from Bruce
Anecdotes
Scripture
• One thing to learn from the Bible is that it is possible to bargain with God. When God wished to destroy Sodom, Abraham was upset because he did not think it was fair for the righteous to be destroyed with the wicked. Therefore, he asked God not to destroy Sodom if 50 righteous people were in the city. God agreed, then Abraham asked God not to destroy Sodom if 45 righteous people were in the city. God again agreed, so Abraham kept asking for mercy until God agreed not to destroy Sodom if only 10 righteous people were in the city. (Unfortunately, not even 10 righteous people were in Sodom, so it was destroyed — but not until the few righteous people had left the city.)
• Two Rabbis, one of whom had many followers and one of whom had few followers, began talking. The first Rabbi, who had few followers, said that the other Rabbi had so many followers because the people thought that he could work wonders such as healing the sick and reading people’s minds, then the first Rabbi asked if the other Rabbi knew what he was thinking. “Of course,” said the Rabbi with many followers. “You are thinking of the verse in Tehillim, ‘I have placed Hashem [God] before me always.’” “No,” said the Rabbi with few followers. “I was not thinking of that verse.” The Rabbi who had many followers said, “Then that’s why you have so few followers.”
• A pastor read John 14:2 out of the New Testament, but he used a new translation that said, “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.” An elderly woman in the congregation stood up and said, “I want you to read that Scripture again — from my Bible. I’ve lived in old, run-down houses all my life, and I’m looking forward to that mansion!”
• A homophobe said to lesbian comedian Judy Carter, “You can’t be gay and be a Christian.” She replied, “I must have a misprint in my Bible. It doesn’t say, ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, except homosexuals, should not perish but have everlasting life.’”
• When the Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776, a man rang the bell of the meetinghouse to announce the news to the populace. On the Liberty Bell was engraved this quotation from the Bible: “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.”
• Art Linkletter interviewed a little boy who was wearing a pin he had been awarded for going to Bible school for four years. When Mr. Linkletter asked him what his favorite Bible story was, the little boy answered, “Humpty Dumpty.”
Thanksgiving
• A rich racist Southern woman decided to have some soldiers over for Thanksgiving dinner, so she called the captain of the local Army base and said that she had room at her table for three soldiers — “but don’t send over any Jews.” Thanksgiving arrived, there was a knock at her door, and she opened it to find three black soldiers on the front porch. “Oh, no,” she said, “there must be some mistake.” “No, ma’am,” said one of the soldiers politely. “Captain Abraham Goldstein never makes mistakes.”
• Two small girls were best friends — one girl was Jewish and the other girl was Christian. At Christmas, the Christian girl’s grandfather asked her what her best friend had gotten for Christmas. The little girl replied, “She didn’t get anything for Christmas. You see, I’m Christmas, and she’s Chanukah. I’m Easter, and she’s Passover. But we’re both Thanksgiving.”
Theater
• In the 19th century, many clergymen looked down upon theaters and actors. One clergyman wanted to see the great actor Edwin Booth, so he wrote him to ask if Mr. Booth could arrange a way so he could see him act at Booth’s Theater without there being a chance that a member of his congregation would see him. Mr. Booth wrote back, saying, “There is no door in my theater through which God cannot see.”
• In rehearsals for Fiddler on the Roof, Zero Mostel kissed a mezuzah (a scroll of holy scriptures) which was nailed to a doorpost. Other people objected, saying that only a few people would understand what he was doing, so the next time Mr. Mostel came through the doorway, he made the sign of the cross. After that, he was allowed to kiss the mezuzah.
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© Copyright Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
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Presenting
Michael Egan
U.S.A. took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
BANDCAMP MUSIC
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC
Yes, this is the same album as yesterday, but this is another, different great song that is not available elsewhere on Bandcamp.
Music: "Voodoo Doll"
Album: LET IT BURN - ROCKABILLY, PSYCHOBILLY, GARAGE E SURF CONTRA O FASCISMO
Artist: Cristy Ann feat. Lennon Z and the Sickboys
Record Company: Reverb Brasil
Artist Location: Brazil
Info: Yes, this is the same album as yesterday, but this is another great song that is not available elsewhere on Bandcamp.
“LET IT BURN is our second antifacist compilation. Now we have 30 bands that, together, take a stand against racism and fascism in the independent music scene.”
Price: $1 (USD) for track; $6 (USD) for 30-track album
Genre: Rockabilly. Psychobilly. Garage, Surf.
Links:
LET IT BURN - ROCKABILLY, PSYCHOBILLY, GARAGE E SURF CONTRA O FASCISMO
Reverb Brasil
Cristy Ann on YouTube
Other Links:
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
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
David Bruce has over 140 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Stephen Suggests
Can America Function
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
The defective rooster proudly took credit for the sun finally popping through mid-afternoon.
The Rolling Stones & Tom Jones Call For
Streaming Reforms
Some of the UK's biggest artists are calling on the government to reform the way musicians are paid when their songs are streamed online.
The Rolling Stones and Sir Tom Jones are among the artists who have written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, saying the law "has not kept up with the pace of technological change" when calculating payments.
First published in April, the open letter now includes the signature of every modern British artist named by Johnson on Desert Island Discs.
Among the 234 signatories are Sir Paul McCartney, Van Morrison and the estate of Joe Strummer. The current generation of pop stars has also put its weight behind the letter, including rapper Kano, rock band Wolf Alice and pop star Jessie Ware.
The thrust of their argument is that streaming services and record labels are making billions of pounds in revenue, without distributing it fairly to artists.
Streaming Reforms
The Blues Foundation
Blues Music Awards
Singer Shemekia Copeland and guitarist Christone “Kingfish” Ingram are among this year’s top winners at the Blues Music Awards.
Veteran musicians Charlie Musselwhite and Elvin Bishop also won multiple awards for their album “100 Years of Blues” during Sunday’s awards show, which was held online due to COVID-19 pandemic precautions.
Winners were chosen by members of The Blues Foundation, based in Memphis. The awards have been held for 42 years.
Copeland won the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year award, the show’s top honor. She also won the contemporary blues female artist and the contemporary blues album awards.
Mike Zito won in the categories of blues rock artist and blues rock album for “Mike Zito and Friends-Rock ‘n’ Roll: A Tribute to Chuck Berry.”
Blues Music Awards
Joining Def Jam
Snoop Dogg
Snoop Dogg is getting ready to bark out orders at Def Jam Recordings — he’s joining the label as an executive creative and strategic consultant.
Def Jam announced Monday that newly created role for the iconic rapper “will allow (Snoop) to strategically work across the label’s executive team and artist roster.” Acts signed to the label include Kanye West, Nas, Justin Bieber, Big Sean, Logic, Jadakiss, 2 Chainz, Jeezy, Jhené Aiko, Bobby Sessions and late rapper DMX. Def Jam is a division of Universal Music Group, also home to Interscope Geffen A&M, Capitol Records and Republic Records.
Snoop Dogg, 49, will be based in Los Angeles and will report to UMG CEO and Chairman Lucian Grainge as well as Jeffrey Harleston, Def Jam’s interim chairman and CEO.
Snoop Dogg released his debut album nearly 30 years ago, and has had a successful run since. He’s sold 30 million albums worldwide, earned 16 Grammy nominations and topped the charts with several hits, from “Gin and Juice” to “Drop It Like It’s Hot.”
He emerged from the West Coast on the gangster rap scene, with music produced by Dr. Dre and released on Suge Knight’s Death Row Records. He’s become a multi-format entertainer and has appeared in several films, launched businesses and is a media personality, even earning an Emmy nomination alongside Martha Stewart in 2017 for “Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party.” He’s also released gospel and reggae albums.
Snoop Dogg
Rob Zombie Directing Reboot
‘The Munsters’
Rob Zombie has confirmed his long-rumored resurrection of The Munsters is really happening.
The musician-director announced the news on his Instagram page Monday.
The film is from Universal Studios via its 1440 Productions division, which means it’s likely going to Peacock instead of getting a theatrical release.
Zombie is the co-founder of the heavy metal band White Zombie and the director of a slew of rather hardcore horror films, starting with 2003’s surprise hit House of 1000 Corpses, followed by the The Devil’s Rejects (2005) and a reboot of Halloween (2007). His last was 3 from Hell (2019).
‘The Munsters’
Ready To Tell
Stormy Daniels
The adult film actress Stormy Daniels told CNN on Monday that she would "love" to testify against former President Donald Trump in an ongoing New York state investigation into his business dealings.
"I would love nothing more than my day in court and to give a deposition and to provide whatever evidence that they need from me," she said on CNN's "New Day."
"I would tell them everything I know," Daniels said. "I would tell them that I was approached," and that "I have evidence that the money came from an account set up by Donald Trump or at the direction of Donald Trump."
Daniels was referring to a $130,000 hush-money payment that Trump and his then-lawyer Michael Cohen facilitated during the 2016 election in exchange for her silence about an alleged affair with Trump in the mid-2000s.
Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to multiple felony counts in connection to that payment, including campaign-finance violations, tax evasion, and wire fraud. Prosecutors revealed in December of that year that Cohen had said he acted specifically at Trump's direction when he broke the law.
Stormy Daniels
Turned Down
Newsmax
Conservative media outlet Newsmax, a favorite of former President Donald Trump (R-Lock Him Up)'s, rejected embattled Republican U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz (R-Lock Him Up)'s request for a job, a spokesperson for the website said on Monday.
Gaetz contacted Newsmax early this year, a source at the outlet said. That was around the time that news broke Gaetz was the subject of a federal investigation into possible sex trafficking of a minor.
Investigators are seeking to determine whether Gaetz had sex with a 17-year-old, according to news reports and a law enforcement source who spoke with Reuters. He has not been charged with any crimes and has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.
Spokespeople for Gaetz, a vocal Trump supporter, had no immediate comment about any Newsmax job rejection.
Newsmax
Climate Change
'Glacier Blood'
Atop the French Alps, thousands of feet above sea level, the normally white snow sometimes appears stained with blotches of what appears to be dark red blood, some of which extend for miles.
But no, these aren't the sites of violent mountaintop massacres — the spooky red stains, known as "glacier blood," actually come from microalgae that live in the snow, and scientists recently trekked into the Alps to study these mysterious organisms.
The expedition is part of the AlpAlga project, an effort to study microalgae living in the mountains, 3,280 to 9,842 feet (1,000 to 3,000 meters) above sea level. Much like the microalgae that inhabit oceans, lakes and rivers, snow-borne microalgae help form the base of the food web of a mountainous ecosystem and likely react to pollution and climate change in a similar fashion, said Eric Maréchal, a coordinator of the AlpAlga consortium and a director of the Laboratory of Cellular and Plant Physiology, a research facility in Grenoble, France.
"The public is well instructed about the presence of algae in the oceans," but less aware of related microorganisms living in the soil atop mountains and in the snow that accumulates at those high altitudes, Maréchal said. When the team clambers up mountains in the French Alps, they're hiking through an environment that's teeming with microscopic life, "just like in the ocean, but it's in the snow. It's in the interstitial water between tiny crystals of ice."
The algae that turn snow red are technically green algae, as they belong to the phylum Chlorophyta and contain a specific form of chlorophyll, the green pigment that enables photosynthesis. However, in addition to chlorophyll, these algae also contain carotenoids, the same orange and red pigments that appear in vegetables like carrots. Carotenoids act as antioxidants and likely shield the algae from the damaging effects of intense light and ultraviolet radiation found at high elevations, Maréchal said.
'Glacier Blood'
24,000-Year-Old 'Zombies'
Bdelloid Rotifers
Tiny zombies that were frozen in Arctic permafrost for 24,000 years were recently brought back to life and have produced clones in a lab in Russia.
These hardy creatures are bdelloid rotifers, or wheel animals, so-named for the wheel-like ring of tiny hairs that circle their mouths. Rotifers are multicellular microscopic animals that live in freshwater environments, and they've been around for about 50 million years.
Researchers previously found that modern rotifers could be frozen at minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 20 degrees Celsius) and then revived up to 10 years later. Now, scientists have resuscitated rotifers that froze in ancient Siberian permafrost during the latter part of the Pleistocene epoch (2.6 million to about 11,700 years ago). Once thawed, these ancient rotifers began reproducing asexually through parthenogenesis, creating clones that were their genetic duplicates.
Permafrost — ground that has been frozen solid for two years or more — can preserve snapshots of life (and death) from millennia ago. For instance, a small bird carcass found in Siberian permafrost in 2020 was 46,000 years old but looked "like it [had] died just a few days ago," Live Science previously reported. A frozen and mummified cave bear, also found in Siberia in 2020 and dating to about 39,000 years ago, still had a fleshy black nose and much of its fur.
Retaining a lifelike appearance after spending thousands of years in ice is impressive. But some types of plants and animals locked in ancient permafrost have managed to do something even more astonishing; return to life from a frozen state.
Bdelloid Rotifers
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