from Bruce
Anecdotes
Signs
• On 15 July 1969, singer Joan Baez’ husband, David Harris, was arrested for evading the draft. As the police car drove away with her husband inside, it sported a new bumper sticker that one of her husband’s friends had placed on it: “RESIST THE DRAFT.”
• While visiting the gardens called Kagetsu-an-Tusrumi in Tokyo, Theodore Stier, who was Anna Pavlova’s music director, was amused to see a large sign which stated: “NO CHEEK-TO-CHEEK DANCING. NO SHIMMYING OR SHAKING.”
• Signs can be misleading. A sign once said, “Ornette Coleman — Free Jazz Concert.” Fans were shocked that they had to pay to attend the concert — “Free Jazz” was the name of the kind of jazz music that Mr. Coleman was playing.
Sports
• Babe Zaharias was a female professional athlete when few female professional athletes existed. She won Olympic gold medals in track and field and started the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA), but she played (and often excelled in) many other sports. A reporter once asked her if there was anything she did not play. She replied, “Yeah. Dolls.” Lots of people thought that playing sports was a masculine trait, and a woman once asked her, “Where are your whiskers?” Babe replied, “I’m sitting on them, sister, just like you.”
• People with mental retardation like having fun and participating in sports, too. Leslie Fish, who became mentally retarded after suffering from meningitis as a baby, lives in Minnesota where winter sports are popular. She enjoys both skiing and ice skating. She and her Special Olympics team once skated at the United States National Figure Skating Championships. When she was young, she and her father sometimes pretended to smoke cigars just for fun.
Travel
• Travelers sometimes have interesting experiences. While traveling in Mexico, Anna Pavlova’s dance troupe ran into a problem. The proprietor of a hotel showed them a large room where he expected all the members of the troupe — male and female — to sleep. He explained that the large room was “for the family.” Ms. Pavlova and her troupe found different lodgings. While Ms. Pavlova was touring in South Africa, a male Kaffir dancer named Brandy was told that she was the greatest dancer in the world. He replied, “She hasn’t seen me yet.”
• Anna Pavlova believed in getting all she could from her travels. For example, she studied the national dances of the countries she performed in: While touring in a country for an extended time, she sought the best teachers for her dance company, so they could learn the national dances and perform them the next time they visited that country. In addition, she once spent an entire night watching the Taj Mahal under a full moon.
• Early aviator Katherine Stinson was known for keeping her airplane very clean. Was this because of a woman’s stereotypical concern with cleanliness? No. She explained, “It’s all right if your automobile goes wrong while you are driving it. You can get out … and tinker with it. But if your airplane breaks down, you can’t sit on a convenient cloud and tinker with that!”
• Ballerina Illaria Obidenna Ladré danced all over the world. She remembers the smells of South America vividly. Arriving at 3 a.m. in a small town, she and the dance troupe smelled freshly baked bread — quite a contrast to the smell of the town where people at a hotel dumped the contents of their chamber pots from the hotel balcony.
• Sir Harry Lauder, a Scotsman, performed in Chicago, where he asked an elderly woman in the audience to come up on stage with him. She did, saying that she had come 30 miles to see him. Sir Harry replied, “But that’s nothing, my dear lassie. I’ve just traveled 5,000 miles to see you.”
• When Harry Hershfield first went to Paris as an old man, he told a friend that he wished he had seen Paris 30 years earlier. The friend asked, “You mean when Paris was Paris?” “No,” he said, “when Hershfield was Hershfield.”
• Traveler Peg Bracken likes to keep an eye on the graffiti of any country she visits. On the sea wall of Saint-Tropez, she saw this graffito: “Revolution is coming; keep your eyes on the rich men’s yachts.”
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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
Track: “A Hair of the Dog (Chapter Two)”
Album: SURF BRITANNIA 2
Artist: Mustard Allegro
Artist Location: Bristol, UK
Record Company: Surf Brittanica
Record Company Location: UK
Info:
“Finally, after ten years playing the sleaziest bars in Las Vegas, New York and Intercourse (no really, look it up) Bristol’s 11th best surf band are back in the dis-United Kingdom. With fond memories of cockroach-infested motels and the Amish surf scene they have discarded their pants and proudly donned their trousers in order to chase the dream of becoming Bristol’s 10th best surf band. Formed in January 2006 after Mark E Smith from the Fall failed to arrive at a gig and an impromptu surf set prevented a violent riot from destroying Slough despite the best efforts of ringleader John Betjeman. This triumph promised glory for the future and Mustard Allegro stepped boldly into the blinding light of progress. Inspired by a whole host of musicians that you’ve never heard of and with an injection of Afro-beat that has outraged UKIP, the band are delighted to be back in the UK after their release from Guantanamo Bay.”
“Sharawaji Records presents … 20 hot acts ripping up 20 killer surf tunes. We got trad surf, baaad surf, lizard surf, equine surf, horror surf, death surf, punk surf, secret surf, atomic surf and of course SURF ROCK! From all corners of the UK, from fresh, breaking bands to established surfers and cult favourites, there is something for everyone who likes a bit of drip and a lot of twaaannggg!”
“A Hair of the Dog (Chapter Two)” is also on Mustard Allegro’s LIGHT THE CANDLE, BRING OUT THE NUTLOAF EP. Price: £1 (GBP) for track; £5 (GBP) for five-track EP
Price: £1 (GBP) for track; £5 (GBP) for 20-track album
Genre: Surf. Rock Instrumental.
Links:
SURF BRITANNIA 2
LIGHT THE CANDLE, BRING OUT THE NUTLOAF EP
Mustard Allegro on Bandcamp
Mustard Allegro on YouTube
Surf Brittania
Sharawaji Records
Other Links:
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David Bruce's Smashwords Page
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Stephen Suggests
ThreeFer
New Venture
Michael Egan
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
Ukraine
Other Links:
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David Bruce's Blog #1
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some guy Suggests
an explanation
Finally an explanation
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Current Events
This has both the version I saw on the news and embedded in the story is the longer version that the Palace has posted--adorable!
that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Running late.
Missing Co-Star Chimp Found Alive
Alan Cumming
Last May, Tonka the chimpanzee, an elderly ape who starred in George of the Jungle and Buddy alongside actor Alan Cumming in 1997, died, according to court records.
The chimp had recently suffered a stroke and died from heart failure, his owner Tonia Haddix claimed, submitting a declaration and court documents to a Missouri judge that detailed how the animal’s body was burned in a fire pit.
But this week, Tonka was found alive, secretly hidden away for the past year in Haddix’s Sunrise Beach, Missouri home where he had a 60-inch TV, an interactive iPad-like touch device, and had celebrated St. Patrick’s Day among a few of Haddix’s close friends.
On Thursday, authorities searched her home as part of an emergency court order obtained by PETA, whom she has been battling in a heated lawsuit since 2018. Faking Tonka’s death was a last-ditch effort by Haddix to keep her beloved chimp after a judge ordered her to turn over Tonka and six other chimpanzees to the Center for Great Apes sanctuary in Wauchula, Florida.
Alan Cumming
Oldest Shoe
Norway
The oldest shoe in Norway — a 3,000-year-old bootie from the Bronze Age — is just one of thousands of ancient artifacts that were recovered from the country's melting mountain ice patches in the past two decades, according to a new report from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).
Unlike objects trapped in acidic soil or beneath gargantuan glaciers, the artifacts recovered from Norwegian ice patches are often found in impeccable condition, showing minimal decomposition and deformation, even after thousands of years of frozen slumber. That's because ice patches are relatively stable, unmoving and free from corrosive compounds. Perfectly intact weapons, clothing, textiles, and plant and animal remains have all emerged from the ice, helping to bring thousands of years of Norwegian history to light.
But now, the report authors said, climate change could bring that all to an end.
Within just a few decades, vast swaths of Norway's ice patches have begun to melt, exposing undiscovered artifacts to the elements and almost certain deterioration, the authors wrote.
Norway
U. of South Carolina
Hootie & the Blowfish
Hootie & the Blowfish got its start at the University of South Carolina and the school is now home to a boatload of the Grammy Award winning rock band’s memorabilia.
Longtime fan Rick Noble on Friday donated his collection of all things Hootie & the Blowfish — including CDs, ticket stubs, an autographed guitar and T-shirts — to the school where the band was formed in 1986.
Noble, who is now retired from a career in nonprofit work, including as the long-time CEO of Richland County First Steps, said he’s been collecting the band’s memorabilia since 1993, a year before the band released its debut album, “Cracked Rear View.” He said he first became interested in the band after listening to his daughter’s copy of an early album. Then he connected with band members and its management when they performed at a benefit concert Noble organized.
“They just started giving me T-shirts and other merchandise,” Noble recalled. “And I just went on from there. It was a treasure hunt.”
The band merchandise is the second contemporary music memorabilia collection to come to the University Libraries. A large collection of guitars, photographs and costumes from the rock band KISS was donated in 2020.
Hootie & the Blowfish
Memoir Sales Fall Flat
Kellyanne
Kellyanne Conway’s memoir “Here’s the Deal,” detailing her time as Donald Trump’s campaign manager and political adviser, has sold 25,003 copies since its May 24 debut.
Despite reaching the No. 1 spot on the New York Times’ best sellers’ list, the 500-page volume’s sales fell short in comparison to other White House tell-all memoirs.
As reported by the Intelligencer, Mary Trump’s explosive book about her uncle “Too Much and Never Enough” flew off the shelves, with 950,000 copies sold in its first 24 hours. Groundbreaking journalist Bob Woodward’s “Rage” sold 600,000 units in its first week.
Still, “Here’s the Deal” fared much better than memoirs published by other White House figures, including Chris Christie (less than 3,000 sold in its first week) and most recently Meghan McCain.
If the numbers are accurate, Conway’s memoir has already outsold McCain’s 100 times over.
Kellyanne
Uvalde Mom
Angeli Gomez
A Uvalde mom who says she was handcuffed by law enforcement while trying to rescue her sons from the school shooting, has claimed that authorities warned her not to speak to the media about her experience.
Angeli Gomez, a farmworker in Uvalde, spoke to CBS News on Thursday, describing how she was able to rush into Robb Elementary School and save her kids during the shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers, despite law enforcements’ attempts to stop her.
The US Marshals have previously denied handcuffing parents, telling WSJ that their deputy marshals “maintained order and peace in the midst of the grief-stricken community that was gathering around the school.”
CBS News also reported that Gomez, who is reportedly on probation for previous charges against her, claimed that she had received a call from “someone in law enforcement” telling her that if she kept talking to the media and sharing her story she might face some kind of violation for obstruction of justice.
According to CBS News, Gomez said she was able to speak out after a judge called her “brave” and told her that her probation would be shortened.
Angeli Gomez
‘Ignore Guns, Talk Inflation’
Strategy
Stay cool. Run out the clock. Scare some gun nuts while you can. But don’t worry: this moment will be over soon.
That’s the message the Republican Party, Donald Trump a grifter, and conservative leaders rapidly coalesced around after a series of mass shootings in recent weeks, including at one at a Texas elementary school.
Several strategy memos and private communications, prepared for a variety of conservative candidates and organizations, reviewed by Rolling Stone in the days following the Uvalde school massacre were clear: change the topic to literally anything else, and let this news cycle run its course.
On Friday May 27th, three days after a gunman’s rampage at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, the Republican National Committee distributed a memo of talking points and messaging advice to its surrogates and media allies. The email began with some pro-forma thoughts and prayers for the victims and their families, then went on to “thank…the members of law enforcement who responded to the scene and killed the shooter.” (That’s despite the fact that 19 such cops inside the school waited and waited while students begged for help — and the gunman continued to fire.)
But the bulk of the memo, part of the series of RNC “Pundit Prep” that typically lists the party’s weekly political priorities, had a conspicuous omission. It did not include any actual talking points about the latest school massacre in the U.S. — a mass shooting that dominated American media and political conversation, only to be bookended by news of other mass murders carried out with firearms. The email did detail, however, “what you need to know” about “this week’s primary elections,” and listed the RNC’s recommended reading from Fox News, Breitbart, Newsmax, and the Washington Examiner, on such topics as President Joe Biden’s “failed” immigration record.
Strategy
Could Become More Common
Nightmare
On 4 November 2019, TV stations across California blasted Chelsea Becker’s photo on their news editions. The “search was on” for a “troubled” 25-year-old woman wanted for the “murder of her unborn baby”, news anchors said, warning viewers not to approach if they spotted her but to call the authorities.
The next day, Becker was asleep at the home she was staying in when officers with the Hanford police department arrived.
“The officer had a large automatic weapon pointed at me and a K-9 [dog],” Becker, now 28, recalled in a recent interview. “I walked out and surrendered.”
Two months before, Becker had had a stillbirth at a California hospital, losing a baby boy at eight months pregnant. The King’s county prosecutor in the central valley charged her with “murder of a human fetus,” alleging she had acted with “malice” because she had been struggling with drug addiction and the hospital reported meth in her system.
Becker’s attorneys argued there was no evidence that substance use caused the stillbirth and California law did not allow for this type of prosecution in the first place. Still, she spent 16 months in jail awaiting trial before a judge dismissed the charges.
Nightmare
Who Died
COVID
Most working-age Americans who died of COVID-19 during the first year of the pandemic were so-called essential workers in labor, service and retail jobs that required on-site attendance and prolonged contact with others, according to a recently published study led by a University of South Florida epidemiologist.
The study looks back on COVID-19 deaths in 2020 and affirms what many had already known or suspected — that Americans who could not work from home and who labored in low-paying jobs with few or no benefits, such as paid sick leave and health insurance coverage, bore the brunt of deaths during the pandemic’s first year, said Jason Salemi, an associate professor in USF’s College of Public Health and co-author of the study.
Salemi said the finding, while perhaps expected, left him with two takeaways: That essential workers need more protections during an infectious disease pandemic, and that society’s desire to “return to normal” will mean different things for different people — with inequitable consequences.
“If I say I want things to return to normal, I’m in a position of advantage,” Salemi said. “I can work from home most days. I have access to a primary care physician, and paid sick leave. There are people in this study for whom that may not be the case.”
COVID
Bees Are A Type Of Fish
California
A trio of judges in California said on Tuesday that bees can be legally classed as a type of fish as part of a ruling that brings added conservation protections for the endangered species.
"The issue presented here is whether the bumble bee, a terrestrial invertebrate, falls within the definition of fish," the judges wrote in their ruling. And, they concluded, it does.
Formerly, the problem for bee-lovers — and lovers of all Californian terrestrial invertebrates — was down to the way protected animals have been classified in the state's laws.
Although four different bee species were classified as endangered in 2018, land invertebrates are not explicitly protected under the state's Endangered Species Act (CESA), which protects endangered "native species or subspecies of a bird, mammal, fish, amphibian, reptile, or plant."
The appeal overturns an earlier ruling in November 2020 that was backed by major agricultural groups, Law & Crime reported. There, the judge argued that "invertebrates" in the Fish and Game Code's "fish" definition only applied to marine invertebrates, like anemones or sea urchins.
California
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