from Bruce
Anecdotes
Pride
• The Jewish movement known as Hasidism is very much opposed to pride. Once, an opponent of Hasidism complained to Rebbe Wolfe of Zhitomir, “My son has begun to study Hasidism, and he talks constantly about fighting his pride. I don’t understand my son. He does nothing and he knows nothing, so what does he have to be proud about? Look at me. I have studied with famous teachers, I have memorized half the Torah, I give charity generously, and I attend religious services three times a day. Do I look like I need to fight pride?”
Problem-Solving
• Leonard Reed was very light-skinned and blue-eyed—his father was white, and his mother was part black and part Choctaw Cherokee. In the United States, that meant that Mr. Reed was considered black. However, throughout his tap dancing career in the early part of the 20th century, he switched from performing as a white man to performing as a black man as opportunities for work arose. As a child, he entered and won a dance contest for whites, but someone told the manager of the theater that he was black, so he grabbed the prize money and ran. The manager yelled, “Catch that n*gger,” but everyone looked around and asked, “Where?” Young Leonard blended in by also yelling, “Catch that n*gger,” and so he was able to get away.
• In July 1996, Boris Yeltsin was worried about getting enough votes to be reelected President of Russia. Many of his supporters lived in cities, and he was afraid that they would leave the cities and go to their country cottages and have a good time and not bother to vote. He wanted them to stay in the cities and vote for him. He found a way to do just that. Tropikanka was a very popular television soap opera in Russia. The soap opera broadcast three new episodes between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. on election day. Most country cottages did not have televisions, so people stayed in the cities, watched the three episodes, and then had plenty of time left over to vote. Mr. Yeltsin won the election by more than 10 million votes.
• This story from the Babylonian Talmud, Kiddushin 81a, shows how a rabbi prevented himself from engaging in unethical behavior. Some women stayed on an upstairs floor at the house of Rabbi Amram the Pious. As one of the women walked by, Rabbi Amram saw that she was beautiful, and he grabbed a ladder and set it up so he could go upstairs. But halfway up the ladder, he shouted, “A fire is burning in Rabbi Amram’s house!” His disciples came, saw the rabbi halfway up the ladder, and knowing that he was filled with lust for one of the women upstairs, they told him, “You have made us put you to shame.” Rabbi Amram replied, “Better that you shame Amram in this world than be ashamed of him in the next.”
• Like many star actors, William Charles Macready was accused of hogging the stage. He acted frequently with Helena Faucit, and Punch once stated that Mr. Macready must think that Ms. Faucit had a beautiful back, because that was all he allowed the audience to see of her. By the way, Mr. Charles Macready once contrived a bit of stage business in which he rumpled the hair of the character played by Ellen Terry. However, this annoyed Ms. Terry. She requested that he stop doing this, but he continued. Therefore, to solve the problem, she stuck several pins in her hair with the sharp ends pointing up.
• To celebrate the reopening of the arena at Alexandra Palace, Sir Ralph Richardson was asked to perform a speech from Shakespeare on television. Sir Ralph thought for a moment, then he said, “I think I shall do my speech from Richard IV or Henry X—-I know it by heart.” Then he spoke several minutes of a speech that was complete rubbish but which sounded authentic. Sir Ralph then asked, “Shall I stop, or continue? That’s the speech I used to do whenever I dried [forgot my lines] in Shakespeare, no critic ever noticed it, no audience has ever made any comment on it whatsoever.”
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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: “ЖизнЬ” [“Life”]
Album: ROYAL FAMILY VOL. 1
Artist: Les Grand Viniolles
Artist Location: Russia
Record Company: Black Kingdom
Record Company Location: Moscow, Russia
Info: Bands on this album include Pizzeria Moloch, Femme de Luxe, and Signo 13.
Price: $1 (USD) for track; $7 (USD) for 20 tracks by various artists
Genre: Alternative. Punk. Various.
Links:
Royal Family Vol. 1 by Various Artists
Black Kingdom
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Stephen Suggests
Rust Belt
New Venture
Michael Egan
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
Mill Maher: New Rule, and Ukraine
New Rule: The War on Democracy | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)
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Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Current Events
Nance to traitor Flynn
I used to be content with calling Flynn a dickhead because he is, but I think literal actual traitor needs to be added to any reference to him.
that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Extra toasty - more like mid-July than the end of April.
Mark Twain Prize
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart, accepting the Kennedy Center's Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, warned Sunday night that speculation about the future of comedy amid increased audience cultural sensitivity was ignoring a true and enduring threat: authoritarian governments around the world.
“Comedy doesn’t change the world, but it’s a bellwether,” Stewart said. “When a society feels under threat, comedians are who gets sent away first.”
Stewart, the 23rd recipient of the prize, was honored in testimonials from fellow comedians and previous Mark Twain Prize recipients. Stewart himself spoke during Dave Chappelle’s Mark Twain ceremony in 2019, and Chappelle returned the favor.
Several of Sunday’s speakers were former “Daily Show” correspondents, including Samantha Bee, Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert and John Oliver.
Jon Stewart
Torches Kevin
Elizabeth Warren
Sen. Elizabeth Warren pulled no punches when discussing the recent revelation that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told fellow Republicans he would tell Trump to resign following the insurrection on Jan. 6. “Kevin McCarthy is a liar and a traitor,” Warren told CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday.
Recent reporting by New York Times journalists revealed audio of a phone call where McCarthy privately told Republican leadership he intended to ask Trump to resign. Speaking about what he would say to Trump, McCarthy told his fellow Republicans he would tell him: “I think this will pass, and it would be my recommendation you should resign.” McCarthy denied that he meant what he said, justifying the comments by saying he was merely “walking through different scenarios.”
Warren then unloaded on McCarthy and his party for being two-faced liars. “This is outrageous. And that is really the illness that pervades the Republican leadership right now, that they say one thing to the American public and something else in private,” the senator said.
She continued, “They understand that it is wrong, what happened, an attempt to overthrow our government, and that the Republicans instead want to continue to try to figure out how to make 2020 election different, instead of spending their energy on how it is that we go forward in order to build an economy, in order to make this country work better for the people who sent us to Washington.”
Elizabeth Warren
Weekend Box Office
‘The Bad Guys’
On an unusually crowded weekend at movie theaters that featured a pricey Viking epic and Nicolas Cage playing himself, DreamWorks Animation’s “The Bad Guys” bested the field, signaling a continued resurgence for family moviegoing after a downturn during the pandemic.
“The Bad Guys,” released by Universal Pictures, debuted with $24 million in U.S. and Canada ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday. That came despite steep competition for families from Paramount Pictures’ “Sonic The Hedgehog 2,” which stayed in second place with $15.2 million its third week of release. It’s grossed $145.8 million domestically thus far.
The weekend’s other new releases — Robert Eggers’ “The Northman” and the Cage-starring “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” — didn’t do as well but still fared reasonably solidly in their first weekend.
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,” $24 million.
2. “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” $15.2 million.
3. “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,” $14 million.
4. “The Northman,” $12 million.
5. “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,” $7.2 million.
6. “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” $5.4 million.
7. “The Lost City,” $4.4 million.
8. “Father Stu,” $3.4 million.
9. “Morbius,” $2.3 million.
10. “Ambulance,” $1.8 million.
‘The Bad Guys’
Auctioning Movie Swag
The Wachowskis
It is not, not to put too fine a point on it, a great time for LGBTQ+ rights in America. Right-wing homophobes and transphobes, both inside and outside the halls of government, are currently executing a semi-coordinated push to turn the clock back on gay and trans rights across the nation, stumping for “don’t say gay” bills that attempt to silence LGBTQ+ people’s basic existence in schools, and resurrecting all sorts of shitty slanders and narratives that have been used for decades, if not centuries, to paint anyone different from the “norm” as a dangerous predator who needs to be ostracized and punished.
In the face of all that, directors Lana and Lilly Wachowski have decided to put their money—and more than a hundred props from their various movies—on the line to help raise money to push back against the -phobic tide. Specifically, the sibling duo have launched a new auction where fans can bid on props and production materials from Cloud Atlas, Speed Racer, V For Vendetta, Sense8, and, of course, the Matrix films, with all proceeds from the sales going to support the trans youth defense fund recently set up by Ariana Grande, which will disseminate money to trans defense and support groups nationwide.
In addition to being for a good cause, the Wachowski’s auction also carries the thrill of most auctions of this type: Hunting through to figure out whether you can get a spare space gun from Jupiter Ascending on the cheap. Despite being titled “Enter The Matrix,” the collection is actually a bit light on Matrix swag (although you can get he lightning gun from the first movie, as well as some legitimately excellent concept maquettes of the robo-octopus Sentinels). But that’s not to say there isn’t some awesome stuff in here; who wouldn’t want to tool around town on a Speed Racer-branded Segway, or wow friends and family with a “screen-used execution helmet” from the dystopian future bits of Cloud Atlas?
The Wachowski Collection auction is set to run live next month, on May 12 you can browse the catalog here.
The Wachowskis
Smoke & Mirrors
Florida
A top state legislator in Florida said he believes there's an ulterior motive behind Gov. Ron Desantis stripping Disney of its special tax status in an ongoing feud over the state's controversial education law dubbed by advocates and critics the "Don't Say Gay" bill.
On Friday, DeSantis signed a bill into law that would sunset a special taxing and governance area — in which the landowners are primarily Walt Disney World — known as the Reedy Creek Improvement District by June 2023.
But Senate Minority Leader Gary Farmer told Insider that DeSantis' public dispute with Disney is taking attention away from other legislative agendas the Florida governor has been putting forth — namely, the new proposed redistricting map that would give the GOP an edge in the state at the expense of Black voters.
"Governor DeSantis' attack on Disney was designed to act as a smokescreen for the much more devious original and singular purpose of this special session, the passage of a racist and unconstitutional redistricting plan," Farmer said.
Despite the larger political implications and ramifications of DeSantis' redistricting plan, Farmer said the governor waging a war on Disney has been diverting media attention from the new proposed congressional map.
Florida
Culture-War Dragnet
School Counselors
To hear Angela Mann tell it, a paralysis has set in among Florida school counselors and psychologists since Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill last month. They wonder if sponsoring their schools’ Gay Straight Alliance means they’ll have to break their students’ confidences. They’re confused about whether they can assess suicide risk if a student comes to them in crisis, or if doing so runs afoul of new requirements to ask parental permission first. They’re afraid they’ll be harassed by activists who accuse them of “government indoctrination.” In some instances, that’s already happened. Most of all, they worry the new law will discourage students from seeking help when they need it, says Mann, an associate professor at the University of North Florida and current president of the Florida Association of School Psychologists. “It’s just really scary and sad.”
Florida’s “Parental Rights in Education” bill, the new law’s official name, gained nationwide attention as an effort to ban educators from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity with young students. Receiving less attention is the law’s requirement for schools to notify parents when students receive most mental health services. The legislation will also force the state to rewrite its school counseling standards — likely, in a way that no longer “advocates for and affirms” diversity in sexual orientation and gender.
Florida also quietly dropped out of an annual Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey that tracks, among other data, adolescents’ mental well-being on Wednesday. On the same day, the state’s department of health issued a memo discouraging gender-affirming care for transitioning children and adolescents, including counseling. All of these changes, Mann says, have “created a dramatic, chilling effect” among her peers, whose job is to provide students academic and emotional support. (That Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis had made children’s mental health a top priority is an irony not lost on her.)
Consider the circumstances a byproduct of the “parents rights” movement, a GOP culture war centered on schools and, consequently, children. It began as backlash against pandemic-informed school closures and mask mandates. After George Floyd’s murder gave way to a nationwide uprising against racial justice, the right trained its sights on “critical race theory,” an academic discipline very rarely taught in K-12 that has become shorthand for lessons that emphasizes diversity, equity, or inclusion. It didn’t take long for right-wing activists to conflate CRT with social and emotional learning (SEL), curricula geared toward helping students develop empathy, manage emotions, and have healthy interpersonal relationships. Christopher Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute who has led the charge on CRT, has likened SEL to a gateway drug to broader discussions about race, gender, and sexuality.
School Counselors
Frustrated Customers
Starlink
Alan Sbi was fed up with his satellite broadband provider because Zoom meetings, live-streaming, and other basic internet services just wouldn't work. So in February 2021, Sbi, who lives in the mountains of North Carolina, paid a $100 deposit for a SpaceX Starlink uplink kit.
Sbi told Insider that since then, he'd heard nothing from Elon Musk's satellite internet company, and hadn't received his uplink kit. And to make matters worse, Starlink has just raised its prices across the board – even for customers still waiting to receive their hardware.
In March, SpaceX told its customers it was raising prices because of inflation, among other things. The price of a Starlink uplink kit rose from $500 to $550 for customers that had already paid a deposit, and from $500 to $600 for new customers. The monthly Starlink subscription cost climbed from $99 to $110 for all users.
Sbi isn't the only customer frustrated with Starlink's delays, price hikes, and apparent lack of customer service.
Lluc Palerm, an analyst at Northern Sky Research, said Starlink customers hit by price rises for products they hadn't yet received "obviously" had "something to get angry about." He said Starlink was "not putting resources into customer services so it's natural that you get those kind of complaints."
Starlink
'Paleo Pompeii'
Tomlinsonus dimitrii
Paleontologists recently announced the discovery of an "exceptionally well preserved" ancient animal near the eastern shore of Lake Simcoe in southern Ontario, Canada, in a stone quarry that is such a hotbed for marine fossils that scientists have dubbed the area "Paleo Pompeii."
Named Tomlinsonus dimitrii, the species represented by the specimen is part of an extinct group of arthropods known as marrellomorphs that lived approximately 450 million years ago, during the Ordovician period, the research team reported in a new study. Other echinoderm fossils that are abundant in the area typically contain mineralized body parts that are more likely to be preserved over time, but this species is entirely soft-bodied, making the discovery all the more startling.
"We didn't expect to find a soft-bodied species at this site," said lead study author Joseph Moysiuk, a doctoral candidate in ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Toronto and a researcher at Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). "When we think of fossils, we typically think of things like dinosaur bones and shells. However, soft-tissue preservation is very rare, and there are only a few sites around the world where soft-bodied organisms have been found," Moysiuk told Live Science.
Measuring 2 inches (6 centimeters) — just shy of an index finger's length and able to fit in the palm of a hand — the specimen features an ornate head shield that contains two curved horns covered in feather-like spines. The animal's segmented body resembles that of other arthropods, such as insects and spiders, and contains multiple sets of segmented limbs — including one very unusual pair.
Tomlinsonus dimitrii
Five Bears Hibernating
California
A California family spent the winter dismissing odd noises that sounded a little like snoring, only to discover that five bears had spent the cold season hibernating under their house.
The Bear League group, which works to preserve bear habitat and help bears in distress largely around the Lake Tahoe basin region in the state, recounted the family’s astonishing episode last week.
In a Facebook post, the group described how one mother bear, along with three of her own cubs and an adopted orphan, had decided to spend the winter in the crawlspace under a local house.
“It was a home where people lived, and they thought they heard some odd rumbling, snoring-like noises but ignored it because it simply didn’t make sense … and the neighbors said they were imagining it because they didn’t hear anything,” the Bear League said in a Facebook post.
It added: “The bear family awoke and prepared to exit, and the people in the house could no longer deny there was probably a bear under the house.”
California
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