from Bruce
Anecdotes
Nobel Prize
• Through a fight, Pablo Neruda learned that his poetry was becoming popular. Two young men were arguing on a dance floor, so Mr. Neruda told them to stop arguing and let the other people enjoy themselves. As the first young man turned and listened to Mr. Neruda, the second young man hit the first young man and knocked him unconscious. Later, as Mr. Neruda left the dance club, the second young man was waiting for him. Mr. Neruda thought that he would be beaten up, but the young man suddenly recognized him and asked, “Are you the poet Pablo Neruda?” Mr. Neruda admitted that he was, and the young man said that he and his girlfriend had memorized much of Mr. Neruda’s poetry — the poetry was keeping them together. When Mr. Neruda’s friends came out of the dance club soon afterward, they found the young man reciting Mr. Neruda’s poetry. In 1971, Mr. Neruda received the Nobel Prize in Literature.
• In 1934, people speculated that the great Jewish Ukrainian poet Chaim Bialik might win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Unfortunately, he failed to win. Fortunately, he was philosophical about the loss, saying, “I’m very glad that I didn’t win the prize. Now everybody’s my friend and feels sorry for me.” He went on to speculate about what would have happened if he had won the Noble Prize: “Then I’m sure some of the very same people who are now so indignant on my account would have said, ‘What’s so wonderful about getting the Nobel Prize? Why, even that poet Bialik got one!”
• When Gabriel García Marquez won the 1982 Nobel Prize in Literature, all of his native Columbia and the rest of Latin America rejoiced. Children from an elementary school in Mexico City, where he lived, walked to his house and sang a song to honor him. People honked at him when they saw him driving, and once, when his car stalled at a red light, someone joked, “Hey, Gabo, the only thing you’re good for is getting the Nobel Prize.”
Old Age
• Jean Genet attended the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, where the police chased him and many others. At one point, Genet turned around and showed a police officer that he was an old man, and the police officer went around him and chased other people. More police officers were coming, so Genet knocked on a door at random to seek shelter. A person inside the apartment asked, “Who’s there?” Genet replied, “Monsieur Genet.” As it turned out, the person inside the apartment was familiar with Genet and his literary work — in fact, he was writing his thesis on Genet.
• Theodor Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, seems to have been always filled with good humor. When he got old, he joked that being age 82 had not changed his life: “I surf as much as I always have! I climb Mount Everest as much as I always have!” Of course, he had never surfed and had never climbed Mount Everest. And his 45th book, You’re Only Old Once: A Book for Obsolete Children, appeared on his 82nd birthday. He attended a book-signing event and signed books for a line of 1,300 fans, joking, “Thank God my name isn’t Henry Wadsworth Longfellow!”
Poetry
• Dorothy Day was a friend of poet W.H. Auden. Once, she participated in a protest and was arrested and put in the women’s prison. Each Saturday, the women prisoners were allowed to take a shower. One Saturday, one of the prisoners — a prostitute — recited these lines by Mr. Auden that had recently appeared in The New Yorker: “Hundreds have lived without love, / But none without water.” Mr. Auden said, “When I heard this, I knew I hadn’t written in vain!”
• Nahum Sokolow (1859-1936) was the editor of the Hebrew daily Ha-Zifirah. Once a young man saw him and submitted a poem for publication. Sokolow read the poem, then asked, “Did you write this poem yourself?” The young man said he had written it. Sokolow then said, “In that case, I am delighted and surprised to see you because I was under the impression that Judah L. Gordon, the author of this poem, had been dead for 10 years.”
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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: "Distance and Time"
Album: Hibbs Family Band
Artist: ONE DAY AT A TIME
Artist Location: Athens, Georgia
Record Company: Aldora Britain Records
Record Company Location: Rothley, UK
Info:
“Hibbs Family Band is a quartet of family members out of Athens, Georgia that combines the textures and rhythms of bluegrass and folk music with alt-rock melodic sensibilities and lyricism.”
“Aldora Britain Records is an e-zine and record label that promotes the music and work of authentic independent or underground artists from all around the world. Originally established in 2013, they revamped themselves in 2018 with a brand-new approach. Their first weekly compilation, aptly titled THE SECOND COMING, was released in late 2019. They now also release original singles, EPs and charity projects.”
Price: £0.50 (GBP) for 18-track album by Various Artists
Links:
ONE DAY AT A TIME
Hibbs Family Band
Athens GA Live Music
Aldora Britain Records on Bandcamp
Aldora Britain Records on YouTube
Other Links:
Bruce’s Music Recommendations: FREE pdfs
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
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Regina Hall, Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes To Host
Oscars
After three years without a host, the Oscars are reportedly making up for lost time with three hosts for this year’s awards: Amy Schumer, Regina Hall and Wanda Sykes are in final talks to host the 94th Academy Awards, the trade publication Variety reported Monday.
Reports say that each actor will be responsible for one hour of the three-hour broadcast, airing live on ABC on March 27. Neither the academy nor representatives for Schumer, Hall and Sykes immediately responded to request for comment by The Associated Press. The hosts will be confirmed Tuesday morning on “Good Morning America.”
“Girls Trip” producer Will Packer is producing this year’s ceremony. Hall has been in several of Packer’s movies, including “Think Like a Man” and “Little.”
The show is hoping to rebound from the dismal viewership of last year’s broadcast, which was both an all-time low and the norm for pandemic-era awards shows. In addition to bringing back starry hosts and bumping the best picture nominees to a set ten, the Academy is also hoping to spike interest through social media voting for a “fan favorite” movie that will be announced during the show, as well as a chance to win a trip to Los Angeles for the ceremony.
Oscars
White House Correspondents’ Dinner Returns
Trevor Noah
Trevor Noah, the host of “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central, will be the featured entertainer for the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on April 30.
It will be the first time the event, usually held annually, will take place since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
Noah is also scheduled to host this year’s Grammy awards.
Although the former President Donald Trump skipped the annual dinner during his term, the association suggested that President Joe Biden will be there.
The dinner is normally attended by prominent journalists, politicians and celebrities, and it raises money for scholarships.
Trevor Noah
Snoop Dogg & Kelly Clarkson To Host
‘American Song Contest’
Snoop Dogg and Kelly Clarkson have been named hosts of NBC’s upcoming musical competition series, American Song Contest. The announcement was made in a promo that aired at the start of the Super Bowl halftime show on NBC, which featured Snoop Dogg as one of the headliners.
American Song Contest is based on the Eurovision Song Contest, which has been organized for 65 years by the European Broadcasting Union and watched by 200 million viewers annually. The NBC series will premiere March 21, 8-10 p.m. ET/PT from the NBCUniversal lot. The series will run for eight weeks on Monday nights, with the Grand Final scheduled for May 9, just ahead of the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest in Turin, Italy, which will consist of two semifinals on May 10 and 12, followed by the final on May 14. Eurovision semifinals and final were are available in the US on NBC sibling streaming platform Peacock as part of a two-year deal.
American Song Contest will feature live new music performances representing all 50 states, five US territories, and the nation’s capital. They will be competing to win the country’s vote for the best hit song. A solo artist, duo or band will represent each location and perform an original song across three rounds.
‘American Song Contest’
Counters Kanye
Michael Che
Kanye West went on another social media rant over the weekend, this time targeting “Saturday Night Live” star Pete Davidson. In his posting spree, West offered fellow “SNL” fixture Michael Che a payout, so he wouldn’t work with Davidson anymore — but Che needs a little more than that.
In a now deleted post, West offered to double Che’s salary, writing, “I’LL DOUBLE WHATEVER THEY PAYING YOU JUST SO YOU DONT HAVE TO LOOK AT THAT PAWN EVER AGAIN BIG LOVE.” Shortly thereafter, the Weekend Update host replied on Instagram with a lengthy list of demands.
“Sorry Ye, but I would never betray my friends,” Che wrote on a legal pad — before adding his stipulations. “For anything less than triple salary.”
Che went on to joke that tripling his salary would only be $90k a year, but added that he’d want “full medical, full dental, 4 weeks vacay, corner office” and a slew of other things.
To cap off his post, Che promised that if West were to fulfill his demands, “I’ll Rambo that whole building!”
Michael Che
Grifters Gonna Grift
Accounting
The accounting firm that prepared the former President ’s Donald Trump annual financial statements says the documents, used to secure lucrative loans and burnish Trump the loser’s image as a wealthy businessman, “should no longer be relied upon” after New York’s attorney general said they regularly misstated the value of assets.
In a letter to the Trump Grifter Organization’s lawyer Feb. 9, Mazars USA LLP advised the company to inform anyone who had gotten the documents not to use them when assessing the financial health of the company and the former president. The firm also said it was cutting ties with Trump the unindicted conspirator.
Mazars’ letter, made public in a court filing Monday, came just weeks after New York Attorney General Letitia James said her investigators uncovered evidence that Trump the charlatan and his company used “fraudulent or misleading” valuations of its golf clubs, skyscrapers and other properties to get loans and tax benefits.
Mazars’ conclusions applied to Trump the fraudster’s financial statements for 2011 to 2020, Kelly said. Another accounting firm handled Trump the known liar’s 2021 financial statement, according to court filings.
Kelly also informed Garten that Mazars could no longer work with Trump the pumpkin-hued conman because of a conflict of interest and urged him to find another tax preparer, distancing the firm from its highest-profile client and work that’s at the heart of the civil and criminal investigations.
Accounting
Megadrought Worsens
American West
The American West’s megadrought deepened so much last year that it is now the driest in at least 1,200 years and is a worst-case climate change scenario playing out live, a new study finds.
A dramatic drying in 2021 — about as dry as 2002 and one of the driest years ever recorded for the region — pushed the 22-year drought past the previous record-holder for megadroughts in the late 1500s and shows no signs of easing in the near future, according to a study Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change.
The study calculated that 42% of this megadrought can be attributed to human-caused climate change.
Williams studied soil moisture levels in the West — a box that includes California, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, most of Oregon and Idaho, much of New Mexico, western Colorado, northern Mexico, and the southwest corners of Montana and Texas — using modern measurements and tree rings for estimates that go back to the year 800. That’s about as far back as estimates can reliably go with tree rings.
The drought monitor says 55% of the U.S. West is in drought with 13% experiencing the two highest drought levels.
American West
Rare Deposits
Svalbard Global Seed Vault
A vault built on an Arctic mountainside to preserve the world's crop seeds from war, disease and other catastrophes will receive new deposits on Monday, including one from the first organisation that made a withdrawal from the facility.
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, on Spitsbergen island halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole, is only opened a few times a year to limit its seed banks' exposure to the outside world.
On Monday, gene banks from Sudan, Uganda, New Zealand, Germany and Lebanon will deposit seeds, including millet, sorghum and wheat, as back-ups to their own collections.
The International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA), which moved its headquarters to Beirut from Aleppo in 2012 because of the war in Syria, will deposit some 8,000 samples.
ICARDA made the first seed withdrawal from the vault in 2015 to replace a collection damaged by the war, and two further withdrawals in 2017 and 2019 to rebuild its own collections, now held in Lebanon and Morocco.
Svalbard Global Seed Vault
430-Year-Old Ninja Weapons?
Japan
Artifacts found in Japan may be ninja weapons, including several that look like they were the forerunner to the well-known throwing star, have been found at several sites, including two castles, scientists say.
Archaeologists excavated the artifacts between 1960 and 2010 at several Japan sites, including two castles — Iwatsuki Castle and Hachioji Castle. The possible ninja artifacts date to the Siege of Odawara which took place in 1590. During this siege, the Toyotomi and Tokugawa clans defeated the Hojo clan, which had controlled a sizable portion of Japan, and captured both castles.
The siege took place during the Sengoku period (1467-1615), a time when Japan was divided between several warlords who battled for power. Historical texts mention ninjas as spies and saboteurs during this time and they likely took part in the siege.
The artifacts include flat throwing stones that may have been the predecessor of the shuriken throwing star and clay caltrops that may be an early form of the makibishi caltrop — a spiky weapon that could injure the feet of soldiers and horses. These artifacts were likely the weapons of a "battle group which can move into action as ninjas," Iwata Akihiro, an archaeologist and curator at the Saitama Prefectual Museum of History and Folklore, told Live Science in an email.
Despite being armed with the weapons, the Hojo clan's ninja were unable to save the castles, as they both fell to the far larger armies of the Toyotomi and Tokugawa clans. In 1615, the Tokugawa clan would succeed in uniting all of Japan under their rule, forming a shogunate that would hold power for centuries.
Japan
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