M Is FOR MASHUP
By DJ Useo
DJ Useo took the day off.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Emily Wax-Thibodeaux: In Alabama, rapists have parental rights (The Washington Post, but appears in SF Gate)
When a young woman came to the Family Services of North Alabama office last year for help with trauma, saying she had been raped by her step-uncle when she was 15, rape crisis advocate Portia Shepherd heard something that "killed me, shocked me." The step-uncle, who was getting out of jail after a drug conviction, wanted to be a part of their child's life. And in Alabama, the alleged rapist could get custody.
Steve Israel: Why Nancy Pelosi Doesn't Want Impeachment-For Now (The Atlantic)
She doesn't follow public sentiment. She shapes it.
Paul Krugman: Donald and the Delusion Discount (NY Times)
Markets are treating Trump as crazy but harmless.
Daniel Politi: Armed Neo-Nazis Get a Police Escort to Disrupt Detroit Pride (Slate)
A day of fun and celebration took a dark turn when armed neo-Nazis crashed Pride celebrations in Detroit and shouted insults while tearing up a rainbow flag. One man even appears to have urinated on an Israeli flag. And, in a move that angered many, that was all made possible by police who escorted the small group of neo-Nazis while they disrupted the celebrations and insulted those in attendance.
27 Health and Nutrition Tips That Are Actually Evidence-Based (HealthLine)
It's easy to get confused when it comes to health and nutrition. Even qualified experts often seem to hold opposing opinions. Yet, despite all the disagreements, a number of wellness tips are well supported by research. Here are 27 health and nutrition tips that are actually based on good science.
"There's Nothing to Doooo" (Slate)
Combat boredom with summer reading picks from Lois Lowry, Kwame Alexander, and other top kid lit authors.
Stephanie Burt: Dark Phoenix's Flaws Highlight What's Still Great About the 40-Year-Old Story (Slate)
No, not the broccoli people.
John McWhorter: How I Taught My Kid to Read (The Atlantic)
Children can learn quickly by sounding out words, letter by letter-but somehow, the method is still controversial.
Scott Tobias: True Grit at 50: the throwback western that gave John Wayne his only Oscar (The Guardian)
Released in the same year as The Wild Bunch and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Henry Hathaway's western was defiantly old-fashioned in comparison.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
said:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
from Bruce
Anecdotes
In a war, libraries and books can be destroyed. Knowing that, Alia Muhammad Baker, the chief librarian of the Central Library in Basra, Iraq, worried about the entry of the armies led by the Americans and the British into Iraq in a successful effort to topple the regime of dictator Saddam Hussein. In the library were books in English, books in Arabic, and a Koran written in Spanish. Also in the library were manuscripts that were hundreds of years old, and in the library is a book about the Prophet Muhammad that dates from about the year 1300. In early April 2003 the British came into Basra, and Ms. Baker determined to save the books. She ended up saving approximately 30,000 books, which was about 70 percent of the library's collection. She mourns the books that were destroyed before she could move them: "It was like a battle when the books got burned. I imagined that those books, those history and culture and philosophy books, were crying, 'Why, why, why?'" She points out, "In the Koran, the first thing God said to Muhammad was 'Read.'" Before the war started, she tried but failed to get permission from the governor of Basra to move the books to safety. When the war started, an antiaircraft gun was placed on the library's roof, making it a military target. Ms. Baker began smuggling books out of the library, placing them in her car, and taking them home where they would be safe. On 6 April 2003 British soldiers entered Basra, and she became even more worried about the books, especially with looting going on in the city. By then, government and military officials had abandoned the library. Next door to the library was a restaurant: the Hamdan. She asked one of the owners for help. Looters had taken away the library's carpets, lights, and furniture, and she wanted to save the books. Mr. Muhammad said, "What could I do? It is the whole history of Basra." Mr. Muhammad, his brothers, and his employees helped to move books from the library, over a seven-foot-high fence, and into the restaurant. Hussein Muhammad al-Salem al-Zambqa, a shopkeeper, said, "The books related to Saddam Hussein, we left them." Iraqis heard about what was going on, and they helped, including some Iraqis who were illiterate. Mr. al-Zambqa said, "The people who carried the books, not all of them were educated. Some of them could not write or could not read, but they knew they were precious books." It is fortunate that they moved as many books as they did because the Central Library burned down. Once Basra grew calm, Ms. Baker and her husband had the books moved to their house and entrusted some books to friends and library employees. In 2004, the library was rebuilt and Ms. Baker again became chief librarian.
Lynn Peril, publisher of the zine Mystery Date, loves books. Her parents read to her frequently when she was very young. Ms. Peril says, "I was never taught to read; I simply woke up one day and discovered I could. I remember going downstairs and telling my mother, 'Hey, Mom-I can read!'" Her uncle lived surrounded by books. After he died, and when her aunt moved out of the house, her aunt let all the nephews and nieces take the books they wanted. Ms. Peril got a lot of first editions in excellent condition, often with dust jackets, because whenever an author such as Vladimir Nabokov, Flannery O'Connor, or Eugene O'Neill came out with a new book, her uncle would quickly buy a copy and read it. She reads the books, and she enjoys going to an antiquarian bookseller near where she lives, looking at the shelves, and saying, "Hey, I have that book."
Eric Blair completed a manuscript he titled A Scullion's Diary, about his travels as a tramp, but it was rejected frequently, including by such luminaries as T.S. Eliot, and he gave up on getting it published. Therefore, he gave it to a friend, Mabel Fierz, and told her to keep the paper clips but to get rid of the manuscript. Fortunately, Mabel was interested in literature and writers, and she gave it to a literary agent, Leonard Moore, who agreed to represent Mr. Blair. The manuscript was published as Down and Out in Paris and London, and Mr. Blair took the pseudonym George Orwell and wrote Animal Farm and 1984. By the way, the manuscript of Animal Farmwas nearly destroyed in a bombing attack on London by Germany in World War II. Fortunately, Mr. Blair retrieved the manuscript from the wreckage left by a bomb.
When J.K. Rowling wrote her first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, her agent sent it to Bloomsbury Publishing, where an editor named Barry Cunningham wanted to publish the book. However, he needed to get the permission of the company's directors to do so. A colleague of his, Rosemund de la Hay, came up with an idea to get the company's directors to consider the book carefully. They enclosed a package of Smarties candy with each Harry Potter manuscript that they sent to the company's directors. Because the Smarties Prize is awarded to the best children's book published in Great Britain each year, this was a way of indicating that they thought that the book was good enough to win that prize. In fact, after the book was published, it did win the Smarties Prize.
Some people don't understand punctuation, as author Judy Blume discovered when she found her book Are You There, God? It Me, Margaret, in a bookstore in the religion section. She told the bookstore employee, "That book doesn't belong with the Bibles!" The employee said, "Yes, it does." To prove that the book belonged with the Bibles, the bookstore employee read from the copy on the jacket of the book: "Margaret Simon: twelve chats with God." Actually, the copy on the jacket said, "Margaret Simon, twelve, chats with God."
He who is able to write a book and does not write it is as one who has lost a child." - Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav.
"Should not the Society of Indexers be known as Indexers, Society of, The?"-Keith Waterhouse.
***
© Copyright Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
***
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Reader Comment
Current Events
You have go to be kidding me
Seriously, how snowflake are Republicans? And how thin skinned is the Baby in Chief? From a Wonkette article:
House Judiciary Committee ranking Republican Doug Collins -- you might know him better as the Congressman from "Hee Haw" who looks like he smells like a corn nut -- has sent a letter to Judiciary chairman Jerry Nadler asking that the following words not be said about Donald Trump in this afternoon's committee hearing on the Mueller Report:
infantile
hissy fit
liar
amoral
draft-dodger
crook
FESS UP!
con man
"aiding and abetting the enemy"
emperor
pathetic person
"putting himself and his allies above the law"
"committed crimes"
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
JD is on vacation.
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Not as hot, not as humid.
Rips Congress
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart gave Congress an earful on Tuesday, blasting a House Judiciary subcommittee for its seeming indifference towards the plight of 9/11 first responders as he testified on their behalf for the extension of the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund.
The former Daily Show host has long been frustrated with the constant fights on Capitol Hill to provide additional funding to the victims' fund, letting that frustration boil over during Tuesday's hearing, which was attended by only five members.
"I can't help but think what an incredible metaphor this room is for the entire process that getting health care and benefits for 9/11 first responders has come to," Stewart bemoaned. "Behind me, a filled room of 9/11 first responders and in front of me, a nearly empty Congress"
"Sick and dying, they brought themselves down here to speak-to no one. Shameful. It is an embarrassment to the country and it is a stain on this institution."
Adding that members of the House should be embarrassed for themselves but won't be, the comedian noted: "Accountability doesn't appear to be something that occurs in this chamber."
Jon Stewart
Disputes Severity of 2008 Fire
Universal Music
In response to a New York Times article recounting a 2008 fire described as "the biggest disaster in the history of the music business" in which thousands of Universal Music Group master recordings were destroyed, the company has issued a statement disputing the characterization of the damage it caused to the company's archives, saying the article contains "numerous inaccuracies, misleading statements, contradictions and fundamental misunderstandings of the scope of the incident and affected assets."
"Music preservation is of the highest priority for us and we are proud of our track record," the statement reads in part. "While there are constraints preventing us from publicly addressing some of the details of the fire that occurred at NBCUniversal Studios facility more than a decade ago, the incident - while deeply unfortunate - never affected the availability of the commercially released music nor impacted artists' compensation."
However, UMG's statement does not dispute that the damage to the archives - which saw the destruction of 500,000 recordings, according to an estimate in a 2009 confidential UMG report cited in the article - was extreme. According to the article, the fire, which took place on June 1, 2008 on the backlot of Universal Studios Hollywood, destroyed "almost all of the master recordings stored in the vault
including those produced by some of the most famous musicians since the 1940s, [likely including] masters by Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Al Jolson, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald and Judy Garland; as well as some of Chuck Berry's greatest recordings, the masters of some of Aretha Franklin's first appearances on record, almost of all of Buddy Holly's masters and John Coltrane's masters in the Impulse Records collection. Also lost were recordings by Ray Charles, B.B. King, the Four Tops, Joan Baez, Neil Diamond, Sonny and Cher, Joni Mitchell, Cat Stevens, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Al Green, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Buffett, the Eagles, Aerosmith, Rufus and Chaka Khan, Barry White, Patti LaBelle, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, the Police, Sting, Steve Earle, R.E.M., Janet Jackson, Guns N' Roses, Mary J. Blige, No Doubt, Nine Inch Nails, Snoop Dogg, Nirvana, Beck, Sheryl Crow, Tupac Shakur, Eminem, 50 Cent and the Roots."
A source close to the situation confirmed that the damage from the fire was severe and that initial comments from representatives of the company, which was under different management at the time, were not entirely up-front about the extent of the damage. But the source took issue with the assertion that priceless recordings have been "lost forever," the "breathless" tone of the article, and some comments by Randy Aronson, a former UMG employee quoted in the article.
Citing UMG documents, the article says the structure in question, Building 6197, was UMG's main west coast storehouse of masters and a primary storage facility for the company, holding "analog tape masters dating back as far as the late 1940s, as well as digital masters of more recent vintage. It held multitrack recordings, the raw recorded materials - each part still isolated, the drums and keyboards and strings on separate but adjacent areas of tape - from which mixed or 'flat' analog masters are usually assembled. And it held session masters, recordings that were never commercially released." The loss included recordings from the archives of labels UMG acquired or partnered with over the years, including Decca, Chess, Impulse, MCA, ABC, A&M, Geffen and Interscope, and many others.
Universal Music
Defies Hackers
Radiohead
Alternative rock legends Radiohead on Tuesday released an 18-hour trove of private recordings from their 1997 album "OK Computer" after getting hacked by someone seeking a ransom of $150,000 for the music.
The genre-banding English musicians uploaded the 1.8-gigabyte collection of recording session outtakes and rare live performances on their radiohead.bandcamp.com website.
The songs can be accessed online for free. The group is also selling downloads of an album of the 18 hacked MiniDiscs for £18 ($22.90, 20.20 euros) and donating the proceeds to the Extinction Rebellion environmental campaign group.
"Someone stole Thom's minidisk archive from around the time of OK Computer, and reportedly demanded $150,000 on threat of releasing it," Greenwood wrote.
"So instead of complaining -- much -- or ignoring it, we're releasing all 18 hours on Bandcamp in aid of Extinction Rebellion," he wrote.
Radiohead
Academy Sets Dates For 2021 And 2022
Oscars
The current Oscars experiment that lands the 92nd Academy Awards earlier than ever in 2020 - on Sunday, February 9 - looks to be a short-lived one, at least for the near future.
On Tuesday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is announcing Oscar show dates for 2021 and 2022, with the organization and its broadcast network ABC returning the traditionally most-watched awards show to the more familiar turf of the end of February, as opposed to that upcoming 2020 show, which will be Oscar's earliest date ever.
Actually, the 2021 date for the 93rd Academy Awards was initially announced in advance with several others in 2017 and, contrary to recent expectations that it too would be moved earlier, remains untouched on Sunday, February 28 - nearly three weeks later than the the revised 2020 date. The Academy has now also set Sunday February 27, 2022 for the 94th Academy Awards.
AMPAS has not yet named dates beyond 2022, but the trend is clear that the idea of an "earlier" Oscars is apparently a one-off, even before it has been tried. You can be assured ABC was closely consulted in this decision.
Oscars
Jury Deadlocks
Scott Warren
A federal jury said Tuesday it couldn't reach a verdict on the charges against Scott Warren, a border activist who was charged with conspiracy to transport and harbor migrants. Warren said he was providing two people with water, food and shelter.
Warren, 36, had faced up to 20 years in prison if convicted on the charges. The jury deliberated for over 15 hours.
Prosecutors alleged Warren conspired to harbor two migrants and claimed they were not in distress at the time. Warren was arrested in May 2018, only hours after activists released videos of border patrol agents kicking over water jugs meant for immigrants, CBS Tucson, Arizona, affiliate KOLD-TV reports.
Warren said he was providing humanitarian aid in a harsh stretch of the Arizona desert.
The group Warren works with, No More Deaths, tweeted that the hung jury demonstrates "there are Arizonans standing their ground for justice and kindness in a historic moment."
Scott Warren
'The Right Decision'
Pride Flags
In a television interview Monday evening, Vice President Mike Pence (R-Mother) confirmed reports that American embassies had been banned from flying the pride flag on their embassy flagpoles.
In an interview with NBC News, Pence said, "I'm aware that the State Department indicated that on the flagpole of our American embassies that one flag should fly, and that's the American flag, and I support that."
The Trump administration came under fire at the beginning of June for allegedly banning U.S. embassies from flying the pride flag. American diplomats told NBC News that embassies, including those in Israel, Germany, Brazil and Latvia, had requested to fly the pride flag alongside the American flag on their embassy flagpoles and were denied. June is Pride Month, a monthlong celebration of the LGBTQ community.
When asked if the ban on the pride flag contradicted the Trump administration's observances of Pride Month, Pence replied, "As the president said on the night we were elected, we're proud to be able to serve every American.
"We both feel that way very passionately, but when it comes to the American flagpole, and American embassies and capitals around the world, having the one American flag fly, I think it is the right decision."
Pride Flags
Mysterious, Gaping Holes Explained
Antarctic Ice
Enormous holes in the Antarctic winter ice pack have popped up sporadically since the 1970s, but the reason for their formation has been largely mysterious.
Scientists, with the help of floating robots and tech-equipped seals, may now have the answer: The so-called polynyas (Russian for "open water") seem to be the result of storms and salt, new research finds.
Polynyas have gotten a lot of attention lately because two very large ones opened in the Weddell Sea in 2016 and 2017; in the latter event, the open waters stretched over 115,097 square miles (298,100 square kilometers), according to an article published in April in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
Now, the most comprehensive look ever at the ocean conditions during polynya formation reveals that these stretches of open water grow due to short-timescale climate variations and particularly nasty weather. The polynyas also release a lot of deep-ocean heat into the atmosphere, with consequences that scientists are still working out.
Researchers already suspected that storms had some role in the creation of polynyas in recent years. A paper published in April by atmospheric scientists in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres pointed to a particularly violent storm with wind speeds up to 72 miles per hour (117 kilometers per hour) in 2017.
Antarctic Ice
Enormous Asteroid Crash
Long-Hidden Crater
Around 1.2 billion years ago, the biggest asteroid ever to hit the British Isles is thought to have slammed into Earth. Now, experts have identified where the exact impact point may have lain hidden this whole time.
The spot in question is estimated to be about 15 to 20 kilometres (9 to 12 miles) off Enard Bay in the Minch Basin, between mainland Scotland and the Outer Hebrides. The massive asteroid would have crashed at a rate of about 65,000 kilometres per hour (more than 40,000 mph).
There's no crater visible today, though: what's left of it is 200 metres (656 feet) down below the surface of the ocean, caked in aeons of sediment. It's thought the asteroid was enormous: one kilometre wide.
Based on the researchers' analysis, the crater would have originally been around 13 to 14 km (8.1 to 8.7 miles) wide, and 3 km (1.9 miles) deep.
The story of the discovery actually goes back to 2008, during a field trip in the Scottish Highlands. The expedition included study of the Stac Fada Member (SFM) formation, where Amor noticed "strange green blobs" in the rock.
Long-Hidden Crater
Prime-Time Nielsens
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for June 3-9. Listings include the week's ranking and viewership.
1. NBA Finals: Toronto at Golden State, Game 3, ABC, 13.35 million.
2. NBA Finals: Toronto at Golden State, Game 4, ABC, 12.79 million.
3. "America's Got Talent," NBC, 9.82 million.
4. "60 Minutes," CBS, 7.47 million.
5. NHL Stanley Cup Final: Boston at St. Louis, Game 6, NBC, 6.47 million.
6. "NCIS," CBS, 6.16 million.
7. "Celebrity Family Feud" (Sunday), ABC, 6.06 million.
8. "Celebrity Family Feud" (Thursday), ABC, 5.56 million.
9. "The Bachelorette," ABC, 5.53 million.
10. NHL Stanley Cup Final: St. Louis at Boston, Game 5, NBC, 5.47 million.
11. "The $100,000 Pyramid" (Sunday), ABC, 5.46 million.
12. "Tony Awards," CBS, 5.4 million.
13. NHL Stanley Cup Final: Boston at St. Louis, Game 4, 5.15 million.
14. "FBI," CBS, 5.04 million.
15. "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 5.02 million.
16. "Young Sheldon," CBS, 4.84 million.
17. "Amazing Race," CBS, 4.68 million.
18. "The Neighborhood," CBS, 4.65 million.
19. "The Code," CBS, 4.64 million.
20. "The $100,000 Pyramid" (Thursday), ABC, 4.54 million.
Ratings
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