from Bruce
Anecdotes
Death
• Pianist Franz Reizenstein once performed Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto with an orchestra conducted by Josef Krips. Unfortunately, Mr. Reizenstein made a number of mistakes, both during rehearsal and during the concert. After the concert, he asked Mr. Krips, “Well, what do you think of me now, Josef?” Mr. Krips replied, “The trouble is this, my friend. There are always witnesses to a musical murder.”
• When Serge Diaghilev died, Anton Dolin saw his photograph in a newspaper and without reading the article, knew immediately what it meant. He went to Lydia Lopokova and George Balanchine crying, “Serge Pavlovich est mort.” However, they were at least able to take comfort because Mr. Diaghilev had died in Venice, where he had always hoped he would die.
Education
• When Alicia Markova, whose name at birth was Alicia Marks, was a young ballet student, she saw the great Russian dancer Anna Pavlova, and afterwards wanted to meet her. Her father went backstage, met Ms. Pavlova’s husband, and explained that his daughter wanted to meet Ms. Pavlova. Monsieur Dandré, Ms. Pavlova’s husband, asked who his daughter was. Not wishing to lie, but also not wishing to admit that his daughter was only eight years old, Mr. Marks replied, “She is a young dancer who has already attracted the attention of the critics.” (Mr. Marks’ statement was true, as little Alicia had danced a little on the stage and had been briefly mentioned in a press notice.) Hearing that the critics had noticed Mr. Marks’ young daughter, M. Dandré set up an appointment for her to meet the great Pavlova the following day. This is Anna Pavlova’s advice to eight-year-old dance student Alicia Markova: “You must realize that your life will be all work, lots and lots of hard work, and unless you are prepared to face that and give up your pleasures in order to be a dancer, it is better that you decide now to do something else. You must not be misled when you go to the theater and see a ballerina cheered as she takes her call with her arms full of roses. That is just a fleeting moment of compensation in a life that is nothing but continuous work until the day you retire.”
• Some student hacks (pranks) at MIT involve the classroom. On 25 October 1985, students arrived for a physics lecture. On their way into the classroom, they picked up what they thought were class handouts, but one of the handouts was hacked. It was an assignment sheet, and the assignment was to create a paper airplane. Following the instructions on the hacked assignment sheet, the students made paper airplanes and at exactly 11:15 a.m. launched hundreds of airplanes at the professor. Here are some other notable hacks: 1) In 1949, students who were taking a class early Saturday morning showed up wearing pajamas and robes. 2) In 1978, a student who was going to take a final exam spread a tablecloth over his desk and then placed on it a corkscrew, three bottles of wine, some cheese and bread, and his regulation No. 2 pencils. 3) In 1982, students reversed every desk in a lecture room so that instead of facing the front of the room (and the chalkboard), they faced the back of the room. This hack took much work because every desk was bolted to the floor.
• Tyler Cowen is a professor of economics at George Mason University. Alex Tabarrok remembers, “Tyler once walked into class the day of the final exam and he said, ‘Here is the exam. Write your own questions. Write your own answers. Harder questions and better answers get more points.’ Then he walked out.” In a 13 August 2012 comment on this blog entry, Ragbatz wrote, “In the 1960’s a Harvard chemistry professor posed a question on a chemistry final examination along these lines: ‘10% Extra Credit. Write a question to be used as an extra credit question on a final examination in chemistry. The ideal extra credit question should be worth about 10% of the grade on the examination as a whole, and test facility with the material covered during the course.’ My friend Tom Hervey received full credit with the following answer: ‘10% Extra Credit. Write a question to be used as an extra credit question on a final examination in chemistry. The ideal extra credit question should be worth about 10% of the grade on the examination as a whole, and test facility with the material covered during the course.’”
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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
Music: "Ka saulei aizdegties (Tu liec)"
Single: This is a one-sided single.
Artist: Paula DHeart
Artist Location: Latvia
Record Company: SKAN Recording
Record Company Location: Latvia
Info:
The title is Latvian. According to Google Translate, it means “How to light the sun (You bend).”
BELOW: SKAN Recording Studio videos by other artists.
Price: €1 (EURO)
Genre: Pop.
Links:
“Ka saulei aizdegties (Tu liec)”
Paula Dobzanska (Paula DHeart) on YouTube
SKAN Recording Official Website
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Other Links:
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Reader Suggestion
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New Venture
Michael Egan
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
Recommended
Tanya Savicheva is like Anne Frank. Both girls went through horrible times during war and died, Tanya a little after the siege of Leningrad, where she lived. Both girls had many relatives who also died. The author of the Tanya tweet is asking: Why learn about Tanya in Russian schools if Russian politicians start a war against Ukraine? Doing that will create Ukrainian Tanyas.
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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
Easily 30° cooler than yesterday.
Tank Tagged With ‘Wolverines’
‘Red Dawn’
“Red Dawn,” the cult classic Cold War film about a group of teens who must defend America against a fictional attack by the Soviet Union, has resurfaced in the very real war taking place in Ukraine.
NPR Politics correspondent Scott Detrow tweeted Thursday that he drove past “a destroyed Russian tank with WOLVERINES spraypainted across it” in Ukraine.
In the John Milius-directed film, “Wolverines” is the name that the group of protagonists – played by Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell, Charlie Sheen, Darren Dalton, Doug Toby and Brad Savage – goes by, as well as their battle cry. Their Colorado town comes under siege when the Soviet Union and their Cuban and Nicaraguan allies attack, forcing them to take cover in the woods.
Although the 1984 film only performed decently at the box office, it found a home with fans over the years. Its cultural impact is evident in the number of times it has been referenced in real-life politics. “Operation Red Dawn” was the nickname given to the mission to capture Saddam Hussein. Furthermore, a chain of emails exchanged between members of the Trump previous administration about COVID-19 were deemd the “Red Dawn emails.”
Russia’s war against Ukraine has also prompted a popularity surge for the movie, as viewership on streaming platforms rose to 500% the day the invasion began. In addition to “Red Dawn,” “Inglorious Basterds” and “Rocky IV” have also experienced surges.
‘Red Dawn’
School Book Ban Incidents
Florida
There have been more than 200 instances of public school districts in Florida banning books since last July, the third highest number of incidents of any state in the U.S., according to a report from an advocacy group for writing professionals.
PEN America said in the report this week that Florida had 204 instances of book banning in seven school districts between July 2021 and March 2022. Only Texas and Pennsylvania had higher numbers.
The school districts were in Brevard, Clay, Flagler, Indian River, Orange, Pinellas and Polk counties.
The report said that in Orange County, home to Orlando, school leaders pulled books without following their own processes. In nearby Polk County, 16 books were put in “quarantine” while officials decided whether to ban them permanently after a conservative national advocacy group, not a local parent, flagged them as problematic, the report said.
Books banned in Florida school districts, whether permanently or pending review, include Isabel Allende’s “The House of Spirits,” Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” Iris Chang’s “The Rape of Nanking,” Jonathan Safran Foer’s “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” Khaled Hosseini’s “The Kite Runner,” Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World” and Toni Morrison’s “Beloved.”
Florida
No Bids For Roman Villa
Rita Jenrette
A Roman court received no bids Thursday for Villa Aurora, a 30,000-square-foot, 500-year-old mansion where a former South Carolina politician’s wife lives.
Once known as Rita Jenrette, wife of former U.S. Rep. John Jenrette of South Carolina’s Pee Dee, now Princess Rita Boncompagni Ludovisi, said she was not anxious about the sale before and feels fine about it afterward.
She said a third — and final auction — will be held in mid-June.
Ludovisi’s three stepsons contested their father’s will, forcing the auction.
Prince Nicolò Boncompagni Ludovisi, whom Rita Jenrette married in 2009, left her a life estate in the house and decreed that if it was sold she would get half the proceeds and the sons would split the other half.
Rita Jenrette
Books Concert
John Hinckley Jr.
John Hinckley Jr., the man who attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981, will play a concert in Brooklyn this summer.
In 2016, after spending 34 years under institutional psychiatric care, Hinckley was released into the custody of his mother. In the time since then, Hinckley has pursued an interest in music, releasing more than three dozen videos to YouTube, including originals and covers of Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and Elvis Presley. At one point, Hinckley even petitioned the court for permission to move to Los Angeles so that he could pursue a career in the music industry.
Now, Hinckley has announced his first-ever public gig: it’ll take place on July 8th at Brooklyn’s Market Hotel. What’s more, he’ll be joined by “special guests,” according to a tweet posted by the concert’s promoter, Scenic Presents.
Tickets for the show are priced at $20 each, and proof of vaccination and a mask are required upon entry.
John Hinckley Jr.
No Rape (Or Incest) Exceptions
Abortion Bans
As conservative states enacted stringent abortion bans in recent decades, there was one threshold they were loath to cross: Abortion was nearly always allowed in cases of rape or incest.
It was a veneer of acceptance embraced by every GOP president from Reagan to Trump, and even the strongest abortion foes, that a woman should not be required to carry a rapist’s child.
Not anymore.
Just as states may be on the verge of regaining expansive authority to outlaw abortion, eliminating rape and incest exceptions has moved from the fringe to the center of the antiabortion movement.
In 2019, Alabama gained national attention by passing a state law banning all abortions with exceptions only for lethal abnormalities and serious health risks to the patient.
Abortion Bans
Line Of Failed Ventures
Harsh Truth
By any measure, Truth Social, Donald Trump the loser’s social media platform, has had a rough start.
Engagement is low, the initial flood of downloads of the app have withered to a trickle and the first resignations of its top staff have begun. It’s too soon to tell if it’s a stiff, but as with many Trump conman's businesses that fail to take off, the former US president appears to be washing his hands of it: he has barely used it.
The Twitter clone, where posts are called “truths”, was launched with high expectations on February’s President’s Day. It was briefly the most downloaded free app on Apple. But three weeks after Truth Social was launched, its download chart position dropped to 116. Last week it failed to break the top 200. One study found that downloads have fallen by as much as 95%.
It now seems Truth Social may be heading the same way as Trump failed Steaks and Trump rotgut Vodka, just to name a few. Slapping the Trump loser's name on a product that others produce better just does not work – especially now.
Yet – judging by his public pronouncements – it was meant to be a very different story this time. “I created Truth Social … to stand up to the tyranny of big tech,” Trump the grifter said in October, 10 months after he was permanently banned from Twitter.
Harsh Truth
Set Out Strategies
Text
The former President Donald Trump’s eldest son sent the White House chief of staff a text message two days after Election Day in 2020 that laid out strategies for declaring his father the winner regardless of the electoral outcome, people familiar with the exchange said Friday.
The text, which was reported earlier by CNN, was sent two days before Joe Biden was declared the winner of the election. The recipient, Mark Meadows (R-Voter Fraudster), turned a cache of his text messages over to the House committee investigating the events leading up to the deadly riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as the Electoral College results in Biden’s favor were being certified.
“It’s very simple,” Donald Trump Jr. the unindicted conspirator wrote to Meadows on Nov. 5, 2020. He wrote at another point, “We have multiple paths We control them all.”
The message went on to lay out a variety of options that the elder Trump conman or his allies ultimately employed in trying to overturn the results of the election, from legal challenges to promoting alternative slates of electors to focusing efforts on the statutory date of Jan. 6 for certification of the Electoral College results.
In a statement, the younger Trump apprentice grifter’s lawyer, Alan Futerfas, confirmed that the text message was sent but suggested it was someone else’s idea that Donald Trump Jr. the addled spawn was passing along.
Text
Extra-Dimensional Cosmic Refugee?
Dark Matter
Dark matter, the elusive substance that accounts for the majority of the mass in the Universe, may be made up of massive particles called gravitons that first popped into existence in the first moment after the Big Bang.
And these hypothetical particles might be cosmic refugees from extra dimensions, a new theory suggests.
The researchers' calculations hint that these particles could have been created in just the right quantities to explain dark matter, which can only be "seen" through its gravitational pull on ordinary matter.
"Massive gravitons are produced by collisions of ordinary particles in the early Universe. This process was believed to be too rare for the massive gravitons to be dark matter candidates," study co-author Giacomo Cacciapaglia, a physicist at the University of Lyon in France, told Live Science.
But in a new study published in February in the journal Physical Review Letters, Cacciapaglia, along with Korea University physicists Haiying Cai and Seung J. Lee, found that enough of these gravitons would have been made in the early Universe to account for all of the dark matter we currently detect in the Universe.
Dark Matter
Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing
Ventura Freeway
Imagine cruising down a 10-lane highway and knowing that, high above your head, a mountain lion is quietly going along its way. This remarkable image could soon be reality for drivers on one of California’s busiest roads, as the world’s largest wildlife overpass begins construction this month.
The history-making project will comprise a green bridge built across the 101 highway near Los Angeles, creating a corridor between two parts of the Santa Monica mountains. Stretching 210ft long and 165ft wide, the overpass will allow safe passage for lizards, snakes, toads and mountain lions, with an acre of local plants on either side and vegetated sound walls to dampen light and noise for nocturnal animals as they slip across.
The project, nearly a decade in the making, comes at a crucial time. Highways in this car-heavy landscape crisscross critical habitat for the protected mountain lions and other animals, forcing them to make what can be deadly crossings. At least 25 of the big cats have been killed on Los Angeles freeways since 2002. The latest death was just weeks ago, on 23 March, when a young lion was struck and killed on the Pacific Coast highway.
A groundbreaking ceremony to mark the start of construction for the $90m crossing – called the Wallis Annenberg wildlife crossing – will take place on Earth Day, 22 April. Construction will mostly happen at night and the project isn’t expected to be complete until early 2025.
The bridge’s price tag will be covered by about 60% private donations, with the rest coming from public funds set aside for conservation purposes. California’s Governor Gavin Newsom has called the project an “inspiring example” of public-private partnership.
Ventura Freeway
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