Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: The S Word, the F Word and the Election (NY Times Column)
Guess which party is really un-American.
Mary Beard: The lows and highs of visiting Athens (TLS)
There are some great things to visit in Athens. I challenge anyone (whatever your views on the "Elgin" marbles~) not to enjoy and admire the (now newish) Acropolis Museum. I visited with a group yesterday, and all were really delighted by the top floor of the museum. The possibility of being able to see the Parthenon from the windows, and match up the sculptures on display with the 'ruin' itself. And you get a sense of how the building and decoration worked together, partly because the sculptures are laid out in their original configuration.
Mary Beard: Seeing through Boris Johnson (TLS)
Part of me feels a little anxious about the (over) confident reactions you can find to the Boris Johnson 'domestic' incident. I have no doubt that, on the stories we have, the neighbours were entirely correct in calling the police (someone might have been getting hurt for heaven's sake), and I think recording what was going on was sensible (there might have been a trial); but I feel a bit uncomfortable about making the recording over to the Guardian. And - though I don't buy the line that 'everyone has a bit of a tiff now and then' ('get off me' seems pretty clear!), I think we need to be careful about reconstructing the events on the basis of some un-ordered quotations.
Paul Waldman and Greg Sargent: The Supreme Court just body-slammed democracy. More is coming. (Washington Post)
And don't think the Census ruling means it wasn't a disastrous day.
Jonathan Chait: This Sounds Crazy, But Trump's Rape Denial Might Not Be True (NY Mag)
Before they completely abandoned all pretenses of the concept of morality for their posture of tribalistic relativism, conservatives used to be comfortable making judgments about the character of people who habitually lie and steal. Their decision to place their faith in Trump, against a mountain of circumstantial evidence pointing in the other direction, is a perfectly fitting emblem of their posture of submission to the Trump presidency.
Elliot Hannon: A Pregnant Woman Who Miscarried After Being Shot in the Stomach Is Being Charged With Manslaughter in Alabama (Slate)
"The investigation showed that the only true victim in this was the unborn baby,'' local police Lt. Danny Reid said at the time of the shooting. "It was the mother of the child who initiated and continued the fight which resulted in the death of her own unborn baby." Marshae Jones is now in jail.
ANGELICA JADE BASTIÉN: Why We Can't Stop Watching Keanu Reeves, 30 Years On (Slate)
In his 14 minutes of screentime in Always Be My Maybe, Netflix's latest rom-com phenomenon, 54-year-old Keanu Reeves - now 30 years into his stardom - skewers and subverts the personas we've come to attach to him.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
responded:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
David E Suggests
Church Noticeboards
David
Thanks, Dave!
from Bruce
Anecdotes
• In the play Clair de Lune is a hot romantic scene between a duchess and a hideous crippled person. Because the duchess seemed to be by far the most interesting role for a woman in the play, dramatic critic Alexander Woollcott wondered why Ethel Barrymore did not choose that role for herself. However, the reason why is evident when one considers that the hideous crippled person was played by her brother, John Barrymore. In fact, one actress remarked, "Ethel could hardly have played the duchess. It would have been adding incest to injury."
• Dame Edith Evans consistently made the same mistake during rehearsals for Hay Fever, saying, "On a very clear day you can see Marlow." Mr. Coward told her, "Dear Edith, you spoil the rhythm by putting in a 'very.' The line is 'On a clear morning you can see Marlow.' On a very clear morning you can also see both Beaumont and Fletcher."
• Morris K. Udall helped clean up the loose ends in the Pacific after the Allies won World War II. While helping to close the base on Iwo Jima, Mr. Udall served as emcee of a variety show. At the end of the show, Mr. Udall said, "Gentlemen, I guarantee you this next act will bring down the house," and a bulldozer demolished the wooden stage.
• Lord Kames was not known for prodigality in offering good wine to his guests, although he did serve a port of low quality. One day, his guest was the Hon. Henry Erskine. When the conversation turned to the fleet of Sir Charles Hardy, which the French were blockading, Erskine said, "They are, like us, confined to port."
• During poker games on rainy nights, Heywood Broun used to serve bad port, then say, "Any port in a storm." Once, Alexander Woollcott forgot to bring a special liquor called kümmel to a poker game, so Mr. Broun said that he would go to Mr. Woollcott's house to pick it up, because he would "walk a mile for a kümmel."
• June Cerza Kolf tells this story: At her family reunion held in California, an earthquake struck as the family members attended church. Afterwards, one of the family members, who was new to California, told the pastor, "I've been to a lot of church services in my life, but I can honestly say this was the most moving one I've ever attended."
• George Washington once stood with his back to the fire, but as the fire was very hot, he moved away from it. A friend observed that a general ought to be able to stand fire, but Mr. Washington replied, "It does not look well for a general to receive fire behind."
• Edward Heath once said about Tom Fraser, who was Minister of Transport, "He has done absolutely nothing to alleviate our traffic problems, but he is the only Minister who produces jam today as well as promising jam tomorrow."
• The last time Leslie Caron saw Fred Astaire was at a benefit for Gene Kelly. A waiter accidentally brushed against her and knocked her off-balance. Mr. Astaire, then 85 years old, immediately grabbed her wrist and steadied her. Ms. Caron told him, "Fred, you haven't lost your grip."
• Rev. Glenn Zorb, pastor of a Lutheran church in Philadelphia, doesn't expect the lower-income members of the congregation to give as much money in the collection plates as other, wealthier members. Why? He understands "not everyone is fit to be tithed."
• President Abraham Lincoln, a very tall man, and his wife, Mary Todd, a short woman, once appeared before a crowd. President Lincoln addressed the crowd, saying, "Here I am, and here is Mrs. Lincoln. That's the long and the short of it."
• George S. Kaufman frequently attended the poker games of Young Men's Upper West Side Thanatopsis and Inside Straight Club, where he had the habit of saying, whenever he was dealt a three when he had a two in the hole, "I'm being trey-deuced."
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© Copyright Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
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Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
JD is on vacation.
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
No marine layer. Summer is here.
Sotheby's Auction
NASA
A one-time NASA intern who bought a truckload of videotapes to resell them may end up a millionaire next month when Sotheby's auctions what it says is the only surviving original recording of man's first steps on the moon 50 years ago.
In the years after the July 20, 1969 moon landing during the Apollo 11 mission, NASA was recording over its tapes or selling them to cut costs, said Gary George, who was a college student when he bought more than 1,100 reels of NASA videotape for about $218 at a government surplus auction in 1976.
"I had no idea there was anything of value on them," said George, a 65-year-old retired mechanical engineer from Las Vegas, told Reuters in a telephone interview. "I was selling them to TV stations just to record over."
But three of the tapes turned out to be invaluable. One of them captures the images of the first steps on the moon by astronaut Neil Armstrong, along with his famous words, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
The recordings also show astronaut Buzz Aldrin bounding around in minimal lunar gravity, as well as their call with then U.S. President Richard Nixon, the men planting the American flag on the lunar surface, collecting soil and rock samples and much more, said Sotheby's spokeswoman Hallie Freer.
NASA
Accuses Agencies
Writers Guild
The Writers Guild of America has hit back at Hollywood agents with accusations of collusion following a pair of lawsuits alleging that the guild is abusing its collective bargaining authority.
With the bitter standoff in its third month, the WGA brushed off recent suits by UTA and WME, calling them "meritless." The guild sent a cease-and-desist letter Friday from its attorneys W. Stephen Cannon and Ethan Litwin to the Association of Talent Agents and the top eight agencies accusing them of having engaged in "collusive actions that constitute unlawful restraints of trade" under the Sherman Act. It asked for a response by July 15.
The letter was addressed to Karen Stuart, ATA's executive director. Representatives for Stuart and the ATA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The guild disclosed the missive in a letter from its negotiating committee to its 15,000 members. The WGA directed its members in April to fire their agents following the major agencies' refusal to sign onto a new Code of Conduct, which bars the agencies from collecting packaging fees and from owning interests in production companies. The union argues that the fees create an unlawful conflict of interest and it's persuaded about 70 smaller agencies to sign the code.
Negotiations with the Association of Talent Agents have been futile, collapsing twice - first on April 12 and again on June 7. WGA West president David Goodman announced on June 20 that the guild would only negotiate with WME, CAA, UTA, ICM Partners, Paradigm, Gersh, APA, Rothman Brecher and Kaplan Stahler. None of the agencies have done so, insisting that they will only bargain through the ATA.
Writers Guild
Used A Colorful Chart
Japan
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday presented US President Don-Old Trump (R-Dolt) with a straightforward, colorful chart to explain Japanese investment in the US, a White House official told Axios.
The New York Times reporter Peter Baker tweeted a picture of the chart and commented, "Like others around the world, the Japanese have figured out how to play to a visiting Trump."
The chart's headline, "Japan has five additional investments in just one month," is in big red letters with key words underlined. Boxes spell out how much was invested and point to the location on a US map.
Foreign and US officials have been forced to come up with new ways to get their point across to the president. The European Commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, reportedly explained trade policy using colorful cue cards at a meeting last July.
A source told Reuters in 2017 that National Security Council officials made sure that Trump's name was included as frequently as possible in intelligence briefings because he was more likely to pay attention if he saw himself mentioned. Other officials said he preferred memos with lots of pictures and charts.
Japan
Martha's Vineyard Estate Hits Market
Jackie Onassis
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis's 340-acre Martha's Vineyard estate, known as Red Gate Farm, is on the market for $65 million.
Jacqueline's daughter, Caroline Kennedy, is seeking a new steward for the property, which Onassis bought in 1979.
The 6,456-square-foot house (originally completed in 1981, then expanded in 2000) features five en-suite bedrooms, two half-baths, a chef's kitchen equipped with professional grade appliances and two offices or artist studios as well as three fireplaces and outdoor decks from which you can view the water, nature and dunes in the distance.
The two-story guesthouse has four bedrooms and three baths plus a living room, kitchen and laundry.
Outbuildings include two garages, a caretaker's house with three bedrooms, a boat house, a temperature- and humidity-controlled storage building, and a hunting cabin.
Jackie Onassis
$9-an-Hour Temps
Software Outsourced
It remains the mystery at the heart of Boeing Co.'s 737 Max crisis: how a company renowned for meticulous design made seemingly basic software mistakes leading to a pair of deadly crashes. Longtime Boeing engineers say the effort was complicated by a push to outsource work to lower-paid contractors.
The Max software -- plagued by issues that could keep the planes grounded months longer after U.S. regulators this week revealed a new flaw -- was developed at a time Boeing was laying off experienced engineers and pressing suppliers to cut costs.
Increasingly, the iconic American planemaker and its subcontractors have relied on temporary workers making as little as $9 an hour to develop and test software, often from countries lacking a deep background in aerospace -- notably India.
In offices across from Seattle's Boeing Field, recent college graduates employed by the Indian software developer HCL Technologies Ltd. occupied several rows of desks, said Mark Rabin, a former Boeing software engineer who worked in a flight-test group that supported the Max.
The coders from HCL were typically designing to specifications set by Boeing. Still, "it was controversial because it was far less efficient than Boeing engineers just writing the code," Rabin said. Frequently, he recalled, "it took many rounds going back and forth because the code was not done correctly."
Software Outsourced
Oil Pipeline In Great Lakes
Michigan
Michigan's attorney general sued Thursday to shut down twin 66-year-old oil pipelines in the Great Lakes, saying they pose an "unacceptable risk" and the state cannot wait five to 10 years for Enbridge Inc. to build a tunnel to house replacement pipes running through the Straits of Mackinac.
Democrat Dana Nessel's move came the same day she also sought to dismiss the Canadian company's request for a ruling on the legality of a deal it struck last year with former Republican Gov. Rick Snyder to encase a new segment of its Line 5 in the proposed tunnel.
"I have consistently stated that Enbridge's pipelines in the Straits need to be shut down as soon as possible because they present an unacceptable risk to the Great Lakes," Nessel said.
Nessel said she acted after it became clear talks between Enbridge and Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer had broken down. Whitmer was pushing to finish the tunnel in two years, while Enbridge was insisting it could not be done before 2024, when it would decommission the existing pipes.
"The continued operation of Line 5 presents an extraordinary, unreasonable threat to the public because of the very real risk of further anchor strikes, the inherent risks of pipeline operations and the foreseeable, catastrophic effects if an oil spill occurs at the Straits," Nessel said.
Michigan
Feeding Meth To Squirrel
Alabama
An Alabama man who authorities said kept a meth-fueled "attack squirrel" in his apartment was arrested Thursday on multiple felony warrants unrelated to the squirrel.
Narcotics investigators found Mickey Paulk, 35, while they were conducting surveillance at a hotel in Killen, according to the Limestone County Sheriff's Office. Paulk was arrested after he fled on a stolen motorcycle and rammed an investigator's vehicle.
Investigators in Athens, Alabama, searched Paulk's home last week after getting a tip the man was keeping a methamphetamine-fueled "attack squirrel" at the residence.
Paulk uploaded a video on Facebook after the raid from the apartment with the squirrel. He acknowledged that the squirrel is aggressive and had bitten people, but denied that the rodent was trained to attack.
"The public isn't in danger from the methed-out squirrel in the neighborhood," Paulk said, with a chuckle. "He's not on meth, I'm pretty sure. Better not find out he's on meth anyway. I don't think he likes that sh--."
Alabama
Steamboat Geyser
Yellowstone
Yellowstone National Park's Steamboat Geyser blasted steam and water into the air at 12:52 p.m. local time on June 12. Then, three days, 3 hours and 48 minutes later - at 4:40 p.m. on June 15 - it blasted steam and water into the air again, according to the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS)'s Volcano Hazards Program. That's a new record for the geyser, according to the Billings Gazette: the shortest time ever recorded between eruptions.
But don't worry. Increased activity at a single geyser doesn't indicate any new threat from the Yellowstone caldera - the "supervolcano" hiding under the park - according to USGS.
Additionally, records of Steamboat's eruptions go back only to 1982, the Billings Gazette noted. Yellowstone's history is much older than that.
The newspaper also reported that the eruptions were especially dramatic, large and loud, with one ejecting a rock that shattered a wooden post. Researchers don't have good, tested theories to explain why geysers like one this slip in and out of active periods, according to the Gazette.
Mostly, the eruptions suggest that now is a particularly good time to go see Steamboat Geyser blow its lid. The geyser set a record for total number of eruptions in 2018, with 32 in the calendar year, according to USGS. Already in 2019 there have been 24 eruptions, six of them in June as of this writing.
Yellowstone
Fast-Evolving Insecticide Resistance
Cockroaches
The day that squeamish humans-and exterminators-have long feared may have come at last: Cockroaches are becoming invincible. Or at least German cockroaches (Blattella germanica) are, according to a new study. Researchers have found that these creatures, which have long been a prevalent urban pest, are becoming increasingly resistant to almost every kind of chemical insecticide.
Not all insecticides are created equal. Some degrade the nervous system, whereas others attack the exoskeleton; they also have to be left out for varying amounts of time. But many insects, including cockroaches, have evolved resistance to at least one of the most commonly-used insecticides. And because cockroaches live only for about 100 days, that resistance can evolve quickly, with genes from the most resistant cockroaches being passed to the next generation.
To test resistance in German cockroaches, researchers treated three different colonies in multiple apartment buildings in Indiana and Illinois over the course of 6 months. The populations were tested for their level of resistance to three different insecticides: abamectin, boric acid, and thiamethoxam. One treatment used all three pesticides, one after another, for 3 months before repeating the cycle. In another treatment, researchers used a mixture of insecticides over the full 6 months. A final treatment scenario used just one chemical that the selected roach population had a low resistance to for the entire time.
Regardless of the different treatments, the size of most of the cockroach populations didn't drop over time, the researchers wrote last month in Scientific Reports. That was true even when the researchers used multiple insecticides at once-a standard practice among exterminators. That suggests cockroaches are quickly evolving resistance to all three of the chemicals that were tested. On the upside, the researchers found that one kind of treatment-abamectin gel bait-could wipe out a portion of the colony-if the roaches had a low-level resistance.
Just how the cockroaches are evolving is unclear without further genetic testing. But if the findings hold, this widespread resistance could make it impossible to treat cockroach infestations with chemical insecticides alone. Instead, the researchers say, people will have to use what's known as "integrated pest management," which involves setting traps, cleaning debris off surfaces, and even vacuuming up the tiny suckers, in addition to chemical treatments. Talk about a nightmare-at least for the roaches.
Cockroaches
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