from Bruce
Anecdotes
Children
• When poet Edna St. Vincent Millay was a child, the pipes burst in her family’s kitchen during winter, flooding the floor with water that quickly froze—so Edna and her sisters ice skated in the kitchen.
• Ballerina Yvette Chauviré has always loved to dance. When she was a child, she drew the attention of passersby as she danced arabesques on country lanes.
Christmas
• Ben, a young nephew of lesbian humorist Ellen Orleans, wanted a Barbie for Christmas, but not for his birthday, because he didn’t want the other kids to see what he was getting. Ms. Orleans was a little surprised by the request, and she asked her sister-in-law about it. As it happened, the sister-in-law didn’t particularly like her son’s desire in toys, but only because she regards Barbie as a sexist toy. Ms. Orleans ended up buying her nephew a Barbie and two outfits: a white satin dress and a cowboy outfit—the cowboy outfit had actually been created for Barbie’s boyfriend, Ken. She sent it to her nephew in a box marked “Private! For Ben Only!” She also enclosed this note: “Remember, Ben, in real life women do not have permanently arched feet.” Later, she received a note from her sister-in-law about the gift: “Great minds think alike. I bought Ben a Dancin’ Barbie. He’s in heaven.”
• Christmas of 1950 was a lean one for the family of impoverished actor Patrick Macnee, who later became famous as John Steed in the British TV cult classic series The Avengers. He bought a small turkey, but a stray dog grabbed the turkey and ran away. Things looked bleak, but James, Mr. Macnee’s brother, saved the day by disappearing and later returning with a huge turkey. He absolutely refused to say where the turkey had come from, but his clothes were streaked with mud and the recently deceased turkey was still warm.
• Figure skater Lucinda Ruh is known for her spins, as is another athlete born in Switzerland, Denise Biellmann, who invented a spin in which she raises her foot backwards above her head. When Lucinda was nine years old, her father saw Ms. Biellmann do her famous spin and suggested to Lucinda that she learn how to do it. Just before Christmas, Lucinda asked her father to come to the ice rink, where she gave him his Christmas present—she performed the Biellmann spin for him.
Couples
• The original edition of Gilbert Seldes’ book The Seven Lively Arts once figured in a romantic escapade. Several of the people Mr. Seldes wrote about in the book were illustrated by photographs. One of the men so illustrated fell in love with a woman whose parents opposed their marriage. Because the woman was forbidden to have a photograph of the man, she carried around a copy of The Seven Lively Arts instead—until her parents found out why she was carrying the book around. Eventually all ended happily with the marriage of the young woman and the young man: Ellin Mackay and Irving Berlin.
• A gay man at work was surrounded by women who were always trying to fix him up with other women. One day, the man he was currently dating came to the office, and he told the women that the man was his date. They laughed at the idea, so a couple of days later, he showed them a few photographs of him and the man hugging and kissing, so they knew. However, they treated him the same way they had treated him before—except that now they tried to fix him up with other gay men.
• Andrew Tobias and his former significant other, the late Charles Nolan, were opposites. Mr. Tobias wrote about finance, and Mr. Nolan designed women’s clothing. Mr. Tobias described the difference between them by saying that when the federal budget is published, he is excited by the numbers inside (“Look what they’ve done with defense!”), while Mr. Nolan was excited by the binding outside (“Blue and gold! Someone is Washington is finally getting it!”).
• Readers of the comic strip Peanuts know that Charlie Brown is in love with a little red-haired girl who doesn’t know that he exists. When Charles Schulz, the creator of Peanuts, was a young man, he fell in love with a red-haired woman named Donna Mae Johnson. She dated other men as well as Mr. Schulz, and eventually she accepted the marriage proposal of another man, devastating Mr. Schulz.
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© Copyright Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
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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: “Ultramar” [“Overseas”]
Album: TRIPLE AGENT RECORDS Vol. l
Artist: The Centellas
Artist Location: Mexico
Record Company: Triple Agent Records
Record Company Location: Mexico City, Mexico
Info:
Centellas = Ball Lightning
“Ball lightning is a rare and unexplained phenomenon described as luminescent, spherical objects that vary from pea-sized to several meters in diameter. Though usually associated with thunderstorms, the observed phenomenon is reported to last considerably longer than the split-second flash of a lightning bolt, and is a phenomenon distinct from St. Elmo’s fire.” — Wikipedia
“The Centellas is a Mexican band of surf music made up of three women: Lu Berry on guitar, Nidia Vargas on bass and Elva Peña on drums. We started playing on February 10, 2018 in México City. We are an ‘all girl band’ since the work and collaboration between women are intereeses [interests?] that share and allow us to exercise our art fully and effectively. The passion for music and the love for surf music are the elements that brought us together.”
“We are three women passionate about surf music from Mexico City. #womenssurfrio. Girl power in surfing.”
“Triple Agent Records: SURF / GARAGE Indie Record Label from Mexico City.”
Price: Name Your Price (Includes FREE) for 22-track album by various artists.
“Ultramar” is also available on The Centellas’ album ESPECIMEN SURF. Price: €6 (EUR) for six tracks.
Genre: Surf. Garage.
Links:
TRIPLE AGENT RECORDS Vol. l
ESPECIMEN SURF
The Centellas on YouTube
Other Links:
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David Bruce's Smashwords Page
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Stephen Suggests
America
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
Sumo was live from Nagoya at 1am - 3 big upsets to start the Basho. Yee Haw!
Props For Sale In Santa Fe
‘Roswell’
Santa Fe, not Roswell, is the place this weekend to possibly spot some aliens—or at least their stuff.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that props from the now-cancelled CW TV drama, “Roswell, New Mexico,” are being sold at an estate sale inside the site of an old Kmart in Santa Fe.
Organizers of the estate sale say roughly 13,000 items including set dressings, costumes and furniture are up for grabs.
Guy Barnes, a production designer for the show, believes this is the first estate sale tied to a television series shot in New Mexico that has happened in Santa Fe.
‘Roswell’
Oink
Vince McMahon
The longtime World Wrestling Entertainment impresario Vince McMahon agreed to pay more than $12 million over the past 16 years to suppress allegations of sexual misconduct and infidelity, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The amount is significantly larger than what was previously known.
Four women — all formerly affiliated with WWE — signed agreements with McMahon, 76, that bar them from discussing their relationships with him, the Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the deals and documents it reviewed.
Revenue last year exceeded $1 billion for the first time and the company has television deals with Fox and NBCUniversal. Last month it announced a multiyear expansion of its original programming partnership with A&E.
Vince McMahon
Backstreet Cultural Museum
New Orleans
Ten months after Hurricane Ida damaged a museum celebrating New Orleans’ African American parading culture, the Backstreet Cultural Museum is reopening.
The museum will now occupy a smaller location at a former bar, and not all items can be shown at once, said Dominique Dilling-Francis, president of the museum’s board and the founder’s daughter. She plans to rotate exhibits every few months.
Hurricane Ida left holes in the roof and water inside the original building, a former funeral home, after the storm crashed ashore in August 2021. A powerful Category 4 hurricane at landfall, Ida hit on the same date Hurricane Katrina had ravaged parts of Louisiana and Mississippi 16 years earlier.
Artifacts at the museum include regalia given by Mardi Gras Indians — African Americans who create new elaborately plumed and beaded costumes every year. There is also memorabilia from baby dolls — groups of women who parade and dance in bonnets, garters, and short, ruffled dresses. And there are black sweatsuits painted with white skeletons from the Skull and Bones Gang, which wakes up the neighborhood early on Fat Tuesday with a message that everyone dies and should first have a loving, productive life.
The museum also has photos, films and papers related to such neighborhood traditions and is a place where maskers and merrymakers gather on Mardi Gras. Its founder, Sylvester “Hawk” Francis, created it in 1999 after decades photographing and filming the neighborhood culture.
New Orleans
Children’s Museum of Northern Nevada
Carson City
A Nevada couple was found secretly keeping a cache of weapons and living with their two kids at a northern Nevada children’s museum where they worked, authorities said.
A janitor at the Children’s Museum of Northern Nevada was arrested late last week, KRNV-TV in Reno reported Friday. The 41-year-old man has been charged with child neglect and endangerment and possession of a suppressor and a short barrel rifle.
Authorities discovered the arsenal in a storage room, they said. A police report listed an AK-47 rifle, three handguns, a pistol, ammunition, knives and a taser that could have been reached by a child. The stash also included drug paraphernalia like a bong and a used marijuana joint.
Officials realized the family was living in the museum after the man’s 2-year-old child was spotted walking nearby unsupervised, the Carson City Sheriff’s Office said. It was not the first time police interacted with the man over his child being left alone. But this time, the toddler’s older sister gave deputies the museum as their address.
The couple has since been fired and the museum closed.
Carson City
Push 'Dangerous' Language
GOP Candidates
A number of GOP candidates have spent hundreds of millions on ads this campaign season pushing replacement theories and other racially charged conspiracies, while also targeting fellow Republicans who don't fall in line with the far-right base.
During the 2022 midterm cycle, more than 2,700 ads have aired on television and social media focusing on racist tropes, according to a compilation by America's Voice, a progressive immigration advocacy group.
More than 100 directly mentioned the racist Great Replacement Theory and "invasion" language, accusing Democrats of deliberately encouraging migrants to cross the southern border illegally to replace white voters. And more than 300 ads cite critical race theory, claiming Democrats are trying to indoctrinate children with fake history lessons about systemic racism against Blacks, according to a USA TODAY analysis.
While there's no direct one-to-one connection between one campaign ad and a person or group carrying out a crime, "there is a really clear relationship between the hateful speech of politicians and hateful acts," said Sophie Bjork-James, an expert on racism who teaches at Vanderbilt University.
All over the country, sitting members of Congress, candidates, state politicians and former officeholders have been echoing the replacement theory or its key elements.
GOP Candidates
CDC Report
Roundup
More than 80% of urine samples drawn from children and adults in a US health study contained a weedkilling chemical linked to cancer, a finding scientists have called “disturbing” and “concerning”.
The report by a unit of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that out of 2,310 urine samples, taken from a group of Americans intended to be representative of the US population, 1,885 were laced with detectable traces of glyphosate. This is the active ingredient in herbicides sold around the world, including the widely used Roundup brand. Almost a third of the participants were children ranging from six to 18.
Academics and private researchers have been noting high levels of the herbicide glyphosate in analyses of human urine samples for years. But the CDC has only recently started examining the extent of human exposure to glyphosate in the US, and its work comes at a time of mounting concerns and controversy over how pesticides in food and water impact human and environmental health.
Both the amount and prevalence of glyphosate found in human urine has been rising steadily since the 1990s when Monsanto Co. introduced genetically engineered crops designed to be sprayed directly with Roundup, according to research published in 2017 by University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers.
Roundup
Oregon Jury Awards $1.7 Million
Nicole Gililland
A jury in Oregon awarded roughly $1.7 million in damages to a woman who claimed a local community college used her past work in pornographic films as a means to discriminate against her and ultimately force her out of the school’s competitive nursing program.
Nicole Gililland had attempted to sue Southwestern Oregon Community College (SWOCC), located in the coastal town of Coos Bay, for both breach of contract and for violating Title IX, which prohibits schools that receive federal funding from sex-based discrimination — likely making it the first case in which a student invoked Title IX based upon their involvement in sex work. Gililland claimed the repeated harassment and her eventual dismissal from SWOCC constituted a “hostile education environment” that caused her severe emotional distress and led her to attempt suicide.
Court documents show that the judge overseeing the case affirmed that the comments made by Gililland’s professors constituted sex-based discrimination because they “advanced a stereotype about the kind of woman appropriate for the nursing profession.” Although the jury ultimately rejected Gililland’s Title IX claim, they deemed SWOCC had indeed breached a contract with a tuition-paying student by violating its non-discrimination policy, education records policy, and its policy on unlawful harassment.
According to the lawsuit, an unidentified individual notified Melissa Sperry, a nursing instructor and academic advisor at SWOCC, of Gililland’s previous work in porn during the Spring of 2018. (Lawyers for SWOCC claimed school officials had no knowledge of Gililland’s past, claiming the only suggestion of her involvement in porn came via an email Gililland sent to Sperry in which she expressed “concerns that a peer with whom she had confided personal information was aware of ‘things about my past that I’m not proud of back when I was a teenager’ that could ’embarrass me.'”)
Sperry also bombarded Gililland with assignments “that were not within the syllabus or provided to any other student,” court documents state. Despite Gililland completing the assignments as requested, Sperry later refused to grade the work and claimed she never assigned the work to begin with, according to email evidence submitted in court. Sperry also docked Gililland’s exam scores due to lateness, even though Gililland claimed Sperry permitted the extension due to her illness.
Nicole Gililland
Offers Bounty For Sightings
ShutDownDC
The harassment of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh at a Washington, D.C. steakhouse may only be the appetizer to further incidents, if an activist group has its way.
ShutDownDC is promising a bounty of $50 to anyone who provides a “confirmed sighting” of Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett or John Roberts at any DC area public space, upping that to $200 if they remain in that location for a half-hour.
Last month, the Court ruled 6-3 to uphold a Mississippi abortion ban being challenged, and 5-4 to overturn Roe v. Wade, a longstanding ruling that generally protected the freedom to choose to have an abortion..
“DC Service Industry Workers… If you see Kavanaugh, Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch, Coney Barrett or Roberts, DM us with the details!” said a Twitter post by ShutDownDC. “We’ll Venmo you $50 for a confirmed sighting, and $200 if they’re still there 30 mins after your message.”
ShutDownDC
Underground Search Begins
Dark Matter
In a former gold mine a mile underground, inside a titanium tank filled with a rare liquified gas, scientists have begun the search for what so far has been unfindable: dark matter.
Scientists are pretty sure the invisible stuff makes up most of the universe’s mass and say we wouldn’t be here without it — but they don’t know what it is. The race to solve this enormous mystery has brought one team to the depths under Lead, South Dakota.
The question for scientists is basic, says Kevin Lesko, a physicist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. “What is this great place I live in? Right now, 95% of it is a mystery.”
The idea is that a mile of dirt and rock, a giant tank, a second tank and the purest titanium in the world will block nearly all the cosmic rays and particles that zip around — and through — all of us every day. But dark matter particles, scientists think, can avoid all those obstacles. They hope one will fly into the vat of liquid xenon in the inner tank and smash into a xenon nucleus like two balls in a game of pool, revealing its existence in a flash of light seen by a device called “the time projection chamber.”
Scientists announced Thursday that the five-year, $60 million search finally got underway two months ago after a delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. So far the device has found ... nothing. At least no dark matter.
Dark Matter
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