from Bruce
Anecdotes
Education
• Isaac Stern brought the child prodigy Itzhak Perlman, a violinist, to the attention of agent Sol Hurok. Itzhak was only 12 years old and had been crippled by polio, so Mr. Hurok wondered if he could ever be a success. Mr. Stern replied, “If you risk it, you’ll pay for his lessons and his fiddle and give him $500 a week for two years. He will play six concerts a year, not more. He’ll study. In two years you’ll make a new contract, mutually agreeable. In five years he will be worth a fortune.” Mr. Hurok took Mr. Stern’s advice, and young Itzhak turned out to be the success Mr. Stern had predicted.
• As a teenager, Charles MacArthur attended the Wilson Memorial Academy, whose yearbook showed his photograph and a blank space normally reserved for the listing of accomplishments of the person in the photograph—Glee Club, Spanish Club, 4-H Club, Member of the Wrestling Team, etc. After Mr. MacArthur became a successful playwright and screenwriter, he went back to the academy, where he was invited to fill in the space in the yearbook. He wrote, “Pres. Late Sleepers Club; Trustee: Bar Companions (a Pub); Editor: Who’s Who (a Humor Sheet).”
• Mathilde Marchesi, the voice teacher of Francis Alda, could be temperamental. Once, she angrily told Ms. Alda to leave at once: “And don’t come back. I will teach you no more.” Ms. Alda believed her, but the following afternoon Ms. Marchesi’s valet stopped by Ms. Alda’s apartment to ask her why she hadn’t shown up for her usual morning voice lesson.
Fans
• Russell Johnson has many fans because he played the Professor on Gilligan’s Island. Once, a fan asked for a special autograph, saying that he wanted him to write, “Thanks for saving my life in ’Nam.” Because this made Mr. Russell laugh, he wrote the autograph exactly as requested. Dawn Wells, who played Mary Ann on Gilligan’s Island, also has many fans. Once, she boarded an airplane and all the passengers sang the theme song from Gilligan’s Island. On another occasion, she was touring a castle in Bavaria and some fans came running up to her, crying, “Mary Ann! Mary Ann!”
• Customs vary from culture to culture. While Alexandra Danilova and Alicia Markova were dancing in Rio de Janeiro, fans would wait by the stage door after the performance. To show their appreciation for a fine performance, the fans threw firecrackers at the ballet dancers’ feet. By the way, in Monte Carlo, Ms. Danilova and George Balanchine stayed in a room next door to that of world-famous pianist Vladimir Horowitz. Each morning, they were awakened by Mr. Horowitz’ playing of Liszt’s “Valse Oubliée.”
• While appearing in Charlot’s Revue in New York City, both Gertrude Lawrence and Beatrice Lillie scored notable successes. When the show finally closed in 1924, Ms. Lawrence and Ms. Lillie left the theater only to discover that some of their more enthusiastic admirers were sitting on top of the taxi that they had waiting for them. Their admirers sang the actresses’ own songs to them and even accompanied them during their ride home.
Food
• Amelie, the daughter of Lars Gronholt, sometimes did not eat her lunch, so he began to draw cartoons featuring superheroes who encouraged her to eat her lunch. In one cartoon, Thor bites into a sandwich, raises it high in the air, and says, “This sandwich—I like it! Another!” In a comment on a story about Amelie and Lars, a woman who posts online using the name Napsauce wrote, “When I was in first grade, my dad drew on my lunch bags. Every single day, I got a new, full-color installment of ‘The Adventures of Lunchman in Lunchland,’ along with Lunchman’s trusty sidekick, Alphonse the Armadillo. After lunch, I would carefully cut the illustration off the bag and paste it into a book. At the end of the school year I surprised him with the book of all his illustrations … and 34 years later, he still has it, yellowed, faded, and a little crumbly, but still incredible. I was a lucky, lucky little girl.” And GiantRubberGorilla wrote, “I used to take oranges and with my fingernail carve out two eyes and a smile—then I’d hand it to the kid and say—‘Here. Tear off his face.’ She loved it.” And BigDaddy-O wrote, “I do a funny joke every day in my grade schooler’s lunchbox. Something like: Q: Why did the rubber chicken cross the road? A: She wanted to stretch her legs. Then I say Love, Papa! I missed one day of doing this, and she was really put out! ;}”
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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: “Janelle Janelle” (70s Version)
Album: THE BIG SURF-O-RAMA
Artist: Wild Sandals
Artist Location: Germany
Record Company: Wellsville Records
Record Company Location: Florida
Info:
“This is the official Wellsville Records Bandcamp page (Formerly Ramonescore Radio Records) where I will be releasing various artist compilations and more!”
Price: Name Your Price (Includes FREE) for 14-track album
Genre: Beach Pop Punk
Links:
THE BIG SURF-O-RAMA
Wellsville Records
Wild Sandals on YouTube
Other Links:
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David Bruce's Blog #1
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
New Venture
Michael Egan
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
Ukraine
Shocking intercepted audio reveals talk between Russian soldiers (CNN)
Killing and raping civilians.
These Russians are turning on Putin and burned an effigy of him (CNN)
Other Links:
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David Bruce's Blog #1
David Bruce's Blog #2
David Bruce's Blog #3
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Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Current Events
The link below- makes you want to storm the barricades - or at least wear some yellow and blue and sing your heart out.
that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Kinda overcast and on the cool side.
Digital Data
John Oliver
John Oliver began his show by discussing the vile Russian propaganda the country’s state-run television networks have been spewing since the invasion of Ukraine, then transitioned to a totally different topic: vile American propaganda. Specifically, the ooze aired on One America News Network, or OAN, which famously became Donald Trump Individual #1’s favorite source of policy guidance once Fox News got too liberal for him. As an example of the network’s programming, Oliver brought up “pillow prince Mike Lindell’s election fraud documentary, Absolute Proof. And yes, I am using the word ‘documentary’ there with Christ-like generosity.”
The show’s main segment concerned data brokers, the companies that collect your digital data, package it, and sell it to anyone who’s interested — sometimes in bundles based on shared characteristics. Real names of these bundles include “Ambitious Singles,” “Couples With Clout,” and “Kids and Cabernet.” Oliver pointed out that the names also sound like “immediately green-lit shows on TLC.”
Now, none of this is particularly new. Several of the news clips Oliver showed were eight to 10 years old. An unsettling example of a stalker finding and killing a woman after paying a broker $45 for her data was 20 years old. So why was Oliver devoting a whole show to it now?
Blackmail! He and his staff paid for the data of a subset of individuals with traits that a lot of Congressmen have, and who were online within five miles of the Capitol building. Though Oliver was cagey about what they found, he indicated they were able to identify several specific lawmakers and their potentially problematic search histories. But he didn’t reveal anything more than that. Instead, he indicated that his preferred solution was for lawmakers to pass laws making the release of that kind of personal info illegal. In the meantime, Oliver had some advice for anyone on Capitol Hill worried about what he might do with their personal data.
“You might want to channel that worry into making sure that I can’t do anything,” he advised. “Sleep well!”
John Oliver
Heir Comes Out Publicly
Charlee Disney
Charlee Disney, one of the heirs of The Walt Disney Co., came out publicly as transgender and condemned anti-LGBTQ bills in a recent interview.
Disney, who uses gender-neutral pronouns, announced that their family would match up to $250,000 in donations to the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest LGBTQ advocacy group, during the organization's annual gala in Los Angeles last month.
Roy P. Disney, Disney's father and the grandson of the company's co-founder, upped that amount to $500,000 last week.
“Equality matters deeply to us,” Roy P. Disney said in a statement, according to the Los Angeles Times, “especially because our child, Charlee, is transgender and a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community.”
The older Disney also said the family was "heartbroken" when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Parental Rights in Education Act, which critics have dubbed the "Don't Say Gay or Trans" bill because it prohibits classroom discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity with students in grades K-3 or in a way deemed developmentally or age inappropriate.
Charlee Disney
Hollywood Walk O'Fame
DJ Khaled
DJ Khaled drew several stars to his own star dedication on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The ceremony, held on Monday on the 6200 block of Hollywood Boulevard, was attended by several of Khaled’s key collaborators and supporters, including the moguls Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter and Sean “Diddy” Combs; artists Fat Joe, Teyana Taylor, Jeezy and N.O.R.E.; label executives Sylvia Rhone (Epic Records), LA Reid (Hitco), Ethiopia Habtemariam (Motown), Tunji Balogun (Def Jam), LaTrice Burnette (Island), Jeff Harleston (Universal Music Group) and Mark Shimmel (Dick Clark Productions); along with Cool & Dre, Reggie Saunders of Nike and Wayne Barrow.
In introducing the rapper-producer, Fat Joe complimented Khaled’s all-orange look before recalling memories of how they first met and grew into friends.
As Khaled took the podium, he got emotional. “God put me on this earth to be a light” he said. “They didn’t believe in us, but God did.”
He went on to shout out Motown, his Roc Nation management team, his label and, of course, himself. “There’s only one Khaled, that’s all I gotta say.”
DJ Khaled
Sellers Protest
Etsy
Some vendors on Etsy say they are halting sales of their items on the site for a week to protest a hike in the fees the crafts e-commerce marketplace charges them.
Starting Monday, Etsy sellers must pay a 6.5% commission on each transaction, up from the 5% in place since 2018.
A protest organizer, Kristi Cassidy, said thousands of Etsy sellers — a fraction of the 5.3 million vendors on the site — have temporarily halted selling their items. Cassidy, who has been selling gothic and punk costumes on Etsy since 2007, also launched a petition that so far has garnered more than 50,000 signatures from buyers and sellers. Roughly 20,000 are sellers. Cassidy said it’s hard to estimate the exact number of sellers that have actually stopped selling on the site.
Cassidy and others are also taking issue with Etsy’s advertising policy implemented early in 2020. It requires sellers making at least $10,000 a year on Etsy and who have have their products advertised on Etsy’s offsite social media and search-engine partners, to pay a 12% advertising fee on sales made through the ads.
The Rhode Island-based mother of two young children said she has seen her income drop last year to one third of what it was in 2019, blaming in part to some of the moves Etsy has made.
Etsy
Murder Charge Dismissed
Texass
A Texas judge formally dismissing a murder charge Monday against a 26-year-old woman over a self-induced abortion did not quiet outrage or questions surrounding the case, including why prosecutors ever brought it to a grand jury.
A woman who ends her own pregnancy cannot be charged with a crime under Texas law. Officials in rural Starr County, along the U.S.-Mexico border, have not released details about why they decided to pursue a case against Lizelle Herrera after being contacted by a hospital.
Authorities have not described what exactly Herrera allegedly did, and it wasn’t clear if she was accused of giving herself an abortion or assisting in someone else’s self-induced abortion.
Starr County District Attorney Gocha Allen Ramirez said in a Sunday statement that he would file the motion to dismiss the charge, saying, “it is clear that Ms. Herrera cannot and should not be prosecuted for the allegation against her.”
Texass
Teachers “Are Inclined”
David Mamet
With the high-profile, starry revival of his American Buffalo opening Thursday on Broadway, playwright David Mamet seems to be doing his best — or worst — to make headlines. The latest: The conservative Mamet told Fox News’ Mark Levin on Sunday night that “teachers are inclined, particularly men because men are predators, to pedophilia.”
The offensive take comes just a few days after Mamet’s appearance on HBO’s Real Time iith Bill Maher, in which the playwright offered a muddled retraction of a claim made in his new book Recessional: The Death of Free Speech and the Cost of a Free Lunch. When asked by Maher about his statement in the book that the left attempted a coup during the last presidential election, Mamet conceded that he “misspoke.”
But his appearance on Fox News’ Life, Liberty & Levin — again, to promote the book, not the play — wasn’t so conciliatory.
Speaking on the hot-button topic of community and parental control in schools, Mamet said: “We have to take back control. If there’s no community control of the schools, what we have is kids being not only indoctrinated but groomed in a very real sense by people who are — whether they know it or not — sexual predators. Are they abusing the kids physically? No, I don’t think so, but they are abusing them mentally and using sex to do so. This has always been the problem with education, is that teachers are inclined, particularly men because men are predators, to pedophilia. And that’s why there were strict community strictures about it, thank God. And this started to break down when the schools said, ‘You know what? We have to teach the kids about sex. Why? Because what if they don’t do it at home?'”
On Friday’s Real Time, Maher confronted Mamet on the author’s claim in his new book that the left, rather than the right, attempted an election coup. Said Maher, “How [does] the premier person of letters in this country … believe in something 63 courts have laughed out of the court?”
David Mamet
Against The Odds
Heavy Smokers
Scientists believe they may have found out why some smokers, against the odds, manage to avoid lung cancer.
Make no mistake: smoking tobacco is utterly terrible for you. Along with upping the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and strokes, the overwhelming majority of lung cancer cases are directly linked to smoking. Despite this risk, though, only 10 to 20 percent of lifelong smokers will actually develop lung cancer. Some people manage to smoke pack after pack of cigarettes for decades and somehow avoid lung cancer.
While this is influenced by sex, smoking status, and wider health, the ability of some smokers to dodge lung cancer might not just be a matter of sheer luck, according to the latest research.
In a new study, reported in the journal Nature Genetics, scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York argue that some smokers may have a robust mechanism or resilience that helps to limit mutations in the lungs that protect them from lung cancer.
It also appears that the number of cell mutations was closely linked to the amount the person had smoked – but only up to a point. Once the person had smoked 23 pack years (one pack year of smoking equals one pack of cigarettes smoked per day for one year) the rise in cell mutations stopped.
Heavy Smokers
Brain Wiring
Psilocybin Therapy
New research continues to find evidence that psilocybin—the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms—can uniquely help people with depression. The study found that people undergoing psilocybin-assisted therapy experienced noticeable changes in brain patterns associated with depression, including when compared to a control group. People also reported a reduction in their depression symptoms alongside these brain changes.
Some researchers have been studying the potential mental health benefits of psychedelic substances like psilocybin since the 1970s. But it’s only in recent years that health authorities and governments have been more permissive of this research, following decades of harsh regulations.
Large-scale research into this field is still fairly new, but health regulators have signaled their willingness to consider these and similar drugs for formal approval. In 2019, a nasal spray formulation of the sometimes club drug ketamine was approved by the Food and Drug Administration. That same year, the FDA granted a breakthrough therapy designation to a non-profit company attempting to develop psilocybin as a depression treatment, which is meant to speed up the review process. States and cities have also begun to decriminalize psilocybin in general or for medicinal purposes.
Animal and clinical trial results of psilocybin-assisted therapy have been promising for depression and other conditions, including alcohol use disorder. But there’s still much we don’t understand about how these kinds of drugs are helping people with these ailments. This new research, published Monday in Nature Medicine, looks to add some insight.
Psilocybin Therapy
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