Frances Hodgson Burnett wrote Little Lord Fauntleroy around 1885. In 1888, she brought a lawsuit against E. V. Seebohm who plagerized the novel to produce a stage play. She won, and the case set a precedent for copyright law.
He liked the sound of it. It's just an effect. When the audience started singing "Bruce" in an attempt to force meaning into it, he voluntarily changed the lyric to match, sort of admitting that he's in on the joke and that he loves his audience. I think the official lyrics are still the original though. It's just an in-concert thing. I've been with the audience at an ELO concert, and we all sang "Bruce!" Dhani Harrison, George Harrison's son, was the opening act and when Lynne sang that one Travelling Willburys song, Dhani got to sing his dad's part. Rather emotional. Not many of those guys are left. That was a great show . . . * Traveling? Travelling? I guess that's a UK/USA spelling issue. No wonder I'm always confused with that. It messes me up seeing two spellings.
Today I learned how educated the members of Queen were. During the years Queen were active, Brian May had a BSc in Physics, and later was awarded a Doctorate in astrophysics. Roger Taylor obtained a BSc in Biology. Freddie Mercury had a degree in graphic design and illustration from Ealing Art College. John Deacon had a first class degree in Electronics from Chelsea College.
Today I learned, to much joy, that yesterday the publishing company for Sports Illustrated fired their CEO, COO, and a pair of presidents over their AI-generated content scandal https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/dec/12/arena-group-ceo-ross-levinsohn-fired-sports-illustrated-ai-articles
What few people of modest income realize is that when high-wage workers have earned their $160,200 “base wage” for the year, they no longer make contributions to Social Security. Low-income earners pay a greater percentage of their income to Social Security than high-wage earners. For example, someone earning $60,000/year would pay $3,750 in Social Security taxes, the full 6.2% of their income. Someone earning $250,000 per year would contribute $9,932, just 4% of their income since they stop paying in once they’ve reached the $160,200 base wage.
$300 invested in Apple shares in 2001 would have been worth $142,000 in the spring of 2020, not including $5000 in dividends.
Fascinating fact. I had to Google to find out when they came. I found out that there were horses in North America millions of years ago, but they went extinct about 10,000 years ago. Then, they were first brought back by Spaniards in 1519. New Research Rewrites the History of American Horses
Today I learned how to change the oil on my snowblower. My brother showed me how. Next time, I will be able to do it myself.
Found out about a significant find in Egypt, which is super cool: https://egyptian-gazette.com/egypt/in-photos-egyptian-mission-uncovers-new-kingdom-cemetery-papyrus-in-minya/ The weird part is that on the inside of one of the coffin lids, there is an image that resembles Marge Simpson: Spoiler: Spoilering for image size
And not tomatoes in Italy until about the same time. Corn and potatos, too. Old World, New World. Share and share alike (except for those infectious diseases).
Re: tomatoes, actually tomatoes were not used in Italy or France until the late 17th century because it was thought they were poisonous. As for corn, most people don't realize that modern day polenta is simply a finer grind of grits. Native Americans were eating that centuries before Italians.
That's just wild to me. Horses are such a staple of American culture that it's easy to forget that the horses we have now are descended from the horses brought over by the Spanish and other Europeans. "Spanish settlers likely first brought horses back to the Americas in 1519, when Hernán Cortés arrived on the continent in Mexico. Per the new paper, Indigenous peoples then transported horses north along trade networks." Aaah, that's what happened. Makes sense. The Indigenous people looked at the horses and were all, 'Dang, these are fantastic mounts. Let's use them!' and voila! They then learned how to breed the horses to boost up the equine population.
Today, I learned (when writing a series) the importance of writing detailed character sketches for main characters and secondary ones.
In the late nineteenth century, about 40 million Chinese, one-tenth of the country's population, were addicted to opium.
Found out that Continental United States has 4 time zones, namely, Pacific, Mountain, Central and Eastern.
