from Bruce
Anecdotes
Children
• Operatic tenor Leo Slezak knew how to get the truth from his children when they were small — all he had to do was to tell them that he would ask the Angel what had happened and the Angel would tell him. One day, his young son, Walter, refused to eat his supper. He put the food in his mouth, but he would not swallow it. He then left the room for a moment, returned, and said with a big grin, “I’ve eaten it now!” Mr. Slezak was doubtful, so he said that he would ask the Angel. Feeling cocky, Walter told him to go ahead and do just that. Mr. Slezak then said that the Angel had told him that Walter had given his food to the family dog, and Walter turned pale and stammered, “How could the Angel find that out?”
• While the Three Stooges were performing live on stage, Sandy, the five-year-old niece of Larry Fine — the balding but not bald Stooge — was in the audience, watching as the Stooges slapped each other and poked each other’s eyes. However, at one point, when Moe led a screaming Larry around the stage after sticking his finger up Larry’s nose, Sandy started yelling, “You’re hurting my Uncle Larry! You’re hurting my Uncle Larry!” Larry immediately came over to her and explained that he was only pretending to be hurt, then he rejoined the act to the loud applause of the audience. As for Moe, he was laughing so hard that it took a while for the act to continue.
• Horror writer Anne Rice got her first name from an unusual source: herself. Her name at birth was Howard Allen O’Brien. This name is unusual in itself, and she was given it in part because her father, Howard, had been bullied at school because some other children thought “Howard” sounded like a girl’s name. On the first day young Howard started attending Redemptorist School in New Orleans, a nun asked her for her name. Young Howard replied, “It’s Anne!” This name turned out to be OK with her mother, who said, “If she wants to be Anne, it’s Anne.” Anne received the rest of her adult name after she married Stan Rice.
• Early in her gymnastics career, when she was still a pre-teen, Shannon Miller attended a meet in Las Vegas, and she stayed at the Circus Circus Hotel. When she returned home, she had a lot of stuffed animals with her. Her mother asked where she had gotten them, and young Shannon joked, “Gambling.” The real story was that a man in the hotel had asked if she liked stuffed animals. She had replied, “Sure,” and he had given her a bunch of stuffed animals he had just won. (Her parents did talk to her about not accepting gifts from strangers.)
• While making a personal appearance in Chicago, TV’s Mister Rogers asked if anyone in the audience had anything they wanted to share. A small boy spoke up: “Mister Rogers, I just wear diapers at night now.” Of course, the audience wondered how Mister Rogers would react to this sharing. He replied to the boy, “Well, that’s very important, and it’s up to you when you’ll give up your diapers at night. I’m really proud of the ways you’re growing.” This made the small boy very happy and the audience breathed a sigh of relief at Mister Rogers’ answer.
• Frank Bunker Gilbreth raised a dozen children in the early 20th century. With such a large brood, he wasn’t above getting a break on expenses now and then. Whenever he came to a toll road, he would look at the toll keeper, identify his nationality, then say, using the appropriate accent, “Do my Irishmen [or Dutchmen, or Scotsmen] come cheaper by the dozen?” Often, the reply would come back, “Irishmen, is it? And I might have known it. … The Lord Jesus didn’t mean for any family like that to pay toll on my road. Drive through on the house.”
• As a child athlete, Robin Campbell competed in many national and international track and field events, necessitating absences from home. During one long absence, she rejoiced that she had gotten out of doing the dishes, which she did each Monday when she was home. However, her family believed that children should do chores, so when Robin returned home, she discovered that she had been scheduled to wash dishes for a whole week so she could catch up to the work done by her siblings while she was away.
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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
Track: "(I Wanna Get) Fucked Up"
Album: SOUND ATTACK, VOL. 2
Artist: The Papashangoes
Artist Location: Bolton, UK
Record Company: Sound Attack
Record Company Location: ?
Info: Mostly punk, but includes the surf instrumental “Agent Graves” by Biarritz Boys
“We are THE PAPASHANGOS. And we are your friends. Punk rock mayhem, straight from the garage, with a delicious tinge of seedy horror…”
Voted most mediocre punk rock band in Bolton 2015 - 2021
“Love, sex, and death” — The Papashangoes
“Bad music for worse people” — The Papashangoes
Papa Shango: An African god of thunder significant to the Shango religion.
Papa Shango was also the persona (1992-1993) of a professional wrestler better known as The Godfather.
Price: FREE Download for 20 tracks
“(I Wanna Get) Fucked Up” is also on the Papashangoes’ album LIVE IN BLACKPOOL. Price: Name Your Price (Includes FREE) for seven-track album
Genre: Punk. Various.
Links:
SOUND ATTACK, VOL. 2
LIVE IN BLACKPOOL
The Papashangoes on Bandcamp
The Papashangoes Official Website
Sound Attack
Other Links:
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Stephen Suggests
Thailand
New Venture
Michael Egan
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Current Events
AF1
Hooray! Predator can take yet another defeat and stuff it where the sun don't shine! F'ing LOSER. (I'm only surprised that he didn't order Air Force One to be dipped in gold and covered in Trump Trash Palace ads,)
Air Force One is going to continue looking classy:
that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Gas was $6.19/gal (cash) at the no-name, cash preferred station.
Ratings Are In
20 Million
An estimated 20 million people watched Thursday night’s hearing of the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
The figures released Friday by the Nielsen Company include viewers from 12 television networks that aired the rare primetime hearing, including ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, and FOX Business Network.
The numbers do not include online viewers or those who watched on PBS.
Fox News, which did not air the hearings, drew nearly 3 million viewers for the same two hours.
20 Million
von Trapp Kids Reunite
Julie Andrews
Julie Andrews received the AFI Live Achievement Award at a Gala Tribute in Los Angeles on June 9, and the stars who played the von Trapp children in The Sound of Music came together to celebrate her career. Nicholas Hammond (Friedrich), Duane Chase (Kurt), Angela Cartwright (Brigitta), Debbie Turner (Marta) and Kym Karath (Gretl) walked the red carpet at the Dolby Theater and at one point led the crowd in a sing-along of "Do Re Mi." And before they had to say so long, farewell for the night, they got a group picture with Andrews, who played Maria in the 1965 film and received an Academy Award nomination for her role.
Unfortunately, not all of the film's family members could be there. Charmian Carr and Heather Menzies-Urich, who portrayed Liesl and Louisa von Trapp in the movie, died in 2016 and 2017, respectively, and Christopher Plummer, who played Captain Georg von Trapp, passed away last year.
The Sound of Music stars weren't the only ones to attend the big event. Hector Elizondo, who played Joe in the 2001 film The Princess Diaries and its 2004 sequel, gave a speech and Anne Hathaway, who portrayed Mia Thermopolis in the movies, sent a recorded message, as well. In addition, Dick Van Dyke, who played Bert alongside Andrews' Oscar-winning Mary Poppins in the 1964 Disney movie, sent a taped message, as well.
Carol Burnett presented Andrews with the AFI Life Achievement Award. Upon accepting the honor, Andrews acknowledged the people she's worked with over the years.
The AFI Life Achievement Award Tribute special will air on TNT June 16 at 10:00 p.m. EST/PST.
Julie Andrews
Sculpture To Auction
Balloon Monkey (Magenta)
One of Jeff Koons’s iconic balloon sculptures will cross the block for a good cause.
On June 28, Christie’s will begin taking bids for Balloon Monkey (Magenta) at its 20th/21st Century: London Evening Sale. Current owners, billionaire Victor Pinchuk and his wife Olena Pinchuk, are selling the sculpture to raise funds for humanitarian aid for those directly impacted by the war in Ukraine. Proceeds from the sale will be used to assist soldiers and civilians that have been wounded during the conflict and require prosthetics, medical treatment and rehabilitation services. The massive artwork, which is nearly 20 feet tall, is expected to fetch up to $12.6 million when it crosses the block.
The Balloon Monkey (Magenta) is one of five such sculptures in a series created by Koons; the other four come in blue, yellow, red and orange. (The orange edition sold in November 2014 for a whopping $25.9 million.) In a statement to Christie’s, Koons said the sculpture represents a “profound affirmation that art is not only what we see, but what happens inside.” In this instance, the work will also represent a means to materially help the men, women and children affected by three-month old war.
Balloon Monkey (Magenta)
Estate Auction
Siegfried & Roy
An auction of personal possessions from the estate of Siegfried & Roy raised more than $1.4 million for the legendary performers’ foundation.
A listing of the sales prices for items in the Bonhams auction, which was in Los Angeles on Wednesday and Thursday, shows many of the tiger-themed items sold for more than twice the expected price.
The only sales price not posted is for the 18-karat gold, emerald and diamond necklace by Cartier, which was expected to go for $60,000 to $100,000.
A glass orb with the initials “S&R” — “a floating monogram” — sold for $17,850, about 17 times the expected bid. Other items,
Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn were headliners for decades in Las Vegas with their Sigfried & Roy magic show. An onstage attack by a tiger named Mantacore during a show at The Mirage on Oct. 3, 2003, severed Horn’s spine and ended his performing career. They produced a show — “Father of the Pride” — and retired in 2010. Horn died of COVID on May 8, 2020. Fishbacher died Jan. 13, 2021, of pancreatic cancer.
Siegfried & Roy
Sounds Like A Bully
Ginni
Yet another damning report about Ginni Thomas’ efforts to overturn the 2020 election results has emerged.
It turns out that Thomas, who just so happens to be married to Supreme Court Justice Clarence "Slappy" Thomas, didn’t just contact two Arizona Republican legislators about rejecting electors for Joe Biden in the state he won, as The Washington Post reported last month. The actual number, the Post reported on Friday, was 29.
On Nov. 9, two days after the race was called, Thomas used an online platform called FreeRoots to search for and send identical emails to 20 state House members and seven state senators, according to the report.
In the emails, Thomas urged them to “stand strong in the face of political and media pressure,” saying they had “power to fight back against fraud.” Thomas also requested meeting them in person or virtually “so I can learn more about what you are doing to ensure our state’s vote count is audited and our certification is clean.”
On Dec. 13, 24 hours before the electors would go on to cast their votes for Biden, Thomas emailed 22 members of the House, as well as one senator. “Before you choose your state’s Electors … consider what will happen to the nation we all love if you don’t stand up and lead,” Thomas wrote.
Ginni
Jan. 6 Committee
Pardons
The Jan. 6 Commission promised big reveals, and Liz Cheney’s opening statement did not disappoint. One of two GOP representatives on the committee, Cheney laid out damning information about the behavior of members of her own caucus — including one by name: Rep. Scott Perry, of Pennsylvania.
Cheney recalled how, in the build up to Jan. 6., (the) then-President Donald Trump sought to clean House at the Justice Department, which was refusing to help him advance his Big Lie that he’d been deprived of a rightful election victory by fraud and voting irregularities. (Cheney laid out a significant slate of evidence that not only was this a lie, but that Trump the grifter and his staff knew that it was a lie.)
Cheney then alleged that a notable GOP lawmaker had similarly rebuffed the committee about his actions to support the house clearing at DOJ: “Rep. Scott Perry, who was also involved in trying to get Clark appointed as Attorney General,” Cheney said, “has refused to testify here.”
Cheney then dropped a bombshell, suggesting consciousness of guilt — not just by Perry but by other GOP representatives:
“As you will see, Rep. Perry contacted the White House in the weeks after Jan 6. to seek a presidential pardon,” she said. Cheney then added: “Multiple other Republican congressmen also sought presidential pardons for their roles in attempting to overturn the 2020 election.”
Pardons
Spanish Radio
Miami
A major effort backed by Democratic fundraisers to purchase Spanish-language radio stations is stirring up opposition in Miami, where Cuban exiles describe it as an attempt to stifle conservative voices in markets where Democrats have lost ground.
The Latino Media Network, a startup founded by two political strategists who worked for President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, reached a $60 million deal to acquire 18 AM and FM stations in ten U.S. cities from Televisa/Univision. The agreement announced June 3 still needs Federal Communications Commission approval.
These markets are diverse — Hispanics with roots all over Latin America listen to the stations in Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Houston, Chicago, Dallas, San Antonio, McAllen, Fresno and Las Vegas, including some Hispanic communities where Democrats have lost ground to Republicans.
But the deal isn’t going over well in Miami, where Radio Mambi is popular among hardline Cuban exiles.
Miami
Some Had Belly Buttons
Dinosaurs
The oldest 'belly button' known to science has been found on an exquisitely preserved horned dinosaur fossil from China.
The slit-like scar comes not from an umbilical cord, as it does in mammals, but from the yolk sac of the egg-laying creature that lived about 130 million years ago.
Today, many living snakes and birds lose their so-called umbilical scar within days or weeks of an egg hatching. Others, like adult alligators, keep them for life.
The umbilical scar found on the Psittacosaurus dinosaur is more similar to alligators, lasting until at least sexual maturity and possibly long after that.
It's the first example of a belly button in a non-avian dinosaur, predating the arrival of 'recent life' in the Cenozoic, about 66 million years ago.
Dinosaurs
Oscillates Every 6 Years
Length of a Day
New evidence suggests that, instead of consistently rotating faster than Earth's spin, the solid inner core oscillates – spinning first in one direction with respect to the surface far above, then the other, changing direction every six years.
This not only has implications for our understanding of the inner workings of our home world, it can also neatly explain a mystery that has perplexed scientists for some time: an oscillating variation in the length of Earth's day, with a period of 5.8 years.
"From our findings, we can see the Earth's surface shifts compared to its inner core, as people have asserted for 20 years," said geophysicist John E. Vidale of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
"However, our latest observations show that the inner core spun slightly slower from 1969-71 and then moved the other direction from 1971-74. We also note that the length of a day grew and shrank as would be predicted. The coincidence of those two observations makes oscillation the likely interpretation."
Researchers first detailed this phenomenon in 1996, with an estimated superrotation rate of 1 degree per year. Vidale and his colleague, Wei Wang, also of UCLA, later revised the rate down to 0.29 degrees per year, using data from underground nuclear tests conducted at the Russian Novaya Zemlya testing site in the 1970s.
Length of a Day
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