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Odds & Ends: News/Humor (with a "Who Lost the Week?" poll)

I post a weekly diary of historical notes, arts & science items, foreign news (often receiving little notice in the US) and whimsical pieces from the outside world that I often feature in "Cheers & Jeers".

OK, you've been warned - here is this week's tomfoolery material that I posted.

CHEERS to Bill and Michael in PWM, our Laramie, Wyoming-based friend Irish Patti and ...... well, each of you. Have a fabulous weekend .... and week ahead. If you celebrate it: Happy Easter.

ART NOTES— an exhibition entitled Arte Sacra— works from (or inspired by) the Portuguese colonial region of Goa in western India — will be on display at the New Orleans, Louisiana Museum of Art through June 20th.

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In New Orleans to June 20th

YOUR WEEKEND READ is this essay by Alexander Sammon in The American Prospect— that if moderate Democrats are serious about their demands to offset the cost of Biden’s infrastructure plan, they can start by saving billions through prescription drug price reform.

THURSDAY's CHILDREN is a stray cat in Izmir, Turkey … whom staff at a health clinic had fed before …. now as a new mother: she brought her two sick newborns in (by the scruff of their necks) and staff were able to administer eye drops and then summon appropriate veterinary care.

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     All three are now up for adoption

EUROPEAN FAR-RIGHT PARTIES— such as Hungary’s Fidesz, Italy’s Northern League and Poland’s Law and Justice (PiS) — are seeking to form a coalition in the European Parliament, with the one major stumbling block being Russia. Fidesz and the Northern League are chummy, yet for Poland: “it is an implacable foe”.

UPCOMING FILM NOTES— from the DC Comics superheroes team, this August:

The Suicide Squad’s Weasel Is Inspired By Bill The Cat https://t.co/MVdmGwSYV0#TheSuicideSquad#JamesGunn

— JamesGunnNews (@JamesGunnNews) April 2, 2021

CHEERS to the ninety-five year-old film star Dick Van Dyke— who came across a line of people at a non-profit community center (that helps to find work for those left unemployed by the pandemic) — and returned with cash to offer them.

FRIDAY's CHILD is named Piper the Cat— a Washington state kitteh who went missing a month ago …. then found stuck in their neighbor’s chimney, and while she was dehydrated: is doing well.

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              Piper the Cat

BRAIN TEASER— try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC ...… and the usually easier, less UK-centered New York Times quiz. One question on the BBC quiz will give you a strong hint on the NY Times quiz.

THE OTHER NIGHT yours truly hosted the Top Comments diary with a look at three vignettes from the entertainment world: the full-circle final stage performance of the "First Lady of American Theater" (Helen Hayes), an unfair burden that the late Dallas Cowboys defensive lineman Jethro Pugh carried for nearly thirty years (before finding absolution for him and his son) and a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame from Germany (easy listening bandleader Bert Kaempfert) whose career was launched by Billy Crystal’s uncle and was the first record producer to sign (as a back-up band, for one recording) The Beatles, in 1961.

SEPARATED at BIRTH— NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel andGame of Thrones’  Jaime Lannister (portrayed by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau).

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Engel (b. 1973), Coster-Waldau (b. 1970)

...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… quite a hectic week for me, hence no time for a profile of much of anything. Instead, while the aforementioned Bert Kaempfert wrote the music to songs such as Strangers in the Night (for Frank Sinatra) and L-O-V-E  (for Nat King Cole) — he also had some kitschy works that made it to TV in the early 1960’s. One is That Happy Feeling (which the Sandy Becker Show used as its theme music).

And if you ever watched The Match Game in its earlier incarnations — you’ll easily recognize A Swingin’ Safari.


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