from Bruce
Anecdotes
War
• David Thomson, the historian and critic and author of the New Biographical Dictionary of Film, was a child during World War II. He lived in London, but his mother tried to take him to live in the country because Adolf Hitler was dropping bombs on London. It didn’t work out, though, because David objected to the rural privy he had to use. When he asked his mother to take him back to London, he told her the reason why he wanted to go back to London. She replied, “You know what? Even if one of Mr. Hitler’s specials came through the window, I’d rather be sitting on a nice lavatory than in that privy. This war is being fought for civilization, and if a proper bathroom doesn’t count as part of that, then I don’t know what does.” And back to London they went. (Mr. Thomson writes that London was “where people gambled with bombs for a few moments of scented comfort.”)
• World War I helped Cambridge University in an unusual way. The university owned some stock in a steel company that rose in value with the war. Selling the stock at a high price, Cambridge University used its war profits to renovate an apartment used by poet A.E. Housman.
Work
• Anna Sam worked for eight years as a check-out girl in a supermarket in France, then wrote the book Les tribulations d’une caissière (The Trials and Tribulations of a Check-Out Girl) about her experiences there. For example, occasionally a French mother would point to Ms. Sam and tell her child, “You see, darling, if you don’t work hard at school, you’ll become a caissière [check-out girl] like the lady.” Whenever that happened, Ms. Sam informed the mother that she had had five years of education at a university. Unable to find a good job after graduation, she had taken the job at the supermarket. She says, “There are a lot of students with literary, sociology or artistic degrees in supermarkets in France. Not many of them really want to become check-out workers.” Of course, France being France, even supermarkets are erotic locales. Ms. Sam says, “You would be surprised at the number of kisses in the aisles … at hands on bottoms in front of the frozen goods, at breasts caressed in the woman’s lingerie [section].”
• When poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti moved to San Francisco, he submitted some translations of poems by Jacques Prévert, and Pete Martin accepted them for publication in City Lights magazine. Mr. Martin had the idea of starting a bookstore to sell paperback books, which were at the time sold mostly in drugstores. One day, Mr. Ferlinghetti was driving back home from his painting studio, and he saw a man putting up a sign that said “City Lights Pocket Book Shop.” He stopped, introduced himself to the man, who was Mr. Martin, and learned that Mr. Martin needed more money to get the bookstore started. Mr. Martin had $500, and Mr. Ferlinghetti had $500, and together they started the bookstore. Of course, City Lights published many of the Beat poets and writers, including Allen Ginsberg (Howl and Other Poems) and Jack Kerouac. Mr. Ferlinghetti says, “I could have driven around to get to my house by another block, and I never would have stopped there. My whole life would have been different.”
• Daniel Handler, author of the A Series of Unfortunate Events books, has a son whose birth helped him write the book series because suddenly he started thinking about all the unfortunate events that could happen to a child. He explains, “In the first year of a child’s life, all the parents do is brainstorm terrible things that can happen and ways to avoid them, so suddenly I had a much longer list of horrible things than before — that came in handy.” As a five-year-old, his son came up with a good description of what Mr. Handler’s job became after he stopped writing the A Series of Unfortunate Events books — the series ended with volume 13 in 2006. He saw his father narrate The Composer is Dead (a child’s introduction to the musical instruments of a classical orchestra; words by Daniel Handler, and music by Nathaniel Stookey), and then said that his father’s job was getting angry on stage. Mr. Handler says, “It’s not a bad description — actually it’s very concise. I just might start telling everyone that’s what I do.”
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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: "Sex Scene"
EP: YEAH
Artist: Peopleperson
Artist Location: Dayton, Ohio
Info:
surfaca, a fan, wrote, “Innovative modern surf music but maintaining the classic sound overall. Awesome compositions and playing! Favorite track: ‘Sex Scene.’”
Price: $1 (USD) for track; $5 for four-track EP
Genre: Surf Instrumental.
Links:
YEAH
Peopleperson on Bandcamp
Peopleperson Top Songs on YouTube
Other Links:
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
David E Suggests
Dirty Bed
David
Thanks, Dave!
New Venture
Michael Egan
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
Looked like rain, didn't rain.
Addresses Critical Race Theory
John Oliver
Last Week Tonight With John Oliver returned Sunday night with its season nine premiere, where the host dissected the debate over teaching critical race theory in schools.
“A lot of people are getting very mad about critical race theory right now, and instinctively, you probably know it’s a manufactured panic, but the fact is the fear around it is having real effects,” Oliver said on his HBO show. He pointed to Glenn Youngkin winning the Virginia governor’s race last year after making campaign promises to ban the teaching of CRT in schools, along with the facts that several states have passed laws outlawing the teaching of CRT in schools and Republicans are likely to make CRT a major focus of the upcoming midterm elections.
“When it comes to CRT, think of it like Rihanna’s pregnancy: Even if you think it has nothing to do with you, believe me, you’re going to be hearing a lot about it this year,” Oliver said.
He went on to explain what CRT is, saying it is “the name given to a body of legal scholarship that began in the 1970s that attempted to understand why racism and inequality existed after the civil rights movement.”
He quoted an Education Week article that described it as follows: “The core idea is that … racism is not merely the product of individual bias or prejudice … but also something embedded in legal systems and policies.” He went on to criticize Tucker Carlson and other CRT opponents for claiming that it teaches that some races are superior to others or that it teaches kids to hate America.
John Oliver
Latest Attraction
Las Vegas
A new attraction in downtown Las Vegas wants guests to bask in movie magic through a gallery of iconic props including a James Bond American Express card, “Predator” weapons and a hat worn by Johnny Depp in “Alice Through the Looking Glass.”
The Movie Prop Experience, within the Neonopolis complex at the Fremont Street Experience, welcomed invited guests and media to a preview last week of its rotating collection ahead of its opening to the general public this week.
The items are as small as a golden snitch from the “Harry Potter” series used in the game of Quidditch and as large as a towering extraterrestrial from the “Alien” franchise.
Other displays include movie scripts — including one for the Bond film “Casino Royale” and another for Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight” — as well as “Spider Man” costumes and props from “Gremlins” and “Ironman.”
Las Vegas
25 Years
'Arthur'
As the iconic PBS show Arthur comes to an end after 25 years, fans are taking to social media to reflect on the impact it had on their lives.
Arthur followed an aardvark by the same name and his friends Buster, Francine, and Muffy, as they grew up in Elwood City.
The show was revered for its track record of broaching difficult conversations, including bullying and illness. It made history and drew praise in 2019 when Arthur's teacher, Mr. Ratburn, came out as gay and got married.
"Nerds, bullies, punk kids, computer geeks, tomboys, and princesses all got screen time," wrote Aaron Edwards in a retrospective post for The Atlantic. "And not just that: They got arcs, interiority, and plots that presented elements of their identity at odds with the world around them."
Though the show is intended for younger audiences, Arthur ascended to also become part of meme culture in 2016 when an image of Arthur making a fist went viral as a popular way to show frustration among young adults.
'Arthur'
Bout With Covid
Rupert TV
Neil Cavuto returned to the anchor chair on his Fox Business Network show “Cavuto Coast to Coast” on Monday for the first time since January 10, saying he had been battling Covid pneumonia which put him in intensive care. It was previously unknown why he had been away.
“I did get Covid again…but a far, far more serious strand…what doctors call Covid pneumonia,” Covuto told his viewers today about his second bout with coronavirus. “It landed me in intensive care for quite a while and it really was touch-and-go.”
He continued, “No, the vaccine didn’t cause that. That grassy knoll theory has come up a lot. My very compromised immune system did. Because I’ve had cancer and right now I have Multiple Sclerosis, I’m among the vulnerable three percenters or so of the population that cannot sustain the full benefits of a vaccine. In other words, it simply doesn’t last.
“But let me be clear, doctors say had I not been vaccinated at all, I wouldn’t be here. It provided some defense, but that is still better than no defense. Maybe not great comfort for some of you. And frankly, not great comfort for me either!
“This was scary. How scary? I’m talking, ‘Ponderosa suddenly out of the prime rib in the middle of the buffet line scary!’ That’s how scary.”
Rupert TV
Unrealistic Demands
Amazon
A North Carolina motorcyclist who lost a leg after a collision with an Amazon delivery truck has filed a lawsuit arguing that unrealistic expectations for the tech giant’s delivery drivers have led to negligence.
According to his lawsuit, filed in Norfolk Circuit Court in January, Justin Hartley was riding his motorcycle in Virginia Beach on Oct. 4 when a rented truck with an Amazon logo turned directly into his lane, The Virginian-Pilot reported.
The truck hit Hartley, causing fractures to his left wrist and left leg. Doctors were unable to save his left leg and amputated it just below the knee, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges Amazon delivery driver Christopher Gill admitted to authorities that when the accident happened, he was looking down at GPS directions on his Amazon-supplied navigation device.
Drivers for Amazon.com and Amazon Logistics are required to use the Amazon “Flex App,” according to the lawsuit. The app, the lawsuit said, manages every aspect of a delivery driver’s route, including what directions to take, when to take breaks, and when to return to the station.
When a driver falls behind the desired pace during a route, the lawsuit said Amazon sends text messages stating the driver is “behind the rabbit” and needs to be “rescued” to ensure that they get back on schedule. A driver’s pay can be reduced if he or she falls “behind the rabbit” or require rescues too often, the $100 million lawsuit said.
Amazon
Hired
Fired
Disgraced reporter Emerald Robinson has a new gig. The former Newsmax White House correspondent was hired by LindellTV, an online network founded by My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell (R-Time For An Intervention).
Lindell announced the news on Instagram Monday, thanking her previous employer — which dropped her in January following a series of tweets promoting satanical conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 vaccine.
In November, she was banned from Twitter after repeatedly violating the platform’s guidelines about sharing COVID-19 misinformation. Among the tweets that earned her a permanent suspension was one that asserted COVID-19 vaccines “contain a bioluminescent marker called LUCIFERASE so that you can be tracked.”
Newsmax sidelined Robinson after the “bioluminescent marker” tweet and, in January, announced that her contract with the outlet would not be renewed.
Robinson had served as Newsmax’s White House correspondent. She was replaced by James Rosen, a former Fox News personality who left that network in 2017 after he was accused of sexual harassment by multiple women, and was also accused of retaliating against women who rejected him.
Fired
Park Plan
Mount of Olives
Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority on Monday said it was backing down from a contentious plan to encompass Christian holy sites on Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives in a national park following vociferous outcry from major churches.
The Mount of Olives in east Jerusalem rises above Jerusalem’s Old City and its sites are holy to three monotheistic faiths. Its slopes to the east of the Old City are studded with churches of various sects that mark the traditional places of events in the life of Jesus.
The Armenian, Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches petitioned Israel’s environmental protection minister, whose department is in charge of the Parks Authority, in a letter last week.
The churches expressed the “gravest concern and unequivocal objection” to the plan, saying it would disrupt the longstanding state of affairs and aims to “confiscate and nationalize one of the holiest sites for Christianity and alter its nature.”
In a joint statement, rights groups Bimkom, Emek Shaveh, Ir Amim and Peace Now said the plan to extend the Jerusalem Walls National Park to include sections of the Mount of Olives was part of “various mechanisms used by Israel in east Jerusalem to entrench its sovereignty, to marginalize non-Jewish presence and to prevent much needed development of Palestinian neighborhoods hereby increasing the pressure to push them out of the Old City basin.”
Mount of Olives
'Significant' Brain Rewiring
Space Travelers
There's still lots to explore and learn about the effects that space travel has on the body – and it seems those effects include some neuron rewiring that goes on in the brain.
Researchers studying the brains of 12 cosmonauts found what they describe as "significant microstructural changes" in the white matter that manages communications within the brain, and to and from the rest of the body.
The data were obtained through diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) scans taken just before and right after the time participants spent in space, which lasted an average of 172 days. Further scans were carried out seven months later, and while there was a reversal of some changes, a few of them were still visible.
Specifically, the team found changes in neural tracts related to sensory and motor functions, and speculate this could have something to do with the cosmonauts' adaptation to life in microgravity.
This is the first time a brain imaging technique known as fiber tractography has been used in relation to the effects of spaceflight. The technique builds up a 3D picture of neuron tracts, revealing the brain's wiring scheme.
Space Travelers
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