from Bruce
Anecdotes
Siblings
• The large family of Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr., and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey lived in the early part of the 20thcentury. When the Gilbreth family liked someone and wanted him to become a relative through marriage, the young Gilbreths acted strangely. When Anne was being courted by a young doctor, her siblings found lots of reasons to leave her and Doctor Bob alone together and to turn out the lights of the room the young people were sitting in. Anne worried that her young beau might get the idea that her siblings had behaved that way with every boy she had ever known.
• Many people think of the 1970s situation comedy The Brady Bunch as being very unrealistic and very different from the real world, but series creator Sherwood Schwartz points out that most of the episodes were based on things that happened in his family as he was growing up. In fact, he says that some of the episodes were “almost word for word” based on real life. Whenever someone tells Mr. Schwartz that families aren’t like the Brady Bunch, he replies, “Maybe your family wasn’t.”
Trailblazers
• Roberta Gibb (Bingay) was the first woman to successfully run and complete the Boston Marathon, but she had to run it in disguise — dressed as a man — because women were not allowed to run the Boston Marathon in 1966. Of course, some men running close to her discovered that she was a woman — and they supported her. Ms. Gibb remembers that they told her, “Gee, I wish my girlfriend would run.” In 1983, she ran the Boston Marathon again — but this time she ran it legally as an honored trailblazer for women runners.
• After aviator Amelia Earhart had set a record for women’s long-distance flying, she received an effusive telegram: “Welcome, thrice welcome, Grand Lady of the Air, crowned glory of earth’s womanhood!” The telegram amused Ms. Earhart, who gave it to her secretary and said, “Show this to G.P. [George Putnam, her husband], so he may appreciate me!”
Valentine’s Day
• Cameron Kelly wanted to use a novel way of proposing to his girlfriend, Angie Kreimer, so he wrote a 113-page marriage proposal, published it at
• French-cooking expert Julia Child and her husband seldom got their Christmas cards done in time to mail, so instead of Christmas cards they would send Valentine’s Day cards to their friends. One card shows the happy couple taking a bubble bath together.
War
• Elizabeth, the late Queen Mother, believed in sharing the pain and keeping a stiff upper lip when necessary. During World War II, she did not send her daughters — Elizabeth and Margaret — to the relative safety of the English countryside or to another country. Instead, she kept them in London even while the Nazis were dropping bombs frequently on the city and killing civilians. In addition, due to shortages the members of the royal family bathed in only four inches of water during the worst parts of the war. The Queen Mother even used tape on the bathtub to let her daughters know to what height they could fill the bathtub.
• The grandfather of Meg Cabot, author of the best-selling Princess Diaries books, fought during World War II. He was a young soldier who was shot quickly after arriving in France. This sounds like bad news, but the result turned out to be good for him. Soon after he was shot, the other soldiers in his platoon raided the wine cellar of an abandoned farmhouse. Unfortunately, German soldiers had poisoned all of the bottles of wine, and so all the soldiers in the platoon died. According to Meg’s grandfather, “Even being shot in the butt can have a silver lining.” Meg’s grandfather is the model for Princess Mia’s grandfather on her father’s side.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
U.S.A. said:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
BANDCAMP MUSIC
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC
Music: "Snubbed"
EP: ALBERTA BEACH
Artist: Alberta Beach
Artist Company Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Info: Kahuna Cole, a fan, wrote, “Nice surfy sounds from the high plains! Riding waves of grain in Canada!”
Price: Name Your Own Price (Includes FREE) for four-track EP
Genre: Surf.
Links:
ALBERTA BEACH
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David Bruce
Other Links:
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Reader Comment
Current Events
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
The defective rooster was in fine voice most of the afternoon.
‘Nomadland’ Wins 4
BAFTAs
Gig-economy Western “Nomadland” won four prizes including best picture on Sunday at the British Academy Film Awards, which were handed out during a pandemic-curbed ceremony that recognized a diverse array of screen talent.
“Nomadland” filmmaker Chloe Zhao became only the second woman, and the first woman of color, to win the BAFTA for best director, and star Frances McDormand was named best actress. “Nomadland” also took the cinematography prize.
Emerald Fennell’s revenge comedy “Promising Young Woman” was named best British film, while the best actor trophy went to 83-year-old Anthony Hopkins for playing a man grappling with dementia in “The Father.”
An event that was criticized in the recent past with the label #BAFTAsSoWhite rewarded a diverse group of talents, including Black British star Daniel Kaluuya, newcomer Bukky Bakray — who shone as a London teenager in “Rocks” — and veteran Korean actress Yuh-Jung Youn.
Presenters including Hugh Grant, Tom Hiddleston, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Priyanka Chopra Jonas announced the winners from the stage of London’s Royal Albert Hall, but recipients accepted their honors remotely, and there was no black-tie audience to cheer them on.
BAFTAs
Offered Role
Carrie-Anne Moss
Carrie-Anne Moss is opening up about the challenges she's faced as an over-40 actress.
As The Hollywood Reporter notes, the 53-year-old Canadian star — best known for playing Trinity in the Matrix franchise — recently joined friend and fellow actress Justine Bateman, 55, for a candid conversation about aging in Hollywood. Former Family Ties star Bateman has recently released a book, FACE: One Square Foot of Skin, about the scrutiny her looks have received as she resists pressure to undergo plastic surgery.
Speaking with Bateman for the 92nd Street Y event, Moss revealed that she too has been treated differently as she ages.
"I had heard that at 40 everything changed," Moss, whose credits also include Memento and Jessica Jones, shared. "I didn't believe in that because I don't believe in just jumping on a thought system that I don't really align with.
"But literally the day after my 40th birthday, I was reading a script that had come to me and I was talking to my manager about it. She was like, 'Oh, no, no, no, it's not that role [you're reading for], it's the grandmother. I may be exaggerating a bit, but it happened overnight. I went from being a girl to the mother to beyond the mother."
Carrie-Anne Moss
French Open Postponed
Roland Garros
For the second year in a row, the traditional French Open schedule is being disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.
The clay-court Grand Slam tennis tournament said Thursday it will push back the start of this season’s event by one week because of surging virus cases in France.
“This postponement will give us a little more time to improve the health situation and should allow us to optimize our chances of welcoming spectators at Roland Garros,” said Gilles Moretton, the president of the French tennis federation. “Whether for the fans, the players or the atmosphere, crowd presence is essential to the tournament, the first international sporting event of the spring.”
The French Open was scheduled to start on May 23, but first-round matches will now get underway on May 30.
Last year’s tournament was pushed back to September because of the pandemic, with crowds limited to 1,000 per day.
Roland Garros
Ornamental Grass
Las Vegas
A desert city built on a reputation for excess and indulgence wants to become a model for restraint and conservation with a first-in-the-nation policy banning grass that nobody walks on.
Las Vegas-area water officials have spent two decades trying to get people to replace thirsty greenery with desert plants, and now they’re asking the Nevada Legislature to outlaw roughly 40% of the turf that’s left.
The Southern Nevada Water Authority estimates there are almost 8 square miles (21 square kilometers) of “nonfunctional turf” in the metro area — grass that no one ever walks on or otherwise uses in street medians, housing developments and office parks.
They say this ornamental grass requires four times as much water as drought-tolerant landscaping like cactus and other succulents. By ripping it out, they estimate the region can reduce annual water consumption by roughly 15% and save about 14 gallons (53 liters) per person per day.
Las Vegas might be known for splashy displays like the Bellagio fountains on the neon-lit Strip, but officials say residents of bedroom communities and sprawling suburbs embrace conservation measures, including aggressive monitoring of sprinklers and leaky irrigation systems.
Las Vegas
Cheap Whine
Mar-a-Lago
It was supposed to be a unifying weekend for a Republican Party at war with itself over former President Donald Trump (R-Lock Him Up)’s divisive leadership. But Trump himself shattered two days of relative peace in his closing remarks to the GOP’s top donors when he insulted the party’s Senate leader and his wife.
Ahead of the invitation-only speech at Trump’s new home inside his Mar-a-Lago resort, the former president’s advisers said he would emphasize his commitment to his party and Republican unity.
Trump veered sharply from prepared remarks Saturday night and instead slammed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., as a “stone-cold loser” and mocked McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao, who was Trump’s transportation secretary.
Trump also said he was “disappointed” in his vice president, Mike Pence, and used a profanity in assessing McConnell, according to multiple people in attendance who were not authorized to publicly discuss what was said in a private session. He said McConnell had not thanked him properly for putting Chao, who was labor secretary under President George W. Bush, in his Cabinet.
The new tension between Trump and establishment-minded Republican leaders comes as GOP officials are trying to play down an internal feud over his role in the party, his commitment to Republican fundraising and his plans for 2024. Trump is also continuing to insist that the last election was “stolen” from him, repeating false claims that Joe Biden won the election only because of voter fraud.
Mar-a-Lago
Police Say ...
Thurston County
When a U.S. Marshals task force killed a self-described antifa activist in Washington state in September, the Trump administration applauded the removal of a “violent agitator” who was suspected of murder. Last week, local investigators concluded a monthslong homicide inquiry with the announcement that the activist, Michael Reinoehl, had most likely fired at authorities first, effectively justifying the shooting.
But a review of investigation documents obtained by The New York Times suggests that investigators for the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office discounted key pieces of contradicting evidence that indicate Reinoehl may never have fired or pointed a gun.
While investigators found a spent bullet casing in the back seat of Reinoehl’s car and pointed to that as evidence he probably fired his weapon, the handgun they recovered from Reinoehl had a full clip, according to multiple photos compiled by Thurston County authorities showing Reinoehl’s handgun. The gun was found in his pocket.
The federally organized task force, made up primarily of local law enforcement officers from Washington, had been seeking to arrest Reinoehl for the Aug. 29 shooting death of a supporter of the far-right group Patriot Prayer during the summer’s raucous street protests over race and policing. The arrest operation quickly erupted into gunfire, and Reinoehl died in the street near his car in a residential neighborhood in Lacey, Washington.
Fred Langer, a lawyer representing Reinoehl’s family, said the law enforcement conclusions defy common sense. “They are covering for themselves,” Langer said. “The physical evidence doesn’t support what they are saying.”
Thurston County
‘Doomsday Glacier’
Antarctica
Glaciers all over Antarctica are in trouble as ice there rapidly melts. There’s no Antarctic glacier whose fate is more consequential for our future than the Thwaites Glacier, and new research shows that things aren’t looking good for it.
Researchers have known that the Thwaites Glacier is in trouble due to encroaching warm waters, but they’d never actually analyzed data from beneath the glacier’s float ice shelf—until now. A new study published in Science Advances on Friday presents the first-ever direct observations of what’s going under the infamous ice shelf, including the temperature and salinity of the water that’s flowing under it as well as the strength of the current.
What they found is pretty troubling. The authors explain that the supply of warm water to the glacier’s base is larger than scientists previously believed, which means it’s even more unstable than we thought. Given that it’s often called the “doomsday glacier,” that’s particularly ominous.
Thwaites glacier a broad, vast hunk of ice that flows from the West Antarctic ice sheet into Pine Island Bay, a part of the Amundsen Sea. The 119,300-square-mile (192,000-square-kilometer) ice shelf is disappearing faster than any other one in the region in large part because of the waters circulating beneath it and wearing away at its base. If it collapses completely, it could have a devastating effect on global sea level rise.
The new study is based on field observations from 2019 when a team of two dozen scientists sent an autonomous orange submarine named Ran down underneath Thwaites. For 13 hours, the underwater vehicle traveled around two deep troughs beneath the glacier that funnel warm water toward it. As it did, the vehicle captured data showing that warm water—warm for a glacier, at up to 33.89 degrees Fahrenheit (1.05 degrees Celsius)—is swirling around the glacier’s crucial “pinning points,” or the points of contact where the ice shelf meets the bedrock that holds it in place. This warm water is melting away these crucial holds, making room for cracks and troughs in ice that can make the shelf all the more unstable.
Antarctica
More Lightning
Arctic
The Arctic isn't doing so hot. That’s because it is, in fact, too hot. It’s warming at least twice as fast as the rest of the planet, which is setting off vicious feedback loops that accelerate change. Ice, for instance, is more reflective than soil, so when it melts, the region absorbs more solar energy. More dark vegetation is growing in northern lands, absorbing still more of the sun’s heat. And when permafrost thaws, it releases gobs of greenhouse gases, which further warm the climate.
The Arctic has gone so bizarro that lightning—a warm-weather phenomenon most common in the tropics—is now striking near the North Pole. And according to new modeling, the electrical bombardment of the region will only get worse. By the end of the century, the number of lightning strikes across the Arctic could more than double, which may initiate a shocking cascade of knock-on effects—namely, more wildfires and more warming. “The Arctic is a rapidly changing place, and this is an aspect of the transformation that I'm not sure has gotten a whole lot of attention, but it's actually really consequential,” says UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain, who wasn’t involved in the research.
To make thunderstorms you need a lot of heat. When the sun warms up the land, hot air and moisture rise in the atmosphere. Simultaneously, cold air in the system sinks. This creates a swirling mass known as a deep convective cloud, which in turn creates electrical charges that grow into lightning.
That’s normal in the tropics, where there’s plenty of heat to go around, but the Arctic should be cold enough to better resist this large-scale rising of hot air. No longer, apparently. “With surface warming, you will have more energy to push air into the high latitude,” says UC Irvine climate scientist Yang Chen, lead author on a new paper in Nature Climate Changedescribing the modeling. “And also because the atmosphere is warmer, it can hold more water vapor.”
Put those together and you’ve got big, flashy storms that are now moving within 100 miles of the North Pole. (Scientists can pinpoint the strikes in the remote region with a global network of radio detectors: When a bolt hits the ground, it actually turns into a kind of radio tower, blasting out a signal.) And where you’ve got lightning, you’ve got the potential for fire, especially as the Arctic warms and dries. “The 2020 heat wave in the Russian Arctic shows how—even at high latitudes—really warm weather conditions can develop that can lead to fires that burn intensely and can grow to be very large,” says Isla Myers-Smith, an ecologist at the University of Edinburgh who studies the region but wasn’t involved in this new work. “A lot of area burned during the 2020 fire season in the Russian Arctic.”
Arctic
Jesus Envy
Encantado
A new statue of Christ being built in Brazil will be taller than the famous Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro.
Christ the Protector in the southern city of Encantado will be 43m (140 ft) high with its pedestal, making it the world's third tallest Jesus statue.
A head and outstretched arms were added to the structure last week, which was begun in 2019.
The idea came from local politician Adroaldo Conzatti, who died in March with Covid-19.
Only the Jesus Buntu Burake statue in Sulawesi, Indonesia, at 52.55m including its pedestal, and Christ the King in Swiebodzin, Poland, which is 52.5m high including its mound, are taller.
Encantado
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