from Bruce
Anecdotes
Work
• Near the end of his career, actor Ronald Colman did a bit part in the movie Around the World in Eighty Days and received in payment a Cadillac. When he was asked if he had really received a Cadillac as payment for one day’s work, he replied, “No, for the work of a lifetime.”
• Italian soprano Claudia Muzio used to stay occasionally at the Grand Hotel in Milan, which displayed a portrait of Giuseppe Verdi in her apartment. One day, Ms. Muzio asked the portrait, “I wonder if you know how much work you have brought my way.”
Yom Kippur
• Long ago, on Yom Kippur, many faithful Jews waited for the Hasidic master Levi-Yitzhak of Berditchev to arrive to say prayers, but one hour passed, then another. Finally, Levi-Yitzhak showed up. When the faithful asked why he was so late, he explained that a man who was illiterate wanted to pray, but could not. Therefore, the man explained to God that he was illiterate and could do nothing more than decipher the letters of the alphabet—but God was wise and could create prayers more beautiful than he could. Therefore, the man gave God the letters of the alphabet and asked God to use them to write prayers. “That is why I am late,” Levi-Yitzhak explained. “God was busy writing.”
Introduction: Notes Left Behind
• In August 2007, six-year-old Elena Desserich died of a rare form of brain cancer known as brainstem glioma that afflicts mostly children. Her father, Keith, said, “They told us at the very beginning that she had 135 days to live.” As the brain tumor progressed, Elena lost the ability to speak, but she retained the ability to draw and to write notes to her parents and to her younger sister, Grace, to say, “I love you.” Her mother, Brooke, said, “That was her way to [let] us know everything would be OK.” After Elena died, her family discovered that Elena had left notes hidden in the house for them to find. Keith said that “they would be in between CDs or between books on our bookshelf. We started to collect them, and they would all say ‘I love you Mom, Dad, and Grace.’ We kept finding them, and still to this day, we keep finding them.” Elena was clever in choosing hiding places for the notes. Keith said, “She would tuck them into bookcases, tuck them into dishes, china you don’t touch every year and you’d lift it up and there’d be a note in it.” Each parent has a sealed note that has never been opened. Keith explained, “We always want to know that there’s one more note that we haven’t read yet.” Keith has written a book titled Notes Left Behind: 135 Days with Elena about Elena’s notes. It includes the journal that he wrote during Elena’s last days so that her sister Grace would have something to remember her by. Profits from the book go to the Desserichs’ cancer foundation: The Cure Starts Now. Keith said, “They [readers] should take the time to listen and not get caught up in the day’s rush. […] I’ll never forget that lesson. Wish I would’ve learned it earlier.”
Activism
• Riot Grrrl Suzy Corrigan was bullied in high school in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Fortunately, some punk girls came to her rescue by telling the bully, “If you have a problem with her, then we have a problem with you.” Many of the girls in her high school were annoyed when a man started passing out anti-abortion propaganda just outside of school grounds. A few girls asked him why he was creeping around schoolgirls who were way too young for him. Many girls discovered that the propaganda could be chewed up into spitballs, which they launched at him with McDonald’s straws.
***
© Copyright Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
***
Create, Then Take a Break — Free Downloads
Create, Then Take a Break — Apple
Create, Then Take a Break — Barnes and Noble
Create, Then Take a Break — Kobo
Create, Then Take a Break — Smashwords
Create, Then Take a Break — Can Be Read Online Here at No Cost: Smashwords Online Reader
NEW BLOG - davidbrucebooks: FREE PDFs
Don’t Fear the Reaper — Free Downloads
Don’t Fear the Reaper — Apple
Don’t Fear the Reaper — Barnes and Noble
Don’t Fear the Reaper — Kobo
Don’t Fear the Reaper — Smashwords
Don’t Fear the Reaper — Can Be Read Online Here at No Cost: Smashwords Online Reader
NEW BLOG - davidbrucebooks: FREE PDFs
Presenting
Michael Egan
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
BANDCAMP MUSIC
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC
Track: "The Matador"
Album: AN EVENING WITH … TRABANTS — LIVE AT NEW ALLIANCE
Artist: Trabants
Artist Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
Info:
“Named after the diminutive and once ubiquitous Eastern European automobile, Trabants is a rotating line-up of musicians who find their muse in the dusty bins of 60's beat records.
Fronted by composer Eric Penna, they play an all-instrumental mix of surf, garage, psych and soundtrack music from around the world.”
All songs written by Eric Penna
Mike McCullagh – Bass (4-14)
Bryan Murphy – Trumpet, Percussion
Evan Murphy – Drums
Eric Penna – Basses, Keyboards and Percussion (tracks 1-3) all Guitars
Price: $1 (USD) for track; $5 (USD) for 14-track album
Genre: Surf Instrumental.
Links:
AN EVENING WITH … TRABANTS — LIVE AT NEW ALLIANCE
Trabants on Bandcamp
Dave F (Surf Music Videos) on YouTube
Other Links:
Bruce’s Music Recommendations: FREE pdfs
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog #1
David Bruce's Blog #2
davidbrucebooks: EDUCATE YOURSELF - Free PDFs
David Bruce's Blog #3
David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
New Venture
Michael Egan
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
Russian Protest
Other Links:
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog #1
David Bruce's Blog #2
David Bruce's Blog #3
davidbrucebooks: EDUCATE YOURSELF - Free PDFs
David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
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
May Gray arrived on time - marine layer morning, sunny afternoon.
Weekend Box Office
“The Bad Guys”
The DreamWorks animated heist movie “The Bad Guys” was the top film in U.S. and Canada theaters for the second straight weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday, while the latest Liam Neeson thriller suggested the actor’s particular set of skills may be wearing thin with audiences.
The latest Neeson thriller, “Memory,” however, was mostly forgotten by moviegoers. The Open Road-Briarcliffe Entertainment R-rated release launched with an estimated $3.1 million in 2,555 locations. That’s much in line with the last few films staring Neeson. In the past two years, “Blacklight” (a $3.5 million debut), “Honest Thief” ($4.1 million) and “The Marksman” ($3.1 million) all opened similarly.
The brightest spot in theaters currently continues to be “Everything Everywhere all at Once,” which dropped just 2% in its sixth week of release with $5.5 million. The film, an existential metaverse action comedy starring Michelle Yeoh, has had unusually long legs in theaters, and with $35.5 million in sales so far, ranks as one of indie studio A24's biggest hits.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. “The Bad Guys,” $16.1 million.
2. “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” $11.4 million.
3. “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,” $8.3 million.
4. “The Northman,” $6.3 million.
5. “Everything Everywhere all at Once,” $5.5 million.
6. “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,” $3.9 million.
7. “The Lost City,” $3.9 million.
8. “Memory,” $3.1 million.
9. “Father Stu,” $2.2 million.
10. “Morbius,” $1.5 million.
“The Bad Guys,”
Inside the Apocalyptic Worldview
Little Tucker
Night after night, the host of the most watched show in prime-time cable news uses a simple narrative to instill fear in his viewers: “They” want to control and then destroy “you.”
A New York Times analysis of 1,150 episodes reveals how Tucker Carlson pushes extremist ideas and conspiracy theories into millions of households, five nights a week. He’s done so since the beginning, but the show has gotten darker. Carlson, 52, has one of the largest megaphones in all of cable television. When President Donald Trump left office, Carlson filled the void on the right. Here’s how the show works.
When you enter Carlson’s world each night, you are among his 3 million-plus viewers — and part of a Fox News audience that is 92% white and overwhelmingly older, according to Nielsen data. They are the “ruling class.” They threaten everything you believe in.
Carlson tells you over and over: They don’t care about you and will do whatever they can to maintain power.
He frames nearly every topic on his show as a “ruling class” plot, from gun control to marijuana legalization to COVID-19 restrictions.
Little Tucker
Taking Medical Leave
Danny Bonaduce
Danny Bonaduce, known for his role as a child actor on the popular sitcom The Partridge Family, is taking time to focus on his health journey.
Bonaduce, 62, co-hosts the daytime radio show The Danny Bonaduce & Sarah Morning Show on Seattle-based KZOK and announced in a social media message Friday that he will be going on leave from the program as he deals with an unspecified medical issue.
“Some news to share,” he tweeted. “I’m taking a temporary medical leave from my radio show. I’ll share more when I know more. I’m still working towards receiving a diagnosis. What I know is, I need time to focus on my health. I love my job and talking to you guys & I’ll be back on the air soon.”
The star included a photo of himself using a cane with his right hand. “Charlie Chaplin, Willy Wonka, Danny Bonaduce,” he added. “I’ve joined the club of cool guys with canes.”
Danny Bonaduce
Plane Wreckage
Key Fobs
Never mind forging swords into ploughshares; a Ukrainian businessman is turning scraps of wreckage from a downed Russian fighter plane into souvenir key fobs and selling them abroad to support the war effort.
"Many of my friends tell me '$1,000 - nobody will give you this for this piece of metal, it's crazy," said Iurii Vysoven, founder of "Drones for Ukraine".
"In the morning, I woke up and understand on my phone (that) it's already $20-30,000 collected, and we see this constant flow of messages of people asking questions and telling (that) they want to donate more, they tell us it is an incredible idea."
The aircraft is a Russian Su-34 two-seater tactical fighter-bomber that the Ukrainian military says it shot down over the town of Borodianka, northwest of Kyiv, early in March, when Russian forces were trying to capture and hold the area.
Ukraine's defence ministry has posted images of the wreckage, which it says had the tail number RF-81251 and the call sign "31 Red".
Key Fobs
Evidence Mounts
Election Schemes
Rioters who smashed their way into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, succeeded — at least temporarily — in delaying the certification of Joe Biden’s election to the White House.
Hours before, Rep. Jim Jordan had been trying to achieve the same thing.
Texting with then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, a close ally and friend, at nearly midnight on Jan. 5, Jordan offered a legal rationale for what President Donald Trump was publicly demanding — that Vice President Mike Pence, in his ceremonial role presiding over the electoral count, somehow assert the authority to reject electors from Biden-won states.
The text exchange, in an April 22 court filing from the congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot, is in a batch of startling evidence that shows the deep involvement of some House Republicans in Trump’s desperate attempt to stay in power. A review of the evidence finds new details about how, long before the attack on the Capitol unfolded, several GOP lawmakers were participating directly in Trump’s campaign to reverse the results of a free and fair election.
It’s a connection that members of the House Jan. 6 committee are making explicit as they prepare to launch public hearings in June. The Republicans plotting with Trump and the rioters who attacked the Capitol were aligned in their goals, if not the mob’s violent tactics, creating a convergence that nearly upended the nation’s peaceful transfer of power.
Election Schemes
'Dry Run'
2024
A retired conservative federal judge said that Republican efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election were a "dry run" for the upcoming 2024 contest.
In a CNN opinion piece published Wednesday, J. Michael Luttig laid out what he viewed as a ploy by (the) former President Donald Trump and a litany of Republicans to shift the 2024 election in their favor, regardless of the actual results.
Luttig detailed how Republicans sought to manipulate the Elections and Electors clauses of the Constitution, the Electoral College, and the Electoral Count Act of 1877, along with the 12th Amendment — which governs how the president and vice president are selected.
The former judge said that at the heart of the Republican push was the Supreme Court's potential acceptance of the "independent state legislature" doctrine, an originalist interpretation of the Constitution that affords state legislatures sweeping control over how presidential electors are chosen. Under this doctrine, neither state supreme courts nor statewide elected officials could tweak election rules or wade into the selection process for electors.
While the Supreme Court has never officially weighed in on the issue, some Republicans believed the conservative majority on the court would help their effort.
2024
Crusaders Used Ceramic Grenades
Jerusalem
A new analysis of a medieval ceramic vessel excavated from the Old City of Jerusalem suggests the Crusader knights could have developed rudimentary hand grenades in their wars against the Muslim rulers of the Holy Land.
Archeologists from Griffith University, in South East Queensland, Australia, examined the residue inside four sphero-conical containers.
Three showed evidence of use for various purposes, including holding oils, scented materials, and medicine.
However, inside the so-called Sherd 737 vessel, archeologists found deposits suggesting that ceramic jars were potentially used as handheld explosive devices.
Sherd 737, which has thick walls, no decoration, and indications of a resin seal, had the remnants of the flammable chemical ingredients needed for an archaic explosive device.
Jerusalem
Can Learn The Difference
Honeybees
As children, we learn numbers can either be even or odd. And there are many ways to categorize numbers as even or odd.
We may memorize the rule that numbers ending in 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9 are odd while numbers ending in 0, 2, 4, 6, or 8 are even. Or we may divide a number by 2 – where any whole number outcome means the number is even, otherwise it must be odd.
Similarly, when dealing with real-world objects we can use pairing. If we have an unpaired element left over, that means the number of objects was odd.
Until now odd and even categorization, also called parity classification, had never been shown in non-human animals. In a new study, published Friday in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, we show honeybees can learn to do this.
The bees trained to associate odd numbers with sugar water learned quicker.
Honeybees
Fossils of Leaves
Borneo
Leaf fossils on Borneo have been studied in detail for the first time, say researchers, revealing that the rainforests that cover the surface of the island have been in place and fostering biodiversity for at least 4 million years.
The current landscape, dominated by dipterocarp trees, looks much as it would have done during the Pliocene Epoch some 2.6-5.3 million years ago, researchers say – and that makes it a valuable ecosystem to preserve for future generations.
Borneo is home to almost 270 dipterocarp species, which is more than half the total global species. With tropical Asian biodiversity currently under severe threat, the island plays a crucial role in supporting that biodiversity.
"This is the first demonstration that the characteristic dominant life form of Borneo and the entire Asian wet tropics, the dipterocarp trees, was not only present but actually dominant," says paleobotanist Peter Wilf, from Pennsylvania State University. "We found many more fossils of dipterocarps than any other plant group."
Borneo
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
