from Bruce
Anecdotes
Money
• In high school, young-people’s author William Sleator and Vicky, his sister, knew a student who studied and studied and got all A’s. In fact, she studied so much that her parents worried about her and wanted her to get a B once in a while. Eventually, they offered her $25 for each B she got on her report card. However, they ended up keeping their money — their daughter kept right on studying and getting A’s.
• James Baldwin, author of Go Tell It on the Mountain, had a very good reason for wanting to become rich and famous. He grew up poor in Harlem, where his family was too frequently evicted from their apartment, and he spent a lot of time watching over the children in the family. He said, “I wanted to become rich and famous simply so no one could evict my family again.”
• When Barbara Kingsolver received a $300 check in 1982 from The Virginia Quarterly Review, which published her story “Rose-Johnny,” she celebrated by buying many, many reams of paper — as many as she could carry. She also wrote in her diary — in the center of a page that was blank except for these words — “I am a writer.”
Mothers
• When she was a child, Joanna Kathleen Rowling, aka Jo, became friends with two kids in her neighborhood: a brother and sister named Ian and Vicki Potter. Ian liked hijinks and dares. He once dared Vicki and Jo to run through some wet cement — they did. Of course, Ian and Vicki’s last name became the last name of J.K. Rowling’s most famous literary creation: Harry Potter. As an adult, Ian read the Harry Potter books out loud to his children. He remembers how he, Jo, and Vicki would play dress-up when they were kids: “And nine out of ten times, it would be Joanne who had the idea, and she’d always say, ‘Can’t we be witches and wizards?’” J.K. Rowling’s own last name has led to her having lots of nicknames: Jo Rolling Pins and Miss Rolling Stone. When she taught English as a second language in Portugal, her students sometimes sang the theme song from the TV series Rawhide to her: “Rolling, rolling, rolling … keep those wagons rolling!”
• Due to her years of drug abuse, actress/writer Mary Woronov, one of the stars of Andy Warhol’s Chelsea Girls, has knowledge that ought to be forbidden to anyone. For salacious details, read her memoir Swimming Underground: My Years in the Warhol Factory. One of the few funny things in her book of horror is a reference to eviction parties, in which a person being evicted from an apartment would invite destructive friends over for a party in which they would tear the apartment to pieces. She also recounts a brief acquaintance with a transvestite who wanted to send a photograph of himself in drag to his mother so she would know that he had turned out well and not trashy like some other drag queens. Ms. Woronov had a vision of an old lady opening the envelope, looking at the photograph, and then having a heart attack, but she advised the transvestite to go ahead and mail the photograph to his mother.
• Maya Angelou’s early life was difficult. When she was eight, her mother’s boyfriend raped her, and she stopped talking. Fortunately, he was arrested and convicted. When she graduated from high school early, she gave her parents this note: “Dear Parents, I am sorry to bring this disgrace on the family, but I am pregnant.” She gave birth to her son, Guy, when she was sixteen, and she worked to support him. The birth of her son was a gift from God, she said later. She knew that she would have to educate him, so she began to educate herself. Whenever he asked her a question she didn’t know the answer to, she would research the answer to the question. Later, Ms. Angelou became the author of a critically acclaimed series of autobiographies that began with I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.
• When Barbara Kingsolver and her siblings were growing up, they sometimes performed a play that they named “The Boy Who Saved His Town by Putting His Finger in the Dike.” The audience for the play was their mother, whom Barbara estimates sat through approximately “a hundred virtually identical productions,” showing her enthusiasm each time. Barbara says, “We took rave reviews for granted.” By the way, the Kingsolver children grew up on a farm, and farm children end up eating some of the animals they raise. Her mother made her a promise: They would not butcher any animal to which they had given a first name. And her mother let her know which animals she could name and which she could not.
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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: "Hasta el Hueso” [“To the Bone”]
Album: CHILLAN LAS BESTIAS
Artist: Chillan Las Bestias [The Beasts Screech]
Record Company: Scatter Records
Record Company Location: Ciudad Autónoma De Buenos Aires, Argentina
Info:
“‘We are a group of friends,’ they say. And it shows: the self-titled debut of Chillan Las Bestias is the testimony of that very special moment, when the first songs take shape, when chemistry is generated and universes are plotted. It is the beginning of every plot. Chillan Las Bestias’ first album contains eight songs that point directly to the chest: they hit, tie a knot and then untie it. They release, if only for a while, that beast that wants to get out.”
“Since 2003 Scatter Records has been a member of the emerging scene in Argentina, working and trusting in the exchange between bands and independent artists. We are a record label, producer of shows and events, we do press, dissemination and content generation.”
“Scatter Records: We Work for the Monkey!” [Their logo is a monkey.]
Price: FREE DOWNLOAD of eight-track album
Genre: Pop.
Links:
CHILLAN LAS BESTIAS
Chillan Las Bestias on Bandcamp
Scatter Records
Scatter Records on YouTube
Other Links:
Bruce’s Music Recommendations: FREE pdfs
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog #1
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David Bruce's Blog #3
David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
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Post Office
New Venture
Michael Egan
Bonus Links
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Reader Comment
Current Events
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still way too toasty.
Reboot Of Word Quiz ‘Lingo’
RuPaul Charles
CBS is getting into wordplay. The network has ordered a primetime game show reboot of long-running format Lingo with RuPaul Charles to host.
The series, which was created by Ralph Andrews, has previously aired three versions in the U.S. The first version premiered in syndication in 1987 and was hosted by Ronald Reagan’s son Michael Reagan. It later was rebooted by Game Show Network from 2002-07 and again in 2011.
The reboot comes as the format has been gaining popularity internationally in recent years. ITV launched a version, hosted by comedian Adil Ray, last year and has run for 90 episodes in a daytime slot.
RuPaul’s Drag Race star Charles will serve as host and exec producer. Lingo comes from Objective Media, the All3Media-owned company that is behind series including TBS’ The Cube and HBO Max’s 12 Dates of Christmas in the U.S.
RuPaul Charles
Female Scientists
Smithsonian
The Smithsonian will commemorate Women’s History Month in March by displaying 120 life-size neon orange statues depicting women who have excelled in the fields of science and technology.
The 3D-printed statues will be displayed in the Smithsonian Gardens and in select museums in the Smithsonian network from March 5-27. A statement announcing the display called it “the largest collection of statues of women ever assembled together.”
The statues will depict women who have excelled in STEM fields: science, technology, engineering and math. These range from Jessica Esquivel, one of only 150 Black women with a PhD in physics in the country, to Karina Popovich, a college student who produced over 82,000 pieces of 3D-printed PPE for healthcare workers in the early days of the pandemic.
Each statue will feature a QR code that links to the personal story of the depicted woman. The statues have been previously displayed in Dallas, and a handful of them were in New York’s Central Park Zoo.
The women being honored were chosen by Lyda Hill Philanthropies and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. They include: MIT astrophysicist Kelly Korreck; wildlife biologist Kristine Inman; microbiologist Dorothy Tovar; mathematics professor Minerva Cordero and U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team physician Monica Rho.
Smithsonian
Broncos Bid
Byron Allen
Byron Allen says the NFL needs him to join the ownership group.
Allen is preparing a bid to purchase the Denver Broncos and become the NFL’s first Black owner. He told The Associated Press on Thursday night that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft approached him in November 2019 about buying a team.
”(They) said: ‘We need your help. We want to achieve an important goal, which is to have the first Black owner of an NFL team, which is something we haven’t been able to achieve in 100 years,’” Allen said. “I said, ‘I’m happy to help.’”
The NFL’s ownership ranks are overwhelmingly white. Of the league’s 32 teams, the only minorities to have a controlling ownership stake are the Jacksonville Jaguars’ Shad Khan and the Buffalo Bills’ Kim Pegula, who co-owns the team with her husband, Terry.
Allen, a self-made media mogul and head of Entertainment Studios, and a group of investors are in the “early process” of putting together a bid.
Byron Allen
Sliwa
Weiner
Disgraced former Congress member and ex-convict Anthony Weiner will host a weekly radio show with Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, WABC-AM radio officials announced.
The pair, who both have run losing campaigns for New York City mayor, will argue politics on a show called “The Left vs. The Right,” WABC said in a news release Friday.
Weiner, a Democrat, represented a New York City district in Congress for nearly 12 years before resigning in 2011 over lewd photos sent to several women. A 2013 bid for the Democratic mayoral nomination was derailed by new revelations of explicit photos Weiner had sent under the alias Carlos Danger.
Weiner, 57, told the New York Post that the radio show isn’t part of a larger comeback plan. “I am not going back into public life, I am doing a radio show with a friend of mine,” he said.
Sliwa, 67, gained fame in the 1980s patrolling the streets and subways in a red beret as leader of the Guardian Angels. He later admitted faking some of the group’s heroic rescues for publicity.
Weiner
Anti-Vaxx Trucker Convoy
Porno-Metal Song About Gay Cowboys
In a recent chat on a Zello channel titled “Windsor Convoy 2,” a group of people supporting the trucker convoy — a Canadian protest against vaccine mandates and lockdowns — started an impromptu singalong for the national anthem, “O! Canada.” “Our home and native land,” one person sang off-key, followed by another, crooning just as poorly, “True patriot love with all our sons command [sic].”
Then comes a loud guitar riff. “EIGHTEEN NAKED COWBOYS IN THE SHOWERS AT RAM RANCH,” a voice screams. They’re removed from the chat before they can continue to the next lyrics: “BIG, HARD, THROBBING COCKS WANTING TO BE SUCKED.”
Welcome to the #RamRanchResistance, a loosely organized counter-movement to the trucker convoy. The lyrics played in the chat are from “Ram Ranch,” a 2012 porno-metal classic by Grant MacDonald that ascended to meme status thanks to lyrics like, “Eighteen naked cowboys wanting to be fucked/Cowboys in the showers at Ram Ranch/On their knees wanting to suck cowboy cocks/Ram Ranch really rocks.”
The term “Ram Ranch Resistance” initially stemmed from Canadian counterprotesters entering chats organized by convoy supporters on Zello, a push-to-talk walkie-talkie app somewhat similar to the voice chatting platform Clubhouse. According to Katarina, a PhD student at a university in Ottawa and one of the leaders of the #RamRanchResistance (she requested that her last name be withheld to avoid being doxxed), it all started with counterprotesters going into the truckers’ Zello channels to get information about their organizing.
Katarina says that life in Ottawa — particularly in the downtown area, which is home to many low-income and unhoused populations — has been hell since the trucker convoy. The city’s mayor has declared a state of emergency, and life for Ottawans has largely come to a standstill. “We’re watching destruction of property, harassment, people getting up in locals’ faces and telling them to take their masks off,” she says, adding that there have also been reports of assaults from locals in the area. “And there was this huge gaslighting by the media. [Everyone was saying], ‘Well, they’re just protesters. It’s just a peaceful protest.”
Porno-Metal Song About Gay Cowboys
Amache National Historic Site Act
Colorado
On the eve of the 80th anniversary of the forced internment of 120,000 Japanese Americans at the onset of World War II, Republican U.S. Sen. Mike Lee of Utah is getting backlash for holding up the creation of a national historic site at a former internment camp in rural Colorado.
U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, a Colorado Democrat, says he has the support of 99 of the chamber’s 100 senators to pass the Amache National Historic Site Act, which would make the remote southeastern Colorado landmark a national historic site eligible for additional preservation assistance.
But his bill, co-sponsored by Colorado Democratic Sen. John Hickenlooper, failed to pass by unanimous consent last week due to a lone objection from Lee, who opposes adding new federal lands without adequate funding and in the past has advocated for “swaps” to prevent expanding federal land ownership.
The dispute comes amid a broader reckoning about race in U.S. history as Japanese Americans strive to spread awareness about the gross injustices committed by the U.S. government against their community during World War II.
The Amache site is less than one square mile (2.4 square kilometers), Bennett’s office and the Prowers County Assessor said. It contains remnants of barracks, latrines, mess halls, military police structures and a cemetery.
Colorado
Declared Endangered
Koalas
Koalas were declared officially endangered Friday in eastern Australia as they fall prey to disease, lost habitat and other threats.
Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley downgraded their conservation status across the country’s east coast, in Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, on a recommendation by the government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee.
Many koalas in Australia suffer from chlamydia. Koala populations in New South Wales have fallen by 33%-61% since 2001. In 2020, a parliamentary inquiry warned the species might become extinct before 2050 without urgent intervention.
The number of koalas in Queensland has fallen by half since 2001 due to drought, fires and deforestation. Some are killed in attacks by dogs, or run over on roads.
The Australian Koala Foundation estimates that there are less than 100,000 Koalas left in the wild, possibly as few as 43,000. Summer brushfires in 2019-20 killed at least 6,400 of the animals, as rescuers worked desperately to save them and treat their injuries.
Koalas
Fixes Fart Feature
Tesla
Tesla will beam a software update to 578,607 vehicles after acknowledging that its Boombox feature — which lets drivers blast various sounds outside their vehicle — does not comply with US safety regulations.
Boombox, introduced as part of a holiday software update in December 2020, lets drivers swap out their normal horn honk for sounds like a goat, La Cucaracha, or a custom song clip. And yes, one of the preset options is the most hilarious of all sounds: the fart.
The problem is those farts could drown out the pedestrian warning noises required in every electric and hybrid vehicle, potentially increasing the risk of a crash, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The federal government requires that hybrid and electric cars emit some sort of sound at low speeds so pedestrians can hear them coming. This usually manifests as some kind of high-pitched whining or whirring noise. It's required because electric cars are so much quieter than their internal combustion counterparts.
After going back and forth with regulators over whether Boombox could interfere with Tesla's pedestrian warning system, the company agreed to recall the feature and issue a fix remotely. After the update, Boombox will be disabled when a vehicle is in drive, reverse, or neutral.
Tesla
Archaeologists Figured Out
Roman Pots
Earthenware vessels can often be windows to the activities of long lost cultures. Traces of their contents can be clues to what we once snacked on, how we fed our children, and even how we cursed our enemies.
For decades, a number of conical vessels unearthed near Roman latrines were presumed to be recently emptied chamber pots. Evidence for this was purely circumstantial, yet what else would they be?
Now, archaeologists from the University of Cambridge in the UK and the University of British Columbia in Canada have confirmed these rather plain-looking containers were just what researchers thought.
Their analysis of mineralized concretions found inside earthenware dug up from the rural district of Gerace in central Sicily uncovered the preserved eggs of a species of intestinal worm.
The container was typical of a type made in Sicily around that time, measuring precisely 31.8 centimeters (about 1 foot) with a diameter of 34 centimeters – a size appropriate for a squatting adult to sit over. More likely, a seat-less wicker or timber chair would have been used for added comfort.
Roman Pots
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