from Bruce
Anecdotes
Actors
• Actress/comedian/writer Ann Randolph got her start in performing when she was hired to work with mental patients at the Athens Mental Health Center while studying theater at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. One of the activities she did was to write several plays for the patients to perform. Some of the things she saw at the Mental Health Center became part of the plays she wrote. According to Ms. Randolph, “I think it shaped me because I was able to see ... how devastating mental illness is. I wanted to immediately tell the stories that I was hearing up there. I wanted to tell them on stage. They were amazing stories.” The plays were popular with the patients — one patient even requested, “Don’t discharge me until the play is over.”
• Carol Burnett made her Broadway debut in the hit Once Upon a Mattress, a comic play based upon the children’s story “The Princess and the Pea.” In this play, her character slept on a bed with several mattresses, under which a pea had been placed. If her character felt the pea, she was a legitimate princess; if her character did not feel the pea, she was not worthy to marry the prince. However, at the same time that Ms. Burnett was starring on Broadway each night, she was also starring on television each day, and she was very, very tired — so one night she fell asleep while lying on the mattresses on stage.
• Jacob P. Adler was a much-respected Yiddish actor who died in 1926. Fourteen years after his death, an old man showed up at a theater where Mr. Adler used to perform. He presented the theater manager with a pass that had been signed by Mr. Adler — but the pass was good for free admission to a Dec. 31, 1919, performance. The old man had been unable to use it in 1919, but he wanted to use it in 1940 because he had heard that Mr. Adler’s daughter, Celia, was appearing at the theater. The theater manager had such a high respect for Mr. Adler that he honored the pass.
• Katherine Cornell was a much-loved theatrical actress. Once, she was supposed to appear in Seattle, Washington, but because of bad weather her train did not arrive until almost midnight. Hearing that the audience was still awaiting her arrival, she and her troupe went to the theater and got the stage ready in full view of the audience, allowing them a glimpse of behind-the-curtain activity they had not seen before. Ms. Cornell and her troupe then performed the play, which did not end until 3:45 a.m.
• When Diana Adams first started dancing with the New York City Ballet, like most newcomers she was given the pantomime roles that did not require much if any dancing; unfortunately, she was not much good at pantomime — although as her career proved, she was excellent at dancing. As the Duchess in Giselle, she acted regally, but for lack of a better thing to do, looked at the scenery. This amused André Eglevsky, who commented, “That girl, she looks as if she’d never seen a tree before!”
• Actors John Gielgud and Hugh Griffith once attended a party at which Sir John amused everyone by talking of various productions he had seen of Shakespeare’s Tempest. He especially criticized a particular production, saying it had “quite the worst Caliban I have ever seen.” Noticing how quiet Mr. Griffith was, he said, “You’re very silent, Hugh.” Mr. Griffith replied, “Not as a rule. I was just trying to recall my performance and wondering if you could possibly be right.”
• After retiring from gymnastics following the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Cathy Rigby began her acting career by playing the role of Peter Pan for seven months — traditionally, Peter Pan, a boy, is played by a woman. She is well known for this role, which she has played several times in intervening years. In fact, she says her daughter once told her that “when she grows up, she wants to be a boy just like me.”
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Presenting
Michael Egan
U.S.A. said:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
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Pro Band Tip: When you choose a name for your band, album, and/or song, make it easy to find on social media and especially YouTube.
Big Burger’s other album, PERFECT MENU, is also excellent.
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Wendy Molyneux: Oh My Fucking God, Get the Fucking Vaccine Already, You Fucking Fucks (McSweeney’s)
Hi, if you are reading this essay then congratulations, you are still alive. And if you are alive, then you have either gotten the COVID-19 vaccine, or you still have the opportunity to get the vaccine against COVID-19. And holy fuck, if you aren’t fucking vaccinated against COVID-19, then you need to get fucking vaccinated right now. I mean, what the fuck? Fuck you. Get vaccinated. Fuck.
Wendy Molyneux: Oh My Fucking God, Get the Fucking Vaccine Already, You Fucking Fucks (McSweeney’s)
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Current Events
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In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Venice Film Festival
Golden Lion
A timely film about illegal abortions in 1960s France won the Venice Film Festival's Golden Lion on Saturday, capping a strong night for women including Penelope Cruz and Jane Campion.
Audrey Diwan's "Happening" arrives just as the abortion debate is raging again over new restrictions in Texas and its decriminalisation in Mexico.
It was great year for female filmmakers, with best director going to iconic New Zealand auteur Jane Campion for her emotionally complex Western "The Power of the Dog", starring Benedict Cumberbatch.
And best screenplay went to Maggie Gyllenhaal for her directorial debut "The Lost Daughter", an unflinching look at the difficulties of balancing career and motherhood starring British Oscar-winner Olivia Colman.
The second-place Silver Lion went to beloved Italian director Paolo Sorrentino for his strikingly personal "The Hand of God" about his youth in the gritty southern city of Naples, which also earned the newcomer award for young star Filippo Scotti.
Golden Lion
First Emmys For Marvel Studios
‘WandaVision’
Marvel Studios took home its first two Emmy Awards on Saturday night for its acclaimed superhero series, WandaVision.
The Disney+ miniseries won out in the categories of Outstanding Production Design For A Narrative Program (Half-Hour) and Outstanding Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes. Production Designer Mark Worthington, Art Director Sharon Davis and Set Decorator Kathy Orlando accepted the former award, with Costume Designer Mayes C. Rubeo, Assistant Costume Designer Joseph Feltus, Assistant Costume Designer Daniel Selon and Costume Supervisor Virginia Burton claiming the latter.
WandaVision earned a total of 23 Emmy nominations back in July. At upcoming Emmy ceremonies, the show will contend for Outstanding Limited Or Anthology Series, Lead Actress In A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie (Elizabeth Olsen), Lead Actor In A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie (Paul Bettany), Supporting Actress In A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie (Kathryn Hahn), Directing For A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie, Writing For A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie, Original Main Title Theme Music, Original Music And Lyrics, Music Composition For A Limited Or Anthology Series, Movie Or Special (Original Dramatic Score), Music Supervision, Special Visual Effects In A Season Or A Movie, and Casting For A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie.
At the first Creative Arts Emmys ceremony of 2021, Disney+ claimed six statuettes in total. Its flagship Star Wars series The Mandalorian received the awards for Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series (Half-Hour), Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour) and Prosthetic Makeup, with Black Is King claiming Costumes for a Variety, Nonfiction or Reality Program. (The latter award was juried—its winner, announced in advance of tonight’s ceremony.)
‘WandaVision’
Antenna Array Threatened
SETI
A set of radio telescope antennas used by the SETI Institute to scan the heavens for signs of extraterrestrial life is being endangered by the massive Dixie Fire, according to officials.
In a press release issued by the SETI Institute on Friday, officials said the Allen Telescope Array — an ensemble of 42 antennas used in the non-profit organization’s search for extraterrestrial intelligence located at the Hat Creek Radio Observatory — was being threatened by the Dixie Fire. Officials said the scientists and engineers usually on-site were evacuated as a precautionary measure in response to an order from the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office.
As of Friday, the Dixie Fire was burning approximately 12 miles south of the array of radio telescope antennas. The fire currently ranks as the second-largest fire in California history, just shy of last year’s August Complex fire. The Dixie Fire is 959,253 acres and is currently 62% contained according to the latest Cal Fire update. The fire has been burning for 58 days..
“It is an unfortunate fact that environments that are suitable for radio telescopes — including the Allen Telescope Array — are also frequently places where wildfires are commonplace,” the statement said. “Since microwaves, the type of radio signals sought by the Array, are not hampered by Earth’s atmosphere, there’s no reason to place such instruments on mountain tops, as is done for optical telescopes.”
The Allen Telescope Array is a unique facility, standing as the only radio telescope constructed with SETI as a principal activity. Its 42 antennas are currently being refurbished with more sensitive receivers and follow-on electronics that will greatly speed the search for signals that would prove the presence of technological societies in other star systems. The upgrade is funded by Franklin Antonio, a co-founder of the California semiconductor company Qualcomm.
SETI
‘Hiding Evidence’
Rupert
Lara Logan went on Fox News on Friday night and accused the Biden administration of “hiding evidence” of side effects allegedly caused by the COVID-19 vaccine.
Filling in for Tucker Carlson (R-Delicate), Logan made the baseless claim while in response to Biden’s plan to mandate that all companies with more than 100 employees require vaccination or weekly testing of employees.
“In Israel, where more than 80% of adults are vaccinated, COVID cases are spiking,” Logan said. “Israel now has one of the world’s highest daily infection rates. So what explains that?”
She continued, “In his remarks to the nation, Joe Biden didn’t mention that. Instead, he put OSHA — the same agency that’s been hiding evidence of vaccine side effects, in charge of forcing millions of Americans to take the COVID vaccine.”
It’s unclear what Israel has to do with it but it should be noted that the CDC has very clearly stated, “Millions of people have received COVID-19 vaccines, and no long-term side effects have been detected.”
Rupert
Look To Stop Mandatory Vaccination
Police Unions
As the White House steps up its push to increase vaccinations, police unions across the country are protesting local mandates, despite the number of COVID-19 deaths among officers.
Last month, when Mayor Lori Lightfoot of Chicago said there would “absolutely” be a vaccine mandate for city employees, the local police union promised legal action.
“It cannot be mandated. It’s that simple. Our members don’t want to be mandated to do anything like that,” said the union president, John Catanzara. “This vaccine has no studies for long-term side effects or consequences. None. To mandate anybody to get that vaccine, without that data as a baseline, amongst other issues, is a ‘Hell, no’ for us.”
Catanzara also likened the vaccine mandates to the Holocaust, saying, “We’re in America, g*ddamn it. We don’t want to be forced to do anything. Period. This ain’t Nazi f***ing Germany, [where they say], ‘Step into the f***ing showers. The pills won’t hurt you.’ What the f***?”
Catanzara’s opposition to mandates is indicative of a larger trend across the nation’s law enforcement organizations. Meanwhile, three times more officers died of COVID-19 in 2020 than in firearm-related incidents, according to tracking from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. The National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) stated that 644 officers have died from the virus as of Sept. 10, but noted that “not all” of the deaths “have been verified.”
Police Unions
'Political Motivations'
SCOTUS
The Supreme Court opened the door to fierce backlash when a narrow majority of justices in a ruling last week upheld a strict Texas law that bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
From President Joe Biden to advocacy leaders, critics have knocked the court's decision, arguing it flouts the constitutional right to an abortion established nearly 50 years ago under Roe v. Wade. That Supreme Court decision, along with other major abortion rulings since, protect the right to an abortion until pre-viability, or the point when a fetus can survive outside of the womb, which most experts say occurs around 24 weeks of pregnancy.
Some legal experts, too, have piled on the criticism. They argue that the Supreme Court justices, who are meant to behave as interpreters and appliers of the law, instead conducted themselves as partisan lawmakers in the Texas decision.
"Our court is broken. I mean, it's more of a political institution than it is a legal institution," Barry McDonald, a law professor at Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law, told Insider, adding that the Texas law is "flagrantly unconstitutional."
SCOTUS
'War Games'
State AGs
An offshoot of the Republican Attorneys General Association that sent a robocall urging “patriots” to support then-President Donald Trump at the Jan. 6 rally that preceded the storming of the U.S. Capitol held a special “war games” meeting weeks before the election to discuss its strategies if Trump lost.
The two-day conference in September 2020 was among more than 20 meetings that the Rule of Law Defense Fund held in the four months before the November election for senior aides to Republicans who were their states' chief law enforcement officials. But unlike the others, it was held in-person despite coronavirus cases surging and the vaccine still months from coming to market, and the group paid attendees' travel costs.
The Defense Fund, which is a branch of the Republican Attorneys General Association, gained notoriety for its robocall the day before the Jan. 6 insurrection, when pro-Trump demonstrators stormed the Capitol in an attempt to thwart the certification of Joe Biden's victory.
Emails from the offices of the Republican attorneys general in Kansas and Missouri show that the Defense Fund held weekly calls for senior staffers in state offices, a “virtual roundtable” with senior corporate attorneys in July and the in-person summit in September. It also held a Zoom “strategy session” eight days after the election and a Dec. 1 call to discuss immigration policy.
A Sept. 24 email from the Republican Attorneys General Association executive director, addressed to “Generals,” called the Atlanta event “WAR GAMES” and a “series of conversations planning for what could come if we lose the White House.”
State AGs
Just Ended
Secretive Program
A Pentagon program that delegated management of a huge swath of the internet to a Florida company in January - just minutes before President Donald Trump left office - has ended as mysteriously as it began, with the Defense Department this week retaking control of 175 million IP addresses.
The program had drawn scrutiny because of its unusual timing, starting amid a politically charged changeover of federal power, and because of its enormous scale. At its peak, the company, Global Resource Systems, controlled almost 6% of a section of the internet called IPv4. The IP addresses had been under Pentagon control for decades but left unused, despite being potentially worth billions of dollars on the open market.
Adding to the mystery, company registration records showed Global Resource Systems at the time was only a few months old, having been established in September 2020, and had no publicly reported federal contracts, no obvious public-facing website and no sign on the shared office space it listed as its physical address in Plantation, Fla. The company also did not respond to requests for comment, and the Pentagon did not announce the program or publicly acknowledge its existence until The Washington Post reported on it in April.
On Tuesday, the Pentagon made a technical announcement - visible mainly to network administrators around the world - saying it was resuming control of the 175 million IP addresses and directing the traffic to its own servers.
On Friday the Pentagon told The Post that the pilot program, which it previously had characterized as a cybersecurity measure designed to detect unspecified "vulnerabilities" and "prevent unauthorized use of DoD IP address space," was over. Parts of the internet once managed by Global Resource Systems, the Pentagon said, now were being overseen by the Department of Defense Information Network, known by the acronym DODIN and part of U.S. Cyber Command, based at Fort Meade.
Secretive Program
Living Milkshakes?
Milkweed Butterflies
Not all caterpillars grow up to be beautiful butterflies. Some become living milkshakes for their dads, who guzzle caterpillar body fluids to attract the ladies.
Recently, scientists reported the first evidence of butterflies sipping from the bodies of caterpillars — dead and alive. They observed adult milkweed butterflies in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, using tiny claws on their feet to scratch wounds in caterpillars' bodies so they could lap the liquid that oozed out.
Male butterflies seek certain compounds produced by milkweed (flowering plants in the family Apocynaceae), which repel predators and help the butterflies produce pheromones that attract females. Since caterpillars are stuffed with juices from chewed-up plants, they make an easy target for butterflies looking to chemically boost their attractiveness to females.
"The caterpillar larvae would contort their bodies rapidly in what appeared to be futile attempts to deter the persistent scratching of adults," said the researchers who observed the butterfly baby-drinking. They described their observations in a study published Sept. 8 in the journal Ecology.
Butterflies in the Danainae family are known as milkweed butterflies because most of the caterpillars in this group feed on milkweed plants, which contain toxic alkaloids that are absorbed by the caterpillars and then processed into useful chemicals that protect them from predators. Another use for these alkaloids is in mating pheromones, which are transferred to females in the males' sperm packet "as a nuptial gift," the scientists wrote.
Milkweed Butterflies
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