Rest In Peace

[MN-Skeptic]

Minneapolis StarTribune -

Walter Mondale, who rose from small-town Minnesota to vice presidency, dies at 93

Walter F. Mondale, a preacher's son from southern Minnesota who climbed to the pinnacle of U.S. politics as an influential senator, vice president and Democratic nominee for president, died on Monday. He was 93.

Known as Fritz to family, friends and voters alike, Mondale died in Minneapolis, according to a statement from his family.

After serving four years as vice president under President Jimmy Carter, Mondale was the Democratic nominee for president in 1984. He lost to the incumbent, President Ronald Reagan, in a historic landslide.

"A night like that is hard on you," Mondale wrote in his 2010 memoir, "The Good Fight."

Even in defeat, Mondale made history by choosing as his running mate Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman to run for vice president on a major-party ticket. It followed a series of political landmarks in a public career that spanned seven decades.

A protégé of Hubert H. Humphrey, another Minnesota politician who rose to the vice presidency and lost a presidential election, Mondale served as a U.S. senator from Minnesota for a dozen years. He played a lead role in the passage of social programs, civil rights laws and environmental protections that defined President Lyndon B. Johnson's "Great Society."

As vice president from 1977 to 1981, Mondale transformed the office from what had historically been a punchline into what both he and Carter called a true governing partnership. Mondale's role as chief adviser and troubleshooter, working from a West Wing office near the Oval Office, became a model for successors including George H.W. Bush, Al Gore, Dick Cheney, and Joe Biden.

A fairly long article of a home town boy - more here.

[AndyinPA]

RIP.

[sad-cafe]

aw-so sad.


even sadder is knowing Jimmy Carter probably hurts from this.

[chancery]

https://www.axios.com/walter-mondale-di ... a664b.html

Mondale spoke by phone on Sunday with President Biden and former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, as well as Vice President Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, said his friend and former campaign staffer Tom Cosgrove. While he and his family believed his death was imminent, after those calls he “perked up.”

In a final goodbye email to 320 staffers spanning four decades, Mondale told his staffers how much they meant to him, adding he knew that they’d keep up “the good fight” and “Joe in the White House certainly helps.”

***

Cosgrove said Mondale had been deeply worried about the impact of a potential second Donald Trump term on American democracy. "There was a difference after the inauguration - a letting go,” Cosgrove said. “There was a big exhale of relief.”

[filly]

Mondale was the only Presidential candidate I ever went to see in person. I think he would have been a fine President.

[Mrich]

This thread....

[somerset]

This thread....

Wow

[Phoenix520]

Nice. Thanks Mrich.

[RVInit]

How did it get so dusty in my living room all the sudden?

[Sunrise]

Never mind dusty. My face is wet from my tears.

[Chilidog]

Dusty in here too.

[Volkonski]

BBC News (World)
@BBCWorld
German opera star Christa Ludwig dies at the age of 93

[MN-Skeptic]

I'll just put this here.

Fuck the Oscars' tribute to those who passed this last year. Much of their In Memoriam section sped by, barely giving you time to read the person's name before their image was replaced with the next person. That's just insulting.

[Greatgrey]

John Coster Mullen, 1946-2021

John wanted to be a nuclear physicist, but his situation dictated he had to go to work instead of university. He became a photographer.

Years later he became a long haul truck driver. He used that to visit all the nuclear weapon museums he could, because to him, the ‘official’ version of how the Little Boy bomb worked didn’t add up. So he used his physics knowledge along with detailed examination of bomb casings and rewrote the book on Little Boy.

The proof of his design came when Harold Agnew, former head of Los Alamos Natl Lab, took a look at John’s schematic, became ashen faced and asked where did he get his information. John correctly deduced that firing a slug into a cylinder wouldn’t work due to pre-detonation, but firing the cylinder to surround the slug would. That was a secret LANL never revealed.

He also deduced how the core & tamper of Fat Man was put together, and his analysis was proved correct by recently unclassified pics from Trinity site.

John’s book has become one of the ‘must have’ items for anyone interested in nukes, along with Glen Hanson’s. He always self published, as things were under constant revision that a publishing house wouldn’t put up with. The majority of book sales went to people with Los Alamos, Oak Ridge, or Lawrence Livermore email addresses.

He was one of the few non-scientists ever asked to lecture at FermiLab.

Everyone who got a book got a Thank You from John. I had several pleasant exchanges with him. I think Foggy got a message too.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008 ... tomic-john

http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2021/04/ ... 1946-2021/

[Foggy]

Yeah, and he sent me the book. Without a college degree, he made himself THE nation's expert on Fat Man and Little Boy. He led an awesome life. RIP, John.

[RTH10260]

Italian star singer Milva dies aged 81

The genre-crossing Italian chanteuse, known for her vocal range and red hair, took Europe by storm in the 1960s and '70s. Her career spanned decades.

Singer Milva passed away aged 81 on April 23, 2021

Milva, an Italian chanson and pop music singer popular in the 1960s and 1970s, passed away Friday at her home in Milan, Italy, aged 81. Born Maria Ilva Biolcati, the singer was often referred to as "La Rossa," meaning "redhead" in Italian, for the color of her fiery red locks.

With an active career spanning decades, Milva was a musical great in her home country. Italy's Minister of Culture, Dario Franceschini, called her "one of the strongest interpreters of Italian songs." Her voice awakened "intense emotions" in entire generations and upheld the reputation of Italy, he said Saturday after news of her death broke.

Yet her fame was not limited to Italy. Her penchant for singing in foreign languages led to her success around the world — she released songs in English, German, French, Spanish, Greek, Portuguese and Japanese.

[RVInit]

Michael Collins, Apollo 11 Astronaut

People around the world are mourning the death of Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins, who piloted the command module for the first-ever moon landing in 1969.

Collins, 90, had been battling cancer for some time, and the news of his death became public today (April 28). "He spent his final days peacefully, with his family by his side. Mike always faced the challenges of life with grace and humility, and faced this, his final challenge, in the same way," his family shared in a statement. "We will miss him terribly. Yet we also know how lucky Mike felt to have lived the life he did."

Collins was dubbed "the forgotten astronaut," because he didn't walk on the moon like his two Apollo 11 crewmates, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, did. But Collins' impact on spaceflight and the world is undoubted. That impact can be seen clearly in how people from all over, including other astronauts, are reacting to the news of his passing.

[Dr. Ken]

Actress Olympia Dukakis

Oscar winner Olympia Dukakis, the theater veteran who rose to prominence late in her career with memorable turns in 1980s films such as “Moonstruck” and “Steel Magnolias,” has died at the age of 89.

Dukakis, who also starred in “Look Who’s Talking” and “Mr. Holland’s Opus,” died at her home in New York City.

“My beloved sister, Olympia Dukakis, passed away this morning in New York City,” wrote her brother Apollo, who confirmed her death on his Facebook page. “After many months of failing health she is finally at peace and with her [husband] Louis [Zorich].” The cause of death has yet to be determined.

https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/stor ... 289MXN5Mic

[Luke]

Thanks for sharing that, Dr. Ken. Awww. She was my Jersey Greek homegirl, she was so supportive of young actors and producers. 89 great years. Apollo is a great guy too. And Michael Dukakis was her cousin.

Olympia Dukakis, Oscar-Winning ‘Moonstruck’ Star, Dies at 89
She died Saturday morning in her home in New York City, according to her agent.

MAPLEWOOD, N.J. (AP) — Olympia Dukakis, the veteran stage and screen actor whose flair for maternal roles helped her win an Oscar as Cher’s mother in the romantic comedy “Moonstruck,” has died. She was 89. Dukakis died Saturday morning in her home in New York City, according to Allison Levy, her agent at Innovative Artists. A cause of death was not immediately released, but her family said in a statement that she had been in failing health for months.

Dukakis won her Oscar through a surprising chain of circumstances, beginning with author Nora Ephron’s recommendation that she play Meryl Streep’s mother in the film version of Ephron’s book “Heartburn.” Dukakis got the role, but her scenes were cut from the film. To make it up to her, director Mike Nichols cast her in his hit play “Social Security.” Director Norman Jewison saw her in that role and cast her in “Moonstruck.”

Dukakis won the Oscar for best supporting actress and Cher took home the trophy for best actress.

She referred to her 1988 win as “the year of the Dukakii” because it was also the year Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, her cousin, was the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee. At the ceremony, she held her Oscar high over her head and called out: “OK, Michael, let’s go!”

https://www.snopes.com/ap/2021/05/01/ol ... ies-at-89/

[mojosapien]

https://www.billboard.com/articles/news ... wr7uJKsERQ

[mojosapien]

https://www.billboard.com/articles/news ... wr7uJKsERQ

[Patagoniagirl]

Ernest Angley Dead.

https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/202 ... cEpn325abI

[Estiveo]

Oh, no, Bo!

[jemcanada2]

[AndyinPA]

Sad. I hope they get another dog, but I could see why they might not.