from Bruce
Anecdotes
Books
• Reading can educate people. Author Walter Dean Myers once received a letter from a teenager who had been watching television coverage of the Persian Gulf War and was so excited that he could hardly wait to turn 17 so he could join the Army and fight in a war. However, after reading Mr. Myers’ Fallen Angels, a realistic war book, he decided that he did not want to fight after all. Fallen Angels was a tribute to Mr. Myers’ younger brother, Sonny, who died two days after being sent to Vietnam.
• Author Judy Blume loved books even when she was a little girl. In fact, she loved the picture book Madeline so much that after borrowing it from a library, she didn’t want to return it. Instead, she hid the book and then told her mother that she had lost it.
Brothers
• Two brothers, one of whom was married and the other single, farmed the same land together, and they split the harvest equally. The brother who was single felt that the brother who was married should have more of the harvest, so he would secretly take sacks of grain from his storehouse and put them in the married brother’s storehouse. However, the brother who was married worried that the brother who was single was lonely, and in order to allow his brother to buy nice things for himself, he would secretly take sacks of grain from his storehouse and put them in the single brother’s storehouse. Year after year, both brothers received an equal number of sacks of grain, and neither understood why.
• When he was growing up, Cordell Brown and Phil, his brother, played their own version of dodge ball — instead of throwing a ball, Phil threw very ripe peaches at Cordell. Because Cordell had cerebral palsy, he seldom got out of the way of the peaches, so he became a mess very quickly. Today, they laugh when they recall those games. (Cordell is a wonderful man who has founded a summer camp called Camp Echoing Hills and several residential homes for handicapped adults in Ohio.)
• At a trial, the prosecutor tried to get Wilson Mizner to admit that he was covering up in order to save his brother, Addison. The prosecutor asked Wilson, who was on the witness stand, “You love your brother, don’t you? You have a great affection for him, don’t you?” Unfortunately for the prosecutor, Wilson had lots of experience on the witness stand. He replied, “I have a vague regard for him.”
Chanukah
• On Chanukah, parents customarily give gifts, such as coins, to their children. One Chanukah, actor Elliott Gould told his children, “Tonight, instead of money, I’m going to give you total honesty and truth, which is more important.” Molly, his daughter, replied, “But you give us that every night.”
Children
• Maud Gruss was born into a French circus family, and at age three, she decided to make an unscheduled public appearance in a balancing act. A cousin named Eddy Ringenbach was performing with his sister (Isabelle), and with Maud’s brother (Armand). Eddy was lying on his back, using his legs to support a ladder, on which Isabelle and Armand were performing tricks. Suddenly, young Maud walked out, dressed in a pink tutu, climbed over Eddy, and started to climb up the ladder. The circus audience started to applaud, and Maud, hearing the applause, let go of the ladder and started to applaud, too. As she applauded, she began to fall. Isabelle and Armand immediately jumped off the ladder. Isabelle did a back flip, and Armand did a front flip. When Armand landed, he was holding Maud safely in his arms. The circus audience thought they had witnessed a perfectly performed, much-rehearsed trick, and they gave three-year-old Maud and the other performers an enormous ovation.
• When world-class women’s gymnastics coaches Bela and Marta Karolyi defected from Romania to the United States, they did not know English and had a difficult time learning it. When they brought their young daughter (Andrea) to the United States, she also did not know English, and they were worried about her. They tried a public school and a private school, but at both schools the teachers did not pay particular attention to Andrea, who sat silently. Eventually, however, Andrea picked up English on her own. Bela saw her speaking to some American kids, and he asked if she was speaking Romanian or Hungarian to them. Andrea replied, “I’m talking like everybody else.” After that experience, Bela and Marta decided that “the best teachers were the children.”
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© Copyright Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
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Presenting
Michael Egan
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
BANDCAMP MUSIC
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC
Track: "Goodbye"
Album: ADVENTURERS
Artist: Roisin Dubh
Record Company: Aldora Britain Records
Record Company Location: Rothley, UK
Info:
“Pro Tip to Bands: Make your band name something that is easy to find on YouTube and Bandcamp.” — Bruce
“The worldwide hub of independent and underground music since 2013.”
“Aldora Britain Records is an e-zine and record label that promotes the music and work of authentic independent or underground artists from all around the world. Originally established in 2013, they revamped themselves in 2018 with a brand-new approach. Their first weekly compilation, aptly titled THE SECOND COMING, was released in late 2019. They now also release original singles, EPs and charity projects.”
“Róisín Dubh, meaning ‘Black Rose’, written in the 16th century, is one of Ireland's most famous political songs. It is based on an older love-lyric in which referred to the poet's beloved rather than, as here, being a metaphor for Ireland. The intimate tone of the original carries over into the political song. It is often attributed to Antoine Ó Raifteiri, but almost certainly predates him. Originally translated from the Irish language by James Clarence Mangan, this translation [see YouTube link] is credited to Pádraig Pearse. The song is named after Róisín Dubh, probably one of the daughters of Hugh O'Neill, 2nd Earl of Tyrone, Earl of Tyrone in the late 16th Century. The song is reputed to have originated in the camps of Red Hugh O'Donnell. This song is traditionally sung in the Irish language, with few if any recordings of the English existing. This song belongs to the 'aisling' or 'vision' songs of the 17th century. The reason behind the transposing of Ireland as a maiden was not merely poetic, but also avoided the English persecution of the time on songs about Ireland. It is also for this reason that political songs of this era are mostly sung in Irish, which the English authorities (for the most part) did not understand.” — www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzh5uq8rkN0
Above: Matt Cunningham on tin whistle (playing an instrumental version of “Róisín Dubh,” not the song on the album; also not the performer on the album)
Price: £0.50 (GBP) for 19 tracks by various artists.
Genre: Dark and Brooding Alternative Folk. Various.
Links:
ADVENTURERS
Roison Duhb (Topic) on YouTube
Aldora Britain Records on Bandcamp
Aldora Britain Records on YouTube
Other Links:
Bruce’s Music Recommendations: FREE pdfs
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog #1
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David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Stephen Suggests
TwoFer
New Venture
Michael Egan
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
Ukraine
Other Links:
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog #1
David Bruce's Blog #2
David Bruce's Blog #3
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Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Current Events
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Summer's here - the dueling ice cream trucks have returned.
Broadway Theater To Be Renamed
Lena Horne
In a historic first, the Nederlander Organization will rename one of its Broadway theaters to honor the great performer and civil rights activist Lena Horne, the company announced today. The venue, currently the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, will be the first Broadway venue named for a Black woman.
The new name – The Lena Horne Theatre – will become official this fall at a renaming ceremony. The venue currently houses the hit Broadway musical Six.
The name change is the latest realization of a pledge made last year by the three major Broadway theater owners (in an agreement with Black Theater United) to name at least one of their theaters for a Black artist. In March, the Shubert Organization announced that it would rename the 110-year-old Cort Theater the James Earl Jones Theatre.
Jujamcyn Theaters had renamed its Virginia Theatre as the August Wilson Theatre in honor of the playwright in 2005.
Lena Horne
Social Security
Sanders & Warren
There's a Social Security benefits cliff looming, with retirees seeing their checks garnished as soon as 2035.
According to the latest federal Social Security report, the program has just enough funding to send out monthly checks to older Americans and those with disabilities for 13 years. Beyond that, a 20% reduction in benefits is needed for the program to be sustainable.
Sen. Bernie Sanders — alongside Sen. Elizabeth Warren and a bevy of other Democrats — are putting forward a plan to change that.
Their proposal: a bill that would increase the benefit by $2,400 a year and fully fund the program through 2096.
To pay for it, the Democrats are proposing a raise to the earnings cap for paying into Social Security. Right now, Americans are taxed only on their first $147,000 in income to pay for Social Security; earnings beyond that are not touched.
Sanders & Warren
Side Hustle
OfJesse
Supreme Court justices took in $800,000 in book royalties last year, a lucrative supplement to their judicial salaries, according to financial reports released Thursday.
By far the largest payment went to Justice Amy Coney Barrett OfJesse, $425,000 for a yet-to-be-released book and likely the first installment on a reported $2 million deal she signed soon after joining the court in 2020.
Justices are being paid $274,200 this year for their work on the bench; Chief Justice John Roberts gets a little more, $286,700.
The largest advances before now have gone to Justices Clarence "Slappy" Thomas and Sonia Sotomayor, who each received more than $1 million for their accounts of their rise from poverty to the nation’s highest court.
Justice Neil Gorsuch received $250,000 in royalties last year from HarperCollins for a new book that has yet to be published. He previously reported $650,000 from Penguin Random House for his book, “A Republic, If You Can Keep It,” published in 2019. Gorsuch also reported a $700 pair of cowboy boots he got as a gift from the Texas Supreme Court Historical Society.
OfJesse
Two Stories Published
Shirley Jackson
Shirley Jackson had a gift for evoking the depths of anxiety in the space it might take to summarize a baseball game.
Two very brief and previously unreleased stories, “Charlie Roberts” and “Only Stand and Wait,” were published this week in the summer issue of The Strand Magazine, which has featured obscure works by William Faulkner, Mark Twain and many others. “Charlie Roberts” is a tense conversation between a married couple over plans for a dinner party, while in “Only Stand and Wait” a blind man has surgery and soon will be able to see, but wonders if he made the right decision.
Jackson’s son and literary executor, Laurence Hyman, calls the two undated stories “vignettes” she likely dashed off in her 20s during one of her daily writing sessions. Jackson, who died in 1965 at age 48, was a prolific writer who completed eight novels and hundreds of stories, most famously “The Lottery.” She left behind a substantial amount of unfinished and/or unpublished work, some of which Hyman and his sister Sarah Hyman Stewart helped compile for the posthumous collections “Just an Ordinary Day” and “Let Me Tell You.”
It was a household dedicated to the production of words; Jackson’s husband, Stanley Edgar Hyman, was himself an author and New Yorker staff writer. Laurence Hyman has vivid memories of returning home and hearing his parents at work.
“She was a very rapid typist, and when the two of them were on their typewriters the sound was really percussive. It was like machine gun fire,” he said. “You would hear a flurry of typing, then a brief pause, then another flurry.”
Shirley Jackson
One In Ten
Google
Google searches are sending users who search for abortion clinics to the websites of fake clinics run by anti-abortionists, a new report alleges.
The Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) claims that 11 per cent of Google’s search results for “abortion clinic near me” and “abortion pill” leads to fraudulent clinics when in ‘Trigger Law’ states – parts of the United States that have laws in place that will effectively criminalise abortions should Roe v. Wade be overturned.
The expectation that Roe v. Wade, which effectively repealed laws that banned the procedure outright and sparked decades of religious and moral conflict over women’s bodies, will be overturned stems from a unprecedented leaked draft opinion from conservative Justice Samuel Alito – first reported by Politico – indicates that the court’s conservative majority will vote to overturn the law.
Researchers examined the first page of results for each search using Location Guard - a Google Chrome extension that allows users to change their geographic location. They claimed they found that of the 445 results surfaced, 51 of those led to anti-abortion fake clinics, also known as crisis pregnancy centers or pregnancy resource centers.
These centres are run by organisations that oppose abortion, shame abortion care, or promote alternatives to abortion, the CCDH claims. One such example, ‘The Cline Centre’, states on its website that it provides “safe, professional, confidential care to women with unplanned pregnancies free of charge”, but a disclaimer at the bottom of the website reveals that its “clinics do not perform or provide referrals for abortion procedures.”
Google
How Voters Won Power Struggle
South Dakota
Coming on the same night that voters in San Francisco ousted their lightning rod of a district attorney, Chesa Boudin — in what was widely interpreted as a setback for progressive ideas on criminal justice — it would have been easy to overlook what happened Tuesday in South Dakota.
But the results there are no less consequential for national politics. Voters in South Dakota sent a resounding message of their own to the state’s conservative power structure: We’re in charge here, not you.
The immediate issue was a constitutional amendment requiring that certain voter-initiated referendums must pass by 60%, rather than a simple majority. The measure was defeated decisively, with more than two-thirds of voters rejecting the proposed new threshold.
But this wasn’t just a political process story. It was the latest round in a national fight between voters and state legislatures, who have been battling for primacy on issues like marijuana legalization, gerrymandering and health care. Last year, The New York Times’ Reid Epstein and Nick Corasaniti took a broad look at Republican-led efforts to limit ballot initiatives, which have grown only more intense in the last 12 months.
In South Dakota, the ballot question was pushed by Republican state lawmakers who are hoping to defeat a November referendum on expanding access to Medicaid.
South Dakota
Wreck Found
HMS Gloucester
Excavators and historians are telling the world about the discovery of the wreck of a royal warship that sank in 1682 while carrying the future king James Stuart.
The HMS Gloucester ran aground while navigating sandbanks off the town of Great Yarmouth on the eastern English coast. It sank within an hour, killing an estimated 130 to 250 crew and passengers.
James survived. He went on to reign as King James II of England and Ireland, and as James VII of Scotland from 1685 to 1688, when he was deposed by the Glorious Revolution.
The wreck of the Gloucester was found in 2007 by brothers Julian and Lincoln Barnwell and others after a four-year search. It was firmly identified in 2012 with discovery of the ship’s bell.
The discovery was only made public Friday because of the time it took to confirm the identity of the ship and the need to protect the historical site.
HMS Gloucester
Workers Fall Into Chocolate Tank
M&Ms
Augustus Gloop is quaking. On Thursday, two people were hospitalized after they fell into a tank of chocolate at a Mars Wrigley’s M&M factory in Pennsylvania in an incident reminiscent of the memorable fall of the “great big greedy nincompoop” in Roald Dahl’s book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Officials in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania told local news outlet CBS21 that two people were taken to the hospital after falling into the tank. Emergency dispatch confirmed to the outlet that there had been a rescue operation in the Elizabethtown-based factory.
According to photojournalist Nathan Yerges, the two folks who fell into the tank were employees of Mars. Cones had been set up around the factory and the local fire department was on scene at the time of publication.
It’s unclear what color M&Ms were being made by the chocolate in the tank. However, Rolling Stone continues to take a stand against the anti-yassification of the green M&M, who was formerly seen wearing go-go boots in Mars advertising and is now being forced to wear sneakers.
M&Ms
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