The Ledes

Thursday, September 19, 2024

New York Times: “A body believed to be of the suspect in a Kentucky highway shooting that left five people seriously injured this month was found on Wednesday, the authorities said, ending a manhunt that stretched into a second week and set the local community on edge. The Kentucky State Police commissioner, Phillip Burnett Jr., said in a Wednesday night news conference that at approximately 3:30 p.m., two troopers and two civilians found an unidentified body in the brush behind the highway exit where the shooting occurred.... The police have identified the suspect of the shooting as Joseph A. Couch, 32. They said that on Sept. 7, Mr. Couch perched on a cliff overlooking Interstate 75 about eight miles north of London, Ky., and opened fire. One of the wounded was shot in the face, and another was shot in the chest. A dozen vehicles were riddled with gunfire.”

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The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as 'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”

Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."

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Friday
Dec242021

December 25, 2021

No technical difficulties yet because I can't even find a suitable template for the "updated" Reality Chex. Too bad I don't want my very own Wesbsite to boast about my uncoming wedding or my impressive CV, because there are plenty of templates for that.

Meanwhile, some TV station is playing "Home Alone" on a practically continuous loop. So sometimes in the commercials of a show I'm watching I'll switch over to "Home Alone," and today I caught the bit of the film that features this:

My father used to sing us this one at Christmas time. Thanks to Patrick for the link:

If you want to take a short breather from the festivities, lock yourself in your study and play the Washington Post's "Find the Elves."

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Reader Comments (6)

Too dang cute, Marie! All the best to you and all the RCers…I so appreciate you all! Love and happy Christmas!

December 24, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterJeanne

Joan Didion's death this week brought back my connection with her via all her books and journalism that I coveted. We came from different spaces but I connected with her in so many ways. Here's the NYT's piece on her life and letters:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/24/opinion/joan-didion-books.html?referringSource=articleShare

I join Jeanne in wishing everyone here good cheer and hope for a better year.
And Patrick: I used your video to send out to those I knew who would appreciate a bit of whimsy in such a cold climate.

December 25, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterP.D. Pepe

A little doggerel is good for the (mine, anyway) soul.

Merry Christmas to all RC'ers, an especially warm one to Marie, who has (so far) made it possible for all of you to become my valued friends.


Covid Christmas, 2021


‘Twas the week before Christmas

And all through the house

The virus was lurking,

Getting ready to pounce.


Presents were purchased,

The bills were all paid,

The food was all ready,

Christmas plans were all made.


Christmas Eve would be here,

With Ben, Luke, Maya and Sloane,

First, dinner, then presents

All ripped open at home.


Then Christmas Day in Seattle

For more Christmas joys

Shared with Gus, Ria, Kaia,

And the two lively boys.


But things do go awry,

Murphy’s Law never rests,

This year the universe gave us

An Omicron Test.


Maya picked it up somewhere;

She contracted it first

And perhaps gave to Anne

As a case, not the worst.


A sore throat and some mucous,

Some coughs and some sneezes

A disturbing annoyance

That sure didn’t please us


The testing was constant,

Every day it would seem

We were swabbing our noses

‘Til we wanted to scream.


So much for the planning:

Now all in a cocked hat.

No gathering together

It’s over; that’s that!


But I think of my grandmother

Now long in her grave

And some words she has left me

Are a gift I have saved.


When misery beckoned,

She responded to strife,

Saying, “If you don’t weaken,

It’s a great life.”


Well, we weakened a little,

I’ll admit from the start.

Christmas means a lot less

When we’re all far apart.


Now Luke has the virus

But no one’s very sick.

We’re at least getting by.

(Grandma was right)

The bright side’s the trick.


We can count on each year

To bring something new

This year it was Covid,

Saying “Merry Christmas” to you.

December 25, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

@Ken Winkes: Your poem is terrific. I hope you read it to the family. You probably should record it. I would give it its own page if not for the family names in the poem.

December 25, 2021 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Thanks, Marie, and to my longtime mentor, Dr. Seuss, who gave me far more than the meter...

December 25, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Ken: Loved your poem–may all the kids kick that can of viral vitriol and emerge brand new. And high-five to your grandmother!

December 25, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterP.D. Pepe
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