from Bruce
Anecdotes
Gays and Lesbians
• Lesbian comedian Kate Clinton usually does not believe in outing homosexuals who don’t want to be outed, but sometimes more important things — such as politics — make her want to out some of her fellow homosexuals. For example, after singer Ricky Martin was seen being chummy with George W. Bush at his first Presidential Inauguration, Ms. Clinton says that she started going into record stores, hanging around big advertisements for Ricky Martin’s newest album, and telling passersby, “Did you know he’s a big fag?” (Later, Mr. Martin outed himself.)
• Gay comedian Bob Smith sometimes attends the Gay Pride festivities of Juneau, Alaska, where straight people celebrate alongside gays and lesbians. He once saw a hot man sitting at a bar during the Pride festivities and asked a friend who the hot guy was. This reply came back: “Oh, he’s a fisherman. He’s straight, but he doesn’t care. A party’s a party to him.” By the way, at Juneau Mr. Smith saw a Yukon lesbian folksinging group, and as you might expect, they were called the Klondykes.
• When homophobic people tell lesbian comedian Judy Carter that she just hasn’t slept with the right person yet, she replies, “You’re right. Do you know any cute homos who would be right for me?”
Good Deeds
• When Billy Crystal was attending Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, he hosted a jazz show on the campus radio station, but he ran into a problem: a severe lack of jazz records. According to Mr. Crystal, in West Virginia Roy Clark is considered a jazz musician. (Keep in mind that Mr. Crystal is a professional comedian.) To solve his problem, he wrote a letter to John Hammond, the head of Columbia Records, a music company that has recorded many great jazz records. In the letter, Mr. Crystal mentioned his father and uncle, who had both been involved in a major way in jazz. (He says that he also mentioned Roy Clark and what West Virginians thought of him.) In response, Mr. Hammond sent Mr. Crystal 50 classic Columbia jazz albums along with a catalog and an offer for Mr. Crystal to buy more jazz albums at the low price of $1 each.
• Bill Cosby sometimes does favors for friends. One of the kids he grew up with is Bootsie Barnes, who became a professional saxophone player. He played mostly in small clubs for little money, but Mr. Cosby invited him to open for him at the Jones Beach Theater on Open Island, where Bootsie was able to play for 10,000 appreciative people. In Reno, Nevada, one of Bill Cosby’s friends from before he became really famous opened up a McDonald’s. To help make the opening a success, Mr. Cosby showed up, wearing a red jogging outfit, and signed autographs. One little girl saw his red jogging outfit and asked, “Is that Santa Claus?” Her mother replied, “No, dear, that’s Bill Cosby. He’s better than Santa Claus.”
• When comedian Margaret Cho was just starting out, she often was too timid to go into the green room (the place where entertainers hang out as they wait to perform — and after their performances); therefore, she would hang around outside the door. One day, the green room was empty, so Ms. Cho and some of the other newby entertainers she had met standing outside the door went in and had a seat. When she became a star, Ms. Cho invited into the green room any newby entertainers she saw timidly hanging around the door.
• While entertaining the Desert Storm troops, comedian Jay Leno used to eat military food in mess halls and tease the troops by exclaiming, “Boy! This stuff is delicious! What is this — Thanksgiving dinner? I can’t believe you guys are complaining!” The soldiers responded by throwing spoons at him. They also gave him a list of people — spouses, parents, other family members, boyfriends or girlfriends — to call when he returned to the United States. Mr. Leno personally made all the calls they requested.
• As a child actor, Hector Gray had a chance to work with comedian Stan Laurel, of Laurel and Hardy fame, in England. He remembers that Mr. Laurel was very kind to the children, and he often took them — a few at a time — on trips to see sights. He was also very generous and bought them many children’s books as gifts.
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Movie Curse Word Record
Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel L. Jackson found out on “The Tonight Show” (via Uproxx) this week that he does not hold the record for most curse words said by an actor on screen. A viral Buzz Bingo survey published in May 2020 reported that Jonah Hill had said more curse words in his movies than Jackson, who is more or less royalty when it comes to cursing in films thanks to his legendary use of the word “motherfucker.” Even more surprising, Jackson ranked third on the list behind Hill and Leonardo DiCaprio.
“That’s some bullshit!” Jackson said with a laugh when finding out he didn’t hold the record. “No, no, no way! Jonah Hill and Leo? Really? I don’t believe that. Somebody has miscounted.”
Buzz Bingo surveyed over 3,500 film scripts and reported that Hill had used 376 swear words throughout his filmography, with the majority of curse words split between “Superbad” and “The Wolf of Wall Street.” DiCaprio had 361 curse words, followed by Jackson with 301 curse words. Scorsese’s “The World of Wall Street,” which stars both Hill and DiCaprio, beat the likes of Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” to be named the film with the most curse words with 715 swear words. The Safdie Brothers’ Adam Sandler-starring drama “Uncut Gems” ranked second with 646 curse words.
According to the study, Hill says a curse word in “The Wolf of Wall Street” 22.9 times every 1,000 words. The survey listed Jackson’s “Jackie Brown” character Ordell as the actor’s most swearing character, but he says a curse word 6.9 times every 1,000 words in comparison to Hill. Actors who ranked behind Jackson on the list included Al Pacino, Denzel Washington, Billy Bob Thornton, Seth Rogen, Bradley Cooper and Danny McBride.
“Is it for all curse words or just one specific curse word?” Jackson asked Fallon, teasing that if the record was for saying “motherfucker” then he’d be the undisputed champ.
Samuel L. Jackson
CEO's Response
Disney
Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Bob Chapek on Wednesday tried to soothe outrage at the company's muted response to Florida's controversial bill restricting classroom instruction of sexual orientation and gender identity.
But his belated statement opposing the legislation, and outreach to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, did not satisfy critics, including queer Disney employees outraged by reports that the company had donated to politicians who backed the bill. The company is a huge Florida employer, with tens of thousands of workers at Walt Disney World Resort.
The statement, released after Wednesday's annual shareholder meeting, called on Disney's "leadership to immediately withdraw all financial support from the legislators behind the 'Don’t Say Gay' bill, to fully denounce this legislation publicly, and to make amends for their financial involvement."
Chapek said Disney had pledged $5 million to LGBTQ+ rights groups, including the Human Rights Campaign, and said the company would sign the organization’s statement opposing anti-gay legislation.
The Human Rights Campaign, however, said it would turn down Disney's donation until the company takes further action against anti-LGBTQ legislation at the state level.
Disney
Employees Accuse
Pixar
Pixar employees have accused Disney of censoring same-sex affection in its films.
In an open letter signed by the animation studio’s LGTBQIA+ employees and allies, they claim that Disney corporate executives have cut out numerous scenes exhibiting same-sex affection from their films.
The letter, obtained by Variety, stated: “Nearly every moment of overtly gay affection is cut at Disney’s behest, regardless of when there is protest from both the creative teams and executive leadership at Pixar.”
The allegation is part of a broader response to the memo Disney CEO Bob Chapek released on Monday (7 March) to employees company-wide regarding Florida’s recently passed “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
However, Chapek’s message seems to contradict the experiences expressed in the letter.
Pixar
Goes Global
Made-in-Japan Manga
Perhaps nothing highlights how the world of manga, the comics and cartoons originating in Japan, has gone global better than that coming together of superheroes, American and Japanese.
In “Deadpool: Samurai,” Marvel’s Deadpool gets help in his battle against evil from All Might, the muscular hero in “My Hero Academia,” a hit Japanese manga that’s sold 65 million copies worldwide.
“Deadpool: Samurai,” published in Japanese last year, came out in English translation this month. The Japanese “Deadpool: Samurai” was the best-selling Marvel comic last year, surpassing more than 1 million views online. It marks the first partnership between Marvel and Japanese comics publisher Shonen Jump.
Sanshiro Kasama, the author of “Deadpool: Samurai,” said he was thrilled to take on the job because he has always loved Marvel heroes and wanted more Japanese people to love Deadpool.
“Deadpool: Samurai” features drawings by Hikaru Uesugi, Kasama’s collaborator, but the scenes with All Might had drawings by its original manga artist Kohei Horikoshi. “Deadpool: Samurai” is the first collaboration between Marvel and U.S. manga publisher and anime distributor VIZ Media.
Made-in-Japan Manga
Undercount
2020 Census
Latino, Black and Native American populations were significantly undercounted in the 2020 census, officials announced Thursday.
The undercount rate for the Latino population was more than three times the rate for that group in 2010, according to Census estimates.
Overall, officials estimate .24% of the nation’s population, or about 782,000 people, were missed in the count. That margin wasn’t statistically significant, officials said, but the undercount rates for certain demographic groups were.
The census, which occurs every 10 years, is the basis for determining how many representatives each state gets in Congress and how an estimated 1.5 trillion dollars in federal funding are spent.
Even before the 2020 count had ended, demographics experts, local officials and advocacy groups were sounding the alarm, warning that the pandemic and politics were getting in the way of an accurate count.
2020 Census
Assistant Principal Fired
Mississippi
An assistant principal in Mississippi has been fired after reading the children’s book I Need a New Butt to a group of second-graders.
Toby Price told local media that he was laid off from Gary Road Elementary School in Byram, south of Jackson, without warning after reading the Dawn McMillan book to students aged seven and eight, WJTV reported.
In a Facebook post on 7 March, Mr Price confirmed that he had been let go “for reading an awesome book to kids”.
“It’s a funny silly book. A book that kids love,” he added on the page for his GoFundMe fundraiser. “I am just looking for some help to pay bills while I look for another job. I have two kids with autism and another BPD. Thank you for helping. We have found an attorney and need help with the fee.”
In a letter ending Mr Price’s employment, the Hinds County School District said he had caused “unnecessary embarrassment” and said he was let go because of his supposed “lack of professionalism and impaired judgement”, according to WJTV.
Mississippi
Gun Violence
Steve Ballmer
Gun violence in America is a public health crisis that is worsening with pandemic-like speed. So says Steve Ballmer, the billionaire philanthropist whose nonprofit is devising a new remedy to address it.
Even with COVID-19 lockdowns, deaths caused by gun violence in America jumped 30% from 2019 to 2020, the year the pandemic struck, according to the independent research group Gun Violence Archive, which tracks incidents in the United States. In 2021, the number of such deaths rose an additional 7% over the record-breaking totals, reaching nearly 21,000 deaths.
“Those are just huge numbers, and 42% of the total are young Black men under the age of 35,” Ballmer told The Associated Press. “It’s just not about the people who are shot — either murdered or just shot. It’s about what that does to entire communities, the entire neighborhoods in which the shootings occur.”
To help those communities, the Ballmer Group donated $18 million to the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention, the Community Based Public Safety Collective, Cities United and the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform to jointly establish community-based solutions to gun violence.
Steve Ballmer
Use Electric Fields to Fly
Spiders
Having never evolved wings, many species of spider instead evolved an uncanny ability to take to the skies using nothing more than a few short threads of gossamer dangling from their dainty butts.
Just how this invertebrate answer to paragliding works has never been entirely clear, though historically biologists have assumed it probably has something to do with swirling eddies of warming air close to Earth's surface.
An alternative suggestion is gaining attention, however, as evidence piles up in support of a rather steampunk mechanism. Instead of riding thermals, spiders might instead sail into the sky on tides of electricity.
Studies conducted by researchers from the University of Bristol in 2018 showed electric fields generated by weather activity could sufficiently drag a single electrostatically-charged strand of web and its aeronautical arachnid off the ground.
Now, a new study modeling the mathematics behind the electromagnetic interactions on multiple dangling spider threads has contributed important new details to the discussion.
Spiders
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