55. 5/21/17

MAGAZINE Page 18 ON MONEY

"Even after grants and scholarships, the typical family making less than $30,000 needs to pay 77 percent of its income to cover the costs of a four-year public college."

People like Sara are on the cutting edge of a society filled with right-wing hatred of anything that smacks of "socialism" -- or "free" anything. She deserves our support.

SUNDAY REVIEW Page 10 EARLY DREAMS OF TRUMPGATE

Bullet points from this op-ed:

• Comparisons to Watergate
• Similarities: "witch hunt" / "enemies" / sycophantic assistants
• Differences: After ransom demands from the Watergate defendants, the public knew it was "criminal" / Dems had subpoena power, majority control of both houses
• Deus ex machina: Alexander Butterfield
• "Ironies abound. Mr. Trump's complaints to the F.B.I. about damaging leaks recall that Deep Throat, the ultimate Watergate leaker to The Washington Post, was revealed to be W. Mark Felt, then the associate director of the F.B.I.)"
• Need to win back a majority in either house. "This would secure them the subpoena power to shed far better light for the nation on Mr. Trump's and his enablers' sorry deeds."

SUNDAY BUSINESS Page 3 EARNING AN INCOME WHILE LENDING A HAND

"Around 10,000 people turn 65 every day in the United States and by 2030, there will be 72 million people over 65 nationwide."

In 132 days I turn 65. I play Scrabble for 6 hours every Sunday.

T MAGAZINE, Page 31 THE CULT OF SEAWEED

"There are more than 40 words in Gaelic relating to seaweed."

They don't just eat it. "The Hebridean Seaweed Company has found an alternative outlet for some of its marine flora -- the movie business. The company has provided weeds for 'The Pirates of the Caribbean' movies and nine tons of knotted sea wrack from the Isle of Lewis for the film set of 'Les Misérables'."

TRAVEL, Page 6 A BOTANIST IN LAPLAND

"By the end of his life, Carl Linnaeus, who invented binomial nomenclature, applied his naming system to 14,000 species. (Today over 1.5 million have been anointed with a genus and species name.)

I never tire of new discoveries (see below). Fascinating article with gorgeous (contemporary) illustrations ...

Page 6 ANGOLA'S LEADER WON'T RUN AGAIN. BUT WILL HE CEDE POWER?

"President José Eduardo dos Santos of Angola -- Africa's second-longest-serving head of state*, with nearly 38 years in power -- won 99.6 percent of votes in his party's leadership race last year."

* According to this, he is third.

ARTS & LEISURE Page 14 REVIVING A COMPOSER'S GHOSTLY SOUNDS

"The electronic music artist Maryanne Amacher discovered that certain combinations of frequencies could, at high volume, cause the ear to produce and amplify tones of its own."

Studied with Stockhausen. My own experience is that the above-described effect can be realized at any volume -- even at extremely soft registers. I look forward to hearing her music.

SUNDAY REVIEW, Page 11 DONALD TRUMP VS. WOMEN'S HEALTH

"One woman dies every two hours of cervical cancer in America."

"[W]hen President Trump embraces 'pro-life' policies that are in fact 'pro-death,' that should galvanize us all."

SPORTS SUNDAY, Page 1 ONE OF BASEBALL'S BEST, BUT WITHOUT THE BRAND

"The 25-year-old baseball player Mike Trout, of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, is the youngest player in major league history to reach 150 home runs and 150 stolen bases. (He also has the most Twitter followers of any baseball player.)"

But you have to watch him play to actually believe it!

TIME MACHINE
May 21, 1866
151 years ago

Page 1 AFFAIRS IN THE SOUTH

A meandering, slightly condescending article which begins

"I was present yesterday at a most interesting and impressive ceremony, which deserves especial notice as illustrative of the feeling of the white for the black race, and of the sincere desire of the former to promote as far as possible the temporal and spiritual welfare of the hitherto dependent bondsmen.

The occasion was the ordination by the Presbytery of three colored men as Presbyterian ministers ..."

The correspondent continues:

"These are the signs of the times. These are the real indications of the feelings of the two races for each other. No Civil Rights Bill required this action; no political advantage could have been derived from it; no compulsory process could have enforced it; no Freedman's Bureau had anything to do with it; and there cannot be a more positive proof of the confidence of the colored people in the justice and good will of the whites, and of the readiness of the latter to help and encourage the colored people to improve their condition."

The writer then jumps from topic to topic; cotton taxes, the weather -- and finally, this:

"The arrival of the District Judge and District-Attorney and the proximate opening of the United States Courts, brings up the question of the test oath for lawyers, and that numerous body are now discussing it with no little interest. It it be decided that before any lawyer can plead in the United States Court he must take the test oath, the legal business will be confined to a very small class of practitioners, for I learn that out of a large and talented Bar in Savannah, where the Court is now open, not one lawyer can subscribe to the oath."

I believe this -- or something similar -- is the oath to which they refer.

Page 8 IN THE POLICE COURTS

"Officer COPELAND, of the Fifteenth Precinct, arrested JOHN J. MASTERSON, of No. 90 Fourth-avenue, for violation of the Excise Law by keeping his premises open after midnight of Saturday. The officer making the arrest stated that the accused had has saloon open at eleven minutes after 12 o'clock, by Officer PITCAIRN'S watch, but he did not know whether it was correct time or not. MR. MASTERSON produced two witnesses in his behalf. WM. HENNESSEY of No. 185 Lewis-street, and CHAS. McNULTY, of No. 9 Avenue B, stated that the saloon was effectually closed five minutes before 12, and that he had opened the door to allow them to leave the premises when the officer made the arrest. The Justice thought the officer had put rather too fine a point on the provisions of the law, and dismissed the complaint.

Meanwhile, two blocks away, a real crime was taking place ...