Nurses in the 1990s: "There is no more need for people to suffer through pain." The corporate-driven pain-killer marketing campaign had succeeded and we now know what was the outcome of that! A societal addiction crisis fed by corporate lies about scientific achievements in Pharma.

Lack of wolves and absence of grizzly bears help to make sense of these greater densities in the northeast. Not a single wolf in Newfoundland! Lots of black bears but they are no threat to adult moose.

Ravel's mother was from an old Basque family (Deluarte) and she spent many years of her youth in Madrid. She was fluent in Spanish. Ravel's Spain was the idealized portrayal of his mother. A family with a borderland identity.

Data I checked for 2025 has both Texas and New York with higher poverty rates than North Carolina. Incidentally, Puerto Rico is the jurisdiction with the highest poverty rate in the nation, far exceeding New Mexico and Mississippi.

The Alban Berg Quartet box set, originally on Telefunken. If not definitive, certainly a work of reference.

We can all thank Angelo Noce, of Denver, for politically pushing Columbus Day in this country. Scandinavian-Americans had previously popularized the idea that Columbus had not discovered the New World but Italian-American lobbyists proved more successful than advocates for Leif Erikson.

Once again, this poll reveals continuity more than change. Other than tariffs, which affect the whole population, approval hovers around forty percent. It's been at that level since at least April. Four out of ten individuals still support Trump.

Vive la résistance! A remarkably political composer before, during, and after the Nazi occupation of Paris. Changed her name to Catherine Bonnard because her father, a cellist, was of Jewish lineage. Very leftist as well.

Check Trump approval rating for April, five months ago. Around 42 or 43 percent... A declining popularity? The truth is that over 40 percent of Americans have persistently approved. Four out of ten, with disapproval a tad higher than five out of ten. It's a constant, not some dramatic change.

Brunel was also found dead in his prison cell, in Paris, in 2022. "Hanging." He was not only accused of rapes and other sexual atrocities but also of trafficking girls from France for Epstein.

Close artistic association with Gustav Holst and his daughter, Imogen. Having read her bio on wiki, I get the impression that she labored in his shadow. One of his female scribes...

The other president who is remembered for his foul mouth is Nixon, but he did so behind closed doors. Personally, I do mind because the president is always a role model for the country's children. Civility and courtesy are expected for that reason.

There is still integrity in journalism but the reliable media are fighting for their very existence:

Last I saw, Japan owns 1 trillion. Other countries owning lots of US debts are China, the UK, Luxembourg and Canada.

Hard to find signs of Canadian unity in much of Ontario and westward. Canada is actually festering with MAGAts. Thank eastern Canadians for holding the course of democracy. Big political polarization like this can't be called "unity."

MAGAs probably never even heard of Renee Fleming. But her resignation will not go unnoticed on the international stage.