from Bruce
Anecdotes
Football
• Women do play professional tackle football, although probably no one makes a living—or even a profit—from it. For example, in 2006 the New York Sharks had an annual budget of $85,000. According to team owner Andra Douglas, about half of the budget “comes from the National Bank of Andra.” Players have to raise money to be on the team, and in 2006 the grand total of $5,000 went to the team’s six coaches. According to Ms. Douglas, this money “probably covered their gas and tolls.” Sponsors of the team tend to be, Ms. Douglas says, “mom-and-pop shops—people we know.” Obviously, everyone on the team is involved because of love of the sport.
• In 1940, the Chicago Bears battled the Washington Redskins for the world football championship. Just three weeks earlier, the Redskins had defeated the Bears, 7-3. This time, however, the Bears won in a stunningly lopsided upset, 73-0. The offense of the Bears was so powerful that late in the game, when the Bears were preparing to kick for yet another point after yet another touchdown, a referee begged them, “Look, fellers! Already, you’ve kicked so many balls into the stands that now we have only one left. How about passing or running with the ball for the extra point? Otherwise, we won’t have a ball to play with to finish the game.”
• On October 7, 1916, Georgia Tech defeated Cumberland University 222-0 in a football game. Near the end of the game, the Cumberland quarterback, Ed Edwards, fumbled the ball and yelled at his teammates, “Pick it up! Pick it up!” Seeing the fearsome Georgia Tech players bearing down on the ball, Cumberland fullback Leon McDonald yelled back, “Pick it up yourself—you dropped it.”
• Someone once called in to speak to the coach of Louisiana State University football game on a talk show. The caller asked, “Who was that knucklehead who missed the field goal at the end of the game?” The coach was loyal to his players, and he replied, “One of the young men I coach, and we both are going to try to do better next time.”
• Although the forward pass in football became legal in 1906, at first it was not much used. However, in 1913, Notre Dame played against Army, a team with much bigger and much stronger players. Rushing was not effective against such a physically superior team, so the Notre Dame team started throwing the forward pass—and won, 35-13.
Friends
• Violinist Jacques Thibaud once made a hole in one—or at least he thought he had. After Mr. Thibaud died in an airplane accident in 1953, the truth came out. He had been playing golf with conductor Pierre Monteux, who walked ahead of the other golfers. Seeing that Mr. Thibaud’s ball was very near the hole, and knowing that no one could see him, Mr. Monteux picked the ball up and dropped it in the hole. Mr. Thibaud was so happy at having made a hole in one that Mr. Monteux could not tell him what he had done.
• In 2001, Barry Bonds hit 73 home runs to break the single-season home-run record set by Mark McGwire; however, by doing so, he lost a $100,000 bet. Early in the season, friend and teammate Shawon Dunston suggested that Mr. Bonds might break Mr. McGwire’s record that season. Mr. Bonds did not think that was possible, and Mr. Dunston suggested that if he broke the record then he could buy him a brand-new Mercedes-Benz. Mr. Bonds, of course, broke the record, and he did buy Mr. Dunston a $100,000 Mercedes Benz.
Gambling
• As a boy, writer Bill Barich was friends with another boy named Eddie Greco, who worked in a restaurant frequented by people who raced horses for a living. They gave Eddie tips—tips that paid off when gambling. Eddie passed the tips on to Bill, and Bill started gambling. Oddly, he discovered that when he placed a bet, no one at the gambling counter ever checked his ID to make sure that he was old enough to legally gamble; however, when he tried to cash in a winning ticket and pick up his winnings, the person at the gambling counter always checked his ID. This led to Bill looking around for a friendly adult to cash in his ticket—and NOT ask for a cut. (Uniformed sailors were very helpful in this regard.)
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© Copyright Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
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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: "My Miniskirt"
Album: SUNDAEGIRL
Artist: Sundaegirl
Producer: Travis Ramen
Producer Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Info:
“Sundaegirl is the kid sister to Candygirl. This is Travis Ramin at his most bubblegum. Archies and the obvious Bananas Splits played a big part in the influence of this record released on a 45rpm in Japan by Popball Records. Could also file under Children's music! Four tunes of sheer sugary goodness!”
“A dentist’s worst — but most profitable — friend.” — Bruce
Price: $1 (USD) for track; $3 (USD) for four-track EP
Genre: Bubblegum.
Links:
SUNDAEGIRL
Travis Ramen Producer
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
The sheeple are so brainwashed that they are beyond even listening to Predator the one time he speaks truthfully:
that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Lovely thick marine layer.
Staying At MSNBC
Rachel Maddow
Rachel Maddow will be staying at MSNBC, as sources confirmed on Sunday that she has signed a multi-year agreement with the network and NBCUniversal.
In addition to her show, Maddow will be developing projects in a new partnership with NBCU, according to a person familiar with the matter. Further details were not immediately disclosed.
Earlier this month, sources said that Maddow was considering the possibility of exiting the news network, where she hosts its No. 1 program. The Rachel Maddow Show, after her contract expires next year. There were reports that she was looking to start a new venture, and that she was looking for a change amid the demands of a five-night-a-week schedule. Her show, which launched in 2008, also has a demanding, five-night-a-week schedule. But the reports also came amid the push-pull of contract negotiations, as the stakes were high for the network and Rashida Jones, who became MSNBC’s new president in February. Maddow had hired new talent representatives, Mark Shapiro, the president of Endeavor Co., and its CEO, Ari Emanuel.
Maddow’s show has consistently been in the top five of all cable news shows. In July, The Rachel Maddow Show averaged 2.29 million viewers, behind Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight, Hannity and The Five.
Rachel Maddow
France's Pantheon
Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker, the famed French-American dancer, singer and actress who fought in the French resistance during WWII and later battled racism, will later this year become the first Black woman to enter France's Pantheon mausoleum.
Baker will be just the sixth woman to join the around 80 great national figures of French history in the Pantheon after Simone Veil, a former French minister who survived the Holocaust and fought for abortion rights, entered in 2018.
Baker, who was born in Missouri in 1906 and buried in Monaco in 1975, came from a poor background and was married twice by the age of 15. She then ran away from home to join a vaudeville troupe.
She quickly caught the eye of a producer, who sent her to Paris where at the age of 19 she became the star of the hugely popular "La Revue Negre", which helped popularise jazz and African-American culture in France.
In 1939, she joined the French resistance movement, passing on information written on her musical scores.
Josephine Baker
Weekend Box Office
‘Free Guy’
Four new films with major stars from Hugh Jackman to Michael Keaton opened in North American movie theaters this weekend and only the one with animated puppies fared well. But it wasn’t enough to beat out Ryan Reynolds’ action-comedy “Free Guy,” which topped the charts for the second weekend running.
“PAW Patrol: The Movie,” a Paramount release targeted at very young kids that’s also streaming on Paramount+, earned $13 million in ticket sales according to studio estimates Sunday. It was by far the best of the new openers, which included three adult-skewing films that failed to find significant audiences: The action pic “The Protégé,” with Keaton and Maggie Q, the sci-fi thriller “Reminiscence,” which is also streaming on HBO Max, and the well-reviewed Rebecca Hall horror “The Night House.”
Disney’s “Jungle Cruise,” which is available to rent on Disney+ for $30, landed in third place in its fourth weekend in release. So far, the Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt action-adventure has grossed $174 million globally.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. “Free Guy,” $18.8 million.
2. “PAW Patrol: The Movie,” $13 million.
3. “Jungle Cruise,” $6.2 million.
4. “Don’t Breathe 2,” $5.1 million.
5. “Respect,” $3.8 million.
6. “The Suicide Squad,” $3.4 million.
7. “The Protégé,” $2.9 million.
8. “The Night House,” $2.9 million.
9. “Reminiscence,” $2 million.
10. “Black Widow,” $1.2 million.
‘Free Guy’
Releases Shelved Transparency Report
Facebook
After facing widespread criticism, Facebook has unveiled a transparency report that it initially shelved about the most popular posts on its public News Feed in the U.S. during the first quarter of 2021. The report offers a glimpse into how far misinformation about the covid-19 vaccine has spread online.
As first reported by the New York Times, which published a bombshell expose on Friday after obtaining a copy of the then-unreleased report, the most-viewed link on Facebook between January and March was a since-updated news article suggesting that the vaccine may be at fault for a Florida doctor’s death. The link racked up nearly 54 million views during this period.
According to Facebook’s report, among the top 20 most visited pages on the platform during the first quarter was the Epoch Times, a site that routinely pushes misinformation about the covid-19 pandemic and far-right conspiracies such as QAnon.
On Saturday, Facebook policy communications director Andy Stone tweeted that the criticism Facebook has faced for initially holding the report “wasn’t unfair,” but added that defining misinformation is a complex process:
Stone said that Facebook didn’t release the report earlier because there were “key fixes to the system” that the company wanted to make. He didn’t go into further detail about what those changes were exactly but posted a link to the report on Twitter. In a statement to the Washington Post, he said one change involved fixing a technical bug but declined to elaborate further.
Facebook
Port Congestion
California
It’s only mid-August — the early days of peak shipping season — but the record for container ships anchored off California is already on the verge of being broken.
Port congestion is simultaneously building along the East Coast, with anchorage numbers off Georgia well into the double digits and, for the first time this year, a growing queue offshore of the Port of New York and New Jersey.
California congestion previously peaked in the first quarter. On Feb. 1, the Marine Exchange of Southern California reported an all-time-high 40 container ships at anchor in San Pedro Bay, awaiting berths in Los Angeles or Long Beach. The highest number of container ships in the entire port complex, including those at anchor and at berth — 67 — was set on Jan. 28.
On Friday, there were 125 ships of all types (including tankers and cruise ships) either at berth or anchor in Los Angeles/Long Beach. That’s a new record. The Q1 high was 113.
On Saturday, there were 68 ships of all types at anchor, yet another record. There were 66 container ships either at berth or waiting offshore, just one short of the all-time high. And there were 37 container ships waiting offshore, three short of the February peak.
California
Get Coached
Parents
An Oregon school superintendent is telling parents they can get their children out of wearing masks by citing federal disability law. A pastor at a California megachurch is offering religious exemptions for anyone morally conflicted over vaccine requirements.
And Louisiana’s attorney general has posted sample letters on his office’s Facebook page for those seeking to get around the governor’s mask rules.
Across the U.S., religious figures, doctors, public officials and other community leaders are trying to help people circumvent COVID-19 precautions.
While proponents of these workarounds say they are looking out for children’s health and parents’ rights, others say such stratagems are dishonest and irresponsible and could undermine efforts to beat back the highly contagious delta variant.
In Oregon, Superintendent Marc Thielman of the rural Alsea School District told parents they can sidestep the governor’s school mask requirement by applying for an accommodation for their children under federal disabilities law.
Parents
Decided Not To Lock Down
Sweden
Months before the first COVID-19 cases were detected, public-health experts ranked Sweden as one of the most prepared countries to handle a pandemic. But in March 2020, Swedish health authorities surprised the world with their unorthodox approach: Rather than locking down and requiring masks, as many countries did, Sweden let residents decide individually whether to take those precautions.
The gamble, Swedish authorities predicted, would pay off in the long run. Ideally, vulnerable people would choose to stay home, the economy wouldn't suffer too much, and healthy people might get mild COVID-19 cases that ultimately contributed to the population's collective immunity.
But a year and a half into the pandemic, it's clear that bet was wrong.
Sweden has recorded more COVID-19 cases per capita than most countries so far: Since the start of the pandemic, roughly 11 out of every 100 people in Sweden have been diagnosed with COVID-19, compared with 9.4 out of every 100 in the UK and 7.4 per 100 in Italy. Sweden has also recorded around 145 COVID-19 deaths for every 100,000 people - around three times more than Denmark, eight times more than Finland, and nearly 10 times more than Norway.
"They underestimated the mortality tremendously," Claudia Hanson, an associate professor at Sweden's Karolinska Institute, told Insider.
Sweden
Earth's Ancient Magnetic Field
Stone Age Artifacts
The strength and direction of Earth's magnetic field has changed a lot over the millennia. Scientists are eager to study its past patterns to work out how the field might change in the future – a pretty vital research field, considering this magnetic shield protects us from damaging cosmic radiation.
However, instruments capable of directly measuring Earth's magnetic field have only been around for roughly 200 years. So, we have to turn to other methods to track it further back in time – including, in a new study, artifacts recovered from a site in Jordan, dated to around 8,000-10,000 years ago (the Neolithic or New Stone Age).
These items – including ceramic pottery and burnt flints used to make other tools - are special because their creation involved subjecting them to extremely high temperatures.
That heating process and subsequent cooling caused certain minerals and crystals within the artifacts to trap a 'frozen' record of what Earth's magnetic field was like at the time, a phenomenon known as residual or remanent magnetization.
The researchers looked at 129 different items in total, building on previous work that assessed the viability of using flint fragments as a guide to magnetic field strength – something that is going to be incredibly useful for future studies.
Stone Age Artifacts
What Color
The Universe
When you look up at the night sky, it's easy to think that the universe is a never-ending sea of blackness. But if you measured the visible light from all of the luminous celestial bodies out there, what would the average color of the universe be?
Let's get this out of the way first: It's not black.
"Black is not a color," Ivan Baldry, a professor at the Liverpool John Moores University Astrophysics Research Institute in the U.K., told Live Science. "Black is just the absence of detectable light." Instead, color is the result of visible light, which is created throughout the universe by stars and galaxies, he said.
In 2002, Baldry and Karl Glazebrook, a distinguished professor at the Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing at the Swinburne University of Technology in Australia, co-led a study published in The Astrophysical Journal that measured the light coming from tens of thousands of galaxies and combined it into a singular spectrum that represented the entire universe.
In 2002, Australia's 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey — which was the largest survey of galaxies ever carried out at the time — captured the visible spectra of more than 200,000 galaxies from across the observable universe. By combining the spectra of all these galaxies, Baldry and Glazebrook's team was able to create a visible light spectrum that accurately represented the entire universe, known as the cosmic spectrum.
The Universe
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