August 2023:The Strange Files Newsletter
So, What's With the Barbie Dolls at the Top of this Newsletter? This August 26 we're celebrating Women's Equality Day!
And in a wild coincidence, the Mattel toy company has launched a lineup of dolls spotlighting high-achieving women just as it's new movie, Barbie, is setting box office records.
Okay, so maybe not a coincidence.
Women's Equality Day marks the date in 1920 when the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was certified granting women the right to vote. Congress officially designated the commemoration at the request of U.S. Rep. Bella Abzug (D-NY) in 1971.
(Abzug, nicknamed "Battling Bella," was another high-achieving woman in her own right with a fascinating history.)
Those five women pictured above, just in case you don't recognize all of them, are:
Katherine Johnson, a NASA mathematician whose calculations paved the way for America's spaceflight programs. Including the launch of...
Sally Ride, who became the first American woman in space (aboard Shuttle STS-7) in 1983 following in the footsteps of other heroic women such as...
Rosa Parks, who famously refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white person thus launching the Montgomery bus boycott, a milestone in the civil rights movement...
Frida Kahlo, a brilliant Mexican artist celebrated for, among other things, her depiction of the female experience and form, but who died in her prime at age 47 shortly after protesting the CIA's invasion of Guatemala...
Amelia Earhart, the legendary aviation pioneer, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic and who vanished at age 39 during a flight over the western Pacific.
Two other contemporary women we might mention in this Barbie-themed item: Deena Taylor, the director of Barbie Global Brand Marketing at Mattel (let's agree that getting a major motion picture made about your product is a marketing coup) ...
... and Greta Gerwig, the Barbie movie director who shattered opening weekend box-office records including being the biggest film opening ever by a female director.
Here's where you can read more about Women's Equality Day
August Milestones and Events
Arrr-gust is International Pirate Month, a time to celebrate pirates, real and imaginary (yes, Jack Sparrow, yes, Mona, we're talking about you). This is not to be confused with Talk Like a Pirate Day, which is in September.
Christopher Columbus set sail for the New World on Aug. 3, 1492, the first of many voyages where he encountered cheerful native people then enslaved them.
Barack Obama celebrates his birthday on Aug. 4. He is the last American president to have peacefully -- and graciously -- presided over the transfer of power after an election.
August 8 is, oddly, Sneak Some Zucchini onto Your Neighbors' Porch Day. Don't ask me why.
National Book Lovers Day is August 9. Which sounds like another of those made-up holidays designed for commercial purposes -- you know, a way for authors to shamelessly tout their books.
August 11 is Presidential Joke Day. Here's one:
”In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress.”
—John Adams
The Perseid meteor shower, the best of the year, will peak around August 13. The meteor storm is caused by the Earth passing through debris left in space by the Comet Swift-Tuttle. You can expect to see up to 100 meteors per hours, usually, on a moonless night with clear skies.
August 20 is World Mosquito Day, a recognition those of us living in Florida pay close attention to now that we are in the midst of a malaria outbreak.
Be An Angel Day is August 22, which reminds me: Have I mentioned that my next book is tentatively titled An Angel In Time?
Finally, August 29 is International Bat Night. Of course, if you live in Gotham City, every night is bat night.
August Sports
Soccer, Golf, and Tennis headline the sports events in August.
The U.S.A. women's soccer team has struggled its way through the first round in the World Cup championship being played in Australia and New Zealand. Dates to mark on your calendar:
August 5 -- The start of the Round of 16
August 10 -- Quarter-finals
August 15 -- Semi-finals
August 20 -- FIFA Women's World Cup Championship game.
In golf, the PGA Tour Championship begins August 23.
The U.S. Open Tennis Championships begin August 28.
August Viewing
It's the dog days of summer, but there is one stand-out series to catch on the tube this month: Only Murders in the Building returns August 8. Meryl Streep joins Paul Rudd and our amateur sleuths Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez. Can't wait.
Here's the best of new streamers in August.
On the silver screen, things are decidedly less exciting. Insects and reptiles top what's coming.
The bug: Blue Beetle, the latest DC Comics offering, is about a college grad who comes into possession of an ancient alien artifact called the Scarab that turns him into a powerful bug -- think Spider-Man only bluer, I suppose. Premiers August 18.
But if you don't like insects, how about anthropomorphic turtles? Our favorite Testudines are back August 2 in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.
Here's the complete list of August movie premiers.
August Indictments
Okay, the Get Smart Newsletter does not ordinarily have an "indictments" section, but August promises to be historic. It's not every month that an ex-president, already facing criminal charges, is about to be charged yet again, not once, but twice, in both federal and state courts.
If you're keeping score (or just trying to keep up):
Donald Trump was indicted in March by the Manhattan district attorney on charges related to hush-money payments to a porn star, the allegation being that the payments to Stormy Daniels were part of an illegal scheme to undermine the integrity of the 2016 presidential election. A trial is scheduled for March 25, 2024.
Then on June 9, a federal grand jury in Miami indicted Trump on a range of charges related to taking and failing to return classified documents. Some he stored in his bathroom.
On July 27, more charges in the classified documents case were revealed by Special Counsel Jack Smith alleging that Trump, among other things, ordered video surveillance footage deleted. A trial regarding these charges is currently scheduled for May 20, 2024.
Two more indictments are expected to drop this month.
In Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is leading an investigation into 2016 election interference and has said she expects to announce charges in August. By now you've no doubt heard the recording of Trump calling election officials and urging them to "find" him more votes.
Trump's lawyers have already been served notice that the former president is the target of the Special Counsel's Jan. 6 Insurrection investigation and charges are anticipated any time.
One consequence of all this is that Trump's standing among hard-core Republican primary voters has actually improved. So much so that other Republicans in the 2024 presidential race have wondered aloud (surely facetiously) how they can get indicted, too.
What I'm
Reading and Watching
I've become completely addicted to Martha Wells' Murderbot series
Sentient robots have been around for a while (yes, Isaac Asimov, Ian McEwan, and Dennis E. Taylor I'm thinking especially of you.) Martha Wells introduces us to Murderbot in a series of briskly paced novels that must be read in sequence to trace Murderbot's evolution from a tool to a being of independent agency who learns not only what it is to be free, but how to be loved -- although he has a hard time admitting it. Great stuff. Very techie, but filled with rip-snorting action and hilarious dialogue.
Now a Word or Two About Barbie
My wife, Sandy, asked me if I wanted to see Barbie with her. My initial reaction was, "negatory." No offense to Barbie dolls. I didn't watch G.I. Joe The Movie either.
But that was before I started to read some of the reviews and I realized I needed to check this film out for myself. It has stirred criticism that seems to fall into a couple of baskets:
It's unfair to men because it paints all the male characters as either idiots, or bigots, or losers.
It's unfair to women because the men had to be dumbed down in order to make the women look good, as if they couldn't do it on their own.
My take: I thought it was a brilliant production with a scattering of hilarious moments, but its preachy-ness at the end was cringy and over the top. I would also say it was out of synch with all the cultural growth we've experienced in the past several decades. Except with the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, maybe the timing is ominously prescient.
It also passes the "think about it" test. When you see a film or read a book and it stays with you for days afterward, perhaps even becoming a subconscious lens through which you view the world around you a little differently, by definition, then, it is provocative. Which is what art is meant to be.
In Honor of Presidential Jokes Day
a Selection of Jokes About Presidents
The CEO of IKEA was just elected president in Sweden.
He should have his cabinet together by the end of the week.
***
A man is on a street corner in Moscow yelling, “The president is an idiot."
Police surround him and handcuff him. They say, “It is illegal to insult President Putin.”
He says, “You don’t understand. I mean the Ukrainian president, Zelensky, he is the one I was insulting.“
The police captain says, “You can’t fool us, everyone knows who the idiot is."
***
President Biden has called for full legalization of marijuana.
Now it is up to Congress to hold a joint session.
The Strange Files
The world is a weird place. Which is a good thing for Alexander Strange, whose adventures I chronicle in the Strange Files series. Here are a few of the stories Alexander has been covering:
STRANGE BEDFELLOWS: Swear you've never fought a duel
Most states have some weird laws on the books, but this one from Kentucky is one of the strangest:
Every elected official in the Bluegrass State must, as part of their oath of office, swear they have never participated in a duel.
That includes U.S. Sen. Rand Paul who, when accused of plagiarizing his speeches, once told ABC News: "If they keep it up, it'd be a duel challenge, but I can't do that because I can't hold office in Kentucky then."
Dueling as a way to settle political differences goes way back. As one historian noted: "Abraham Lincoln once was challenged to a duel and accepted it, but he chose as a weapon cow pies at ten paces."
Perhaps the most famous pistol duel in American history -- certainly political history -- was the death of Alexander Hamilton at the hands of the third vice president of the United States, Aaron Burr. Both men had been involved in duels before, Hamilton more than a dozen.
Historians say Kentucky wanted to put a stop to this, although the ban turned out to be ineffective. But it's still on the books.
STRANGE CRITTERS: Vampire Fish Stalk the Great Lakes
The sea lamprey, a fish with an eel-like shape and an appetite for blood, is making a comeback in the Great Lakes.
Nicknamed the "vampire fish," the lamprey has a terrifying circular row of teeth which it uses to latch onto its prey.
They aren't supposed to be there. Lamprey are native to the Atlantic Ocean but somehow slithered into the Great Lakes, and now they are multiplying. Besides being terrifying, they are devastating the population of native fishes, including lake trout in the upper Great Lakes.
For years, scientists have labored to keep the lamprey population under control -- with success -- but during the COVID pandemic, those efforts were curtailed and now the vampires are growing in numbers.
MORE STRANGE CRITTERS: Beware the Giant Anaconda
Bad enough that The Everglades is being overrun by invasive Burmese pythons, but there's a new snake in town that's growing in numbers: The green anaconda, the world's heaviest snake.
Males of the species can grow up to fifteen feet and weigh over a hundred pounds, but it's the females whose size is staggering. They routinely can reach 26 feet in length and weigh 440 pounds.
And the presence of juveniles suggests the enormous constrictors are multiplying. Because of their massive size, these snakes can take down large animals, including deer, which has conservationists further worried about the future of The Everglades.
STRANGE SCIENCE: Remember That Asteroid We Hit
Check out this photo of the asteroid Dimorphos, the space rock we rammed a satellite into a few months ago. See those little white specks? Those are boulders knocked off the asteroid by the satellite's impact. And that tail? Dust also broken free from the rock. This is all good news, scientists say: It's further proof of our ability to attack dangerous asteroids and bump them away from a collision with Earth. If we make the investment to enlarge our detection capabilities and in the rocketry needed to do so.
Readers Write...
Dear J.C.
So, earlier in the newsletter, when you wrote about pirate month, you mentioned Captain Jack Sparrow and someone named Mona? Did you expect us to know who she is?
D. Jones
Not necessarily, but I was hoping someone would ask, so thank you. Meet Mona the Mannequin. She's the star of my next book, An Angel in Time. And, yes, she seems inanimate, but just you wait...
Dear J.C.
There you go again, pimping your books in the letters section of the newsletter. That's twice you mentioned your next book, An Angel In Time. Is this some sort of advertising strategy to build interest? And does it work?
J. Grisham
Yes. And I'll let you know.
Dear J.C.
Love your new website, www.jcbruce.com. I especially like the way people can view back issues of your newsletters there. But on another subject, I was at Publix the other day and people were not using the corrals for their shopping carts, just leaving them all over the parking lot. And I remembered Mister Manners, in your fifth book, and how he really got even with that writer woman who did that, gluing a shopping cart to the roof of her car. Where can I get that glue?
Anonymous
We haven't heard from Mister Manners in a while. My guess is if he were still around we'd see less of that kind of shameful behavior. No clue on where he sourced his glue, but the Get Smart Newsletter advises you to NOT do that. There's a reason Mister Manners is a fugitive.
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Parting Shot
J.C. Bruce is the author of The Strange Files series of mysterious novels (available on Amazon, other fine online booksellers, and at selected libraries). He also writes this free monthly newsletter. He holds dual citizenship in the United States of America and Florida where he is seeking a locksmith to protect his personal library from marauding book burners.