from Bruce
Anecdotes
Education
• One way that comedian Bill Cosby helped schools was through non-intrusive kinds of advertising. On The Cosby Show, his character, Cliff Huxtable, frequently wore a sweatshirt that bore the name of a predominantly black college. By the way, when Mr. Cosby hosted You Bet Your Life, the duck that dropped down when a contestant said the secret word wore a sweatshirt bearing the name of the university that Mr. Cosby had attended: Temple.
• Comedian Richard Pryor had an understanding teacher named Miss Marguerite Yingst when he was in the 6th grade. He often came to school late, and she made a deal with him. If he came to school on time each day for a week, she would let him get in front of the class and perform for 10 minutes Friday afternoon. She remembers, “It was great for Richard. The other pupils loved him. And Richard kept his promise — got to school on time.”
• Garry Moore and Jimmy Durante worked together in radio. They were both comedians, and Mr. Moore was Mr. Durante’s chief writer. For one show, Mr. Moore wrote a malapropism for Mr. Durante: “It’s a catastastrope!” He also told Mr. Durante, “You know, Jimmy, if you don’t mispronounce this, we won’t get a laugh.” Mr. Durante thought for a moment, then replied, “Yeah. Educate me, and we’ll both be out of a job.”
• A young Dick Van Dyke and the other students in his class sometimes took advantage of one of their teachers who was hard of hearing. Sometimes, she asked, “When did Columbus discover America?” They would reply with a deliberately wrong date such as “1776” because she would think that they had given the correct date and nod her head approvingly.
• Comedian Chris Rock has made it big in the risky and difficult business of show business, but that doesn’t mean that he wants his relatives to try to accomplish what he has accomplished. Whenever a family member wants help in getting established in show business, he offers to pay their college tuition instead.
• The first book Sam Levenson ever checked out of the library shocked the librarians — it was called What Every Girl Should Know. (Sam’s cousin Sophie was too embarrassed to check it out, so she asked Sam to check it out for her to read.)
Fame
• After movie shorts made by the Three Stooges — Moe, Larry, and Curly — started being shown on TV, the Three Stooges made many, many fans among the kids who saw them on TV. One day, Moe’s daughter asked him to pick up his grandchildren — Mike and Jeff — from school. Moe agreed, and when school let out, here came Mike and Jeff — and a couple of hundred other kids. Mike and Jeff had told their friends that one of the Three Stooges was coming to pick them up, and their friends had told their friends, who had told their friends. Things were chaotic for a while, and finally a teacher asked Moe to leave because of the near-riot conditions. By the way, Moe once received a telephone call from his daughter, who told him good news. She had bought a copy of the World Book Encyclopedia, and a photograph of the Three Stooges was in it! Later, Moe looked up “Comedy” in the World Book Encyclopedia, and he saw a photograph of himself and Larry wrapping an “iron” bar around the neck of Curly.
• In 1959, Mel Brooks, before he became really famous, attended a wrap party at a restaurant for the movie Happy Anniversary, in which his friend Carl Reiner appeared. Also eating at the restaurant, across the room, was playwright Moss Hart, whom Mr. Brooks recognized. Mr. Brooks approached Mr. Hart, loudly saying, “Hello. You don’t know who I am. My name is Mel Brooks. Do you know who you are? Your name is Moss Hart. Do you know what you’ve written? You wrote Once in a Lifetime with George Kaufman and You Can’t Take It with You and The Man Who Came to Dinner. You wrote Lady in the Dark and you directed My Fair Lady.” Mr. Brooks continued naming all the things that Mr. Hart had accomplished during his life. Then he grew louder, “You should be arrogant! You have earned the right to be supercilious! WHY ARE YOU LETTING ME TALK TO YOU?”
***
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PUTIN KILLS A FEW MORE
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Reader Comment
Current Events
Evan skewers Tuckums
Evan absolutely slays Tucker over his racism. It's all a good read:
President Joe Biden has made a
new and brilliant nomination to the Supreme Court, and true to his promise, that nominee is a Black woman. So obviously Tucker Carlson has received his script from his white nationalist overlords and SURPRISE, it is the
same script any mediocre white racist with Little Man Syndrome would use to attack Ketanji Brown Jackson.
The last sentence is DEVASTATING!
that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Again, no rain - just lots of wind.
House For Sale
‘Edward Scissorhands’
Prices are definitely not slashed at one Florida home that’s for sale. The house used as the location setting for Tim Burton’s 1990 cult classic, Edward Scissorhands, is on the market for a cool $700k.
Located in Lutz, Florida, just outside of Tampa, the home was bought two years ago for $230k by current owner Joey Klops. He went full force into the house’s history, stocking it with memorabilia from the Johnny Depp star turn. If you buy the house, the artifacts are yours to keep.
If you’re interested in the nitty-gritty, the home has three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Klops has also renovated the space to more closely align it with the film.
Among the highlights: mushroom wallpaper covering the kitchen and other rooms to match the film’s flavor, and a full-sized Edward Scissorhands mannequin.
‘Edward Scissorhands’
Turns Over Visitor Logs
U.S. Archives
The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration has delivered White House visitor logs from the former President Donald Trump's administration to the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, the committee said on Friday.
NARA also turned over records from former Vice President Mike Pence, meeting a March 3 deadline.
Trump The national shame had tried to block the release of the visitor logs, but President Joe Biden rejected his claim that they were subject to executive privilege, "in light of the urgency" of the committee's work and Congress' "compelling need."
Several courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have also ruled against the Republican ex-president's efforts to block the release of various records to the committee.
U.S. Archives
Cuts Off Service
Cogent Communications
Cogent Communications, an internet backbone provider that carries approximately 25 percent of all global web traffic, has begun cutting ties with Russian businesses in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine. The company told The Washington Post it was doing so to prevent the Kremlin from using its network to carry out cyberattacks and spread misinformation about the ongoing conflict.
“Our goal is not to hurt anyone. It’s just to not empower the Russian government to have another tool in their war chest,” Cogent CEO Dave Schaeffer told the outlet, adding “it was a tough decision.” In a statement to ZDNet, the company said it was also complying with European Union sanctions against Russia Today and Sputnik. “Cogent is not otherwise restricting or blocking traffic originating from or destined for Russia. Cogent continues to provide services to Ukraine,” the company added.
The move is expected to disrupt and slow down internet connectivity. Some of Cogent’s Russian clients include state-owned telecom operator Rostelecom, one of the country’s largest internet providers, and wireless carriers Megafon and Veon. Cogent said it was working with some of those companies to provide them extensions.
To that point, Russians already can’t access Facebook and Twitter after the country’s government moved to restrict those platforms. They may soon lose access to Wikipedia as well.
Cogent Communications
Announces Rebrand
Stoli Vodka
The maker of Stolichnaya vodka announced a major rebrand Friday, in direct response to its founder’s “vehement position” against the Putin regime and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The vodka, famously marketed as Russian, will now be sold and marketed simply as Stoli, the company said in a statement.
Stoli Group’s founder, Russian-born billionaire Yuri Shefler, was exiled from that nation in 2000 because of his opposition to Putin. The liquor has long been marketed as Russian vodka, but its production facilities have been in Latvia since that year. Stoli Group is a unit of Luxembourg-based SPI Group.
The company also cited its employees’ desire to take action and to accurately represent the vodka’s Latvian roots.
Earlier this week, Stoli Group announced it would only use Slovakian sources to make sure that none of its ingredients are sourced from Russia.
Stoli Vodka
Photos Shared
Zelenskyy
Two Republican senators are facing criticism after tweeting photos of a video call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy even though participating lawmakers were told to not share pictures on social media while it was in progress.
Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Steve Daines of Montana posted pictures of Zelenskyy on their Twitter accounts during the Zoom meeting Saturday morning, writing that they were on a call with him.
Members were explicitly asked not to tweet or post pictures of the call while it was in progress, multiple aides told NBC News. The embassy coordinated this with the offices of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., as well as the Congressional Ukraine Caucus, said a Democratic leadership aide.
In separate statements, representatives for Rubio and Daines defended the senators' decision to share the photos, calling those who make an issue out of their tweets a "partisan."
Zelenskyy
Grim Validation
First Impeachment
As early images of Russian tanks and smoldering buildings emerged from Ukraine last week, the first thought that crossed Rep. Hakeem Jeffries’ (D-N.Y.) mind concerned the safety of the Ukrainian people. His next thought was the first impeachment of the former President Donald Trump. “My first reaction, in the horror of the attack, was, ‘This is why what we did was so important,’” Jeffries, one of the managers of that impeachment, recalls.
A similar recognition set in among Democrats on social media as they watched a video of Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky stand defiant of his Russian invaders in the streets of Kyiv. The leader, now regarded as an international hero, had been in office for less than two months when Trump the known grifter had asked him to dig up dirt on Joe Biden and his family. “I sense the first impeachment sounded kinda obscure to some people,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) tweeted last week. “But withholding lethal aid was both an actual crime and a moral crime.”
At the heart of the first impeachment was a quid pro quo: The president withheld nearly $400 million in defense aid Congress approved for Ukraine in an effort to coerce Zelensky to investigate the business dealings of Biden’s son Hunter. The aid had been crucial to fending off Russian hostilities that had plagued the country since 2014, when Russia invaded and annexed Crimea from Ukraine. For the Democrats charged with crafting that first case against the former president, the latest Russian invasion represents a mournful validation of their efforts.
In a now-infamous July 2019 phone call, Zelensky told Trump he wanted to purchase Javelin anti-tank missiles, to which Trump the loser replied, “I would like you to do us a favor, though.” The former president then asked Zelensky to “look into” spurious claims about the Bidens’ dealings with Ukraine and an unfounded theory that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that tried to meddle in the 2016 American presidential election. The call, which Trump the known liar later described as “perfect,” came months after the president had denied Zelensky a diplomatic meeting and ousted the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. A whistleblower reported the alleged shakedown, which unfroze the aid and launched the investigation that led to Trump’s impeachment.
First Impeachment
200 Cups Of Coffee
Caffeine OD
A personal trainer died from an overdose after accidentally ingesting a powder with caffeine levels equivalent to up to 200 cups of coffee, an inquest heard, per reports.
Tom Mansfield, 29, bought a 100g (3.5 oz) bag of caffeine powder from Blackburn Distributions, a British sports supplements company, according to BBC News.
The recommended dose of caffeine powder, which is often used by gymgoers to aid their performance, was between 60 - 300mg (0.002 and 0.01 oz).
The father-of-two from Colwyn Bay, Wales, miscalculated his measurement and scooped up to 5g (0.2 oz) of the powder, the inquest heard, per Yahoo! News.
A post-mortem examination showed Mansfield had caffeine levels of 392mg per liter of blood, per BBC News. A typical coffee produces 2 to 4 mg per liter, meaning that he consumed the equivalent of up to 200 cups.
Caffeine OD
No Duffel Bag Involved
Denver
A box of human heads was stolen from a truck that was transporting the body parts for medical research, officials in Denver said.
The theft occurred Thursday morning at 11 a.m., when the Denver Police said someone broke into the box truck and took a cardboard box of human remains as well as a dolly. Sources told Nexstar’s KDVR the box was blue and white, and had “Science Care” written on the sides.
Inside the box? Human heads.
Science Care is a program for donating bodies to science to help improve scientific research and education. KDVR has reached out to the company to learn more about the intended destination.
Police could only confirm the heads were being transported to be used for medical research. They couldn’t share any further details, as the case was still active.
Denver
Ceremonial Start
Iditarod
Fans, dogs and mushers returned in droves Saturday to downtown Anchorage in the midst of a snowstorm for the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
The ceremonial start was canceled last year due to the pandemic. This year, fans attending the 50th running of the race were limited in their interactions with participants but still were able to watch from behind fences as mushers left the starting line two minutes apart.
Mushers took a leisurely jaunt through Alaska’s largest city, waving at fans that lined downtown streets. The competitive race for mushers and their dogs starts Sunday in Willow, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) north of Anchorage, with the winner expected about nine days later in Nome.
Mushers had to show proof of vaccination to race this year, and they will isolate at checkpoints so they don’t bring COVID-19 to the rural, largely Alaska Native villages along the nearly 1,000-mile (1,609-kilometer) route to Nome.
There are 49 mushers in this year’s race, including defending champion Dallas Seavey, who is seeking to make history as the first musher to win six Iditarod titles. He’s tied with Rick Swenson with five victories apiece. Win or lose, the 35-year-old indicated this is probably his last race for a while as he wishes to spend more time with his pre-teen daughter.
Iditarod
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