#david andrews contract

[thenfl]

David Andrews Back with Patriots After Contact Extension || Foxboro Rush Ep. 10

rawchili.com

[inafieldofstarflowers]

Obviously the first chapter of The Foxhole Court lays the groundwork/provides background for a lot of parts of the series (Exy, the Foxes, who Andrew is, hints at Neil’s past, etc.), but I think one of the most important (& honestly masterful) things Nora does in it is establish the relationship between Neil, Exy, and Kevin.

When we meet Neil, he’s literally on the bleachers in pain from watching the Exy court be turned back into a soccer field, because that’s basically a crime to him. While yes, this is a funny comment because it’s so deeply dramatic, the following explanation that it’s the one thing Neil has never been able to let go of through all of the identities he’s held makes it clear that Exy is something more to Neil than just a game; rather, it’s a symbol of his lost childhood, of the way things might have been if he and his mother hadn’t run. Still, Neil is torn about the idea of pursuing Exy, because his love for it is warring with his mom’s instructions not to play again in order to remain safe and under the radar.

Enter David Wymack with a contract—or, really, Kevin Day with a contract.

Even Wymack says that Kevin is the one signing Neil. Kevin, who Neil met once as a child, when they played a game of Exy together. Kevin, who has spent the years Neil has been on the run building his skills to become a star Exy player. Kevin, who has a career it is obvious Neil has followed closely.

At this point, Neil reaches two important conclusions:

He would be in danger of losing everything if Kevin remembered him, but he doesn’t seem to

The offer of a contract doesn’t matter, because Neil Josten isn’t real—no matter “how much he liked being Neil Josten”

And this is where (in my opinion) things get very interesting: as Neil thinks about the offer to play for the Foxes—& therefore with Kevin—he thinks that he doesn’t want to give up Exy because “It was the only thing that made him feel real,” and then follows this up with the thought that “[His] past was locked in Kevin’s memories. It was proof he existed, same as this game they both played. Kevin was proof Neil was real.”

Since Kevin was first mentioned, it has been in relation to his Exy career—his partnership with Riko, the broken hand that halted his career briefly, signing to the Foxes, the speculation about Andrew’s impact on that choice—because that is the thing about him that matters to Neil—or, perhaps more accurately, it’s the only thing Neil really knows about him. Neil’s concerns about Kevin remembering him are so loud that they can make it easy to overlook the fact that Kevin and Neil aren’t reunited childhood friends, they’re just people who essentially had a really fucked up playdate once.

The thing is, that day is the one with the biggest what-ifs for Neil, and as a result, Kevin is wrapped up in those what-ifs: for Neil, it’s become a question of if I had stayed, would I have reached stardom like Kevin has? Exy and Kevin, while not fully interchangeable, are certainly inextricably linked in Neil’s mind, and they are also both tied up in Neil’s dreams and regrets.

Why does this matter? Two main reasons: first, having this background shows us why Kevin is so important to Neil: no matter how much Neil doesn’t want to be Nathaniel anymore, Nathaniel was the one who was real. The only things at the start of the series that give Neil Josten that same feeling are playing Exy and Kevin Day.

Second, we are immediately shown that Neil’s perception of Kevin is not entirely trustworthy, because its foundation is one traumatic childhood event followed by a years-long parasocial relationship. And, while Neil certainly gets to know Kevin better as the series goes on and they actually start spending time together, there are many moments where Neil views Kevin through a lens that is too close to being “Kevin=star Exy player,” which results in him misinterpreting Kevin’s meaning (ie after Kevin learns who he is and Neil thinks he’s just concerned about their season even though Kevin’s telling him to run) or simply brushing over other parts of his personality (ie when he buys into the “Kevin only cares about Exy” idea some of the others have said). By making us aware of this early, Nora is preparing us to examine what Neil’s saying for bias by showing that he isn’t an entirely reliable narrator, and it’s done so well in just a few pages.

[aledethanlast]

Sometimes at night I dream about an au where Wymack is Nathan's twin brother.

Bear with me.

David and Nathan are identical twins, but still look eerily alike until they grow older. David is older by twenty minutes, and the one who leaves their shifty parents first and is all too happy to leave his twin behind too. He's quick to change his name and they lose track of each other's existence long before either of them move to America.

He doesnt recognize Neil, when the file lands on his desk—he doesn't look too much like his twin as an adult, not that he would know that, having last seen the guy when they were 16—but something about Neil's photo is enough to get him curious.

Neil, of course, sees Wymack irl for the first time and freaks the FUCK out. Kevin being there Does Not Help, and Neil says a lot of shit that sends everyone's alarm bells ringing, just because he thinks he's already been caught. Except Kevin is as Kevin does and won't shut up about exy, and Andrew sticks out from the rest of this nightmare like a sore thumb, and eventually they manage to calm Neil down enough for him to realize that his father never had those tattoos. Or dressed like that, not even when he needed a shirt he didn't mind ruining.

Neil can just barely bring himself to look at the tattoos while he signs the contract. It's the only thing keeping him calm enough to stand in Wymack's presence. The offer to live in his house is refused so loudly it makes Neil jump at his own voice. Andrew thinks this is hilarious. Kevin is already exasperated.

But the itch at the back of Wymack's head is getting more persistent, more familiar, tracing back years tics and habits and what faint serene memories he has of childhood, doing the math and...oh shit is this my kid?

Well, according to the paternity test he discreetly sends out a few weeks after Neil arrives at Palmetto, yes.

[justforbooks]

Loretta Swit

Actor who found global fame as the stern head nurse ‘Hot Lips’ Houlihan in the television sitcom M*A*S*H

The American actor Loretta Swit, who has died aged 87, achieved worldwide fame as Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan, head nurse with a mobile army hospital during the Korean war, in the TV sitcom M*A*S*H. She appeared in all 11 series, from 1972 to 1983 – longer than the conflict that inspired it – taking over the role played by Sally Kellerman in the 1970 film.

Misogyny ran throughout the big-screen version of M*A*S*H in a way that was not present in the 1968 novel by Richard Hooker on which it was based.In the TV version, too, Major Houlihan, a strict disciplinarian, was the butt of sexist jokes from the surgeons and other men in the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital unit, particularly “Hawkeye” Pierce (played by Alan Alda). Swit – who had the only leading female role in the show – took a stand before the fifth series began. She was then allowed to contribute to her character’s development, making Houlihan more three-dimensional, warm and brave. “I am a feminist, from the top of my head to the bottom of my toenail, and I favour playing strong women,” she told the American magazine Closer Weekly in 2022.

From then on, Swit’s character was referred to mainly by her real name rather than as “Hot Lips” and a more human side emerged when Houlihan broke down in front of her nurses, confessing she was hurt by the disdain they held for her because of her stern manner. The character’s long-running relationship with Major Frank Burns (Larry Linville) ended and she married Lieutenant Colonel Donald Penobscott (first played by Beeson Carroll and then Mike Henry), whom she later divorced when he cheated on her. Swit’s performance won her two Emmy awards as outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series, in 1980 and 1982.

She might have had global recognition for a second TV role, in a programme that was groundbreaking for its portrayal of women, if the M*A*S*H producers had not refused to let her out of her contract. Swit played the police detective Christine Cagney, alongside Tyne Daly as Mary Beth Lacey, in the feature-length 1981 pilot of Cagney & Lacey. It was the first American police drama to feature women in the two lead roles. In Cagney & Lacey, there was gritty realism and the authenticity of women balancing their work and home lives but, as Swit was unavailable, Meg Foster took over as Cagney when the series began, replaced after six episodes by Sharon Gless.

Swit never had another starring vehicle. “Actors are always identified with certain parts,” she said. “To some, Marlon Brando will always be the Godfather. That’s just how it is.”

Perhaps her best film role was as the first female American president – succeeding a former circus clown, a parody of Ronald Reagan – in Whoops Apocalypse (1986), the writers Andrew Marshall and David Renwick’s variation on their British sitcom.

Loretta was born in Passaic, New Jersey, to parents of Polish descent, Nellie (nee Kassack) and Lester Szwed, an upholsterer, who anglicised the family name to Swit. She attended Pope Pius XII high school, Passaic, where she appeared in school plays, and Gibbs College, Montclair, New Jersey, then had various secretarial jobs. Moving to New York, she trained in acting with Gene Frankel at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, graduating in 1959. Her break in New York theatre came off-Broadway, at the Circle in the Square in 1961 when she joined the cast of the long-running Actors’ Playhouse production of The Balcony, by Jean Genet.

She spent the rest of the decade exclusively on stage until travelling to Hollywood in 1969. Then, she began to get small roles on television, including three in Hawaii Five-O (between 1969 and 1972) and two in Gunsmoke (both in 1970).

Later, she starred on Broadway as Doris in Bernard Slade’s “annual adultery” play Same Time, Next Year (Brooks Atkinson theatre, 1975-76), taking over the role originated by Ellen Burstyn. The New York Times observed that she gave a “stylish impersonation” of Burstyn, who had won a Tony award for her performance.

Swit was on Broadway again in Rupert Holmes’s musical version of Charles Dickens’s unfinished novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Imperial theatre, 1985-86), replacing Cleo Laine in the dual roles of the Princess Puffer and Miss Angela Prysock. One stage part that seemed made for Swit was the title character in the British playwright Willy Russell’s one-woman show Shirley Valentine, which she took first in Chicago (Wellington and Wisdom Bridge theatres, 1990), then on an American tour (1995) and Canadian stages (1997 and 2010). The role of the bored Liverpool housewife escaping her humdrum life and uncaring husband had been played in the West End of London and the film version by Pauline Collins, who also took it to Broadway. Swit said of the character: “A lot of her experiences are universal – her ambition and desire, her lust for life and feelings of frustration at not fulfilling certain aspects of her own potential. I had kinship with her the moment I read the script.”

Eve Ensler’s comic and at times seriously political play The Vagina Monologues had Swit as one of the three women taking multiple roles, first at the Westside theatre in New York (1999), then in the West End (Arts theatre, 2001-02) and on an American tour (2002-03).

The actor was a passionate animal activist and supported many charities, as well as setting up her own, SwitHeart Animal Alliance. Her book SwitHeart: The Watercolour Artistry & Animal Activism of Loretta Swit was published in 2017.

Swit’s 1983 marriage to the actor and lawyer Dennis Holahan ended in divorce 12 years later.

🔔 Loretta Jane Swit, actor, born 4 November 1937; died 30 May 2025

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[scotianostra]

Happy Birthday Bernard Joseph "Benny" Gallagher born June 10th 1945 in Largs.

There's very little about Benny online, his working life started in the Glasgow shipyards as a marine electrician and in his spare time played bass guitar in local semi-professional beat group The Bluefrets, which featured Graham Lyle on lead guitar.

Gallagher's first published song was "Mr Heartbreak's Here Instead", which he co-wrote with Andrew Galt. This was recorded as a single for EMI-Columbia in 1964 by Dean Ford and the Gaylords,the bulk of which later became chart-topping outfit Marmalade.

In 1966, Gallagher and Lyle – who by now had forged a songwriting partnership – moved to London in search of a publishing deal. Both continued to hold down day jobs, Gallagher as an electrician and Lyle as a shipping clerk, while waiting for their big break. After an abortive contract with Polydor, which yielded one unsuccessful single, the pair joined the Apple record label of Beatles fame, writing songs for Mary Hopkin.

Gallagher and Lyle first saw success as members of McGuinness Flint, a vehicle for ex Manfred Man member Tom McGuinness. Gallagher and Lyle left to work as a duo. Gallagher was credited as Bernard Gallagher on sheet music copies of early songs such as these, but later shortened his forename to avoid confusion with golfer of the same name. Although now playig as duo the pair also spent a short time in Ronnie Laine's band Slim Chance, making several TV appearances on a couple of songs.

In 1976 Gallagher and Lyle finally hit the big time with the help of US producer David Kershenbaum who has worked with Cat Stevens, Joan Baez Elkie Brookes and Supertramp, his work Brookes and has yielded multiple Grammys and an Oscar nomination.

The stand out singles from their album Breakaway, , "I Wanna Stay With You" and "Heart on My Sleeve" both hit the top ten and made the charts in the US. Two more songs from the album spawned big hits in the States for Don Williams, Stay Young,and Art Garfunkel with the title track Breakaway. The duo's next album, Love on the Airwaves, also produced by Kershenbaum, went silver in the UK but yielded only one minor hit single, "Every Little Teardrop". Their final two albums, Showdown and Lonesome No More – the latter issued on Mercury – failed to chart.

Gallagher and Lyle split in 1980, leaving behind an unreleased ninth album, Living on the Breadline. A song recorded for this set, "A Heart in New York", subsequently became another hit for Garfunkel.

Gallagher kept a low profile for much of the 1980s, but re-emerged in 1992 as bassist with The Manfreds, a mixture of ex members of Manfred Man, although not enjoying chart success they toured the world for several years before Benny left in 1999. . During his tenure in the band, he co-founded and served as chairman of the royalties campaigning body PAMRA, which was set up to ensure that musicians received a fair share of royalties from recordings and performances. He then spent a year or so with one of my favourite groups Dr Hook before he embarked on a solo career as a singer-songwriter, touring the folk club and festival circuits.

In 2010, Gallagher reunited with Lyle for two concerts in their former hometown of Largs in aid of Haylie House, a residential care home in the town. They then did a couple of gigs "The Big Gig" at Glasgow's Barrowland nightclub, alongside Marti Pellow, Jim Diamond and Midge Ure and and the MOARE Festival in Faversham, Kent, which was headlined by former Average White Band man Hamish Stuart.

In 2012, Gallagher and Lyle undertook a sell-out tour of Scottish venues, under the banner of "The Homecoming Tour"; their 22-song set included all their British chart entries and both their US chart-toppers, since then they seemed o have been popping up all over place at Festivals and on tour.

Gallagher has lso released two solo albums on his own OnSong label: On Stage and At The Edge Of The Wave. The latter set includes "Tusitala", a tribute to Robert Louis Stevenson, the name coms from RLS's time in Samoa, meaning "teller of tales" - by the local villagers. Journalist and writer Tam Cowan has also used Tusitala as tribute, naming his house at Swanston on the outskirts of Edinburgh Tusitala.

Gallagher and his wife Diane have four children: Dillon, and Paul (twins) and Julian and and Claire (twins). Both Dillon and Julian work in the Music industry, Julian has written songs for the band Five, Kylie Minogue and a couple of The Spice Girls solo songs.

There's nothing really new to say about Benny, I don't know if he has maybe retired, he did give an interview to the local newspaer in Largs, the Largs & Millport Weekly News where he said how he is indebted to Sir Paul McCartney for his musical career.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Mike Luckovich

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

March 20, 2025

Heather Cox Richardson

Mar 21, 2025

It seems as if the Trump administration is rushing to tear apart as much as it can as opponents of its wholesale destruction of the United States government organize to stop them.

Today, members of the “Department of Government Efficiency” team showed up at the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which helps to fund libraries and museums across the country and whose elimination Trump called for in an executive order last week. They sent employees home, swore in a new acting director in the lobby, and proceeded to cancel contracts and grants.

Even as this dismantling was going on, District Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander was blocking the Department of Government Efficiency from accessing data at the Social Security Administration and ordering them to destroy copies of any personal information they have already accessed. “The DOGE Team is essentially engaged in a fishing expedition at SSA, in search of a fraud epidemic, based on little more than suspicion,” Hollander wrote. “It has launched a search for the proverbial needle in the haystack, without any concrete knowledge that the needle is actually in the haystack.”

Also today, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who said the government could not use the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to justify sending migrants to a prison in El Salvador, appeared to be out of patience with the government’s obfuscation of what actually happened in the process of that rendition last weekend. Boasberg’s order today laid out that he had repeatedly asked the government to provide information about the flights but that the government had “evaded its obligations,” providing only general information about the flights and appearing to cast about for further delays.

“This is woefully insufficient,” Boasberg wrote. He required that the government explain by March 25 why its failure to return the flights as ordered did not violate the court order to do so. Far from backing down, the administration appears to be considering escalating its fight with the courts. Devlin Barrett of the New York Times reported today that lawyers in the Trump administration believe the 1798 Alien Enemies Act Trump used to deport migrants also permits federal agents to enter people’s homes without a warrant, an assault on the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.

The Trump White House and its MAGA supporters appear to be trying to cement their power to control the government by undermining the rule of law and the judges who are defending it. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt yesterday called Judge Boasberg a “Democrat activist,” although he was originally appointed by President George W. Bush, and badly misrepresented Boasberg’s order. She also attacked Boasberg’s wife for her political donations.

In Talking Points Memo this morning, David Kurtz recorded how MAGA supporters Elon Musk and Laura Loomer have attacked Boasberg’s daughter, and in Rolling Stone, Andrew Perez and Asawin Suebsaeng noted that that the Attorney General of the United States, Pam Bondi, accused Boasberg of “attempting to meddle in national security,” adding: “This one federal judge thinks he can control foreign policy for the entire country, and he cannot.”

Last month, Vice President J.D. Vance wrote that “[j]udges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power,” trying to obscure that it is the role of courts to determine whether or not the power the executive is claiming is, in fact, legitimate. On the Fox News Channel, “border czar” Tom Homan said: “I don’t care what the judges think.”

Kurtz noted that Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH), who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, has promised hearings on the many injunctions against the Trump administration. Kurtz also noted that angry Trump supporters have called in bomb threats against judges who have stood against Trump’s excesses, including Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, and have sent anonymous pizza deliveries to the homes of judges and their relatives as a way to demonstrate that “we know where you live.”

Perez and Suebsaeng reported that the White House’s strategy is to “move fast” before courts can stop them. In the end, one source close to the president told them that the president’s ultimate power over judges comes from the fact that they do not command an army, while he does. “Are they going to come and arrest him?” the advisor asked, apparently confident that the answer is no.

The attack of Trump and his MAGA supporters on the courts and the rule of law has illustrated how quickly the United States is sliding from democracy to authoritarianism. “Honest to god, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Harvard political scientist Steven Levitsky told Amanda Taub of the New York Times. Along with his colleague Daniel Ziblatt, Levitsky wrote How Democracies Die. “We look at these comparative cases in the 21st century, like Hungary and Poland and Turkey. And in a lot of respects, this is worse,” Levitsky said. “These first two months have been much more aggressively authoritarian than almost any other comparable case I know of democratic backsliding.”

President Donald Trump’s attempt to undermine the courts, and thus the country’s legal system, appears to have kicked the alarm about the dismantling of the U.S. government into a new phase. Both the Washington Post and the New York Times ran op-eds today from law professors detailing the lawlessness of the Trump administration and warning that the courts will not be able to stop Trump and his administration from their authoritarian takeover of the government.

In the New York Times, Georgetown University professor of law Stephen Vladeck has faith that the courts will try to rein Trump in, while in the Washington Post, Harvard Law School professor Ryan Doerfler and Yale University professor of law and history Samuel Moyn are less convinced that the judges Trump himself appointed will stand against him, but all three of them warn that stopping Trump will require the people to demand “far more aggressive oversight from members of Congress,” as Vladeck puts it. Doerfler and Moyn wrote that “real resistance must take place in Congress, at government workplaces, and in the streets.”

That the courts are in the position of trying to stop a president who is ignoring the Constitution reflects that Republicans in Congress appear to have taken off the table impeachment, the political remedy the Constitution’s framers put into our system for such a crisis.

There has been remarkably little pushback from Republicans about the changes being made to the country in their names, but the news that dropped on March 18 that the administration is considering giving up a key role in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has sparked public objection from Republicans who care about the nation’s global role. Since NATO organized, the role of NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, known as the SACEUR, has been filled by an American.

Now the Trump administration is considering relinquishing that position as part of a massive restructuring plan that could save up to $270 million of the Defense Department’s $850 billion annual budget, or about 0.03% of it. The U.S. is also considering stopping its expansion and modernization of U.S. Forces Japan, which would save about $1.18 billion, according to Courtney Kube and Gordon Lubold of NBC News, but would weaken the cooperation designed to counter China.

“For the United States to give up the role of supreme allied commander of NATO would be seen in Europe as a significant signal of walking away from the alliance,” retired Admiral James Stavridis, who served as SACEUR and head of European Command from 2009 to 2013, wrote to Kube and Lubold. “It would be a political mistake of epic proportion, and once we give it up, they are not going to give it back. We would lose an enormous amount of influence within NATO, and this would be seen, correctly, as probably the first step toward leaving the Alliance altogether.”

House Armed Services Committee chair Mike Rogers (R-AL) and Senate Armed Services Committee chair Roger Wicker (R-MS) issued a joint statement saying they are “very concerned about reports that claim [the Department of Defense] is considering unilateral changes on major strategic issues, including significant reductions to U.S. forces stationed abroad, absent coordination with the White House and Congress. We…will not accept significant changes to our warfighting structure that are made without a rigorous interagency process, coordination with combatant commanders and the Joint Staff, and collaboration with Congress,” they wrote. “Such moves risk undermining American deterrence around the globe and detracting from our negotiating positions with America’s adversaries.”

Their concerns about protecting their power to have a say in U.S. foreign policy and to make sure that policy serves the American people are unlikely to be assuaged by events tonight.

Eric Schmitt, Eric Lipton, Julian E. Barnes, Ryan Mac, and Maggie Haberman of the New York Times reported that the Pentagon has scheduled a briefing tomorrow for billionaire Elon Musk on the U.S. military’s top-secret plans for any potential war with China. As the reporters noted, this information includes “some of the nation's most closely guarded military secrets.” Musk’s largest Tesla factory is located in China—Chinese lenders contributed $2.8 billion to it—and as Joshua Keating of Vox explained two days ago, China is the only EV market where Tesla sales are continuing to increase. Keating also pointed to a Financial Times report that Chinese investors have been funneling money into Musk’s other businesses.

After the New York Times story broke, chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said: “The Defense Department is excited to welcome Elon Musk to the Pentagon on Friday. He was invited by Secretary Hegseth and is just visiting.” About an hour later, the reporters note, he posted on X: “This is 100% Fake News. Just brazenly & maliciously wrong. Elon Musk is a patriot. We are proud to have him at the Pentagon.” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth chimed in: “This is NOT a meeting about ‘top secret China war plans.’ It’s an informal meeting about innovation, efficiencies & smarter production. Gonna be great!”

Then Trump added: “The Fake News is at it again, this time the Failing New York Times. They said, incorrectly, that Elon Musk is going to the Pentagon tomorrow to be briefed on any potential ‘war with China.’ How ridiculous?’ China will not be even mentioned or discussed. How disgraceful it is that the discredited media can make up such lies. Anyway, the story is completely untrue.”

Shortly after Trump posted, Alexander Ward and Nancy A. Youssef of the Wall Street Journal confirmed the story, adding that their sources told them that Musk had asked for the briefing. They also reminded readers that Musk “has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a close partner of China, the country that has supported Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.”

Minnesota governor Tim Walz told Rachel Maddow tonight he was “speechless.” “I don’t know how to convey…how far out of the norm this is…. These are closely guarded secrets because our national and our global defense depends upon them…. I don’t understand where…are the Republicans? Where are Lindsay Grahams? Where are these people who know how this works? To not be terrified of where this is at…. Sharing our most guarded secrets on global conflict with a truly unstable private citizen who has no authority…. This is chilling…. Republican senators need to put a stop to this and pull this back.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[finchers-ipad]

SE7EN FUN FACTS!! (SPOILER WARNING)

these are my favourite facts/little details about the production!!! a lot of them are from the dvd commentary, ‘David Fincher: Mindgames’ book and other random interviews i have consumed! :)

(thank you to @loosebonez for giving to an excuse to dump these and itch my brain!!)

- Fincher wanted to keep Kevin Spacy out of the marketing campaign for se7en so that his reveal would be all the more shocking, this included not having him in trailers, posters and even his name not being on the opening credits (and on letterboxd Spacey’s name isn’t at the top of the cast list like it normally would be for such a big role but it’s at the very bottom of the cast list, which is very cool and epic of letterboxd)

- (related) in the promotional material , the scene of John Doe’s phone call to Mills and Somerset is included, and because they were keeping Kevin Spacy out of the campaign, FINCHER DOES THE VOICE OF JOHN DOE WHICH IS SO FUCKING COOL!!

- Fincher wanted the film to be a “no colour, colour movie” and therefore kept the production and set design to a very gray/black/green colour pallet so that when colour is used it has impact and draws the audiences attention (seen most notably with the colour red for blood, Johns prison outfit being red to show he is a threat and stand out and the neon red cross over John Doe’s bed)

- Fincher was sent the wrong script when being asked to do the film, as there was multiple versions of the ending, and the ending he was supposed to be sent was one where Mills’s dog’s head is in the box at the end instead of Tracys head. it was in Brad Pitt’s contract that he would only do the film if it had the head in the box ending

- an extra in the back of the barbershop scene was drunk on set, and the extra sat in the chair was worried that he was going to cut him with a straight razor (which was real and not a prop because the props department ran out of them lmao)

- Clive Piercy and John Sabel, who designed John Doe’s diary’s spent 2 months and around $15000 (i found that number online but idk how accurate it is) to HANDWRITE a lot of the diary’s. obviously not all of them are hand written but the ones given close ups on camera and in the opening credits are. there are around 2000 notebooks. there is a special feature section on the dvd where you can listen to them explain how they created them and the ideas behind the information they put in them, it’s very interesting i highly recommend it :3

- in the back of the leather store scene, John Doe can be seen looking at Mills and Somerset through the window from the outside, he even has a limp like the guy working there mentioned. he has a limp because he cut his leg on a window when Mills was chasing him earlier in the film.

- se7en was heavily inspired by the neo-nior films of the 70’s such as ‘The French Connection’

- Andrew Kevin Walker (the scriptwriter) makes a cameo at the beginning of the film as the dead guy at the first crime scene before the opening credits

- Fincher and Arthur Max (production designer) wanted the city that the film is set to be nameless and unrecognisable, which lets the audience think that this type of crime can be going on in any city and all around them. they ensured the anonymity of the city by removing and changing street signs, creating police cars with their own unique design to the film. they also did no large establishing shots of the city, and if they did, they were shots of building exteriors and general unrecognisable images

-Fincher and Pitt both agreed that Mills is a selfish character, and should be presented as such. they amplified this by adding David and Tracey’s dogs last minute, to show that he is so selfish as to move these big dogs into a small city apartment

- there is a deleted scene of Somerset checking out a new house in the country side, which would have been at the beginning of the film and they really liked this cute little cottage that they filmed it at but it was RIGHT next to a maximum security prison so they had to put these massive barrels of hay in-front of the barbed wire to block the view of the prison 😭

- not a fact but the dvd commentary for se7en is available on spotify and it has the audio from the film too which is really cool (please listen to it just to hear how crazy Arthur Max’s voice is)

THANK YOU FOR READING MY INFO DUMP!!! i fucking love this film (if you couldn’t tell already) and i honestly probably have more facts but these are my favourites that come to mind!!! crazy film with silly guys that established Fincher as a director :) (sorry about any spelling mistakes) <3

[misfitwashere]

March 20, 2025 

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

MAR 21

It seems as if the Trump administration is rushing to tear apart as much as it can as opponents of its wholesale destruction of the United States government organize to stop them.

Today, members of the “Department of Government Efficiency” team showed up at the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which helps to fund libraries and museums across the country and whose elimination Trump called for in an executive order last week. They sent employees home, swore in a new acting director in the lobby, and proceeded to cancel contracts and grants.

Even as this dismantling was going on, District Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander was blocking the Department of Government Efficiency from accessing data at the Social Security Administration and ordering them to destroy copies of any personal information they have already accessed. “The DOGE Team is essentially engaged in a fishing expedition at SSA, in search of a fraud epidemic, based on little more than suspicion,” Hollander wrote. “It has launched a search for the proverbial needle in the haystack, without any concrete knowledge that the needle is actually in the haystack.”

Also today, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who said the government could not use the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to justify sending migrants to a prison in El Salvador, appeared to be out of patience with the government’s obfuscation of what actually happened in the process of that rendition last weekend. Boasberg’s order today laid out that he had repeatedly asked the government to provide information about the flights but that the government had “evaded its obligations,” providing only general information about the flights and appearing to cast about for further delays.

“This is woefully insufficient,” Boasberg wrote. He required that the government explain by March 25 why its failure to return the flights as ordered did not violate the court order to do so. Far from backing down, the administration appears to be considering escalating its fight with the courts. Devlin Barrett of the New York Times reported today that lawyers in the Trump administration believe the 1798 Alien Enemies Act Trump used to deport migrants also permits federal agents to enter people’s homes without a warrant, an assault on the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.

The Trump White House and its MAGA supporters appear to be trying to cement their power to control the government by undermining the rule of law and the judges who are defending it. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt yesterday called Judge Boasberg a “Democrat activist,” although he was originally appointed by President George W. Bush, and badly misrepresented Boasberg’s order. She also attacked Boasberg’s wife for her political donations.

In Talking Points Memo this morning, David Kurtz recorded how MAGA supporters Elon Musk and Laura Loomer have attacked Boasberg’s daughter, and in Rolling Stone, Andrew Perez and Asawin Suebsaeng noted that that the Attorney General of the United States, Pam Bondi, accused Boasberg of “attempting to meddle in national security,” adding: “This one federal judge thinks he can control foreign policy for the entire country, and he cannot.”

Last month, Vice President J.D. Vance wrote that “[j]udges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power,” trying to obscure that it is the role of courts to determine whether or not the power the executive is claiming is, in fact, legitimate. On the Fox News Channel, “border czar” Tom Homan said: “I don’t care what the judges think.”

Kurtz noted that Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH), who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, has promised hearings on the many injunctions against the Trump administration. Kurtz also noted that angry Trump supporters have called in bomb threats against judges who have stood against Trump’s excesses, including Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, and have sent anonymous pizza deliveries to the homes of judges and their relatives as a way to demonstrate that “we know where you live.”

Perez and Suebsaeng reported that the White House’s strategy is to “move fast” before courts can stop them. In the end, one source close to the president told them that the president’s ultimate power over judges comes from the fact that they do not command an army, while he does. “Are they going to come and arrest him?” the advisor asked, apparently confident that the answer is no.

The attack of Trump and his MAGA supporters on the courts and the rule of law has illustrated how quickly the United States is sliding from democracy to authoritarianism. “Honest to god, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Harvard political scientist Steven Levitsky told Amanda Taub of the New York Times. Along with his colleague Daniel Ziblatt, Levitsky wrote How Democracies Die. “We look at these comparative cases in the 21st century, like Hungary and Poland and Turkey. And in a lot of respects, this is worse,” Levitsky said. “These first two months have been much more aggressively authoritarian than almost any other comparable case I know of democratic backsliding.”

President Donald Trump’s attempt to undermine the courts, and thus the country’s legal system, appears to have kicked the alarm about the dismantling of the U.S. government into a new phase. Both the Washington Post and the New York Times ran op-eds today from law professors detailing the lawlessness of the Trump administration and warning that the courts will not be able to stop Trump and his administration from their authoritarian takeover of the government.

In the New York Times, Georgetown University professor of law Stephen Vladeck has faith that the courts will try to rein Trump in, while in the Washington Post, Harvard Law School professor Ryan Doerfler and Yale University professor of law and history Samuel Moyn are less convinced that the judges Trump himself appointed will stand against him, but all three of them warn that stopping Trump will require the people to demand “far more aggressive oversight from members of Congress,” as Vladeck puts it. Doerfler and Moyn wrote that “real resistance must take place in Congress, at government workplaces, and in the streets.”

That the courts are in the position of trying to stop a president who is ignoring the Constitution reflects that Republicans in Congress appear to have taken off the table impeachment, the political remedy the Constitution’s framers put into our system for such a crisis.

There has been remarkably little pushback from Republicans about the changes being made to the country in their names, but the news that dropped on March 18 that the administration is considering giving up a key role in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has sparked public objection from Republicans who care about the nation’s global role. Since NATO organized, the role of NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, known as the SACEUR, has been filled by an American. 

Now the Trump administration is considering relinquishing that position as part of a massive restructuring plan that could save up to $270 million of the Defense Department’s $850 billion annual budget, or about 0.03% of it. The U.S. is also considering stopping its expansion and modernization of U.S. Forces Japan, which would save about $1.18 billion, according to Courtney Kube and Gordon Lubold of NBC News, but would weaken the cooperation designed to counter China.

“For the United States to give up the role of supreme allied commander of NATO would be seen in Europe as a significant signal of walking away from the alliance,” retired Admiral James Stavridis, who served as SACEUR and head of European Command from 2009 to 2013, wrote to Kube and Lubold. “It would be a political mistake of epic proportion, and once we give it up, they are not going to give it back. We would lose an enormous amount of influence within NATO, and this would be seen, correctly, as probably the first step toward leaving the Alliance altogether.”

House Armed Services Committee chair Mike Rogers (R-AL) and Senate Armed Services Committee chair Roger Wicker (R-MS) issued a joint statement saying they are “very concerned about reports that claim [the Department of Defense] is considering unilateral changes on major strategic issues, including significant reductions to U.S. forces stationed abroad, absent coordination with the White House and Congress. We…will not accept significant changes to our warfighting structure that are made without a rigorous interagency process, coordination with combatant commanders and the Joint Staff, and collaboration with Congress,” they wrote. “Such moves risk undermining American deterrence around the globe and detracting from our negotiating positions with America’s adversaries.”

Their concerns about protecting their power to have a say in U.S. foreign policy and to make sure that policy serves the American people are unlikely to be assuaged by events tonight.

Eric Schmitt, Eric Lipton, Julian E. Barnes, Ryan Mac, and Maggie Haberman of the New York Times reported that the Pentagon has scheduled a briefing tomorrow for billionaire Elon Musk on the U.S. military’s top-secret plans for any potential war with China. As the reporters noted, this information includes “some of the nation's most closely guarded military secrets.” Musk’s largest Tesla factory is located in China—Chinese lenders contributed $2.8 billion to it—and as Joshua Keating of Vox explained two days ago, China is the only EV market where Tesla sales are continuing to increase. Keating also pointed to a Financial Times report that Chinese investors have been funneling money into Musk’s other businesses.

After the New York Times story broke, chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said: “The Defense Department is excited to welcome Elon Musk to the Pentagon on Friday. He was invited by Secretary Hegseth and is just visiting.” About an hour later, the reporters note, he posted on X: “This is 100% Fake News. Just brazenly & maliciously wrong. Elon Musk is a patriot. We are proud to have him at the Pentagon.” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth chimed in: “This is NOT a meeting about ‘top secret China war plans.’ It’s an informal meeting about innovation, efficiencies & smarter production. Gonna be great!”

Then Trump added: “The Fake News is at it again, this time the Failing New York Times. They said, incorrectly, that Elon Musk is going to the Pentagon tomorrow to be briefed on any potential ‘war with China.’ How ridiculous?’ China will not be even mentioned or discussed. How disgraceful it is that the discredited media can make up such lies. Anyway, the story is completely untrue.”

Shortly after Trump posted, Alexander Ward and Nancy A. Youssef of the Wall Street Journal confirmed the story, adding that their sources told them that Musk had asked for the briefing. They also reminded readers that Musk “has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a close partner of China, the country that has supported Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.”

Minnesota governor Tim Walz told Rachel Maddow tonight he was “speechless.” “I don’t know how to convey…how far out of the norm this is…. These are closely guarded secrets because our national and our global defense depends upon them…. I don’t understand where…are the Republicans? Where are Lindsay Grahams? Where are these people who know how this works? To not be terrified of where this is at…. Sharing our most guarded secrets on global conflict with a truly unstable private citizen who has no authority…. This is chilling…. Republican senators need to put a stop to this and pull this back.”

—

[acheronist]

can you make sparknotes for the Red Wings players they are all the same person to me (sorry)

dw my darling i got you 🫡 here's the regular 23 man roster we've been skating this szn

forwards (+ this is going to be the number they wear on their jerseys, not their age)

jt compher (37) - won a cup whilst he was on the colorado avalanche (red wings long time beloathed nemesis rivals team), attended umich hockey with larkin and copp. deadpan dry asf tenderhearted weirdo. very good at hockey i like him

andrew copp (18) - 🎶get up and g-get down, 911 is a joke in your town🎶, local michigander boy playing for his hometown team, attended umich with compher and larkin, kind of fuck ugly but he's gritty and has a lot of love in his heart so we like him

alex debrincat (93) - another local michigander boy playing for his hometown team, really good at hockey, we rescued him from the ottawa senators (red wings short term/very recent beloathed nemesis rival team) and he likes it here more, haha lol lmao even. good at hockey!! kind of a sniper. also kind of fighty which is hilarious because he's about 9 inches shorter than the average nhl player. new dad and really loves it, brings his family to games all of the time. and he was our all star games representative this year !

robby fabbri (14) - how are you going to be a short italian-canadian kind of bisexual professional hockey player who mixes metals and has a standing eyebrow appointment. please pick a struggle. won the stanley cup w/ st louis and then got abandoned for being 'injury prone' and was sent to detroit in a 1 for 1 trade (the most humiliating of all nhl player trades imo). he and larkin and rasmussen are the only men left standing from the red wing's historic worst-ever season in 2019 where every game they looked like they were going to kill themselves.

christian fischer (36) - new bestie alert! huge locker room guy. okay at hockey (more of a playmaker than a goalscorer) but he's so fucking sillygoofy and funny i love to see this guy on my team. spent most of his career in arizona iirc, and basically he and gostisbehere came from the coyotes directly to the red wings as a buy one get one free deal.

patrick kane (88) - narcissict. arrogant. flop. old man who can't score anymore. history of assault and violent misdemeanors he never was punished for because he was the nhl's boytoy a decade ago. i hope he contracts sepsis from an unforeseen complication with his hip surgery and takes a long walk off of the rencen's roof and lands in the detroit river where he is frozen and then chopped up by an industrial ship's propeller. fuck this guy.

klim kostin (24) - beloved enforcer. used to skate for the edmonton oilers. his entire game is based around slotting in on the third/fourth line when necessary and whenever someone gets hurt he comes out swinging to establish the fact that the red wings are not to be fucked with. he doesn't start fights but he does finish them. notoriously big hearted and silly with his teammates. coincidentally wearing the same number as the red wings most famous enforcer from the 1980s, bob probert. my guard dog boy i love u

dylan larkin (71) - michigan native, umich grad, was the previous captain's rookie, the beating heart and soul of the team, carrying the weight of a century year old hockey team's legacy and all the ghosts that come along with that, never been to playoffs and hasn't won the cup yet. literally the miserable boyking of metro detroit. he's had to suffer a lot for absolutely no reason, but still manages to come and be our best and most important player every single night.

david perron (57) - he's old by nhl standards i.e. he's in his late thirties and has been playing for like a decade, so he knows his way around an nhl rink. french canadian enough that he's got an accent. big heart and soul guy, which i really wasn't expecting tbh! he's always standing up for teammates and has gotten in a few noteworthy fights (dylan got hurt so badly this szn that dp went rage-blind and ended up getting suspended for six games after fighting the opponents who hurt dylan)

michael rasmussen (27) - big fuck off scary intimidating canadian hockey lad. kind of awkward and bizarre. also kind of a doll if i can b honest. he's very shy and quiet in interviews but always has an insane serial killer look in his eyes whenever he's on the ice. was drafted high and then i suspect he had a lot of mental struggles about not being the player he was advertised/told to be? but the last few years he's stepped away from that role he thought he should be and started being himself and playing in a way that was obviously more comfortable, and he's taken huge huge productive strides and improved a lot. moose ily

lucas raymond (23) - our youngest babiest player!! he was our highest draft pick in a looooooooong time, and immediately went from prospect training camp -> regular nhl player, which is fucking crazy. he's exceptionally good at hockey, and has a reputation for coming in clutch with goals we need to win games. besties with moritz seider + jake walman + joe veleno.

daniel sprong (17) - i had no idea what to think of this guy at first but now i can't believe he's only been here for one season. it feels like he's been a wing for ages. he's one of our sniper goalscorers, except he shoots the puck with a lil too much sauce + with a feral desperation of a man afraid he was never going to score a goal again, every single time, which i love. also he stalks twitter and runs a team GC to forward memes that the fandom makes to the guys

joe veleno (90) - if bambi was a closeted italian canadian hockey player. wears an evil eye bracelet and also a crucifix? very meek and easy to bully, tbh, not our most productive goalscorer but also somehow he's very crucial to the emotional well being of the younger half of the roster? hes sillygoofy and a sweetheart and does his best every night which is all we can ask tbh. besties with lucas raymond + moritz seider + jake walman.

defensemen

ben chiarot (8) - resident manwhore dilf fashionista who knows he's sexy and loves to be a bitch on the ice. loves to be annoying and distracting @ the opponents during plays so the red wings can have space to move.

shayne gostisbehere (41) - escaped florida man turned into an nhler, sleeper agent defensive weapon that people tend to forget about. always busting his ass up and down the blue line. always looks sopping wet and really sad though? loves to shoot the puck and sometimes it even makes it to the net!

justin holl (3) - i'm hesistant to describe him as "good at hockey" but the boys seem to love him + he's silly enough to engage in the locker room antics + i've noticed him dealing out more hits lately which is always good.

olli maatta (2) - very very very steady in the most boring way possible. does his job and not an ounce more than necessary LOL but it's fine because he's good at what he does? a classic defensive defenseman.

jeff petry (46) - not… good? at hockey? but he is also a michigan native playing for the hometown team, and he's a veteran nhler, and he's a gritty sort of guy, so i like having him. he grew up in detroit proper, as well, because his dad played on the detroit tigers baseball team, so there's a lot of michigan sports lore going on in that household. also his kids are silly + love to come to games

moritz seider (53) - my sweet perfect darling defenseman prodigy. won the calder trophy because he was the most special and talented rookie in his first year in the nhl. breaking team records for defensemen at an alarming rate. was dylan's rookie, and is also frequently mentored by red wings defense legends. he's not a rookie anymore but you can still see how much responsibility he's shouldering and how much he takes after dylan's role modeled behavior/team legacy standards. good at handling tough responsibility vs staying silly anyways. hes my shining star and i luv him. generally he's paired up with jake walman on defense and they're a little bit married because of it. besties with lucas raymond + jake walman + joe veleno.

jake walman (96) - another guy who st louis abandoned and then ended up on the red wings and said "i want to spend my entire life and career in this city" . extremely silly. known for hitting the griddy whenever he scores important goals. big on video games + making tiktoks. tremendous locker room vibes guy, and very emotional and serious about proving his place on detroit's blue line. generally he's paired up with moritz seider on defense and they're a little bit married because of it. besties with moritz seider + lucas raymond + joe veleno.

goalies

ville husso (35) - looks like a haunted little porcelain doll. always sopping wet for some reason. very softspoken and european. mid-good level goalie, kind of needs to prove himself a bit now that alex lyon's gone completely off the shits and taken over starter goalie privileges, but i feel like there's no sense of animosity or competition between them? ville just strikes me as genuinely someone who's delighted and proud of his tandem partners for their successes, even if it comes at his expense / losing some of his chances to get ahead

james reimer (47) - idc about this man lol. he's either a very good goalie or an atrociously horrible goalie and you dont know what it'll be until the games already happening. passively homophobic christian behavior as well which i do not like to see. but he's also a veteran nhl player so in the beginning of the szn he was getting more opportunity than alex or ville.

alex lyon (34) - spent his entire career in the minor league/being traded between franchises where there wasn't really a space or need for him. got on the radar after keeping the florida panthers in their playoff race before losing, and then FL traded him to us. we've had goaltending agonies for years and then he's rolled up to detroit with something to fucking PROVE because he thought his hockey career was about to be over so he's skating every night like its do or die. after reimer and husso both were injured tho he finally got his chance to shine and oh baby he's been shining. unbelievably good at goaltending. big heart, very genuine, very funny, basically a male model as well, been to therapy and actually got something out of it, i would go to war for this man if he needed me to

[n2qfd]

@swradiograms-blog @swradiogram

I have never had reception so good. S/N in the mid 20's G5RV antenna G106 Xeigu radio in Southern Tier NY

9265 kHz at 2330z

.

Welcome to program 402 of Shortwave Radiogram.

I'm Kim Andrew Elliott in Arlington, Virginia USA.

Here is the lineup for today's program, in MFSK modes as noted:

1:42 MFSK32: Program preview (now) 2:56 MFSK32: EU to provide emergency funds for RFE/RL 5:34 MFSK64: NASA saves Voyager 1 from deep space doom* 11:04 MFSK64: This week's images* 27:55 MFSK32: Closing announcements

with image(s)

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And visit http://swradiogram.net

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From TVP World (Poland):

EU to provide €5.5 mln in emergency funds for Radio Free Europe

May 20, 2025

The European Union will provide emergency funds to keep Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) operational after the Trump administration froze funding for the global pro-democracy broadcaster.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Tuesday [May 20] that the bloc's foreign ministers had agreed to a €5.5 million contract to "support the vital work of Radio Free Europe."

She described the short-term funding as a "safety net" for independent journalism.

RFE/RL, which broadcasts in 27 languages across 23 countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East, lost a major portion of its financing after President Donald Trump's administration cut off funding in March, accusing the media outlet of pushing a liberal agenda.

Last month, a U.S. federal judge ordered the administration to restore $12 million that had been allocated to the broadcaster by Congress.

Lawyers for RFE/RL warned it would be forced to shut down by June without the funds.

Kallas acknowledged that the EU could not cover the broadcaster's global shortfall but said the bloc could help it continue operating in countries within the EU's neighborhood that need independent news sources.

Founded during the Cold War, RFE/RL has its corporate headquarters in Washington and journalistic headquarters in Prague, the Czech capital.

Shortwave Radiogram now changes to MFSK64 …

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NASA beats the clock to save Voyager 1 from deep space doom

By David Szondy May 18, 2025

It was race against time as NASA engineers recently raced to fix a thruster problem aboard the vintage Voyager 1 deep space probe. It's hard enough to repair a craft at the edge of the solar system, but this time they faced a potentially deadly deadline.

Launched almost half a century ago, Voyager 1 and its sister probe Voyager 2 have a special place in the heart of NASA, which is determined to keep the robotic pair functioning so long as there's a trickle of current coming from the onboard nuclear generators. It's a bit like keeping a vintage car on the road, except this car is 15.46 billion miles (24.87 billion km) away, a radio message takes 23 hours and two minutes to reach it, there are no spare parts, and no one around to even adjust a screw.

Despite this, NASA has been blessed by the Voyager spacecraft being insanely over-engineered. The people who built and launched it might all be dead or retired, the manuals literally turning yellow with age, and the code that runs on its computers the digital equivalent of Sanskrit, but both probes are still operating, albeit at a much lower level. Over the years, the engineers have had to contend with a radio unit switching itself off, data feeds suddenly spouting gibberish, and continuing thruster problems, but they still keep ticking along.

The thrusters have been a particular problem because they are among the very few systems with moving parts left running on Voyager 1, and something moving means something can go wrong. Essentially, there are four thruster systems on the spacecraft. One of these controls the attitude of the spacecraft so it points in the right direction, the second controls its roll, and three and four are backup systems.

Over the 48 years since Voyager 1 was launched, these thrusters have begun to show their age and NASA has had to deal with clogging fuel lines and persnickety valves by all manner of work arounds, including switching from the primary to the back up systems and then back again.

In the latest instance, the primary roll thrusters have built up so much residue in their fuel lines that it's feared that the whole system could seize up in a few months. To avoid this, the engineers spent March of this year coaxing the secondary thrusters back to life. These had already been declared unserviceable in 2004, but the team found that by reactivating some internal heaters they could get the back-up thrusters going again, so Voyager 1 can keep its radio antenna pointed at the Earth by locking onto a guide star.

This isn't the first time such a cosmic correction has been made, but there was a particular sense of urgency about this one because NASA was facing a target that, if missed, could have meant the end of the mission.

Voyager 1 is kept in contact with Earth through NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN), which consists of three antennas at the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex near Barstow, California; the Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex near Robledo de Chavela, Spain; and the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex near Canberra, Australia. Unfortunately, only Canberra can track Voyager's part of the sky, and its main 230-ft (70-m) DSS-43 antenna was scheduled to undergo a major refit beginning in May 2025 and continuing until February 2026. During this time, Voyager would be incommunicado with only brief contact in August and December.

This meant that NASA had to repair Voyager 1 and ensure that it could autonomously carry out routine attitude adjustments using a new schedule of firing times and durations to put as little stress as possible on the systems – not to mention turning on the dormant back-up thrusters after 21 years without them blowing up.

According to the space agency, Voyager 1 responded to commands on March 20. This was two days after the orders were sent, so there was quite a bit of pencil chewing, nail biting, and coffee swilling in the meantime. In the end, telemetry reports confirmed that the temperature of the thruster heaters rose as predicted and Voyager 1 can carry on with its mission of exploration as it hurtles into interstellar space, never to return.

"It was such a glorious moment. Team morale was very high that day," said Todd Barber, the mission's propulsion lead at JPL. "These thrusters were considered dead. And that was a legitimate conclusion. It's just that one of our engineers had this insight that maybe there was this other possible cause and it was fixable. It was yet another miracle save for Voyager."

Source: NASA



Image: Artist's rendering of Voyager 1 in space …



This is Shortwave Radiogram in MFSK64

Please send your reception report to radiogram@verizon.net

This week's images …

 A bamboo forest in the Arashiyama region of Kyoto, Japan. tinyurl.com/ysp2cw3q …

 Sunset from the coast of Pembrokeshire, Wales. tinyurl.com/yv7lqeqj …

 Sunset seen from Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, Wales. inyurl.com/yv7lqeqj …



Sunset over Glasgow's roofline. tinyurl.com/yu3xaglw …

Baltimore Oriole at Kill Kare State Park, Vermont, May 20. tinyurl.com/ys553hmw …

 A flower at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton, Ontario. tinyurl.com/ytkb2o2o …

A frog at Aurora Community Arboretum in Aurora, Ontario, May 19. tinyurl.com/yseuwj9c …

Crabapple blossoms at the George Landis Arboretum near Esperance, New York. tinyurl.com/ypnxfhu2 …

Lilacs at Arnold Arboretum in Boston. tinyurl.com/yrtm5evg …

Our painting of the week is "Blues or L'heure bleue" (1975) by Françoise Gilot.

Sending Pic:223x129C;

Shortwave Radiogram returns to MFSK32 …

 itNªouƒxRryS Before RSID: <<2025-05-22T23:58Z MFSK-64 @ 9265000+1500>>



This is Shortwave Radiogram in MFSK32 …

Transmission of Shortwave Radiogram is provided by:

WRMI, Radio Miami International, http://wrmi.net

and

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Please send reception reports to radiogram@verizon.net

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I'm Kim Elliott. Please join us for the next Shortwave Radiogram.

[seeminglyranch87]

Taylor & Travis Timeline

June 2024 - Part 2

June 13 - The Eras Tour, Anfield Stadium, Liverpool, UK N1 - 100th show (x) During the ATW speech, Taylor says that the tour will end in December.

I Can See You x Mine (guitar) & Cornelia Street x Maroon (piano)

Travis at Chiefs Training camp meeting kids sponsored by the Make a Wish Foundation. The little girl is wearing a "Go Taylor's boyfriend" t-shirt that Travis signs.

The Chiefs Super Bowl LVIII Ring ceremony is held in Kansas City. Travis attends with his team and receives his 3rd Super Bowl ring.

Travis below with Quarter Back Patrick Mohomes. The boys are chasing a three-peat!

Taylor is in Liverpool, UK and after her show watches and comments on Chariah Gordon's livestream. I think Taylor really wanted to be there. Travis is pictured below with Chariah Gordon and Mecole Hardman (x)

Travis came up with the winning play of the Super Bowl (x) called the "Tom & Jerry"

Travis likes an IG post from the Pat McAfee Show talking about Travis' future with the Chiefs and his contract extension, while finishing with

"I bet he's inspired as hell by Taylor Swift and what she does. She does all this s***" (x)

June 14 - The Eras Tour, Anfield Stadium, Liverpool, UK, N2

This is What You Came For x Gold Rush (guitar), The Great War x You're Losing Me (piano)

Taylor sings "I survived the Great War" (instead of "we")

ET article about making long distance work for Tay & Trav (x)

The source adds, "They prioritize each other and do anything and everything to make each other happy. Their relationship is genuine and they both want to make it work, so it does."

"Taylor and Travis definitely see a long-term future together and things are continuing to move in that direction," the source tells ET. "Their shared values and love of family keeps them connected."

June 15 - The Eras Tour, Anfield Stadium, Liverpool, UK N3

Carolina x No Body No Crime (guitar) … the murder mashup 😜 & The Manuscript x Red (piano)

June 17, 18, 19 - Tight End University (x)

Travis is given a Taylor Swift inspired rubber duck (x)

June 18 - The Eras Tour, Principality Stadium, Cardiff, UK

I Forgot That You Existed x This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things (guitar) a message for a certain ex (YB) who has been crying boo hoo to the media perhaps ?? & I Hate It Here x The Lakes (piano)

Travis liked this IG post of Taylor's ; )

June 20 - Travis and Jason Kelce attend 2024 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in Cannes, France.

Travis and Jason promote their New Heights podcast with a panel. The Kelce Effect: Exploring New Heights with Travis and Jason Kelce 

Gracie Abrams releases "Us" written with and featuring Taylor Swift. Gracie shares how Taylor had put out a fire in her kitchen the night they wrote this song see footage (x)

June 21 - The Eras Tour, Wembley Stadium, London UK N1

Travis, Jason & Kylie Kelce, Andrea & Scott Swift, Ross Travis, Liam Hemsworth, Erin Andrews, Charissa Thompson and other friends attend. Prince William, Prince George and Princess Charlotte are in attendance.

This is the first photo Taylor has posted of Travis on IG!!! (x)

Travis captured singing along to Lover looking smitten. Taylor playing it up with Travis in attendance and looking over at him throughout the show (x). She appears to be having a brilliant night and leaves back of stage arm in arm with Travis.

Hits Different x Death By A Thousand Cuts (guitar) & The Black Dog x Come Back Be Here x Maroon (piano)

June 22 - The Eras Tour, Wembley Stadium, London UK N2

The VIP tent is packed - Travis, Jason & Kylie Kelce (Jason wearing TS t-shirt) Tom Cruise, Greta Gerwig, Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis, David Foster.

ThanK you aIMee x Mean (guitar) & Castles Crumbling feat. Hayley Williams (piano)

June 23 - The Eras Tour, Wembley Stadium, London UK N3

Travis Kelce makes a surprise appearance on stage at Wembley night 3 (x)

Is this real? Did Travis really come out on stage in the intro to "I Can Do It With A Broken Heart"???? I need 13 business days to recover!

Out of the Woods x Is it Over Now x Clean (guitar) & Us with Gracie Abrams (guitar & piano)

Travis and Taylor head out after the show with friends to London's Chiltern Firehouse (x). They are seen leaving at 4am

June 24 - ET online (x). Referring to Travis' Eras Tour stage debut, a source tells ET ...

"Taylor and Travis have recently discussed Travis making an appearance onstage at the Eras Tour, when timing was right, and they finally made it happen, Travis was so excited to support Taylor onstage, and Taylor couldn't be happier to feature him, especially during such a fun, pivotal scene in the show. Travis only had one night of rehearsal, the evening before he performed onstage, and didn't miss a beat. Taylor was beaming from ear to ear as Travis took on the dapper role. The two are hoping he can make a cameo again in the future."

Go to previous update -> June part 1

Go to next update -> June part 3

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[otdiaftg]

Betsy backs out of the driveway as Neil stares out the window and tries to be invisible. The ruse doesn't last long.

"David asked me to speak with you," Betsy said. "I know the setting isn't exactly conventional, but please know any conversation we have today will be accorded the same privacy and respect as a formal office visit." "What is there to talk about?" Neil asked. "If I were you I'd be more concerned with Nicky. He came down here thinking he was going to fix his family, but now his entire family's fallen apart." "He is lucky to have a friend like you worrying about him." "I'm not his friend," Neil said. "I'm his teammate." "Are you not his, or he not yours?" Betsy asked, and when Neil just looked at her, said, "They are distinctly different matters and it is possible to have one without the other. I'm sorry if I'm making assumptions, but it seems to me that he views you as a friend." When Neil didn't immediately respond, she said, "What about the rest of the team? Are they your friends?" "What do I need friends for?" Neil asked. "I came here to play. That's what Coach's contract asked of me, so that's what I'm going to do. Is this really what you want to talk about?" "I want to talk about last night, but I also want to talk about you. I want to make sure you have a support network that can get you through the next few weeks. If you don't want to talk about the latter, we can focus on the former. Can you tell me what happened?" "How many times do you want to hear that story?" Neil asked. "I'm sure you got it from Nicky and Kevin. Coach probably told you what the police said. Maybe you even got answers from Andrew. I have nothing to add."

Day: Monday, November 13th Time: 7:10 AM EST

[houseofbrat]

Timeline of events, Part 2

[part 1]

01 MARCH 2024: Prince William ignores a “How’s Catherine?” question from someone at Wrexham during his St. David’s Day visit to Wales.

Thomas Kingston’s death revealed to be “catastrophic head injury” due to gunshot, i.e. suicide.

Victoria Murphy writes in Town & Countryabout the UK’s Editor’s Code of Practice prohibiting writing about the lack of information available to the public regarding The Princess of Wales’s condition.

02 MARCH 2024: Roya Nikkhah reports Queen Camilla’s annual March time-off as a sudden vacation instead of a regularly scheduled annual break she always takes at this time of year.

04 MARCH 2024: TMZ & Backgrid establish proof of life of The Princess of Wales and her mother.

UK media is pressured by Kensington Palace to *NOT* publish the photographs in the UK, even though everyone else in the world can see them online.

05 MARCH 2024: Richard Palmer notes that there is no legal reason why the pictures of Carole and Kate cannot be published due to them being on a public road.

The British Army is forced by Kensington Palace to amend their Trooping the Colour once the UK media started circulating stories about Kate’s appearance in June, which is two months after Easter.

Dominic Ponsford in the (UK) Press Gazette wrote about the media blackout regarding Carole & Kate’s driving pictures.

Kate’s uncle Gary Goldsmith briefly comments on the lack of Kate information on Celebrity Big Brother.

06 MARCH 2024: King Charles has a meeting with the Canadian PM and officially greets two ambassadors.

Kensington Palace “spokesman” to (US) People magazine: “His focus is on his work and not on social media,” a spokesman says.

Normal people on reddit notice this bullshit and comment on it.

Emily Andrews comments on the “invisible contract” between UK media and Kensington Palace, e.g. the "huge pressure" to not publish the photo of Kate & Carole.

London’s Air Ambulance Charity, whose gala benefit William attended on 07 February 2024, announced they did not receive enough government support.

08 MARCH 2024: King Charles photographed in a car on Windsor Castle grounds.

Prince William demonstrates proof of life when he visits The Oval in support of for-profit company, Notpla, and seaweed.

10 MARCH 2024: A Mother's Day photo is published and released to news agencies of Kate with George, Charlotte, and Louis.

Later that day, the Associated Press (AP), Agence-France Presse (AFP), Reuters, and Getty all "killed" the photo due to "manipulation."

11 MARCH 2024: Kate "apologized" for the photo manipulation on Twitter saying: "Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing. I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused. I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day. C"

Kate is photographed next to William in a car leaving Windsor Castle.

Prince William attends The Commonwealth Day service with Queen Camilla and other members of the BRF while King Charles spoke to the service via pre-recorded video message.

International media goes wild with the revelation that Kensington Palace released a photo that was "manipulated" and rejected by major, international news outlets.

12 MARCH 2024: William attends the private funeral service for Thomas Kingston at the Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace.

14 MARCH 2024: William visits WEST Youth Zone in White City, London.

Meghan Markle launches a lifestyle brand, American Orchard Riviera," on Instagram.

AFP Global News Director, Phil Chetwynd, states that Kensington Palace is no longer a "trusted" news source.

William attends The Diana Legacy Awards in London in the evening.

Jessica Reed Kraus, aka HouseInHabit, publishes a "source" saying Kate had "surgery on her bowel," yet the "source" did not know that that kind of surgery could be classified as "abdominal."

17 MARCH 2024: Forbes publishes an article with the rumor that the BBC has been told to be on alert for an announcement from the Royal Family regarding Kate's health.

Roya Nikkhah for The Sunday Times published an article whereupon a "royal source" said, "I can see a world in which the princess might discuss her recovery out on engagements. If she was going to do it, that’s how she would do it.”

Matt Wilkinson of The Sun publishes an exclusive that Kate was seen "out and about" in Windsor.

18 MARCH 2024: Video of Will & Kate shopping at the Windsor Farm Shop circulates on TMZ and The Sun. Kensington Palace doesn't complain about it publicly.

Russell Myers of The Mirror publishes an "exclusive" report regarding Kate's "return to public life."

The royal.uk website has some minor changes regarding The Duke of York and The Duke & Duchess of Sussex.

19 MARCH 2024: William visits Sheffield, England, as part of his Homewards program.

Russell Myers of The Mirror publishes an "exclusive" regarding allegations of Kate's medical records being breached at The London Clinic.

Kate Mansey of The Times publishes an article about how William does not collaborate or work with his father.

20 MARCH 2024: The London Clinic responds to the allegations of Kate's medical records being breached after 29 January 2024.

Daily Mail's Ephraim Hardcastle: Kate was unable to attend the Irish Guards' St Patrick's Day parade... But put £2,000 behind the bar for them instead

Daily Mail's Rebecca English's EXCLUSIVE: What William really thinks about the Kate conspiracy theories. And why it's been so heartbreaking for him to see her reputation trashed in the same way as Diana's

Prince William visits the Welsh Guards at Combermere Barracks, Windsor, where the photos were taken by the Ministry of Defence/Welsh Guards.

21 MARCH 2024: Hannah Furness of The Telegraph publishes an article stating: "The Princess of Wales has been working from home on her early years project to improve the lives of babies, as she eases back into normal life after her abdominal surgery. Kensington Palace confirmed that she had been kept up to date with her campaign and the “overwhelmingly positive” results of a study she inspired."

Tatler magazine publishes a cover story on Prince William by Wesley Kerr. "The burden of leadership is falling upon Prince William - but as former BBC Royal Correspondent, Wesley Kerr OBE, explains in Tatler’s May cover story, the future king is taking charge."

Daily Mail: Kate Middleton has been working from home on her early years project considered her 'life's work' as she recovers from abdominal surgery - amid hopes she will return to public life by Easter

People magazine repeats the Kate paid the bar tab story.

Jackie Annett, The Mirror: "Kate Middleton spotted out in Windsor again - this time with George, Charlotte and Louis" “…[Kate] comes here quite a lot, it’s on her doorstep and Adelaide Cottage is a couple of 100 yrds away. They were at the tennis on Sunday-my friend plays there & Kate was watching the children, they’re there all the time”

22 MARCH 2024: Kate announces she is undergoing "preventative chemotherapy" for cancer.

Lambrook's Lent 2024 term ends. School on break until summer term starts on 17 April 2024.

24 MARCH 2024: People magazine: Kate "wrote every word herself,” a palace source confirms to PEOPLE of the Princess of Wales' video speech, which was released on Friday and filmed two days prior in the gardens of Windsor Castle. A family friend adds, “She wrote the words herself, delivered it personally and wanted to decide when the time was right to hit the world with this news.”

28 MARCH 2024: Valentine Low says it's not clear when William pulled out of Constantine's memorial service--some say day of, others say two weeks prior to the service.

31 MARCH 2024: King Charles & Queen Camilla attended the Easter Mattins service at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.

01 APRIL 2024: Daily Mail: "Princess of Wales was FORCED to reveal her cancer diagnosis after news threatened to leak: Sources reveal Kensington Palace was contacted about Kate's illness and needed to get ahead of the story… so who revealed her secrets?"

02 APRIL 2024: Natasha Anderson & Emily Jane Davies's story about Kate being "FORCED to reveal her cancer diagnosis" is deleted from the Daily Mail website.

[scotianostra]

On February 10th 1868 David Brewster, scientist and inventor of the kaleidoscope died.

Born in Jedburgh, Roxburghshire in 1781, to James Brewster, the rector of Jedburgh Grammar School and Margaret Key, he was educated at the University of Edinburgh, graduating MA in 1800. Although he was originally intending to be a Minister. Though a successful preacher in the Church of Scotland, his phobia of public speaking curtailed his involvement in the church. However, his faith continued to play an important role in his life, and his support for the Free Church of Scotland in 1843 nearly led to his dismissal from the University of Edinburgh.

Concentrating on the science of optics, Brewster made significant discoveries about polarisation of light and absorption spectra, invented the kaleidoscope and developed the stereoscope. His religious faith is also thought to have played a part in his scepticism about the wave theory of light.

In his lifetime, he published an impressive 315 scientific papers and articles, mostly on his pet subject of optics. His experiments in polarisation, which represent the bulk of his work, investigated in particular the different forms of polarisation that occur when light is reflected or refracted by various materials. Brewster's investigations of spectra included analysis of Newton's theory of colours and experiments on the absorption spectra shown in light shone through gases, and the similar lines seen in the sun's spectrum. He never abandoned the emission theory of light, and never accepted as true the theory that light was a wave - he preferred to see this as a convenient tool for calculation.

Brewster's invention of the kaleidoscope, popular as the instrument was, brought him little pecuniary benefit because of a botched patent application that left the design unprotected from unauthorised reproduction. He had a keen interest in photography from its infancy, and though he wrote about it and received a medal from the Photographic Society of Paris in 1865, he never found time to experiment properly with the chemistry of light. Brewster also promoted the use of the Fresnel lens in lighthouses, and oversaw a series of successful experiments with these in 1833. Brewster's finances were improved in his later life by his appointment as Principal of the United Colleges of St. Salvator and St. Leonard in St. Andrews in 1837, and his subsequent election by Edinburgh University as Principal in 1859, a post he held until his death in 1868. He was the first layman to occupy this post since Patrick Sands in 1622. Brewster was also a founder member of the British Association for the Advancement of Science and a keen, active participant in it.

David Brewster contracted pneumonia at the age of 87. His life soon to pass, he simply stated, "I shall see Jesus and that will be grand. I shall see Him who made the worlds". On February 10th, 1868, at Allerby, Melrose Brewster did just that.

[titleleaf]

As Zanuck Sr. repeatedly told his son, had Valley of the Dolls been a product of the Hollywood studio system at its apex, in less than a week he would have assigned it to a contract director, one or more of the studio’s stable of thirty-plus top screenwriters, an available cameraman, production and costume designer, a composer, and a cast selected from 20th’s contract talent roster. It isn’t hard to imagine a forties-era Valley of the Dolls. On tap at the studio were any number of great beauties and “types,” some of them quite talented. And if those weren’t quite right, Zanuck might have arranged to borrow talent from other studios. There was Gene Tierney, Linda Darnell, or Jeanne Crain to play the reserved New Englander Anne Welles. Betty Grable, Rita Hayworth, or Lana Turner might have played the luckless showgirl Jennifer North. The young Bette Davis, Susan Hayward, or Ida Lupino would have fit as brilliantly talented, tormented Neely O’Hara. Tyrone Power/Gregory Peck/Cornel Wilde could have slipped easily into the role of suave, slippery Lyon Burke, alongside Dana Andrews as press agent Mel, Vincent Price as Charles Revson–inspired cosmetics empire maven Kevin Gillmore, and Clifton Webb as fashion designer Ted Casablanca. For good measure, Zanuck could have thrown in Gertrude Lawrence as fading Broadway virago Helen Lawson, Frank Sinatra/Dean Martin/Vic Damone as Tony Polar, and Geraldine Fitzgerald as Miriam, sister of the sexy, childlike crooner. Or had Zanuck made the movie later in his career, he could have helped himself to the talents of, respectively, Hope Lange, Diane Varsi, or Shirley Jones as Anne, Marilyn Monroe, Joan Collins, or Debra Paget as Jennifer, Joanne Woodward as Neely, Richard Burton or Stephen Boyd as Lyon, Roddy McDowall as Ted Casablanca, Claudette Colbert or Mary Martin as Helen, Elvis Presley as Tony with Angela Lansbury as Miriam. But in 1966, the days of the studio system and exclusive contracts were on life support. With the long shadow of Darryl F. Zanuck looming over Valley of the Dolls, it would take Richard D. Zanuck, producer David Weisbart, and director Mark Robson long, torturous months and many reversals before the casting—let alone the entire production—finally pulled together. And, from his Paris headquarters, Zanuck Sr. thought that was laughable—when he didn’t find it infuriating.

-- Dolls! Dolls! Dolls!: Deep Inside Valley of the Dolls, the Most Beloved Bad Book and Movie of All Time, Stephen Rebello

Rebello's bonkers fancasts here have captivated me.

[tinyreviews]

It’s a contract killer procedural. Slow and methodical. Quite engaging if you can tolerate the simplicity. It’s kinda John Wickish, with the action dialled down to 1 and the thrills and suspense dialled up to 8.

The Killer is a 2023 American action thriller film directed by David Fincher from a screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker. It is based on the French graphic novel series of the same name The film stars Michael Fassbender in the title role, alongside Arliss Howard, Charles Parnell, Kerry O'Malley, Sala Baker, Sophie Charlotte, and Tilda Swinton in supporting roles.