from Bruce
Anecdotes
Mothers
• The mother of Sarah Hughes, the gold-winning medalist in women’s figure skating at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, overcame breast cancer. When she told Sarah and her other children about the breast cancer, Sarah was confident that her mother could overcome the disease. After all, Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton had overcome testicular cancer with chemotherapy. Sarah’s mother said, “I wanted to call up Scott Hamilton and just kiss him. Someone my daughter knew of and admired so much had been through cancer and beat it.”
• Pittsburgh Penguin hockey player Mario Lemieux claimed that he learned to skate in his living room after his mother, Pierrette, allowed her sons to create an ice surface at home. She turned off the heat in their home, opened the doors and windows, and let her sons bring in snow and pack it on the living room floor—the snow quickly turned to ice. True or not, this is a good story. (But don’t try this in your home!)
• When she was a very young gymnast, Tracee Talavera’s worst-scoring event was the vault; however, she did receive five perfect scores of 10 from the judges of this event at the final trials for a United States World Championship team. When Tracee called home with the good news, her astonished mother asked, “Tracee, did the vaulting judges have seeing-eye dogs?”
• When Julie Krone was young, she told her mother that she wanted to be a jockey. When her mother told the family veterinarian what young Julie wanted to do when she grew up, he advised her to knock Julie in the head. Her mother didn’t follow that advice; instead, she took Julie to the racetrack. Of course, Julie grew up to become a famous jockey.
• The mother of Boston Celtic Bill Russell was a strong woman. When Bill was a child, she saw another kid slap him. Bill didn’t fight back, so she made him fight the other kid. While Bill was fighting that kid, another child insulted Bill, so after Bill had finished fighting the first kid, she made him fight the other child, too.
Motivation
• Walter Payton knew how to motivate the linesmen who blocked for him. When he earned his first 1,000-yard rushing season—the first Chicago back to earn that many yards in a single season since Gale Sayers—he gave each linesman a gold watch that bore this message: “Thanks for the 1,000 yards.” In addition, he gave praise to linesmen even when the linesmen felt that the praise was not due. For example, in college Jackie Slater felt sometimes that his block could have been a whole lot better, and that only Mr. Payton’s incredible athletic ability had enabled him to get free and get big yardage. However, in talking to the media, Mr. Payton would give the credit to Mr. Slater and say that the block had gotten him loose to go for big yardage. Things like that motivate linesmen to work hard to protect the runner.
• A good athlete makes other athletes better. Evidence for this can be seen in the high-school career of major-league player Alex Rodriguez. Baseball scouts often came to his games, and they used radar guns to see how fast pitchers were throwing to him. The radar guns showed pitchers throwing an average of five miles per hour faster when facing Mr. Rodriguez. Simply by being a good athlete, Mr. Rodriguez had motivated the opposing pitchers to throw harder.
Music
• In 1956, American Tenley Albright won the gold medal in ladies’ singles figure skating (the first American to do so) at the Winter Olympics held in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. She won despite an injury suffered during a practice in which she fell and her skate cut through her right boot and reached the bone. Fortunately, her father, a surgeon, flew to Cortina and fixed her up, although for a few days she couldn’t do any real practicing of the hard jumps and spins. Fortunately, on the day the competition was to begin, her ankle felt normal and she could do the hard stuff. In the final part of the skating competition, she started skating to her music, and suddenly she heard what sounded like singing, although her music was instrumental only. She says, “What happened was the thousands watching were humming and singing along with the music. It was wonderful. It made me forget my injury.” Interestingly, Ms. Albright shares the same birthday (month and day) as the first American man to win the gold medal in men’s singles figure skating: Dick Button, who won gold in 1948 and 1952. Each year, they call each other up on July 18 to wish each other a happy birthday.
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© Copyright Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
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Presenting
Michael Egan
U.S.A. took the day off.
completes another revolution around the sun (and he'll always be older than me!) - Happy Birthday, Robert!
In memory.
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
BANDCAMP MUSIC
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC
Music: "Real Love"
Single: This song is a one-side single.
Artist: Lee Harrington and Lynda Mandolyn
Artist Location: Boston, Massachusetts and Portland, Maine
Record Label: Red on Red Records
Record Label Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Record Label Motto: “The best little label in Boston. Featuring power pop, punk, indie, and Americana. Content and quality obsessed. For artists, by artists.”
Info:
“Power pop collaboration of Lee Harrington, of storied Boston group The Neighborhoods, with Lynda Mandolyn (Tiger Bomb, Fabulous Disaster). Based in Portland, Maine and Boston. Duets, harmonies, jangly power pop perfection.”
Chuck recorded at Mad Oak Studios, Brighton, MA. Benny Grotto, engineer.
Lee recorded at Ed Reimer’s Barn, Canton, MA. Ed Reimer, engineer.
Lynda recorded at Acadia Recording Company, Portland ME. Todd Hutchisen, engineer.
Above: Here’s a song by another Red on Red Records artist: Kid Gulliver
Price: $1 (USD) for track
Genre: Power Pop Perfection.
Links:
Lee Harrington and Lynda Mandolyn on Bandcamp
Red on Red Records on Bandcamp
Red on Red Records on YouTube
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
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
Recommended Reading
Funniest Reviews
Helpful product reviews written by Amazon customers are the heart of Amazon.com, and we treasure the customers who work hard to write them. But occasionally customer creativity goes off the charts in the best possible way. Enjoy this collection of some of the funniest, top-voted reviews written by your fellow customers.
Ex: "I don't use it for vulgar endeavors like math or filling out a voter application, but BIC Cristal for Her is a lovely little writing utensil all the same. Ask your husband for some extra pocket money so you can buy one today!" E. Bradley
Funniest Reviews
.
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.
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
Another lovely marine layer.
Weekend Box Office
‘Candyman’
“Candyman” hooked the top spot at the North American box office. The Universal Pictures film starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II impressively pulled in more than $22.3 million through a quiet weekend despite concerns over the delta variant. The R-rated horror movie, co-written by Jordan Peele and directed by Nia DaCosta, delves into an urban legend that believes if someone repeats “Candyman” five times in front of a mirror, that person would summon the hook-handed killer.
“Candyman” claimed No. 1 over second place “Free Guy,” which scored first place at the box office the previous two weekends. The action comedy starring Ryan Reynolds as a background character in a video game, earned more than $13.5 million.
In third place, “PAW Patrol” reeled in $6.6 million – a 50% dip from the film’s opening weekend number. The Paramount film, based on the popular kids TV show, has garnered more than $24 million.
“Jungle Cruise” placed fourth with $5 million, helping the Disney action-adventure film starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt eclipse the $100 million mark in North America during a five-week span.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. “Candyman,” $22.3 million ($5.2 million international).
2. “Free Guy,” $13.5 million ($37.3 million international).
3. “PAW Patrol,” $6.6 million ($10.3 million international).
4. “Jungle Cruise,” $5 million ($2.7 million international).
5. “Don’t Breathe 2,” $2.8 million ($1.6 million international).
6. “Respect,” $2.2 million.
7. “The Suicide Squad,” $2 million ($4.6 million international).
8. “The Protege,” $1,6 million.
9. “The Night House,” $1.2 million.
10. “Black Widow,” $855,000.
‘Candyman’
Alumni Feel Betrayed
‘Jeopardy!’
The unraveling saga surrounding who will succeed the late Alex Trebek as host of the game show “Jeopardy!” remains a neverending fiasco. Basically, anyone who takes the post is setting themselves up for failure (including incoming interim host Mayim Bialik). The fall of Mike Richards — still an executive producer on the show — as a very short-lived host has been swift, with the EP firing himself from the show after past allegations of harassment and racism surfaced. In a new report out of The Daily Beast, some former champions are saying that Richards intentionally sabotaged the show.
“It’s like looking at yourself in the mirror and shooting yourself in the face. … You couldn’t intentionally sabotage the show worse than this,” 11-time champion Arthur Chu said.
Chu described Richards as “another problematic showbiz guy with a very well-paying job behind the camera.”
Five-time champion Kristin Sausville said, “I think the main feeling of the community right now is: betrayed.”
“’Jeopardy!’ was a show that pretty much all of us had been wanting to be on for our entire lives,” Sausville said. “We trusted when we showed up on the set that we were going to be treated as equal and treated with respect, and we were.”
‘Jeopardy!’
Roars Back To Life
Las Vegas
Barely a year after the Las Vegas Strip was shut down by Covid-19, its world-famous casinos have roared back to a record-breaking summer thanks to a remarkable winning streak.
Nevada pocketed an all-time record $1.36 billion last month from gamblers, who are flooding back to the city nicknamed Lost Wages after months confined at home with little to spend their money on.
"We weren't anticipating these type of numbers," said Michael Lawton, senior analyst for Nevada Gaming Control Board.
"In Nevada, a billion dollars in gaming win is kind of a bellwether number. And we've recorded a billion dollars in gaming win in five consecutive months."
Las Vegas became a ghost town in early 2020, with casinos ordered to close for 78 days, dealing a heavy unemployment blow to the tourism-reliant economy.
Las Vegas
North Carolina Film Production
Hallmark Movies
Hallmark Channel movies are playing a key role in what’s expected to be a big year for North Carolina’s film industry, according to a newspaper report.
With film productions expected to bring a record-setting $409 million to the state in 2021, and with nearly $300 million spent in the Wilmington area so far, so-called “Hallmark movies” are a staple of local activity, the StarNews reported.
Currently filming is “Christmas in Harmony,” which had multiple Santas roaming a downtown Wilmington street last week.
The Hallmark Movies & Mysteries film “One Summer” wrapped earlier this month. And Another Hallmark movie, “USS Christmas,” shot in Wilmington a year ago, wrapped production this summer.
The $409 million expected to be spent this year on film work would be the largest figure since the 2014 creation of a state grant that offers a 25% rebate to qualified productions, the newspaper reported earlier this month.
Hallmark Movies
Cannabis Growers
California
Driving through a dense canopy of towering redwood and old growth fir trees in southern Humboldt County, Ryan Hale’s rental car bucked and bounced as he laid out the rules of the day.
The first point of contact, a veteran cannabis grower who asked not to be identified, would lead the way to a secluded compound deep within the Emerald Triangle, a widely known cannabis-growing region comprising Humboldt, Mendocino and Trinity counties in northwest California.
It is the first time reporters have been allowed to tour this small corner of the Emerald Triangle, Hale said, and discretion is paramount.
Hale, partner and chief sales officer of Operational Security Solutions, a cannabis security and compliance company, has deep ties to many of the legal cultivators operating in the Emerald Triangle. His team of former military, law enforcement and federal service personnel work closely with the growers, ensuring that they meet state regulations and helping them secure cash and crops.
As drought and climate change batter the West, many outdoor growers face a new obstacle. Wildfires not only destroy crops, but they also contaminate plants if they are soaked in fire retardant or tainted by excessive smoke. Sometimes the latter is jokingly called “campfire kush.”
California
Sovereignty Debate
Hawai'i
Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders have been reeling from a brutal summer of rising Covid-19 cases and a resource-crippling wave of over-tourism. The crisis has brought attention to a contentious decades-old campaign for federal recognition of a Native Hawaiian government that’s gained strong political support in the past year.
For both supporters and critics of a new Native Hawaiian government, the pandemic has become a platform to build their case for either much-needed economic relief or full separation from the U.S.
In December, after Democrats secured unified control of the White House and Congress, Joe Biden, then the president-elect, backed legislation to re-establish a government-to-government relationship with Native Hawaiians and Alaska Natives — an effort that gained steam during the Obama administration but stalled after former President Donald Trump was elected.
Hawaii’s four-member congressional delegation has expressed support for a federally recognized government. But the issue is more contentious among Native Hawaiian activists, some of whom say the effort will allow them to lobby for more resources while others argue it will thwart the sovereignty movement, a grassroots campaign to establish an independent Hawaiian nation.
“There’s a huge split between those who literally want to have a Native governing entity with limited autonomy that’s subordinate to the U.S. nation-state and those who want the U.S. out of Hawaii,” said J. Kehaulani Kauanui, an American studies professor at Wesleyan University and author of “Hawaiian Blood: Colonialism and the Politics of Sovereignty and Indigeneity.”
Hawai'i
‘We Can’t Afford To Leave’
Ida
Robert Owens was feeling defeated and helpless Sunday as he waited in Louisiana’s capital city for landfall by one of the most powerful hurricanes ever to strike the U.S.
The 27-year-old had spent anxious days watching long lines of cars evacuating from Baton Rouge, bound for safer locations out of state as Hurricane Ida approached. He had hoped he and his wife, his mother-in-law, roommate and four pets would be among them. But leaving would have required money for gas and a hotel room — something they didn’t have.
Out of desperation, Owens went to ACE Cash Express on Saturday and submitted documents for a payday loan. He was denied, after being told he didn’t have enough credit history.
By Sunday, it was clear they would be riding out the storm at home in his family’s duplex apartment.
Owens said the majority of people in his low-income neighborhood are in the same predicament. They want to leave to protect families, but have no choice but to stay.
Ida
Dragons Fly
Gold
For many affluent young Chinese consumers, modern simplicity is out and tradition is back in when it comes to jewellery.
Sales of gold bracelets, pendants, earrings and necklaces that draw on dragons, phoenixes, peonies and other traditional Chinese patterns and symbols are flying among consumers, especially those in their 20s and 30s, helping drive a rebound in gold demand in the country after a pandemic-induced slump.
An e-commerce boom and national pride are fuelling the rise in demand for what is known as heritage gold jewellery, which requires intricate craftsmanship and can command premiums of 20% or more over conventional gold jewellery, industry executives say.
The popularity of these new pieces began to take off in mid-2020 and helped gold jewellery demand in China - the world's top consumer of the metal - more than double in the first half of 2021 from a year earlier to pre-pandemic levels, according to the World Gold Council (WGC).
It also provides a boost for gold at a time when demand from India, the world's second-largest consumer, has been hit as the pandemic delayed weddings, where gold is traditionally included in the dowry.
Gold
'Virgin Birth'?
Baby Shark
Scientists say a rare shark "virgin birth" may be the first of its kind after a baby shark was born in an all-female tank in an Italian aquarium.
The baby smoothhound shark, named Ispera, which means hope in Sardianian, was born at the Acquario di Cala Gonone in Sardinia, Italy, according to Italian outlet AGI.
Its mother had spent ten years living in a tank with one other female, the outlet said, and scientists suspect the newborn could be the first documented case of shark parthenogenesis in that species.
Parthenogenesis is a rare phenomenon where an egg develops into an embryo without being fertilized by a sperm.
The process has been observed in more than 80 vertebrate species, according to Live Science, including sharks, fish, and reptiles.
Baby Shark
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