from Bruce
Anecdotes
Children
• A church-going young mother and her two young daughters were shopping in a health-food store when a tall, strong, white-robe-wearing elderly man with long, white hair and beard walked in. The younger daughter stared at the man until her older sister told her, “No, Regan, it’s not God.”
• The Reverend James Bence was visiting the family of the Reverend Ed Crandall when he asked Crandall’s young son, “Well, Steve, have you been a good boy lately?” Steve answered, “Yes.” The Reverend Bence then asked, “Are you good all of the time?” Young Steve answered, “Well, are you?”
• A prosthesis (an artificial limb) is a useful thing, but it can cause some strange phone calls. A mother once received this call from a camp for children with cancer: “Mrs. Anderson? Robin broke a leg on the trail. Could you please send up another one on a plane?”
• English entertainer Joyce Grenfell had an Uncle Buck who was a rolling stone. According to family lore, when his youngest child was being taught the prayer, “Our father which art in Heaven,” the child looked up and said, “Mama, where’s Papa gone now?”
• Art Linkletter used to interview very young children, and he had great success asking them what their parents had told them not to say on the show. A little girl once responded, “She told me not to announce that she was pregnant.”
• As a child, violinist Mischa Elman played Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata, which includes some long pauses, before some relatives. During one of the pauses, his aunt asked, “Why don’t you play something you know, Mischa?”
• As a child, Frida Kahlo was mischievous. Sometimes, she soaped the steps near where Mexican artist Diego Rivera was working, in the hope that he would slip on the stairs and fall. When she grew up, she married Mr. Rivera.
• Country comedian Jerry Clower has children who can make him laugh. When Katy Burns, his daughter, was four, she pulled off her gloves, then called, “Daddy! Daddy! If I had one more finger, I could count to 11.”
• Ballerina Anna Pavlova was made very happy when she received a copy of a child’s essay that began, “Once I saw a fairy. Her name was Anna Pavlova.”
Christmas
• Early in the 20th century, a custom in some parts of the United States was to tie presents to a Christmas tree at the church and have Santa Claus come to the church for a party and pass out all the presents. At one such Christmas Eve party, a little girl, the daughter of the richest and most miserly man in town, showed up for the party and the passing out of presents. (Her older brothers stayed away because they realized that their father was too stingy to put a present on the tree for them.) As the evening passed, the little girl’s name wasn’t called even once. Fortunately, Alyene Porter, the youngest daughter of the preacher, noticed what was happening. She told her mother, who re-wrapped Alyene’s present to her, a bottle of perfume, and put the little girl’s name on it, then surreptitiously hung it on the tree. When Santa Claus finally called her name, the little girl cried out, “He did call it! He did call it! I did get a present!”
• Christmases when religious writer Dale Hanson Bourke was a little girl were sometimes surprising. One Christmas the presents were placed in the shower stall. Her father explained that since their house didn’t have a fireplace, Santa Claus must have squeezed through the water pipes to come inside and leave presents. On one Christmas Eve, little Dale was allowed to choose one present to open, so she chose the biggest present. However, her parents had guessed that she would choose that present so they had filled it with nuts. Although everyone laughed, her parents knew that she was disappointed, so they let her open the rest of her presents.
• One Christmas, Pope John XXIII went to a children’s hospital to visit the patients. One child, Silvio Colagrande, had been blind, but could now see because a dying priest, Don Gnocchi, had willed his eyes to Silvio and the corneas had been transplanted. Upon seeing the Pope, Silvio called out, “I see you with Don Gnocchi’s eyes.” Another child, seven-year-old Carmine Gemma, had recently become blind as the result of an attack of meningitis. He told Pope John XXIII, “You’re the Pope, I know, but I can’t see you.” The Pope held Carmine’s hands for a while, then he murmured, “We are all blind, sometimes.”
***
© 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: "Sunshine"
Album: FREE GREEN COOKIE SAMPLER 2021
Artist: The Lovedays
Artist Location: UK
Record Company: Green Cookie Records
Record Company Location: Thessaloniki, Greece
Info:
Back in the heady days of 2007, long before social media was the reigning king of entertainment, when people still picked going out to live shows over streaming movies, there was a band that made a little blip on the heart monitor of the Medway music scene before disappearing almost as quick. The Lovedays were a British pop band, in the retro meaning of the word "Pop". With influences ranging from Brian Wilson and The Who, to Steve Winwood and Roy Wood, The Lovedays aspired to be part of the next generation of classic pop purveyors. Their eponymous debut received 5-star notices as far afield as the US, with only self-distribution and promotion, along with noted appearances at The Cavern Club in Liverpool and Kennys Castaways in New York in 2009. They took hiatus in 2010, for pastures new. Ben Jones, the frontman and leader of the band, moved to Austin, TX, where he is part of the roots duo, Beat Root Revival.
Price: FREE Download of six-track album by various artists
“Sunshine” is also on The Lovedays’ album HOUSE OF CARDS. Price: £6.99 (GBP) for 13 tracks.
“Sunshine” is also on The Lovedays’ album THE KEY TO THE TRAPDOOR. Price: £7 (GBP) for 17 tracks.
Genre: Soft Rock. Pop.
Links:
FREE GREEN COOKIE SAMPLER 2021
HOUSE OF CARDS
THE KEY TO THE TRAPDOOR
The Lovedays on Bandcamp
Green Cookie Records
Green Cookie Records on YouTube
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BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
Ukraine & More
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Reader Comment
Current Events
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In The Chaos Household
Last Night
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Weekend Box Office
“Jurassic World: Dominion”
“Jurassic World: Dominion” took a mighty bite out of the box office with $143.4 million in North American ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday. Including earnings from international showings — the film opened in various markets last weekend — “Jurassic World: Dominion,” released globally by Universal Pictures, has already grossed $389 million. And it’s just getting started.
“Top Gun: Maverick” is still coasting in rarefied skies too: It fell only 44% in its third weekend with an estimated $50 million to take second place, bringing its North American total north of $393.3 million. “Doctor Strange 2,” in its sixth weekend, was a distant third with $4.9 million.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. “Jurassic World: Dominion,” $143.4 million.
2. “Top Gun: Maverick,” $50 million.
3. “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” $4.9 million.
4. “The Bob’s Burgers Movie,” $2.3 million.
5. “The Bad Guys,” $2.3 million.
6. “Downton Abbey: A New Era,” $1.7 million.
7. “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” $1.3 million.
8. “Firestarter,” $820,000.
9. “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” $710,000.
10. “Ante Sundaraniki,” $620,000.
“Jurassic World: Dominion”
Urges 2nd Amendment Repeal
Michael Moore
Academy Award-winner Michael Moore is calling for a full repeal of the Second Amendment.
On the latest episode of Moore’s podcast “Rumble,” the filmmaker and activist said he believes this is not about people’s right to own a gun, but the “right of all of us to be protected from gun violence.” He mentioned the Uvalde shooting and his documentary about gun violence in “Bowling for Columbine” in 2002. In the wake of Uvalde, Moore is urging Democrats to be “brave” in their push for gun reform.
“I know that there are Democratic Party leaders that do not want me saying this. … I make no apologies for it because I understand the history of this country, and I don’t think we should be afraid to say this: Repeal the Second Amendment. Repeal the Second Amendment,” Moore urged.
He continued to say that the Second Amendment doesn’t really apply to modern times — and dogs can be used for protection, rather than guns. He believes Democrats are afraid “to go all the way to stop this madness.”
“There were no guns back then, not the way we know them now,” he said referring to 1787, when the Constitution was written. “They had these muskets, these kind-of rifles, that didn’t have bullets because the bullet had not been invented yet, so they had musket balls. That’s all they knew then, that and cannons.”
Michael Moore
Incredibly Complicated Relationship
Seth MacFarlane
Multi-hyphenate creative and producing executive Seth MacFarlane struggled to explain the complicated relationship he currently has with the Fox Network Sunday at the 13th annual Produced By conference.
Fox is long the home of many of MacFarlane’s signature television ventures, like Family Guy and Cosmos. The conflict is as a result of his feelings about Fox News, while also revealing that he’s had a refreshingly easy partnership with Disney after it took ownership of many of his properties.
Speaking remotely at the conference – which ironically was held at the Fox Studios lot – alongside Erica Huggins, president of his production company, Fuzzy Door, MacFarlane took a moment to articulate the continually ambivalent feelings he has about the network. He parted ways with Fox to pursue a lucrative pact with NBCUniversal’s UCP in 2020, largely over his objections to the tone and content of sister division Fox News.
“It’s an incredibly complicated relationship that I have with that company,” MacFarlane explained. “There are people there with whom I have great personal relationships. There are people that I like a lot. But it is a different company than it was when I started. It’s very difficult for me to reconcile exactly what my relationship is with that company right now.”
Seth MacFarlane
‘Costly Mistake’
Andrew Lloyd Webber
The West End’s production of “Cinderella” took its final bow in London Sunday evening, although a key member of the production’s creative team was not in attendance at the Gillian Lynne Theatre. Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, who composed the music for the new adaptation of the classic fairy tale, did not appear at the venue in the flesh.
Instead, the musical theater titan penned a letter that was read aloud by the production’s director, Laurence Connor, thanking the members of the production before calling the endeavor a “costly mistake” — a comment that was met by resounding boos.
“My huge thanks to everyone. We kept the government’s feet to the flames and led the charge to the West End opening again,” Webber’s statement continued. “It might have been a costly mistake, but I am proud of what we did and will forever be grateful to everyone who supported me.”
The recitation of “costly mistake” spawned murmurs among the audience and looks of visible confusion from the production’s ensemble as they stood on stage.
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Stands Out
Judge Tanya Chutkan
An Ohio couple climbed through a broken window of the U.S. Capitol and livestreamed a video of themselves inside. A Texas mortgage broker posed for a selfie in front of rioters breaching the building. An Indiana hair salon owner celebrated on Facebook a day after she joined the pro-Donald Trump mob.
Federal prosecutors did not seek prison time for any of them after they pleaded guilty to petty offenses for their actions on Jan. 6, 2021.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan put them all behind bars, describing it as the appropriate punishment for their participation in the riot that halted the certification of President Joe Biden's victory, sent lawmakers running for their lives and left dozens of police officers beaten and bloodied.
Chutkan, a former assistant public defender who was nominated to the bench by President Barack Obama, has consistently taken the hardest line against Jan. 6 defendants of any judge serving on Washington's federal trial court, which is handling the more than 800 cases brought so far in the largest prosecution in Justice Department history.
Most judges — appointed by presidents of both political parties — have gone easier on defendants than prosecutors wanted in most or all of their cases so far. While some judges have sentenced few Jan. 6 defendants, no other judge besides Chutkan has exceeded prosecutors' recommended punishment in most of the cases assigned to them.
Judge Tanya Chutkan
Ousted From Office
California
Keith Fagundes, the California District Attorney who pursued murder charges against two women he claimed caused their stillbirths by using drugs while pregnant, was ousted from his position during the state's primary election on June 9.
Fagundes lost his seat as Kings County DA to challenger Sarah Hacker by at least 15% of the vote, ABC30 reported.
The cases of Chelsea Becker and Adora Perez, who both experienced stillbirths after struggling with drug addiction during their pregnancies, were central issues to the election. Despite California law specifically excluding pregnant people from being charged with the murder of their own fetus, Fagundes claimed the women's drug use caused their stillbirths and charged them both.
Perez, who pled guilty to manslaughter to avoid a longer sentence, had her 11-year sentence overturned after serving four years in jail. Becker, who could not afford bail while awaiting trial, spent 16 months in jail before her charges were dismissed.
"Those two cases, they're a symptom of the disease," Hacker, the Hanford lawyer who beat Fagundes in the primary election, told The San Francisco Chronicle. "And the disease that has infected our criminal justice system here in Kings County is preferential treatment."
California
Tundra Wildfire
Alaska
A tundra wildfire continued to creep closer to an Alaska Native community in southwest Alaska, but mandatory evacuations have not been ordered, fire officials said Sunday.
The East Fork fire was within 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometers) of St. Mary’s, a statement from Alaska Wildland Fire Information said.
Even though it had moved 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) closer to the Yup’ik community since Saturday, fire managers said the progress has slowed somewhat because of favorable weather conditions. The temperatures were slightly cooler with rising humidity, which could help moderate fire conditions. However, winds are expected to remain steady out of the north, helping move the fire toward populated areas.
The fire is also 10 miles (16 kilometers) from another community, Pilot Station. Firefighters were expected to evaluate options of opening a preexisting fire line around that community.
Another fire northwest of the East Fork fire is growing, but it still about 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of Mountain Village.
Alaska
Pervasive Plastic Pollution
Spiderwebs
If microplastics have boundaries, we don't yet know what they are. We seem to find this microscopic trash everywhere we look, from the bottom of the ocean to Earth's highest peak.
We're starting to figure out why. Beyond all the disturbing discoveries of microplastics turning up inside our bodies, we now know these tiny fragments can travel in the air, floating through the atmosphere, at least until they get stopped by something.
In a new study, scientists made use of an ingenious method for tracking this insidious air pollution phenomenon, thanks to something that's entirely natural and also rather ubiquitous – spiderwebs.
In an experiment, student researcher Rebecca Süßmuth collected spiderwebs attached to street-side bus stops in the city of Oldenburg in north-western Germany (with the webs situated about 2 meters or 6.5 ft off the ground).
Analyzing the web samples back in the lab, the researchers checked the strands for several different kinds of plastic polymer formations; sure enough, the tests revealed microplastics had adhered to the webs.
Spiderwebs
Galapagos Giant Tortoise
Fernanda
A single giant female tortoise was discovered in 2019 on Fernandina Island, an active volcano in the Galápagos Islands that's considered by some to be the largest pristine island on earth.
Scientists have confirmed the tortoise, nicknamed Fernanda, belongs to a species thought extinct for over a century, according to a paper published this week in the journal Communications Biology.
"The significance of the find is huge," Evelyn Jensen, a lecturer in molecular ecology at Newcastle University, told Insider.
Fernanda, who researchers believe is at least 50 years old, was discovered in 2019 on an isolated patch of vegetation that was cut off from the main vegetated area of the island by lava flows. Her growth was stunted, which the researchers said could explain why her physical traits weren't quite as pronounced as the specimen found in 1906.
There are believed to be 15 species of Galápagos tortoises, according to the nonprofit Galápagos Conservancy. The Galápagos Archipelago is well known for its distinct species, which were studied by Charles Darwin and helped contribute to his theory on evolution.
Fernanda
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