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Obituaries
(09-24-2022, 09:52 AM)Eric the Green Wrote:
(09-24-2022, 09:22 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: "Nurse Ratched" (Louise Fletcher) can no longer dispense meds to inmates at the "Cuckoo's Nest".

She was mean in that movie. But on Perry Mason she played two very pleasant innocent clients.

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

Actors often play characters very dissimilar to themselves. If you were cast for a Western and you were not a "pretty boy", you were likely to play an outlaw. Were I a screen actor I would likely be cast often as a Nazi because I look the part even if my cultural and political values are decidedly anti-Nazi. Had my type been available or a Perry Mason drama, I would be the sort of witness who set up the frame job, lies on the stand on behalf of the prosecutor and goes into a rage as Perry Mason ripped my character as soon as I got tripped up in a lie while his client behaves himself or herself. Young, I had the sort of hair that women would kill for and would be a 'pretty boy' in a Western, but once I grayed I would be the corrupt businessman and then the more ambiguous bad guy. I'd need a brogue to play an Irish gangster (the only sort of gangster that I could resemble), but I would do it.  

Figure that most actors are literate people well refined in education, and they often play illiterate characters if in the Wild West. Illiteracy was commonplace in the Old West, and just about anyone with unskilled or marginally-skilled work such as a miner or cow-hand was likely illiterate or nearly so. The attorneys, bankers, physicians, schoolteachers, newspapermen, lawmen, and surveyors (there had to be lots of those to determine who where the property lines would be) were literate.  Reality is that if one wasn't in a job requiring literacy, one probably lacked it. Pretending otherwise would be foolish.        

Quote:Sad to hear about that reporter Mr. German. I guess I heard about this on the news. Some people like to put down journalists today. We need them, as you say. The "MSM" is frequently attacked by those who prefer made-up stories to the truth. A shame for a murder like this to happen in our country.

I hate people who do violence toward news reporters or camera crews.  Some who have gotten sentenced for the Capitol Putsch were those who attacked reporters and camera crews. Somehow I think the First Amendment, and not the Second, makes the other enumerated rights meaningful. I'm not saying that journalists are saints, but they deserve our respect when they do their jobs and meet foul play. 

The alternative to a free press is not so much propaganda but instead rumors that nobody can either confirm or deny.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist  but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.


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Good riddance, and roast in Hell! Reagan did right with this usurper and would-be tyrant.


Hudson Austin (26 April 1938 – 24 September 2022)[1] was a general in the People's Revolutionary Army of Grenada. After the killing of Maurice Bishop, he formed a military government with himself as chairman to rule Grenada.


Hudson Austin was a member of the New Jewel Movement in Grenada. He was an early member of the military wing of the party and received military training in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago along with eleven other Grenadians, sometimes referred to as "the twelve apostles". Austin was unique in this group as he also received training in the Soviet Union.[2] He participated in the 1979 revolution which established the People's Revolutionary Government with Maurice Bishop at its head. After the revolution, Austin was in charge of the military forces of Grenada.

In October 1983, factional political issues intensified within the government, most notably Bishop's alleged favoring of rapprochement clashing with Austin's wish for affiliation with the Soviet Union.[3] These conflicts led deputy prime minister Bernard Coard to place Maurice Bishop under house arrest and to take control of the government. Austin supported the action. Conflicts between Austin and Bishop were established early on in the 1979 coup with Austin's wanting to eliminate as many members of the opposition as possible conflicting with Bishop's wish for a bloodless coup.[4] Popular demonstrations afterwards broke out against the detention of Bishop. In the course of one demonstration, Bishop was freed from house arrest. Bishop was eventually executed by army soldiers.[5] Throughout the conflict, Yuri Andropov continued to provide arms to Grenada and did nothing to aid Bishop throughout this ordeal. It has been suggested that Austin and Coard were at least passively supported by the Soviet Union in their ousting of Bishop.[6]

After the execution of Bishop, Austin disbanded the existing government and formed a military council with himself as chairman that would rule "until normality is restored." He made a radio announcement in which he claimed Bishop had led a mob to seize Fort Rupert, headquarters of the armed forces, with the intention of eliminating the NJM leadership and the army. As a result, Austin said, "the Revolutionary Armed Forces were forced to storm the fort, and in the process, the following persons were killed: Maurice Bishop, Unison Whiteman, Keith Hayling, Vincent Noel, Jacqueline Creft, Norris Bain and Fitzroy Bain among others." He then announced a four-day total curfew, warning the people, "No one is to leave their house. Anyone violating this curfew will be shot on sight."[7]

The military government lasted for six days, until the United States invaded Grenada on 25 October 1983. Austin was arrested, along with all of those in the government and army who were alleged to have either participated in the decision to kill Bishop or were in the army chain of command that carried out the orders. He was sentenced to death along with Coard and the other coup leaders in 1986, but in 1991 their sentences were commuted to life in prison.

In mitigation pleas made in 2007, while he sought to be released from prison he made no attempt to deny his responsibility for what happened in 1983. In the plea it was said that he "understand(s) the need to satisfy action for loss and suffering and the trauma of the Grenadian people."[8]
Austin was released from prison on 18 December 2008, together with Colville McBarnett and John Ventour.[9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson_Austin
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist  but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.


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Darrell E. Mudra Sr. (January 4, 1929 – September 21, 2022), nicknamed "Dr. Victory", was an American football coach. He served as the head football coach at Adams State College (1959–1962), North Dakota State University (1963–1965), the University of Arizona (1967–1968), Western Illinois University (1969–1973), Florida State University (1974–1975), Eastern Illinois University (1978–1982), and the University of Northern Iowa (1983–1987), compiling a career college football record of 200–81–4. Mudra was also the head coach of the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL) for one season in 1966. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 2000.

More at Wikipedia
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist  but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.


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A traitor meets his end:

Oleksiy Valeriyovych Zhuravko (UkrainianОлексій Валерійович ЖуравкоRussianАлексей Валерьевич Журавко; 21 April 1974 – 25 September 2022) was a Ukrainian and Russian politician who was a member of Ukraine's national parliament Verkhovna Rada from 2006 to 2012.[1] He was a member of the pro-Russian Party of Regions since 2006.[1] Zhuravko moved to Russia in 2015.[1] He acquired Russian citizenship and joined the United Russia party in July 2022.[2] He died in September 2022 in a missile attack in Kherson during the Ukrainian southern counteroffensive.[1]

Zhuravko failed to be elected in the 2002 Ukrainian parliamentary election as a candidate of For United Ukraine! in Kherson Oblast's electoral district 183.[4]


In 2004, Zhuravko became chairman or the Union of Public Organizations "Confederation of Public Organizations of Disabled People of Ukraine."[5] Zhuravko was awarded the Ukrainian Order of Merit twice.[3] Third Class in 2000 and Second Class in 2004.[3] In the 2006 and 2007 parliamentary election Zhuravko was elected to the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's national parliament) for the Party of Regions.[4] In 2006, he was placed 118th on the party list and the following year he dropped 22 places.[3]


In the 2012 parliamentary election, Zhuravko again failed to be elected; this time as a Party of Regions candidate in electoral district 186 (also located in Kherson Oblast).[4][6] On 17 April 2013, Zhuravko was appointed Government Commissioner for the Rights of the Disabled.[5] This position was abolished on 5 March 2014.[5]

Zhuravko moved to Russia in 2015.[1] On 21 February 2015, he attended an anti-Euromaidan rally/commemoration in Moscow.[7] In October 2015, Zhuravko was reportedly "hiding from Ukrainian authorities" and openly supporting separatism.[8] In December 2015, Zhuravko was deprived of the title of honorary citizen of Tsiurupynsk.[9] In January 2018, a pre-trial investigation was started into his alleged financing of the Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic quasi-states proclaimed within the territory of Ukraine.[10]


Zhuravko acquired Russian citizenship and joined the United Russia party in July 2022.[2] Following the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, he returned to Russian occupied Kherson in late April of 2022.[11] On 22 September 2022, Zhuravko published a video in which he cast his vote in Kherson at the 2022 annexation referendums.[4] He stated that the Kherson Oblast's (Russian) occupation was the region's "liberation from Ukrainian nationalists."[4] Zhuravko called on Russia "to complete the special operation and reach the western borders of Ukraine in order to liberate the country from the nationalists."[4] He became wanted by the Security Service of Ukraine and was suspected of actions "aimed at violently changing or overthrowing the constitutional order or seizing state power".[4] Zhuravko was killed on 25 September 2022 in a strike on Kherson during the Ukrainian southern counteroffensive, which pro-Kremlin authorities blamed on Ukraine.[12][4] He was 48.

More at Wikipedia.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist  but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.


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American rapper Artis Leon Ivey Jr. (August 1, 1963 – September 28, 2022), known professionally as Coolio.

You may remember his iconic "Gangsta's Paradise" song from the Michelle Pfeiffer movie "Dangerous Minds." The song was parodied by Weird Al, which led to some controversy when Coolio pushed back.

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

I like his perfect Nomad in mid-life portrait in the obit below, photo taken just a few weeks ago. 

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/28/entertain...oolio-obit


Coolio, the ’90s rapper who lit up the music charts with hits like “Gangsta’s Paradise” and “Fantastic Voyage,” has died, his friend and manager Jarez Posey, told CNN. He was 59.

Posey said Coolio died Wednesday afternoon.

Details on the circumstances were not immediately available.

When contacted by CNN, Capt. Erik Scott of the Los Angeles Fire Department confirmed that firefighters and paramedics responded to a call on the 2900 block of South Chesapeake Ave. at 4 p.m. local time for reports of a medical emergency. When they arrived, they found an unresponsive male and performed “resuscitation efforts for approximately 45 minutes.”

The patient “was determined dead just before 5:00 p.m.,” Scott said.

“We are saddened by the loss of our dear friend and client, Coolio, who passed away this afternoon,” a statement provided to CNN from Coolio’s talent manager Sheila Finegan said.

“He touched the world with the gift of his talent and will be missed profoundly. Thank you to everyone worldwide who has listened to his music and to everyone who has been reaching out regarding his passing. Please have Coolio’s loved ones in your thoughts and prayers.”

Actor Lou Diamond Phillips also offered his condolences as he recounted some memories with the artist.

“I am absolutely stunned. Coolio was a friend and one of the warmest, funniest people I’ve ever met. We spent an amazing time together making Red Water in Capetown and we loved going head to head in the kitchen. He was one of a kind. Epic,Legendary and I’ll miss him,” Phillips said in a tweet.

Former NBA player Matt Bonner also recalled time spent with Coolio, saying in a Twitter post the rapper was a “huge hoops fan… we hosted him at a game a few years back… biggest crowd of all-time at a Spurs Overtime concert.”

Coolio grew up in Compton, California, according to a bio on his official website.

Speaking to the Los Angeles Times in 1994, he recalled falling into the drug scene but getting himself out by pursuing a career as a firefighter.

[Image: 220928180305-coolio-kimmel-0908.jpg?c=16...480,c_fill]
Coolio, pictured on September 08, 2022.

“I wasn’t looking for a career, I was looking for a way to clean up – a way to escape the drug thing,” he told the publication. “It was going to kill me and I knew I had to stop. In firefighting training was discipline I needed. We ran every day. I wasn’t drinking or smoking or doing the stuff I usually did.”

His rap career began in the ’80s, and he gained fame in the underground scene.

“Fantastic Voyage” was the first song that really put him on the map.

Arguably his biggest song, “Gangsta’s Paradise,” from the soundtrack to the film “Dangerous Minds,” grew his star power to gigantic proportions. He won a Grammy in 1996 for the song.

In the age of streaming, it has continued to live on. In July 2022, the song reached a milestone one billion views on YouTube.

“It’s one of those kinds of songs that transcends generations,” he said in a recent interview. “I didn’t use any trendy words…I think it made it timeless.”

Over his career, Coolio sold more than 17 million records, according to his website.

Coolio also has a special place in the hearts of some Millennials for his work on the theme song for the popular Nickelodeon TV series “Kenan and Kel” and his contribution to the album “Dexter’s Laboratory: The Hip-Hop Experiment,” which featured songs by various hip-hop artists that were inspired by the Cartoon Network animated series.

In recent years, Coolio enjoyed the perks of being a nostalgic figure, making television appearances on shows like “Celebrity Cook Off” and “Celebrity Chopped.”

He also had a show on Oxygen, “Coolio’s Rules,” that aired 2008.
Steve Barrera

[A]lthough one would like to change today's world back to the spirit of one hundred years or more ago, it cannot be done. Thus it is important to make the best out of every generation. - Hagakure

Saecular Pages
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Two Chicago based musicians. The former gained fame with an instrumental that was even a bigger hit than was its vocal predecessor. The latter ran the gamut from Friend and Lover to Mark Twain.

Ramsey Lewis passed away on September 12 at the age of 87. He was an American jazz composer, pianist and radio personality. In 1965 he scored a major pop hit with his instrumental rendition of the "The In Crowd" which just a few months earlier was a substantial hit for Dobie Gray, who wouldn't score another hit until "Drift Away" eight years later. When interviewed on American Bandstand Dobie stated that he was so impressed by the Ramsey Lewis version of his hit that he went out and bought a copy. Ramsey's version went on to become an ever bigger hit than the vocal original. He scored a more modest success with "Wade in the Water". He was also artistic director of Jazz at Ravinia, an annual feature at the Ravinia Festival held each summer at a facility just north of Chicago.

Two days later Jim Post, another Chicago legend, left this earth. He was 82. Early in his career he scored a national Top 10 hit with "Reach Out in the Darkness" under the moniker Friend and Lover along with his then wife Cathy. He was a contemporary of such other Chicago music stalwarts as John Prine, Steve Goodman, Tom Dundee, Fred Holstein and Bonnie Koloc. Now the latter is the only one of the bunch still alive. Notably his biggest claim to fame came later with the performing of the character Mark Twain in a one-man show.
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I remember the Ramsey Lewis hits. Fine musician. But Steve mentioned a rapper's death, whom I also heard about on the news (but Ramsey Lewis, a familar name to me, was NOT mentioned on the news). I had never heard of Coolio, even though he was supposedly famous. When I hear about such people as that already passing away, I think that today I might as well live on another planet, I have so little awareness, and still less interest, in a lot of folks like that in today's culture.

I have never been knowledgeable about movies, since they all have to be seen in a theater with high admission prices or purchased through netflix etc. I had heard of "Dangerous Minds", vaguely, but never saw it. Most movies I read about that actors have performed in, actors that I looked up because they were in Perry Mason or Columbo or The Twilight Zone or something like that from the old days, were in scores of movies I have never heard of; whether they were old movies or newer ones. There's been an incredible amount of movies, is all I can say. Most of them I not only never saw, but never saw a review of them or an ad for them or a story about them.
"I close my eyes, and I can see a better day" -- Justin Bieber

Keep the spirit alive;
Eric M
Reply
This is the kind of person that *I* remember and value.

William Madden Plante (January 14, 1938 – September 28, 2022) was an American journalist and correspondent for CBS News.[1] He joined the network in 1964 and was noted for being the network's senior White House correspondent for over three decades.

After completing his studies at Columbia, (Bill) Plante started working for CBS News in June 1964 as a reporter and assignment editor.[3][4] He was sent to South Vietnam later that year to report on the Vietnam War, the first of four tours as a correspondent.[2][4] His final tour in 1975 saw him cover the fall of Phnom Penh and fall of Saigon; this earned his CBS News team the "Best Radio Spot News Reporting from Abroad" award from the Overseas Press Club.[4][5]

In March 1965, Plante went to Selma, Alabama and was there when state troopers assaulted marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in what has been referred to as "Bloody Sunday".[2] He returned later that month to report on the Selma to Montgomery marches and interviewed Martin Luther King Jr. during the event.[2][4]Plante was promoted to correspondent the following year and was posted to the network's Chicago bureau. He was there for ten years and reported on the 1966 riots in the city, protests at Ohio University, the strike by United Auto Workers in 1970, and Jimmy Hoffa's disappearance five years later. During this time, he also covered events overseas, including the state funeral of Gamal Abdel Nasser and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, which earned him two more Overseas Press Club awards for spot radio news.[4]

Plante last worked as the Senior White House Correspondent for CBS News, reporting for CBS This Morning as well as for the CBS Evening News. He covered the 1965 voting rights marches from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama as a national correspondent for CBS. He served four tours as a news correspondent in South Vietnam covering the Vietnam War, the first was in 1964 and the last one was in 1975 during the Fall of Saigon at the end of the war.[6] He anchored the CBS Sunday Night News from 1988 to 1995.[7] He retired in November 2016.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Plante
"I close my eyes, and I can see a better day" -- Justin Bieber

Keep the spirit alive;
Eric M
Reply
Any Yankees fans out there? One of the last surviving Yankees of their early-1960's dynasty. 

Héctor Headley López Swainson (July 8, 1929 – September 2022)[1] was a Panamanian professional baseball left fielder and third baseman who played in Major League Baseball for the Kansas City Athletics and New York Yankees from 1955 to 1966.[2] He was the first black manager at the Triple-A baseball level, the third outfielder on the Maris/Mantle Yankees, and the Kansas City Athletics franchise hitting streak record holder. López was on World Series Championship teams for the Yankees in 1961 and 1962. In various seasons, he finished among the top 10 American League hitters in hitsruns batted inruns scoreddoublestriplesslugging percentagesacrifice fliessacrifice hitsgames played, times hit by pitch, and at bats. He was also known for his hustle, his clutch hitting, and poor fielding.


López was the second Panamanian-born major league baseball player and continued to be one of the country's most revered world champion athletes. Although Humberto Robinson (102 games played/5 seasons) debuted in the major leagues 22 days earlier than López, López (1,450 games played/12 seasons) was the first of the 49 major leaguers born in Panama to have an extensive career.[3] He was the first Panamanian-born major leaguer to finish in the top 10 in any official statistical category (sacrifice hits, 1956); first to lead his league in any official statistic (sacrifice flies, 1958); first to play in the World Series (with the 1960 Yankees); and the first to win a World Championship (with the 1961 Yankees).

He was an infielder for the Athletics, and later was often the third outfielder on the Roger Maris/Mickey Mantle Yankees of the early and mid-1960s. López had his most successful season in 1959, but continued to contribute effectively during the early 1960s during their pennant successes. The utility player divided his career almost equally between infield and outfield positions. After retiring from baseball, he went on to become a groundbreaking manager in minor league baseball as the first to break the baseball color line as a black manager at the Triple-A level for the Buffalo Bisons and then served in various international managerial and coaching positions.


Héctor López
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist  but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.


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Loretta Lynn (née Webb; April 14, 1932 – October 4, 2022) was an American singer-songwriter. In a career which spanned six decades in country music, Lynn released multiple gold albums. She had hits such as "You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My Man)", "Don't Come Home A-Drinkin' (With Lovin' on Your Mind)", "One's on the Way", "Fist City", and "Coal Miner's Daughter". In 1980, the film Coal Miner's Daughter was made based on her life.

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

https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/04/entertain...index.html

Loretta Lynn, coal miner’s daughter turned forthright country queen, dies at 90
Updated 4:28 PM EDT, Tue October 4, 2022



Loretta Lynn, the “Coal Miner’s Daughter” whose gutsy lyrics and twangy, down-home vocals made her a queen of country music for seven decades, has died. She was 90.

Lynn’s family said in a statement to CNN that she died Tuesday at her home in Tennessee.

“Our precious mom, Loretta Lynn, passed away peacefully this morning, October 4th, in her sleep at home in her beloved ranch in Hurricane Mills,” the statement read.

Lynn, who had no formal music training but spent hours every day singing her babies to sleep, was known to churn out fully textured songs in a matter of minutes. She just wrote what she knew.

She lived in poverty for much of her early life, began having kids by age 17 and spent years married to a man prone to drinking and philandering – all of which became material for her plainspoken songs. Lynn’s life was rich with experiences most country stars of the time hadn’t had for themselves – but her female fans knew them intimately.

“So when I sing those country songs about women struggling to keep things going, you could say I’ve been there,” she wrote in her first memoir, “Coal Miner’s Daughter.” “Like I say, I know what it’s like to be pregnant and nervous and poor.”

Lynn scored hits with fiery songs like “Don’t Come Home A’ Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ On Your Mind)” and “You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man),” which topped the country charts in 1966 and made her the first female country singer to write a No. 1 hit.

Her songs recounted family history, skewered lousy husbands and commiserated with women, wives and mothers everywhere. Her tell-it-like-it-is style saw tracks such as “Rated X” and “The Pill” banned from radio, even as they became beloved classics.

 “I wasn’t the first woman in country music,” Lynn told Esquire in 2007. “I was just the first one to stand up there and say what I thought, what life was about.”

She grew up dirt-poor in the Kentucky hills

 She was born Loretta Webb in 1932, one of eight Webb children raised in Butcher Hollow in the Appalachian mining town of Van Lear, Kentucky. Growing up, Lynn sang in church and at home, even as her father protested that everyone in Butcher Hollow could hear.

[Image: 221004100336-loretta-lynn-file.jpg?c=16x...480,c_fill]
Loretta Lynn wears a cowboy hat and a fringe western style jacket while holding an acoustic guitar as she poses for a portrait in circa 1960 in Nashville, Tennessee.

Her family had little money. But those early years were some of her fondest memories, as she recounts in her 1971 hit, “Coal Miner’s Daughter”: “We were poor but we had love; That’s the one thing that daddy made sure of.”

As a young teenager, Loretta met the love of her life in Oliver “Doolittle” Lynn, whom she affectionately called “Doo.” The pair married when Lynn was 15 – a fact cleared up in 2012, after the Associated Press discovered Lynn was a few years older than she had said she was in her memoir – and Lynn gave birth to their first of six children the same year.

“When I got married, I didn’t even know what pregnant meant,” said Lynn, who bore four children in the first four years of marriage and a set of twins years later.

“I was five months pregnant when I went to the doctor, and he said, ‘You’re gonna have a baby.’ I said, ‘No way. I can’t have no baby.’ He said, ‘Ain’t you married?’ Yep. He said, ‘You sleep with your husband?’ Yep. ‘You’re gonna have a baby, Loretta. Believe me.’ And I did.”

The couple soon headed to Washington state in search of jobs. Music wasn’t a priority for the young mother at first. She’d spend her days working, mostly, picking strawberries in Washington state while her babies sat on a blanket nearby.

But when her husband heard her humming tunes and soothing their babies to sleep, he said she sounded better than the girl singers on the radio. He bought her a $17 Harmony guitar and got her a gig at a local tavern.

It wasn’t until 1960 that she’d record what would become her debut single, “Honky Tonk Girl.” She then took the song on the road, playing country music stations across the United States.

After years of hard work and raising kids, telling stories with her guitar seemed like a break.

“Singing was easy,” Lynn told NPR’s Terry Gross in 2010. “I thought ‘Gee whiz, this is an easy job.’ ”

The success of her first single landed Lynn on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville and, soon, a contract with Decca Records. She quickly befriended country star Patsy Cline, who guided her through the fame and fashion of country stardom until her shocking death in a plane crash in 1963.

 Cline “was my only girlfriend at the time. She took me under her wing, and when I lost her, it was something else. I still miss her to this day,” Lynn told The Denver Post in 2009. “I wrote ‘You Ain’t Woman Enough to Take My Man,’ and she said, ‘Loretta, that’s a damn hit.’ It shocked me, because you don’t expect somebody like Patsy Cline to tell you that you have a hit. Right after she passed, I put the record out, and it was a hit.”

Her best-known songs drew from her life and marriage

Lynn’s struggle and success became the stuff of legend, an oft-repeated story of youth, naivete and poverty.

From “Fist City” to “You’re Lookin’ at Country,” Lynn always sang from the heart, whether she was telling off a woman interested in Doo or honoring her Appalachian roots. But her music was far from conventional.

She rankled the conservative country establishment with songs like “Rated X,” about the stigma fun-loving women face after divorce, and “The Pill,” in which a woman toasts her newfound freedom thanks to birth control – “They didn’t have none of them pills when I was younger, or I’d have been swallowing them like popcorn,” Lynn wrote in her memoir.

She documented her upbringing in the bestselling 1976 memoir “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” co-written with George Vecsey. A 1980 biographical film by the same name won an Academy Award for actress Sissy Spacek and brought Lynn wider fame. Lynn’s success also helped launch the music careers of her sisters, Peggy Sue Wright and Crystal Gayle.

Lynn’s legend faced questions in 2012 when The Associated Press reported that in census records, a birth certificate and marriage license, Lynn was three years older than what most biographies stated. It didn’t mar Lynn’s success, but did make the oft-repeated tales of her teen marriage and motherhood less extreme.

“I never, never thought about being a role model,” Lynn told the San Antonio Express-News in 2010. “I wrote from life, how things were in my life. I never could understand why others didn’t write down what they knew.”

Lynn always credited her husband with giving her the confidence to first step on stage as a young performer. She also spoke in interviews, and in her music, about the pain he caused over their nearly 50 years of marriage. Doolittle Lynn died in 1996 after years of complications from heart problems and diabetes.

In her 2002 memoir, “Still Woman Enough,” Lynn wrote that he was an alcoholic who cheated on her and beat her, even as she hit him back. But she stayed with him until his death and told NPR in 2010 that “he’s in there somewhere” in every song she wrote.

“We fought one day and we’d love the next, so I mean … to me, that’s a good relationship,” she told NPR. “If you can’t fight, if you can’t tell each other what you think – why, your relationship ain’t much anyway.”

Lynn won numerous awards throughout her career, including three Grammys and many honors from the Academy of Country Music. She earned Grammys for her 1971 duet with Conway Twitty, “After the Fire is Gone,” and for the 2004 album “Van Lear Rose,” a collaboration with Jack White of the White Stripes that introduced her to a new generation of fans.

 She was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988, and her song “Coal Miner’s Daughter” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998. She received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010, and in 2013, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

 President Barack Obama said Lynn “gave voice to a generation, singing what no one wanted to talk about and saying what no one wanted to think about.”

Her career and legend only continued to grow in her later years as she recorded new songs, toured steadily and drew loyal audiences well into her 80s. A museum and dude ranch are dedicated to Lynn at her home in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee.

“Working keeps you young,” she told Esquire in 2007. “I ain’t ever gonna stop. And when I do, it’s gonna be right on stage. That’ll be it.”

Lynn was hospitalized in 2017 after suffering a stroke at her home. The following year she broke a hip. Her health forced her to quit touring.

In early 2021, at the age of 89, she recorded her 50th album, “Still Woman Enough.”

The title song, which she sang alongside successors Carrie Underwood and Reba McEntire, sounded like a mission statement that captures the ethos of her career:

“I’m still woman enough, still got what it takes inside;

I know how to love, lose, and survive;

Ain’t much I ain’t seen, I ain’t tried;

I’ve been knocked down, but never out of the fight;

I’m strong, but I’m tender;

Wise, but I’m tough;

And let me tell you when it comes to love;

I’m still woman enough.”
Steve Barrera

[A]lthough one would like to change today's world back to the spirit of one hundred years or more ago, it cannot be done. Thus it is important to make the best out of every generation. - Hagakure

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Leonard Lipton (May 18, 1940 – October 5, 2022) was an American author, filmmaker, lyricist and inventor. At age 19, Lipton wrote the poem that became the basis for the lyrics to the song "Puff, the Magic Dragon". He went on to write books on independent filmmaking and become a pioneer in the field of projected three-dimensional imagery. His technology is used to show 3D films on more than 30,000 theater screens worldwide. In 2021, he published The Cinema in Flux, an 800-page illustrated book on the history of cinema technology.


Lipton was born in BrooklynNew York. He majored in physics at Cornell University after starting out in electrical engineering. A self-described "mediocre student", he only excelled once he found a field he loved. Lipton urged schools to be more "accepting of eccentric people with a different point of view because we are the people who make the difference."[1]

Puff, the Magic Dragon

Lipton was 19 when he wrote the poem that was adapted into the lyrics for the 1963 song "Puff, the Magic Dragon", performed by Peter Paul and Mary. His inspiration was a 1936 Ogden Nash poem, "The Tale of Custard the Dragon". "Pirates and dragons, back then, were common interests in stories for boys", Lipton said. "The Puff story is really just a lot like Peter Pan.” Lipton spent decades denying that the song was about marijuana and believed that the myth was created by New York columnist Dorothy Kilgallen.[2]

In the 1960s, Lipton shot several experimental films on 16 mm stock, most with running times of less than 10 minutes. The best known, Let a Thousand Parks Bloom, a 27-minute film about Berkeley's People's Park, played at the Tate Liverpool Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art.[3][4] The following decade, he wrote two books on technologies and methods for independent filmmakers: Independent Film Making (1972) and The Super 8 Book (1975). Lipton on Filmmaking, a compendium of his magazine writings, was published in 1979.[5]

Lipton was a pioneer in the field of projected three-dimensional imagery and was one of the creators of the electronic stereoscopic display industry.[6][1] His interest dated back to his childhood in New York where he attended movie palaces, with some films shown in 3D. He drew his own 3D comics using red and green crayons on tracing paper, which were viewed using primitive glasses constructed of cardboard tubes and magnifying lenses.[7]
Royalties from "Puff the Magic Dragon" and Independent Filmmaking, which remained in print for 20 years, gave Lipton an independent income that allowed him to follow his interests. His career in stereoscopic display began to gel around 1972. In one early stint, he served as the "convergence setter" for the 1983 3D film Rottweiler: Dogs from Hell, determining for each shot the optimal position at which to cross the dual lens axes. Previewing a scene from the film, technical staff from Universal were impressed by the stereoscopic imagery.[5]

He built a prototype of a flicker-free, field-sequential 3D display system and founded StereoGraphics Corporation in 1980 to fund development. The system worked by doubling the display rate of images, thereby overcoming a problem inherent in 3D motion picture projection, where each eye views only half the available images.[8] In 1989, he patented the active ZScreen polarization filter that uses a circularly polarized liquid crystal filter placed in front of a projector, which can then display both the left and right halves of a stereo pair. After Real D Cinema acquired StereoGraphics in 2005, the technology became the basis for the RealD cinema system.[9] The system is in use in more than 30,000 screens worldwide.[10] Lipton was the chief technology officer at RealD until 2009, when he left to do independent consulting.[11]

Lipton published his definitive treatment of the subject, Foundations of the Stereoscopic Cinema: A Study in Depth, in 1982.[12] In 2011, the International 3D Society gave him its Century Award for Lifetime Achievement.[13] As of 2015, he held 68 stereography-related patents.[2]

In 2021, Lipton published The Cinema in Flux: The Evolution of Motion Picture Technology from the Magic Lantern to the Digital Era.[14] In the 800-page illustrated book, Lipton argues that film scholars mistakenly consider inventions that preceded the 19th century motion picture cameras from Thomas Edison and the Lumières brothers as prehistory. Lipton sets the genesis of the medium to 1659 and Dutch physicist Christiaan Huygens’ invention of the magic lantern, marking the first time moving images were projected on a screen. The book divides the history into three eras: glass, celluloid, and digital. Flux's origins date back to 2009, when Lipton was speaking at the Cinémathèque Française, whose museum happened to be exhibiting a history of magic lantern technology. His subsequent research led him to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and SciencesMargaret Herrick Library, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers digital library, The Library of Congress's collection of motion picture periodicals, and some 400 books.[15]

Film historian Laurent Mannoni, the curator of collections at the Cinémathèque Française, wrote that the book represents "the first time that this vast technical and aesthetic history has been told by an inventor-technician-physicist-industrialist, who has himself filed patents for cinematographic inventions, run a company and made films. His point of view is both authoritative and fascinating since, until now, no conventional historian has had such varied credentials...."[16]

In his foreword, Douglas Trumbull wrote that Lipton "is on the trail of a vitally important nexus between the illusion of motion and the story contained within that illusion." Each new innovation raises the question of whether cinema will become "an even more high-powered juggernaut of immersive and experiential technical perfection"—a theme park ride with no heart—or remain an emotional experience relying on the traditional talents of screenwriters, directors, and actors. "Lenny Lipton delivers the background we need to help make sure that our beloved art form does not go off the rails."[17]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenny_Lipton
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist  but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.


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David Murray Dryden (September 5, 1941 – October 4, 2022) was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender, who created and first used the modern goaltending mask, consisting of fibreglass and a cage.[1] From 1962 to 1980, he played nine seasons in the NHL for the New York RangersChicago Black HawksBuffalo Sabres, and Edmonton Oilers, and in the World Hockey Association between 1974 and 1979 with the Chicago Cougars and Edmonton Oilers, as well as for other smaller teams in other minor leagues.

Dryden was born in Hamilton, Ontario,[2] on September 5, 1941.[3][4] His father, Murray, worked as a brick salesman and became a philanthropist; his mother, Margaret (Campbell), was a kindergarten teacher.[5] Dryden began his junior career with the Aurora Bears in 1958,[6] before playing two seasons for the St. Michael's Majors of the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA). He then joined the Toronto Marlboros in 1961.[6][7]

Dryden played in the National Hockey League (NHL) and World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1962 to 1979, playing for the New York RangersBuffalo SabresChicago Black HawksChicago Cougars, and Edmonton Oilers. On March 20, 1971, in a game between his Sabres and the Montreal Canadiens, Dryden faced his brother Ken, the first time in the history of the NHL that brothers opposed each other as goalies.[8][9] The brothers met again on October 28, 1972 at the Montreal Forum that featured both teams entering the contest undefeated. The Canadiens and Sabres played to a 3–3 tie.[10][11]

Dryden's best years came in the WHA, while playing for the Oilers. Of all the Oilers' goaltenders during their membership in the WHA, he played the most games (197) and earned the most wins (94). He was the goalie against whom Wayne Gretzky scored his first professional goal.[12] Dryden won the Ben Hatskin Trophy as the WHA's top goaltender and the Gordie Howe Trophy as league MVP in 1979.[3] Two years prior, Dryden designed the first mask-cage combination goalie mask; maskmaker Greg Harrison transferred his design drawings into a final product which Dryden[13] wore for the Oilers. The mask is on display at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.[14] The mask-cage combination goalie mask is now the norm in modern hockey.[4]

Dryden was married to Sandra for 59 years until his death. Together, they had two children. He was the chair person of Sleeping Children Around the World charity (founded by his father) which provides bed kits to children in developing countries.[4][15]
Dryden died on October 4, 2022, at the age of 81, from complications following a surgery for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension.[15][16][17]. Sleeping Children Around the World and the National Hockey League announced that they would be launching a donation initiative in his name to provide bed kits to children in developing countries. 

More at Wikipedia.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist  but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.


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Judy Lynn Tenuta (November 7, 1949 – October 6, 2022) was an American comedian, actress, and comedy musician.[1][2] She was known for her whimsical and brash persona of "The Love Goddess", mixing insult comedyobservational humor, self-promotion, and bawdy onstage antics.[3][4][5] Throughout her career, Tenuta built a niche but devoted following, particularly among members of the LGBTQ community.[5][6] Tenuta wrote two comedy books, and received two nominations for the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album.[1]

One of nine siblings, Tenuta was born in Oak Park, Illinois, on November 7, 1949,[a] into a Roman Catholic family to a Polish mother, Joann, and an Italian father, Caesar.[2][7] She grew up in a staunchly Irish-Catholic neighborhood, graduating from Immaculate Heart of Mary High School in Westchester, Illinois and attended the University of Illinois at Chicago where she majored in theater.[4][8][9] Her interest in comedy began when she took an improv comedy class with the Chicago improv group The Second City and shortly after she started opening for other comedians in Chicago.[4][5]

Tenuta began her comedy career performing openers and small time shows on the Chicago comedy circuit in the late 1970s.[4][5] During her first performance, Tenuta shocked audiences by dressing up as the Virgin Mary, and after being encouraged by her friends to incorporate an accordion into her routine, she began to develop the character into her iconic persona as the wisecracking "Love Goddess".[5]

After building a fiery reputation as one of the "hottest young comics around," Tenuta left Chicago in the late 1980s and moved to New York City to host an HBO Comedy Special with Ellen DeGeneresRita Rudner, and Paula Poundstone.[9][1] By the mid-1980s, Tenuta uprooted again, moving to Los Angeles, where she published her book Full Frontal Tenudity about life in Hollywood.[9] During her time in Los Angeles, Tenuta harbored a fiercely independent attitude, openly rejecting Hollywood beauty standards and celebrity life.[10] She continued to perform on national tours for years afterwards, making special visits to the Chicago circuit.[10]

Tenuta's use of her voice in her stand-up act lent itself to voice-over work in several animated programs. This included doing the voice of Edna on Duckman, Munch Kelly on Cow and Chicken in the banned episode "Buffalo Gals",[11] Black Widow on Space Ghost Coast to Coast,[12] and as herself in Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist. She appeared in numerous film and television roles, including the dominatrix disciplinarian "Samantha Rottweiler" in Butch Camp, and the loud-mouthed librarian "Mrs. Holler" in Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide.[13][14] She also played various minor characters on The Weird Al Show, was featured in many of "Weird Al" Yankovic's comedy shorts and music videos, and appeared in dozens of other minor acting roles.[14]

In addition to her small screen acting, Tenuta had various theatrical roles, most notably in The Vagina Monologues and Menopause the Musical.[1] Tenuta wrote two comedy books Full Frontal Tenudity and The Power of Judyism, and released five comedy CDs, receiving "Best Comedy Album" Grammy nominations for Attention Butt-Pirates and Lesbetarians! and In Goddess We Trust.[1] She gained some mainstream notoriety for a series of television ads for MTV and Diet Dr Pepper in the late 1980s, as well as her HBOShowtime, and Lifetime specials. 

Tenuta's act was primarily structured around an exaggerated, campy, and offbeat persona that was referred to primarily as "The Love Goddess".[19] She also styled herself with other monikers including "The Petite Flower", "Aphrodite of the Accordion", "Fashion-Plate Saint", "Queen of Candy-Pants", "Princess of Panty Shields", "Empress of Elvis Impersonators," and the "Buffer of Foreheads."[20][21] Her routine, which blended observational and insult humor, was a performance of "surreal lunacy."[6] "The Love Goddess" began every show with her signature greeting "Hi Pigs!" before diving into a bawdy, chaotic, and whimsical whirlwind of stories, impressions, and songs.[6] One review of a 1987 performance reported that Tenuta's show was a veritable "onslaught" of "atavistic growlings and gum-chewing bimbo stances," filled with "little nasties," crass jokes, and "political offensiveness".[22]
Tenuta often performed in an array of fantastical costumes made up of "Aphrodite dresses, feather boots, and gauzy capes" and with a variety of props―most notably her iconic accordion.[6]

Tenuta's unique blend of observational and insult humor drew heavily from the Borscht Belt and Vaudeville comedy styles.[6] As "The Love Goddess," Tenuta regularly lampooned religion, politics, celebrities, sports, and current events.[23][24] Most of Tenuta's content passed through the filter of her faux religion "Judyism," which, in her own words, aimed to "help you forget about your problems and think about mine for a change".[10] Throughout her act, Judy continuously worked to convince the women in her audience to convert to Judyism, and bloom into Love Goddesses themselves.[25][26]
Although the demeanor was fanciful, her content had serious undertones. In a 2007 interview, Tenuta explained that she used over-the-top comedy to express her own anger at the world around her, saying "When I get angry about something, I have to make it into a joke. The thing with comedy is it relieves the pressure of tragedy. That's why people come [to see me]."[27] Giovanna Del Negro, a scholar who has studied and written about Tenuta's career, argued that "in juxtaposing the idealized love-goddess image with the aggressive, over-the-top dominatrix persona, we discover that play acting [in Tenuta's performances], no matter how ludicrous, can provide a terrain for interrogating issues of gender, power, and sexuality, and gives those who do it an opportunity to think beyond predetermined social categories."[6] Del Negro contended that "by immersing [themselves] in a world of this tender blossom with the brassy voice, queers of all kinds—gaylesbianbisexualtransgender, or, more broadly, anyone with a non-normative gender performance—can bask in the loving glow of the material goddess and joyously perform their difference without fear of reprisal or judgment."[6]

Tenuta's performances were renowned for a high level of audience interaction and participation. She was known for picking on audience members, making them targets of her jokes and roping them in on-stage antics.[4] One 1996 show review by The Chicago Tribune detailed a performance Tenuta gave in her home town in which she performed especially unconventional comic routines, including: ordering a pizza directly to herself on stage and having the local pizza delivery man feed it to her; performing a "fertility dance" over the "prostrate" figure of the club's booker; and having her own mother "forced to feed pickled weiners to 'stud puppets [scantily clad men].'"[28] She even convinced 'two large and seemingly conservative suburban gentlemen to engage in a peculiar and obscene dance with clown wigs, a set of fake breasts, and large inflatable phallus."[28] Tenuta was especially known for bringing male audience members onto stage, and shoving her used gum into their mouths.[4]

Tenuta was an outspoken advocate for gay rights and amassed a faithful following in the LGBT community.[5][6] During the early years of her career, Tenuta frequently performed at gay bars and clubs around Chicago, and continued to perform at Gay Pride festivals and events across the country until her death.[27][9][5] Tenuta publicly stated that she always felt welcomed and supported by the gay community, and even offered on her official website to officiate same-sex marriages.[5][20]

Tenuta died in Studio City, California, on October 6, 2022, at the age of 72, from stage 4 ovarian cancer, with which she had been diagnosed in 2020. At the time of her death she had been in a long-term relationship with Vern Pang; she had no children.[29]

More at Wikipedia.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist  but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.


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Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury DBE (16 October 1925 – 11 October 2022) was an Irish-British[2] and American actress and singer who played various roles across film, stage, and television. Her career, one of the longest in the entertainment industry, spanned eight decades, much of it in the United States; her work also received much international attention. She was one of the last surviving stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema at the time of her death.
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Lansbury was born to an upper-middle-class family in central London, the daughter of Irish actress Moyna Macgill and English politician Edgar Lansbury. To escape the Blitz, she moved to the United States in 1940, studying acting in New York City. Proceeding to Hollywood in 1942, she signed to MGM and obtained her first film roles, in Gaslight (1944) and The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), earning her two Academy Award nominations and a Golden Globe Award. She appeared in eleven further MGM films, mostly in minor roles, and after her contract ended in 1952 she began supplementing her cinematic work with theatrical appearances. Although largely seen as a B-list star during this period, her role in the film The Manchurian Candidate (1962) received widespread acclaim and is often cited as one of her career-best performances, earning her a third Academy Award nomination. Moving into musical theatre, Lansbury finally gained stardom for playing the leading role in the Broadway musical Mame (1966), which won her her first Tony Award and established her as a gay icon.

Amidst difficulties in her personal life, Lansbury moved from California to County Cork, Ireland in 1970, and continued with a variety of theatrical and cinematic appearances throughout that decade. These included leading roles in the stage musicals GypsySweeney Todd, and The King and I, as well as in the hit Disney film Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971). Moving into television in 1984, she achieved worldwide fame as fictional writer and sleuth Jessica Fletcher in the American whodunit series Murder, She Wrote, which ran for twelve seasons until 1996, becoming one of the longest-running and most popular detective drama series in television history. Through Corymore Productions, a company that she co-owned with her husband Peter Shaw, Lansbury assumed ownership of the series and was its executive producer for the final four seasons. She also moved into voice work, contributing to animated films like Disney's Beauty and the Beast (1991) and Don Bluth's Anastasia (1997). She toured in a variety of international productions and continued to make occasional film appearances such as Nanny McPhee (2005) and Mary Poppins Returns (2018).

Lansbury received an Honorary Academy Award, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the BAFTA, a Lifetime Achievement Tony Award and five additional Tony Awards, six Golden Globes, and an Olivier Award. She also was nominated for numerous other industry awards, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress on three occasions, and various Primetime Emmy Awards on 18 occasions, and a Grammy Award. In 2014, Lansbury was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II.[3] She was the subject of three biographies.

Much more at Wikipedia.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist  but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.


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Howard Bruce Sutter (/ˈsuːtər/; January 8, 1953 – October 13, 2022) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 1976 and 1988. He was one of the sport's dominant relievers in the late 1970s and early 1980s, making effective use of the split-finger fastball. A six-time All-Star and 1982 World Series champion, Sutter recorded a 2.83 career earned run average and 300 saves, the third-most in MLB history at the time of his retirement. Sutter won the National League's (NL) Cy Young Award in 1979 as its top pitcher, and won the NL Rolaids Relief Man Award four times. He became the only pitcher to lead the NL in saves five times (1979–1982, 1984).


Born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Sutter briefly attended Old Dominion University and was subsequently signed by the Chicago Cubs as an undrafted free agent in 1971. He played five years for the Cubs, four for the St. Louis Cardinals, and three for the Atlanta Braves, serving as each team's closer during his tenure. His usage in the eighth and ninth innings of games was partly responsible for ushering in a more specialized era for the closer role. In the mid-1980s, Sutter began to experience shoulder problems, undergoing three surgeries before retiring in 1989.

Sutter was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006, his 13th year of eligibility. He was also honored by the Cardinals with the retirement of his uniform number 42 in 2006 and induction into the Cardinals Hall of Fame in 2014. Sutter also served as a minor league consultant for the Philadelphia Phillies.



[Image: 95px-CardsRetired42.PNG]
Bruce Sutter's number 42 was retired by the St. Louis Cardinals in 2006.


Sutter appeared on his thirteenth Baseball Hall of Fame ballot in 2006. Sportswriter Matthew Leach of MLB.com referred to this ballot as Sutter's best chance for induction; he pointed out that Sutter would only be eligible for two more Hall of Fame ballots. Nearing the end of his eligibility, Sutter said he did not think about induction very often. "It's just an honor to be on the ballot, but it's not something I think that much about. I have no control over it. ... It's out of my hands. It's the voters, it's in the voters' hands. There's nothing I can do about it. I can't pitch anymore... There's a lot of guys that I think should be in that aren't in. It's for the special few people to get into the Hall of Fame. It shouldn't be easy to get in", he said.[24] On January 10, 2006, Sutter was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his 13th year of eligibility by receiving 400 votes out of a possible 520 (76.9%). He was the fourth relief pitcher inducted, the first pitcher inducted without starting a game.[25]

MLB.com columnist Mike Bauman attributed the delay in Sutter's Hall of Fame election to several factors. He pointed out that Sutter's first five strong seasons were with the Cubs, a team that did not receive much attention during those years. He also noted that the closer role was relatively new in baseball history. Finally, he wrote that Sutter's candidacy was hurt because his career was cut short by injuries.[26]

At his Hall of Fame induction that July, Sutter was the only former MLB player inducted. However, he was joined by 17 Negro league baseball players. During his induction speech, Sutter said, "I haven't played baseball for 18 years now and I'm getting more sentimental as I get older. You start losing family members and you start losing friends. There are teammates who have passed on. You start thinking of them as you put together a speech. I'm not usually an emotional guy. My kids said the first time they ever saw me cry was when I got that phone call [telling him that he was elected]. Now today. I guess a lot of people have seen me crying now."[27] Johnny Bench and Ozzie Smith wore decorative beards to the induction speech in honor of Sutter.[27] Sutter's Hall of Fame plaque depicts his wearing a Cardinals cap,[28] although the Hall considers his "primary team" (the team he represents as a Hall of Fame member) to be the Cubs.

More at Wikipedia.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist  but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.


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Anthony Robert McMillan (30 March 1950 – 14 October 2022), known professionally as Robbie Coltrane.

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

https://variety.com/2022/film/obituaries...235403870/

Robbie Coltrane, Hagrid Actor in ‘Harry Potter’ Franchise, Dies at 72

[Image: HAgrid.jpg?w=681&h=383&crop=1]

Robbie Coltrane, who played the lovable half-giant Rubeus Hagrid in the “Harry Potter” franchise, has died, his agency WME confirmed to Variety on Friday. He was 72.

Coltrane featured in every “Harry Potter” movie, from “Sorcerer’s Stone” in 2001 to “Death Hallows -Part 2” in 2011, and was much beloved for bringing the character from J.K. Rowling’s book series to life. He was among one of the first characters to appear on screen, and he recited the famous line, “Yer a wizard, Harry,” to a young Daniel Radcliffe as he embarked on his journey into the wizarding world. A towering figure but a softie at heart, Hagrid had a sweet spot for ferocious beasts and cared for some of the “Harry Potter” world’s most ferocious, and iconic, creatures. Radcliffe paid tribute to his time spent with Coltrane on the “Potter” set. “I’ve especially fond memories of him keeping our spirits up on ‘Prisoner of Azkaban,'” Radcliffe said. “When we were all hiding from the torrential rain for hours in Hagrid’s hut and he was telling stories and cracking jokes to keep morale up.”

The Scottish actor, comedian and writer also appeared in two James Bond films, 1995’s “GoldenEye” and 1999’s “The World Is Not Enough,” as the Russian mafia man Valentin Dmitrovich Zukovsky.

One of his first major appearances was on the British sketch comedy series “Alfresco” in 1983. He co-starred with other soon-to-be greats like Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson and Stephen Fry. A few years later, he reunited with Thompson on the 1987 BBC Scotland drama “Tutti Frutti” and earned his first best actor nomination from the British Academy Television Awards. From 1993-1995, he starred in the ITV crime drama “Cracker” as criminal psychologist Dr. Edward “Fitz” Fitzgerald, winning three British Academy Television awards. After hanging up Hagrid’s moleskin coat, Coltrane starred in the acclaimed Channel 4 drama “National Treasure,” playing a retired comedian who becomes accused of sexual assault. For the role, he won a handful of best actor awards from British orgs.

His long-time agent, Belinda Wright, reminisced about their work together. “He will probably be best remembered for decades to come as Hagrid in the ‘Harry Potter’ films, a role which brought joy to children and adults alike all over the world prompting a stream of fan letters every week for over 20 years,” Wright wrote via email to Variety. “For me, personally, I shall remember him as an abidingly loyal client. As well as being a wonderful actor, he was forensically intelligent, brilliantly witty, and after 40 years of being proud to be to called his Agent, I shall miss him.”

Coltrane is survived by his sister Annie Rae, his children Spencer and Alice and their mother Rhona Gemmell. The family expressed their gratitude to the medical staff at Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert for their care and diplomacy.

The actor’s final appearance with his Harry Potter family was on the “Return to Hogwarts” 20th anniversary special released on HBO Max in January 2022. His thoughts on the series’ power also served as a stirring farewell to fans. 

Casey Patterson, director and executive producer of the much-watched reunion, recalled that “Robbie was ailing when we were filming, aware of his mortality and fiercely determined to have that final, full circle experience with his beloved cast. He spent days back on the original sets in conversation with them all, we could feel him taking in the great hall, the war stories, the passage of time. He was deeply funny, but equally raw and vulnerable…he looked straight down the barrel of the lens and in that knowing Hagrid way, shared with us all that he knew he was near the end and how proud he was of the legacy he would leave behind.”

An emotional Coltrane said in the special that “the legacy of the movies is that my children’s generation will show them to their children. So you could be watching it in 50-years time, easy. I’ll not be here, sadly, but Hagrid will, yes.”
Steve Barrera

[A]lthough one would like to change today's world back to the spirit of one hundred years or more ago, it cannot be done. Thus it is important to make the best out of every generation. - Hagakure

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Don't judge. It's a big a part of many lives and a small part of many others' lives. It's often how people "learned" about sex in a world just breaking away from sexual repression even if it is terribly distorted and exploitative. Yes, porn:


Kay Taylor Parker (28 August 1944 – 14 October 2022)[1] was a British pornographic film actress who later worked as a metaphysical counselor and mentor.[2] She was the author of an autobiography Taboo: Sacred, Don't Touch which chronicles her life including her work as an actress in adult films.

Born in England, she grew up in a conservative household.[2][3] She moved to the United States at the age of 21.[3] After moving to the United States, she had a successful career in the import business.[4] While living in San Francisco, she became interested in acting and began studying drama.[4]

Parker was reportedly introduced to the adult film industry during the late 1970s by actor John Leslie, who suggested she take part in one of his upcoming films.[5] She made her first appearance in 'V' – The Hot One in a non-sex role.[4] Soon afterwards, porn director Anthony Spinelli talked her into doing her first sex scene in Sex World (1977).[5][6][7][8] Despite entering the adult film industry at an older age than most, she became a leading star in the field and was often paired with younger co-stars.[9] Typically she was cast in mature women roles, such as mothers, step mothers, rich aunts, wealthy divorcees, and so on.[4] She is best known for her roles in Dracula Sucks (1978) and the 1980 film Taboo.[6][2] She retired from porn in the mid-1980s and for a time worked for Caballero Home Video as their public relations representative.[6] She also appeared in small parts in several mainstream movies and television series, such as The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.[4]

In 2001, Parker wrote her autobiography titled Taboo: Sacred, Don't Touch: An Autobiographical Journey Spanning Six Thousand Years in which she wrote about her early childhood, her career in the adult industry, and her experiences with the metaphysical. A revised version, Taboo: Sacred Don't Touch – The Revised Version was published in 2016. She later had a YouTube channel where she answered questions in her videos from her fans on a myriad of subjects on spirituality and spiritual exercises for personal individual growth.[10] She also offered personal Skype sessions with clients who paid her for spiritual counseling.[11]

Parker is the subject of the documentary A Taboo Identity, which chronicles her transition from pornstar to metaphysical counselor.[12]

From Wikipedia.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist  but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.


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From the really-early days of pro football

Charles Louis Trippi (December 14, 1921 – October 19, 2022) was an American football player. He played professionally for the Chicago Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL) from 1947 to 1955. Although primarily a running back, his versatility allowed him to fill a multitude of roles over his career, including quarterbackdefensive backpunter, and return specialist. A "quintuple-threat", Trippi was adept at running, catching, passing, punting, and defense.


Trippi attended the University of Georgia, where he played college football for the Georgia Bulldogs from 1942 to 1946, with an interlude in 1944 while serving in the military during World War II. As a sophomore, he guided Georgia to victory in the 1943 Rose Bowl and was named the game's most valuable player. As a senior in 1946, he won the Maxwell Award as the nation's most outstanding college football player, was named the Southeastern Conference's player of the year, and earned unanimous first-team All-America recognition.

Drafted first overall by the Cardinals as a "future pick" in the 1945 NFL Draft, Trippi was also pursued by the New York Yankees of the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) as well as multiple professional baseball teams. He ultimately signed a record $100,000 contract with the Cardinals. As a rookie, Trippi led Chicago's "Million Dollar Backfield" to victory in the 1947 NFL Championship Game. By the time he retired he had compiled the most yards of total offense by a player in NFL history. Trippi was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1959 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1968.

Charles Louis Trippi was born to an Italian immigrant father on December 14, 1921, in Pittston, Pennsylvania, a coal-mining community. Seeking to avoid the dangers of a life mining coal like his father, Trippi turned to sports. He attended Pittston Area High School and began his football career as a tailback for the school's football team.[1] He also played semi-professional baseball while in high school.[2]

[Image: 220px-Trippi_sinkwich_bulldogs.jpg]


Considered undersized at 160 pounds (73 kg), Trippi was turned down by four colleges before being recruited to play for the University of Georgia by Georgia alum Harold "War Eagle" Ketron.[3] He was given a scholarship and played for the Georgia Bulldogs football varsity team from 1942 to 1946, with an interlude in 1944 due to World War II. As a sophomore in 1942, he played alongside that season's Heisman Trophy winner Frank Sinkwich. That year, Trippi and Sinkwich led Georgia to a 75–0 win over rival Florida, a game in which Trippi threw a touchdown pass to end George Poschner, scored two rushing touchdowns, and on defense returned an interception for a touchdown.[4] Georgia finished the season with a record of 11–1 and was named the consensus national champion. Trippi then guided Georgia to a 9–0 victory over UCLA in the 1943 Rose Bowl, in which he carried 27 times for 115 yards and also handled passing and punting duties.[5] He was retroactively named the game's most valuable player when the award was created in 1953.[6]

Trippi's college career was interrupted by World War II, causing him to miss the 1943 and 1944 seasons and all but six games in 1945. He played for the 1944 Third Air Force Gremlins football team and was selected as a first-team back on the Associated Press1944 Service All-America team.[7] While in the service in 1945, he was drafted by the Chicago Cardinals of the National Football League as a future pick; per an agreement with Cardinals owner Charles Bidwill, Trippi was allowed to return to Georgia after his time in the military.[8]

Despite missing Georgia's first five games of the 1945 season, Trippi was named a first-team All-Southeastern Conference back by both the Associated Press (AP) and United Press International (UPI).[9][10] He threw a 54-yard touchdown pass and returned a punt 69 yards for a touchdown in Georgia's 20–6 win over Tulsa in the Oil Bowl on New Years Day.[11] In 1946, Trippi led Georgia to its first undefeated season. Against rival Georgia Tech in the final game of that year, Trippi compiled 544 combined yards rushing, passing, and returning kicks, and scored three touchdowns in Georgia's 35–7 victory.[12] Georgia then defeated North Carolina 20–10 in the Sugar Bowl, where Trippi carried 14 times for 54 yards and threw a 67-yard touchdown pass to end Dan Edwards. After the season, Trippi was given the Maxwell Award as the most outstanding college player in the nation,[13] the Walter Camp Memorial Trophy as the nation's best back,[14] and was a unanimous choice for the All-America team.[15] He finished as runner-up in Heisman Trophy voting behind winner Glenn Davis of Army.[12]

Due to relaxed regulations during WWII years, Trippi holds the unusual distinction of participating in the Chicago College All-Star Game a record five times: twice with Georgia, twice in the military, and once with the Cardinals.[16] He was named the Most Valuable Player of the game in 1945.[17] It was at the Chicago College All-Star Game that Bidwell decided he would draft Trippi first overall, as "Card-Pitt" was winless in 1944 and in need of a play-maker. "He said, 'I'm gonna get ya,'" Trippi recalled. "He wanted me to play for him, and I said, 'All you've got to do is draft me and I'm ready.'"[18]

In addition to football, Trippi was highly sought-after for his baseball skills. As a senior on Georgia's baseball team in 1946, he recorded a batting average of .475 and hit 11 home runs in 30 games while playing as a shortstop and outfielder.[19] In 1947, Trippi played one season of minor league baseball with the Southern Association's Atlanta Crackers. He recorded a batting average of .334 through 106 games while drawing large crowds.[20][18] Multiple Major League Baseball teams attempted to sign him, including the New York YankeesBoston Red SoxBoston Braves, and Philadelphia Phillies, but those deals fell through when he joined the NFL.[21][19] Between NFL seasons in 1948 and 1949, Trippi served as Georgia's baseball coach, compiling a 34–18 win–loss record.[22]

[Image: 220px-Trippi_1954_Bowman.jpg]

Trippi on a 1954 football card

Trippi was a major part in the battling between the NFL and [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-America_Football_Conference]All-America Football Conference (AAFC). The 26-year-old rookie had plenty of leverage as a star commodity, and so weighed his options: the Cardinals and the AAFC's New York Yankees. The Yankees were sure they had signed Trippi to a joint deal that included a contract with the Yankees of MLB, but Cardinals owner Charles Bidwill signed Trippi to a four-year contract worth an unprecedented $100,000 along with a first-year bonus of $25,000.[23] The contract was considered the most lucrative in pro football history.[24] Trippi felt the NFL was more established and stable, and Bidwill had offered him job security.[18]

Trippi's addition completed Bidwill's "Dream Backfield". Although Bidwill did not live to see it, Trippi became the game breaker in a talented corps that included Paul ChristmanPat HarderMarshall Goldberg and, later, Elmer Angsman.[25] Trippi served a multitude of roles for the Cardinals as a rookie: in 11 games, he rushed 83 times for 401 yards, caught 23 passes for 240 yards, averaged 43.4 yards on 13 punts, returned eight punts for 181 yards and 15 kickoffs for 321 yards, and on defense returned an interception 59 yards for a touchdown.[26] The Cardinals compiled nine wins and three losses and faced the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1947 NFL Championship Game, which the Cardinals won 28–21 largely due to a spectacular all-around performance by Trippi. Playing on an icy field in Chicago, Trippi wore basketball shoes for better traction and totaled 206 yards, including 102 yards with two punt returns.[27] He scored touchdowns on a 44-yard run and a 75-yard punt return. During the punt return, he twice escaped an encirclement of tacklers and fell to his knees near midfield before cutting to the outside and sprinting for the score.[28] Trippi was named to the 1947 All-Pro second-team backfield by the United Press.[29]

Trippi led the NFL in all-purpose yards in both 1948 and 1949, compiling 1,485 and 1,552 respectively.[26] His 5.4 rushing yards per carry in 1948 also led the league, as did his two punt return touchdowns. He had a 45-yard punt return touchdown against the Green Bay Packers and later returned a punt 67 yards for a touchdown against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Trippi was a first-team All-Pro selection for 1948 by the AP, UPI, New York Daily News, and The Sporting News, among others.[26] The Cardinals returned to the championship game in 1948, and this time were shutout by the Eagles for a 7–0 loss. Trippi was held to nine carries for only 26 yards during the game, which was played in a heavy snowstorm.[30] Trippi saw heavy use as a receiver in 1949; in addition to rushing for 554 yards, he led the Cardinals in receptions (32) and receiving touchdowns (six) and was second on the team with 412 receiving yards.[31]

After playing as a left halfback for his first four seasons, Trippi switched to quarterback during 1951 and 1952. On December 15, 1951, on frozen turf in Wrigley Field, Trippi completed nine passes for 106 yards and carried 11 times for 145 yards, accounting for three touchdowns as the Cardinals defeated the Bears 24–14.[32] Following the 1952 season, he was invited to the Pro Bowl as a backup quarterback for the American Conference.[33] Trippi moved back to offensive halfback for one season and again was invited to the Pro Bowl.[34] He then switched over to play defense in 1954, recording three pass interceptions as a defensive back. He also became the Cardinals' primary punter for 1953 and 1954, and had a career punting average of over 40 yards per punt.[26] His career essentially ended in the 1955 preseason when he was tackled by John Henry Johnson of the San Francisco 49ers, which left Trippi with a smashed nose, a concussion, and a protruding bone behind his eye that gave him double vision.[35] He appeared in only five games that season and did not record any statistics on offense.[26] Trippi retired on December 13, 1955, a day before his 33rd birthday.[36] At the time, his 6,053 yards of total offense (3,506 rushing, 2,547 passing, and 1,321 receiving) was the most by a player in NFL history, and he had compiled the fourth-most all-purpose yards of any player (7,148).[37]
Hall of Famer Art Donovan tells this story from late in Trippi's career: "Earlier in the season, the Bears had nearly killed Charlie Trippi, a very tough halfback. The guy who did it to him was Ed Sprinkle.... Sprinkle sucker-punched Trippi and shattered his jaw. He required a whole series of bone grafting. Then next season, Trippi broke Sprinkle's jaw. What goes round comes round."[38]

After he ended his playing career, Trippi served as an assistant coach with the Cardinals from 1957 to 1965, mostly coaching the offensive backfield. He later took up a business in real estate.[18] Trippi was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1959; the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1965; and the Pro Football Hall of Fame and Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 1968. He is the only player in the Pro Hall of Fame to have accumulated at least 1,000 yards each receiving, passing, and rushing.[39] In 2007, he was ranked 20th on ESPN's list of the top 25 players in college football history. The football stadium at Pittston Area High School is named Charley Trippi Stadium in his honor.[2] In 1969, Trippi was named to the NFL's 1940s All-Decade Team, compiled to honor the best players of the decade. At the time of his death, Trippi was the oldest living member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame,[8] as well as the oldest living No. 1 NFL draft pick.[18]

On December 14, 2021, Trippi turned 100, becoming the second Pro Football Hall of Famer to reach that milestone, after Clarence "Ace" Parker.[40]
Trippi was one of only four University of Georgia football players to have his jersey number retired. His No. 62 was retired in 1947.[41]
st of the top 25 players in college football history. The football stadium at Pittston Area High School is named Charley Trippi Stadium in his honor.[2] In 1969, Trippi was named to the NFL's 1940s All-Decade Team, compiled to honor the best players of the decade. At the time of his death, Trippi was the oldest living member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame,[8] as well as the oldest living No. 1 NFL draft pick.[18]

On December 14, 2021, Trippi turned 100, becoming the second Pro Football Hall of Famer to reach that milestone, after Clarence "Ace" Parker.[40]

Trippi was one of only four University of Georgia football players to have his jersey number retired. His No. 62 was retired in 1947.[41]
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist  but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.


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In addition to losing a true country music superstar in Loretta Lynn, the early part of this month also saw the passing of two female music acts whose music ran the gamut. First was Mary McCaslin who left us on October 2 at the age of 75. She did a lot of work with one-time husband Jim Ringer, who passed in 1992. After his passing she moved ahead as a solo act. In addition to originals, Ms. McCaslin covered many of the pop, folk and country hits of the time. Most notable were her covers of the Beatles hit "Things We Said Today" and "Ghost Riders In the Sky" which was originally recorded by Vaughn Monroe in the early 1950s and became a substantial hit for Johnny Cash two decades later.

Jody Miller left us on October 8 at age 80. Her biggest claim to fame was "Queen of the House", an answer to the Roger Miller (no relation) classic "King of the Road". Her next hit was a quintessential 1960a protest song "Home of the Brave". Ms. Miller resurfaced in the 1970a as a country act specializing in remakes of earlier pop hits, most notably "Baby I'm Yours", which had previously been a hit for Barbara Lewis. By the 1980s she was pretty much retired from music.
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(10-22-2022, 09:59 AM)beechnut79 Wrote: In addition to losing a true country music superstar in Loretta Lynn, the early part of this month also saw the passing of two female music acts whose music ran the gamut.  First was Mary McCaslin who left us on October 2 at the age of 75. She did a lot of work with one-time husband Jim Ringer, who passed in 1992. After his passing she moved ahead as a solo act. In addition to originals, Ms. McCaslin covered many of the pop, folk and country hits of the time. Most notable were her covers of the Beatles hit "Things We Said Today" and "Ghost Riders In the Sky" which was originally recorded by Vaughn Monroe in the early 1950s and became a substantial hit for Johnny Cash two decades later.

Jody Miller left us on October 8 at age 80. Her biggest claim to fame was "Queen of the House", an answer to the Roger Miller (no relation) classic "King of the Road". Her next hit was a quintessential 1960a protest song "Home of the Brave".  Ms. Miller resurfaced in the 1970a as a country act specializing in remakes of earlier pop hits, most notably "Baby I'm Yours", which had previously been a hit for Barbara Lewis. By the 1980s she was pretty much retired from music.

Yes, I remember those two. I wish people would stay around longer. 

I especially remember Jody Miller. "why don't you let him be, what he wants to be"
"I close my eyes, and I can see a better day" -- Justin Bieber

Keep the spirit alive;
Eric M
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