Good morning one and all and welcome to the DailyKos Good News Round Up (GNR, because ENAATD…... everything needs an acronym these days) a daily feature at this corner of the Internet. A sturdy and dedicated crew of Assemblers each day put up a collection of links and stories that Let You Exhale. Once a month the Great and Powerful Leaders of the GNR invite me, WineRev, to go up in space and float around the Control Room doing Zero-G Good News Assembly, and you can tell today is my day. Thank you each and all for coming by. This being the Internet of Inter-Connected, Planet-Spanning Inter-Communication, not only your reading through, but YOUR recs, remarks, comments, ideas, corrections, questions, replies and yes, even consolation and support via said Internet is what make the Internet the Internet, especially in this corner. So thank you.
Being a History buff, you will see that my custom is to include a collection of “On This Day” events, both Good and Goofy, (this time all liked by their common “October 15” badges) so we learn from those before our times how they lived their times.
Also, I have been adding a First Lady Profile each month for many months now, but for a number of personal reasons, I need to skip it this time out. But one or two of those First Ladies will be back next month, stepping out their time and out of the White House into your reading.
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A Big Day for Democracy coming this Saturday, and numbers will count. My sweetie SageHagRN is steadily picking my brains for things about American History and the Constitution. She thought (and I agree) it would be a good idea to put together some Background for Patriots, so when we march on Saturday, we know why. It’s sort of like the American home front in World War II, when everyone went very regularly to the movies and there was a weekly newsreel. One of the regular features was called “Why We Fight”, to explain dangers and fascism and why so many young men had been drafted.
Our struggle these days is trickier. Those opposed to us are people who look a lot like us and speak English an awful lot like us. Our approach needs to be verbal, with freedom of speech being exercised (even at high volume). So in the Gray, Low Lighted sections are some of my thoughts.
If you’d like to get on to the typical Good News Round Up, feel free to scroll past the quotation boxes.
The Constitution….A)
Snappy Latin-based word, that “Constitution.” Latin constitutionem "act of settling, settled condition, anything arranged or settled upon, regulation, order.” In law circles this is the Foundation Stone for the entire legal system; every other decision, act, writ, appeal, trial, etc. sooner or later traces back to this Bottom Stone. Indeed, in several European languages, (German, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish) the usual term is “Grunn-” or “Grund-” GROUND, and then gesetz/lov/lag = “Law”.
In another swath of languages it is “Foundational” and its cousin “Fund a-ment”. The Dutch put it as “Fundamentele Wet”. In France you say the noun first and then the descriptor: “Loi (law) Fondamentale” and likewise Italian: “Leggo Fondamentale”. In Spain it comes out as “Ley Basica”, and a host of other languages take this “Basic” Law route as well.
Because of the intricate legal structures built upon these Foundation Stones, it is natural to tend to the tinkering and changes and proposals and amendments and repeals rather than the Bottom Rock. Take it for granted too long or too much, and, well, it helps to visit your basement after a heavy rain to see if it’s still dry. (And if not, things can get serious, expensive and upsetting in all sorts of ways.)
Mind you there have been warnings and advice to “take care” and “take heed” of the Constitution from its beginnings. In 1787 as the Constituting Convention was ending a woman in the crowd outside spotted Benjamin Franklin and called, “Well, what have you given us?” Franklin replied, “A Republic, madam…..if you can keep it.”
Indeed, there even WILL BE warnings and advice to “take care.” After all, in the 23rd Century a Star Fleet captain has abandoned the Prime Directive and has interfered in a planet that has caused a global war. Military necessity has caused ranks and hierarchies to rise…..and become more and more comfortable for those who hold these. But…...there is another path, known…..almost forgotten, a sacred text. Supposedly only for the chiefs/leaders, who intone the opening words in the manner of speaking in tongues. It falls to Captain James Kirk to unravel the, “Eed plebnista,” phrase into the actual “We the People” and give a hearty defense of the idea of “demos” (Gk. “people”) “krasis” (“to rule”)...complete with intense music, as you can take in here:
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We will return through our “Walk Through the Constitution” below. However, first lets tune in for:
Good News in Society and Politics
>>>>>» In these political “hard times” it’s easy to get depressed, thinking how everything is going MAGA’s way. So it counts as Good News and uplift to note when things are NOT going well on that side of the fence. Take, for example, country music. As a good swath of the MAGA movement is rural-based, it’s sort of a natural that country music and their artists would fit in easily at various rallies and gatherings and on their radio waves. A lot of MAGA types assume that too, as in “REAL ‘Murkin music is country music!”
So it comes as a shock to their lock-step thinking when they run into, say, Zac Bryan climbing the charts with an anti-ICE song. THIS STORY RUNS DOWN how miffed they are that a white guy with a country-twang singing voice would exercise free speech in his song-writing. (The First Amendment protecting free expression being set to music, eh? Well fancy that…….)
>>>>>>>» Following on in the musical realm, the memorial service for agitator Charlie Kirk featured all sorts of tunes as well, of the semi-religious sort. (I didn’t watch or listen. I know better…..and I already take medications for both blood pressure and chronic depression...) But an interesting reflection on THAT EVENT HERE explores the idea that MAGA is stuck at their 30% of the electorate (so Trump’s approaching his polling floor) and canNOT grow beyond that. Writer Amanda Marcotte raises the idea that Christian music itself is a limiting factor for MAGA, helping hem them in. Not the only reason of course, but I’d wager an angle seldom on the list of explanations.
>>>>>>» Up until this spring, and not being a close follower of Texas state politics, I too had not heard of a Democratic State representative James Talarico. But he and the other Democrats in the Texas legislature put the Overbearing majority through “some things” (over a re-gerrymander bill) when they refused to show up for a quorum and then fled the state to keep it that way. There was a lot of cheering from our side of the street, and Talarico emerged as something of a fresh face and leader for the rebels.
Now Talarico is making a bid for the Democratic nomination for the US Senate next year against incumbent GQPer John Cornyn. And he is cleverly stealing a march or two in the GQPers by OPENLY DEFENDING actual Christianity as part of the public discourse against the TV polyester preachers. I mean to openly state (and explain and defend) that the Bible endorses the possibility of abortions is…..going there. He couples these sorts of “progressive Christian positions” with an economic message aimed right between the eyes of the billionaires (a fair number who live in Texas) with an updated FDR version of “tax the rich”. Winning statewide in Texas is a tall order for a Democrat, but Talarico in a couple months has raised millions for his campaign. Worth a read and worth watching this guy…..
>>>>>>» There is a strain of political purity that is common all across the spectrum: “my people MUST be pure and unflawed” or they aren’t REAL (fill in the political group.) When I started at Ohio State in 1972 I was told by certain fellow students that to be REALLY against the War in Vietnam meant all the troops should be withdrawn THIS WEEK…...or I really didn’t believe in “Peace”. Similarly in these days, from the Pit of Hell there is constant shrieking against “RINO”s (‘Republican in Name Only’) since somebody doesn’t kiss Trump’s ass publicly every day.
But look, human beings are flawed and they fail. They aspire, they talk a good game, maybe even make a few steps in the “right” direction but….they have baggage. We ALL have baggage. (Liz Cheney among liberals, anyone?) So as a refresher and a springboard for thinking, THIS REFLECTIVE ARTICLE raises up Winston Churchill’s shortcomings and flaws as a Conservative Party member (political and otherwise)…..and yet points out that liberal democracies can stand leaders who don’t check every box.
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Of course societies and their politics have provided all sorts of moments worth recalling or even considering on October 15ths of yesteryears. Here are a few Good and Goofy social and political moments from years gone by on this day.
A sandwich? Yes…..a sandwich that marks the rise of a civilized SOCIETY and such a sandwich that raises the possibility of amicable POLITICS if eaten at the same time in the same deli by 2 or more politicians….
1660 New Amsterdam (now New York), New Netherlands (now New York) With the permission of Governor Stuyvesant Jews are allowed to migrate here (although they are not allowed to use public cemeteries.) But now, all of New Amsterdam rejoices at the Governor’s inclusivity: On this day Asser (or Asher) Levy is granted a butcher's license for kosher meat. Pastrami on rye with a touch of mustard and a glass tea……ah, civilization has arrived, 365 years ago TODAY!
1830 Amherst, Massachusetts. Birth of Helen Maria Fiske (Hunt) (Jackson) writer and poet. Her mother was well-to-do and her father was a professor at Amherst College. She attended a women’s college and the Abbott Institute, where she became life-long friends with Emily Dickinson. With her first husband she had two of their three children die young and Mr. Hunt died after nine years in an accident.
Not many 19th century photographs are as playful as this one of Helen Hunt Jackson, poet and advocate
To console herself she began writing poetry and collections appeared in print about 1870. She visited Europe for two years and in 1875 was in a sanitarium in Colorado Springs for treatment of tuberculosis. She recovered, and while there met and married William Jackson, a wealthy railroad man. She took up the cause of Native Americans and her 1881 work, "A Century of Dishonor," was a watershed (think Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” and the environmental movement) that raised concerns about the treatment of Native Americans. She was in demand as a writer and produced articles on the corruption of Indian agents, broken treaties and mis-treatment of America’s First Peoples’ in a way that brought reforms. She followed up with a book, “Ramona”, addressing those same abuses in the form of a novel. She died young at 55 but her pioneering activism is still remembered. (A brief but good biography of her AT THIS LINK.)
1860 Westfield, New York Grace Greenwood Bedell is 11 years old. Her father is an anti-slavery man and has been vocal about the chance to vote for the new political party, the Republicans, and their candidate (in a legitimate, 4-way race) Abraham Lincoln. Daughter Grace is keeping up on the news and sees a poster of the Lincoln-Hamlin ticket.
Several years ago Westfield, New York put up this pair of bronze statues of Mr. Lincoln and Miss Bedell in their one and only meeting….
She likes Mr. Lincoln but thinks his sad eyes and craggy jaw would look more refined with whiskers. On this day she writes him a letter about it. October 19, in Springfield, IL, Lincoln writes her back, thanking her for her letter but admitting he had never considered raising a beard (but decides to do so in late November.) In February Lincoln is taking a long, roundabout train trip to the (March 4) Inauguration and the train stops in Westfield. With reporters and townspeople swarming, Grace recalled later: "He climbed down and sat down with me on the edge of the station platform," she recalled. "'Gracie,' he said, 'look at my whiskers. I have been growing them for you.' Then he kissed me. I never saw him again."
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The Constitution….. B
“We the People…..” forming and living out a DEMOCRACY, and showing much of the world it COULD BE DONE.
Benjamin Franklin offered his audience “A Republic….”, from the Latin “RES”— “thing” and “PUBLICA” the opposite of “private”, the social side of humans living together. Now “the things of the public” have long been the plaything of kings and queens and royal lines. “Public things” have been decided, good AND bad, by these strong people….or those wealthy people…...or by people who speak THIS language, not THAT one…….or by religious people (and always, what to do about people of the “wrong religion”? The record has been a sad one.)
Who should decide the “public things”, and even stick their noses into “private things”? Reaching behind the Latin to the Greeks, they give their word “Krasis”-— to rule. On the front end of “Krasis” there are a number of Greek prefixes that identify WHO rules.
“MONO-cracy” ONE ...or its better-known synonym “AUTO-cracy” “self” ruler/king/satrap/tsar/emperor. However you say it, its always 1.
“THEO(S)- ocracy” GOD rules (or at least, the right high religious figure).
“OLIGOI”- the FEW (chosen, often by each other), usually paired with “ARCHOS” to rule “oligarchy” rule by the few.
“PLUTO-”cracy” (PLUTO: rich/wealthy) the wealthy rich people do the ruling.
“KAKISTOS-ocracy” the all-too familiar in these days of 2025 “the worst/disgusting rule”. (Kakistos is related to the Greek term ‘Kakos’, from where every parent doing toilet training in English explains the little person about….ahem, 2 letters of P and P, AND the 2 rhyming first syllables from Greek “Ka” and “Ka”. And now you know…..)
Lets finish with “KLEPTO(S)”-ocracy rule by THIEVES/robbers/despoilers (in psychology, the urge to steal things: kleptomania)
But in 1787 there came a daring (for its time) push for DEMO(S) (‘the people”….as in DEMO-graphics) rule! Hasn’t been tried on a continent-sized scale basically since the Romans (and they ended up later with an Empire). San Marino went down this path of the People Rule starting about 321 AD (when Rome was still around on the Italian Peninsula). The Swiss were hammering out having the People Rule among the mountains already hundreds of years ago. Here and there across the Rhine, where the German-speakers lived a bewildering confetti map of city-states, principalities, kingdoms, etc, etc to a count well north of 100, some of those spots had the People Ruling.
And if this 1787 bunch was going to make a go of HOW the People would rule, well then came the Constitution and certain changes/amendments the last 238 years. Like what?
Article 1: A legislature in 2 parts, different terms, different elections (by The People for the House; by the state legislatures (elected by the People in their states) to pick Senators…..until 1913.) Powers (a few big ones) and limits (several.)
Article 2: An Executive, a President for carrying out laws enacted under Article I, subject to limits. 4 year term, by majority of the Electoral College (a couple steps at least away from direct votes of the People.)
Article 3: Judiciary, with a Supreme and inferior courts. President appoints Justices, subject to Senate confirmation. (No number on this bench mentioned. Started with 6; varied until about 1870 when 9 was established as the custom.) To determine whether laws enacted conformed to this Constitution...or NOT.
Article 4: the relations between this new government and the state governments.
Article 5: approaches for Amending the Constitution, with a high bar for altering the Basic Law: 2/3 in favor in the House, 2/3 in favor in the Senate, and ¾ of the states in favor. Only 27 have passed this hurdle over 2 centuries (and one was to repeal an earlier one; after only 13 years the great majority of Americans from 1920 had changed their minds bigly…..and passed the 21st Amendment to repeal #18 and bring back booze.)
Article 6: The Constitution is under all the laws and over all the state laws. Oaths of office for federal leaders.
Article 7: Mechanism/Process for ratifying the Above 6.
For the Top 27 Hits to the Hallowed 7 Above, THIS HANDY LINK will give you a brief capsule of each of the Amendments. Some are famous (1st, 2nd, 6th, 13th, 21st) some are practical (12th, 16th, 17th, 22nd, 25th) some are “housekeeping” (20th, 22nd, 26th 27th), some expand the Constitution (14th, 15th, 19th, 23rd, 24th) and some are dang obscure (3rd, 11th).
But always, ALWAYS…..US! The People! The most Patriotic have always known and always taught it. And one President in particular captured this essence. Although Lincoln lived into the 1860s, this story of the People’s Government has an odd link dating from 1940:
Those gaunt, even craggy, facial features made Massey a natural to cast for Lincoln
1940 Across America Hollywood releases “Abe Lincoln of Illinois”, a biographical film of Lincoln up to his Inauguration. (A commercial flop.) Raymond Massey played Lincoln. As part of the publicity for the film, it was rolled out on a staggered schedule. Massey went by rail from town to town for the ‘Grand Opening’. He would dress as Lincoln and come out on the stage or stand in front of the screen and then recite either the Gettysburg Address or the 2nd Inaugural. Then the film would run and Massey would appear afterwards in the lobby and sign autographs and shake hands.
When the film opened in Philadelphia the theater manager came to Massey’s dressing room and told him in the audience that evening were two Civil War veterans (both about 90.) They had been part of a Pennsylvania regiment that had been assigned crowd control duty in November,1863 for a Presidential visit and Address…...at Gettysburg. In other words, both veterans had heard Lincoln give the Address LIVE. Massey finished dressing and did his publicity appearance, reciting the Gettysburg Address. He confessed later he had never been more nervous in his life. In the lobby a newspaper reporter took a couple pictures of Massey posed with the two vets and then asked the oldsters how Massey’s delivery had been, compared to the original. (Massey admitted he was dying to know too.)
The two vets said they were impressed at how close Massey had been, except for one thing. Right at the end, where Lincoln ended with “of the people, by the people, and for the people….” Massey (and the scriptwriters) had taken the advice of learned scholars and stressed the prepositions (of, by, for) for their meanings and nuances. The veterans said the President had stressed the word “people” all three times. Massey changed his delivery for the rest of the tour and always explained why.
Good News in Science, Technology and Engineering
>>>>>>>» Usually the News out of science, tech and engineering cruises off-shore from the day-to-day grit and dirt of politics. BUT, every once in a while……..Kristi Noem (a walking, “Work Done Everywhere” spokesmodel) is also prancing in front of cameras playing the public role of Director of Homeland Security. As the federal shutdown has gotten underway, she, in her capacity as Director, has made and posted a video (since her plastic surgeon told her she was gorgeous.) The video has been ordered shown in the airports of America, in the TSA security lines (a semi-captive audience), with the narration blaming the Democrats for the shutdown.
But in the war-torn and over-run, the cratered landscape that was once Portland, Oregon, by some miracle, the airport is STILL open and functioning. BUT IT SAYS HERE THE video belch-fest of blaming Democrats on the overhead screens of the TSA lines, somehow….just won’t play. Surely it’s just a glitch? No one who is an engineer (or a supervisor of such) would CAUSE a problem, would they? It might be a hack from somewhere…...or outright defiance…..or……..but I think this is a sign the STEM people can push back too, in both very sneaky and yet rather obvious ways. YAY!
UPDATE: Looks like other airports with TSA lines, are also finding that SAME video playback problem. Oh, I’m SURE the tech people are on it around the clock (which BTW, are they getting paid for? Federal aviation techs? Hmmmm) but scientists and engineers are humble enough to admit when a given problem can be “a real stumper”…..
>>>>>>>» Recycled plastic. We are all doing our bit to sort our trash to save the planet from ourselves, and since plastic is so common anymore, it is something that definitely needs to be re-used. A lot of progress has been made, but at points uneven. Now comes AN EXCITING BREAKTHROUGH that allows recycling of the tougher plastics (like a lot of the stuff on the inside of your car, or various home appliances)…...that recycles quite well…..and is made from that fast-growing, tall-growing stuff called BAMBOO. Hurray for the white-lab-coat heroes helping us survive!
>>>>>>» On balance I think Artificial Intelligence is a net negative for our lives. Certain number crunching, data-mining operations, OK. Raw computing power has a place. But for the living of our days? Educating our children instead of teachers? Replacing drivers in vehicles (the problems are showing already)? Replacing workers? (Although…...I heartily endorse the proposal that for the Fortune 500 every executive and board member be replaced by AI; the compensation package savings alone could eliminate poverty everywhere...)
But for thinking, creating, musing, dreaming? Nope. And importantly, those are things that are vital to being human and being an individual. Now comes THIS CONCERNING ARTICLE that warns already we are seeing that extensive use of AI is making us as individuals……..basic. Ordinary. AI is crawling the Web, “scraping” human thoughts to learn to become human in some way. But the approach is like imagining 1000 multi-colored marbles representing 1000 individual human beings, with each of their gifts, thoughts, experiences and talents. Those 1000 marbles are put on a large disc, 1 marble deep (so they are all among each other) and then the disc is set spinning at high speed.
AI comes along with its speedy “scraping” and ultra-fast “learning “ and sees the spinning disc. And AI notes all the colors are there and when viewed in the spinning mass, well, the average human being is…...gray…..dull gray. And I refuse…….
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Otherwise, the left-brain, lobe-clickers have been doing all sorts of science and engineering for decades on October 15ths.
Yep, that there hotel (one of the NOT original and NOT current version of Cliff House) is on a cliff alright…….Cliff House!
1863 San Francisco On the far west edge of town, overlooking the Pacific and giving a good view of the Seal Rocks, the first version of Cliff House opens this day. It was a remote tavern and hotel but it soon started attracting San Francisco’s elite, especially on Sundays. It lasts 31 years until it was destroyed by a fire. 4 other versions with ballrooms, theaters, and various attractions, have gone up since, all on the same site. Apparently STILL a magnificent spot. (Someday I may get to see it myself; I’ve written about it a few times here and Kossacks who have been there have commented to the point I’d like to take it in!)
633 years to build…..whew!
1880 Cologne (Koln), Germany Speaking of building projects, there are also church building projects, which are often a great way to set off church fights, weigh down a congregation with debt, hand out sub-contracting jobs to church members, etc. And sometimes (at last!) they end.
On this day, after 633 years (1247 AD---NOT a typo), despite wars, the Black Death, plagues, wars, a 280 year break in the construction schedule (1560-1840), floods, wars, famines, and years of the coal-fired Industrial Revolution staining the stones coal black all over, the work on the Cologne Cathedral is finished. Twin spires of over 150 meters each (515 feet), Gothic style. It took 14 direct hits from Allied bombs during World War II. (Allied pilots mostly spared it since they commonly used the twin spires as a landmark for orientation on other targets.)
1900 Boston, MA Speaking of concert halls, this day marks the inauguration of Boston’s Symphony Hall. To this day considered one of the finest places to play and listen to music…..thanks to science. Harvard physicist Dr. Wallace Sabine was THE consultant during construction; Sabine had written extensively on acoustics, and his inputs were followed scrupulously.
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Saturday No Kings
Fortified by a Wednesday “Constitutional”, a bit of a refresher of who we are and how we have been, what is involved on Saturday? Who are we up against and how can we respond?
Well the Kurrent Klutzy Konservatives (KKK) running the Executive Branch and their minions like to call themselves “conservative” (stress the “con”, and pause before the rest of the word….) but we recognize they use this as a cover. Why do they need a cover? Because “con-serv-ing” was once a respectable and decent political stance. There are indeed things worth Con-serving: Nature and Animal Con-servancies, the Con-stitution, Con-tracts with others (social and legal), buildings and architecture that are worthy of historic Con-servation.
But what we have now is Con-niving Con-servatives, on the air, in social media, ranting podcasts, who are the bought-off, the black-mailed, and those threatened with primaries, and ruination as financial, reputation and familial…..and those are just the ones on their OWN side of the political fence. What do the Kakistocrats and Kleptocrats of Project 2025 want? Their 900 pages spew out government of the people ruined and the remaining pieces of the government carrying out their racism, misogyny, prejudices, and their disdain of ordinary people.
They want to implement their twisted, self-serving idea of Conservative that goes like this: (According to them) there are 2 groups of people in a society that the Law deals with, Conservatives like themselves…….and Everybody Else. They believe the Law Binds and the Law Protects.
In their view, for themselves the Law Protects, but does not Bind (no rules, looting everything, etc.)
For everyone else, the Law Binds, but does not Protect (“your papers please”/ our product that made us a mint hurt you?---Too bad/ etc.)
We who march Saturday yearn to return to the ability to ignore politics on a daily basis. But not right now. The struggle is visible and at hand. Those who are the wreckers will watch us Saturday, it is true, with counters in hand. They will want to see how many of us are in the peaceful streets on Saturday to push back. Big numbers will give pause…..and bigger numbers, bigger pause.
NO THRONES NO CROWNS NO KINGS NO KINGS SINCE 1776
THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE SHOULD BE MORE THAN JUST ... ICE!
KINGS FALL, PEOPLE RISE
NO FAUX—KING WAY!
Thank you for your attention to this matter,
Your ever-lovin’
WineRev
Good News in Music, Art, Literature and FUN
>>>>>>>>» Up in Canada along the Atlantic Coast, there is Oak Island. There have long ben rumors and stories of centuries of visitors and perhaps buried treasure. There have been odd, tantalizing clues. (E.g. A small, lead cross, confidently dated to the 14th Century (!), with the particular isotope of lead used as unique to a medieval lead mine in France.)
In Minnesota there is the (in)famous “Kensington Rune Stone” with a date of 1362 etched into it….among the Norse Runes.
And now comes THIS HEAD-TURNING STORY out of New Orleans. Seems a couple were gardening and landscaping in their yard and came across a square-ish stone. It was etched with…...Latin, and appears to be a gravestone…...of a Roman sailor! Not that the Romans were coming to the Gulf and inventing Bourbon Street, but most likely someone unknown had traveled to Italy and helped themselves to a relic and brought it to Louisiana.
Seems to pass a number of tests for authenticity. The Italian government is quite interested and has made a formal request to have it sent back..
Now SageHagRN occasionally asks me to help her with gardening…..and now…..well maybe SOMEthing might turn up that is more exciting than egg plant roots……
>>>>>>>>» Its been a while, but I used to play golf regularly. I have never had a hole-in-one, but one day I was in the tee-off box and saw another golfer hit one in. Very cool…...or NOT! A couple weeks ago in Augusta, Maine there was a charity/fund-raiser sort of day at a local golf course. Anton Lawrence, playing the game like he has for 40 years, was on the course.
He scored a hole-in-one, first of his life, just to put an exclamation point on the charity event. But then, going on…..same day, same course, he did it AGAIN. A “Pair of Aces!” He whooped it up, posed for a picture or 2 and after a while headed for home. THIS LITTLE STORY REPORTS he stopped on the way (like a gas station) and while there, bought a scratch off lottery ticket…...which he scratched off for a $500 win. I mean, there are LUCKY DAYS, and then there is Anton Lawrence!
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Otherwise, October 15ths have had years of light moments of the Goofy and the Good persuasion, with a few of them displayed below.
1520 London By edict of King Henry VIII, bowling lanes will be constructed at Whitehall. A league is forming; pin-resetting boys and ball return girls needed for a farthing/night. Barmaids needed for 5th frame “Beer Frame”. King’s bowlers will wear matching polyester shirts in royal purple with “Hank 8th” on the front and “Tony’s Pizza Inferno” on the back as soon as polyester and pizza are invented in England.
Open-air bowling, medieval style; folks on right still having their beer frame, when standing is optional
1581 Paris Not to be outdone by the British Bowling Leagues and other cultural advances the last 61 years, a generous grant from Catherine De Medici (THOSE De Medici’s; the 1% of the Middle Ages) underwrites the staging of Europe’s 1st ever ballet: "Ballet Comique de la Reine". (I had no idea this art form was almost 450 years old. I suspect Medieval tutus were a bit bulkier than ours……)
1775 Uusikaupinki, Sweden (now Finland---since the Swedes never learned to pronounce the name of this town….) Birth of Bernhard Henrik Crusell, clarinentist and composer. From a poor family of bookbinders, Bernhard would be late coming home from school because he would stop and listen to the only musician in town practicing his flute. When he was 8 the family moved to a larger town; a father of a friend taught him to play the clarinet by ear; 4 years later he learned to read music off the page. His talent blossomed and by age 18 he had a paying position as a civilian in a regimental band.
When the regiment relocated to Stockholm the commander took him along, with pay. Learned music more formally and even won a grant to visit Paris for 2 years, where the Conservatory was just being invented. (He wasn’t admitted, but 2 of the professors took him on as a student.) Returned to Sweden and lived most of his life there, yet always considered himself a Finn. Several (clarinet) concertos, a sinfonia, a body of chamber music (with clarinet prominent). He also was a skilled linguist and translated several operas into Swedish and Finnish to be performed for the first time in those tongues, and wrote several operas of his own. (A music festival in his honor in his hometown has been going for nearly 50 years.)
Yes, this snippet from Crusell certainly lives up to its marking of ‘Vivace’---LIVELY!
1886 St. Petersburg, Russia In Kononov Hall this evening was the premiere of Mussorgsky’s awesome in a terrifying way, “Night on Bald Mountain.” (NO truth to the rumor that half the audience waited until dawn to go home….but there could have been. Was included in Disney’s ‘Fantasia’ as a petrifying counterpoint to flying horses and dancing hippopotami.) HERE IS A LINK to a nerve-wracking 5 minutes from Disney (quite fitting for the upcoming Halloween frights…...whew!)
1951 Across America. In a very different type of entertainment that graces Boston’s Symphony Hall, this evening on your local CBS affiliated station was the first episode of an energetic Hollywood actress noted for her comedic touch and her real-life husband with the exotic, Cuban accent: “I Love Lucy.” (Ran for 10 years, 39 episodes/ year…..which is why there are a LOT of episodes for reruns!) Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, with neighbors and former vaudeville regulars William Frawley (“Fred”) and Vivian Vance (“Ethel”). The directors used a novel technique, using a “3-camera feed” with a director in the control room calling the switches between cameras. This has become standard practice but “I Love Lucy” was the first, and part of why reruns still seem pretty fresh or rather “modern.”
1983 Toronto, Canada The other day we noted the first goal in the amazing career of Mario Lemieux. Yesteday we noted the same for the first NHL goal for Wayne Gretzky. But in the 100 years of the NHL, a game played this night between the Chicago Black Hawks & Toronto Maple Leafs would become a goal tender’s worst nightmare and make battle-hardened coaches weep or offer to resign. The two teams combined to set a league record for the fastest five goals in a game ever: 5 goals…..in 84 seconds. (Gingras-T/ Savard-C/ Larmer- C/ Savard- C/ Anderson-T) (Imagine ducking out to the restroom during a boring period and coming back to your seat having missed THAT!)
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A cat…..a cushion…...a glass of wine…...ahhhh!
And NOW, friends and neighbors, fellow Net surfers, seekers of the respite of Good News, comes the best part of the Round Up…...YOU! Yes, YOU! Now YOU get the chance to not only read or click on links above, YOU get to rec…..comment…..expand upon….digress from…..correct grammar and/or facts…….ask the audience…...reply to the audience….. chuckle…..ponder….in other words, ALL THOSE THINGS that made and still make the Internet a Good Thing and Good Place to come visit. So please, jump in, join in, and thanks for coming by.
May all your News be Good, comforting and inspiring.
Shalom.
