from Bruce
Anecdotes
Husbands and Wives
• After writing Bud, Not Buddy, author Christopher Paul Curtis heard that it was being considered for both the Newbery Award, which is given to the best American children’s book published each year, and for the Coretta Scott King Award. (Honor books are second-place winners.) He also heard that if he won either award, he would hear the news by telephone by 9 a.m. He woke up at 5 a.m. and was so excited that he cleaned the entire house. His wife, Kaysandra, took their daughter, Cydney, to school. At 9:15 a.m. his telephone rang, but since it was after 9 a.m. he thought that it was his editor calling to offer him sympathy. It wasn’t his editor. Instead, it was a person telling him the very good news that his book had won the Coretta Scott King Award. At 9:32 a.m., his telephone rang again, and he heard the very good news that his book had won the Newbery Award. When his wife returned, he laid a trap for her, asking, “What if I won a Newbery Honor and a Coretta Scott King Honor, could I not do housework for an entire year?” She replied, “You’d have to win both the Newbery Award and the Coretta Scott King Award not to do housework for a year.” He then sprang the trap — he had in fact won both the Newbery Award and the Coretta Scott King Award! However, he says, “She’s not a woman of her word — I’m still doing housework!”
• After Louis Sachar, winner of the Newbery Medal for his young-adult novel Holes, started publishing books for kids, he began to receive many letters from students at Davis Elementary School in Plano, Texas, who wanted him to visit their school. He remembers, “Some of the girls had written things like, ‘Our cute, single teacher thinks you’re really great!’” He did visit the school, and he did like the cute, single teacher, but he ended up marrying someone else at Davis Elementary: Carla Askew, the school counselor.
• Tim Powers was visiting his friend the author Philip K. Dick one evening when Mr. Dick’s wife, Tessa, and her brother started carrying out lamps and furniture. Mr. Powers asked Mr. Dick, “Phil, they’re taking stuff. Is this OK?” Mr. Dick was used to being divorced, and he replied, “Powers, let me give you some advice, in case you should ever find yourself in this position. Never oversee or criticize what they take. It’s not worth it. Just see what you’ve got left afterward, and go with that.” Just then, his wife’s brother said to them, “Could you guys lift your glasses? We want the table.”
• In 1981, horror writer Stephen King’s wife, Tabitha, wrote her first book, Small World. She received $165,000 for the paperback rights, a huge sum for a first-time novelist, and she acknowledges that some of her success was made possible because she was the wife of a best-selling novelist. However, she also says, “I put 10 years into helping his career, so if his name helps me with mine, I think it’s [fair].” By the way, Mr. King’s beard is often seasonal — when it isn’t baseball season, he shaves it off.
• Madeleine L’Engle, author of A Wrinkle in Time, was married to her husband, actor Hugh Franklin, for forty years. The marriage ended only with his death. When both of them were in their sixties, he looked at her and exclaimed, “Darling! We’re never had time for a mid-life crisis!” Ms. L’Engle says that he was correct: “Life was too busy. But we do have wonderful children and grandchildren.”
• Wendy Cope’s second book of poetry, Serious Concerns, contains a number of what she calls “angry poems about men.” At one reading, a woman told her, “Three of my friends left their husbands after they read your book.” She replied, “Gosh, I hope they made the right decision.” Her other volumes of poetry contain fewer “angry poems about men.”
• On his deathbed, German poet Heinrich Heine changed his will, leaving everything to his wife — provided that she remarried. Why? He explained, “When Matilda remarries, there will be at least one man who regrets my death.”
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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: "Winter Wind"
Album: JACK GRELLE AND THE JOHNSON FAMILY
Artist: Jack Grelle
Artist Location: St. Louis, Missouri
Info:
“Jack Grelle is an idealistic songwriter from St. Louis, Missouri. Combining the styles of folk, traditional country, honky tonk, and rock and roll, Grelle is able to capture the themes and tones of our country’s past and present struggles and triumphs.”
Price: $5 (USD) for 12-track album; tracks cannot be purchased separately
Genre: Country
Links:
JACK GRELLE AND THE JOHNSON FAMILY
Jack Grelle on Bandcamp
Jack Grelle Official Website
Other Links:
Bruce’s Music Recommendations: FREE pdfs
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
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David Bruce's Blog #1
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Stephen Suggests
Threefer
New Venture
Michael Egan
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Current Events
Cowardly jerk
Youngkin is afraid for people to see how many prank tips came into his snitch email address:
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin says his office will not be sharing any of the concerns and complaints sent into his newly created parent tip email address.
Youngkin announced the creation of special email address earlier last month. He asked parents to send in concerns about their children’s rights being violated or if they see school curriculum they believe is divisive. The opportunity drew cheers from some parents. But other Virginians criticized and mocked it as a "snitch" line. Still others encouraged families to send in notes praising teachers.
that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Gas up another 4¢ to $4.39/gal at the no-name, cash-preferred station. Couple blocks away the cheapest brand name gas was $4.99/gal.
Joins Cast Of Spielberg Film
David Lynch
Filmmaker David Lynch (Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet) has joined the cast of Steven Spielberg’s drama The Fabelmans, Deadline has confirmed.
Details as to the role he is playing are being kept under wraps, but he joins a cast that includes Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen, Paul Dano, Judd Hirsch, Gabriel LaBelle, Mateo Zoryon Francis-DeFord, Keeley Karsten, Birdie Borria, Alina Brace, Sophia Kopera, Oakes Fegley, Sam Rechner, Chloe East, Julia Butters, Jeannie Berlin, Robin Bartlett, Jonathan Hadary and Isabelle Kusman.
Spielberg co-wrote the screenplay for the film, based loosely on his own childhood, with Tony Kushner and is producing with Kushner and Kristie Macosko Krieger. Dano is playing a character based on Spielberg’s father, as previously announced, with Williams playing a version of his mother, and Rogen playing a version of his uncle. Universal is releasing the Amblin title on November 23.
David Lynch
Pulls Music
India Arie
Grammy-winning singer-songwrtier India Arie has posted clips today to Instagram showing Spotify host Joe Rogan using the N-word, a situation which she claimed led her to withdraw her music from the streamer.
The resurfaced clips, which were posted on YouTube at one time, were used to explain Arie’s decision. She also called on followers to “delete Spotify,” and used the hashtag.
“Hey, ya’ll,” the 46-year-old singer says in the first of a series of stories posted to her Instagram highlights account. “I’m going to leave a short message here about why I decided to ask my music be pulled off Spotify.”
She followed that up with clips of Rogan using the racial slur, which Rogan used 24 times in the 23 clips. The slurs predates his $100 million deal with Spotify in 2020.
She added that she didn’t want to help generate money that funds Rogan, so she was therefore removing herself from the platform.
India Arie
Hacked
Rupert
News Corp., publisher of The Wall Street Journal, said Friday that it had been hacked and had data stolen from journalists and other employees, and a cybersecurity firm investigating the intrusion said Chinese intelligence-gathering was believed behind the operation.
The Journal, citing people briefed on the intrusion, reported that it appeared to date back to February 2020 and that scores of employees were impacted. It quoted them as saying the hackers were able to access reporters’ emails and Google Docs, including drafts of articles.
News Corp., whose publications and businesses include the New York Post and Journal parent Dow Jones, said it discovered the breach on Jan. 20. It said customer and financial data were so far not affected and company operations were not interrupted.
The timing of News Corp.’s announcement, including in a regulatory filing Friday, coincided with the opening of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, to which foreign athletes and journalists were advised to bring “burner” phones and sanitized laptops to protect against cyberespionage.
Rupert
‘Sweeping’ Ruling
Masterson Case
The Church of Scientology has argued that a California appeals court made a mistake when it granted members a “sweeping and unbounded” right to leave the church.
The California Court of Appeal ruled on Jan. 20 that church members cannot be bound to a perpetual agreement to resolve disputes before a religious arbitration panel after the members have left the faith.
The case arises from allegations against Danny Masterson, a church member and a star of “That ’70s Show” who faces a criminal trial on rape charges later this year. Masterson’s accusers filed suit in 2019, alleging that the church had orchestrated a “Fair Game” campaign against them in retaliation for going to the LAPD, which included stalking them, hacking their emails, tapping their phones, poisoning their pets and running them off the road.
The church denied the allegations, and it sought to force the accusers to adhere to an agreement they had signed upon joining the church decades earlier, under which they agreed to resolve all disputes in a church-run arbitration proceeding. The appeals court sided with the accusers, overturning a lower court ruling.
“Scientology’s written arbitration agreements are not enforceable against members who have left the faith, with respect to claims for subsequent non-religious, tortious acts,” the three-judge panel ruled.
Masterson Case
Making Orwell Proud
‘Legitimate Political Discourse’
“Ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.”
This is how the Republican National Committee is describing the mob of Trump supporters that broke into and vandalized the Capitol last Jan. 6, resulting in five deaths and dozens of injured police officers. The very, very kind frame of the violent effort to subvert democracy comes in an RNC resolution to censure Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) for “persecuting” these “ordinary citizens” by serving on the Jan. 6 committee. The RNC formally approved the resolution, and its euphemistic language about the tragedy at the Capitol, on Friday afternoon.
“The primary mission of the Republican Party is to elect Republicans who support the United States Constitution and share our values,” writes the party who has supported efforts to overturn the results of a free and fair presidential election. The resolution was reportedly penned by RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and Trumpworld mainstay David Bossie. Its initial version called for Cheney and Kinzinger to be kicked out of the party entirely, but it was watered down to a mere censure after receiving some pushback from within the RNC.
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and a few other establishment Republicans criticized the censure, but most of its members tacitly condoned what happened last Jan. 6 by staying silent. Former Vice President Mike Pence, who has already been rebranded as an establishment RINO after carrying Trump’s fetid water for a half a decade, didn’t address the censure on Friday, but he did slam his former boss while speaking before the Federalist Society. “President Trump is wrong,” Pence of Trump’s belief he could have stopped the certification of the Electoral College. “I had no right to overturn the election. The presidency belongs to the American people and the American people alone.”
‘Legitimate Political Discourse’
Avenatti Convicted
Stormy Daniels
Lawyer Michael Avenatti, who rose to fame for taking on then-U.S. President Donald Trump before a string of criminal charges ended his legal career, was convicted on Friday of defrauding a former client, porn star Stormy Daniels.
Avenatti, who faces up to 22 years behind bars, had pleaded not guilty to embezzling nearly $300,000 in book proceeds intended for Daniels.
The verdict by a federal jury in Manhattan followed a two-week trial in which the brash, 50-year-old lawyer represented himself.
Avenatti, who is based in Los Angeles, agreed to surrender to U.S. marshals in California on Monday. Sentencing was scheduled for May 24.
Stormy Daniels
Winter Data
Great Lakes
What's happening in the Great Lakes during those long, frigid months when they're often covered partially or completely with ice? A casual observer — and even experts — might be inclined to say, “Not much.”
Lake scientists have long considered winter a season when aquatic activity slows. Most do their field studies at other times of year.
But researchers now think more is going on in the bitter depths than previously believed — including activity influenced by climate change. To learn more, teams will venture onto the frozen surfaces of all five lakes this month to collect water samples and other information from below the ice.
One reason for growing interest in winter's effects on the lakes is how winter itself is changing.
Great Lakes ice cover has declined steadily since the 1970s and some projections indicate it could become scarce later this century.
Great Lakes
Wandering Black Hole
The Milky Way
Like an ancient cardigan, the Milky Way should be absolutely riddled with black holes.
According to our best estimates, there should be as many as 10 million to 1 billion stellar-mass black holes out there, drifting peacefully and quietly through the galaxy. There's just one problem when it comes to counting them: Unless they manage to snare some passing material in their gravitational field, they're basically invisible.
Invisible doesn't mean undetectable, however. For the first time, an international team of scientists has managed to detect a lone, quiescent black hole just under 5,200 light-years away. Their discovery, yet to be peer-reviewed, has been uploaded to preprint server arXiv.
How did they do it? Well, since we don't currently (and may never) have the tools to probe a black hole directly, we have to observe its effects on the space around it. For a quiescent black hole, that effect is gravitational. And because a black hole's gravitational field is so extreme, it warps and twists any light that might travel through it.
The Milky Way
Scientists Discover Lost Range
'Supermountains'
Twice in our planet's history, colossal mountain ranges that towered as tall as the Himalayas and stretched thousands of miles farther reared their craggy heads out of the Earth, splitting ancient supercontinents in two.
"There's nothing like these two supermountains today," Ziyi Zhu, a postdoctoral student at The Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra and lead author of a new study on the mountain majesties, said in a statement. "It's not just their height — if you can imagine the 1,500 miles (2,400 km) long Himalayas repeated three or four times, you get an idea of the scale."
These prehistoric peaks were more than just an awesome sight; according to new research by Zhu and her colleagues published in the Feb. 15 issue of the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, the formation and destruction of these two gargantuan ranges may have also fueled two of the biggest evolutionary boom times in our planet's history — the first appearance of complex cells roughly 2 billion years ago, and the Cambrian explosion of marine life 541 million years ago.
Prior studies had hinted at the existence of that second epic range — known as the Transgondwanan Supermountain, because it crossed the vast supercontinent of Gondwana (a single giant continent that contained the landmasses of modern Africa, South America, Australia, Antarctica, Indian and the Arabian Peninsula). However, the earlier supermountain — called Nuna Supermountain, after an earlier supercontinent — had never been detected before now.
'Supermountains'
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