from Bruce
Anecdotes
Heaven and Hell
• Sir Winston Churchill was the Prime Minister of England during World War II, and a major reason why Adolf Hitler and his Nazis were defeated. To relax, Sir Winston used to paint, and today his paintings sell for as much as $245,000. He once said that he planned “to spend a considerable part of my first million years” in Heaven painting.
• When Calvin Coolidge was Governor of Massachusetts, a couple of state legislators got into an argument, and one legislator told the other to go to Hell. The insulted legislator complained to Governor Coolidge, who told him, “I’ve looked up the law, and you don’t have to go there.”
Language
• Quaker weddings can be tough, especially on people who are unaccustomed to speaking in public, since the groom and bride are supposed to face the members of the Meeting and recite their vows without aid from other people. One Quaker bride was so nervous that she promised to be “a loving and faithful husband.” And even though James Hogge, who later became a Member of Parliament, was accustomed to speaking in public, he completely forgot his vows and got through the wedding ceremony only with the help of his bride, who whispered the words to him and encouraged him with a kiss.
• Civil rights lawyer Maury Maverick, Jr., once represented atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair. When he first saw her, she had been in jail for three days, so she was very glad to see him and inadvertently said something funny. Mr. Maverick passed the remark on the reporters, and the next day a morning paper had a big headline: “Atheist Tells Maverick, Thank God the ACLU Is Here!”
• Language can be ambiguous. While a priest was giving a homily in a Catholic school, a little boy started talking. Not wanting the homily to be interrupted, a Sister asked one of her young pupils, “Go up there and tell him to stop talking.” The young pupil walked past the talking boy, went up to the priest who was giving the homily, and said, “Sister said you should stop talking.”
• In East Germany, Peter Mann wanted to become closer to his Jewish roots, but religion was suppressed in that country. He finally found a professor who could teach him Hebrew, but the professor first made him sign a statement saying that he was not learning Hebrew for religious purposes. His learning Hebrew had a positive effect on him, and he began to pray every day.
• When soon-to-be-artist Vincent van Gogh started an evangelical course, he labored under the handicap of not wanting to learn Hebrew or Greek. During one lesson, when he was asked if a word was in the nominative or the dative case, he answered, “Sir, I really don’t care.”
Letters
• In the late 1950s, a mentally ill black woman stabbed civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., sending him to the hospital, where doctors saved his life by removing a rib and part of his breastbone. The injury was so serious that his doctor told him, “If you had sneezed, you would have drowned in your own blood.” Many letters came for Dr. King. One letter that meant a lot to him said this: “I am a ninth-grade student at the White Plains High School. While it shouldn’t matter, I would like to mention that I am a white girl. I read in the paper of your misfortune and of your suffering. And I read that if you sneezed you would have died. I’m simply writing you to say that I’m glad you didn’t sneeze.”
• Country comedian Jerry Clower got a lot of fan mail. Looking through a stack of mail one time, he came across a letter that had his own return address on it. He opened it, saw that it was from Sue, his daughter, and read, “Dear Mother and Daddy, thank you for being such fine Christian parents. You show me how I ought to act. Love, Sue.”
***
© Copyright Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
***
250 Anecdotes About Religion, Volume 2 — Buy
250 Anecdotes About Religion, Volume 2 -- Buy the Paperback
250 Anecdotes About Religion, Volume 2 -- Kindle
250 Anecdotes About Religion, Volume 2 -- Apple
250 Anecdotes About Religion, Volume 2 -- Barnes and Noble
250 Anecdotes About Religion, Volume 2 -- Kobo
250 Anecdotes About Religion, Volume 2 -- Smashwords: Many Formats, Including PDF
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: "Thousand Words"
Album: DUCHESS
Artist: Sibyl Vane
Artist Location: Pärnu, Estonia
Info: “Combining indie-pop with post-punk revival and elements from 1990´s alternative rock Sibyl Vane´s expressive and melancholic sound gets its final grind by band´s front woman - singer-songwriter and guitarist Helena Randlaht´s recognizably unique voice and charismatic image. As children of the 90s they are exploding something we all remember from MTV and sweaty rock venues we used to visit.”
Vocals and guitar: Helena Randlaht
Bass: Heiko Leesment
Drums and percussion: Hendrik Liivik
Programming: Tarvi Kull
Trumpet: Chris Sommer and Karl Kivi
Price: €1 (EURO) for track; €10.99 EUROs for 12-track album
Genre: Pop. Alternative Rock.
Links:
DUCHESS
Sibyl Vane on Bandcamp
Sibyl Vane on YouTube
Other Links:
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog #1
David Bruce's Blog #2
David Bruce's Blog #3
David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
David Bruce has over 140 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Stephen Suggests
Twofer
New Venture
Michael Egan
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Current Events
Derek Chauvin's mother
If you missed hearing her deliver her tone-deaf statement on behalf of her son, you need to watch it. I'm still trying to get my jaw up off the floor. And anyone else creeped out by her sharing that she and Derek have a :"special" hug? Love her reasoning too--if you send him way a long time, his dad and I will be dead, but then later she says no matter how long the sentence she'll be waiting for him. To give him that special hug? Shudder!
that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Lovely marine layer started rolling in early.
2021
Daytime Emmys
The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences handed out the awards for this year’s broadcast portion of the 48th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards this Friday evening on CBS. Among the big winners: “Kelly Clarkson Show” won for best entertainment talk show, while Kelly Clarkson won for entertainment talk host. “General Hospital” was named top daytime drama, as well as lead drama actor (Maurice Benard), supporting actor (Max Gail), directing team for a drama, technical team for a drama and casting for a drama.
Meanwhile, “Jeopardy!” once again picked up award for best game show, while the late Alex Trebek won another Emmy for game show host. Executive producer Mike Richards dedicated the game show award to Trebek, while Trebek’s children accepted the host’s award on his behalf.
Later, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden were among those paying tribute to Trebek as part of the ceremony’s In Memoriam. Also singled out were Regis Philbin, who was paid tribute by Kathie Lee Gifford, and Larry King, as honored by Martha Stewart.
King was honored as best informative talk show host, for his Ora TV series “Larry King Now.” Two of the legendary broadcaster’s sons accepted the award on his behalf.
Kathy Lee Gifford, Ken Jeong, Martha Stewart and Robin Roberts were among the stars who appeared and helped pay tribute to late daytime legends Regis Philbin, Alex Trebek and Larry King. Also, Diamond White from CBS’ “The Bold and the Beautiful” was tapped sing a song for the “In Memoriam” segment that he also scored.
Daytime Emmys
Valedictorian
Bryce Dershem
The valedictorian of a New Jersey high school said administrators tried to censor his graduation speech on mental health and his LGBTQ identity.
But to the cheers of his classmates at Eastern Regional High School, Bryce Dershem continued with his speech — even after the principal took away his prepared remarks.
“After I came out as queer freshman year, I felt so alone. I didn’t know who to turn to for...” Dershem said June 17 before his microphone cut off.
The principal, Dr. Robert Tull Jr., approached Dershem from the back of the platform. He removed the microphone and a piece of paper from the podium while exchanging a brief word with the teenager, video shows.
Dershem was given a second microphone by another person about 15 seconds later. The valedictorian told WCAU administrators made it look like it was an audio issue, but says that was not the case.
Bryce Dershem
Viewership Down 56% Since January
Newsmax
It’s been six months since Newsmax TV CEO Chris Ruddy said his network would “probably overtake [Fox News] in the next six months in total audience.” That didn’t happen, but a spokesperson tells TheWrap it’s still “inevitable.”
Ruddy made his prediction to Newsweek at a time when Fox News was capping the highest-rated year in cable news history, but then-president Donald Trump (R-Lock Him Up) was railing against the behemoth network for not falling in line enough as he falsely claimed he, not now-President Joe Biden, won the 2020 election.
Trump was directing his followers to defect from Fox News in favor of Newsmax or One America News. Months on, Fox News remains the top-rated cable news channel.
Year to date, Fox News has seen a slight total-day viewership decline of 15%, averaging 1.152 million total viewers. In that same time period, Newsmax has had a 56% decline, averaging 106,000 total viewers. In the demo, Fox News fell 20% year to date, averaging 193,000, while Newsmax dropped 71%, averaging 16,000.
Newsmax
Network Poll
Rupert
Fox News hosts have defended the results of a poll the network commissioned that shows a majority of Americans surveyed approve of Joe Biden’s performance as president so far. Former President Trump (R-Lock Him Up)’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump (R-Unemployable), pushed back on the poll on Fox News’ on air, calling the approval rating not “legitimate”.
The poll showed Mr Biden with a 54 per cent approval rating. “Well, Fox News stands by the poll,” Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy said to Ms Trump.
“I truly don’t believe that. I don’t think that is a legitimate number,” Ms Trump said, adding that she feels Mr Biden gets “totally coddled guys by the mainstream media, every time you see him, truly, asked a question by so many of these outlets, they’re these softball questions about ice cream and it really, they don’t push him on anything, they don’t follow up with him in the way we know they would with Donald Trump,” Ms Trump said when she heard the results of the Fox poll.
She went to state that Biden receives “ glowing reviews all around from the mainstream media” and that those who answered the poll were “not getting the full picture” about the current president.
“I cannot believe that anybody would have his approval rating anywhere over about negative five per cent at this point,” Ms Trump said about Mr Biden, who has led a relatively successful national Covid-19 vaccination roll out, passed some key legislation with a slim Senate majority and brought back international stability at talks with other world leaders at the G7 summit in Cornwall, England.
Rupert
Met With Liar
Michael Fanone
Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone said on Friday that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy did not agree to the officer's request of him to denounce members of the House GOP who downplayed the Capitol riot.
Fanone was among the Washington, DC MPD and US Capitol Police officers who were on duty at the Capitol on January 6 when a mob of pro-Trump supporters breached and stormed the Capitol.
On Friday, Fanone and Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn met with McCarthy to describe their experience during the Capitol siege and ask the House Minority Leader to denounce members of his caucus who voted against legislation honoring the officers who were at the building during the insurrection.
Fanone also said he asked McCarthy to denounce Rep. Andrew Clyde's statement with regard to January 6. In May, Clyde compared those who entered the Capitol as tourists and said describing the riot as an insurrection is "a bald-faced lie."
When asked if McCarthy agreed to his requests, Fanone said, "Not in my mind, no."
Michael Fanone
Struggles With High Construction Costs
Habitat for Humanity
Reeling from massive cutbacks in volunteers during the COVID-19 pandemic, and grappling with high construction costs, Habitat for Humanity leaders would be the first to admit they’re struggling.
The past year has felt like one punch after the other, they say. First hit: Habitat’s local affiliates had to limit volunteers over virus concerns, forcing them to fork over more money to hire contractors. Second hit: Revenue was dented by temporary closures of ReStores, the reuse stores operated by local Habitat organizations. The third: Construction delays caused by pandemic-induced kinks in the supply chain, which make affiliates wait longer for supplies.
What could have been the knockout blow was the spike in construction costs. Lumber prices, according to the National Association of Home Builders, increased by more than 300% since April 2020. Demand for new homes, as well as demand for supplies for renovation projects and other factors, also kept costs high, experts say. Prices have come down in recent weeks, but they are still significantly higher than before the pandemic.
Faced with challenges on all sides, Habitat’s network of independent, locally run affiliates are trying to cope with increased costs by taking out loans, increasing fundraising and using alternative construction materials, among other things. Some affiliates are using materials local stores helped them stockpile before the price hikes went into effect. Now, in the midst of the surges, officials say donors are also stepping up.
In each of the past three years, the nonprofit has built an average of 3,000 new homes in the U.S. It continues to be one of the top affordable homebuilders in the country, despite a 4% drop so far this year compared to 2019, according to Adrienne Goolsby, senior vice president of U.S. and Canada at Habitat for Humanity International. However, experts say its work — and the work of other housing nonprofits — can’t solve the shortage of nearly 7 million affordable homes in America alone.
Habitat for Humanity
Internet Shrugs
UFO Findings
It was an afternoon of much anticipation and excitement – followed by the saddest trombone sound echoing across the internet.
The long-awaited report from US intelligence officials on unidentified flying objects dropped this afternoon, marking one of the first times the US government officially weighed in on strange sightings in the sky. Their big reveal, however, was seen by many as more of a shrug.
“The truth is still out there,” several reporters who covered the news wrote, after the report could only explain one of 144 reports of what the government calls “unidentified aerial phenomenon”.
Some remarked it had taken a long time to produce a report that ran just nine pages and offered little in the way of concrete conclusions.
Aliens weren’t the only explanation being examined. Officials were also considering whether the aircraft belonged to earthly adversaries – an equally scary security situation – and the report was inconclusive on that front as well.
UFO Findings
Northern California Pack
Gray Wolf
A new gray wolf pack has established itself in northern California, retaking a part of the vast territory that the species used to inhabit.
The fledgling Beckwourth pack has set down roots in Plumas county, near the California-Nevada border, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) reported Wednesday. Its three members include LAS12F, a 2-year-old female wolf born in California, and two others. Wildlife officials are tracking and analyzing the feces of wolves in the region in an effort to identify the lineage of these wolves.
The Beckwourth pack is only the third to establish itself in California in the last century. These wolves join two other groups of gray wolves in California, heartening biologists and environmental activists who have decried the rollback of state and federal protections for wolves across the US west – undercutting their recovery after they were nearly hunted to extinction.
Earlier this year, two other young wolves forged an arduous, urine- and scat-scented trail into California. One young male, OR-93, made the longest tracked journey of any wolf over the last century – leaving his home range in Oregon, cutting through the spine of Sierra Nevada, over northern California lava beds all the way down to California’s central valley, and then west to the coast. “He’s the captain magnificent of wolf travelers,” said Amaroq Weiss, a biologist at the environmental not-for-profit Center for Biological Diversity.
Researchers have found that killing gray wolves doesn’t protect cattle and can even backfire: killing one wolf who poses a threat to cattle can increase the odds that wolves will kill more cattle the next year. Biologists suspect that could be because wolf packs compensate for a death by reproducing more, birthing more pups that may feed on sheep and cows.
Gray Wolf
Prehistoric Nursery
Alaskan Arctic
Baby dinosaurs toddled around the chilly region that is now the Alaskan Arctic about 70 million years ago, according to the "unexpected" discovery of more than 100 baby dinosaur bones and teeth there, a new study reports.
It was surprising to find evidence of a prehistoric nursery in such a cold place, the researchers said. Even during the warm Cretaceous period (145 million to 66 million years ago), Alaska had an average monthly temperature of about 43 degrees Fahrenheit (6 degrees Celsius), and for about four months of the year, the dinosaurs would have lived in permanent darkness and dealt with snowy weather, they said.
The Prince Creek Formation of northern Alaska, where the fossils were found, is "the farthest north that dinosaurs ever lived," study co-lead researcher Gregory Erickson, a paleobiologist at Florida State University, told Live Science. "I don't think it was possible for them to live any farther north," as what is now Alaska was shifted closer to the North Pole than it is today. "It's right up there with Santa Claus," he said.
After analyzing the babies' teeth and bones, the research team determined that the remains belonged to seven different dinosaur species. The discovery indicates that dinosaurs likely lived in this frigid region all year, as the babies would have been too small for annual migrations shortly after hatching, Erickson said. If these wee dinosaurs and their parents stayed in Alaska year-round, they were likely warm-blooded, or endothermic — a feature that would have allowed them to stay active even when temperatures dropped, he added.
Researchers have known that dinosaurs lived in polar regions since oil workers found dinosaur bones there in the 1950s, Erickson said. In the following decades, scientists with the University of Alaska Museum of the North discovered the remains of teensy baby dinosaurs in the state.
Alaskan Arctic
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
