from Bruce
Anecdotes
Mishaps
• Leslie Goldman, the author of Locker Room Diaries: The Naked Truth About Women, Body Image, and Re-Imagining the “Perfect” Body, once had the interesting experience of receiving this email: “Jim O’Connor is writing a book about unattractive people who have faced the world and found happiness, a good job, and love. Can he interview you?” In fact, the email was so interesting that Ms. Goldman writes that when she read it she snorted “Jelly Bellies out of my nose.” Another interesting experience came when she was a student. She came across a hippie who was stopping people and asking them, “Are you interested in becoming a writer or poet?” She swept on past him, and he yelled after her, “BEAUTY FADES! BUT YOUR WORDS WILL LIVE ON FOREVER!”
• Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, attended Sandhurst military academy. The Duke of Cambridge, who was Queen Victoria’s commander in chief, had visited Sandhurst when many of the officer-cadets were contracting venereal diseases and told them, “I understand that some of you young gentlemen have been putting yours where I wouldn’t put my walking stick.” Ian disregarded this advice, if he was ever aware of it, and quickly got gonorrhea. That, of course, is not the only mistake Ian ever made. After Ian published On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, his friend, Patrick Leigh Fermor, reminded him that Pol Roger is never sold in half bottles — and it is the only champagne that is not sold that way.
• Mishaps occur even to world-famous novelists. Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho once spent a year working as a correspondent in England, during which time he also wrote his autobiography, but when he returned to Rio de Janeiro, he accidentally left the manuscript of his autobiography in a London pub. Goodbye, one year’s worth of autobiographical writing. Later, Mr. Coelho wrote an autobiography about his years practicing black magic and evil. However, his wife read the book and advised him to destroy it. He did destroy it, keeping only a chapter that did not deal with black magic and evil.
• The earliest memory of novelist Zoë Heller, author of Notes on a Scandal, is when she was six years old and peed in a wastepaper basket at night because she didn’t want to walk down the hall to the bathroom. And her most embarrassing moment is when she was six years old and her mother asked her, “Have you been peeing in the wastepaper basket?” By the way, Rosanna Greenstreet of The Guardian once asked her, “If you could bring something extinct back to life, what would you choose?” Ms. Heller replied, “Marlon Brando, aged 24.”
• Tony Hillerman wrote mysteries set in the west. Although vastly talented, he sometimes made mistakes in his novels. He once said, “I always put safeties on guns that don’t have safeties and leave them off ones that do.” One night at about 10 p.m. he received a call from a reader who told him, “I used to have a lot of respect for you until I’ve just been reading Dance Hall of the Dead. Don’t you know deer don’t have gall bladders?” Mr. Hillerman said that is the best telephone call from a reader that he has ever had.
• As a schoolgirl, Joyce Grenfell, who later wrote and memorized her own monologues, appeared in a school production of the Shakespeare play As You Like It. She had only one speech to make, and since this was before she discovered Shakespeare, she had no idea what the speech meant and thus had a hard time trying to memorize it. Finally, she wrote the speech on her palm the night before the performance — because the ink was indelible, it stayed visible on her palm for several days.
• When Virginia Woolf, née Stephen, was a small child, the famous novelist Henry James often visited her house. During intense discussions the famous novelist often leaned his chair back so that only two legs touched the floor. Virginia and his siblings hoped that one day he would lean back so far that he would tip the chair — and himself — over. One day, to the delight of the children, he did just that. Mr. James simply continued the discussion as he picked himself and the chair up.
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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
Music: "Let’s See What the Earth Has to Say"
Single: One-sided single.
Artist: Emma Gale
Artist Location: Weymouth, UK
Info:
“Emma Gale is a songwriter from Weymouth in Dorset and a self-proclaimed ‘accidental indie folk artist,’ having watched the video of her debut single ‘Let’s See What the Earth Has to Say’ in April 2020 become a viral lockdown hit.
“Emma Gale is a lyricist above all else, having woven beautiful storylines throughout her debut album. A truthful, observational style is at the centre of her approach.”
“Charming Song, great message. Emma has a great gift for writing songs and I look forward to hearing more from her in the future.” — Chris Difford, SQUEEZE
Price: £1 (GBP) for track; this track is a one-sided single
Genre: Folk.
Links:
“Let’s See What the Earth Has to Say”
Emma Gale on Bandcamp
Emma Gale on YouTube
Emma Gale Official Site
Other Links:
Bruce’s Music Recommendations: FREE pdfs
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog #1
David Bruce's Blog #2
David Bruce's Blog #3
David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Stephen Suggests
Unmasked
New Venture
Michael Egan
BRUCE RECOMMENDATION
New Prices
Since Amazon terminated my KDF account because it is confused by the similarity because William Shakespeare's KING LEAR and Anonymous' THE HISTORY OF KING LEIR, I am having a special sale on my Smashwords books: over 140 books, all FREE!
Bruce's Books @ Smashwords.com
Actually, these are the new permanent prices.
David Bruce
Other Links:
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
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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
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Dollywood Offers
Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton's theme park Dollywood announced Tuesday it will pay for tuition, fees and books for all its employees who choose to "pursue further education." The program, with funding provided by Dollywood's parent company Herschend Enterprises, will launch on February 24.
Herschend Enterprises' pilot program, titled GROW U, will be implemented for its 11,000 employees — seasonal, part-time or full-time — across its 25 parks, including Dollywood, according to a press release. The company is offering more than 100 fully-funded diploma, degree and certificate programs, and will also provide partial funding for 150 additional programs in fields such as hospitality, engineering, human resources and art design.
Eugene Naughton, president of the Dollywood Company, said in a statement that the he wants Dollywood Parks and Resorts to be the "best possible experience for both our guests and our hosts."
"One of The Dollywood Foundation's key tenets is to 'learn more.' This program is created with that very tenet in mind. We want our hosts to develop themselves through advanced learning to fulfill the foundation's other tenets: care more, dream more, and be more," Naughton said.
Dolly Parton
Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards for 2022
Winners
From an in-depth look at how the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol transpired to how the coronavirus pandemic spread and the misinformation campaigns that went along with it, the winners of the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards for 2022 were announced Tuesday.
Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism recognized the 16 winners at a virtual presentation, honoring journalism from broadcast, cable, online, documentary and streaming outlets.
The New York Times won for its reconstruction of audio and visual footage to show how the riot at the Capital took place, and HBO Documentary Films won for a look at the way the coronavirus started in China and how it spread in the United States.
Apple TV Plus and Jigsaw Productions won for a podcast series about former Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher. Amazon Studios, Participant Media and Storyville Films won for a documentary about civil rights activist Pauli Murray.
PBS had a connection to four of the awards. Its “Independent Lens” series won for a documentary about Philadelphia’s district attorney. Its “POV” series won two awards; one with American Documentary, Inc., and LBx Africa about a young political candidate in Kenya, and another with American Documentary, Inc and Third Shift Media looking at a child care center. A collaboration between PBS’ “Frontline,” NPR and Planet Money won for a podcast about the environmental hazards of plastic.
Winners
Acquires Death Row Records
Snoop Dogg
Snoop Dogg has taken over a popular record label that launched his stellar career.
The rapper-mogul acquired Death Row Records’ brand from MNRK Music Group, which is controlled by a private equity fund managed by Blackstone, the i nvestment firm announced Wednesday. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Snoop Dogg found his springboard to success during the 1990s while on Death Row Records. The label was founded in 1992 by Dr. Dre, Suge Knight, the D.O.C. and Dick Griffey in the immediate aftermath of the breakup of N.W.A.
The label’s records, including Dre’s first solo album “The Chronic” and Snoop Dogg’s debut “Doggystyle,” are considered classics of the hip-hop genre that defined an era.
Tupac Shakur became the label’s star artist later in the ’90s before he was shot and killed in Las Vegas in 1996 while riding in a car driven by Knight. Shakur’s death brought on decline for the label, which led to decades of decline for Knight himself.
Snoop Dogg
Latest Achievement
Dave Chappelle
Dave Chappelle threatened to pull his various business ventures from his hometown of Yellow Springs, Ohio, if the village council went ahead with a plan to build — wait for it — more affordable housing in the area.
As the Dayton Daily News reports, Yellow Springs had been working with Oberer Homes on a new development project that was set to include a mix of single-family homes, duplexes, and townhouses; Oberer was also set to donate an additional 1.75 acres to the town where more affordable housing could be built in the future. But thanks to opposition from Chappelle — who threatened to pull his business ventures from Yellow Springs if the plan moved forward — and other members of the Yellow Springs community, the council rejected the proposal Monday night, Feb 7, and instead went with the original plan: 143 single-family homes with a starting price of about $300,000.
Chappelle’s various dealings in Yellow Springs are spearheaded by his company, Iron Table Holdings LLC, and he’s reportedly planning to launch a restaurant called the Firehouse Eatery and a comedy club, Live from YS. At the council meeting Monday, Chappelle bandied about the heft “$65 million a year company” as he threatened to axe his own business ventures.
“I cannot believe you would make me audition for you,” Chappelle said. “You look like clowns. I am not bluffing, I will take it all off the table.”
At a council meeting last December, Chappelle stated he was “adamantly opposed” to the project, and added, “I’ve invested millions of dollars in town. If you push this thing through, what I’m investing in is no longer applicable. I would say that Oberer can buy all of this property from me if they want to be your benefactor because I will no longer want to.”
Dave Chappelle
Special-Ops Units
Secretive
Nowadays, the US special-operations community is a behemoth, with over 70,000 special operators, enablers, and support troops assigned to it.
It is composed of many units, some more known than others. Everyone and their mother have heard about the Navy SEALs, but few know about Air Force Combat Controllers or Army Civil Affairs troops.
Since the 1980s, all these units have roughly fallen under the same organization: US Special Operations Command. SOCOM is composed of five component commands, all but one of them with a service affiliation — such as Naval Special Warfare Command or Air Force Special Operations Command.
The only SOCOM component command without a service affiliation is joint — meaning that it includes units from across the services — and is the most secretive one.
Joint Special Operations Command is America's 9-11 force. Its four Tier 1 special mission units are the cream of the crop in the US special-operations community and are the first ones to get the call for a mission.
Secretive
Geomagnetic Storm Wiped Out Satellites
SpaceX
Elon Musk's SpaceX said it lost up to 40 Starlink satellites that it launched into orbit last week because of a geomagnetic storm.
The aerospace company sent 49 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit on Thursday via a Falcon 9 rocket.
About 80% of those satellites were "significantly impacted" by a geomagnetic storm Friday, SpaceX said in a statement Tuesday.
The speed and intensity of the storm caused the "atmospheric drag" to climb to levels 50% higher than previous launches, SpaceX said in the statement. That made it harder for satellites to reach their orbital position.
SpaceX
Earth's Inner Core
'Superionic'
We've known for a while that Earth's deepest depths, its "solid iron" inner core, isn't made of pure iron — and now scientists say it might not be solid either.
Simulations by a team of researchers in China suggest our planet's innards are somewhere between solid and liquid in a "superionic" state.
The research was published today in the journal Nature.
Yu He, a physicist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and co-author of the study, said the calculations were "a new starting point to understand the inner core".
This study, and others like it, Dr He added, might one day help earth scientists solve some fundamental but complex problems, such as when the inner core started to take shape.
'Superionic'
Neanderthalian Pompeii
Mandrin Grotto
A hillside dwelling overlooking the picturesque Rhone Valley in southern France proved irresistible for our ancestors, attracting both Neanderthals and modern humans long before the latter were thought to have reached that part of Europe, a new study suggests.
In a paper published Wednesday by the journal Science Advances, researchers from Europe and the United States described finding fossilized homo sapiens remains and tools sandwiched between those of Neanderthals in the Mandrin Grotto, named after an 18th-century French folk hero.
Using new techniques, the authors dated some of the human remains to about 54,000 years ago — almost 10,000 years earlier than previous finds in Europe, with one exception in Greece.
While the researchers found no evidence of cultural exchanges between the Neanderthals and modern humans who alternated in the cave, the rapid succession of occupants is in itself significant, they said. In one case, the cave changed hands in the space of about a year, said Slimak.
“Mandrin is like a kind of Neanderthalian Pompeii,” he said.
Mandrin Grotto
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