from Bruce
Anecdotes
Art
• In 1843, Englishman Sir Henry Cole invented the illustrated Christmas card. He wanted to remind his friends to give to the needy during the holidays, so he commissioned an artist to create a scene of a family enjoying a holiday feast while ignoring needy people nearby. He then sent these cards to his friends.
• Louise Nevelson created artworks for the Chapel of the Good Shepherd in St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in New York City. When a reporter asked the pastor why a Russian-born Jew had been picked to create works of art for a Christian chapel, he replied, “Because she’s the greatest living American sculptor.”
Baptism
• One winter, some Dunkers held an outdoors baptism, breaking the ice on a river to do so. After being baptized, one of the men was asked if the water had been cold. He replied, “No, not a bit.” The other man who had been baptized told the preacher, “You better baptize him again, and hold him down a little longer. He hasn’t been cured of lying.”
• Max Weber, the sociologist, once saw a banker in the American South being baptized in a cold stream. When Mr. Weber asked what was happening, he was told that the banker was being baptized so that the people of the town would trust him and so do business with him.
Bible
• Many of us read the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, in which the Pharisee says, “God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as that publican [tax collector]. I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess.” Unfortunately, when many of us read this, we think, “Thank God that I am not as that Pharisee.”
• Ellen C. Waller, a Quaker, asked the children in her class to check and make sure that they had the Revised Version of the Bible, from which she was teaching. One child said that she had the wrong version of the Bible, because it wasn’t “Revised” — it was “Holy.”
Birth
• Elizabeth Cady Stanton once asked why this statement was read in the synagogue each week: “I thank thee, O Lord, that I was not born a woman.” She received the reply, “It is not meant in an unfriendly spirit, and it is not intended to degrade or humiliate women.” However, she was not satisfied with this answer, so she said, “But it does, nevertheless. Suppose the service read, ‘I thank thee, O Lord, that I was not born a jackass.’ Could that be twisted in any way into a compliment to the jackass?”
• Si-tien, a Buddhist priest, asked some men, “Which is more moving: the cries of an animal being killed, or the cries of a woman giving birth?” No one answered, so Si-tien gave the answer: “The cries of a woman giving birth. The cries of an animal being killed is an ending, but the cries of a woman giving birth is a beginning.”
Candles
• New York Yankees Waite Hoyt and Joe Dugan went to church together one day, and Mr. Dugan lit a candle. That afternoon, he batted 3-for-4 and the next day he batted 4-for-5. Therefore, Mr. Waite went to a church and lit a huge number of candles. Unfortunately, he was a pitcher and the opposing team’s batters knocked him out of that day’s game in the third inning. Mr. Waite asked, “How do you explain it? You lit candles and get a bunch of hits. I do the same thing and get knocked out.” Mr. Dugan replied, “Easy. I saw you light all those candles in church, but right after you left I saw two gamblers come in and blow them out.”
• Do you know the story behind the tradition of putting candles in windows during the Christmas season? This is an Irish tradition that stems from the days when the Catholic religion was persecuted. Catholic families longed to have a priest come to their house and celebrate Mass on Christmas. To help guide the priest to their house, they put a candle in the window.
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© Copyright Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
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Presenting
Michael Egan
U.S.A. said:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
BANDCAMP MUSIC
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC
Music: "La Gasolina"
Album: LA TORMENTA DEL SURFISTA MUERTO [Dead Surfer’s Storm]
Artist: Footstep Surf Music Band
Artist Location: Campinas, Brazil
Info: Instrumental surf music band, formed in September 2007 - Campinas - São Paulo - Brazil
Check out Footstep Surf Music Band on Bandcamp; they have lots of FREE music.
Price: FREE Download
Genre: Surf
Links:
LA TORMENTA DEL SURFISTA MUERTO
Footstep Surf Music Band
Footstep Surf Music Band on YouTube
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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
I'm dumbfounded that there was no Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning awarded this year. WTF?
Wiping Out the Old Debts
Sony Music
Last June, protests broke out across the music industry as record executives questioned the business’ long history of racial inequity. Ron Sweeney, a veteran music attorney, offered one proposal that he believed could help labels begin to atone for their past injustices: “With respect to Black artists signed to you prior to 2000,” he wrote, “…zero out their unrecouped royalty balances and let their royalties flow to them so they can support themselves.”
Sony Music Entertainment appeared to take a step in this direction for all its legacy artists on Thursday. In a letter sent to the company’s partners obtained by Rolling Stone, Sony said it “will no longer apply existing unrecouped balances to artists and participant earnings generated on or after January 1, 2021 for eligible artists and participants.”
While the word “unrecouped” may cause some eyes to glaze over, the term can be of crucial importance for artists. Traditionally, when an artist signs a deal with a record label, that company gives the artist an advance payment. The label may also promise other forms of financial support, from covering recording costs to marketing budgets to funding a radio campaign.
However, artists will only receive royalties from their album after the release earns the label back its initial investment, or recoups. (Though in some cases, not all costs incurred by the label are recoupable, depending on an artist’s leverage when negotiating a deal.)
To recoup a record contract at a standard music industry royalty rate — in recent years, managers say that’s probably between 15 and 20 percent — an artist has to have a significant amount of commercial success. According to a Record Deal Simulator put together by the company CreateSafe, if a label signs an artist for a 20 percent royalty and doles out $1,000,000 in the modern streaming economy, the artist has to generate 1.3 billion streams — no easy feat — before any royalties can be generated. If acts fail to exceed that threshold, streams will not earn them any new income. (The Record Deal Simulator focuses on streaming income since streams are the primary driver of music consumption today, though legacy artists would have relied primarily on old-fashioned sales to recoup.)
Sony Music
Copyright Holder Settles Lawsuit With Estate
Robert Indiana
The estate of pop artist Robert Indiana has reached a settlement that keeps intact a longstanding relationship with Morgan Art Foundation, which holds the copyright for his iconic 1960s “LOVE” series, to promote and preserve his work, officials said Friday.
New York-based Morgan Art Foundation intends to work with the Maine-based Star of Hope Foundation, which aims to transform Indiana’s island home into a museum to celebrate his work.
While the museum takes shape, the two organizations will work to display Indiana’s artwork at venues around the country.
Indiana’s estate, which is valued at upward of $80 million, had been entangled in a lawsuit brought by Morgan Art Foundation. The lawsuit was filed the day before Indiana’s death on May 19, 2018, at age 89 on Vinalhaven Island, 15 miles (25 kilometers) off Rockland, Maine.
It accused the reclusive artist’s caretaker and an art publisher of taking advantage of Indiana and producing forgeries — accusations the pair denied. That led to more claims and counter claims.
Robert Indiana
Veiled Communication
QAnon
Some QAnon conspiracy theorists are fixating on the fact that one of the Brood X cicadas landed on President Biden, with some believing that the insect was a coded message from the mysterious "Q."
A June 9 video of Biden swatting away a cicada that landed on his neck circulated on QAnon forums and group chats. This led some followers to wonder if this was a sign from "Q," who they believe is a shadowy government insider who is exposing top-level secrets in information drops called "comms."
QAnon is a baseless far-right conspiracy theory that claims former President Donald Trump is secretly fighting a "deep state" cabal of satanic pedophiles and cannibals.
A post in a 225,000 strong QAnon Telegram chat We The Media read: "JOE BIDEN BITTEN BY A CICADA - COMMS? Just so happens that Cicadas nymphs emerge after a 17-year childhood underground!!! What? CHILD? UNDERGROUND? 17?"
The post draws parallels between the 17 years that Brood X cicadas spend living underground, implying that this timeframe is somehow linked to Q. The number "17" is often used in QAnon circles because Q is the 17th letter of the alphabet. It also references the "underground," a baseless belief that QAnon supporters hold that there is a hidden network of pedophiles that "Q" - and Trump - will one day expose.
QAnon
Won’t Admit
Caitlyn
Caitlyn Jenner (R-Bad Driver) has declined to clarify who she thinks won the 2020 US election.
Visiting The View on Thursday (10 June), the former reality television star, 71, who is running for governor of California had a tense back-and-forth with co-host Joy Behar around who won the 2020 election.
“I want to ask you something before we go because we’re out of time. Something that's important for me to know,” Behar began. “You say that you’re a Republican, and I'm just wondering because a lot of Republicans in this country believe that Donald Trump won the election, and not Joe Biden. Are you one of those people, one of those Republicans?”
“I’m not going to get into that. That election is over with,” said Jenner.
“He was a disrupter when he was president,” replied Jenner. “I want to do the same thing. I want to go in and be a thoughtful disrupter in Sacramento. We need to change the system. I want to change that system for the positive. I'm in it for the people.”
Caitlyn
Lawmakers Expel Colleague
Oregon
The Oregon House of Representatives on Thursday night voted to expel one of its own members accused of coordinating with protesters to allow them into the state Capitol.
Security footage cited by lawmakers showed Mike Nearman, a Republican, opening a locked side door to the Capitol while the House was in session on Dec. 21 and allowing in a group of protesters, some of whom were armed. The intruders damaged property and clashed with law enforcement while calling for the arrest of Oregon's governor over her imposition of pandemic restrictions.
A video posted online five days before the breach showed Nearman advising protesters to text him when they were outside the Capitol in order to gain access to the building, according to the Oregon House resolution to remove Nearman. The lawmakers said Nearman had engaged in "disorderly behavior" by helping the protesters enter the building in defiance of COVID-19 safety protocols.
Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek, a Democrat who sponsored the resolution to remove Nearman, said in a statement posted on Twitter on Thursday that the House vote to remove one of its own members was "unprecedented" but "the only reasonable path forward."
The only Oregon lawmaker to vote against Kotek's resolution was Nearman himself, who is also being prosecuted on misdemeanor charges for allowing the rioters into the Capitol in December.
Oregon
Refused To Pay Ransomware In 2019
Teamsters
When the Teamsters were hit by a ransomware attack over Labor Day weekend in 2019, the hackers asked for a seven-figure payment.
But unlike many of the companies hit by high-profile ransomware attacks in recent months, the union declined to pay, despite the FBI's advice to do so, three sources familiar with the previously unreported cyberattack told NBC News.
Until now, the major labor union had managed to keep the hack out of the public eye for nearly two years. That points to a truth that cybersecurity experts say is lurking beneath the surface of recent high-profile attacks: An unknown number of companies and organizations have been extorted without ever saying a word about it publicly.
Communicating with Teamsters officials on the dark web through a site provided in the ransom note, the attackers demanded $2.5 million in exchange for restoring the union's access to electronic files. Personal information for the millions of active and retired members was never compromised, according to a Teamsters spokesperson, who also said that only one of the union's two email systems was frozen along with other data.
Teamsters officials alerted the FBI and asked for help in identifying the source of the attack. They were told that many similar hacks were happening and that the FBI would not be able to assist in pursuing the culprit.
Teamsters
Police Gangs
LA
A California politician who once served as a hands-on policeman is spearheading efforts to reform law enforcement in the state – by banning everything from deadly chokeholds and restraints, to the officers’ own gangs that have been accused of intimidation and murder.
Mike Gipson, an assembly member whose district includes parts of south Los Angeles and the city of Compton, says it is time for a new vision of police in the nation’s most populous state, and where between 2013 and 2021, at least 1,402 people were killed by officers.
While it ranks the 14th-deadliest state for police killings per capita, he says the sheer scale of the numbers, and the fact the nation’s biggest sheriff’s department – Los Angeles County – is allegedly riddled with police gangs and illegality, makes it ripe for reform.
It is alleged the police gangs, which have names such as The Executioners and The Banditos, operate in much the same way as the gangs police vow to confront in their duties, with violent and sometimes deadly initiations, gang tattoos and corruption. Authorities have long been accused of failing to root out the police gangs, whose members have allegedly been involved in the killing of civilians, as part of their entry to the gang.
“That’s absolutely crazy, but it exists,” he says. “And the only way you can be initiated in these gangs, is that you have to use excessive force or lethal force, on someone.”
LA
Ice Shelf Breaking Up Faster
Pine Island Glacier
A critical Antarctic glacier is looking more vulnerable as satellite images show the ice shelf that blocks it from collapsing into the sea is breaking up much faster than before and spawning huge icebergs, a new study says.
The Pine Island Glacier's ice shelf loss accelerated in 2017, causing scientists to worry that with climate change the glacier's collapse could happen quicker than the many centuries predicted. The floating ice shelf acts like a cork in a bottle for the fast-melting glacier and prevents its much larger ice mass from flowing into the ocean.
That ice shelf has retreated by 12 miles (20 kilometers) between 2017 and 2020, according to a study in Friday’s Science Advances. And the crumbling shelf was caught on time-lapse video from a European satellite that takes pictures every six days.
Between 2017 and 2020, there were three large breakup events, creating icebergs more than 5 miles (8 kilometers) long and 22 miles (36 kilometers) wide, which then split into lots of littler pieces, Joughin said. There also were many smaller breakups.
The Pine Island Glacier, which is not on an island doesn’t have pine trees, is one of two side-by-side glaciers in western Antarctica that ice scientists worry most about losing on that continent. The other is the Thwaites Glacier.
Pine Island Glacier
6 Years In Orbit
‘Space Pups’
Healthy "space pups" were born from freeze-dried mouse sperm that orbited the planet for nearly six years aboard the International Space Station (ISS), according to a new study.
That's good news because DNA-damaging radiation on the ISS is more than 100 times stronger than on Earth. Beyond the ISS, which is still shielded from some radiation by our planet's magnetic field, radiation is even stronger.
If human sperm is similarly resilient in space, and if Earth becomes unlivable in the future, then freeze-dried sperm could potentially play a role in repopulating space colonies.
As climate change and potential apocalyptic futures push humans to look beyond the borders of our planet to possible livable planets or moons out in space, researchers are trying to understand whether space radiation would damage mammalian and other animals' DNA and make it impossible to reproduce and keep humanity alive.
They found that the sperm absorbed about 0.61 millisievert (mSv)/day. In comparison, the NASA limit for astronauts exposed to radiation in low-Earth orbit is about 50 mSv/year, or 0.14 mSv/day, according to NASA. The researchers found that the long-term storage aboard the ISS didn't significantly damage DNA in the sperm.
‘Space Pups’
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
