from Bruce
Anecdotes
Mass
• The Chrism Mass was once held in the small town of Uvalde, Texas, because its location made it fairly easy for other priests to travel to it. The church’s priest, Msgr. Vincent Fecher, wanted to have a good turnout, so he talked it up from the pulpit and filled the church with the children’s choir. The Mass was a grand success, and to Father Vincent’s surprise the Chrism Mass was held at Uvalde again the following year. This time, the children were on vacation, so there was no captive audience, but Father Vincent once again talked up the event from the pulpit, and once again the church was filled. Father Vincent’s superior attended the Mass, and he remarked on how full the church was. Father Vincent replied, “Oh, it’s always like that.” He also says that when he made that remark, “My Guardian Angel gasped indignantly, but I had a feeling that the Lord only smiled.” (By the way, the Chrism Mass was held a third year in a row in Uvalde, and the church was filled yet again.)
• Composer Gioacchino Rossini had a sense of humor. In 1863, he wrote his “Petite Messe Solennelle (Little Solemn Mass)” for “12 singers of three sexes.” The Mass is not little, and it is not solemn. His wife, Olympe Pelissier, also had a sense of humor. After Hector Berlioz disrespected one of her husband’s operas, she sent Mr. Berlioz a pair of donkey ears.
Meditation
• William Baker Evans, a Quaker, used to set aside time early each morning for meditation and prayer. Unfortunately, for many people, such a regimen can lead to smugness. Fortunately, Mr. Evans was aware of this tendency. He once said, “The trouble with getting up early was that it made me smug all morning and sleepy all afternoon.”
• Why practice meditation? When Munindra was asked that, his students listened closely to his answer, hoping to hear something profound. Munindra answered, “I practice meditation to notice the small purple flowers growing by the roadside, which I otherwise might miss.”
Money
• In Kahilischock lived a Jew named Zalmon Schlim, who became ill while traveling in a distant city. Knowing that he was dying, he wanted to give 10,000 rubles to another Jew from Kahilischock, Feivel Harzbrecher, to take home and give to his wife. However, Feivel was unwilling to take the money to Kahilischock, even for a commission. Desperate to get at least some money to his wife, Zalmon finally told him, “Since I am dying, take the 10,000 rubles and give my wife as much of it as you want.” Feivel then accepted the money, and after Zalmon had died, traveled to Kahilischock, found Zalmon’s wife, and told her, “Your husband gave me 10,000 rubles, with the understanding that I should give you as much of it as I want — here I give you 1,000 rubles.” Of course, the widow did not think that 1,000 rubles was a fair amount, so she appealed for help to Rabbi Mendele Chacham. The rabbi heard the case, then ordered Feivel to give the widow 9,000 rubles, explaining, “You were instructed to give to Zalmon’s wife ‘as much of the 10,000 rubles as you want’ — and how much do you want? You want 9,000 rubles, so this is the amount you will have to give to her.”
• Rabbi Eizik, son of Rabbi Yekel of Cracow, Poland, had a dream telling him to undertake a long journey to Prague, then dig up a treasure, which was buried under a bridge leading to the king’s palace. After he had this dream for the third time, Eizik, son of Yekel, went to Prague and located the bridge. However, the bridge was heavily guarded and he was afraid to dig under it, so he looked at the bridge day after day. The captain of the guard noticed him and asked what he wanted, so he told him. The captain then laughed at him, saying that the dream was ridiculous, and that he had had a similar dream — his dream had told him to go to Cracow and dig up a treasure buried under the stove of Eizik, son of Yekel. Eizik went back home to Cracow, dug up the treasure under his stove, then used it to build a House of Prayer.
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© Copyright Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
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Presenting
Michael Egan
U.S.A. answered:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
BANDCAMP MUSIC
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC
Music: "Stole My Heart"
Album: TRUTH AND LOVE
Artist: Charlie Hager
Artist Location: Nashville, Tennessee
Info: “Charlie Hager is a singer/songwriter from Nashville, Tn. He credits the majority of his musical abilities to his father, James Bernard Hager, a longtime West Virginia bluegrass player from the 1940's to his death in 1981. His writing styles and influences come mostly from Texas-based singer/songwriters from Billy Jo Shaver, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and J.J. Cayle.”
Price: $1 (USD) for track; $10 (USD) for 10-track album
Genre: Country
Links:
TRUTH AND LOVE
Charlie Hager on Bandcamp
Charlie Hager on YouTube
Other Links:
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David Bruce has over 140 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
New Venture
Michael Egan
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
One of my pals was called for jury duty in January, but postponed until June, hoping for a vaccine by then.
Last week he was instructed to either call or check in online at 7pm the night before.
Long story short, he never had to report to the courthouse for jury duty, and he's good for another year.
One might think there'd be some sort of backlog in the court system after the last 16 months.
‘I Need A Drink’
Michael Fanone
A Washington police officer who suffered a heart attack and a brain injury after being beaten by Trump supporters during the deadly Capitol attack emerged from meeting the House Republican leader, Kevin McCarthy, on Friday to tell reporters: “I need a drink.”
“This experience for me is not something that I enjoy doing,” Michael Fanone said. “I don’t want to be up here on Capitol Hill. I want to be with my daughters.”
Ten Republicans in the House voted to impeach Donald Trump (R-Lock Him Up) for inciting the attack on 6 January. But Trump was acquitted in the Senate and under McCarthy the House caucus has remained in line behind the former president and his lie that his defeat by Joe Biden was the result of electoral fraud.
He visited McCarthy on Friday with Harry Dunn, a member of the US Capitol police, and Gladys Sicknick, the mother of Brian Sicknick, a Capitol police officer who died after the attack.
Fanone said he asked the minority leader to “denounce the 21 House Republicans that voted against the gold medal bill”, a move by Congress to recognise the bravery of those who fought to defend it.
Michael Fanone
Apologize
Daytime Emmys
The Young and the Restless actress Marguerite Ray was misidentified during the 48th Daytime Emmy Awards’ In Memoriam segment. The video tribute, presented on Friday, had her name appearing next to a photo of another Y&R alum—that being Veronica Redd.
The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences came forward on Saturday to apologize for the mix-up.
“We deeply regret this error and intend to re-edit the sequence for subsequent digital releases once a replacement image can be appropriately licensed,” wrote a spokesperson on the Daytime Emmys’ official Twitter account. “We sincerely apologize to the Ray family — as well as to Veronica Redd, whose image was inadvertently used instead. Each of these Daytime icons deserved better from our Academy.”
Ray is known for portraying Mamie Johnson, the first regular African-American character on The Young and the Restless. While she originated the role, and played it on the CBS soap opera for a decade, Redd took it over for a number of years, beginning in 1990.
Ray passed away on November 18, 2020, aged 89; Redd, however, is still very much alive.
Daytime Emmys
Plans to Retire
Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino knows that once you’ve reached the top, the only option is to go down.
While promoting his “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” novel on “Real Time With Bill Maher” on June 25, Tarantino confirmed he plans to retire after making one more film.
“You’re too young to quit and you’re at the top of your game,” Maher pushed.
“That’s why I want to quit,” Tarantino said over a cheering audience. “Because I know film history and from here on end, directors do not get better.”
Maher responded that they got started in the industry around the same time, but that he would not quit while at a career peak. He further assured Tarantino that “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” is his best film to date. The film, an homage to Hollywood’s golden age, earned 10 Academy Award nominations and won a best picture Golden Globe.
Tarantino
Rally
Ohio
Donald Trump (R-Lock Him Up)’s latest rally was another greatest hits of media attacks, 2020 election falsehoods and long-held and more recent grievances, and while it drew a large in-person crowd in Wellington, Ohio, it did’t get an audience on the three major cable news networks.
The reason: They didn’t carry it.
C-SPAN carried the rally as part of its Road to 2024, as Trump is a potential candidate in the next election, and it also drew coverage on right wing outlets Newsmax and One America News Network. Fox News stayed with its Saturday night lineup of Watters World and Justice with Judge Jeanine; CNN featured an interview with former Vice President Al Gore, among other segments, and MSNBC had The Week with Joshua Johnson.
The rally itself was intended to support Max Miller, a Republican challenging Anthony Gonzalez, in next year’s primary. Gonzalez was among those who voted to impeach Trump for inciting the January 6 insurrection.
Trump continued to claim that the election was stolen from him, allegations that have come to be known as “the Big Lie” because he and his allies consistently failed in their court challenges to the results. But Trump has continued to push the claims that the 2020 results were rigged, and some of the biggest applause at the event came when he called out Mike Lindell, the MyPillow CEO who contends that Trump will soon be reinstated. Trump did not say if he would run in 2024, but said, “We won the election twice, and it is possible we might have to win it a third time.”
Ohio
Tries To Be Clever
Marjorie 3-Names
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia is the latest Republican to try and put distance between the GOP, Donald Trump, and the 6 January riot at the US Capitol they inspired.
Asked by CNN’s Jim Acosta about recently released videos showing new angles on the mob attack at the Capitol, Rep Greene was evasive about admitting the crowd was largely Trump supporters, easily identifiable in their MAGA regalia.
“The American taxpayers pay for everything here right,” she said. “They pay for the building. They pay for the cameras. They pay for the staff. They pay my salary. They pay for everything. This is the type of video they deserve to see publicly.”
The CNN anchor then pressed her on whether she saw the large contingent of Trump supporters at the event, many of whom have subsequently said in court directly that the former president inspired them to be there. Rep Greene dodged once again.
“There’s all kinds of people involved in the rioting,” she said. “There’s people in black clothes. There’s people in red hats. There’s people in Trump clothes.”
Marjorie 3-Names
Sheriff's Department
Los Angeles
A judge ordered the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to promptly turn over records on thousands of cases of deputy misconduct and on-duty shootings after finding the agency had failed repeatedly to honor a public records request filed by The Times.
The department has 90 days to turn over records first sought by the newspaper in 2019, shortly after lawmakers passed a landmark police transparency law that made public previously confidential records about law enforcement officers. Under the law, Senate Bill 1421, shootings or other serious uses of force by officers, as well as confirmed cases of sexual assaults or acts of dishonesty by police, must be disclosed.
The Times requested records on all cases that fell within the scope of the new law, and under the state's public records law, the department was required to provide them. However, while the department has identified more than 6,000 incidents that are likely to fall under the law, it was slow to begin producing records and then handed over files on only a small fraction of the incidents. The Times sued for the release of the records last year.
"This ‘We’ll get it done when we’ll get it done’ [approach] … is not acceptable under the Public Records Act,” Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff said in court Friday.
Beckloff said the Sheriff's Department had engaged in "consistent feet dragging." Considering the pace at which the agency was releasing records, Beckloff said it would have taken decades for the Sheriff's Department to comply with The Times' request.
Los Angeles
Closest Ancestor
'Dragon Man'
A skull preserved almost perfectly for more than 140,000 years in northeastern China represents a new species of ancient people more closely related to us than even Neanderthals -- and could fundamentally alter our understanding of human evolution, scientists announced Friday.
It belonged to a large-brained male in his 50s with deep set eyes and thick brow ridges. Though his face was wide, it had flat, low cheekbones that made him resemble modern people more closely than other extinct members of the human family tree.
The research team has linked the specimen to other Chinese fossil findings and is calling the species Homo longi or "Dragon Man," a reference to the region where it was discovered.
The Harbin cranium was first found in 1933 in the city of the same name but was reportedly hidden in a well for 85 years to protect it from the Japanese army.
It was later dug up and handed to Ji Qiang, a professor at Hebei GEO University, in 2018.
'Dragon Man'
Immortal Clone Army
Genetic Fluke
When hives of the African lowland honeybee (Apis mellifera scutella) collapse, they do so because of an invisible inner threat: the growing, immortal clone army of a rival bee subspecies.
That army is possible because the female workers of the rival subspecies — the South African Cape honeybee (Apis mellifera capensis) — can create perfect copies of themselves, with one individual found to have done so millions of times in the past three decades. With this perpetual-cloning ability, the Cape honeybees sneak into the hives of their lowland honeybee rivals and churn out copy after copy (no need for a queen). Even worse, these clones are freeloaders, refusing to do any work.
Now, a new study has revealed the genetic foundations of the strange and formidable adaptation. Unlike most animals, and even their own queen, the female workers do not reshuffle the DNA of the eggs they lay. This enables the workers to consistently recreate a perfect copy of themselves — a clone — each time they reproduce. According to the researchers, the sidestepping of this DNA-reshuffling process is unlike anything they've ever seen.
"It's incredible. It's also incredibly dysfunctional," lead author Benjamin Oldroyd, a professor of behavioral genetics at the University of Sydney, told Live Science, referring to the fact that reshuffling is normally required to hold chromosomes together during the egg-making process. "Yet, somehow they've managed to do it [still lay eggs]. It's insane; I've not heard of anything like this before, anywhere."
Genetic Fluke
20 Times The Length Of Their Bodies
Sperm
All sperm perform the same basic job: They fertilize egg cells. But in a new study, researchers have figured out that size matters, and it's largely the female that pushes sperm to be big or small.
Sperm cells come in a huge variety of sizes. For instance, the parasitoid wasp Cotesia congregata produces little swimmers that are less than one-thousandth of a centimeter long, while fruit flies make sperm with 2.3-inch (6 cm) tails that coil tightly to fit inside their tiny bodies.
"We have all these studies that show evidence of natural selection pushing sperm size in various species to be either bigger or smaller, but we wanted to take more of a zoomed-out view and look for trends across species," said lead author Ariel Kahrl, a postdoctoral researcher in evolutionary biology at Stockholm University.
Kahrl and her colleagues examined data from 3,200 species and discovered a governing principle that determines sperm size in a species: Females with small reproductive tracts drive the production of bigger sperm, and the need to spread sperm far and wide shrinks sperm across evolutionary timescales.
Here's why. For the most part, animals use two modes of sexual reproduction. One group — which includes mammals, insects and birds — are internal fertilizers that carry eggs inside their bodies. External fertilizers, by contrast, eject their eggs into the environment and hope for the best. Commonly, these species live in water, like fish and sea urchins. In both modes, tons of sperm are competing in a battle royal for the prize of fertilizing the egg, but the challenges of each mode exert incredible evolutionary pressure on sperm size.
Sperm
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