from Bruce
Anecdotes
War
• An Army doctor had a crisis of conscience because it seemed that every time he succeeded in healing a wounded soldier, the soldier would go back into battle only to get killed. Therefore, the doctor left the Army and studied with a Zen master. The study worked, and the doctor returned to the Army. Thereafter, whenever he had doubts about why he was healing soldiers, he told himself, “Because I’m a doctor.”
• Major Alexis Casdagli found an interesting way of defying the Nazis while he was in a World War II prisoner-of-war camp: He did needlework. He created a cross-stitch sampler that had a border of dots and dashes that were messages in Morse code. What were the messages? “God save the King” and “F**k Hitler.” Many Nazis saw the sampler, but none deciphered the Morse code messages.
• General George B. McClellan felt that President Abraham Lincoln was interfering when he requested to be kept better informed of activities in the field. Therefore, the general sent the president this sarcastic telegram: “HAVE JUST CAPTURED SIX COWS. WHAT SHALL WE DO WITH THEM?” President Lincoln was able to meet the challenge. He sent back this telegram: “MILK THEM.”
• At a meeting of delegates, a politician made the motion that the standing army of the United States ought to consist of no more than 5,000 soldiers. George Washington whispered to the delegate from Maryland that in that case, he ought to amend the motion by providing that no enemy could invade the United States with an army of more than 3,000 soldiers.
• Ernest Thesiger, an actor, enjoyed needlework, and during World War I he was popular with the other soldiers, who enjoyed seeing him sitting in the trenches, his hands busy with his needlework. He was a good soldier, and after the war he did his needlework with hands that were scarred from shrapnel.
• A very young Catholic girl was shown around a Protestant Church in which a service flag was hung. She asked what the flag was, and she was informed that the flag was hung in honor of those who died in the service. She asked, “The 9:30 a.m. service or the 11 a.m. service?”
• During his tour of America, Oscar Wilde noted that many Southerners date events by the Civil War. He once said that he had mentioned how lovely the moonlight was to a Southerner, and the Southerner replied, “Yes, but you should have seen it before the war.”
Work
• Mildred Burke, aka Mildred the Great, was an early pro wrestler of the 1930s through 1950s. Sometimes, she wrestled men, and in approximately 200 matches against men, she lost only once. She had lifted the challenger over her head and was throwing him to the ground when his knee hit her head and knocked her out. Often, she slept in her car as she traveled from match to match, but in 1938, she made $50,000 — that year, major-league baseball players were averaging $6,000. By the way, Lillian Ellison is known in pro wrestling circles as the Fabulous Moolah. In the late 1940s, she met promoter Jack Pfefer, who asked her why she wanted to get into wrestling. She answered, “For the moolah.” “Moolah” means “money,” and Mr. Pfefer gave Ms. Ellison the name of the Fabulous Moolah.
• Major league baseball umpire Jocko Conlan was on a flight at the beginning of which the stewardess explained what to do in the case of an emergency that required the plane to land in the ocean. None of the bigwigs on the airplane seemed to be listening, so the stewardess got angry, and she said, “I don’t care what your rank is or who you are. I’m in charge here and I’m supposed to demonstrate how this life jacket works. If this plane goes down, you’re going to need it. If you’re too dumb to listen, forget it.” Mr. Conlan spoke up: “I’m listening. I can’t swim.”
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***
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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
Music: "Edwin’s Lament"
Album: TRADITION | INNOVATION
Artist: Mark Lemhouse
Artist Location: Salem
Record Company: Yellow Dog Records
Record Company Location: Memphis, Tennessee
Info:
“Genre-defying, Handy-nominated explorer of Americana, Blues, and any other roots music style that strikes his fancy. A distinctly contemporary songwriting voice filtering the emotion of Hank Williams Sr. through the attitude of Tom Waits.”
“Yellow Dog Records carries the living lore of authentic American music into the present. Featuring new interpretations of Blues, Jazz, Soul, and Americana styles by established and emerging artists, Yellow Dog Records is where innovation confronts tradition. What's left after the collision? Inspired explorations of America's musical roots.”
Both of the above songs are on Mark Lemhouse’s album THE GREAT AMERICAN YARD SALE: a 12-track album for $8 (USD)
Price: NAME YOUR PRICE for 16-track album by various artists
Genre: Folk. Blues. Various.
Links:
TRADITION | INNOVATION
Mark Lemhouse on Bandcamp
Yellow Dog Records
vladimir-dado bera (music lover) on YouTube
Other Links:
Bruce’s Music Recommendations: FREE pdfs
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog #1
David Bruce's Blog #2
David Bruce's Blog #3
David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
David Bruce has over 140 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Stephen Suggests
Columbus Washboard Co
Last washboard manufacturer in US still thriving in Logan, Ohio
New Venture
Michael Egan
Reader Contribution
Ray came across Sharon's book (on the left) and re-did the cover for added truthiness.
Sharon & Ray
Thanks, Sharon & Ray!
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
Blame Manchin and Sinema, but don't forget that five Republican senators are retiring, and there are 3 supposedly moderate Republican Senators (Collins, Romney and Murkowski) remaining - that makes eight.
Any two of them could step up at any time to save democracy.
(Don't hold your breath)
Google Doodle With Search Easter Egg
Betty White
In honor of the late Betty White’s 100th birthday, Google is showering its search page with rose petals — a nod to Rose, her beloved character from “The Golden Girls.”
On White’s birthday, Jan. 17, a Google search for her name will unlock a special animated Easter egg with rose petals fluttering down over the Search results page, along with a message that says “Thank you for being a friend” — the title of “The Golden Girls” theme song. Google Search’s Easter egg goes live on Jan. 17, at 12 a.m. GMT.
White, who died Dec. 31, 2021, had a career in TV and film that spanned more than 60 years. In addition to her turn on “The Golden Girls” from 1985-92, she had more than 120 acting credits to her name. The Television Hall of Fame inductee’s roles included Sue-Ann Nivens on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” in the ’70s and Elka Ostrovsky on “Hot in Cleveland” from 2010-15. She also hosted “Saturday Night Live” in 2010 — at the age of 88 — and appeared in film comedies such as “The Proposal,” “You Again” and “Bringing Down the House.”
A lifelong animal lover, White was born in Oak Park, Ill., before her family moved to Los Angeles, where her acting aspirations began at Beverly Hills High School. The TV legend won five Primetime Emmy Awards over the span of her acting career. “I just love to work and the word ‘no’ did not exist,” White told Variety in a 2020 interview.
Betty White
Weekend Box Office
‘Scream’
After a month at no. 1, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” has finally been overtaken at the box office. Paramount Pictures’ “Scream” reboot debuted with $30.6 million in ticket sales over the weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.
“Scream,” a self-described “requel” that is both the fifth film in the franchise and a reboot introducing a new, younger cast, led all releases over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. Paramount forecasts that it will total $35 million including Monday’s grosses. “Scream,” which cost about $24 million to make, added another $18 million in 50 international markets.
“No Way Home” grossed $20.8 million in its fifth weekend of release. Sony Pictures predicts that with another $5.2 million on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, “No Way Home” will reach a domestic cumulative total of $703.9 million Monday, edging “Black Panther” and moving into fourth place all-time. That puts it behind only “Avatar” ($760 million), “Avengers: Endgame” ($858 million) and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” ($936 million). Globally, “No Way Home” has grossed $1.6 billion.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore.
1. “Scream,” $30.6 million.
2. “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” $20.8 million.
3. “Sing 2,” $8.3 million.
4. “The 355,” $2.3 million.
5. “The King’s Man,” $2.3 million.
6. “Belle,” $1.6 million.
7. “American Underdog,” $1.6 million.
8. “West Side Story,” $948,000.
9. “Licorice Pizza,” $880,000.
10. “The Matrix Resurrections,” $815,000.
‘Scream’
Deeper Coverage
News Outlets
Kiowa tribal member Tristan Ahtone remembers just getting started in journalism over a decade ago and pitching ideas on Indigenous topics. His bosses would say things like: “We ran a Native story earlier this year. Do we need another one?”
“Nowadays there’s not enough content to fill demand, which is fantastic,” said Ahtone, a former longtime Native American Journalists Association board member and current editor at large at nonprofit media outlet Grist.
Native American communities have seen more robust news coverage in recent years, in part because of an increase in Indigenous affairs reporting positions at U.S. newsrooms and financial support from foundations.
Journalism-focused philanthropy quadrupled from 2009 to 2019 as traditional newspaper revenue shrank, according to a Media Impact Funders report. At the same time, an increasingly diverse population and a renewed focus on social injustice have commanded greater media attention.
Nonprofit news outlets, which have multiplied across the U.S., are among those leading the way.
News Outlets
Springfield Museum
Illinois
A museum exhibit in Springfield is featuring a range of work from Illinois artists including Muddy Waters, Earth Wind and Fire and Chance the Rapper.
It’s called the “State of Sound” and runs through Jan. 23 at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. The exhibit features personal papers, rare artifacts and more than one dozen mini-documentaries.
Organizers said the exhibit was created to “explore the state’s impact on music history, from gospel to rock to jazz.” After the exhibit closes, the dozens of artifacts will be returned to owners around the country.
The museum “was honored to be entrusted with these incredibly important and personal items from some legendary artists. Tens of thousands of people got to enjoy them and expand their appreciation of music history” Christina Shutt, the library and museum’s executive director, said in statement. “But an exhibit with this many treasures cannot go on forever.”
Illinois
Fortunes Doubled In Pandemic
10 Richest Men
The fortunes of the world’s 10 richest men - including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates - more than doubled during the pandemic to $1.5 trillion, according to Oxfam.
Their soaring profits since the pandemic began has made them six times more wealthy than the world’s poorest 3.1 billion people, the charity said, adding that since March 2020 a new billionaire has been minted almost every day.
Meanwhile, 160 million more people have been forced into poverty during the pandemic, Oxfam said, citing numbers from the Forbes 2021 Billionaires List, Credit Suisse’s Global Wealth Databook and the World Bank.
It comes as the charity called for governments to impose a one-time 99 per cent tax on the world's billionaires and use the money to fund expanded production of vaccines for the poor — part of an effort to combat global inequality widened by the coronavirus pandemic.
The ranks of the super-rich have swelled during the pandemic thanks to ample financial stimulus that pumped up stocks, the group said in a report aimed at informing discussions at the World Economic Forum’s online gathering of political and business leaders this week. Meanwhile, poor countries have suffered more than their share from Covid because of unequal access to vaccines, which have mostly gone to rich nations.
10 Richest Men
'Abominable' Mystery
Darwin
Scientists in China say they have found the oldest flower bud in the fossil record, finally aligning the fossil evidence with the genetic data suggesting flowering plants, or angiosperms, evolved tens of millions of years earlier than we initially thought.
The team hopes their discovery will help "ease the pain" around a nagging, centuries-old mystery that Charles Darwin once called "abominable".
It was a puzzle that had bothered Darwin greatly, but he never found the answers he wanted. In the past few years, however, some crucial pieces have fallen into place.
In 2016, scientists in China announced the discovery of a "perfect flower" dating back to the Jurassic, more than 145 million years ago.
In 2018, another fossilized flower was found in China, and this one, called Nanjinganthus, was about 174 million years old. Like a modern flowering plant, its seeds were completely enclosed in an ovary.
Darwin
Flown From Florida
4 Young Manatees
SeaWorld Orlando transferred four manatee calves to an Ohio aquarium for rehabilitation, freeing space to treat more of the threatened sea mammals that have been dying in Florida at an alarming rate.
SeaWorld said DHL Express transported the manatees from its rescue and rehabilitation center to the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium on Saturday. DHL donated its services, including the flight.
SeaWorld said it has been getting a record number of manatees needing treatment at its center, one of only five critical care facilities for manatees in the U.S. More than 1,000 manatees died in Florida during 2021, mostly from starvation. Water pollution from agricultural, urban and other sources has triggered algae blooms that have decimated seagrass beds on which manatees depend.
DHL transported the manatees in custom-built containers and they were monitored throughout the flight by a Columbus Zoo veterinarian. Its aquarium is one of two facilities outside of Florida that treats manatees.
4 Young Manatees
Mating Rituals
Mosquitoes
In 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that almost half the world's population was at risk of malaria, while some 627,000 people died from the disease.
Although a malaria vaccine may soon be available (the WHO recommended one for children last year), malaria is just one of several mosquito-borne diseases. And the total number of mosquito-related infections is bound to rise as climate change extends mosquito populations.
So, to reduce the burden of disease from malaria and other mosquito-borne illnesses, we need to continue to develop effective tools to control mosquito populations.
A prime target is their mid-air copulation. Mosquitoes' mating ritual involves a male identifying and pursuing a flying female by detecting her faint flight tone.
If the male can't properly hear the female, then the chase fails and they don't mate. Reproduction in mosquitoes crucially relies on their sense of hearing.
Mosquitoes
Finger Lakes Vintners
‘Ice Wine’
While the vast majority of New Yorkers are hunkering down to ride out frigid temperatures and snow blasts from the latest winter storm, others are seizing on the opportunity to ... pick grapes?
One Finger Lakes-area winemaker jokingly calls it “insanity,” but temperatures between 12 and 18 degrees are the ideal conditions for harvesting grapes for ice wine, a dessert variety grown in the region that is known for its sweetness. Freezing the grapes pushes out the water and concentrates the sugars and acids, resulting in more intense flavors.
“It’s cold, it’s often dark and it has to be done pretty quickly,” Dave Breeden, winemaker at Sheldrake Point Winery on Cayuga Lake, told Syracuse.com. “Everyone pitches in, not just the vineyard people who are always out here, but tasting room staff, office people, the owners. We even have people who no longer work for us who come back and help out.”
December’s warmer than average temperatures pushed back the harvesting, but a cold spell this month has had the pickers out in numbers. About a dozen upstate wineries pick the frozen grapes, while others harvest grapes during warmer months then freeze them.
‘Ice Wine’
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