from Bruce
Anecdotes
Children
• Child actress Vera Beringer played the lead role in Francis Hodgson Burnett’s play version of Little Lord Fauntleroy in London. At the conclusion of the opening night performance, Ms. Hodgson threw Vera a bouquet of roses and exclaimed, “Bless the child, and she did not forget a single word!” Later, Vera was able to meet some members of the royal family. She wasn’t sure whether to curtsey because she was a girl or bow because she was dressed as a boy. As it turned out, she didn’t have to do either because Prince Edward and Princess Alexandra kissed her. By the way, fashions in clothing change over time. In the late 19th century, both infant boys and infant girls wore dresses.
• A boy kept interrupting his father, and to get some peace the father tore out a map of the world from a magazine, tore it into pieces, and told his son to put the world map back together and then come back to him. Since his son did not know geography, his father thought that it would take him a long time to put the world map back together. Quickly, his son returned with the world map put back together correctly. The father asked how his son had put the world back together so quickly. His son said that on the back of the world map was a picture of a child and he had put the pieces of the child back together. Moral: If you want the put the world back together the right way, start with the child.
• A fun activity is to give famous sayings a twist. Begin the famous saying in the usual way, but then give it a different ending. Some elementary-school teachers even give very young students (who don’t already know the famous sayings) the beginnings of famous sayings and have them complete the sayings. Some results: 1) The grass is always greener when you remember to water it. 2) If you can’t stand the heat, go swimming. 3) It’s always darkest before you open your eyes. 4) Better to light a candle than to light an explosive. 5) Laugh, and the world laughs with you. Cry, and someone yells, “Shut up!” 6) Early to bed and early to rise is first in the bathroom.
• Charles Darwin used to keep a couch in his study, and sometimes his children slept there when they were ill. Once, his son Lenny started jumping on the couch. Mr. Darwin said that he didn’t want to see him jumping there, so his young son told him, “Then I advise you to go out of the room!” By the way, Mr. Darwin’s father was an imposing man. He was six-feet-two inches tall, and he weighed more than 300 pounds. In addition, he sometimes used to give his family lectures that lasted for two hours.
• Modern dance pioneer Martha Graham occasionally taught classes in which little children would imitate the movements of animals. Usually, Ms. Graham could tell which animals the children imitated, but one little girl’s movements puzzled her, so she asked, “What animal are you supposed to be?” The little girl replied that she was a bird, but Ms. Graham pointed out that she didn’t look as if she were flying. The little girl replied, “I’m a bird eating a worm.”
• Katherine Paterson, the author of such children’s books as The Sign of the Chrysanthemum and Bridge to Terabithia, was born in China to parents who were Christian missionaries. Once she returned to the United States, curious children asked her, “If you were born in China, how come you’re not Chinese?” Young Katherine replied, “If a cat was born in a garage, does that make it an automobile?”
• Dave McKinley was a retired publisher who once saw his granddaughter deliberately step on an ant, so he lectured her on how wrong it was, because ants were defenseless, and lived in ant farms, and had electricity and running water, and taught us all a lesson about keeping busy, etc. At the end of his lecture, his granddaughter said, “Grandpa, you old son of a b*tch, I love you.”
• Astronomer Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin attended a religious school when she was a child, but she disliked going to chapel everyday. Therefore, she figured out an original way to get out of spending so much time in chapel. She pretended to faint in chapel, and soon the teachers excused her from daily attendance at chapel.
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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: "An Irishman in London"
Album: ELECTRIC.
Artist: John Donegon
Artist Location: London, UK
Record Company: Aldora Britain Records
Record Company Location: Rothley, UK
Info:
“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 12-track album
Genre: Singer-Songwriter. Various.
Links:
ELECTRIC.
Aldora Britain Records on Bandcamp
Aldora Britain Records on YouTube
John Donegon on Bandcamp
John Donehan’s Bandcamp Personal Music Collection
John Donegan — Topic — on YouTube
Caretaker Studios on YouTube
Other Links:
Bruce’s Music Recommendations: FREE pdfs
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.
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Reader Comment
Current Events
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
I cringe everytime I hear Tom Selleck, pitching reverse mortgages, say "I trust them, you should, too".
Well, hell, yeah, Tommy-boy. They sign your paycheck, of course you trust them.
RERUN
FRESH
Debuts Ji-Young
‘Sesame Street’
What’s in a name? Well, for Ji-Young, the newest muppet resident of “Sesame Street,” her name is a sign she was meant to live there.
“So, in Korean traditionally the two syllables they each mean something different and Ji means, like, smart or wise. And Young means, like, brave or courageous and strong,” Ji-Young explained during a recent interview. “But we were looking it up and guess what? Ji also means sesame.”
At only 7 years old, Ji-Young is making history as the first Asian American muppet in the “Sesame Street” canon. She is Korean American and has two passions: rocking out on her electric guitar and skateboarding. The children’s TV program, which first aired 52 years ago this month, gave The Associated Press a first look at its adorable new occupant.
Ji-Young will formally be introduced in “See Us Coming Together: A Sesame Street Special.” Simu Liu, Padma Lakshmi and Naomi Osaka are among the celebrities appearing in the special, which will drop Thanksgiving Day on HBO Max, “Sesame Street” social media platforms and on local PBS stations.
Some of Ji-Young’s personality comes from her puppeteer. Kathleen Kim, 41 and Korean American, got into puppetry in her 30s. In 2014, she was accepted into a “Sesame Street” workshop. That evolved into a mentorship and becoming part of the team the following year. Being a puppeteer on a show Kim watched growing up was a dream come true. But helping shape an original muppet is a whole other feat.
‘Sesame Street’
Directing ‘Lethal Weapon 5’
Mel Gibson
After starring in the first “Lethal Weapon” movie more than 30 years ago, Mel Gibson is in talks to direct the upcoming “Lethal Weapon 5,” Variety has confirmed.
The fifth entry of the classic action franchise has been in development for several years, with Richard Wenk (“The Equalizer”) writing the most recent draft of the script. Richard Donner, who directed and produced all four previous “Lethal Weapon” films, had been working to develop a fifth installment, but he died on July 5, 2021, at 91, putting the plans in limbo.
Donner’s wife, Lauren Schuler Donner, will produce the film, alongside Rideback’s Dan Lin. Jonathan Eirich of Rideback and Derek Hoffman of The Donners’ Company will executive produce.
Speaking at an event in London, Gibson let it slip that he would take over directing duties from Donner, fulfilling the late director’s wishes.
“He was developing the screenplay and he got pretty far along with it. And he said to me one day, ‘Listen kid, if I kick the bucket, you will do it.’ And I said: ‘Shut up,'” Gibson said according to The Sun, which covered the event. “He did indeed pass away, but he did ask me to do it, and, at the time, I didn’t say anything. He said it to his wife and to the studio and the producer. So, I will be directing the fifth one.”
Mel Gibson
Raises $676 Million
Art Auction
Paintings and sculptures by famous artists including Andy Warhol and Jackson Pollock have sold at auction in New York.
The collection raised more than $676 million (£503m) at auction on Monday.
The 35 pieces belonged to real estate mogul Harry Macklowe and his former wife Linda. The pair were told to sell the collection and split the proceeds during their 2018 divorce trial.
The items up for sale included "No 7", a painting by Mark Rothko which sold for $82.5m - the second highest price for a piece by the artist.
Andy Warhol's "Nine Marilyn's" silkscreen, which was made shortly after the actress Marilyn Monroe's death, fetched $48.5 million.
Art Auction
Narrowly Approves Contract
IATSE
Film industry crew members have narrowly voted to approve a pair of contracts with Hollywood producers after a standoff that came within days of a strike that would have frozen productions across the U.S., union leaders said Monday.
The agreements passed 56% to 44% among delegates from the 36 local unions of the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees in the voting system that resembles the U.S. Electoral College.
But in the popular vote, 50.3% said yes and 49.7% no of the approximately 45,000 members who cast a ballot in voting held from Friday through Sunday.
The razor-thin total stood in contrast to the last vote from union members, in which 98% approved giving union leaders the authority to call a strike.
A victorious “no” vote would have reopened negotiations and brought back the possibility of a strike.
IATSE
Jailed For Miscarriages
US Women
When a 21-year-old Native American woman from Oklahoma was convicted of manslaughter after having a miscarriage, people were outraged. But she was not alone.
Brittney Poolaw was just about four months pregnant when she lost her baby in the hospital in January 2020.
This October, she was convicted and sentenced to four years in prison for the first-degree manslaughter of her unborn son.
How she went from suffering a miscarriage to being jailed for killing her foetus has become the subject of much discussion online and in the press. Some on social media noted that she was convicted during pregnancy loss awareness month in the US. Others compared the case to Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel The Handmaid's Tale.
US Women
Rolling The Rubes
Rupert
Tucker Carlson and other Fox hosts are holding an event that requires vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test
Several prominent Fox News hosts who've aggressively campaigned against COVID-19 vaccine mandates are hosting an in-person Fox Nation event that requires attendees to either be vaccinated or show proof of a negative coronavirus test.
An email sent by Fox & Friends co-host Pete Hegseth invited his fans to "come in person to support our patriots and celebrate our great Republic together" at the Fox Nation Patriot Awards in Hollywood, Florida on November 17th. He added that some of the cable network's biggest stars, including Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, Dan Bongino, and the hosts of Fox & Friends, will also appear at the event.
"Attendees must show either a COVID vaccine card OR proof of a negative COVID test taken 72 hours prior to the event in order to gain entrance," it read.
The event will include "book signings, photo opportunities, giveaways, and live show tapings" and raise funds for the veterans-focused charity Building Homes for Heroes Foundation. Tickets range from $125 to $500 per person.
Rupert
Actual Voter Fraud
Las Vegas
A Las Vegas business executive whose claim of voter fraud was featured by state Republicans in November 2020 as proof of tainted votes has agreed to plead guilty to a reduced charge of voting more than once in the same election.
Donald “Kirk” Hartle is expected to pay a $2,000 fine and receive the equivalent of one year of probation when he's sentenced, according to a plea agreement filed Monday ahead of his scheduled plea on Tuesday in state court in Las Vegas.
Hartle, 55, had faced two felony charges in a criminal complaint alleging that he used his dead wife’s ballot. Hartle’s wife, Rosemarie Hartle, died in 2017 at age 52.
Hartle is an executive at Ahern Rentals, a company that hosted a re-election campaign event in September 2020 for then-President Donald Trump (R-Lock Him Up).
Company owner Donald Ahern also owns a Las Vegas hotel at which a national group espousing fringe QAnon conspiracy theories met in October for an event with speakers featured on Fox TV, News Max, The Victory Channel, One America Network and other sites favored by Trump.
Las Vegas
Hotter Than The Sun's Surface
"Superionic Ice"
If you think of very low temperatures, there's a good chance you are picturing ice. Ice is a quintessential "cold" thing for us. But at extreme pressures, like in the core of large planets, something peculiar can happen. Ice can remain solid but have a temperature hotter than the surface of the Sun.
This type of water ice is called "superionic ice" and has been added to the list of around 20 phases water can structurally form, including ice, liquid, and vapor. Now, researchers report in Nature Physics the discovery and characterization of two superionic ice phases, having found a way of reliably and stably recreating the ice for longer than has previously been achieved to be able to study it.
One superionic phase extends between 200,000 and 600,00 times the atmospheric pressure at sea level and at a temperature of several hundred to over 1,000°C. The other phase extends to half the pressure experienced at the center of the Earth and with temperatures of thousands of degrees.
“It was a surprise — everyone thought this phase wouldn’t appear until you are at much higher pressures than where we first find it,” co-author Vitali Prakapenka, a University of Chicago research professor and beamline scientist at the Advanced Photon Source at the Argonne National Laboratory, said in a statement. “But we were able to very accurately map the properties of this new ice, which constitutes a new phase of matter, thanks to several powerful tools.”
At higher temperatures and incredible pressures, the ice remains solid but the atomic structure is dramatically shifted. Once the pressure and temperature are removed though, the ice return to its regular state.
"Superionic Ice"
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