from Bruce
Anecdotes
Mothers
• After Martina Navratilova defected from Czechoslovakia in 1975, she didn’t see her mother again for a long time. Finally, in 1979, her mother was allowed to see Martina play in the finals at Wimbledon. While Martina played on center court, her mother sat in the players’ box. As a gift, Martina’s mother had brought her a box of homemade cookies.
• Track and field star Florence Griffith Joyner had a caring mother. When Florence was young, she had to obey the rules her mother set, including turning lights off at 10 p.m. and not watching television during the week. In addition, her family held weekly Bible discussions during which the children would talk about what they had done wrong recently.
• As a young boy, Tiger Woods got angry in a golf tournament and threw his clubs on the ground. As a result, he was tossed out of the tournament. He complained to his mother, “But, Mom, the white kids do it all the time; they don’t get thrown out.” She told him, “Tiger, you’re not one of those guys; only worry about what you do.”
• In 1914, famed ballerina Galina Ulanova was a little girl seeing her very first ballet, Sleeping Beauty. Things went well until the Lilac Fairy appeared—then young Galina cried out for everyone to hear, “That’s Mama! My Mama!” She spoke truly. Her mother danced the role of the Lilac Fairy, and young Galina wanted everyone to know.
• Dick Tuck used to play a lot of practical jokes in politics. Back when Richard Nixon was running for President, Mr. Tuck hired several pregnant women to troop through the lobby of the hotel where Nixon was staying. The obviously pregnant women all carried signs bearing Mr. Nixon’s campaign slogan: “Nixon’s the one!”
• Michael Thomas Ford hates to have his photograph taken. One day, his mother asked for a photograph of him, so he took a photo of a look-alike cousin, then gave it to her. For years, it decorated her refrigerator door, much to the astonishment of the cousin’s mother.
• Hugh Troy was once driving a mother and her two small children. The children began acting up, so the mother scolded them, but Mr. Troy told the children, “You can jump and scream all you like, but if your mother says another word, I’ll put her out of the car.”
• While visibly pregnant, actress Judi Dench performed the role of Grace Harkaway (who was supposed to be a virgin) in London Assurance. One line the audience laughed at was spoken by Janet Whiteside to her: “Do you feel nothing stirring?”
• When comedian Bob Smith wrote an honest book about his life as a gay man, his mother’s comments about the book were favorable. She told her other children, “I wish all you kids would write books. Then I’d know what you’re thinking.”
• Steven Spielberg’s mother supported his movie-making hobby when he was a teenager. Once, he needed lots of gore for a scene, so she took 30 cans of cherries and exploded them in a pressure cooker to create what looked like a bloody mess.
• Nancy, the wife of Quaker humorist Tom Mullen, was very good with children, especially with Brett, her son. She would listen carefully, and if the home were too quiet, she would tell her husband, “Tom, go find Brett and tell him to stop.”
Music
• Fanny Brice made it in show business at age 19 when Flo Ziegfeld sent her a telegram to meet him. At the meeting, he offered her a role in his Follies. From that time on, she was famous. Well, almost. Lots of very good people were in the Follies, and it was difficult to stand out. Fanny wanted a good song, but so did all of the other singers in the Follies. And all of the other singers were surrounding Mr. Ziegfeld’s two African-American songwriters, Joe Jordan and Will Marion Cook, hoping to get them to write a song especially for them. How to get noticed? And how to get a song written especially for her? Fanny asked Mr. Jordan and Mr. Cook, “How would you like a real, home-cooked meal? My Mom is the best cook in New York.” The ploy worked. The well-fed songwriters gave the song “Lovey Joe” to Fanny.
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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
Track: "Surfing the Goldwave"
Album: INSTRUMENTAL/SURF
Artist: Spytones
Artist Location: Lunenburg, Massachusetts
Info:
Bob Conroy “Started playing guitar around 13 playing acoustic folk and blues by ear. Went to UMass Boston to study guitar and music theory. Transferred to New England Conservatory and graduated from there with a BM in 1979. Have been writing and performing original instrumental music with the SpyTones since 2008 while continuing to play classical guitar and acoustic fingerstyle guitar.”
Bob Conroy - Guitar, Bass
Tom Wood - Guitar, Bass
Brian Bourgault - Drums, Percussion, Theremin
In addition to Spytones music, Bob Conroy has posted his individual work on his Bandcamp website: Acoustic guitar solo. Classical Guitar Solo.
Koheleth’s Breath, a fan, wrote, “Great mix of spy and surf tunes. The creative effects on ‘The Day the Surf Stood Still’ are especially enjoyable. Makes you want to hop in a ship with Gort and escape this crazy planet.”
“Gort is a fictional humanoid robot that appeared first in the 1951 20th Century Fox American science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still and later in its 2008 remake.” — Wikipedia
Price: Name Your Price (Includes FREE).
Genre: Surf. Instrumental Rock.
Links:
INSTRUMENTAL/SURF
Bob Conroy on Bandcamp
Robert Conroy on YouTube
Other Links:
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
84051
Stephen Suggests
Two-Fer
New Venture
Michael Egan
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
Trump Believers
Other Links:
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Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Current Events
that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Gas is down to $5.39/gal (cash) at the no-name cash-preferred station (dime more for credit).
Hearing Dominates TV Networks
Jan. 6
America's top television networks on Thursday turned prime time over to a gripping account of former President Donald Trump's actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol — with one prominent exception.
The top-rated news network, Fox "News" Channel, stuck with its own lineup of commentators. Sean Hannity denounced the “show trial” elsewhere on TV just as he was featured in it, with the House's Jan. 6 committee examining his tweets to Trump administration figures.
“It's really just a cheap, selectively edited political ad,” Hannity told his viewers.
Meanwhile, ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN and MSNBC aired the second prime-time hearing, focusing on Trump's real-time response to the riot. The committee said it was the last hearing until September.
Jan. 6
Replaces ‘Fairy Godmothers’
Di$ney
Disney has replaced the title of “fairy godmothers” for gender-neutral “apprentices” at dress-up boutiques at its U.S. theme parks in an effort to be inclusive, according to the parks' websites.
Cast members at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique at Disney parks, who help children transform into their favorite Disney characters with make-up and costumes, were previously called “Fairy Godmothers in Training.” Now they are called “Fairy Godmother’s Apprentices."
“This way cast members that might not identify as female can still be part of the process to dress up & style the children without having to refer to themselves as a female Disney character,” third-party Disney blog Streaming The Magic said.
The boutiques give makeovers to children, ages 3 to 12, to transform them into princesses or knights. The Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique at Magic Kingdom at both parks will reopen Aug. 25 following pandemic closures, according to their websites.
Di$ney
Spend More Time With The Family
Vince McMahon
Long-time WWE chairman and CEO Vince McMahon is retiring from the company. McMahon, 77, and the company released statements announcing the retirement Friday.
McMahon kept the announcement short on Twitter, merely saying it was "time for me to retire."
In a statement released by the company, McMahon said the company was in good hands, specifically mentioning his daughter, Stephanie McMahon, and Nick Khan, both of who hold the title of Co-CEO.
The timing of the news, especially coming just weeks after new allegations emerged, suggests McMahon's retirement is authentic, and not part of an upcoming WWE storyline.
Vince McMahon
Environmental Protest
Uffizi Galleries
Italian environmental activists glued their hands Friday to the glass protecting Sandro Botticelli’s painting “Spring” in the Uffizi Galleries in Florence, police said. The museum said thanks to the glass, which was installed as a precaution several years ago, the masterpiece was unharmed.
Paired with the Florentine artist’s other masterpiece, “Birth of Venus,” the two iconic canvases, dating from the late 15th century, are among the museum’s most popular artworks. The painting is large, standing 10 feet, 6 inches by 6 feet, 9 inches (319 cm by 207 cm).
Carabinieri police said two young women and a man, all Italians who had bought entrance tickets, staged the protest in the Uffizi’s room dedicated to the painter. The activists sat on the floor and displayed a banner reading, “Last Generation No Gas No Coal,” police said.
The three were taken to a police station in Florence. Italian media said the activists were issued official orders to stay out of the tourist-popular city for three years, using a strategy in Italy similar to that often applied to violent soccer fans.
Uffizi Galleries
Loses $250 Million Defamation Appeal
Michael Avenatti
A U.S. appeals court on Thursday refused to revive Michael Avenatti's $250 million defamation lawsuit against Fox News Network over its coverage of the 2018 arrest of the now-imprisoned celebrity lawyer and critic of Donald Trump.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia rejected Avenatti's claim that his case belonged in a Delaware state court because he added a new defendant from his home state of California, depriving the federal judge who dismissed the lawsuit last August of jurisdiction.
Avenatti sued Fox News, part of Rupert Murdoch (R-Evil Incarnate)'s Fox Corp, in November 2020, saying its extensive coverage of his arrest on suspicion of domestic violence, including false statements that he was also charged, was a malicious effort to destroy his reputation.
A week later, after Fox News moved the case to federal court from Delaware Superior Court, Avenatti added correspondent Jonathan Hunt as a defendant over the same alleged defamation, and soon tried moving the case back.
Michael Avenatti
Mimics Texas Abortion Measure
California
California punched back Friday against two recent landmark U.S. Supreme Court decisions as Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a controversial, first-in-the-nation gun control law patterned after a Texas anti-abortion law and urged other states to follow suit.
He acted one month after conservative justices overturned the constitutional right to abortion and undermined gun control laws in states including California.
“It’s time to put them on the defense. You cannot sell, you cannot manufacture, you cannot transfer these illegal weapons of war and mass destruction in the state of California. And if you do, there are 40 million people that can collect $10,000 from you, and attorney fees, for engaging in that illegal activity.”
Lawmakers patterned the bill, at Newsom’s request, after a Texas law allowing citizens to sue anyone who provides or assists in providing an abortion. The U.S. Supreme Court gave preliminary approval to the Texas law, but California’s law will automatically be invalidated if the Texas law is eventually ruled unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court’s support for the Texas law was “a terrible decision,” Newsom said. However, “if they’re going to use this framework to put women’s lives at risk, we’re going to use it to save people’s lives here in the state of California.”
California
Mystery Shrouds
Brink's Heist
When experts recall the most notorious jewelry heist in modern history, they talk about the tunneling into Hatton Garden in London or the Antwerp, Belgium, break-in that took months of planning.
Then there is the case of the heist earlier this month at the Flying J truck stop along Interstate 5 in the Grapevine.
In the early hours of July 11, two armed guards left their Brink's big rig, giving a gang of thieves a 27-minute window to make the huge snatch, its total value still a mystery. Estimates range from $10 million to $100 million.
The team of burglars bypassed the truck's locking mechanism and used the storage containers to haul away precious gems, gold and other valuables from a Brink's tractor-trailer, say multiple law enforcement sources not authorized to discuss the crime.
How much the thieves netted during the 2 a.m. snatch is hotly debated. Brink's said it was less than $10 million based on the insurance. A federal law enforcement source and some associated with the International Gem and Jewelry Show world said the total appears to be closer to $100 million.
Brink's Heist
To Go Extinct First
Unique Birds
Birds with the most “unique” physical features could be the first to go extinct amid an ongoing biodiversity crisis sparked by the climate crisis, predicted a new study.
An ongoing mass extinction that has led to a “homogenisation” of bird species, poses a particular threat to the diversity of physical traits in birds, predict researchers, including Emma Hughes from the University of Sheffield in the UK.
Bird species remaining on the planet extensively vary in size and shape across class, from the giant, flightless ostrich to the tiny, buzzing hummingbird.
Many of these species, with their unique physical traits, perform distinct roles in the ecosystem – from seed dispersal in hummingbirds to scavenging in vultures – thus affecting their habitat’s functioning and productivity in special ways.
Unique Birds
Something Quite Remarkable
Penguin DNA
Penguins are no strangers to climate change. Their life history has been shaped by rising and falling temperatures, and their bodies are highly specialized for some of Earth's most extreme conditions.
And yet, scientists are concerned the evolutionary path of the penguin may be grinding to a halt, thanks to what appears to be the lowest evolutionary rates ever detected in birds.
A team of international researchers has just published one of the most comprehensive studies of penguin evolution to date, which is the first to integrate data from living and fossil penguin species.
The research unveils the tumultuous life history of penguins in general, with three-quarters of all known penguin species – now represented by fossils only – already extinct.
Penguin DNA
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