Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: The Real Governments of Blue America (NY Times)
In some states, politicians are actually trying to do their jobs.
Andrew Tobias: More on the Conversation
How do we talk to each other? How do we consider ideas on their merits, not their sources?
Angelica Jade Bastién: "Notorious: The Same Hunger" (Criterion)
In Notorious (1946), love assumes different shapes and presentations-as a wound, a weapon, a promise, a curse. For Ingrid Bergman as the lusciously complex and raw-nerved Alicia Huberman, it's all these things.
Mary Beard: Online emperors (TLS)
I am at last reaching the end of my book on modern images of Roman emperors. And this chapter I am working on has a big section on the gory deaths of emperors and their relations.
Mary Beard: "Mucking around in archives (inc. Doris Lessing's)" (TLS)
I have only done one major piece of archival research, when I was writing my sort-of-biography of the classicist Jane Harrison. I spent a long time in the archive of Harrison herself in Newnham and in the archive of Eugenie Strong, her one-time friend, in Girton (yes it was a Cambridge story). It was truly fascinating and, in part, I remember the experience with fondness. But it was also slightly unnerving. I remember thinking, as I went through all those personal letters, that I was prying rather than researching.
Alison Flood: Amazon hits back at claims it is to blame for falling author earnings (The Guardian)
Retailer insists Authors Guild report that criticised the online giant for contributing to tumbling writers' incomes used flawed figures, but Guild stands by findings.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
said:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
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from Bruce
Anecdotes
• Tarina Tarantino creates fashionable jewelry and is the head of her own company. Her hair is also fashionable: hot pink. She says, "I got married with pink hair. I had two babies with pink hair. And I'll be an old lady with pink hair." To make her particular color of hot pink, her hair stylist mixes four shades of colors. Why hot pink? She explains that she "wanted to experience a way of living through color." Once, a woman in a coffee shop said to her, "You must have a very tolerant boss to allow you to come to work with pink hair." Ms. Tarantino replied, "Actually, my boss has the same color hair." As the head of her company, she has to manage a staff of design assistants and factory workers. One young employee was unhappy with her performance review, so she asked Ms. Tarantino to speak to her mother. Ms. Tarantino replied, "Your mother doesn't work here." Her office and manufacturing facility is called the Sparkle Factory, and in 2011 it moved to another building on which the graffiti artist Banksy had received permission to paint an exterior wall. He painted a picture of a girl on a swing-the word "Parking" had been turned into "Park." Ms. Tarantino got her big break when actress Cameron Diaz wore a Tarantino bracelet to the 2002 Oscars. These days, Ms. Tarantino believes, movie stars all have consultants who tell them what to wear. These days, her own big break "would never happen."
• The Guerilla Girls engage in activism for artists who are women or people of color, frequently by creating posters. The Guerilla Girls wear gorilla masks and are anonymous, taking on the names of deceased famous women creators. As you may expect, they get support from other women. Once, they received this letter from a woman who was a secretary at a museum in New York: "I work for a curator you named on one of your posters. You're right. He's an [*]sshole. Here's $25." In addition, the Guerilla Girls' posters frequently include information about how many women artists are or have been in shows at museums or art galleries, something that requires research. Guerilla Girl "Rosalba Carriera" says that when the Guerilla Girls asked for the bigwigs when telephoning to do research, they often lost time as their questions were evaded. Fortunately, they came up with a way to solve this problem: "Then we learned not to ask for the boss, but just to tell the secretaries and receptionists who we were and what we needed. Like magic, they always gave us the statistics right away." By the way, Guerilla Girl "Frida Kahlo" and other members of the group are working on a way to stop war. "Frida Kahlo" explains, "We want to create the Estrogen Bomb. When it is dropped in an area of violent conflict, men will throw down their guns, hug each other, apologize, say it was 'all their fault' and then start to clean up the mess."
• As a graffiti artist, Banksy does illegal things, meaning that he has to work fast and avoid the authorities. When he was 18, he tried to paint "LATE AGAIN" on the side of a passenger train, but in the midst of his painting the British transport police arrived and he had to run and hide under the bottom of a fuel tank. He realized that he needed to paint much faster to avoid being arrested. As he thought this, he looked up at the bottom of the fuel tank and saw some stencilled information. Banksy says, "I realized that I could just copy that style and make each letter three feet high." He then went home and told his girlfriend that he had had an epiphany that night. She misunderstood and told him not to take that drug because it is bad for your heart. As a satirist, Banksy is aware that many Americans are fat. In fact, he jokes, "A recent survey of North American males found 42% were overweight, 34% were critically obese and 8% ate the survey." Some North American cities have bike lanes for bicyclists; in a satiric act, Banksy used stencils to create a "FAT LANE." Among Banksy's beliefs are "Nothing in the world is more common than unsuccessful people with talent" and "Artwork that is only about wanting to be famous will never make you famous. Fame is a by-product of doing something else. You don't go to a restaurant and order a meal because you want to have a sh*t."
• In an article for The Guardian published in March 2011, critic and writer Germaine Greer explained a few things about art. This is one point she made: "A kid doing graffiti will make no money and could go to jail. There is no truer example of the sacredness of the art enterprise." Another point she made is this: "Most art is bad, but you don't get the good art without the bad. Our best artists make stuff they know is bad; the difference is that they destroy it themselves." As an example, she uses the artist Tracey Emin, who earned an MA at the Royal College of Art. She is a successful artist, and lots of art dealers would love to have the art that she created to get her MA, but they never will. The art did not meet Ms. Emin's high standards, and she destroyed it. Ms. Greer says, "That's the kind of thing real artists can be expected to do."
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© Copyright Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
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Bonus Links
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Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
JD is on vacation.
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
All the rain has made the yard nice and green.
CBS Selling 's 'Shutdown Mug'
Stephen Colbert
Like that coffee mug that Stephen Colbert sported on Thursday's episode of "The Late Show"? CBS hopes you did, enough that you're willing to plop down $15 for it.
Colbert announced during the show that his coffee mug commemorating the 28-day partial government shutdown - which is emblazoned with the words "Don't Even Talk to Me Until I've Had My Paycheck" - is now available for viewers to buy.
But it's not a simple cash grab for CBS.
The network says all of the profits from the mug sales will go directly to Chef José Andrés' nonprofit organization, World Central Kitchen, which has been providing free meals to federal workers and their families during the government shutdown. Many federal employees are currently furloughed or working without pay during the shutdown, which began on Saturday, Dec. 22. This is already the longest shutdown in U.S. history.
Through its #ChefForFeds initiative, the Washington, D.C.-based World Central Kitchen and cafe, has been offering free dine-in and to-go meals for federal workers who have been affected by the government shutdown since Wednesday, Jan. 16. In the past year alone, Andrés' nonprofit organization has served over five million meals to those impacted by natural disasters and humanitarian crises
Stephen Colbert
Parts Ways
Sony's RCA
R. Kelly has parted ways with his Sony Music-owned RCA record label, Billboard magazine, Variety and the New York Times reported on Friday, and he no longer appears on the roster of artists on RCA's website.
The reported split follows decades of allegations of sexual and physical abuse by the Grammy-winning singer, which were the subject of a new six-hour television documentary aired earlier this month. Kelly's attorney has denied the allegations.
Variety, quoting an unidentified source, said Sony Music had decided to "dissolve its working relationship" with Kelly, but that no external announcement would be made.
Billboard reported that the musician and the record company had agreed to part ways, citing unidentified sources. It said Kelly's catalogue would remain with RCA. His music is still available on digital retailers and streaming services.
RCA came under renewed pressure this month to drop Kelly, best-known for the hit "I Believe I Can Fly," in the wake of a Lifetime documentary in which multiple women, including his ex-wife, made on-camera allegations of emotional, sexual and physical abuse.
Sony's RCA
Mural Sold
Banksy
A British art dealer says he has bought a mural stenciled by street artist Banksy on a garage wall in Wales for more than 100,000 pounds ($129,000).
The artwork in Port Talbot shows a child playing in falling ash from a dumpster fire, an apparent reference to the steel town's air pollution.
Security guards were hired to protect the work after it appeared in December on a steelworker's garage.
John Brandler of Brandler Galleries in eastern England said Friday he has agreed that the mural will stay in place for at least two years.
He said "I want to make Port Talbot a go-to place rather than a go-from place. Within a short time I'm thinking of bringing five or six more Banksys to Port Talbot. Let's do an exhibition.
Banksy
Emmy DVD Screeners
TV Academy
The Television Academy will eliminate distribution of DVD screeners for eligible shows beginning with the 2020 Emmy cycle.
Designed to eliminate both monetary and physical waste, the move will have a substantive impact on the strategy of Emmy marketers. It also makes the academy the first major entertainment-industry organization to bar physical screeners.
The new policy will go into effect immediately following this year's Primetime Emmy Awards, scheduled for Sept. 22. Going forward, screeners will be provided only via digital platforms hosted by producers and distributors, or through the Television Academy's viewing platform.
Spending on DVD screeners has ballooned in recent years, as the number of Emmy-eligible programs has skyrocketed - with some companies, such as Netflix, spending millions of dollars on physical screeners alone.
TV Academy
Unlikely Victims
Butterflies
In Mission, Texas, the construction of part of a long-promised wall on the border with Mexico to stem the tide of undocumented migrants is already in progress.
Among the many who will be affected? Butterflies.
Mission, located in the lower Rio Grande Valley, is home to the National Butterfly Center, a private non-profit 100-acre (40-hectare) preserve dedicated to conservation of the insects in their natural habitat.
But the wall -- a key plank of President Donald Trump's (R-Yeti Pubes) immigration policy -- could end up chopping the area in half, and severely complicate any work being done to save the butterflies that flutter through.
"This land used to be an onion field," explains Luciano Guerra, who is responsible for education outreach at the center. "We converted it back to native habitat."
Butterflies
Dead Tardigrade Found
Antarctica
On December 26, scientists drilling near an underground lake by the South Pole found the remains of a dead tardigrade, a microbial animal that lives in extreme conditions, more than 3,200 feet underground, according to a report published Friday in Nature. David Harwood, one of the micro-palaeontologists involved with the research, called the findings "fully unexpected."
It's extremely rare for scientists to find evidence of life in Antarctic subglacial lakes, never mind finding life buried a whole kilometer underground. The last time scientists found evidence of life in a subglacial Antarctic lake was back in 2013, when scientists found 20 cultures of bacteria in Lake Hodgson, which is 305 feet underground.
Right now, it's unclear whether the animal lived in Antarctica ocean water that froze over on the surface, or if subglacial rivers moved the tardigrade carcass from Antarctic mountains into the nearby valley. Scientists will know more once they sequence the tardigrade DNA and determine what type of environment they would have thrived in.
This particular research is a part of the Subglacial Antarctic Lakes Scientific Access (SALSA) program, which involves using a hot water drill to bore into an ice sheet in Western Antarctica, the most rapidly melting region of the frozen continent.
According to Nature, the researchers believe that the tardigrade lived in ancient glacial meltwater from interglacial periods, which are warm periods between Ice Ages. This means the tardigrade was most likely alive either the early Holocene (50,000 years ago) or the Eemian (120,000 years ago) period. They won't have an answer until they use radiocarbon dating on the carcasses and sequence their DNA.
Antarctica
At The Bottom
The Great Blue Hole
Take a glance at the Great Blue Hole, the world-famous marine sinkhole in Belize, and you'll no doubt wonder what's at the bottom of that thing? Well, prepare to lose a little bit of faith in humanity.
Richard Branson, famously rich human and founder of the Virgin Group, recently headed to Central America to explore this fascinating blob of blue using a submersible alongside a team of scientists and filmmakers from Discovery. Writing in a blog post, Branson explained the venture was the "first ever submersible dive to the very bottom of the Blue Hole on the Mesoamerican Reef, the second largest barrier reef network in the world."
Sadly, even this remote blue abyss - some 100 kilometers (60 miles) off the Belize coast - is not safe from the affliction of plastic pollution.
"As for the mythical monsters of the deep? Well, the real monsters facing the ocean are climate change - and plastic," said Branson. "Sadly, we saw plastic bottles at the bottom of the hole, which is a real scourge of the ocean."
Other than a few bits of plastic trash, Branson and the team also observed a collection of dead crabs and other creatures that had descended beneath the hole's hydrogen sulfide layer, where there's little to no oxygen.
The Great Blue Hole
Two New Species of Fungi
Arctic Glacier
An international team of researchers has discovered two species of fungi entirely new to science in sediments at the front of a rapidly melting glacier on Ellesmere Island, located in Canada's far north.
The two species are both specially adapted to grow in the extreme cold of their environment, where temperatures regularly hover below freezing and there is a distinct lack of vitamins. That's according to two related papers published in the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology.
The researchers from Laval University, Canada, Japan's National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR) and The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Tokyo, named one of the fungi Mrakia hoshinonis after Japanese scientist Tamotsu Hoshino, who has made significant contributions to our knowledge of fungi in the polar regions. The second species was named Vishniacozyma ellesmerensis in reference to the island where it was discovered-the third largest in Canada and tenth largest in the world.
"These two new fungal species can grow in sub-freezing temperatures," Masaharu Tsuji, first author of both papers and a researcher at NIPR, told Newsweek. "Moreover, they do not require amino acids and vitamins for growth, therefore, the characteristics of the two new species are very unique. In general, microbes cannot grow in sub-freezing temperatures because of reduced enzyme reaction rates, transport-system efficiency, and membrane fluidity etc."
Like in many regions around the globe, the Walker Glacier is retreating at a worrying rate. In fact, the scientists said that in 2016-when the fungi were collected-the glacier was melting two-and-a-half times faster than the average rate over the past half a century.
Arctic Glacier
Growth Bonanza Across UK
Magic Mushrooms
Magic mushrooms are booming this winter amid unseasonlbly warm temperatures across the country, experts say.
Large populations of the psychoactive mushroom (Psilocybe semilanceata) have been found growing naturally in Shropshire and Staffordshire as the UK is yet to see its first hard frost, which would usually end the fungi-foraging season.
Warnings have been issued to foragers who could accidentally pick the class A drug.
Dried magic mushrooms have long been illegal in the UK, but fresh mushrooms were also banned in 2005.
The species, which typically flourishes on wetter open fields where sheep graze, has fared much better after the hot summer than other fungi.
Magic Mushrooms
In Memory
Bradley Bolke
Bradley Bolke, who provided the voice of Chumley the walrus opposite Don Adams on the Tennessee Tuxedo cartoons of the 1960s, has died. He was 93.
Bolke died Tuesday in Dobbs Ferry, New York, Rick Goldschmidt, the official historian and biographer for Rankin/Bass Productions, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Bolke played the dimwitted Chumley, the South Pole sidekick to Adams' wise-cracking penguin, on Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales, which aired on CBS from 1963-66 and then for years afterward in reruns. The duo resided in the Megapolis Zoo, and when they had a problem, they consulted with their friend Phineas J. Whoopee, the "Man With All the Answers." (Larry Storch voiced Whoopee.)
Bolke also portrayed shoe-pounding Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev on the landmark comedy album The First Family, which was recorded in front of a live studio audience on Oct. 22, 1962, the same night that President John F. Kennedy was delivering a television and radio speech on the Cuban Missile Crisis to the American people.
The First Family, with Vaughn Meader voicing JFK, was a sensation, selling more than a million copies a week in its first six weeks and winning the Grammy Award for album of the year.
Bolke also is heard every holiday season as the big-nosed elf Jangle Bells on the Rankin/Bass stop-motion classic The Year Without a Santa Claus, which premiered in 1974 and starred Mickey Rooney as Santa and Shirley Booth as Mrs. Claus.
"It turned out to be a classic, but it's the same thing with The First Family. It was another job," Bolke said in a 2012 interview with The Journal News of White Plains, New York. "You come home and you don't realize it's going to become a classic."
A native of Mount Vernon, New York, Bolke also did the voices of the Ghostly Trio for ABC's The New Casper Cartoon Show, which ran on Saturday mornings in the '60s and starred Norma MacMillan as the friendly ghost.
His late brother was Dayton Allen, who played a "man on the street" on Steve Allen programs, voiced Deputy Dawg in cartoons and was Phineas T. Bluster on The Howdy Doody Show.
Bradley Bolke
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