentatonix; $502,371; $73.53.
20. The Kelly Family; $437,151; $59.06.
Global Concert Tours
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