from Bruce
Anecdotes
Children
• When her children were old enough to go to school, Eve Bunting started to write books in a room in the attic. When she wanted to write, she warned her children not to interrupt her unless it was an emergency. Despite the warning, she was frequently interrupted. A child would appear at the bottom of the stairs and yell up at her, “It’s an emergency! I can’t find my shoes!” One day, one of her children yelled, “It’s a true emergency! Come see the drawing I did! It’s really good!” Despite the interruptions, Ms. Bunting managed to write and have published The Two Giants — and 100 other books for children.
• When children’s book author Tomie dePaola was growing up, his mother brushed her hair and put on her makeup while sitting in front of a vanity, which made her feel a little silly because, as she pointed out, she was not a movie star. However, her little boy, Tomie, did want to look like a movie star, so one day he sat in front of the vanity and put on his mother’s lipstick, trying to look like his favorite movie star: Mae West. When he tried to remove the lipstick, he couldn’t, so his family found out what he had done. For a few days, little Tomie ran around the neighborhood with brightly colored lips.
• Opera singer Leo Slezak used to take his children to an amusement park where they would hit Punchy Monkey — a large robot with a well-padded face — on the jaw. Punchy Monkey would growl when you hit him, the volume of the growl depending on the intensity with which you hit him. Often, Mr. Slezak played Punchy Monkey with his children at home, letting them hit him gently, then growling. One morning, Mr. Slezak was still asleep when his very young daughter walked into his bedroom and hit him in the face. When he woke up angry, she explained, “I thought you were playing Punchy Monkey.”
• As a child, Benjamin West made his own paint brushes, using hairs from the tail of the family cat. Unfortunately, Benjamin liked to paint, and soon the cat’s tail had bald places. A visitor from Philadelphia saw Benjamin’s works of art and was so impressed that he gave him some paints and brushes. Because Benjamin enjoyed painting so much, he played hooky from school and instead went into the attic to paint. His parents had no idea he was playing hooky until his teacher paid a visit to find out where Benjamin had been for the last several school days.
• Bonnie Blair’s family were speed skaters. In fact, when Bonnie was born, her father and siblings were at the ice rink doing exactly that. Bonnie’s birth was even announced over the ice rink loudspeaker in this way: “Another speed skater has been born to the Blair family.” The announcement was true. When Bonnie was two years old, she started skating — her siblings acquired the smallest pair of skates they could find and slipped them over Bonnie’s regular shoes. As an Olympic speed skater, Bonnie won five gold medals.
• R.L. Stine, author of the Fear Street and Goosebumps series, used to listen to the beginning of the Suspense radio show when he was a child. The show opened with a gong being struck, then a scary voice said, with appropriate pauses, “And now … tales … calculated … to keep you … in suspense.” The opening of the show was so scary that young Bob used to turn off the radio and not listen to the rest of the show. As an adult, Mr. Stine says, “Today, I try to make my books as scary as that announcer’s voice.”
• In kindergarten, future author Frank DeCaro met a little girl named Heidi who loved to play a joke on her friends. She would say, “Let’s see who can hit the lightest.” After her friend had lightly tapped her arm, she would hit him as hard as she could, then laugh and say, “I lose.” In the first grade, Frank went to the hospital to have his tonsils removed, so Heidi wrote him this note: “I like you and you like me. I will buy you a toy.” According to Mr. DeCaro, “At six, that was my idea of love.”
***
© Copyright Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
***
The Funniest People in Relationships — Buy
The Funniest People in Relationships -- Buy The Paperback
The Funniest People in Relationships -- Kindle
The Funniest People in Relationships -- Apple
The Funniest People in Relationships -- Barnes and Noble
The Funniest People in Relationships -- Kobo
The Funniest People in Relationships -- Smashwords: Many Formats, Including PDF
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: "You’ll Come Runnin’"
Album: I’M NOT THE ONE!
Artist: The Lemon Drop Gang
Location: Tucson, Arizona
Info: “Tales of Psychotic love, exhilarating, scary.”
Steph O'Halloran vox
Johnny O'Halloran guitar
D. Walker bass
Ben Gazi drums
Dimitri Manos drums
“On ‘You’ll Come Runnin’,’ the lead singer sounds a lot like Flávia Couri.” — Bruce
Price: $1 (USD) for track; $7 (USD) for 10-track album
Above: “Bubble Yum,” which is also on the album.
Genre: Pop
Links:
I’M NOT THE ONE!
The Lemon Drop Gang on Bandcamp
Other Links:
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
New Venture
Michael Egan
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
Having a bit of a heat wave.
Polls Well In Texas
Matthew McConaughey
Texans would rather vote for actor Matthew McConaughey than Gov. Greg Abbott, according to a poll released by The Dallas Morning News and the University of Texas at Tyler.
The "Dallas Buyers Club" star has flirted with the idea of running for governor, referring to it as a "true consideration" during a March appearance on "The Balanced Voice" podcast.
If he were to run, the poll of 1,126 registered voters found that 45 percent of registered voters would back him. That would give McConaughey a double-digit lead over the current governor, polling at 33 percent among those surveyed.
It's unclear whether McConaughey, 51, who has criticized both of the major parties, would run as a Republican or Democrat. The poll, conducted between April 6 and 13, shows that he would perform considerably better with Democratic voters.
Matthew McConaughey
Buh-Bye
College-Educated Voters
It's an off-year for national electoral politics, with only a few big gubernatorial races later in the year in Virginia and New Jersey. Still, polling data show the great shift in the nation's two major political parties is continuing and some of those changes could have significant impacts at the ballot box.
Earlier this month Gallup released data showing a sharp drop in the number of people who chose to identify as Republican in the first quarter of 2021.
The 9-point gap between the two parties was the largest Gallup had recorded in almost a decade.
At the beginning of this century, Republicans held an 11-point edge on party affiliation among college-educated voters. By the time Barack Obama was president, the figures had flipped to become a 4-point edge for the Democrats. And as President Donald Trump’s term was winding down, the numbers had come full-circle and the Democrats had a 13-point edge among college-educated voters on party affiliation.
So, the data suggest that what we are seeing might be more than just a sudden Democratic edge in party affiliation. Those 2021 changes are coupled with a larger shift in party composition. And that might have real impacts come election time because voters with different levels of educational attainment have long exercised their right to vote at different rates.
College-Educated Voters
Donated To Maine’s Farnsworth Museum
Wyeth Paintings
Twenty-seven paintings by three generations of Wyeths have been donated to Maine’s Farnsworth Art Museum, thanks to the late Betsy Wyeth.
The Rockland museum, which plans to display the paintings in a major exhibition beginning May 15, did not disclose the value of the gifts, the Portland Press Herald reported Thursday.
The gift includes “Room after Room” and “Geraniums,” a pair of watercolors painted by Andrew Wyeth at the Olson House in nearby Cushing; “Islander,” one of Jamie Wyeth’s best known paintings; and a trio of paintings by N.C. Wyeth that capture fishing scenes.
Three generations of Wyeths have painted in Maine, starting with N.C. Wyeth in the 1920s. Andrew Wyeth’s best known work, “Christina’s World,” was painted at the Olson House in 1948. Jamie, son of Andrew and Betsy Wyeth, continues to create art in Maine.
Betsy Wyeth, who died last year in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, introduced her husband, Andrew, to neighbor Christina Olson.
Wyeth Paintings
They Know They're Lying
One America News Network
One America News Network producer says 'majority' of employees didn't believe reports on voter fraud claims
Marty Golingan, a producer at One America News Network, a right-wing cable news channel often noted for its affinity for former President Donald Trump, told The New York Times he was worried his work may have helped inspire the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
At one point during the incident, Golingan said he caught sight of someone in the mob holding a flag with OAN's logo. "I was like, OK, that's not good. That's what happens when people listen to us," he told the Times, referring to OAN's coverage of the 2020 presidential election, which often gave credence to Trump's unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud and Democratic conspiracies.
Golingan said that many of his colleagues, including himself, disagreed with the coverage. "The majority of people did not believe the voter fraud claims being run on the air," he told the Times.
Indeed, the Times interviewed 18 current and former OAN employees, 16 of whom said the channel has "broadcast reports that they considered misleading, inaccurate, or untrue." But Allysia Britton, a former producer and one of more than a dozen employees to leave OAN in the wake of the riot, explained that while "many people have raised concerns ... when people speak up about anything, you will get in trouble." Read more at The New York Times.
One America News Network
Journalism Defense
Jan. 6
The Trump supporters who stormed staged a failed coup attempt at the U.S. Capitol in January created a trove of self-incriminating evidence, thoroughly documenting their actions and words in videos and social media posts. Now some of the camera-toting people in the crowd are claiming they were only there to record history as journalists, not to join a deadly insurrection.
It’s unlikely that any of the self-proclaimed journalists can mount a viable defense on the First Amendment’s free speech grounds, experts say. They face long odds if video captured them acting more like rioters than impartial observers. But as the internet has broadened and blurred the definition of a journalist, some appear intent on trying.
At least eight defendants charged in the Jan. 6 riot have identified themselves as a journalist or a documentary filmmaker, including three people arrested this month, according to an Associated Press review of court records in nearly 400 federal cases.
The insurrection led to the deaths of five people, including a police officer, and there were hundreds of injuries. Some rioters manhandled and menaced the reporters and photographers who are credentialed to cover Congress and were trying to cover the mayhem that day. A group of AP journalists had photographic equipment stolen and destroyed outside the building.
One defendant, Shawn Witzemann, told authorities he was inside the Capitol during the riot as part of his work in livestreaming video at protests and has since argued that he was there as a journalist. That explanation did not sway the FBI. The plumber from Farmington, New Mexico, is charged with joining in demonstrating in the Capitol while Congress was certifying Joe Biden’s electoral victory over Donald Trump.
Jan. 6
Man With An Opinion
MSNBC
MSNBC host Joe Scarborough on Friday slammed GOP Rep. Gym Jordan (R-Defender Of Perverts) of Ohio for peddling "lies" about Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, during a congressional hearing on the COVID-19 pandemic.
During an episode of "Morning Joe," Scarborough was disturbed by Jordan's behavior, where the congressman repeatedly questioned when the country would fully reopen and said it was "obvious" that Fauci didn't see coronavirus-related health restrictions as an "assault" on the liberties of Americans.
The testy back-and-forth exchange between Jordan and Fauci resulted in Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters of California telling Jordan to "shut your mouth" after the congressman's time had expired and he attempted to continue questioning Fauci.
Scarborough expressed displeasure with Jordan and individuals who have attempted to minimize the severity of the coronavirus.
He added: "They're trying to attack the messenger ... while they've been lying through their teeth to the American people, who has been warning that a lot of people could die. A year ago, they kept saying, 'Open things up, everything's fine, what is this? No worse than the flu.' No worse - over 550,000 people are dead. And the lies continue. The scapegoating still continues."
MSNBC
Dollars For Defiance
Flood Of Donations
Despite Donald Trump (R-Lock Him Up)’s vow to drive them from office, the ten House Republicans who voted to impeach the former president for his role in the violent insurrection at the US Capitol on 6 January are enjoying a flood of re-election campaign donations.
The latest filings from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) show that the group raised $6.4million collectively in the first quarter of 2021.
Seven of the representatives set personal records for fundraising in a non-election year, and all of the lawmakers out-raised challengers who filed campaign finance reports, Bloomberg reported.
Prosperity Action PAC, started by former House Speaker Paul Ryan, gave to all ten incumbents who voted to impeach. The PAC for Google parent company Alphabet gave to nine of the group.
Notable donors include Kimbal Musk, brother of Elon Musk, who in the past has donated heavily to Democrats including Joe Biden. He gave $2,800 to each of the ten Republicans. A number of other traditionally Democratic donors also made contributions.
Flood Of Donations
Technology Changes
Human Circadian Rhythms
We haven't been dependent on natural light from the Sun since the invention of the light bulb in 1879.
Nowadays, many people spend most of the day not just in artificially lit rooms but also looking at screens – phones, computers, and TVs. Recently, there have been concerns that looking at bright screens in the evening can confuse your circadian rhythm, which is the internal clock that regulates our sleep-wake cycle.
The circadian rhythm is an innate 'body clock' present in many forms of life including plants, fungi, and animals. In humans, the body clock is found in the hypothalamus.
The hypothalamus releases a hormone called melatonin. Melatonin is often referred to as the 'sleep hormone' as its levels are high at night but drop just before we wake up in the morning. The clock has an intrinsic rhythm, but it can also be adjusted in response to light.
Professor John Axelsson, an expert in sleep research from the Karolinska Institute explains that the "master clock … has a near 24-hour intrinsic rhythm and is very sensitive to light around dusk and dawn, so to fine-tune the circadian system; which allows the system to be dynamic and adapt to the seasonal changes in duration of day and night."
Human Circadian Rhythms
Giant Clam Shells
Philippines
Around 200 tonnes of illegally harvested giant clam shells worth nearly $25 million (£18 million) have been seized in the Philippines.
The seizure is one of the largest ever hauls of the endangered species.
Four suspects have been arrested on an island in the ecologically protected province of Palawan.
Giant clams can grow larger than one metre across, and weigh up to 250kg. They are seen as vital to the local marine ecosystem.
The Philippines is home to most of the world's giant tropical clam species.
Philippines
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
