Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Tariff Man Has Become Deficit Man (NY Times Column)
Trump really has no idea how international trade works.
Greg Sargent: Trump's defenders are telling a very big lie. Don't let them get away with it. (Washington Post)
Sometimes the small lies mask big lies, and we often spend so much time chasing the small ones that we let the big ones slide past, uncorrected and even undetected. Little by little, President Trump's most ardent defenders have smuggled a big lie into the ongoing political debate, and it isn't attracting any scrutiny. That big lie is this: Democrats in Congress who have launched a new round of hearings and other oversight efforts on Trump are abusing their power, because they lack evidence or reasonable suspicion of crimes before conducting investigations. This completely misstates the core purpose of congressional oversight.
Jonathan Chait: Congress's Trump Investigation Is Going to Hurt Trump, Not Congress (NY Mag)
An massive inquiry into a historically corrupt administration raises questions about
the Democrats? Somehow the strange idea has taken hold that investigating Trump's wrongdoing could benefit him. The odds of this are exceedingly slight.
Mary Beard: Bad emperors (TLS)
I have been blogging recently about things I have seen in Rome. But the truth is that 95% of the time I have been here I have spent in the library of the American Academy. [
] I have to say that there is little closer to heaven than I can possibly imagine. And the whole new place has nearly got me to the end of the penultimate chapter of my book on modern images of Roman emperors. Much of what I have written so far has focussed on rather positive images of imperial power (though the cynical subversive voice has always been written in). This chapter is looking at the indirectly - and even directly - subversive.
Mary Beard: 1847 (TLS)
I am now on the home straight (strait?) of the next to last chapter of my emperor book. In fact I would, I think, have finished it, if I hadn't gone to see the inside of an extraordinary and wonderful old Roman palazzo yesterday, combined with lunch - which rather finished the day. Confession over
I am still on track, and writing about ways in which 19th century art could systematically and ingeniously question the nature of emperors and imperial rule.
Stephen Harrison: The Internet's Dizzying Citogenesis Problem (Slate)
Circular reporting is a real problem on platforms like Wikipedia-and it's harder to solve than it looks.
Kevin Powers: The 'Moral Clarity' of 'Slaughterhouse-Five' at 50 (NY Times)
Near the end of the [singularly brilliant introductory] chapter he writes the following: "I have told my sons that they are not under any circumstances to take part in massacres, and that the news of massacres of enemies is not to fill them with satisfaction or glee. I have also told them not to work for companies which make massacre machinery, and to express contempt for people who think we need machinery like that." This is merely one example of Vonnegut's unmatched moral clarity.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
from Bruce
Anecdotes
Bob Newhart is known for his comic delivery, which is deadpan, frequently slow, and occasionally stuttering. Once, a director tried to make him speed up his delivery, but Mr. Newhart told him, "This stutter built me a house in Bel-Air. Don't mess with it." On another occasion, as Mr. Newhart was travelling on an airplane, he listened to some comedy tracks on his headset, where he heard one of his "Button-Down" stand-up routines. Unfortunately, the track had been edited to take out all his pauses - which completely threw off the timing. Mr. Newhart told his friend Betty White that he felt like standing up in the aisle, apologizing to the audience, and then performing the routine the way it should be performed.
As a five-year-old child, Sid Caesar learned several words in foreign languages while helping out in his father's restaurant. Many peoples of different ethnic groups came in, and they took great delight in teasing young Sid. The Italians would teach him a dirty word in Russian, then send him over to the Russians' table to say it, then the Russians would teach him a dirty word in Italian, and send him over to the Italians' table to say it. This training in languages was of enormous help when Mr. Caesar began to speak foreign-sounding gibberish on his TV shows.
Bonnie Hellum Brechill's five-year-old daughter started playing with a little Amish girl, although the Amish girl spoke a Pennsylvania Dutch dialect. Later, Ms. Brechill asked her daughter if she had understood anything the Amish girl had spoken - she had not. Ms. Brechill then asked, "But you played so nicely together. How?" Her daughter replied, "We understood each other's giggles."
When Ted Shawn was attending college in Denver in the early part of the 20th century, dancing was not permitted; however, Mr. Shawn and his fraternity brothers wanted to hold dances. Therefore, they sent out invitations that said, "You're invited to come and play folk games with us to music on a slick floor."
While listening to the BBC in London, blooper collector Kermit Schafer was surprised to hear a woman actress in a TV program about the Battle of Britain tell the actor playing her boyfriend, "I know everything will be all right, if you will only keep your pecker up." Later, he learned that in Britain "pecker" means courage.
According to Peter Ustinov, his reputation for being multi-lingual is exaggerated: "That is a false legend built up by unscrupulous press agents. I can only speak French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Russian - and I can survive in Serbo-Croat; but then I have a great gift for survival."
Theatrical actress Beatrice Lillie was married to Sir Robert Peel, one of whose ancestors (with the same name) organized the Metropolitan police force of London. In recognition of this ancestor, London police officers are known as "Bobbies."
Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, fought two battles against the Romans. He won both battles, but lost very many senior officers, causing him to say, "One more victory against the Romans and we're beaten." (This is where we get the term "Pyrrhic victory.")
Oscar Levant studied piano for several years under Sigismund Stojowski. Once Mr. Stojowski asked him what he was going to play for a certain program. Mr. Levant replied, I think I'll play Debussy's 'Reflets dans L'Eau' or 'Poissons d'Or.'" Mr, Stojowski then said, "Your piano playing is not improving, but your French is."
While working in Germany, American dance pioneer Ted Shawn found that the people he worked with all enjoyed making the same joke - at the end of the day, they would tell him, "Auf WiederShawn."
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© Copyright Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
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Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
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Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Running late.
Royalty Rates
Songwriters
Some of the top music streaming services are challenging recently increased royalty rates for songwriters.
Amazon, Spotify, Pandora and Google are all appealing the recent Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) ruling that raises songwriters' rates for streaming and other mechanical uses by more than 44 percent.
"When the Music Modernization Act became law, there was hope it signaled a new day of improved relations between digital music services and songwriters. That hope was snuffed out today when Spotify and Amazon decided to sue songwriters in a shameful attempt to cut their payments by nearly one-third," David Israelite, the president of the National Music Publishers Association, said in a statement.
Israelite went on to say the rate increase songwriters received last year is still lower than their fair market value - so that fact that they're appealing that is in essence a declaration of war.
Apple Music is the only major streaming service that did not file notice it plans to appeal.
Songwriters
New To Science
103 Beetles
The Indonesian island of Sulawesi has been long known for its enigmatic fauna, including the deer-pig (babirusa) and the midget buffalo. However, small insects inhabiting the tropical forests have remained largely unexplored.
Such is the case for the tiny weevils of the genus Trigonopterus of which only a single species had been known from the island since 1885. Nevertheless, a recent study conducted by a team of German and Indonesian scientists resulted in the discovery of a total of 103 new to science species, all identified as Trigonopterus. The beetles are described in the open-access journal ZooKeys.
Coming up with as many as 103 novel names for the newly described species was not a particularly easy task for the researchers either. While some of the weevils were best associated with their localities or characteristic morphology, others received quite curious names.
A small greenish and forest-dwelling species was aptly named after the Star Wars character Yoda, while a group of three species were named after Asterix, Obelix and Idefix - the main characters in the French comics series The Adventures of Asterix. Naturally, Trigonopterus obelix is larger and more roundish than his two 'friends'.
Other curious names include T. artemis and T. satyrus, named after two Greek mythological characters: Artemis, the goddess of hunting and nature and Satyr, a male nature spirit inhabiting remote localities.
103 Beetles
Venice Film Festival Career Achievement
Julie Andrews
The Venice Film Festival has designated Julie Andrews the recipient of the 2019 Golden Lion for Career Achievement. The Mary Poppins and Sound Of Music star will receive the honor at the 76th Lido event which runs August 28-September 7.
Andrews responded today, "I am so honored to have been selected as this year's recipient of the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. The Venice Film Festival has long been recognized as one of the world's most esteemed international film festivals. I thank the Biennale for this acknowledgement of my work and I look forward to being in that beautiful city in September for this very special occasion."
Andrews made her feature debut in 1964's Mary Poppins, winning an Oscar for her performance as the titular magical nanny. The following year, she earned an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Maria Von Trapp in The Sound Of Music. She received her third Academy Award nomination for her dual role in Victor/Victoria. Most recently, Andrews was the voice of Kharaten in blockbuster Aquaman.
On stage, Andrews created the role of Eliza Doolittle in Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's Broadway musical My Fair Lady. Later, in 1961, she originated the role of Queen Guinevere in Lerner and Loewe's musical Camelot.
A bestselling author (Mandy, The Last Of The Really Great Whangdoodles), Andrews joined with her daughter in 2003 to create The Julie Andrews Collection. To date they have released over thirty books with the current franchise, The Very Fairy Princess, launching at No. 1 on the New York Times Children's Best Seller list. Andrews' own biography, Home - A Memoir Of My Early Years, was released in 2008; the second installment, Home Work, is scheduled to be released this October.
Julie Andrews
Drops 'Carlton Dance' Suit
Alfonso Ribeiro
"The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" star Alfonso Ribeiro has dropped a lawsuit against the makers of the video game "Fortnite" over its use of the "Carlton" dance he did on the show.
Ribeiro's lawyers filed documents Thursday in federal court in Los Angeles saying he's voluntarily dismissing the suit against North Carolina-based Epic Games.
The actor had already dropped a similar suit against Take-Two Interactive, makers of the video game NBA2K16.
The suits received a serious blow last month when federal officials denied Ribeiro a copyright for the "Carlton."
Ribeiro's nerdy, arm-swinging dance, usually to Tom Jones' "It's Not Unusual," was popularized through his character, Carlton Banks, on the 1990s sitcom.
Alfonso Ribeiro
Signs Bibles
Alabama
Touring the area where a violent tornado touched down earlier in the week, President Trump (R-Admitted Adulterer) signed Bibles for supporters who gathered to see him at a Baptist church in Opelika, Ala.
Ada Ingram, a volunteer at the church, said Trump signed several hats and Bibles, and praised the president for taking the time to travel to Alabama.
"I enjoyed him coming," said Ingram. "I think it's a godsend. I'm sorry. The situation is bad. And there are going to be people who will say, 'Why did he come to my town?' I don't know why. I don't know why the hurricane happened [either]. But there is a reason."
While still robust, Trump's support among evangelical voters has dipped in recent months. A Marist poll released at the beginning of December found 73 percent of white evangelicals approved of the job he was doing. Six weeks later, the same polling organization found that the number had dropped to 66 percent.
Trump has long courted the evangelical vote, proclaiming in a 2015 interview that the Bible is his "favorite book," while declining to identify his favorite verses (Two Corinthians?).
Alabama
International Women's Day
Puti
Vladmir Putin's attempt to mark International Women's Day went awry this week, after he mounted a horse which proceeded to walk backwards during a parade.
He was visiting a mounted police regiment at a training facility in Moscow on the eve of International Women's Day.
Flanked by women on white horses, Putin rode a brown one, before he took centre stage as the officers surrounded him in rows.
However, his horse would not stay in formation and walked backwards, with the helpless leader seemingly unable to stop it.
Guards eventually coaxed the creature back into line.
Puti
Raining Instead Of Snowing
Greenland
As global temperatures rise, rainy weather is becoming increasingly more common over the Greenland ice sheet when it should be snowing, eating away at the ice, triggering sudden melting events, and priming the surface for future melting.
Normally, a falling snowflake stays frozen when it lands on the 1,710,000-square-kilometer (660,000-square-mile) sheet, but when rain falls, the warmer liquid water melts snow and the ice below it. Some parts of the ice sheet are getting rained on even in the winter time - and it's likely to get worse as climate change continues to warm the planet.
It's no secret that Greenland has been losing its ice. Since 1990, the average temperature has increased by as much as 1.8°C (3.2°F) in the summer and 3°C (5.4°F) in the winter. Estimates suggest the Arctic nation is losing around 270 billion tons of ice each year, with direct meltwater runoff accounting for as much as 70 percent of the loss.
Publishing their work in Cryosphere, researchers paired satellite imagery, which can show the difference between snow and liquid water, with observations made on-the-ground between 1979 and 2012 in order to determine what was causing melting in specific places. They then looked at observations from automated weather stations that were recording data on temperature, wind, and precipitation and found that more than 300 melting events were triggered by rain over the course of their study period.
Melting can be triggered in a variety of ways, but liquid water in the form of rain is particularly powerful. Warm air associated with rain can melt ice directly, but it creates a snowball effect. Rain has more heat than snow, so when it drops to the surface, it melts the snow and ice around it. According to lead author Marilena Oltmanns, melting associated with rain doubled in the summer and tripled in the winter, despite the fact that total precipitation didn't change - just the way that it fell.
Greenland
Video Conferenced
Kaiser
A California man was given a terminal diagnosis via what his family described as a "robot" with a video screen that conferenced in his doctor.
Ernest Quintana, 79, went Sunday to Kaiser Permanente Medical Center's emergency department in Fremont, the San Francisco Bay Area news station KTVU reported Thursday.
Annalisia Wilharm, Quintana's granddaughter, said she was with him in the intensive care unit when a nurse said a doctor would be making his rounds. Wilharm said a robot then arrived in the room and the doctor appeared on a video screen. A hospital spokesperson said a nurse brought the device into the room and that it does not navigate on its own.
Wilharm said she was stunned to hear from the doctor by video that her grandfather's lungs were failing and that he didn't have long to live.
The hospital disputed the use of the word "robot" to describe the tele-video technology. Gaskill-Hames said in her statement that the technology allows a small hospital to "have additional specialists" assist with patient care around the clock.
Kaiser
Tetanus
Oregon
An unvaccinated 6-year-old Oregon boy was hospitalized for two months for tetanus and almost died of the bacterial illness after getting a deep laceration on his forehead while playing on a farm, according to a case study published Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The 2017 case is the first case of pediatric tetanus in Oregon in more than 30 years and alarmed infectious disease experts who said tetanus is almost unheard of in the U.S. since widespread immunization began in the 1940s.
The child received an emergency dose of the tetanus vaccine in the hospital but his parents declined to give him a second dose - or any other childhood shots - after he recovered, the paper said.
The paper did not provide any details about the child, his family or where they live in Oregon and attempts to get that information from the paper's authors were unsuccessful.
The child's care - not including the air ambulance and inpatient rehabilitation - cost nearly $1 million, about 72 times the mean for a pediatric hospitalization in the U.S., the paper noted.
Oregon
In Memory
Jan-Michael Vincent
Actor Jan-Michael Vincent, best known for his portrayal of Stringfellow Hawke on the television show "Airwolf" from 1984 to 1987, has died, according to TMZ. He was 74.
According to a North Carolina death certificate obtained by TMZ, Vincent died Feb. 10 after a cardiac arrest at a hospital in Asheville.
Vincent appeared in dozens of television shows and movies over the course of his acting career, which began in 1967 when he appeared in a television pilot for "The Hardy Boys: The Mystery of the Chinese Junk," according to IMDB. His role as Jimmy Graham in 1971's "Going Home" earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture and his performance in 1983's "The Winds of War" later earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television.
Vincent struggled with alcoholism and drug addiction throughout his life. He was sentenced to probation in 1996 after being charged with drunk driving in a collision that left him with a broken neck, according to The Los Angeles Times. He was later sentenced to 60 days in jail in Orange County, California, after he admitted to violating his probation by appearing drunk in public and assaulting his then-girlfriend, according to the Times.
Vincent is survived by his wife, Patricia Ann Vincent, and a daughter by a previous marriage, Amber Vincent.
Jan-Michael Vincent
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