Club newsletter: 

"The Tales Of Rassilon"

 published since Nov. 1983

just $8.00/yr/6 issues.  Send Check or money order to  NEWFOD, P.O. Box 112, Rothschild, WI    54474-0112

                                    A  FEW  ITEMS  FROM                                     THE TALES OF RASSILON ;       our club newsletter  

MISCELLEANOUS NEWS ITEMS                    <> Some social media organizations are accepting items without checking the truth of them. An example os the Pizzagate news. Supposidly the Demacratic party was running a child sex ring in the basement of a pizza store in Washington DC. One man was so upset, he broke into the store with guns and tried to rexcue the children. When police raided the store, they found there was no basement. Fake news from social maniulators usually state 'an undisclosed source, according to media sources, to quote a media pundit, join the bandwagon, leftists, immigrant army, or evangelicals.' <> If you get a post that says something like 'look who died' but says nothing detailed, don't open it. These messages ask you to log in. This is a way to get your password, mailing lists, and locks you out of your accounts. If you accidentally open one, change your passwords immediately, then report it to phish@fb.com<> The South American 'River of Seven Colors' becomes a liquid rainbow when the sun, wet season and a particular river plant create a colorful alchemy. <> Scientists named hundreds of new species this past year, including an electric blue tarantula, two pygmy squids, a silent frog and some thumb-sized chameleons. <> There is a desert spider who prefers her food cooked, so she sizzles them on the hot sands. <> In Jan., the Global supermarket chain Carrefour stopped selling PepsiCo Products, (Lay's potato chips, Quaker Oats, Lipton Iced Tea and its soda) over 'Unacceptable' Price Hikes. The French grocery chain said it pulled PepsiCo products from shelves in its stores in France, Belgium, Spain and Italy. and added small signs that say, “We no longer sell this brand due to unacceptable price increases.” Carrefour has 12,225 stores in more than 30 countries. <> Jaclyn Frosolone was looking for help with some inherited health problems when she found out through DNA tests that her sperm bank doner father was used to create over 200 siblings. Not all sperm banks verify doner medical health. About 90% of the sibblings have the same health problems. There are millions of donor-conceived people in the US. <>* A team in Switzerland announced that they had created a brain-spine interface that enables a man who’s been paralyzed in a bicycle accident to walk naturally again. This “digital bridge” connects the brain and the spinal cord bypassing the injured area in his neck. <> The 100 folds in a chef’s toque are said to represent 100 ways to cook an egg. <> Since 1971, Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan has issued permits to unicorn hunters. <> Detroit opened the country’s first road capable of wirelessly charging electric vehicles as you drive on it. The system is based on magnetic resonance induction, the same principle that allows cellphones and other devices to be charged. <>The Vatican Bank is world’s only financial institution that allows ATM user to perform transactions in Latin. <> The game Chinese Checkers was invented in Germany. <>

OBITS

<> Actor and Comedian Tom Smothers, died December 26, 2023, age 86. With his brother Dick, he re redefined television comedy in "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" (1967-1969).

<> Cherry Starr, widow of Bart Starr, died Feb. 27, age 89. She was married to Pro Football Hall of Famer Bart Starr for 65 years until the death in 2019, 

<> Actress Pamela Salem died Feb. 21, 2024, age 80. She played Toos in Doctor Who, "The Robots of Death" and was a one of the voices of Xoanon in "The Face of Evil." In 1988 she played Rachel Jensen with the Seventh Doctor in "Remembrance of the Daleks." 

<> John Savident, 86, died on Feb. 21, 2024. He appeared in Doctor Who "The Visitation: Part One" (as the Squire). He was also in Blake's 7 "The Trial" as Fleet Warden-General Samor & in "Orbit" as Egrorian). Other roles included "The Avengers" (1968), "Doomwatch".

<> Michael Jayston, October 29, 1935 - February 5, 2024, age 88, played Czar Nicholas in the movie "Nicholas and Alexandra" and known to Doctor Who fans as the Valeyard in all fourteen episodes "The Trial of a Timelord".

<> Glynis Johns, October 5, 1923 - January 4, 2024, age 100, best known for playing Mrs.Banks in Mary Poppins. Some of her credits include 'The Thief of Baghdad' (1940) (as the Princess' maid), Miranda (1949), in which she played a mermaid who wanted to see London,The Court Jester (1956) with Danny Kaye.

<> David Soul, 80, died on Jan. 4, 2024. He was Detective Ken "Hutch" Hutchinson in "Starsky and Hutch" , He also starred as Joshua Bolt in "Here Come the Brides" and was the voice of Mission Control in an episode of "Doctor Who:The Animated Series" 

<> Gary Graham, died Jan. 22, 2024 age 73. Best known as Detective Matthew Sikes in all 22 episodes of "Alien Nation" and its movie sequels, he was also in "M.A.N.T.I.S.", "Star Trek: Voyager", "Crusade", "Star Trek: Enterprise"(as Crewman and Ambassador Soval), "Star Trek: Renegades"

<> Joyce Randolph, 99, died on Jan. 13, 2024. She was best known for playing Thelma "Trixie" Norton, the wife of Art Carney's Ed Norton in the "classic 39 episodes of "The Honeymooners" (1955-1956). She was the last surviving member of that cast.

<> Tracy Tormé, died January 4, 2024 age 64. His writing credits include "Saturday Night Live" , "Spellbinder", "Star Trek: The Next Generation", and he created and wrote all 87 episodes of "Sliders", "The Outer Limits" (1998-2002). He was the son of singer/songwriter Mel Tormé.