Atomic Vodka & More
Headline from NYP: “Vodka made with apples grown near Chernobyl seized in Ukraine.” Gives new meaning to the term “buzz.”
Here’s a snippet from an article at nypost.com by Kirsten Fleming: “The sneaker resale hustle has flourished during the COVID-19 lockdown and beyond. In February 2021, research firm Piper Sandler estimated the market was worth an eye-popping $10 billion — a $4 billion increase from 2019.” It’s not used kicks. It’s stuff that was languishing in warehouses. A couple of the entrepreneurs mentioned in the piece are teenagers. I respect business acumen and am happy that it is still open to Americans.
Sad news for environmental zealots in this snippet from an article at newsmax.com: “Global temperatures in 2021 are cooler than in recent years following the presence of a moderately strong La Nina event in December that cooled the tropical Pacific Ocean.” Oh, I forgot — it’s no longer global warming, it’s climate change.
One has to laugh at how the mainstream media, which excoriated VP Dick Cheney as a sort of anti-Christ, is praising his daughter, Liz Cheney, whose continued bashing of Trump has attracted temporary friends who will abandon her as soon as she is no longer useful to their agenda.
There’s been another cyber attack, by a different group of Russians, this time on the DC police department. If demands are not met, the scum are threatening to release the names of confidential informants.
RIP Norman Lloyd, 106, an entertainment stalwart comfortable on the stage and big or small screen. Born in Jersey City, he grew up in Brooklyn and graduated from Boys High at 14. He began on the stage. He was part of the original company of the Orson Welles-John Houseman Mercury Theatre. There are 68 titles under his name at IMDb as Actor, 39 as Producer, 22 as Director. He appears in the earliest surviving footage of American television, as Mark Livingstone in a segment of NBC’s The Streets of New York (1939). His first full length film role was in Saboteur (1942), the beginning of a long association with Alfred Hitchcock, which stretched to the master of suspense’s iconic TV shows. Lloyd will probably be best remembered for the 132 episodes of St. Elsewhere he did. He also did 49 of Seven Days. He was nominated for two Emmys. He appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation in the 1993 episode The Chase. His most notable works behind the camera are Columbo — Lady in Waiting (1971), starring Susan Clark as the murderer, and the 22 episodes he did of the two Hitchcock incarnations, of which he also served as a producer on more than 200. His final role was in the film Trainwreck (2015) at the age, if my math is correct, of 101. He was married to his wife Peggy for 75 years, until she passed in 2011. Well done, sir. Thank you.
My thanks to the kind folks who bought and donated books in English and Russian on this beautiful day. When Revelo pulled up on his bike, I hoped he would buy as many books as he did last time. He bought more, seven works of non-fiction and four of mine: Exchanges, Rising Star, Inside Out and Close to the Edge — at a steep discount. I doubt he has much money. Well read, approximately 40, he seems like a high IQ type that doesn’t fit in anywhere. He’s expecting Armageddon and drops terms like “the illuminati” and such. That doesn’t bother me. Something else he said did, an aside about sex with three twelve-year-olds. When I objected he said he was only joking. I hope so. I wondered if he was fishing for a fellow traveler. He’d earlier mentioned Allan Ginsberg, whom I’ve never read. The poet was gay but, as far as I know, never accused of pedophilia. I hope Revelo never asks for my email address. As good a customer as he is, I don’t know if I ever want to see him again. Most of all, I hope my gut feeling is wrong.
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