Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Garrison Keillor: Onward, my friends! Courage! Comedy!
The beauty of backflips and the balancing act in which a spangly woman does a handstand one-handed on a man's forehead. The perfect timing of clowns and the dancing of horses, a bare-chested man suspended on ropes high above the arena as a woman falls from his shoulders to catch his bare feet with her bare feet and hang suspended with no net below. A slight woman on the flying trapeze hurling herself into a triple forward flying somersault and into the hands of the catcher. I have loved circuses all my life. This was one of the best. A person can pass through the turnstile in a sour mood and the impossible perfection of feats of style brightens your whole week.
ELLEN KNICKMEYER and JOCELYN GECKER: Trash and Poop Overwhelm National Parks, Happy New Year (TPM)
Human feces, overflowing garbage, illegal off-roading and other damaging behavior in fragile areas were beginning to overwhelm some of the West's iconic national parks, as a partial government shutdown left the areas open to visitors but with little staff on duty.
Marianna Hunt: "Party tricks and naked writing: the eccentric life of Victor Hugo" (The Guardian)
Worshipped as a saint in Vietnam, beloved by the sex workers of Paris, with a party trick involving an orange - as Les Misérables comes to the BBC, let's celebrate Hugo's individualist spirit.
Nicolas Lezard: "Is Watership Down really 'just a story about rabbits'?" (The Guardian)
Richard Adams's novel is, as he insisted, about unsentimentally observed animals. But his experience as a soldier left an undeniable mark on the story, too.
Laura Waddell: "Sequel rights and wrongs: why some stories should be allowed to end" (The Guardian)
It makes sense to continue The Handmaid's Tale in the Trump era, but going back to Call Me By Your Name risks ruining the first book (for which there are spoilers here).
Cheryl Eddy: Get Started on Your 2019 Reading List With All These New Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books (io9)
It's 2019! If one of your New Year's resolutions is to "read more sci-fi and fantasy," we've got all kinds of great suggestions to get you started. And if that isn't on your list of ways to self-improve, you just might get inspired to add it after seeing all the new books that January has to offer.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
responded:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
from Bruce
Anecdotes
• During the evening of November 14, 1940, the Germans bombed the city of Coventry as part of its blitz against England. Alan Hartlet was only 16 when the bombs fell. The attack was concentrated, and it was devastating. In fact, the German Luftwaft was so pleased with the destruction that it invented a new word: to coventrate, which meant to reduce a city practically to rubble. By day Alan worked in an aerospace factory, and by night he was an Air Raid Precautions (ARP) messenger. He did such things as reporting the locations of fires, helping put the fires out, and helping wounded citizens. At 6:30 p.m. he heard the air-raid sirens and reported to work at the ARP post. He remembers hearing the bombs explode: "They were coming straight for us; it's the most terrifying experience to stand there, hearing these bombs from a distance and them getting louder and louder and louder, wondering how many have they got left and are you going to be the next one?"He also remembers, "The Germans bombed Coventry very systematically. They bombed in straight lines from east to west, and then they started from south to north. It was like darning a sock. They picked out the whole centre of Coventry; it was the most accurate bombing seen in the war [to that point]." Many people died: 554, to be exact. An incendiary bomb exploded in the face of a warden at the ARP post and severely burned him. To get medical help for the warden, Alan rode his bicycle 2½ miles to the city centre. He remembers, "Shrapnel was falling-big, red-hot shards of shrapnel hitting the road; the searchlights were swinging; and I could see the glow in the sky as Coventry burned. Marks & Spencer was burning on one side, Woolworths on the other, the cathedral was in flames, and the air was full of brick dust, smoke and sparks." He managed to reach the city centre, although he had to carry his bicycle across a huge bomb crater. He went to city hall and got medical help for the warden, who survived. Of course, the Germans hoped to sap the will of the English by bombing them. Of course, the blitz did not succeed in doing that. When the all-clear sounded after the bombing raid, the destruction was terrible, with shops burning, cars burning, lamp-posts leaning over, windows broken. But Alan remembers a surprising detail that shows the resilience of the English during the blitz: "To my great surprise, at six in the morning, a tea wagon arrived within minutes of the all-clear sounding, and the rescue squads were queueing up and having tea."
• War sometimes has unexpected results. For example, Michael Foreman, the author of illustrator of many books for children, was a child in England during World War II, and he lived in a town that housed POWs. The POWs worked on the farms near the village, and they would participate in games of soccer. Some of the POWs married English women. For example, a German POW married Michael's cousin Gwen. When the Germans bombed the town, many gardens were destroyed along with many buildings, resulting in the scattering of seeds. Growing among heaps of rubble could be found flowers such as marigolds and irises. Also growing among the heaps of rubble was something very valuable during wartime: potatoes. During the blackouts to prevent bombs from being dropped on buildings, a danger arose from accidents because people were driving vehicles without using the lights. Therefore, men were encouraged to leave their shirttails out while walking at night because the light color of the shirt would show up better at night than the men's usually dark jackets. A farmer even painted white stripes on his cows just in case they wandered onto a road. In addition, the cards that came inside packs of cigarettes became a source of valuable information as the cards explained such things as how to wear a gas mask properly and how to dispose of incendiary bombs. By the way, a sailor once let a very young Michael take a puff on a cigarette, and Michael has never smoked since.
• The United States certainly gets into a lot of wars. Journalist and cartoonist Ted Rall once spoke with a British reporter who came up with an amusing idea for keeping the U.S. out of wars. The British reporter said, "If the average American cannot identify three cities in a country, the U.S. should not invade it." According to Mr. Rall, "Given that the average American doesn't know their state capital, much less three cities in, say, Canada, this would transform us into a pacifist society overnight." Of course, ignorance abounds, and not just among common American citizens. D-Day took place at Normandy, and the Allied forces brought tons of food for civilians because the Allied forces thought that food would be scarce in Normandy. Actually, Normandy had plenty of food, although other places in France had food shortages-Allied bombs had destroyed train lines that normally would have transported food out of Normandy to the rest of France. Military officials telegraphed Eisenhower: PLENTY OF FOOD. SEND SHOES."
• A student in the old Orient was learning about tricks that are used in war. For example, the student learned of an army that was in a weak position. To keep from being attacked at night, the general ordered many more fires to be built than were actually needed. This made his army appear to be stronger than it really was. Another example: A general had a strong army, but he wished to keep the number of soldiers secret from the enemy. Therefore, he ordered many fewer fires to be built than usual. This made his army appear to be weaker than it really was. The student disliked this trickery and told his teacher, "I am an honorable man, and when I am a general, I won't use tricks." The teacher told the student that a special place existed for generals like him: the graveyard.
• "When you've seen one nuclear war, you've seen all you'll ever see."-David Bruce
• "I dream of giving birth to a child who will ask, 'Mother, what was war?'"-Eve Merriam
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'New Horizons' Single
Brian May
New Horizons' flyby of the distant object Ultima Thule now has its own soundtrack.
Astrophysicist Brian May, lead guitarist for the band Queen, released a new single called "New Horizons" just after midnight EST (0500 GMT) on New Year's Day to highlight the flyby, which peaked about 30 minutes later when the NASA spacecraft zoomed within 2,200 miles (3,500 kilometers) of Ultima Thule.
Ultima lies about 4 billion miles (6.4 billion km) from Earth and is now the farthest-flung celestial body ever to be visited by a spacecraft.
"This project made music in my head, and that's what you're hearing," May told reporters on Monday (Dec. 31).
"This mission is about human curiosity," he added. "It's about the need of humankind to go out and explore."
Brian May
Finds Temple
Mexico
Mexican experts have found the first temple of the Flayed Lord, a pre-Hispanic fertility god depicted as a skinned human corpse, authorities said Wednesday.
Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History said the find was made during recent excavations of Popoloca Indian ruins in the central state of Puebla.
The institute said experts found two skull-like stone carvings and a stone trunk depicting the god, Xipe Totec. It had an extra hand dangling off one arm, suggesting the god was wearing the skin of a sacrificial victim.
Priests worshipped Xipe Totec by skinning human victims and then donning their skins. The ritual was seen as a way to ensure fertility and regeneration.
The Popolocas built the temple at a complex known as Ndachjian-Tehuacan between A.D. 1000 and 1260 and were later conquered by the Aztecs.
Mexico
Urges Germany To Return Painting
Uffizi
The director of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence is urging Germany to return a Dutch masterpiece stolen by Nazi troops during World War II, dramatizing its absence by hanging a black and white photo of the work with the label "Stolen" in three languages.
Eike Schmidt said in a New Year's appeal Tuesday that the still-life "Vase of Flowers" by Dutch artist Jan van Huysum is in the hands of a German family who hasn't returned it despite numerous appeals. Instead, intermediaries for the family have demanded payment for its return to Italy.
"The painting is already the inalienable property of the Italian State, and thus cannot be 'bought,'" Schmidt said.
The oil painting had been hanging as part of the Pitti Palace collection in Florence from 1824 until the outbreak of World War II. It was moved for safety during the war but was stolen by retreating German troops. It didn't surface again until Germany's reunification in 1991, when the offers to sell it back to Italy began.
He called it Germany's "moral duty" to return to the artwork, adding, "I trust that the German government will do so at the earliest opportunity, naturally along with every other work of art stolen by the Nazi Wehrmacht."
Uffizi
Absurd Poster
Game of Thrones
Careful, trademark infringement lawsuits may be coming. Even though HBO has already warned President Donald Trump (R-Grifter) to stop using Game of Thrones imagery to stoke fear and hate, he's doubling down by turning his November 2018 meme poster into a real, tangible item. Accomplishing, well, who even knows at this point.
Several news outlets have reported spotting Trump's "Sanctions Are Coming" poster during today's cabinet meeting, which largely focused on border security and the current government shutdown. It wasn't part of a presentation or a specific message. It was just...sitting there. A terribly unfurled poster (which still reads "November 4") that's probably been in some broom closet until Trump randomly decided it should have the place of honor at a government meeting.
The poster was originally shared on Twitter ahead of the 2018 midterm elections-an election which proved particularly bad for Trump and the Republican Party, as voters overwhelmingly supported Democrats and flipped the House of Representatives. After Trump shared the poster, HBO responded with a tweet that said "How do you say trademark misuse in Dothraki?" and released a statement saying the network would prefer he not use Game of Thrones imagery for his political messaging.
Despite the electoral loss and negative response from HBO, Trump has apparently decided not to abandon his Game of Thrones idea. Although, to be honest, it's hard to tell what purpose it's even serving now. The sanctions against Iran, which were supposedly what the poster was referring to when it first came out on Twitter, were reinstated in November 2018. Plus, as previously mentioned, the focus of the meeting was about border security, not pending sanctions (he did discuss meeting with his generals about Iran, saying it was "like from a [Tom Cruise] movie," but no sanctions were announced). If there are future sanctions on the horizon, they only exist behind closed doors... or in Trump's mind.
Unless...the poster is a vague reference to his border wall proposition, which has been at the heart of the latest government shutdown. I mean, it's possible, technically-the show does have a wall. But really, there's no need to vaguely threaten winter horrors from a government building; the latest White House holiday decor already took care of that.
Game of Thrones
Large Chunk Is Missing
Earth's Crust
Geologists have been puzzled for more than a century by something they call "The Great Unconformity", where enormous slabs of time are missing from the geological record. Now, a new paper explains this was a product of astonishing glacial erosion during the period known as "Snowball Earth," when almost the entire planet was covered in ice.
An unconformity is a break in the sedimentary record, such as when the age of rocks jumps sharply because one set of rocks eroded away before being covered by those substantially younger. One example was noticed in 1869 in the Grand Canyon, and subsequent research found it replicated around the world in rocks of similar age, earning the name The Great Unconformity. The authors of the new study calculated that due to glacial erosion a global average of 3-5 kilometers (2-3 miles) of the rocks were stripped away, hence "missing" from the record.
Although the Great Unconformity isn't seen everywhere on Earth, and the span of missing time varies where it does, Dr Brenhin Keller of the Berkeley Geochronology Center writes in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences its scale is truly enormous. Before 500 years ago, we have approximately 0.2 cubic kilometers (0.05 cubic miles) of preserved sedimentary rock for each year of the Earth's existence. Afterward this jumps to 1 km3 (0.2 miles3), rather than the gradual increase we would model as we get closer to today, and Keller and colleagues calculate an astonishing 1 billion cubic kilometers (200 million cubic miles) of pre-Cambrian material is missing beyond what would be expected.
Either, the authors argue, sedimentation increased dramatically at the start of the Phanerozoic era, or there was much greater erosion beforehand. They present evidence for the latter, showing crystals from the relevant era have isotopes of hafnium and oxygen consistent with being eroded from old rock and deposited at low temperatures. A phenomenal spike in erosion rates would also explain why we know of many asteroid impact craters less than 700 million years old, but only two older than that.
Earth's Crust
Some Beaks Suited for Combat
Hummingbirds
With their elongated bills and specially adapted tongues, hummingbirds are built to extract nectar from flowers. As new research shows, however, some hummingbirds from South America have evolved beaks designed to poke, prod, and pinch-at the expense of feeding proficiency.
Hummingbirds are the ultimate sugar junkies, lapping up the sweet syrupy nectar inside of flowers to get a quick energy boost. Unable to thrive off sugar alone, hummingbirds also eat insects, such as fruit flies, to add important minerals and nutrients to their diets. These tiny birds are voracious eaters, snacking at 10-minute intervals throughout the day. Such is the price for a species that flaps its wings 700 times per second and beats it heart 600 times each minute (or 1,200 times when they're physically exerting themselves).
With sugar being the fuel that makes the hummingbird lifestyle possible, nature has bestowed them with a beak fit for the task. Of the 300 species of hummingbirds in the world, most feature specialized bills that can easily slip inside a flower and scoop up the precious nectar inside. These beaks tend to be long and flexible, with soft edges, a blunt tip, and a spoon-like shape. These birds also feature highly specialized tongues that turn into a two-pronged fork when in contact with nectar, allowing the birds to better absorb the liquid.
Hummingbird beaks are also used to snatch insects and for self-defense, but their primary purpose is for nectar feeding-or so we thought. New researchpublished today in Integrative Organismal Biology shows that males of some tropical hummingbird species from South America have beaks more suited to fencing, poking, and pinching behaviors. Ornithologist Alejandro Rico-Guevara, the lead author of the study and a professor at UC Berkeley, said these appendages are used by male hummingbirds to fight off other males, which they do to gain access to food resources and females.
Hummingbirds
Prime-Time Nielsens
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Dec. 24-30. Listings include the week's ranking and viewership.
1. College Football Playoff: Oklahoma vs. Alabama, ESPN, 18.49 million.
2. College Football Playoff: Notre Dame vs. Clemson, ESPN, 16.28 million.
3. "Orange Bowl Pregame," ESPN, 16.23 million.
4. "Orange Bowl Postgame," ESPN, 16.07 million.
5. NFL Football: Indianapolis at Tennessee, NBC, 16.05 million.
6. "Cotton Bowl Postgame, ESPN, 15.15 million.
7. "NFL Pregame," NBC, 11.54 million.
8. "The OT," Fox, 9.58 million.
9. "Football Night in America," NBC, 8.98 million.
10. NFL Football: Denver at Oakland, ESPN, 8.71 million.
11. NBA Basketball: L.A. Lakers at Golden State, ABC, 7.99 million.
12. "The Orville," Fox, 5.68 million.
13. College Football: Iowa St. vs. Washington St., ESPN, 5.66 million.
14. College Football: West Virginia vs. Syracuse, ESPN, 4.88 million.
15. "America's Funniest Home Videos" (Sunday, 8 p.m.), ABC, 4.55 million.
16. "Chicago PD," NBC, 4.47 million.
17. Movie: "It's a Wonderful Life," NBC, 4.41 million.
18. "Chicago Med," NBC, 4.35 million.
19. "Chicago Fire," NBC, 4.05 million.
20. "America's Funniest Home Videos" (Sunday, 9 p.m.), ABC, 3.96 million.
Ratings
In Memory
Pegi Young
Pegi Young, the singer-songwriter who was married to Neil Young for 36 years, died Tuesday after a yearlong battle with cancer. She was 66. "[She] passed away surrounded by her friends and family in her native California," reads a short statement on her official Instagram account. "We request that the families' privacy be respected at this time."
Young was working as a waitress at a diner near Neil Young's ranch when they met in the mid-Seventies. "Never saw a woman look finer," Neil Young wrote in his 1992 classic song "Unknown Legend," one of several songs about their love that also include "Harvest Moon" and "Such an Angel." "I used to order just to watch her float across the floor."
In the early years of their marriage, Young devoted herself nearly full-time to raising their daughter Amber and son Ben, the latter born with cerebral palsy. But in 1994, she began singing background vocals for her husband, starting at the Academy Awards when she joined him on "Philadelphia." Six years later, she hit the road with him on the Friends and Relatives tour and became a mainstay in his band over the next decade. "When I started touring with him, I get treated pretty much like any other band member," she told Songfacts in 2011. "He certainly doesn't cut me any more slack than anybody else. If he wants to hear something a certain way, he's the clear boss, leader of the band."
In addition to her music career, Young devoted much of her time and energy to the Bridge School. She founded the esteemed institution in 1986 to help kids like Ben that have severe speech and physical impairments. The annual Bridge School Benefit in Mountain View, California continually attracts A-level talent and helps raise money for the school. David Bowie, the Who and a Temple of the Dog reunion have all highlighted the annual event.
In 2014, Neil Young filed for divorce from Pegi. "We were having a rough patch," Pegi told Rolling Stone. "But I never would've thought in a million years we would be getting divorced. So, yeah, there was a bit of a shock value there." She poured her heartbreak into the songs on her last LP, 2016's Raw. "It told a story," she said. "I kind of look at it as a soundtrack to the seven stages of grief. You've got anger, then shock and disbelief. As we go through the album, the later songs show my growth and … I can't say total acceptance, but I think the last song, that wonderful Don Henley song ["The Heart of the Matter"], talks about forgiveness. That's really where it's at, you know?"
Pegi Young
In Memory
Bob Einstein
Bob Einstein, an offbeat comedian and writer whose career stretched from "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" to "Curb Your Enthusiasm," has died. He was 76.
Einstein was known most recently for playing Marty Funkhouser, the aggravating old friend of Larry David on HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm." Einstein also created the character of Super Dave Osborne, the fearless but accident-prone daredevil who made appearances on a range of comedy-variety shows starting in the 1970s. At 6 feet, 4 inches tall, Einstein could pull off the part of an Evel Knievel wannabe whose stunts always ended in disaster.
On "Smothers Brothers," Einstein crafted the humorless, helmet-wearing motorcycle cop Officer Judy who would perpetually ride in to sketches to "bust" other characters. During his tenure on the groundbreaking and controversial CBS series, Einstein was a writing partner and roommates with future comedy superstar Steve Martin.
The Super Dave Osborne character starred in a four-part special for Spike TV, "Super Dave's Spike Tacular," in 2009. Einstein also logged guest shots in recent years on such shows including "Arrested Development," "Crank Yankers," and "Anger Management."
Einstein won an Emmy as part of the writing staff of "Smothers Brothers" in 1969. He also earned a writing Emmy in 1977 for his work on Dick Van Dyke's short-lived NBC variety show "Van Dyke and Company." Einstein was a regular performer on the show, along with a young Andy Kaufman.
Einstein's death was confirmed on Wednesday by his brother, comedian and filmmaker Albert Brooks.
Born in Los Angeles, Einstein was the middle son of comedian Harry Einstein, known from his radio appearances as the character Parkyakarkus, and actress Thelma Leeds. He attended Chapman University and began working in advertising, but segued into local TV. He was offered a job as a writer-performer on "Smothers Brothers" by Tommy Smothers, who was impressed by Einstein's dry delivery on a local TV series hosted by L.A. radio personality Bob Arbogast.
Einstein worked steadily as a TV writer in the 1970s for such shows as "The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour" and "Pat Paulsen's Half a Comedy Hour."
Einstein was a regular on the talk-show circuit for years, logging numerous appearances on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson," "Late Night With David Letterman," and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," among others. He was featured in a 2017 episode of Jerry Seinfeld's "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee."
On the film side, Einstein appeared opposite his younger brother in the 1981 Brooks film "Modern Romance." Other credits include 2007's "Ocean's Thirteen" and 1972's "Get to Know Your Rabbit," which starred Tommy Smothers.
Einstein is survived by his wife of more than 40 years, Roberta Einstein, a daughter, and two grandchildren, as well as two brothers, Brooks and older brother Cliff Einstein. The family requests that donations be made in Einstein's memory to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
Bob Einstein
In Memory
Daryl Dragon
Daryl Dragon, the cap-wearing "Captain" of "The Captain and Tennille" who teamed with then-wife Toni Tennille on such easy listening hits as "Love Will Keep Us Together" and "Muskrat Love," died Wednesday at age 76.
"He was a brilliant musician with many friends who loved him greatly. I was at my most creative in my life, when I was with him," Tennille said in a statement. Dragon and Tennille divorced in 2014 after nearly 40 years of marriage, but they remained close and Tennille had moved back to Arizona to help care for him.
Dragon and Tennille met in the early 1970s and soon began performing together, with Tennille singing and Dragon on keyboards. (He would later serve as the Captain and Tennille's producer). Their breakthrough came in 1975 when they covered the Neil Sedaka-Howard Greenfield song "Love Will Keep Us Together," which Sedaka himself recorded in 1973 and been released as a single in Europe.
The Captain and Tennille version topped the charts - and acknowledged Sedaka's authorship by singing "Sedaka's back" at the end of the song - and won a Grammy for record of the year. They followed with a mix of covers such as "Muskrat Love" and "Shop Around" and original songs, including Tennille's "Do That to Me One More Time," which hit No. 1 in 1980. They also briefly starred in their own television variety show.
A Los Angeles native, Dragon was the son of Oscar-winning composer Carmen Dragon and singer Eloise Dragon and was himself a classically trained musician. Before he was with Tennille, he played keyboards for the Beach Boys and was dubbed "The Captain" by singer Mike Love, who noted Dragon's fondness for sailor's caps.
He is survived by his older brother, Doug Dragon, and two nieces, Kelly Arbout and Renee Henn.
Daryl Dragon
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