55 thoughts on “Sunday Serendipity”

  2. Attribution: All Those Anti-Fascist Movies Taught You Nothing? by *Alexandra Bowman, CagleCartoons.com
    [*Alexandra Bowman is the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists’ (AAEC) inaugural 2024 John Locher Memorial Fellow for excellence in editorial illustration. She is also a Director of the AAEC starting in 2025. She was the political cartoonist for the political action committee “The Lincoln Project.” Her approach to political cartooning is inspired by her interests in classic 2D animation, late-night political comedy television, and principled, civil discourse.]

  3. jamie, what’s the buzz in your neighborhood lately?
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/31/truck-bees-hives-overturns-washington

    Bee-ware: truck carrying 250m honeybees overturns by US-Canada border

    Officials near the US border were abuzz after being relentlessly attacked on Friday morning by a swarm of fugitives: honeybees had escaped after a truck carrying hives overturned near the Canadian border. About 250 million honeybees flew free of the truck around 4am a few miles south of Canada.
    The truck that was transporting around 70,000lbs of hives and honeybees rolled over on a road in north-western Washington state. Local sheriff deputies and bee experts swarmed to the scene, where they removed the box hives to help recover and rescue as many bees as possible. The driver of the truck was not injured.
    Hours later, officials could not bee-lieve that the bees began to swarm and sting the deputies. Some sheriff deputies took refuge in their patrol cars to avoid the stinging swarm.
    According to a sheriff’s spokesperson, the driver was neither drunk nor buzzed; rather, the driver likely did not navigate a sharp turn well enough, causing the trailer to roll.
    Officials warned the public to bee careful and avoid the area, to prevent getting stung.
    Several beekeeping experts are developing plans to “save as many bees as possible”, the spokesperson told the Seattle Times. The current plan includes closing the road for a couple of days while the bees calm down, bee-have and re-enter their hives, which will then be gathered and secured.
    The sting operation may be successful, a bee expert told the New York Times, saying that honeybees are social and will likely settle close to the truck.

    who says the english press is stodgy and doesn’t have a sense of humor?

  4. Actor Jack Soo (Goro Suzuki) got his Bachelor of Arts degree in English at Berkeley after having been part of the Japanese internment during WW II.

  5. patd
    Several years ago, there was a severe die off in this area. As a result, we have a very active beekeepers association working to keep hives healthy and widespread.

    The “If they go, we all go” motto is very much a thing.

  8. There are significant events happening in russia today as the Ukraine special operations group is attacking russian air force and navy bases within the country. The attacks are focused on the aircraft, in particular long range that are used to fire missiles into Ukraine civilian locations. The russian reports of the naval base are sort of confirmed that a missile cruiser and or submarine are destroyed too, both of which are used to fire missiles into Ukraine civilian centers. It is possible that a major portion of the russian air force is being destroyed today. The drones were packed into trucks and driven close to the bases which allowed those to evade defenses. Expect the results will take time to fully confirm.

    Ukraine is changing warfare everyday, this is stuff that the drunk secretary of defense cannot comprehend. You don’t need to be running five miles a day to fly a drone into a parked airplane. The whole of sfb administration is cosplaying in 1945 while the real world of war is in 2025 approaching 2026.

  10. Jack, love that selection. Until 10 years or so ago I would never have thought I’d be a fan of cello tunes.

    *SFB? Dementia? An outlandish comment as a distraction?

    bId, the explanation is simpler. He’s just an asshole.

  11. Rick and I are leaving for Cape Cod in a few hours.
    As I said… taking my iPad… so I might pop in.

    Everyone take care!

    ps…. can’t wait to get those fried clams!

  14. All aboaarrrdd! The CRAZY train.
    Trump is fucking demented, not Joe: from: The Daily Beast:
    “With one repost from President Donald Trump, former president Joe Biden has joined a storied pantheon: public figures believed to have died and been replaced by clones.

    Not content with spreading conspiracy theories on Friday night, late on Saturday night, Trump shared a post by a supporter to his Truth Social page that claimed Biden was killed in 2020. The post reads, “There is no #JoeBiden – executed in 2020. #Biden clones doubles & robotic engineered soulless mindless entities are what you see. Democrats don’t know the difference.”-”
    “What absolute twaddle”, as Withnail said in “Withnail & I”.

  15. Pogeot- His assholishness is a given. Having conversations with those experiencing dementia, this would fit right in…but I always wonder what really terrible thing he and his administration are doing that require a distraction.

    I mean Peter Thiel’s company, Palantir, aggregating all of our info from various government sites to track us would require a pretty big distraction…if the MSM bothered covering it.

  16. BB
    A good article on the use of drones in Ukraine from the BBC.
    Both sides have learned to jam the radio controlled drones . Now the latest is miles long fiber cable control. Which can mean the most dangerous spot isn’t the front lines but the trip from rear areas to the front.
    Given the advancement in autonomous control technology, it won’t be long until they do away with the wire and the vehicle itself choses the target. I suspect we are 10 years away from every disgruntled tech savvy lonewolf having the capability of dropping small IEDs on the head of the local mayor or his former boss.
    Jack

  17. Forced to barf Fox at breakfast all week. This morning was all about “demented Joe,” decrepit Joe,” “auto-pen Joe” which I take to be a cover-up for “shaky signature Joe.”

    Missed my Sunday show moment of nature serenity.

  18. Most recent book club read, a Vatican thriller, has Vivaldi as a character. I didn’t realize he was an ordained priest and taught violin at an orphanage.

  21. it’s low-effort provocation for grump to post any garbage and gin up the online chatterers, he is literally just trolling the world, because he NEEDS to be the center of attention

    i’d discourage some from playing along but a little late for that, eh?

  23. Ivy
    These days even Dan Brown is ripping off Dan Brown. Just finished his latest with all the Masonic clues and it really got almost unreadable in the latter chapters.

  24. Just chiming in on Jack’s theme.

    Even the original DaVinci Code was unreadable as I recall.

  25. Nancy Drew, somehow, never felt tiresome. Of course, I was 10-years old when I read those books.

    Graduated to Art Buchwald at eleven or twelve, and then to Vonnegut.

    There are four or five books I bought last year, and I still haven’t read them. There’s still time to read them this year, if If just stop doomscrolling.

  26. …did enjoy reading “Da Vinci Code” a million years ago

    I mean, if you’re gonna waste time on the Internet bid, there’s better things to do than doomscroll

    get on Reddit

    I do appreciate you paying attention for me though, but that is an exploitative relationship, seize your destiny!

  28. BID, I find myself needing to budget my reading time or else I’d never get through the books in time. I appreciate they have me reading selections I wouldn’t choose on my own.

  29. these female book clubs might be the most positive cultural development in America in the last 20 years

    I ain’t judging

    OK, I’m judging Gary McAvoy, but not you 😊

    Maybe Jamie is more right than she might know and Gary McAvoy is Dan Brown 🤷‍♂️

  30. I hate a writer who get so predictable that you feel like you can write the book yourself.
    I’ve been buying used books on ebay, I will buy a large collection of a specific writer if I’ve read one of their books I liked. It takes a really imaginative writer to hold up to binge reading.

    Jack

  31. but Jack sometimes predictability is comforting, especially when it’s a bedtime read that gently puts you to sleep. speaking of gentle reading, over the years i’ve been a fan of the Botswana characters in
    https://www.alexandermccallsmith.com/series/no-1-detective-agency
    the series is kinda an adult version of the nancy drew books but more colorful and humorous with a good peek at modern African culture thrown in.

  32. Our Huckleberry Finn/Jim/James discussion is likely to be a doozy. We are supposed to cover all of it in one two-hour meeting.

    Some, including me, are going back to the beginning with The Adventures of Tom Sawyer which I remember reading as a child and seeing on film. I was entertained but not instructed by it, having no idea then of a picaresque novel.

    Huckleberry Finn is a completely different and more complex and misunderstood book. I am in agreement with Randy from Boulder who submitted this comment to the New York Times for their review of James.

    The biggest injustice to Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” has been its relegation to young adult or children’s literature. It never was intended as that: it is a brutal, ridiculing social satire, R rated, not suitable for children, and as good satire always does, it is also well over the heads of those it ridicules. Which explains why it is year in and year out atop of the banned books list. Folks just don’t get it. It sounds from this review that Mr Everett, a Twain fan, goes all in as well. Looking forward to reading it.

  33. Want a good writer who is world-wise and never gets old? Totally unpredictable?
    I guess you’d have to peg him as a mystery writer but he’s so much more.

    Ross Thomas.

    KGC will tell you.

  34. Sturg – You may also like the works of TJ English. Historical novels; interesting stuff, but I’ve only read one: Havana Nocturne

    I like biographies and autobiographies; interesting when both exist. Rose Kennedy, comes to mind.

    Truckload of Art/Terry Allen has been staring at me for the longest, but it’s daunting to even look at; probably a lot of pictures.

  35. Sorry sturge, been tied up today. Aside from responding to bid with my assessment ( not much of a surprise when I’m just stating facts anyone with half a brain should be aware of) there’s no more that needs to be said when an asshole reposts insanity to get a rise out of anyone who’ll bite. Takes really stupid shit to divert attention from Ukraine wreaking havoc on the Russian Air Force to insane bullshit – and he KNOWS insane bullshit.

    And in breaking news,

    The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of President Donald Trump, allowing him to dismiss heads of independent agencies, including Gwynne Wilcox of the National Labor Relations Board and Cathy Harris of the Merit Systems Protection Board. The Court noted that preventing Trump from terminating these officials would impose greater burdens than those faced by Wilcox and Harris, who argued they could only be removed for cause under federal law. Chief Justice John Roberts affirmed that the decision balances the executive power vested in the presidency.

    Horse shit.

  36. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1ld7ppre9vo

    Ukraine says it completed its biggest long-range attack of the war with Russia on Sunday, after using smuggled drones to launch a series of major strikes on 40 Russian warplanes at four military bases.

    President Volodymyr Zelensky said 117 drones were used in the so-called “Spider’s Web” operation by the SBU security service, striking “34% of [Russia’s] strategic cruise missile carriers”.

    SBU sources earlier told BBC News it took a year-and-a-half to organise the strikes, which involved drones hidden in wooden mobile cabins, with remotely operated roofs on trucks, brought near the airbases and then fired “at the right time”.

    Russia confirmed Ukrainian attacks in five regions calling them a “terrorist act”.

    Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities reported a massive overnight drone and missile attack on its territory.

    All this comes as Russian and Ukrainian negotiators are heading to Istanbul, Turkey, for a second round of peace talks on Monday.

    Expectations are low, as the two warring sides remain far apart on how to end the war.
    […]
    In several posts on social media late on Sunday, Zelensky said he congratulated SBU head Vasyl Maliuk with the “absolutely brilliant result” of the operation.

    He said that each of the 117 drones launched had its own pilot.

    “The most interesting thing – and we can already say this publicly – is that the ‘office’ of our operation on Russian territory was located right next to the FSB of Russia in one of their regions,” the Ukrainian president said.

    The FSB is Russia’s powerful state security service.

    Zelensky also said that all the people involved in the operation had been safely “led away” from Russia before the strikes.

    The SBU estimated the damage to Russia’s strategic aviation was worth about $7bn (£5bn), promising to unveil more details soon.

    The Ukrainian claims have not been independently verified.

    Sources in the SBU earlier on Sunday told the BBC in a statement that four Russian airbases – two of which are thousands of miles from Ukraine – were hit:

    Belaya in Irkutsk oblast (region), Siberia
    Olenya in Murmansk oblast, Russia’s extreme north-west
    Dyagilevo in central Ryazan oblast
    Ivanovo in central Ivanovo oblast
    The SBU sources said that among the hit Russian aircraft were strategic nuclear capable bombers called Tu-95 and Tu-22M3, as well as A-50 early warning warplanes.

    They described the whole operation as “extremely complex logistically”.

    “The SBU first smuggled FPV drones into Russia, followed later by mobile wooden cabins. Once on Russian territory, the drones were hidden under the roofs of these cabins, which had been placed on cargo vehicles,” the sources said.

    “At the right moment, the roofs were remotely opened, and the drones took off to strike the Russian bombers.”

    Irkutsk Governor Igor Kobzev confirmed drones that attacked the Belaya military base in Sredniy, Siberia, were launched from a truck.

    Kobzev posted on Telegram to say that the launch site had been secured and there was no threat to life.

    Russian media outlets have also reported that other attacks were similarly started with drones emerging from the lorries.

    One user is heard saying that the drones were flying out of a Kamaz truck near a petrol station.

    Russian media were reporting the attack in Murmansk but said air defences were working. The attack in Irkutsk was also being reported.
    [continues]

  37. Had a feeling there was actual news that Maria Barfaromo was deflecting us away from.

  38. Huh, it seems that “No Time For Sergeants” was a play before it was a movie. Here is the live-on-TV play, starring Andy Griffith, complete with old-timey ads for US Steel, and such.

  39. BOULDER, Colo. — Boulder Police are investigating a report of an attack with multiple victims Sunday afternoon.

    https://www.9news.com/article/news/crime/boulder-attack-pearl-street/73-6ae044dd-9f89-4f9a-9141-4cabf8b871c8

    “A man reportedly set people on fire in Boulder, Colorado, leaving multiple individuals injured, the city’s police chief said, as people gathered to show support for Israeli hostages.”

    “A suspect is in custody and police are investigating what FBI officials immediately called “a targeted terror attack” — though the local authorities said it was too early to define the attack.”

  41. BID & Ivy
    I was entranced by Nancy Drew as well and prefer the originals. I remember wanting a “roadster” when I could drive. Of course back in those dark ages, girls read Nancy and boys read The Hardy Boys. I’ve rebuilt my childhood library to pass along to the youngsters, particularly all the Alcott.

  42. Patd
    It’s nice to see someone else is reading Alexander McCall Smith. Have you seen the film version of the Number 1 Detective Agency.

    On the book clubs and history front, the must read book is And Ladies of the Club
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%22…And_Ladies_of_the_Club%22

  44. Growing up in the Fifties with father and grandfather, along with a lot of uncles and cousins, in WWI, WWII and Korea, we as a family watched a lot of gentle war movies. We did not see too many other war movies, except for South Pacific types. I grew to like No Time For Sargents in the Sixties for some reason. Part of that might flow from Sargent Bilko shows.

    We did not watch a lot of combat or navy action films or shows. Too close to home, so to speak.

  46. The earliest Nancy Drew books were published as dark-blue hardcovers with the titles stamped in orange lettering with dark-blue outlines and no other images on the cover.

    That is my mom’s book. I still have it, only one left in the collection, all the others have been given away to younger cousins in the family. I clung to my last one for dear life.

  49. My great-aunt gave me a Nancy Drew book one Christmas. When I discovered a rolling rack of Nancy Drew at the library, I was ecstatic. I didn’t realize they had been re-written, and reading the wiki-synopsis of both versions of The Clue of the Broken Locket, I definitely read the revised version.

  50. Remember, a decade ago she appealed to Iowans by castrating hogs.

    Guess they draw the line at having their healthcare castrated.

  51. This evening I came through an experience of a remembrance, eating crabs. In particular Chesapeake Bay Blue Crabs. Super sweet and requires dexterity and “sticktoitivness” to get it all. Almost forty years ago my co-worker and I decided we needed crabs to make us happy. We had been working close to fourteen hour days for a week, so a little reward was needed.

    We cut work at an eight hour day and headed to a crab house on the Potomac River. Captain Billie’s in particular. We went for the all you can eat, and we did. After a few hours the tally of crabs devoured, yes we were hungry, was seventy-two. Thirty-six each. Not a record for us and many others, but a large amount for a weekday.

    This evening I ate three. Yes, three, and was full. Oh my how the mighty have faced their age and cried.

  53. Only ate one crab in my life. A soft shell crab in Atlantic City, about 25 years ago. When it arrived, it looked like a breaded and fried spider on a plate.

    The only lobster I ever had was around the same time, but in NYC. It was just the claw meat on top of mac n cheese. Looking at it bothered me. The only thing good that stood out was that they put lemon zest in the breadcrumbs and that was wonderful.

    Cardinals built a nest in the old kennel, behind the gutter. Found it today; 5 eggs, but no parent(s), and I’m afraid it’s because I watered the gutter and got the nest, too. It could’ve been a storm or a hawk, but it was probably me.

  54. https://newrepublic.com/post/195904/trump-palantir-data-americans

    Palantir has taken more than $113 million in government spending since Trump took office, from both existing contracts and new ones with the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security. That number is expected to grow, especially given that the firm just won a new $795 million contract with the DOD last week.

    Thiel has multiple ties to DOGE, both through Musk and through many of his former employees working for the effort or taking other jobs in the Trump administration. And this data collection effort could give Thiel, Musk, and Trump unprecedented power over Americans, with the president being better able to punish his critics and target immigrants.

    Privacy advocates, student unions, and labor rights organizations are among those who have sued to stop Trump’s data collection efforts. Palantir’s involvement also gives a powerful tech company access to this data, and its CEO, Alex Karp, doesn’t exactly have a benign agenda, hoping to cash in on American techno-militarism. Musk too has plans for government data, using his AI, Grok, to analyze it. Will anyone be able to stop Trump and these tech oligarchs?

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