BITS & PIECES

Openers:   On the last day of her life, when she was two hundred and forty-seven years old, the blind poet, miracle worker, and prophetess Pampa Kampana completed her immense narrative poem about Bisnaga and burried it in a clay pot sealed with wax in the heart of the ruined Royal Enclosure, as a message to the future.  Four and a half centuris later we found that pot and read for the first time the immortal masterpiece Jayaparajaya, meaning "Victory and Defeat," written in the Sanskrit language, as long as the Ramayana, made up of twenty-four thousand verses, and we learned the secrets of the empire she had concealed from history for more than one hundred and sixty thousand days. We knew only the ruins that remained, and our memory of history was ruined as well, by the passage of time, the imperfections of memory, and the falsehoods of those who came after.  As we read Pampa Kampana's book, the past was regained, the Bisnaga Empire was reborn as it truly had been, its women warriors, its mountains of gold, its generosity of spirit and its mean-spiritedness, its weaknesses and its strengths.  We heard for the first time the full account of the kingdom that began and ended with a burning and a severed head.  This is that story, retold in plainer language by the present author, who is neither a scholar nor a poet but merely a spinner of yarns, and who offers this version for the simple entertainment and the possible edification of today's readers, the old and the young, the educated and the not so educated, those in search of wisdom and those amused by folly, northerners and southerners, followers of different gods and of no gods, the broad-minded and the narrow-minded, men and women and members of genders beyond and in between, scions of the nobilitiy and rank commoners, good people and rogues, charlatans and foreigners, humble sages, and egotistical fools.

-- Salman Rushdie, Victory City (2023)

From the jacket:  "In the wake of an unimportant battle between two long-forgotten kingdoms in fourteenth-centruy southern India, a nine-year-old girl has a divine encounter that will change the course of history,  After witnessing the death of her mother, the grief-stricken Pampa Kampana becomes a vessel for her namesake, the goddess Pampa, who begins to speak out of the girl's mouth.  Granting her powers beyond Pampa Kampana's comprehension, the goddess tells her that she will be instrumental in the rise of a great city called Bisnaga -- 'victory city' -- the wonder of the world."

Rushdie uses the form of an ancient epic to spin a tale of myth and adventure.

Salman Rushdie is one of the great authors of our time, the winner of the Booker Prize, the Whitbread Prize, the PEN/Allen Foundation Literary Service Award, the National Arts Award, the French Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger, the Eueopean Union's Aristeion Prize for Literature, the Budapast Grand Prize for Literature, and the Italian Premio Grinzane Cavour.  I have to confess that I have tried, and failed, to read his work before.  I just could not get into The Satanic Verses, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, or Midnight's Children, which is lokely more my fault than the author's.  Victory City, however, sounds to be just in my wheelhouse and I'm looking forward to giving it a rry.

Incoming:

• "K. J. Anderson" (Kevin J. Anderson), Captain Nemo.  Fictional biography.  "What if Nemo was a real man, whose actual life was more fantastic and adventurous than all the fictions he inspired?  Here is the epic tale of Andre Nemo, the man behind the myth.  The free-spirited and inventive son of a French shipbuilder, Nemo goes to sea as a cabin boy, faces marauding pirates and bloodthirsty sharks, is marooned for years on a mysterious island, battles prehistoric monsters long believed extinct, journeys to the center of the earth, balloons across Africa, escapes from Arab slavers, discovers the fabled city of Timbuktu, endures a plague of locusts, survives the Charge of the Light Brigade, attends to the wounded with Florence Nightingle, is pressed into service by the ruthless Robert the Conqueror, and, ultimately, wages war on War itself as the captain of his greatest creation:  the legendary underwater vessel known as the Nautilus.  Captain Nemo is also the story of Nemo's childhood friend, Jules Verne, who would bestow immortality on the captain's exploits, and of the remarkable woman they both loved to the very end."
• Isaac Asimov, Asimov's New Guide to Science.  Nonfiction.  First here was The Intelligent Man's Guide to Science (two volumes, 1960), which was well-received despite its sexist title.  But science had a habit of moving forward, so the book was revised and updated as The New Intelligent Man's Guide to Science (1965, still with a sexist title).  More science happened, and in 1972 came another revised version, Asimov's Guide to Science.  In 1984, Asimov published a further revised and expanded edition, Asimov's New Guide to Science.  Doorstop books all, covering both the physical and biological sciences for the general reader.
• Iain Banks (as opposed to his science fictional alter ego, Iain M. Banks), The Wasp Factory.  His first novel, selected in a British poll as one of the top 100 novels of the twentieth century.  "Meet Frank Cauldhame.  Just sixteen, and unconventional to say the least:  Two years after I killed Blyth I murdered my younger brother Paul, for quite different and fundamental reasons than I'd disposed of Blyth, and then a year after that I did for my young cousin Esmerelda, more of less on a whim.  That's my score to date.  Three.  I haven't killed anybody for years, and don't intend to ever again,  It was just a stage I was going through." 
• Robert Benchley, The Best of Robert Benchley.  Collection of 72 humorous pieces from one of the great wits of the twentieth century and as member of the famed Algonquin Round Table.
• James Daily, J.D. & Ryan Davidson, J.D., The Law of Superheroes.  Nonfiction, a look at the law as it might apply to comic book superheroes.  "Could Superman sue if someone exposed his identity as Clark Kent?  Is a life sentence for an immortal like Apocalypse 'cruel and unusual punishment?' Is X-ray vision a violation of search and seizure laws?  Is the Joker legally insane?  And who foots the bill when a hero destroys a skyscraper or two while defending Metropolis? [...] from alternate universes and copyright laws to shape-shifters and witness testimony to conracts with the Devil, The Law of Superheroes is a must-read for legal experts, true believers, and anyone who is ever called upon to practice in the comic multiverse."
• Peter Dickinson, The Lively Dead.  Mystery novel.  "When a mysterious corpse is discovered in the recntly designed garden in her London townhouse, Lydia Timms finds herself propelled into an ever-widening net of blackmail, espionage, and, perhaps, murder."  Dickinson was a unique and talented writer in the mystery field, and elsewhere.
• "Robert M. Drake" (Robert Macias), Beautiful & Damned.  Collection of stories and poems.  A pig-in-a-poke purchase; I had never heard of the guy.  Evidently he is a poet, novelist, and visual artist who found success by posting on Instagram, where he had (has?) a million followers.  According one critic, his "poems seem like those of a very young and immature fellow who is trying to think  hard about life.  It's Hallmark card level.  Only really, really depressed Hallmark cards."  **sigh**
• Erle Stanley Gardner, The D.A. Breaks an Egg, The D.A. Breaks a Seal, The D.A. Cooks a Goose, and The D.A. Goes to Trial.  Doug Selby mysteries.
• Christopher Golden & Tim Lebbon, Blood of the Four.  Fantasy novel.  "In the great kingdom of Quandis, everyone is a slave.  Some are slaves to the gods.  Most are slaves to everyone else.  Blessed by the gods with lives of comfort and splendor, the royal elite routinely perform their duties, yet some chafe at their role.  A young woman of stunning ambition, Princess Phela refuses to allow a few obstacles -- including her mother the queen and her brother the heir apparent -- stand in the way of claiming ultimate power and glory for herself.  Far below the royals are the Bajumen.  Poor and oppressed, members of this wretched caste have two paths out of servitude:  the priesthood...or death.  Because magic has been kept at bay in Quandis, royals and Bajumen have lived together in an uneasy peace for centuries,  But Princess Phela's desire for power will disrupt the realm's order, setting into motion a series of events that will end with her becoming a goddess in her own right...ultimately destroying Quandis and its inhabitants."
• Elly Griffths, The House at Sea's End.  A Ruth Galloway mystery.  "Just back from maternity leave, forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway is struggling to juggle motherhood and work when she is called in to investigate human bones that have surfaced on a remote 'Norfolk beach.  The presence of DCI Harry Nelson, the married father of her daughter, does not help.  The bones, six men with their arms bound, date back to World War II, a desperate time in this stretch of coastline.  As Ruth and Nelson investigate, Home Guard veteran Archie Whitcliffe reveals a secret the old soldiers had vowed to protect with their lives.  But then Archie is killed and a German journalist arrives, asking questions about Operation Lucifer, a plan to stop a German invasion, and a possible British war crime.  What was Operation Luifer?  And who is prepared to kill to keep its secret?"
• Carolyn Guest, A Southern Mansion Mystery 4.  Self-published mystery in a series of novellas focusing on various Southern mansions, this time Nottoway Plantation in White Castle, Lousiiana.  "It was possible that Catherine and Mary Lou had been twirled around the dance floor in the arms of the fiend who had killed the woman.  Their nerves now lay shattered like shards of glass on that white floor now stained with crimson.  Suddenly the door which was behind her slammed shut with a loud bang.  Then to make matters worse the light went out and she was left in total darkness.  She began to pray.  It was her only hope.  Her life began to flash before her eyes as she huddled near the door.  If Thibodeau says that she is late then something is definitely wrong!"  [Huh?} The author (1941-2019) lived one town over from me, which may explain why so many of her books (there are at least seven in the series) are widely available in local thrift stores -- all signed by her.   Recipes are included in each of the books; this book includes four from Daniel Thompson, Executive Chef at Nottoway Plantation.
• Anthony Horowitz, Forever and a Day.  Authorized James Bond novel.   "The sea keeps its secrets, but not this time.  One body.  Three bullets.  007 floats in the waters of Marseilles.  It's time for a new agent to step up.  Time for a new weapon in  the war against organized crime.  It's time for James Bond to earn his license to kill.  This is the story of the birth of a legend, in the brutal underworld of the French Riviera...M laid down his pipe and stared at it tetchily.  'We have no choice.  We're just going to bring forward this other chap you've been preparing...But uou you didn't tell ne his name.'  'It's Bond, sir,' the chief of staff replied. 'James Bond.' "  Horowitz includes some orignal material by Ian Fleming.
• Diane Johnson, Dashiell Hammett: A Life.  Biography, written with the cooperation of Lillian Hellma.
• "Anna Kavan" (Helen Woods Ferguson Edmonds), Ice.  Literary slipstream novel.  ""In a stark and surreal landscape an unnamed narrator competes with a man known as'the warden' in an obsessive search to fins and control an elusive, sylph-like being with albino hair called 'the girl.'  Their sadistic pursuit of this strange and fragile young woman is set against an apocalypotical background of global violence, with the planet faving environmental catastrophe inb the form of ever-encrouching ice."  A classic of modern literature from an author who had a very troubled life -- suicidal, suffering from mental illness, schizophrenia,  a painful spinal disease, and drug addiction, she adopted the Kavan name and persona after one release from a mental hospital.  
• Laurie R. King & Leslie S. Klinger, editors,  Echoes of Sherlock Holmes.  Mystery anthology with 17 stories inspired by the Homes canon.  Authors include Tasha Alexander, Jon Connolly, Deborah Crombie, Cory Doctorow, Hallie Ephron, Meg Gardiner, William Kent Kruger, Jonathan Maberry, Catriona McPherson, Denise Mina, David Morrell, Anne Perry, Gary Phillip, and Hank Phillipi Ryan.  A pretty imporessive lineup.
• Don Maquis, The Annotated Archy and Mehitabel.  Collection of pieces about everybody's favorite cockroach and his reincarnated cat friend, edited with notes by Michael Sims, and presented in their original order of publication from 1916 to 1922.   As with the Benchley book above, I am afraid that some authors have fallen into a near forgotten status.  
• Phil Stanford, Portland Cofidential:  Sex, crime, and Corruption in the Rose City.  Non fiction.  This is Portland, Oregon, and the author os a columnist for the Portland Tribune.  Striptease.  Drug Pushers.  Pinball.  Payoffs.  Prostitution.  Racketeering -- who knew?  Heavily illustrated.
• Rex Stout, Double for Death.   A Tecumseh Fox mystery.
• Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country. An "assemblage of mini-memoirs," edited by Daniel Simon.
• R. A. J. Walling, The Corpse with the Blistered Hand.  A Philip Tolefree mystery from the British Golden Age of Mystery writer, first published in England as Dust in the Vault.  Tolefree started out as a private agent in non-criminal insurance matters, but soon finds himself involved in murder cases.  "A stranger meets a fellow-conspirator in the moonlight...people get to talking again about the legendary Prior's Hoard of gold (every abbey in England has one, so nobody believed the tale)...a map is discovered in an ancient Boethius...'Curiouser and curiouser,' comments Tolefree...and then swift, terrible murder..."  (Boethius, circa 480-524 AD,  was a Roman historian, philosopher, and translator of Greek classics.)
• Leonard Wibberly, The Mouse on Wall Street,  The Duchy of Grand Fenwick rides again!  This time too much money is plaguing the tiny kingdom.  After its victorious war against the United State, the duchy had placed manufacturng rights for its Grand OPinot chewing gum with and American company.  Now the anti-smoking forces seem to be getting the upper hand and sales of the gum are soaring.  Grand fenwick receives a check for one m illion dollars -- its 40 % share of the first annual profit.  Surely nothing good can come from those uinneeded dollars into the tidy economy of Grand Fenwick (15 square mjies, 5000 souls).  The following year, the check is for ten million dollars.  Something needs to be done to preserve the duchy.  Glriana XII comes upo with a brilliant idea to get rid of the unwanted money -- she''ll invest it in Wall Street.  Clsing her eyes, she jabs a pin at the financial section of the newspaper, figuring that will be the easiest way to lose the funds.  "Suffice it to say here that mergers merge, conglomerates conglomerate, and in due course the m oney markets of the world begin to wobble.  For what if Grand fenwick should liquidate its billions -- yes, they're billions by now -- of American assets and demand payment in gold?"  Has there ever been such a delightful place in literature than Grand Fenwick?

Scary Moms:  Since I live in Santa Rosa County and one of my grandchildren still goes to school there, this news item hit close to home:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/organization-calls-for-the-removal-of-65-books-from-santa-rosa-county-district-schools/ar-AA1bEqKu?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=f0316cb5d7ac49dc811a0bcbc91a4231&ei=84

If you read the artricle, you'll find a list of the 65 books at the end.  You may, like me, end uip scratching your head.

Just who are "Moms for Liberty?"  Here's what Wikipedia has to say:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moms_for_Liberty

As an aside, the NAACP and at least on majot LBGTQ group have issued "travel advisories" for the state of Florida.  In response, Florida senator and former governor Rick Scott issued his own travel advisory against socialists coming to Florida; according to Scott, they are not welcome.  (As CEO of hospital company Columbia/HCA, Scott "oversaw the largest Medicare fraud" in U.S. history, a claim PolitiFact rules was "mostly true.")

Ed Ames (1927-2023):

"Mary in the Morning"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTex0BxVEbs

And "The Daniel Boone Song"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqDfDcv3eQ8

"Try to Remember"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5wth6xrwbo

Tina Turner (1939-2023):

"Riuver Deep, Mountain High"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9Lehkou2Do

"Proud Mary"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOcY4nHd9gM

"What's Love Got to Do with It"

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

A Literary Joke:  Charles Dickens walks into a bar and orders a martini.  The Bartender asks, "Oliver Twist?"

The Clutching Hand (Well, Part of It):  Here's Chapter 14, "The Silent Spectre," of the fifteen-part serial featuring Jack Mulhall as Arthur B. Reeves famous "scientific detective" Craig Kennedy, with Rex Leae, Mae Busch, and Ruth Mix.  Look closely and you'll also see famoujs movie stuntman and actor Yakima Canutt.  Craig Kennedy is called in to find a scientist and his missing formula for creting synthetic gold.  If you are interested, there are links to all fifteen chapters of this 1938 cliffhanger serial.

https://archive.org/details/clutching_hand_ep14

Istanbul was Constantinople:  570 years ago today, the Byzantine Empiure came to an end after 1223 years.  The Byzantine empire, or Eastern Roman Empire, was an extention of the Roman Empire; its beginning were marked by the capitol city moving from Rome to Constantinople by the Emperor Constantine.  The Western Roman Empire continued oinly to the Fifth century.  The terms "Byzantine Empire" and "Eastern Rpman Emp[ire" did not come into begin until late in its history; its citizens called themselves Romans and considered their empire the Roman Empire.  During most of its history, the Byzantine Empire wqs the most powerful economic, cultural and military force in Europe.

Constantine I (c. 272-337) was emperor from 306 until his death.  He became sole ruler of the Roman Empire by 324, after defeating the Emperors Maxentius and Lucinius in a civil war.  He was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, he had begun to favor the new religion in 312.  He played a major role in issuing the Edict of Milan in 313, which proclaimed tolerance for Christians.  In 325, he convened the First Council of Nicea, which produced the Nicean Creed.  Constantine's rule marked the turning point from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages.  He built an imperial palace in Byzantium, renamed it New Rome, then named it Constantinople after himself.

As emperor, Constantine restructured the government, separating it into military and civil authorities.  The army itself was reorganized to better enable it to respond to threats and to fight against tribes on the frontiers, resulting in regaining territories lost by his predecessors.  He introduce a new coin, the solidus, which became the standard for Byzantine and European currencies for more than a millennium.  Constantine's role and motivations in his empire have been questioned by scholars, both pro and con.

The Byzantine Empire went through periodic declines and resurgances over its long history, reaching its greatest extent during the reign of Justinian I, following the fall of the Western Empire.  During the early Muslim conquests of the 7th Century, the empire lost Egypt, Syria, and Africa.  The empire expanded again during the Macedonian dynasty in the Ninth to Eleventh Centiries.  In 1204, Christian conquerors sacked Comstaninople, which was regained nearly six decades later, but the empire was merely a shadow of itself.  For its last two centuries the Byzantine Empire was only one of several small states in the area -- most of its former territory had been gobbled up by wars with the Ottomans.  

On May 29, 1453, the Ottoman army under the leadership of 21-year-old Sultan Mehmed II outnumbered the Byzantine forces of Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos after a 53-day seige and swept the city.  Following the conquoring of Constantinople, Mehmet made the city the new capitol of the Ottoman Empire.  For all intents and purposes, the Byzantine Empire and the Roman Empire were dead, marking the end of the Medieval period and the beginning of a new era in military history, in which the use of gunpowder changed the face of seige warfare.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wcze7EGorOk

"Ain't I a Woman?":  On this day in 1881, Soujourner Truth delivered this landmark speech to the Woman's Convention in Akron. Ohio.  She nailed it.

https://thehermitage.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Sojourner-Truth_Aint-I-a-Woman_1851.pdf

Birthday Greetings:  Among those who have a birthday today are Victor, Duke of Munsterberg (1443-1500), Reichsgraf, Duke of Munsterberg and Opava, Count of Glatz, he was important in his day, not so much now; Virginia de' Medici (1568-1615), Italian princess and illegitimate daughter of Cosimo I de' Medici, as Regent of the Duchy of Moderna and Reggio she was able to protect the autonomy of Moderna durng attacks in 1601, never truly stable, her husband's many infidelities sent her off the deep end and she suffered from mental illness until her death; Charles II of England (1630-1685), King of Scotland from 1549-1551 and, after the Reformation, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 1560-1585, of him, John  Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, wrote "We have a pretty, witty king,/Whose word no man relies on,/He never said a foolish thing,And never did a wise one,";  Patrick Henry (1736-1799), the "Give me liberty or give me death!" guy; John H. Balsley (1823-1896), carpenter and inventor of the folding stepladder; G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936), writer, essayist, poet, and Christian apologist, creator of Father Brown, and model for John Dickson Carr's Dr. Gideon Fell; Oswald Spengler (1880-1936), polymath, author of The Decline of the West; Frederick Schiller Faust, perhaps better known as "Max Brand" (1892-1944). prolific writer of westerns, historicals, and romances, he wrote a gazillion weserns which are still being published, as well as the Dr. Kildare series; Beatrice Lillie (1894-1989), actress and singer, sometimes touted as "The Funniest Woman in the World"; Josef von Sternberg (1894-1969), Austrian-American filmmaker (The Blue Angel, The Devil Is a Woman, Duel in the Sun); Bob Hope (1903-2003), ski-nosed comedian, actor, and noted USO entertainer; T. H. White (1906-1964), author of The Once and Future King; Tony Zale (1913-1997), boxer and multiple World Middleweight titleist with an overall record of 67-18-2; Tenzing Norgay (1914-1986) Nepalese sherpa and mountaineer who was with Edmund Hillary when they climbed Mount Everest in 1953 (today also happens to be International Mount Everest Day); John F. Kennedy (1917-1963), American president; Norman Hetherington (1921-2010), Australian cartoonist and puppeteer, creator of Mr. Squiggle, who was the main character on an Australian television show for forty years; Eugene Wright (1923-2020), American jazz bassist and member of the Dave Brubeck Quartet; Lars Bo (1924-1999), Danish artist (you can see some of his work here:  https://web.archive.org/web/20060516200116/http://www.gerly.dk/Lars_Bo_billeder.htm); Peter Higgs (b. 1929), English theoretical physicist and Noble Prize winner for his work on subatomic paticles, he predicted the existence of a new particle, the Higgs boson; Paul R. Ehlich (b. 1932), biologist and co-author of The Population Bomb; Sylvia Robinson (1935-2011), singer, one-half of Mickey & Sylvia ("Love Is Strange"), she also produced the Joe Johnson record "You Talk Too Much"; Fay Vincent (b. 1938), former Commissioner of Major League Baseball, 1989-1992; Pete Smith (b. 1939), Australian radio and television announcer; Al Unser (1939-2021), race car driver, member of a famous racing family, and the second of four men to have won the Indianapolis 500 four times, Taiho Koki (1940-2013), Japanese sumo wrestler, the 48th yokozuna (the highest ranking in sumo); Bob Simon (1941-2015), CBS News television correspondent who covered 67 countries during his career, he won 27 Emmy awards for journalism; Kevin Conway (1942-2020), actor, he was the control voice on The Outer Limits for 152 episodes, 1995-2002; Gary Brooker (1945-2002), singer-songwriter, founder and lead singer for Procol Harum; Joyce Tenneson (b. 1945) American photographer, known for her nude and semi-nude portraits of women; Anthony Geary (b. 1947), actor best known as Luke Spencer of Luke and Laura from the soap opera General Hospital, winner of eight Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series; Rebbie Jackson (b. 1950), singer and eldest child in the Jackson family; Danny Elfman (b. 1953) singer-songwriter and noted film composer, he wrote the theme nusic for The Simpsons; John Hinckley, Jr. (b. 1955), Jodie Foster fan and attempted assassin of Ronald Reagan, he was granted unconditional release on June 15, 1922, following the assassinatin attempt the producers of the television show The Greatest American Hero changed the name of the lead character from Ralph Hinckley to Ralph Hanley; La Toya Jackson (b. 1956), sister of Rebbie (see above); Mohson Makhmalbaf (b. 1957), Iranian film director of more than 20 feature films, including Kandahar; Annette Being (b. 1958), actress (The Grifters, The American President, Love Affair), she's married to Warren Beatty, who appears smitten with her; Rupert Everett (b. 1959), English actor, producer, director, and novelist; Melissa Etheridge (b. 1961), Grammy Award-winning singer; Zhu Jianhua (b. 1963), retired Chinese high jumper, his personal best (2.39 meters) is a former world record and remains the current Chinese record, he won a Silver Medal in the 1960 Rome Olympics; Noel Gallagher (b. 1967), one-time lead guitarist and co-lead vocalist of Oasis; Steven Levitt (b. 1967), American economist and co-author of Freakonomics; Hida Viloria (b. 1968), an intersex, nonbinary, gender nonconforming Latine American activist who uses the they/them pronouns, they are (is?) the Founding Director of the Intersex Campaign for Equality; Laverne Cox (b. 1972), award-winning transgender American actress and LBGT advocate. she first rose to prominence playing Sophia on Orange is the New Black; Steve Cardenas (b. 1974), martial artist and actor, he played the 2nd Red Ranger on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and the Blue Zeo Ranger on Power Rangers Zeo; Aaron McGruder (b. 1974), creator of the comic strip The Boondocks; Mel B. (b. 1975), one-time Scary Spice, and (later) television personality and talent show judge; Sarah Millican (b. 1975), English comedian, "My New Year's resolution is to get in shape.  I choose round."; Daniel Tosh (b. 1975), television host and comedian, from 2009 to 2020 he hosted the Comedy central series Tosh.0;  Lorenzo Odone (1978-2008), whose parents developed a controverial treatment for his adrenoleukodystropjia, a fatal illness, which became the basis of the film Lorenzo's Oil; Riley Keough (b. 1989), actress and granddaughter of Elvis; Erica Garner (1990-2017), advocate for police reform following the murder of her father Eric Garner after a New Tork City police officer placed him in a lethal chokehold, Garner believed that her father's death had more to do with police conduct than race, following the birth of a son she had a heart attack and was found to have an enlarged heart, a second heart attack in December placed her in a coma and she was diagnosed with "major bran damage," she died a week later; Park Ji-hoon (b. 1999), South Korean singer and actor, one-time member of the boy band Wanna One, he was known as the "wink boy," Park adopted the catchphrase, "save you in my heart," since then his solo singing (7 EPs) and acting career have garnered praise (his first movie is scheduled to be released this year).

Florida Man:

• Florida Woman Daily Salinas has been identified as the woman behind efforts to ban a number of literary works from the elementary school in Miami L:akes where her two children attend, including youth poet ;laureate Amanda Gorman's poem "The Hill We Climb," which Gorman read at President Biden's inauguration.  It was revealed that Salinas had attended protests by The Proud Boys and Mom for Liberty (which see, above), although she has stated she does not belong to either group.  She has also been linked to County Citizens Defending Freedom USA, a far-right Christian Nationalist organization.  She has published anti-Semetic remarks on social media, citing the fabricated anti-Semetic screed The Protocol of the Elders of Zion.  Salinas admitted to posting the remarks, but said that anti-Semitism was not her purpose.  Some of her friends were Jewish, she said.  Among the other works she managed to get banned were The ABCs of Black History, poems by Langston Hughes, and books on Cuba -- all of which she criticized for "indirect hate messages," critical race theory, and gender indoctrination.  Salinas also admitted that she had only read snippets of the books she insisted be banned.  "I'm not a reader.  I'm not a book p[erson.  I'm a mom involved with my children's education."
• Florida Man and Santa County Commissioner James Calkins wears his political affiliation proudly, refusing to vote for a registered Democrat for a volunteer position on the county's Marine Advisory Committee.  He said that he would only vote for Sheila Alford, owner of Avalon Aquiculture, if she would change her party affliation   "I will not vote for a Democrat to be appointed to any board in Santa Rosa County, we have a lot of Republicans in this county, that are qualified to serve in this position," he said.  The remaining commissioners did not agree, and Alford was appointed on a 4-1 vote.  Earlier this year, when a prescribed burn got out of control, Calkins accused former Florida Department of Agriculture sectreart Nikki Fied and the Democratic party of "trying to burn out county down."  One year ago, a video surfaced showing Calkins and his Russian-born wife Mariya attending a New Year's Eve party in Ruissia, singing the Russian national anthem, and hobnobbing with Vladimir Putin.   "I love Russia," Calkins said. One hour after the Janaury 6, 2021 insurrectionj in Washingon, Calkin posted on Facebook, "Proud of our boys.  Stop the steal."  (Calkins blamed antifa.)  In a 2020 election video, Calkins called out looters:  "If you loot, we shoot."  Calkins has also endorsed arming county teachers  inside classrooms.  Calkins was the only Santa Rosa County commission to "enthusiastically" support renaming a county causeway the "Donald J. Trump Causeway," saying that a lot of people in the county voted for Trump [Trump got 72% of the vote] and that it was a "fantastic idea."  One resident supporting the idea said it establish ourselves as being the destionation for conservative persons and patriots."
• Neatness counts, evidently, for Florida Man Anthony Michael Corrado of Naples, who allegedly beat his grandmother to death with a hammer and severely i njured his grandfather.  Police say they arrested the blood-soaked 34-year-old after he had asked his housekeeper to clean up the crime scene.  Corrado has a lengthy record of arrests for possession of amphetamines and heroin, a hit-and-run incident, and for parole violations.  The grandparents had taken out a restraining oder against him.
• What does the well-dressed Florida Man wear?  For 32-year-old Omar Gutierrez the answer is cat pajamas, or, perhaps, a cat onesie.  That's what he was wearing when Aluchua County deputies arrested for attempted murder after he stabbed his roommate in the neck.  Gutierrez is being held on a one million dollar bond.
• When you are in Florida, placement means a lot.  For Florida Man  John Riddle, 58, of Hollywood, this means being careful where you sit.  Riddle found a hissing iguana in his towlet bowl   A self-confessed not-a-fan of reptiles Riddle admitted he was scared by the grumpy critter. Worse yet, he was unsure of how to get rid of the iguana.  Riddle put up a baby gate to keep the iguana in the bathroom.  After an hour of trying to working up the courage to get the reptile out of his house, the iguana climbed out of the bowl and hid behind the toilet, and Riddle was able to use a strainer to shoo the angry beast out of his house.  There are three types of iguana in Florida, al of them invasive species.  The green iguana can grow to a length of five feet.  Iguanas do not like the cold and you may remember stories of frozen iguanas falling out of trees during a cold snap in Florida this past winter.
• A 72-year-old unidentified Florida Man lost the lower part of his right leg when he was attcked by an alligator in Brevard County RV park.  The alligator was later spotted with the man's foot hanging from its mouth.  Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission officers and Brevard County deputies track the alligator and choot it, capturing the incident on video; out of repsect to the victim, they did not release the portion of the video which showed the foot hanging from the alligator's mouth.  Florideans have a one-in-3.1 million chance of being injured in an unprovoked alligator attack.  Today happens to be National Alligator Day.
• In a related story, Florida Man Jordan Rivera, 23, had his armed ripped off by a ten-and-a-half foot alligator.  Rivera had been in a Fort Meyers bar, and was peeing in a nearby pond because the line in the bar was too long, he said.  He woke up armless in the intensive care unit of the Fort Meyers Hospital.  "I looked over and I saw my arm the way it was -- and I was like, 'Whoa.' "  A regular at the bar, Manny Hildago -- who takes his cat, Mr. Tom, bar-hopping with him -- had rushed over to pull Rivera to safety.
• 72-year-old Florida Man Paul Zittel of Ocala was arrested child pornography charges after police found over one ton of explicit printed material -- more than 220,000 printed images -- in his home.  Police had obtained a search warrant after receiving a tip that Zittel had uploaded multiple files of child pornography to the internet.  Eech!

Various Holidays:  I've scattered some of today's holidays throughtout this post, but I do want to mention that today is also National Paper Clip Day, National Coq au Vin Day, National Biscuit (meaning cookies, not biscuits) Day, and Put a Pillow in Your Fridge Day.

Some of the Good Stuff:

• Woman overcomes homelessness, then wins 5 million dollars        https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/woman-overcomes-homelessness-and-then-wins-5-million-lottery/
• Microbes that digest plastics at low tempertures are discovered in the Alps and in the Arctic       https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/microbes-that-digest-plastic-at-low-temps-are-discovered-in-the-alps-and-the-arctic/
• After 4-year search for a mate, endangered lemur gives birth to adorable pup      https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/after-4-year-search-for-a-mate-endangered-lemur-gives-birth-to-adorable-pup/
• Anti-poaching helicopter attemps daring rescue inches above a swirling flood        https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/anti-poaching-helicopter-attempts-daring-river-rescue-inches-above-swirling-floodwaters/
• Lights turned off at the Gatway Arch every night to assist in bird migration for 325 species        https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/lights-turned-off-at-the-gateway-arch-every-night-2023/
• Grandson accompanies 93-year-old grandma to visit all 63 National Parks      https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/grandson-accompanies-his-93-year-old-grandma-to-visit-all-63-national-parks-the-greatest-privilege-of-my-life/
• 13 years after losing both legs in Afghanistan, veteran scales Mt. Everest for a world record      https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/13-years-after-losing-both-legs-in-afghanistan-veteran-summits-everest-establishing-world-record/
• Big white dogs save the world's smallest penguin in Australia     https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/big-white-dogs-save-the-worlds-smallest-penguin-in-australia/

Today's Poem:  Memorial Day began in 1868 as Decoration Day.  It is an occasion to honor and remember those who lost their lives while serving the United States of America.  We must never forget their sacrifice.  May their deaths never be in vain.

Vigil Strange I Kept On the Field One Night

Vigil strange I kept on the field one night;

When you my son and my comradedropt at my side that day,

One look I but gave which your dear eyes return'd with a look I shall never forget,

One touch of your hand to mine O boy. reach'd up as you lay on the ground,

Then onward I sped in the battle, the even-contested battle,

Till late at night reliev'd to the place at last again I made my way,

Found you in death so cold dear comrade, found your body son of

responding kisses (never again on earth responding,)

Bared your face in the starlight, curious the scene, cool blew the moderate night-wind,

Long there and tehn in vigil I stood, dimly around me the battle field spreading,

Vigil wondrous and vigil sweet there in the fragrant silent night,

But not a tear fell, not even a long-drawn sigh, long, long I gazed,

Then on the earth partiually reclining sat by your side leaning my chin in my hands,

Passing sweet hours, immortal and mystic hours with you dearest comrade

-- not a tear, not a word,

Vigil of silence, love and death, vigil for you my son and my soldier,

As onward silently stars aloft, eastward new ones upward stole,

Vigil final for you brave boy, (I could not save you, swift was your death,

I faithfully loved and cared for you living, I think we shall surely meet again,)

Till at latest ligering of the night, indeed just as the dawn appear'd,

My comrade I wrapped in his blanket, envelop'd well his form,

Folded the blanket well, tucking it carefully over head and carefully under feet,

And there and then bathed by the rising sun, my son in his grave,

in his rude-dug grave I deposited,

Ending my vigil strange with that, vigil of night and battle-field dim,

Vigil for boy of responding kisses (never again on earth responding,)

Vigil for comrade swiftly slain, vigil I never forget, how as day brighten'd,

I rose from the chill ground and folded my soldier well in his blamket,

And buried him where he fell.

-- Walt Whitman

envoi:  My go-to song on such a day as this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3Fb8n31uRE