BITS & PIECES

 Openers:   People do not give it credence that a fourteen-year-old girl could leave home and go off in the wintertime to avenge her father's blood but it did not seem so strange then, although I will say it did not happen every day,  I was just fourteen year of age when a coward gong by the name of Tom Chaney shot my father down in Port Smith, Arkansas, and robbed him of his life and his horse and $150 in cash money plus two California gold pieces that he carried in his trouser band.

Here is what happened.  We had clear title to 480 acres of good bottom land on the south bank of the Arkansas River not far from Dardanelle in Yell County.  Tom Chaney was a tenant but working for hire and not on shares.  He turned up one day hungry and riding a gray horse that had a filthy blanket on his back and a rope halter instead of a bridle.  Papa took pity on the fellow and gave him a job and a place to live.  It was a cotton house made over to a little cabin.  It had a good roof.

Tom Chaney said he was from Louisiana.  He was a short man with cruel features.  I will tell more about his face later.  He carried a Henry rifle.  He was a bachelor about twenty-five years of age.

-- Charles Portis, True Grit (1968)

We all know the story of Mattie Ross and her quest to hunt down her father's killer.  To help in this, she turned to an old and dissolute one-eyed Ranger name Rooster Cogburn.  

You may have read the novel (or the magazine serial in The Saturday Evening Post) or are familiar with one of the two film version, with John Wayne and Jeff Bridges respectively as Cogburn.  (I'm a big Jeff Bridges fan, but John Wayne owned the role.)   I first read the novel in 1968 when it was published and soared to the best-seller lists.  The writing was superb, Mattie's first-person voice was authentic, and the story was un-put-downable, but what most amazed at the time was that Tom Chaney's birth name was Theron Chelmsford, Chelmsford being the name of my home town.  (There are only three Chelmsfords in the world -- one in England, one in Canada, and one in Massachusetts.  Giving a villain the same name as my home was an honor I had never thought would happen.)  Later, during the Bush II regime, I thought Chaney was a perfect name for a murderous villain.  So Portis scored with me on at least those two counts.

Charles Portis (1933-2020), like Mattie Ross was a native of Arkansas.  He began his career as a journalist in his home state, then working for two years in Tennessee, before moving back to Arkansas as a columnist for the Arkansas Gazette.   The followed four years at the New York Herald Tribune, spending two years heading up their London Bureau.  He left journalism in 1964 to concentrate on fiction.  His first novel, Norwood (1966), a comic novel that was filmed in 1970 with Glen Campbell as the tittle character, Kim Darby, and Joe Namath.  Both Campbell and Darby also appeared in True Grit, with Darby taking the role of Mattie Ross.  

Incoming:  George the Tempter strikes again!  The Sage of Tonawanda just sent me a book with the following goodies, for which I am sincerely grateful!

• Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg, editors - Isaac Asimov Presents The Golden Years of Science Fiction, Fourth Series.  Actually a hardcover reprint of Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories 7 (1945) and Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF 8 (1946).  Twenty-six classic stories from Fredric Brown (twice), Henry Kuttner (four times; once as "Lewis Padgett" and once as "Lawrence O'Donnell" -- the last two with his wife C. L. Moore), Fritz Leiber, Isaac Asimov (twice), Raymond F. Jones, "Murray Leinster" (three times; once under his real name. Will F. Jenkins). Leigh Brackett. (twice; once in collaboration with Ray Bradbury), Lester del Rey, A. Bertram Chandler, Theodore Sturgeon, Arthur \C. Clarke (three times), Chan Davis, Nelson S. Bond, Ray Bradbury (twice; once with the aforementioned Leigh Brackett), Paul A. Carter, and Dolton Edwards (with the great "Meihein in ce Klasrum").  So many wonderful stories in one package.
• Martha Bolton with Linda Hope - Dear Bob...  Subtitled "Bob Hope's Wartime Correspondence with the G.I.s of World War II."  An affectionate look back at the importance the Hope's wartime shows had on our soldiers.
• Chuck Klosterman - The Nineties.  A fond and funny look back at the decade in which I was a hip-hop happening dude.
• Charles Portis, True Grit.  See above.
• Bryan Thomas Schmidt, editor -- Infinite Stars.  A "big fat book" billed as "The defnitive anthology of Space Opera and Military SF."  Twenty-four stories (fifteen original), many of which cover popular series such as Orson Scott Card's ender Universe. Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's Dune, William C. Dietz's Legion of the Damned, Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan, Elizabeth Moon's Vatta's War, David Bara's Lightship Chronicles, Catherine Ansaro;s Skolian Empire, Nnedi Okorafor.s Bindi, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's CoDominium. Lee Brackett and Edmond Hamilton's, Eric Stark and the Star Kings, Linda Nagata's Red, Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space, A. C. Crispin's Starbridge, Bennett R. Coles' The Virtues of War, Anne McCaffrey's The Ship Who Sang, Charles E. Gannon's Caine Riordon, David Drake's Lt. Leary, Jack Campbell's The Lost Fleet, and David Weber's Honorverse.  A lot of thrilling reading here.

The Best Ever Female Sci-Fi Authors?:   Here's an easily debatable list.  I don't care for the word "Sci-Fi," a term coined by Forrest G. Ackerman at his most punniest.  I much prefer "SF," which can also be inclusive of fantasy, and since two of the people on this list are Anne Rice and J. K. Rowling -- both fantasists -- "Sci-Fi" seems out of place.  (There are other fantasy writers on the list, but I'm not sure if they wrote science fiction so I won't carp about them.

There are thirty-eight women on the list, which counts down from thirty-eight.  Does this mean they are ranked in order of importance?  I hope not.

Missing from the list are Ursula K. LeGuin, Octavia E. Butler, Lois McMaster Bujold, Kelly Link, and (my God!) Mary Shelley, the mother of it all -- all of who were supposedly on this list, at least, according to the squib accompanying the YouTube video.  Among those included are Jane C. Loudon (whose one foray into the fantastic was her 1827 proto-science fiction/gothic novel The Mummy; the majority of her writing was about horticulture and botany) and Thea von Harbou (German screenwriter and wife of director Fritz Lang; her claims to SF fame are the book Metropolis [1925] and By Rocket to the Moon [1928], both were filmed by Lang -- the latter was also released as Women on the Moon.)   Included on the list are several writers I had not heard of, but that is most likely on me, not them.

Let the arguments commence:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyxyS1_UuNs

Obscure Religions:   There are a lot of strange religions and beliefs out there.  (Some may argue that all religions are strange.)  But here are a few well outside he main religious spectrum.

• The Raelian Movement.  In 1973 Claude Vorihon met an extra-terrestrial, who gave him the name "Rael."  The alien told Rael that humans were created by a tribe of alien scientists and then told him what to expect of the future.  Raelists advocate "love, compassion and non-judgment through everything from sexual liberation for women (female public toplessness is one such campaign) to environmental issues."  Another belief is Paradism, a world without money.  Raelism has about 70,000 followers worldwide.
• The Aetherius Society.  Another alien encounter, this time with an ET named Aetherius, one of the Cosmic Masters.  In the 1950s Aethurius met with George King and told him the root cause of the problems on Earth was a lack of spiritual energy.  King began spreading the world, becoming known as the Master.  Followers have adopted a type of Eastern philosophy mixed with Christianity.  They believe the Earth is a living, breathing entity.  
• The Prince Philip Movement.  On the island of Tanna in Vanuatu, there is a group that worships Prince Philip. the late Duke of Edinburgh.  The local Yaohnanen tribe inexplicably believe that Philip was the descendent of one of their spirit ancestors and had been protecting their culture from his home in England.  I don't know how Philip's death has affected them.
• Aghori.  A fourteenth century offshoot of Hinduism, Aghori followers carry a cup made from a human skull. allegedly use human bones taken from graveyards in their rituals and et rotten food (and perhaps human flesh) to achieve ultimate enlightenment.  
• The Church of All Worlds.  Created by "Primate" Oberon Zell Ravenheart and his wife Morning Glory Zell in the 1960s, this is a pagan-based religion that worships Earth as "Gaia."  Followers are called "waterkins."
• Pana Wave.  A paranoid-based religion preaching against the dangers of electromagnetic waves.  Followers wear white clothes and masks and drive white vans, looking for safe spots from the waves.  It was founded in the 1980 by Yuko Chino, a Japanese woman who branched off from an earlier movement called Chino-Shoho.  She predicted the world would end on May 15, 2003.  It didn't.
• Bullet Baba's Motorbike.  Why not a movement that worships a motor vehicle?  In this case, a Royal Enfield Bullet 350 cc motorcycle.  The owner, Om Sing Rathore, crashed the bike on Highway 65 in the village of Chotila in Rajasthan and died.  After police dragged the motorcycle away, it allegedly appeared at the same spot several times.  That was more than enough to start a religion and to enshrined the motorcycle on a concrete pedestal in a temple known as Om Bana, more popularly called Bullet Bama.  Garlands cover the bike.  Nearby is a photograph of Rathore.
• Iglesia Maradoniana.  Fans of the Argentine football star Diego Maradona started this cult worshipping Maradona as a divine being in 1998 in the city of Rosario.  Their symbol is D10S -- combining the Spanish word for God and Maradona's shirt number, 10.  The church has its own commandments and prayers an boasts over 100,000 followers.

"Banned" Daffy:   This 1943 propaganda cartoon starring Daffy Duck has reportedly been banned in some places because -- go figure -- it makes fun of Germans and Nazis.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVmwcAD-yDE

Oliver Ellsworth:  235 years ago, Oliver Ellsworth (1745-1807), one of our nation's Founding Fathers, while a member of the Constitutional Convention, proposed the the words "the United States" be enshrined in the Constitution.  The phrased had been in common use previously, both in the Declaration of Independence and in the Articles of Confederation; in fact, Thomas Paine had previously used the word "the United States of America."  Ellsworth wanted to indicate that the new government was a federation and not a single national entity.  Nearly a month earlier, Virginia's Edmund Randolph proposed a national government with a supreme legislative, and executive, and a judiciary; Ellsworth agreed to the threefold division but objected to the words "national government."  When Gouvernor Morris made the final editorial changes to the Constitution, he included the phrase :the United States of America."

Ellsworth, along with fellow Connecticut delegate Roger Sherman, proposed a bicameral Congress, which was adopted as the Connecticut Compromise at the Constitutional Convention.  Ellsworth also suggested that slavery be abolished (a losing fight at the time) and was instrumental in keeping judicial review out of the Constitution.

Ellsworth attended Yale but transferred to the College of New Jersey (now Princeton) at the end of his second year, graduating Phi Beta Kappa.  He then studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1771.   he became the state attorney for Connecticut's Hartford County and was also selected as on of the state' representatives to the Continental Congress.  Ellsworth was active in the Revolutionary War, serving on a number of committee's in his home state.  He entered the judiciary in 1785.  He served as one of Connecticut's first two senators in the new government, holding a position that would be the equivalent of today's Majority Leader.  In the Senate, Ellsworth drafted the Judiciary Act (Senate Bill No. 1), which established a hierarchy between state and federal courts, giving the Supreme Curt the power to veto state supreme courts in issues that conflicted with the federal Constitution.  In 1796, President Washington nominated Ellsworth to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, replacing John Jay.  No major cases came before the Court during Ellsworth's tenure, but he did encourage judicial opinions be released in a single written opinion rather than have each justice issue a separate opinion, which had been the practice.  He was later appointed Envoy Extraordinary to the Court of France in 1799.

Ellsworth was not a seasoned orator and preferred to work behind the scenes.  As such, his role in the formative years of America have not had the attention it deserved.

Happy Birthday to...:   Balint Kopasz, Hungarian sprint canoeist (b. 1999), Charles W. Chesnut. African-American novelist and short story writer (b. 1858; his novel The Conjure Man is due to be reprinted next February by Flame Tree 451), astronomer Mary R. Calvert (b.1884), writer Lillian Hellman (b. 1905), Errol Flynn, dashing actor (b. 1909), Gail Patrick, actress and executive producer of the Perry Mason television program (b. 1911), guitarist Chet Atkins (b. 1924), Medal of Honor recipient Audie Murphy (b. 1925), actor Martin Landau (b. 1928), John Waine, English bishop with an "i" and not a "y" (b. 1930), Michael's cousin, actress Olympia Dukakis (b. 1931), actor Danny Aiello (b. 1933), Beach Boy Brian Wilson (b.1942), songstress Anne Murray (b. 1945), This Old House host Bob Vila (b. 1946 -- my Uncle Walter had a "This Old House" tee-shirt that was his pride and joy). singer Lionel Ritchie (b. 1949), Indian author Vikram Seth (b. 1952), Elvis Cole and Joe Pike creator Robert Crais (b. 1953), and actress Nicole Kidman (b. 1967).

Those who died on this day include Carolingian emperor Louis the Pious (d. 830), mobster Bugsy Siegel (d. 1947), Nobel Prize winning chemist Kurt Alder (d. 1958), financier Bernard Baruch (c. 1965), actress Estelle Winward (d. 1984), author, editor, and personality Clifton Fadiman (d. 1999), Judy Agnew, wife of Spiro (d. 2012), artist LeRoi Neiman (d. 2012), and American rapper Prodigy (d. 2017).

Celebrating an anniversary today is Lizzie Borden, who may or may not have taken an axe; she was acquitted of murder on June 20, 1893.

Today is also Juneteenth, but not really because it was yesterday but is celebrated today as a federal holiday.  Today is also American Eagle Day, International Asteroid Day (to celebrate, learn to duck!), National Hike with a Geek Day (and, no, I'm not hiking with you!), National Ice Cream Soda Day, National Vanilla Milkshake Day, Plain Yogurt Day, Take Your Cat to Work Day, World Productivity Day, World Refugee Day, Toad Hollow Day of Thank You, West Virginia Day, Nystagmus Awareness Day,.Kouign Amann Day (yum!) and (I suppose if the Feds are after you) New Identity Day.

Today is part of Amateur Radio Week, Animal Rights Awareness Week, Carpenter Ant Awareness Week, Fish Are Friends, Not Food! Week, Learning Disabilities Week, National Forgiveness Week, National Hermit Week, National Insect Week, National Nursing Assistants Week. National Roller Coaster Week, Take Your Dog to Work Week (which may be interesting since today is Take Your cat to Work Day), Old Time Fiddlers Week, and Wobbly Week.  Although yesterday was also Father's Day, you can still celebrate Universal Father's Week.

Groan:   My therapist says I have a thing about vengeance.  We'll see about that.

Florida Man:

• Florida Man David Daniels, 37, now knows not to mess with a Florida church.  Daniels had followed, then chased, two young Florida girls after they left a restaurant in the FishHawk Ranch area of Tampa Bay.  Daniels reportedly hit one of the girls on the head before they rode their bikes to a nearby church and asked an adult for help.  Daniels entered the church, saying he was the father of the girls, and placed one in a headlock.  When one of the girls mouthed, "Please help me,  This is not my dad," the congregation sprang into action.  Davis is now being held on charges of child abuse and false imprisonment.
• Florida Man Richard Anthony Bonnell was arrested wearing a one-piece cow suit after Okeechobee Sheriff's deputies raid a drug house ;at Friday.  The other persons arrested were not wearing costumes.  Bonnell was charged with possession of ammunition by a convicted felon, among other charges.  The Okeechobee Sheriff's office posted that those who wish to sell drugs in their county should "consider MOOOOOO-ving."  Cute.
• Florida Woman Marion Hammer, 83, is retiring after 44 year's as the state's most influential gun lobbyist.  A fierce and tenacious defender of what she considers the Second Amendment, Hammer "successfully shepherded a host of measures that helped to earn Florida the "Gunshine State" moniker and made it a launching pad for gun-related laws that later took hold throughout the country."  She was the driving force behind the state's 2005 "stand your ground" law, as well as law allowing people to carry concealed weapons.  She strongly opposed laws that restricted gun use in the wake of the mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018.  As late as last Thursday she criticized "red flag" laws that are now being considered after the mass shootings in Uvalde and Buffalo.  Hammer, a former NRA president, will continue to advise the NRA.
• Florida Man who really, really wants to be President Ron DeSantis has reversed course on COVID-19 vaccines for children between the ages of six months and five years, allowing pediatricians and hospitals to order the vaccines directly from the federal government.  His press secretary denied the story saying that what is called a "reversal" is really the Governor's "steadfast position that the State of Florida does not recommend or distribute shots for babies.  Any healthcare provider that wants the vaccines can obtain them and any parent who wants it for their child can get it."  Florida is the only state not to preorder the vaccines for distribution by the state's health department.  DeSantis still insists that the vaccines are "not appropriate" for Florida's youngest residents, an opinion which many feel puts politics over children's lives.  ""But DeSantis, like his benefactor from Mar-a-Lago, believes he alone (and his true believer) has a copyright on knowledge."

Good News:

•  A Father's Day tip:  Spending quality time with Dad "helps young children do better at school."      https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/spending-quality-time-with-dad-helps-young-children-do-better-at-school/
• Teen hero dives into by to save a drowning woman from her sinking car     https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/teen-hero-dives-into-bay-to-save-drowning-woman-from-sinking-car/
• Houston has housed 25,000 homeless with apartments of their own       https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/houston-has-housed-25000-homeless-people-with-apartments-of-their-own/
• 101-year-old woman reunited with lost painting looted by the Nazis     https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/101-year-old-woman-is-amazed-after-being-reunited-with-her-lost-painting-looted-by-nazis/
• Sikh gas station owner sells gas ao fifty cents a gallon cheaper than what it costs to help customers      https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/sikh-gas-station-owner-sells-gas-50-cents-a-gallon-cheaper/
• Woman who was about to be evicted saved by neighbors who bought the home for her      https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/woman-about-to-be-evicted-was-saved-by-neighbors-who-bought-the-home-for-her/

Today's Poem:

Juneteenth

This time each year we now celebrate

          The conviction:  love can conquer hate

Yet while our journey has come so far

          A horizon, peaceful, still shines afar

My heart-of-hearts detests the fights

          But we MUST push on for equal rights

For all those souls thus hurt or lost

          Must not be ceded forsaken cost

Those voices cried in pain and strife

          Will inspire our own to abet free life

So as ONE race, of women and men

The message, timeless, now-to-then

Is that we'll strive with love, in hand

          'Til a time ALL hearts can understand

That heaven gave us this good earth

          To share as HUMANS, in equal worth

And from the sands of struggle, sift

          Grains of compassion ... our greatest gift.

-- Gregory Richard Barden