MICHAEL BALSAMO and Aamer Madhani: "Fauci Shrugs Off Threats: 'I've Chosen This Life'" (APM)
WASHINGTON (AP) - Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country's top infectious disease expert, owns up to doing some not-so-smart things as he helps lead the White House effort to stem the spread of the new coronavirus. Things like forgetting to eat and not getting enough sleep. The blunt-speaking Fauci also has had to contend with a deluge of online threats and uncomfortable personal encounters with admirers as the pandemic consumes his every waking hour. Nevertheless, the 79-year-old epidemiologist insists he's doing just fine.
John Philip Sousa (November 6, 1854 - March 6, 1932) was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era known primarily for American military marches. He is known as "The March King" or the "American March King", to distinguish him from his British counterpart Kenneth J. Alford who is also known as "The March King". Among his best-known marches are "The Stars and Stripes Forever" (National March of the United States of America), "Semper Fidelis" (official march of the United States Marine Corps), "The Liberty Bell", "The Thunderer", and "The Washington Post".
Sousa wrote 137 marches, 15 operettas, 5 overtures, 11 suites, 24 dances, 28 fantasies, and 322 arrangements of nineteenth-century western European symphonic works.
Source
Mark. was first, and correct, with:
Fifteen operettas.
Alan J answered:
Nine.
Dave wrote:
15 operettas. Yesterday my 5th grandchild was born, a girl named Maeve. Don't know when we can see her because of the Trumpovirus lockdown? Soon we hope.
Cal in Vermont said:
15.
zorch responded:
9 operettas.
Jim from CA, retired to ID, replied:
11
Barbara, of Peppy Tech fame wrote:
The answer is 15.
I noticed that the last two times I sent you more than just the answer to the trivia question, my emails had typos in them. It seems my proofreading skills have deteriorated somewhat. Might it have to do with sheltering-in-place for 3 weeks? Who knows? In any case, here is another contribution. Enjoy!
Deborah said:
He wrote 11 operettas, and a slew of other kinds of music, in addition to his famous marches. The sousaphone was named after him, as he invented it. I'm a fan of his marches, for sure.
Hey, it's another day and neither of us are at each other's throats! Maybe this SaH isn't such a bad thing after all! j/k I gotta GTFO.
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CRUMPLSTOCK 2020
( crumplstock.com/ ) the 3-Day online dj festival has started! It plays April 3/4/5 all this weekend. Simply
go here, choose from either stage, & by clicking on the current dj's name, you hear the music. There's so many skilled dj's. Right now, the DJ Is my good pal, Budtheweiser from UK. Listen for my set on Sunday night. Woot!
• Colonel James H. Mapleson was the impresario of a traveling opera company starring Adelina Patti, who refused to perform for less than $5,000 - always paid in advance. One day, Colonel Mapleson was short of money, so he gave her agent $4,000, and said that he hoped she would perform. Ms. Patti's agent spoke with her, and then reported she had said that for $4,000, she would consent to put on her costume, but she would leave her shoes off - and in the meantime he should get more money. Later, Colonel Mapleson arrived with another $800, and Ms. Patti put on one shoe. Finally, Colonel Mapleson came up with another $200, and Ms. Patti put on her other shoe, and then gave a fabulous performance.
• In the 15th century, Josquin des Prez was an Italian composer of motets - religious songs sung without accompaniment. When the Duke of Ferrara was very slow in giving Josquin a raise he had been promised, Josquin wrote a motet on the religious text, "Remember thy word unto thy servant." The Duke got the message, came up with the promised raise, and Josquin then wrote a motet on the religious text, "Lord, thou hast dealt graciously with thy servant."
• Joe Frisco was a comic who, down on his luck, ran across his old friend Bing Crosby at the horse races and borrowed $100. Fortunately, his luck changed. He bet the $100 on a long shot, won, and treated his friends to dinner at a restaurant. When Bing walked into the restaurant, Mr. Frisco pulled out a $100 bill, handed it to Bing, and said, "Here, kid, sing something."
• Early in his career as an opera singer, Luciano Pavarotti didn't make much money. However, he got a job with an opera company in Holland that paid him all the money it owed him at the end of the several weeks he sang there. Mr. Pavarotti took his pay home and used it to cover the bedroom - even sticking money to the walls - as a surprise for his wife.
• Oboe player Bruno Labate was not afraid of conductors and occasionally spoke harshly to them. When another member of the orchestra asked about his lack of fear, Mr. Labate answered, "I should be afraid? I with $75,000 in the bank?"
• For many years, Roy Henderson was the voice teacher of opera/lieder singer Kathleen Ferrier. Following a concert at which they both sang, Ms. Ferrier's check was mistakenly handed to him. He looked at it and discovered that the pupil was being paid more than the teacher.
• A friend of Russell Sherman's piano teacher told him that someone driving a garbage truck probably made more money than he did playing the piano. The piano teacher replied, "Perhaps, but somehow I'd rather play the piano."
Mothers
• Harpo Marx got his nickname (before Hitler's rise to power, his real name was Adolf; after Hitler's rise to power, Harpo changed his name to Arthur) because he played the harp. Apparently, lots of nursing mothers felt that harp music would be soothing to their infants, so they seated themselves by Harpo whenever he performed live. Harpo used to play soothing music for a while, and then suddenly hit a sharp chord just so he could watch the mothers jump, pulling their nipples out of their infants' mouths.
• Jazz great Duke Ellington loved his mother and bought her expensive gifts - a fur coat, strings of pearls, a fancy limousine complete with chauffeur. Whenever she protested his extravagance, he would tell her, "If you don't take these things, I won't work."
CBS starts the night, as usual, with '60 Minutes', followed by the FRESH'ACM Presents: Our Country', then a RERUN'NCIS: The 3rd One'.
NBC opens the night with a FRESH'Little Big Shots', followed by a RERUN'The Wall', then a FRESH'Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist', followed by a FRESH'Good Girls'.
ABC begins the night with a FRESH'America's So-Called Funniest Home Videos', followed by a FRESH'American Idol', then a FRESH'The Rookie'.
The CW offers a FRESH'Batwoman', followed by a FRESH'Supergirl'.
Faux has a RERUN'The Simpsons', followed by a RERUN'Bob's Burgers', then a RERUN'The Simpsons', followed by a RERUN'Duncanville', then a RERUN'Bob's Burgers', followed by a RERUN'Family Guy'.
MY recycles an old 'How I Met Your Mother', followed by another old 'How I Met Your Mother', then an old 'Big Bang Theory', followed by another old 'Big Bang Theory', then still another old 'Big Bang Theory', followed by yet another old 'Big Bang Theory'.
A&E has the movie 'Hitman: Agent 47', followed by the movie 'SWAT', then the movie 'The Mummy'.
AMC offers 'The Walking Dead', another 'The Walking Dead', followed by a FRESH'The Walking Dead', then a FRESH'Talking Dead'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] WEIRD WONDERS
[7:00AM] WEIRD WONDERS
[8:00AM] WEIRD WONDERS
[9:00AM] PREMIER LEAGUE DARTS
[10:00AM] WATCHMEN
[1:30PM] A KNIGHT'S TALE
[4:30PM] THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS
[8:30PM] THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS
[12:30AM] WATCHMEN
[6:00AM] STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE - Past Tense
[7:00AM] STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE - Past Tense (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'Real Housewives Of Atlanta', another 'Real Housewives Of Atlanta', followed by a FRESH'Family Karma', then a FRESH'Watch What Happens: Live'.
Comedy Central has the movie 'Shrek Forever After', followed by the movie 'Shrek', then the movie 'Tommy Boy'.
FX has the movie 'X-Men: Apocalypse', followed by the movie 'Deadpool', then the movie 'Deadpool', again.
History has 'American Pickers', 'The Jesus Strand: A Search For DNA', and 'God Code'.
IFC -
[6:45A] Dark Shadows
[9:15A] The Watch
[11:30A] Zoolander
[1:30P] Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls
[3:30P] Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
[5:30P] Up in Smoke
[7:30P] Caddyshack
[9:45P] Caddyshack
[12:00A] Up in Smoke
[2:00A] Monty Python and the Holy Grail
[4:00A] Life of Brian (ALL TIMES EST)
Sundance -
[6:00am] Law & Order
[7:00am] Law & Order
[8:00am] Law & Order
[9:00am] Law & Order
[10:00am] Law & Order
[11:00am] The General's Daughter
[1:30pm] Terminator 2: Judgment Day
[4:30pm] AVP: Alien vs. Predator
[6:30pm] Predator
[9:00pm] Saving Private Ryan
[1:00am] An Officer and a Gentleman
[4:00am] Hogan's Heroes
[4:30am] Hogan's Heroes
[5:00am] Hogan's Heroes
[5:30am] Hogan's Heroes (ALL TIMES EST)
SyFy has the movie 'When The Bough Breaks', followed by the movie 'Sharknado', then the movie 'Sharknado 2: The Second One'.
Pink revealed on social media Friday night that her family has been quarantined for weeks after she tested positive for coronavirus. The superstar singer said she and her 3-year-old son Jameson were already self-isolating when they started showing symptoms several weeks ago. Her primary care physician "fortunately" had access to tests, she said, and she tested positive.
After continuing to shelter at home for the last two weeks, Pink said they were re-tested and no longer have COVID-19. The 40-year-old slammed the government for failing to provide widespread access to testing as the virus spreads across the country.
"It is an absolute travesty and failure of our government to not make testing more widely available," the three-time Grammy Award winner tweeted Friday night.
The singer said she is donating $1 million to help battle coronavirus, to be split between two different causes. $500,000 will be donated to the City of Los Angeles Mayor's Emergency COVID-19 Crisis Fund.
$500,000 will also be donated to the Temple University Hospital Emergency Fund in Philadelphia. The Pennsylvania native said the donation honors her mother, Judy Moore, who worked in the hospital's Cardiomyopathy and Heart Transplant Center for 18 years.
Bernie Sanders warned HBO Real Time host Bill Maher that it's entirely possible that President Donald Trump (R-Grifter) will direct coronavirus relief money to states based on whether he needs to win them in the 2020 presidential race.
"If you think that during a campaign, you're not going to see a lot of money from the Trump administration going to battleground states Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, you would be grossly underestimating the venality of this president," Sanders said from Burlington, VT, where he was connected by video chat to Maher, who returned this week to host his HBO from his Los Angeles home.
Maher had asked Sanders how he would "stop a president who send aid to Florida, because he likes the governor there, but not here to California or Illinois or Massachusetts."
Sanders responded, "It is literally beyond comprehension. We have a president who has done so much harm in this entire process."
"His actions or inactions, in not listening to the scientists, spouting off ridiculous ideas, is going to cost the lives of many thousands of America," he said.
At-home entertainment is seeing a dramatic surge amid the coronavirus pandemic, with streaming platforms like Disney+ (DIS) and Netflix (NFLX) benefitting.
Analytics platform EDO, Inc. surveyed 6,800 Americans from March 24 to March 28, finding that approximately 85% of respondents said their at-home television and movie consumption has increased since the coronavirus outbreak began. A fifth of surveyors added that they purchased a new streaming app as a result of the quarantine.
Disney-owned properties Disney+ and Hulu, at 29% and 21%, respectively, received the highest number of new subscriptions (although many respondents were already subscribers of other services).
In any case, it's clear that Netflix is facing more competition as the appetite for streaming intensifies. According to a recent report from Nielsen, video streaming has nearly doubled in less than two years - now making up 19% of total TV usage.
If there's a human being on this planet who should probably never "surprise release" anything ever again, it's almost certainly got to be Louis CK, the noted stand-up comic, TV creator, and admitted sexual harasser. And yet here we are, just a few weeks into the international quarantine, and that's exactly what CK has done: Released a stand-up special out into the streaming world, barging his way back into our collective lives. Titled Sincerely Louis CK, the special is selling for $7.99 on CK's website, which, if you want the link, well, you can go ahead and Google that one yourself.
CK hasn't released a special since 2017, i.e., back when his habit of masturbating in front of young female comics was only a very loudly whispered rumor, and not an admitted fact and matter of public record. CK has spent the intervening years as a sort of unwelcome spirit haunting the comedy world, popping into clubs, avoiding the limelight, but never quite allowing himself to fully fade out of view. Now, he's apparently felt a great and insistent need to bring laughter back into the world, with an accompanying press release (per THR) laying out his desire to soothe the spirits of "those who need to laugh" in shitty times, like a global pandemic, or after one of the world's most powerful and respected comedians suddenly commits an act of sexual misconduct against you out of the blue.
Anyway, it's out there, if it's something you're interested in seeing. (Meanwhile, we can't help but notice that CK's philanthropic spirit has as yet not extended itself to his sexual misconduct-focused feature film I Love You, Daddy, despite the fact that he reportedly re-acquired the rights to it after its aggressively aborted release. Weird!)
Fox News host Tucker Carlson has criticised infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci over his national recommendations to help curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Mr Carlson used time on his show on Friday evening to release a diatribe against the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease and his suggestion of a nationwide lockdown.
"More than 10 million Americans have already lost their jobs," Mr Carlson said. "Imagine another year of this. That would be national suicide, and yet, that is what Anthony Fauci is suggesting, at least."
While he called Dr Fauci an "impressive man", he thought the infectious disease expert could be wrong about just how much the virus could impact communities.
"That doesn't mean he's never wrong. On the question of the pandemic, Fauci has been wrong repeatedly," he added.
Firearms sales and federal background checks for purchases soared to all-time highs in March as the coronavirus pandemic brought buyers out in record numbers, even though gun dealers were included in orders shutting down businesses in some states.
The FBI conducted 3.7 million background checks last month, according to its latest figures, the highest total since the national instant check system for buyers was launched in 1998 and 1.1 million higher than the number conducted in March 2019.
The period of March 17-21 was an especially busy period for the background check system. More than 210,000 checks were conducted on March 21 alone, the record for a single day.
The March figure also topped the previous high of 3.3 million set in December 2015, after the Obama administration raised the prospect of restricting assault weapons after the deadly mass shooting in San Bernardino, California.
Small Arms Analytics and Forecasting, a consulting firm that tracks the firearms market, said the March queries to the background check system translated to nearly 2.6 million guns sold. The share of handgun sales was also the highest ever, with nearly twice as many sold as rifles and shotguns.
President Donald Trump (R-Three Wives)'s reelection campaign is ramping up its courtship of Catholic voters ahead of a likely November matchup against a devout Catholic Democrat, former Vice President Joe Biden.
The campaign previewed its message at a Thursday night launch of a "Catholics for Trump" coalition, touting the president's religious freedom record and anti-abortion policies. In a sign of how significantly the coronavirus has upended the presidential race, the event also featured Trump backers promoting his response to the pandemic - with one describing it as aligned with Catholic teaching about solidarity.
Ahead of a general election where Catholics could prove to be vital swing voters, particularly in the Midwest, the coalition launch indicates that Trump doesn't plan to limit his faith-based outreach to evangelicals who have long been a key part of his base. But Biden, who's frequently invoked his faith on the Democratic primary trail, could bring a unique advantage with Catholic voters to this fall's contest.
At the heart of the competition for Catholic votes in November is the question of how many in the faith view abortion as the primary driver of their political engagement. Pope Francis has urged Trump to adopt an immigration stance consistent with his "pro-life" identity, and progressive Catholics have decried Trump's approach to issues from health care to climate change as inconsistent with their church's teachings.
Airlines in the US are still flying around the country amid quarantines, lockdowns, and social distancing guidelines, with each flight carrying passenger loads of just 5-15% - in some cases, even just a single passenger.
Airlines have dramatically decreased their planned international flying, with as much as 80-90% of capacity cut for April and May, but the domestic cuts have been slightly less. United, for instance, is still flying about a third of its domestic capacity.
However, as the federal stimulus package (known as the CARES Act) is implemented, it's unlikely that flights will be cut much further, even as passenger numbers dwindle.
That's because both provisions of the bailout package for airlines - payroll grants to keep employee paychecks stable, and loans to help offset negative cash flow - contain provisions requiring airlines to continue service while receiving the aid.
Specifically, the Act requires airlines receiving loans or grants to "maintain scheduled air transportation service as the Secretary of Transportation deems necessary to ensure services to any point served by that carrier before March 1, 2020. When considering whether to exercise the authority granted by this section, the Secretary of Transportation shall take into consideration the air transportation needs of small and remote communities and the need to maintain well-functioning health care and pharmaceutical supply chains, including for medical devices and supplies."
Thousands of foreign prostitutes working in Germany have been made homeless after brothels closed due to the coronavirus outbreak and borders snapped shut, making it difficult for them to return home.
Authorities in the country, where prostitution has been legal for almost two decades, shut brothels last month along with other non-essential businesses like restaurants and nightclubs to slow the spread of the virus.
"The coronavirus has been a disaster for me," said a Polish prostitute in the western city of Bochum known to her clients as Nicole. "I have had no income since mid-March and no place to sleep," she added, declining to give her real name.
Before the lockdown, she paid her brothel 90 euros ($97) a day for a room to meet clients and live in. But since then she has been staying with the brothel manager.
Sex workers in Germany are classed as self-employed, pay tax and are in theory entitled to financial assistance from a fund set up by the government to help freelancers through the pandemic.
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