from Bruce
Anecdotes
Music
• Figure skater Elvis Stojko is named after Elvis Presley. Although it seemed natural for him to skate to Elvis’ music, he resisted doing so for years, waiting until exactly the right moment. In January 1994, after he won his first Canadian national championship, he skated to Elvis’ music at the exhibition. Only three people knew about the program beforehand—it was a surprise even to his Elvis Presley-loving parents.
• While at home, conductor Arturo Toscanini was poring over scores with some friends. While talking passionately about music, he began to perspire. Walter, his son, took out a handkerchief, mopped Mr. Toscanini’s brow, and asked, “Why are you perspiring?” Mr. Toscanini replied, “Because I am warm! When I talk about music, I am not cold!”
Names
• Charles E. Perkins was the president of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad. Long ago, he, his young daughter, whose name was Elsie, and the railroad’s chief engineer went on a trip through Nebraska, while the two men planned where to start new towns. One day, the chief engineer told Elsie that he and her father had run out of names for the new towns, so they would let her name the next one. She couldn’t think of a name, so the chief engineer decided to name it after her: Elsie. Years later, Elsie, by then a grown-up woman, went on a trip to Scotland, where she met a woman who had lived for a while in Nebraska. When Elsie asked her where, the woman replied, “Oh, in a little town you never heard of, in western Nebraska, named Elsie. I have often wondered how it got that name.”
• When opera singer Enrico Caruso’s daughter was born on December 18, 1919, she was named Gloria, because Mr. Caruso said she was his crowning glory. She also had other names. Mary—for the Virgin Mary. Ameriga—because of being born in America. Vittoria—because the United States won World War I. And Grazianna—to give thanks to his mother, Anna. When Mr. Caruso sang in public for the first time after her birth, the audience cried, “Viva papa!”
• After Vincent Price married his second wife, the happy couple created a new family tradition: All of their pets were given names beginning with P, because the name “Price” begins with a P. Therefore, the new litter of poodles from their pet, Prudence, were named Pablo, Paderewski, Pansy, Pasquale, Patience, Penelope, Percival, Picayune, and Pinto. Mr. Price’s dog from before he married a second time was renamed PJoe.
• Many Jews decided to change their names to less Jewish-sounding names to fit in better after becoming successful in the United States. William Seligman once went to his brother Joseph and said that since they had both become very successful as investment bankers, they ought to change their names. Joseph replied, “I agree that you should change your name, William. I suggest you change it to Schlemiel.” (Schlemiel is Yiddish for a stupid, unlucky, or awkward person.)
• As a kid, because of poverty, George Burns stole. In fact, according to Mr. Burns, he got the name of Burns because he and a friend used to follow a Burns Brothers coal truck until it was near his home, then steal enough coal to fill their pockets. (Mr. Burns’ name at birth was Nathan Birnbaum.)
• Mildred Ella Didrikson received her nickname—Babe—because while playing pickup games as a youngster she hit home runs just like Babe Ruth. In 1932, she won two Olympic gold medals as a track star, and later she won several national and international golf tournaments.
• When comedian Geraldine Ann “Geri” Jewell was born prematurely, there was a mix-up about her name at the hospital. She was placed in an isolette on which was a chart labeled “JEWELL, PRECIOUS.”
Nieces
• Star ballerinas are celebrities. Alicia Markova arranged for her six-year-old niece, Susie, to attend a matinee of Giselle, and to come backstage after Ms. Markova’s performance. Of course, after the performance, many well-wishers stopped by to congratulate Ms. Markova, and this puzzled Susie because she could see the visitors knew who Ms. Markova was, but that often Ms. Markova did not know the visitors. Susie asked, “If I’m a famous dancer and dance Giselle, will I have a lot of people who know me but don’t know me?”
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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: "Hot Rocks!"
Single: This is a one-track single.
Artist: The Wavers
Artist Location: Cantù, Italy
Info:
“Instrumental Surf & Rock'n'Roll Music from Waverland!”
“Muscle Surf Since 2007”
Price: €1 (EURO) for one-track single
Genre: Surf. Instrumental Rock.
Links:
“Hot Rocks!”
The Wavers on Bandcamp
The Wavers on YouTube
Other Links:
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
New Venture
Michael Egan
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
2-Fer
Freedom
Operator Starsky
Operator Starsky: Achievements and Losses
Jul 23, 2022. It's been 150 days (and almost 8 years) since the russian invaders attacked our peaceful Ukraine. Let's take a look at what happened during this period of time and summarise where we are today.
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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
Put a collar on Vinnie the shitten and she did not take kindly to the gesture - she's been sulking under the couch all day.
OTOH, Frankie the shitten really likes his new collar - he's strutting around, showing it off.
Las Vegas Residency
U2
U2 will reportedly stage a Las Vegas residency to open a newly constructed Sin City arena in 2023.
Billboard reports that Bono and company will be the premiere act when the $1.8 billion MGM Sphere finally opens at the Venetian resort next year. The residency’s dates have not yet been announced, but the shows will reportedly be non-consecutive and spread over the course of 2023.
MSG Entertainment, the company building the new venue hailed as the world’s largest spherical structure, and U2 did not confirm the residency to Billboard.
U2 has not performed a U.S. concert since the North American leg of their Experience + Innocence tour wrapped up here in July 2018. The band last played together onstage in Dec. 2019 when their Joshua Tree anniversary tour ended in Mumbai, India.
The MGM Sphere was originally scheduled to open in 2021 but the Covid-19 pandemic delayed its arrival until 2023. When completed, the 388-foot-tall venue will hold between 17,500 and 20,000 people along with what is promised as a state-of-the-art audio and visual experience, including 580,000 square feet of programmable LED panels, KSNV reports.
U2
Stage Powered By Bicycles
Newport Folk Festival
The Newport Folk Festival, known for creating electrifying musical moments — the most famous being Bob Dylan’s decision to plug in his guitar in 1965 — this weekend has a small outer stage that is being powered in part by festival-goers on stationary bicycles.
The Bike Stage is the brainchild of the band Illiterate Light, an environmentally conscious indie rock duo from Virginia, who has partnered with a company called Rock the Bike to create a pedal-powered sound system, which they have already been using at small club shows.
Frontman Jeff Gorman said the “Bike Stage” at the event in Rhode Island is the first time the system has been tried at a festival. About a dozen artists are scheduled to perform mostly acoustic sets on the stage.
The stage is equipped with solar panels that will provide most of the power to the equipment, with the bikes providing the rest.
When the show begins, fans jump onto five bicycles adjacent to the tent. The pedaling generates electricity, which is fed through through wires to an electrical box on the stage. With temperatures in the upper 80s, fans take turns pedaling for about five minutes during the 20-minute sets. In exchange, they get a few spritzes of water from a spray bottle, a free can of iced tea and a front-row view of the performance.
Newport Folk Festival
Supreme Court
Petition
Just a few months before Danny Masterson’s trial for multiple rapes is set to start in Los Angeles, the Church of Scientology has launched a Hail Mary attempt to get the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in another portion of the sordid matter.
Despite failing in a California appeals court and being rejected by the Golden State’s Supreme Court, the David Miscavige-led organization has now petitioned SCOTUS to stop four of Masterson’s alleged victims from taking the church to court over a “vicious campaign of harassment against them.”
Masterson, a longtime Scientologist, was arrested in June 2020 on three counts of forcible rape that allegedly occurred in 2001 and 2003 at his Hollywood Hills home. The actor faces a possible maximum sentence of 45 years to life in state prison if found guilty.
In the instance of the four women at the center of this latest move by Scientology, previous judicial jurisdictions have maintained that because the women in question have left the church, they are no longer held to the religious arbitration agreement they agreed to in joining the celebrity-heavy group.
Petition
Sneaked Into Mecca
Gil Tamary
Police in Mecca say they have arrested a Saudi man who helped an Israeli-Jewish reporter sneak into Islam's holiest city, defying a rule that only Muslims can enter the area.
While Muslims of any nationality and background can enter Mecca, non-Muslims are not permitted because a very specific code of conduct and behavior is required of all people within its boundaries, including certain forms of modesty, ritual cleansing and prayers.
The public backlash over television reporter Gil Tamary’s visit was immediate on social media, with Muslims and Saudis expressing their anger over his deception and apparent disregard for the sanctity of the site.
The outcry appears to have prompted Saudi police late Friday to announce the arrest of the Saudi man who they say facilitated the entry of the journalist into Mecca in explicit violation of regulations prohibiting the entry of non-Muslims. The Saudi male national, whose identity was not revealed, was referred to prosecution and remains under arrest.
The veteran reporter for Channel 13 in Israel filmed himself in Mecca for a roughly 10-minute-long segment that aired on Monday in which he visited a key site on the hajj pilgrimage route where the Prophet Muhammad delivered his final sermon some 1,400 years ago.
Gil Tamary
The Worm Turns
Rupert
In a short but scathing Saturday op-ed, The New York Post editorial board has said there “is no defense” for Donald Trump the former guy’s “refusal to stop the violence” on Jan. 6, adding that the former president “has proven himself unworthy to be this country’s chief executive again.”
The 262-word piece in the Rupert Murdoch (R-Evil Incarnate)-owned tabloid cuts through the many layers of information brought to the surface by the Jan. 6 committee and gets right to the point, as they see it: Trump tfg’s lack of action as he “sat in his private dining room, watching TV, doing nothing” for “three hours, seven minutes” while the US Capitol was stormed by his followers was “incitement by silence.”
“There has been much debate over whether Trump tfg’s rally speech on Jan. 6, 2021, constituted ‘incitement,’” the editorial staff wrote. “That’s somewhat of a red herring. What matters more — and has become crystal clear in recent days — is that Trump tfg didn’t lift a finger to stop the violence that followed.”
“It was incitement by silence,” The Post wrote. “ Trump tfg only wanted one thing during that infamous afternoon: to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to decertify the election of Joe Biden. He thought the violence of his loyal followers would make Pence crack, or delay the vote altogether.”
Rupert
Because Deer Have Bullet-Proof Vests?
SIG Sauer
New assault rifle being sold to civilians is twice as powerful as the AR-15 and capable of shooting through bulletproof vests, report says
A gun company is marketing an assault rifle that can shoot through bulletproof vests to civilians, a report says, amid ongoing debates about gun control following a string of deadly mass shootings.
SIG Sauer's MCX-SPEAR is the civilian equivalent of the US Army's NGSW-R (Next Generation Squad Weapon-Rifle), specifically created to tear through body armor, The Daily Beast reported.
"It'll shoot through almost all of the bulletproof vests worn by law enforcement in the county right now," Ryan Busse, a former firearms company executive now a senior policy analyst with the Giffords Law Center, told the outlet.
The gun fires bullets with twice the kinetic energy of those from an AR-15 has a longer range, and has a noise suppressor that could make a gunman harder to locate, the outlet reported.
SIG Sauer
Backlash
Texass
A Texas House of Representatives investigative committee released on Friday a Spanish version of its preliminary report on the Uvalde, Texas, school massacre that left 21 people dead.
The committee faced criticism earlier this week after releasing the report only in English considering that Uvalde residents are predominantly Hispanic or Latino and many speak Spanish.
Officials had said it would be weeks before they could share the report in Spanish but earlier this week, a group of Spanish-speaking reporters and editors translated its 77 pages and delivered thousands of copies to Uvalde.
The Austin American-Statesman announced earlier this week it was publishing the entire report in Spanish "as a public service for the Uvalde families and the greater community."
Texass
Canine Heart Disease
Dog Food
In 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, acting on input from a group of veterinary researchers, began investigating whether the increasing popularity of grain-free dog foods had led to a sudden rise in a potentially fatal heart disease in dogs, dilated cardiomyopathy.
Four years later, the FDA has found no firm link between diet and dilated cardiomyopathy. Nor has it rejected such a link, and research is ongoing. Publicity surrounding this issue, nevertheless, has shrunk the once-promising market for grain-free dog foods.
Furthermore, a tangled web of industry funding and interests appears to have influenced the origin, data collection, and course of the FDA study, according to internal FDA records.
A six-month investigation by 100Reporters has found that veterinarians who prompted the FDA to consider diet have financial and other ties to the leading sellers of grain-inclusive pet foods. Additionally, agency records show that for the initial study, some vets were instructed to submit only dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) cases that implicated grain-free, “exotic” or “boutique” pet foods. Suppliers of ingredients used in grain-free dog foods have also exerted pressure on the FDA to protect their market.
Consequently, the conversation around DCM and grain-free food is deeply divided, with each side claiming the other is prioritizing industry relationships over scientific integrity and the lives of pets.
Dog Food
The Evolution of Grandmothers
Study Suggests
The arms race between the human immune system and gonorrhea might have had the useful side effect of promoting healthy brain tissue later in life.
This tiny boost to cognitive health in our twilight years might have played a small role in ensuring grandmas were sharp-minded enough for evolution to keep them around.
While it's fiendishly difficult – and may be impossible – to figure out what evolutionary factors are responsible for living beyond ages where we no longer reproduce, researchers at the University of California, San Diego, are closing in on some possible explanations.
In a paper published this month, the team found that the spreading of this variant immune receptor in our species wasn't entirely random, but rather the result of intense selection pressure over a relatively brief period.
The research showed that some of our closest relatives – Neanderthals and Denisovans – did not have this version of immune receptors coded into their genomes. Something drove humans to develop this special immune receptor early in our history as a species, the researchers said.
Study Suggests
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