from Bruce
Anecdotes
Autographs
• On June 26, 1997, J.K. Rowling’s first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, was published in the United Kingdom. She went to a bookstore to see her book, and she was tempted to sign all the copies, but she decided not to in case she got in trouble.
• Because he was so famous, humorous poet Ogden Nash was frequently asked to give his autograph. This didn’t bother him, except when young autograph hounds thrust a piece of paper and a pen at him and said, “Who are you? Sign here!”
Books
• Some writers are incredibly prolific. At age 73 in 2008, science-fiction writer Robert Silverberg had written approximately 300 novels, 600 short works of fiction, and 100 nonfiction books. Is that all, you ask? No. He has edited approximately 100 anthologies. (Let’s not mention all the Forewords and Introductions and other miscellaneous writings.) He writes so much that he has used more than 50 pseudonyms to keep from overwhelming readers. Of course, once in a while people ask him how he writes that much. He replies, “One word at a time.” As you would expect, he has many anecdotes about his years of writing. For example, when he was still a college student, a professional science-fiction writer named Randall Garrett moved into the apartment next door. Mr. Silverberg had already started writing and publishing science fiction, and Mr. Garrett told him, “I’m a professional writer with a lot of experience. I think we could work together. You are very disciplined; I am not.” Mr. Silverberg says, “It worked out beautifully for two or three years. When he would fall asleep at his typewriter because he’d been up all night drinking, I would pick up the manuscript and continue writing. Eventually I got married, and my wife said, ‘That man is not going to enter this house.’” By the way, a good writer nearing the end of his life ought to be able to think up a good epitaph, right? Right. Mr. Silverberg says, “A few years ago, I actually did come up with a mocking sort of epitaph for myself. It’s this: ‘Here lies Robert Silverberg. He spent most of his life in the future. Now he’s in the past.’”
• In 2008, Paul Constant, book critic for the Seattle newspaper The Stranger, attended BookExpo America (BEA), the annual book-industry convention. One thing he noticed was what he called “unscrupulous booksellers” who grabbed as many free advance reader’s copies as possible so that they could later sell them online — illegally. Of course, the publishers are aware that unscrupulous booksellers do this, and so they have a rule against bringing rolling luggage carts to the convention because the carts can be filled with many, many free advance reader’s copies. However, Mr. Constant writes that “some demented booksellers find ways around that: One woman wheels into the hall in a wheelchair and then stands up and wheels the empty chair around to stack books in the seat like a wheelbarrow.”
• Novelist Leif Enger got the writing bug from Lin, his brother, a writer of short stories whose first solo-written novel is Undiscovered Country, a retelling of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, but set in Minnesota. Their father read Lin’s novel, then watched Mel Gibson’s movie version of Hamlet. The father, who may be a little biased, says, “I think Lin’s a little better than Shakespeare.” Leif has written a Western titled So Brave, Young, and Handsome, for which he did research on the history of the Hundred and One ranch. Among other things, the managers had brought in Geronimo, who was then old, and had him shoot a buffalo. Leif says, “They billed it as ‘Geronimo’s Last Buffalo.’ Nobody knew it was really his first buffalo because the Apache didn’t hunt buffalo.”
• While in France, William Donaldson bought a pornographic novel and started reading it in public, first taking the precaution of putting a different book jacket on the novel. The book jacket was for a compilation of essays against the A-bomb, including essays by Bertrand Russell, Philip Toynbee, and other intellectuals. Peter Ustinov happened to be walking by, and seeing the book jacket, he asked Mr. Donaldson if he could look at the book. Mr. Donaldson readily gave him permission and handed the book to him. Mr. Ustinov read one filthy paragraph, and then looked at the book jacket. Then he read another filthy paragraph and again looked at the book jacket. Finally, speechless for once in his life, he handed the book back to Mr. Donaldson and exited.
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© 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
Music: "We’re on Fire, Babe"
Album: 2013 FREE RANGE FEST SAMPLER
Artist: Anders & Kendall
Artist Location: New York, New York
Info:
“Longtime collaborators Anders Parker (Varnaline, New Multitudes, s/t) and Kendall Meade (Mascott, Sparklehorse, Helium, Juicy.)”
HillyTown.com Presents a compilation of artists performing at the Belfast Free Range Music Festival in Belfast, Maine, April 27, 2013.
Price: Free Download for 21 tracks by various artists
Genre: Americana. Various.
Links:
2013 FREE RANGE FEST SAMPLER
Anders & Kendall on Bandcamp
Anders & Kendall on YouTube
Other Links:
Bruce’s Music Recommendations: FREE pdfs
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
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
The going price for live crickets is 17¢ each - same price for small, medium, or large.
Raises $12.7 Million
‘Betty White Challenge’
A viral fundraising effort to honor the legacy of Betty White — a lifelong animal lover and outspoken advocate for animal welfare — encouraging donations to benefit shelters and rescue operations has raised $12.7 million on Facebook and Instagram, according to parent company Meta.
On Jan. 17, which would have been White’s 100th birthday, Meta said that #BettyWhiteChallenge fundraisers on its platforms had raised nearly $900,000 from 26,000 people.
On Friday, according to Meta, more than 390,000 people have donated to fundraisers on Facebook and Instagram for the #BettyWhiteChallenge, raising $12.7 million for animal shelters and rescues. According to Meta, the company does not charge any fees for donations made to nonprofit organizations through its social platforms.
White’s highest-profile work as an animal advocate was through her longtime relationship with the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association (GLAZA), the nonprofit attached to Los Angeles Zoo. She first became involved when the zoo opened in 1966, and she became a trustee in 1974. In 2012, she celebrated her 90th birthday at the L.A. Zoo.
White was also a trustee of Morris Animal Foundation from 1971-2013. In 2010, she provided the donation that established the Betty White Wildlife Fund in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and sponsored over 30 animal health studies on behalf of the organization.
‘Betty White Challenge’
Jost & Davidson Buy Boat
Staten Island Ferry
“Saturday Night Live” comics Colin Jost and Pete Davidson have purchased a decommissioned Staten Island Ferry boat for $280,100 with plans to turn it into New York’s hottest club.
Jost and Davidson teamed up with comedy club owner Paul Italia on Wednesday’s winning bid for the John F. Kennedy, a 277-foot (84-meter) vessel that shuttled commuters between the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Staten Island from 1965 until it was taken out of service last August.
Italia said transforming the 2,109-ton ferry into an entertainment venue will cost millions of dollars and won’t happen anytime soon.
The new owners have 10 business days to secure a place to dock the vessel and tow it there. “We’re working on that,” Italia said.
Staten Island Ferry
2021’s Most-Streamed TV Show
‘Criminal Minds’
Netflix has pumped billions of dollars into original programming — but overall, its library of older licensed TV shows far outperforms homegrown hits like “Squid Game” or “Bridgerton.”
In 2021 on Netflix, “Criminal Minds,” the crime-drama procedural that aired on CBS from 2005-20, scored as the most-viewed TV show among U.S. streaming platforms tracked by Nielsen.
The massive watch-time for “Criminal Minds” on Netflix is all the more impressive given that it’s nonexclusive: All 15 seasons of the show are on Paramount Plus (for which Nielsen does not report viewing) and seasons 13-15 are available on Hulu.
In fact, Netflix had all or part of 14 of the 15 most-viewed acquired TV shows of the year on Nielsen’s streaming chart, including “NCIS” (No. 3), “Grey’s Anatomy” (No. 4), “Heartland” (No. 5), “Manifest” (No. 6) and “Supernatural” (No. 7). Each of those titles registered higher total watch-time than any streaming platforms’ original series, primarily because there are many more episodes available.
The No. 1 “original” TV show among U.S. streaming users was “Lucifer” on Netflix, which benefited from having 93 episodes available, to tally 18.3 billion minutes viewed. (The first three seasons of the supernatural drama previously aired on Fox before Netflix revived it for seasons 4-6.)
‘Criminal Minds’
Revokes Honorary Degrees
University of Rhode Island
The University of Rhode Island is revoking honorary degrees bestowed upon two once-prominent advisers to former President Donald Trump pooh-bah, now loser with fake hair: retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn (R-Precious Bodily Fluids) and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (R-Serial Philanderer).
The university's board of trustees voted Friday to revoke the degrees following internal deliberations that included a recommendation by URI President Marc Parlange.
The president said in a statement that Flynn and Giuliani “no longer represent” the values and standards they demonstrated when they first received the honors.
“As a civic institution, URI has the privilege and responsibility to sustain and preserve American democracy by inspiring and modeling good citizenship,” Parlange said. “Revoking these honorary degrees reinforces our values and allows us to lead with truth and integrity.”
University of Rhode Island
Time Is Running Out
Mueller Report
A year ago Thursday, Donald Trump the unindicted conspirator boarded Air Force One for the final time in his presidency and retreated to Mar-a-Lago, refusing to stand witness for the swearing-in of Joe Biden.
It was a momentous day for Trump the loser, marking the culmination of an electoral defeat he had pushed desperately to overturn. Now a full year out of office — and five years removed from his own swearing-in — Trump the orange stain on our nation is closing in on anniversaries that carry more legal than political significance.
The five-year statute of limitations to prosecute any alleged federal crimes he committed while in office, after all, is ticking away.
In his more than 400-page final report, Mueller's special counsel team documented 10 episodes of possible obstruction of justice by Trump the documented grifter. Among them were Trump the nazi fanboy's efforts in early 2017 to pressure then-FBI Director James Comey to close an investigation into Michael Flynn, who at the time was national security advisor. Trump OfVlad later fired Comey, setting in motion the events that led to Mueller's appointment as the special counsel in charge of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
With the Justice Department taking no visible steps to pick up on Mueller's work, the expiration of the five-year statute of limitations will mark a largely symbolic moment in the reckoning with Trump's conduct, legal experts told Insider. Once the five-year deadline passes for the various episodes of possible obstruction, the option of "charging that as a standalone offense goes away," said Randall Eliason, a former public corruption prosecutor who now teaches law at George Washington University.
Mueller Report
US Opposes Plans To Strengthen
World Health Organization
The United States, the World Health Organization's top donor, is resisting proposals to make the agency more independent, four officials involved in the talks said, raising doubts about the Biden administration's long-term support for the U.N. agency.
The proposal, made by the WHO's working group on sustainable financing, would increase each member state's standing annual contribution, according to a WHO document published online and dated Jan. 4.
The plan is part of a wider reform process galvanised by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has highlighted the limitations of the WHO's power to intervene early in a crisis.
But the U.S. government is opposing the reform because it has concerns about the WHO's ability to confront future threats, including from China, U.S. officials told Reuters.
It is pushing instead for the creation of a separate fund, directly controlled by donors, that would finance prevention and control of health emergencies.
World Health Organization
1 Trillion Tons Of Water
A68 Iceberg
After the world's largest iceberg snapped off of the Antarctic Peninsula in July 2017, it drifted north on a three-year death march, shedding an unfathomable amount of meltwater into the sea. Now, a new study of the doomed iceberg (named A68a) reveals just how much water the infamous mega-berg actually lost — and how that could impact the local ecosystem for generations to come.
Using observations from five satellites, the study authors calculated how much the iceberg's area and thickness changed as it drifted north through Antarctica's Weddell Sea and into the relatively warm waters of the Scotia Sea. There, while the berg appeared to be headed for a direct collision with South Georgia island, iceberg A68a lost more than 152 billion tons (138 billion metric tons) of fresh water in just three months — a mass equal to an incomprehensible volume of water that could fill more than 60 million Olympic-sized swimming pools, according to the study authors.
When iceberg A68a broke off of the Larsen-C ice shelf in northern Antarctica in July 2017, it measured about 2,300 square miles (6,000 square kilometers) in area — roughly large enough to hold the five boroughs of New York City five times over. The berg ranked as the sixth largest iceberg ever observed on Earth and the single largest iceberg floating through the ocean during its 3.5-year life span.
A68a bumped through the chilly Weddell Sea for about two years, moving north at a (pardon the expression) glacial pace. During this time, the iceberg barely melted and lost little volume, the researchers said.
Only when A68a drifted north into the Scotia Sea did the real mass-loss begin. There, the iceberg's melt rate increased by nearly eightfold, as the comparatively warm waters lapped away at the iceberg's base and edges. For three months between November 2020 and January 2021, the iceberg reached its peak melt rate, losing more than 150 billion tons (136 metric tons) of ice in that period.
A68 Iceberg
Previously Unknown Structures
Machu Picchu
Hidden deep in the Peruvian jungle and shrouded beneath thick foliage, archaeologists have discovered a series of long-forgotten structures among the sprawling ruins of Machu Picchu.
Cutting through the foliage isn't easy, but such discoveries are becoming more common thanks to a combination of two technologies: lasers that can "see through" obstructions and drones that help archaeologists explore places humans sometimes can't easily reach.
Around a dozen small structures were identified less than 5 miles from the main remnants of the 15th century Inca city, on the outskirts of a ceremonial site called Chachabamba, according to a study published in the January edition of the Journal of Archaeological Science.
The scientists used a type of remote-sensing technology known as light detection and ranging, or lidar, which bounces laser pulses off surfaces to detect features and map their contours.
Machu Picchu
Didn't Burst For A Year
Bubble
French physicists have figured out a way to extend the usually short lives of bubbles.
University of Lille physicists published findings Tuesday in the journal Physical Review Fluids, recounting how they extended the "fragile and ephemeral" lifetime of a single bubble to a mind-blowing 465 days.
The typical bathtub or dish soap bubble lasts just moments before popping due to the "gravity-induced drainage and/or the evaporation of the liquid" inside the sphere, according to the study's authors.
But when researchers formed bubbles with a high concentration of glycerol — a compound commonly used in a host of foods and medicines — the compound was highly effective in staving off the sphere's inevitable death by pop. One bubble apparently lasted for 465 days.
Bubble
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