from Bruce
Anecdotes
Motivation
• Gymnastics coach Bela Karolyi understands how to motivate gymnasts. At his gymnastics training camp in Houston, Texas, there were three gyms. Two were tan, and one was blue. The tan gyms were for ordinary gymnasts, while the blue gym was for the elite gymnasts who compete in the National Championships, the World Championships, and the Olympics. All the young gymnasts who trained with Mr. Karolyi hoped someday to train in the blue gym.
• Figure skating coach Gustave Lussi was a master of motivation. He coached Dorothy Hamill when she was very young, and each time she learned a new jump, he rewarded her with coins. After long hours of training, young Dorothy managed to land both the double lutz and the double flip at the same practice session. She took the coins, framed them, and hung them on her wall.
• Back when figure skater Tiffany Chin was competing, she had little trouble motivating herself to practice. She figured that the choice was between not practicing and falling down in front of an audience, or practicing and not falling down in front of an audience. She strongly preferred to practice in private and not fall down in public.
• Gymnasts have different ways of motivating themselves to perform well. Olympic gold medalist Dominique Dawes writes the words “Determination,” “Dedication,” and “Dynamics” on her bathroom mirror to motivate herself before meets. These words make up what she calls her “3-D philosophy” of competition.
• Soviet gymnastics champion Ludmilla Tourischeva used to mark the days of the World Championships on her calendar — and on each day she would mark “VICTORY!”
Names
• In 1976, the Atlanta Braves began to print each player’s nickname above his number on his uniform. Andy Messersmith wore No. 17, which was the number of the channel broadcasting the programs of WTCH, a television station owned by Ted Turner, who also owned the Braves. Because Mr. Messersmith didn’t have a nickname, Mr. Turner decided to put “Channel” above the 17 on Mr. Messersmith’s uniform. Unfortunately, the National League President didn’t like the joke, regarding it as advertising, so he forced the Braves to remove “Channel” from Mr. Messersmith’s uniform.
• Golfer Tiger Woods’ real first name is Eldrick, which was specially chosen by his parents, Earl and Kultida Woods. His mother says that she and her husband took the first letters of their first names and put them at the beginning and end of Tiger’s real first name in order “to show that no matter what, we will always be at your side.” Where did the nickname “Tiger” come from? Tiger was given his nickname by his Vietnam War veteran father, who wished to honor a South Vietnamese soldier who had saved him from being killed by a sniper.
• Jair Lynch says that he became a successful gymnast — he is the first black gymnast to win an Olympic medal and only the second black gymnast to compete at the Games — because of his name. In Senegalese, Jair means “one who sees the light.” According to Jair Lynch, “Joe” Lynch would not have become successful.
• Ice skater Dorothy Hamill is nearsighted, and in her competitive days she wore oversized glasses to help her see well enough to do such school figures, aka compulsory figures, as a figure eight. Because of her poor eyesight, her fellow performers in the Ice Capades nicknamed her “Squint.”
• In 1996, Jaycie Phelps won Olympics gold as a member of the United States “Magnificent Seven” women’s gymnastics team at the Atlanta Games. Her parents are Jack and Cheryl Phelps, and Jaycie got her name from the initials of her parents’ first names.
• Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson has a lisp and so, when he was growing up, other children called him “Fairy Boy.”
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Presenting
Michael Egan
U.S.A. replied:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
BANDCAMP MUSIC
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC
Music: "Pipeline – Hawaii 5.0"
Single: This is a one-sided single
Artist: The Sneakers
Artist Location: Bali, Indonesia
Info:
“The Sneakers: a poppy surf punk band from Kuta Bali Indonesia formed on March 30th 2006. Ramones, The Queers, Screeching Weasel, The Ventures, The Astronauts, and Link Wray influence our sound. Eko (guitar-voc), Didit (bass-voc) & Alit (drums) play gigs at small Bars, small clubs or friends’ parties around Kuta & Denpasar. Cheers!”
]
Price: Name Your Price (Includes FREE)
Genre: Surf Instrumental
Links:
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Current Events
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In The Chaos Household
Last Night
11 years ago today our very first butterfly, an anise swallowtail, 'hatched'.
'Vote Them Out'
Willie Nelson
Country music legend Willie Nelson led more than a thousand spectators in singing “vote them out” Saturday from the steps of the Texas Capitol during a rally wrapping up a four-day march in support of Democratic state legislators who bolted for Washington two weeks ago to block GOP-backed voting restrictions.
Families with lawn chairs spread out across the sprawling Capitol greens in Austin. Clergy, politicians, constituents and musicians all spoke out about the proposals to impose voter ID requirements, limit ballot drop boxes and mail voting, and strip local officials of their election authority.
The special session that the exodus by Texas Democrats halted is set to expire next week, but Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has pledged to schedule a new one as soon as the lawmakers return to the state.
“If you don’t like who's in there, vote them out,” Nelson sang, inviting he crowd to join him in singing lyrics he'd previously written about taking a stand at the ballot box.
“I felt like I needed to be here. It is a history-making event that is so necessary right now,” said Brenda Hanson, 75, of Austin. “I am a descendant of slavery and I am not interested in moving back, I want to see this country go forward. I have lived well over three quarters of a century and I have never seen us go backwards like this before.”
Willie Nelson
Handprints To Be Unveiled
Aretha
The “Queen of Soul’s” handprints are to be unveiled outside the Detroit Historical Society Museum in advance of the release of a new film on Aretha Franklin’s life and career.
Sunday’s unveiling on Legends Plaza will coincide with the opening of a new, temporary museum exhibit on Franklin, who died in 2018.
Franklin cast her handprints in concrete for installation on the plaza in 2017 at the Detroit Music Hall’s celebration of the dedication of Aretha Franklin Way in the city, the historical society said.
They last were seen as part of the museum’s commemorative exhibit following Franklin’s death and are being placed on permanent display in conjunction with the upcoming release of “Respect,” a new film on the life and career of the legendary singer, songwriter and global cultural icon.
The new museum exhibition opens at 1 p.m. Sunday to the public. It will feature costumes from “Respect,” along with other artifacts.
Aretha
Groups Denounce Di$ney
Scarlett Johansson
Times Up, ReFrame, and Women In Film have issued a joint statement today, voicing their support for actor Scarlett Johansson, and labeling Disney’s attempts to counter her recent lawsuit against the company as “a gendered character attack.” Although they make it clear that “We take no position on the business issues” addressed in the suit—in which Johansson alleges that Disney breached her contract by simultaneously releasing Black Widow in theaters and on its Disney+ streaming service, impacting her ability to profit from the film—the groups do “stand firmly against” the Disney statement released in response, which sought to paint Johansson as both greedy and insensitive for launching her complaint.
“This gendered character attack,” the joint statement continues, “Has no place in a business dispute and contributes to an environment in which women and girls are perceived as less able than men to protect their own interests without facing ad hominem criticism.”
And, honestly, that Disney response does remain both somewhat baffling and shockingly personal, calling the star’s suit “Especially sad and distressing in its callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.” (Fun tip: These statements become much funnier, if still also sort of weird and disingenuous, if you imagine them all being read in a Mickey Mouse voice.) One gets the sense that the company was, somewhat ham-fistedly, trying to leverage Johansson’s sometimes spotty reputation over the last few years in an attempt to manage the optics of the situation, going so far as to state that the actor has already received $20 million for Black Widow, and isn’t that enough millions for one person to have? (Which is a pretty rich assertion, coming as it does from the all-consuming money maw of Disney.)
Johansson’s side issued their own counter-statement to that effect yesterday, accusing Disney of trying to “weaponize her success” by revealing her pay for the spy thriller. In a statement from agent Bryan Lourd, the Johansson camp claimed, “The company included her salary in their press statement in an attempt to weaponize her success as an artist and businesswoman, as if that were something she should be ashamed of,” and called the statement a “direct attack on [Johansson’s] character.”
So, yeah: Check for local traffic, because there are burning bridges all over the place today.
Scarlett Johansson
According To Guinness
Largest Mouth
TikTok is full of users with big mouths, but one star on the social media platform just proved hers is quite literally the largest.
Guinness World Records confirmed that Samantha Ramsdell, from Connecticut, is the record holder for the world's largest mouth gape for a female.
Her mouth gape measures 6.56 centimeters, or about two and a half inches. When measured across, it reaches more than 10 centimeters, or four inches.
Ramsdell said she has always known she has a big mouth, but it wasn't until the "children of TikTok" pointed out she may have a record-sized mouth that she was encouraged to go for the record.
She said it used to be "something that really I was so insecure about, something that I wanted to keep so small," but it's now "one of the biggest, best things about me."
Largest Mouth
‘Just Say The Election Was Corrupt’
Defending
Donald Trump (R-Lock Him Up) insisted on Saturday that when he told senior justice department officials to “Just say that the election was corrupt [and] leave the rest to me”, he was not attempting to subvert US democracy, but to “uphold the integrity and honesty of elections and the sanctity of our vote”.
The twice-impeached former president’s restatement of his lie that his defeat by Joe Biden was the result of electoral fraud came a day after Washington was rocked by news of his December call with acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen and Richard Donoghue, a senior DoJ official.
Trump’s pressure on federal and state officials to overturn his national defeat and state losses to Biden has been well documented. Cases mounted by his campaign claiming electoral fraud were repeatedly thrown out of court.
Republicans in states including Arizona and Wisconsin are pursuing controversial election audits and investigations. Many GOP-controlled states are pursuing laws which critics say aim to restrict ballot access among those likely to vote Democratic, or make it easier to overturn results.
But on Friday, the House oversight committee released memos taken by Richard Donoghue, a senior DoJ official, regarding a call with Rosen on 27 December. The memos brought Trump’s startling demand to light.
Defending
Shelves Bare
Ammunition
The COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with record sales of firearms, has fueled a shortage of ammunition in the United States that’s impacting law enforcement agencies, people seeking personal protection, recreational shooters and hunters -- and could deny new gun owners the practice they need to handle their weapons safely.
Manufacturers say they’re producing as much ammunition as they can, but many gun store shelves are empty and prices keep rising. Ammunition imports are way up, but at least one U.S. manufacturer is exporting ammo. All while the pandemic, social unrest and a rise in violent crime have prompted millions to buy guns for protection or to take up shooting for sport.
“We have had a number of firearms instructors cancel their registration to our courses because their agency was short on ammo or they were unable to find ammo to purchase,” said Jason Wuestenberg, executive director of the National Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors Association.
Doug Tangen, firearms instructor at the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission, the police academy for the state, said the academy also has had trouble obtaining ammo.
The U.S. military is not affected by the shortage because the Army produces ammunition for all branches of the military at six sites across the country, according to Justine Barati, spokesperson for the U.S. Army Joint Munitions Command.
Ammunition
Alarms Raised
Fundraising
The first donation came in early May, for $50, and with a message: “GOD BLESS THE USA!!”
In just over a month, the crowdfunding page dedicated to bringing an Arizona-style review of the 2020 presidential election to Pennsylvania had collected $15,339 from 332 donors. Today, the effort has morphed into a full-fledged campaign to “Audit the Vote PA.” The website offers a six-week course on the Constitution and encourages supporters to become a “walking billboard for a forensic audit” by purchasing various hats and T-shirts.
Efforts to expand Arizona’s controversial, Republican-led review of the 2020 election to other states are growing, fueled by former President Donald Trump (R-Lock Him Up)’s false claims of victory and funded by a network of groups operating with little oversight. Election officials and experts have raised the alarm about these private fundraising efforts and what they see as a broader push by candidates to raise money off conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.
“It has become profitable both politically and financially for people to lie about the election and denigrate American democracy,” said Matt Masterson, a top election security official during the Trump administration. “The sad part is that they are doing this by lying to voters and folks who have concerns about our democracy, and they are taking their money in pursuit of their lies.”
While some fundraising details have come to light, little is known about how much has been raised and from whom. That's the case in Arizona, where a review of Maricopa County's election ordered by Republicans who control the state Senate has drawn widespread criticism, including from fellow Republicans. On Wednesday, the firm behind the review — Cyber Ninjas — said it had received $5.6 million from five groups connected to prominent supporters of Trump’s efforts to cast doubt on the 2020 election results.
Fundraising
May Disappear In California
Bacon
Thanks to a reworked menu and long hours, Jeannie Kim managed to keep her San Francisco restaurant alive during the coronavirus pandemic.
That makes it all the more frustrating that she fears her breakfast-focused diner could be ruined within months by new rules that could make one of her top menu items — bacon — hard to get in California.
At the beginning of next year, California will begin enforcing an animal welfare proposition approved overwhelmingly by voters in 2018 that requires more space for breeding pigs, egg-laying chickens and veal calves. National veal and egg producers are optimistic they can meet the new standards, but only 4% of hog operations now comply with the new rules. Unless the courts intervene or the state temporarily allows non-compliant meat to be sold in the state, California will lose almost all of its pork supply, much of which comes from Iowa, and pork producers will face higher costs to regain a key market.
Animal welfare organizations for years have been pushing for more humane treatment of farm animals but the California rules could be a rare case of consumers clearly paying a price for their beliefs.
With little time left to build new facilities, inseminate sows and process the offspring by January, it’s hard to see how the pork industry can adequately supply California, which consumes roughly 15% of all pork produced in the country.
Bacon
Powers a Tiny Laser
Miniature Particle Accelerator
Particle accelerators are hugely important in the study of the matter of the Universe, but the ones we think of tend to be gigantic instruments – surrounding cities in some cases. Now scientists have made a much smaller version to power an advanced laser, a setup that could be just as useful as its larger counterparts.
The particle accelerator in question is a plasma wakefield accelerator, which generates short and intense bursts of electrons, and the laser it's powering is what's known as a free-electron laser (FEL), which uses its light to analyze atoms, molecules, and condensed matter in incredibly high resolutions.
While this scenario has been tried before, the resulting laser light hasn't been intense enough to be useful at smaller scales. Here, the researchers were able to keep the setup enclosed in few normal-sized rooms while amplifying the final electron beam produced by the laser, increasing the intensity by 100 times in the last step of the process.
"We proved the feasibility of the new technical route with the laser electron accelerator with ultra-high acceleration capability, and it downsized the facility size from kilometer level to 12 meters," says physicist Leng Yuxin, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
There were various challenges for the team in scaling down the technology while also keeping it practically useful. They had to shrink down the variation in the energy of the electrons to just 0.5 percent, for example, which required a series of optimizations that controlled the electron acceleration and ensured smooth travel.
Miniature Particle Accelerator
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