• Marion Dane Bauer once invited fellow young adult writers to submit short stories for a book about gay teenagers. Bruce Coville wrote “Am I Blue?” — which became the title story of the book, whose full title is Am I Blue? Coming Out from the Silence. Mr. Coville is a happily married heterosexual, and his story is about a narrator who is beaten up by the school bully, Butch, because Butch thinks that the narrator is gay. An effeminate fairy godfather named Melvin visits the narrator and gives him the power of seeing whether someone is gay. A person who is totally gay will be dark blue, and a person who is wondering if he or she is gay will be light blue. The narrator’s skin is light blue, and as he looks around he sees that a man whom everyone “knows” is straight is dark blue and he sees that a woman whom everyone “knows” is a lesbian is not blue at all. When the narrator looks at Butch, he sees that Butch is dark blue.
• Buffy Summers, the lead character of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, made headlines, including in the New York Times, when she slept with a lesbian in a comic-book story in 2008, although Buffy creator and writer Josh Whedon says that Buffy is not lesbian, but only experimenting. Of course, the Buffy character Willow is lesbian, and Mr. Whedon has long been a friend of the gay and lesbian community. When Willow came out as lesbian in the TV series, a homophobic former fan posted a message on the Internet saying that he would never watch the show again. Mr. Whedon responded, “We’ll miss you.”
Good Deeds
• In 1949, at age 12, young people’s author Peg Kehret got polio, and she spent a lot of time in hospitals. Her parents visited her, and they met her roommates, including one girl named Alice who had lived at the hospital for 10 years, ever since she had gotten polio at age three. Alice’s parents could not afford to take care of her, and so she had become a ward of the state. Alice very seldom got visitors, but fortunately Peg’s parents often visited her, and they promised to bring treats to the other girls as well as to her. Peg’s parents asked the other girls what they wanted, and they wanted such things as marshmallows and candy and comic books. Alice did not respond to the request for a treat, and Peg realized that Alice had lived in the hospital for so long that she didn’t know about many things that children considered to be treats. Some of Peg’s roommates also joked that fellow polio victim and roommate Dorothy wanted a tall, dark, handsome young man. The following week Peg’s parents returned with the treats, including a pink lipstick for Alice. As for Dorothy, Peg’s tall, dark-haired, handsome, 18-year-old brother (he had recently been voted Campus Dreamboat by a sorority) paid her a special visit and gave her some licorice.
• In Holland, Miep and Jan Gies hid Jews from the Nazis. To get the food necessary to feed so many people, they made many trips to different stores, where they purchased small amounts of food because they were afraid to draw attention to themselves by purchasing a large amount of food all at once. However, a grocer saw how much food they were buying, so he began to give them extra vegetables. Later, they discovered why the grocer was so helpful to them. He also was hiding Jews, and unfortunately, he was caught and arrested. The Jews that Miep and Jan Gies were hiding were also discovered and taken away to concentration camps — only Otto Frank survived. Miep and Jan Gies gave him the diary of Anne, his daughter, which they had saved. He had it published, and The Diary of Anne Frank became an international best seller.
A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that will play a patron's selection from self-contained media. The classic jukebox has buttons, with letters and numbers on them, which, when one of each group entered after each other, are used to select a specific record. Some may use Compact Discs instead. Disc changers are similar devices that are intended for home use, are small enough to fit in a shelf, may hold up to 400 discs, and allow discs to be easily removed, replaced, and inserted by the user.
Wallboxes were an important, and profitable, part of any jukebox installation. Serving as a remote control, they enabled patrons to select tunes from their table or booth. Stereo sound became popular in the early 1960s, and wallboxes of the era were designed with built-in speakers to provide patrons a sample of this latest technology.
Source
Mark. was first, and correct, with:
Wall box jukebox.
Billy in Cypress said:
A table/booth jukebox/speaker.
mj wrote:
I always used to save my nickels (later dimes)
For Friday dinner when Dad would take us to a restaurant that had what I
could only call a remote control for the juke box. Unfortunately, he
usually stopped me before I could deposit a coin, since he wanted peace
and quiet while he ate. They were also present in my favorite dive bar
in grad school. The price was $.25, and it was a choice between another
Rolling Rock pony, Werewolves of London, or Roland the Headless Thompson
Gunner.
Alan J answered:
A Diner Booth Jukebox.
Randall replied:
Jukebox
Stephen F responded:
Juke Box
Dave wrote:
Wall box style juke box. Invented in the 1950’s, the wall box enabled patrons of a restaurant to make a selection from their table and pay for a song that would be played from a centrally located juke box. A wall box had wires connected to the juke box that transmitted pulses that identified the 45 rpm record the patron selected after the coin was inserted. If multiple patrons were using the wall boxes the jukebox had the usual queue feature so the songs would be played in the order they were received.
Jim from CA, retired to ID, replied:
that is a jukebox.....usually found on a table at a restaurant
John I from Hawai`i says,
Table selector for Juke Box
Deborah, the Master Gardener responded:
Why, that’s a wall-mounted jukebox. I haven’t seen one in ages. They saved one the trouble of leaving one’s company to select music. Ah, nostalgia.
Dave in Tucson wrote:
Don't know the generic or trade name but that's a table-top jukebox. Featured in The Sopranos finale.
Daniel in The City said:
Jukebox for the table
Barbara, of Peppy Tech fame answered:
That machine is a controller for a jukebox. Restaurants, especially diners, would put them at every table so that customers could buy songs they wanted to hear on the jukebox without having to leave their table.
DJ Useo replied:
Those things were tabletop jukeboxes. My biggest interaction with those regularly occurred at the Big Boy restaurant.
I worked there for a while. One time I got a pocketful of coins & played the same song on all of them simultaneously
to the disdain of everyone including my boss. LMAO. I think the song was Wings' "Hi Hi HI".
Rosemary in Columbus responded:
Crimson and Clover
Cal in Vermont wrote:
That is a wall-mounted coin-operated remote jukebox record selector. I put many a nickle through one. You can-or could-find them at Johnny Rockets.
Joe ( -- Vote Blue, No Matter Who -- ) said:
I don't what you call it but it was like a remote for the jukebox. Friday the 13th came on Thursday the 19th this month.
David of Moon Valley took the day off.
Jacqueline took the day off.
Mac Mac took the day off.
Leo in Boise took the day off.
Kevin in Washington DC, took the day off.
Michelle in AZ took the day off.
Jon L took the day off.
Roy, Lifelong member of Antifa, in Tyler, TX took the day off.
Doug in Albuquerque, New Mexico, took the day off.
-pgw took the day off.
Kenn B took the day off.
Micki took the day off.
Ed K took the day off.
Angelo D took the day off.
Harry M. took the day off.
George M. took the day off.
Gary K took the day off.
Roy the (now retired) hoghead (aka 'hoghed') ( Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid. ~Frank Zappa ) took the day off.
Saskplanner took the day off.
Gateway Mike took the day off.
Steve in Wonderful Sacramento, CA, took the day off.
MarilynofTC took the day off.
Paul of Seattle took the day off.
Brian S. took the day off.
Gene took the day off.
Tony K. took the day off.
Noel S. took the day off.
James of Alhambra took the day off.
BttbBob has returned to semi-retired status.
~~~~~
Info: “THE HITCHCOCKS started out in early 2006 as a trio having a more punkabilly take on the horror punk genre; at this stage using a double bass. But within a little over a year the band wisely settled for the line-up known today and with a strict focus on the genre they master and perfect – tight melodic punk rock with obvious references to horror punk, old school punk and street punk.”
KASPER KEEN - Lead vocals / Rhythm guitar
THOMAS STUBGAARD - Drums / Backing vocals
MADS DAMMANN - Lead guitar / Backing vocals
KB LARSEN - Bass / Backing vocals
Price: Name Your Price (Includes FREE) for 17-track album.
Spent the afternoon at the laundromat-of-the-darned. Usually, the radio station there is set to the local 'just beautiful crap' station, but today it was country.
Hardly the neighborhood for country, but at least it wasn't Christmas music.
Tonight, Friday:
CBS begins the night with a RERUN'MacGyver', followed by a RERUN'Magnum PU', then a RERUN'Blue Bloods'.
On a RERUNStephen Colbert (from 11/12/20) are Michael Moore and Sara Bareilles.
On a RERUNJames Corden, OBE, (from 10/29/20) are Vin Diesel and Jack Peñate.
NBC starts the night with a FRESH'The Blacklist', followed by 'Dateline'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Fallon are Leslie Mann, Colin Quinn, and SAINt JHN.
On a RERUNSeth Meyers (from 11/9/20) are John Legend, Sarah Cooper, and Carter McLean.
On a RERUNLilly Singh (from 5/4/20) is Dr. Phil McGraw.
ABC opens the night with a FRESH'Shark Tank', followed by a '20/20'.
On a RERUNJimmy Kimmel (from 11/11/20) are Dr. Phil McGraw, John King, and Maren Morris.
The CW offers a RERUN'Masters Of Illusion', followed by another RERUN'Masters Of Illusion', then a FRESH'World's Funniest Animals', followed by a RERUN'World's Funniest Animals'.
Faux fills the night with a FRESH'WWE Friday Night SmackDown'.
MY recycles an old 'L&O: CI', followed by another old 'L&O: CI'.
A&E has 'The First 48', another 'The First 48', followed by a FRESH'Live Rescue'.
AMC offers the movie 'Charlie & The Chocolate Factory', followed by the movie 'Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] DOCTOR WHO - THE VAMPIRES OF VENICE
[7:00AM] THE SPY WHO LOVED ME
[10:00AM] FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
[12:30PM] DR. NO
[3:00PM] FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
[5:30PM] GOLDFINGER
[8:00PM] CASINO ROYALE
[11:07PM] GOLDENEYE
[2:07AM] CASINO ROYALE
[5:14AM] MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS - LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT WAR (ALL TIMES ET)
Bravo has the movie 'The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift', followed by the movie 'Fast & Furious'.
Comedy Central has an hour of old 'The Office', and 3 hours of 'Schitt's Creek'.
FX has the movie 'Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation', followed by a FRESH'The New York Times Presents'.
History has 'Ancient Aliens', another 'Ancient Aliens', followed by a FRESH'Ancient Aliens', and 'Beyond Oak Island'.
IFC -
[6:00am] Mystery Science Theater 3000 - Being From Another Planet
[8:15am] The Birdcage
[10:45am] Blazing Saddles
[12:45pm] Airplane II: The Sequel
[2:45pm] Airplane!
[4:45pm] Half Baked
[6:45pm] Tommy Boy
[9:00pm] The Wolf Of Wall Street
[1:00am] Half Baked
[3:00am] The Birdcage
[5:00am] Baroness Von Sketch Show - Baby Toe Disease (ALL TIMES ET)
Sundance -
[6:30am - 12:30pm] the andy griffith show
[1:00pm - 2:00am] law & order
[3:00am] columbo
[4:45am - 5:55am] the andy griffith show (ALL TIMES ET)
SyFy has the movie 'Skyfall', followed by the movie 'Noah'.
My Cousin Vinny director Jonathan Lynn weighed in with this thoughts after a bizarre press conference where Donald Trump (R-Grifter)'s lawyer Rudy Giuliani (R-Imbroglione) quoted the 1992 film—which he cited as one of his favorites—in order to make a point.
"I regard Giuliani's praise of My Cousin Vinny as generous from the man who is currently giving the Comedy Performance of the Year," Lynn told The Hollywood Reporter.
During the press conference, New York City's former mayor compared the presidential election observers being corralled away from the votes counts to a scene in the film where Joe Pesci's Vinny asks a witness in court how many fingers he's holding up from across the court room. (The witness' glasses are so thick, she guesses incorrectly.)
Referring to Presidential election Republican poll watchers, Giuliani said, "These people were further away than My Cousin Vinny was from the witness. They couldn’t see a thing!"
The former mayor’s comments were met with more raised eyebrows across Twitter, with The Daily Beast entertainment editor Marlow Stern writing, “My Cousin Vinny is about a personal injury lawyer from Brooklyn who cons a judge into letting him try a case by impersonating someone else, so this tracks."
Disney has been accused of failing to pay royalties to the acclaimed author Alan Dean Foster for his bestselling novelisations of films including Star Wars and Alien, in a fight over copyright that is being described as unprecedented and grotesque.
Foster was approached by George Lucas to write a novelisation of Star Wars: A New Hope, which was published at the end of 1976, shortly before the film was released. Foster alleges that when Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012, it bought the rights to the novel as well as the first Star Wars sequel novel, Splinter of the Mind’s Eye, published in 1978. Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox in 2019 meant it also acquired the rights to Foster’s novelisations of Alien, Aliens and Alien 3. But the science-fiction author said Disney had not paid him royalties on the books, all of which are still in print and earning money for the media giant.
“When one company buys another, they acquire its liabilities as well as its assets. You’re certainly reaping the benefits of the assets. I’d very much like my minuscule (though it’s not small to me) share,” said Foster in a public statement that was published after Disney allegedly asked him to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Foster and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), which is assisting him, claim Disney has ignored multiple queries from his agents, legal representatives and the SFWA.
Foster said his wife has “serious medical issues” and that he was diagnosed with an advanced form of cancer in 2016.
“We could use the money. Not charity: just what I’m owed. I’ve always loved Disney. The films, the parks, growing up with the Disneyland TV show. I don’t think Unca Walt would approve of how you are currently treating me. Maybe someone in the right position just hasn’t received the word, though after all these months of ignored requests and queries, that’s hard to countenance,” he wrote.
A terminally ill fan got a final wish fulfilled, courtesy of Jamie Lee Curtis and Rough House Productions.
Anthony Woodle, a super horror fan, married his longtime girlfriend Emilee in a ceremony officiated by ordained minister Curtis. The 29-year-old aspiring director had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 2019. But just prior to that, he had been in touch with Rough House Productions, the South Carolina house that is reviving the Halloween franchise.
Through them, he was connected with Curtis. They talked about the new movie, his health, and how he planned to get married soon. Curtis offered to officiate, and arrangements were made for Sept. 13.
The day of the ceremony saw Woodle’s health deteriorate dramatically. Curtis was on the phone as Woodle’s family surrounded the bed where he lay unconscious, with Emilee at his side. The ceremony started at 10:30 PM.
Ben Carson says he took an unproven coronavirus treatment touted by MyPillow's CEO after testing positive for the disease
When Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson tested positive for coronavirus last week, he heeded the advice of Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow who lacks a background in medicine and science.
Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, took the herbal extract that Lindell has enthusiastically pushed, even though it's not proven to be an effective or safe treatment for COVID-19.
Lindell, also known as the "MyPillow guy," promoted oleandrin, which is derived from the highly toxic oleandar plant, Business Insider previously reported. The major Trump donor and Minnesota campaign chairman has touted the therapeutic as a cure, though there is still no known cure for the coronavirus.
The entrepreneur benefits from sales of the herbal extract because he has a financial stake in Phoenix Biotechnology, the company that develops the product, and is also a board member.
One of astronomy’s most renowned telescopes — the 305-metre-wide radio telescope at Arecibo, Puerto Rico — is permanently closing. Engineers cannot find a safe way to repair it after two cables supporting the structure suddenly and catastrophically broke, one in August and one in early November.
It is the end of one of the most iconic and scientifically productive telescopes in the history of astronomy — and scientists are mourning its loss.
The Arecibo telescope, which was built in 1963, was the world’s largest radio telescope for decades and has historical and modern importance in astronomy. It was the site from which astronomers sent an interstellar radio message in 1974, in case any extraterrestrials might hear it, and where the first known extrasolar planet was discovered, in 1992.
It has also done pioneering work in studying near-Earth asteroids, observing the puzzling celestial blasts known as fast radio bursts, and exploring many other phenomena. All of those lines of investigation are now shut down for good, although limited science continues at some smaller facilities at the Arecibo site.
The cables that broke helped support a 900-tonne platform of scientific instruments, which hangs above the main telescope dish. The first cable slipped out out of its socket and smashed panels at the edge of the dish, but the second broke in half and tore huge gashes in a central portion of the dish.
When food and space get scarce, competition can bring out the worst in monarch caterpillars.
In the laboratory, researchers watched as roaming caterpillars looking for a hard-to-find meal started head-butting and lunging at fellow caterpillars munching on a milkweed leaf. That aggressive behavior is apparently meant to disrupt the feeding insects and help the instigators score dinner, biologist and neuroscientist Alex Keene and colleagues report online November 19 in iScience.
Keene usually studies fruit flies and cavefish, but he decided to adapt his laboratory to study monarchs after a chance observation. “My wife pointed out in the backyard that these two monarch caterpillars were fighting with each other,” says Keene, of Florida Atlantic University in Jupiter. “I went on YouTube, and there were videos of this behavior,” he says, but for monarchs, “it wasn’t documented anywhere in the scientific literature.” Other types of caterpillars have shown similar aggressive behavior in other settings.
Going from a self-proclaimed “simple fly biologist” to monarch researcher, however, was a challenge. Not only did Hurricane Dorian in 2019 blow over the plants in the lab’s monarch garden, but also finding pesticide-free milkweed plants that the caterpillars would eat was harder than expected. Once the researchers overcame these challenges, though, they were able to film caterpillars competing with one another when the researchers limited the amount of available food.
“Monarchs are like eating machines,” Keene says. But “some were much more aggressive than others.” So the next step could be exploring whether or not the more aggressive caterpillars grow into aggressive butterflies, he says.
In nature, diamonds form deep in the Earth over billions of years. This process requires environments with exceptionally high pressure and temperatures exceeding 1,000?.
In a normal diamond, atoms are arranged in a cubic crystalline structure. However, it's also possible to arrange these carbon atoms so they have a hexagonal crystal structure.
This different form of diamond is called Lonsdaleite, named after Irish crystallographer and Fellow of the Royal Society Kathleen Lonsdale, who studied the structure of carbon using X-rays.
There is much interest in Lonsdaleite, since it's predicted to be 58 percent harder than regular diamond — which is already considered the hardest naturally-occurring material on Earth.
It was first discovered in nature, at the site of the Canyon Diablo meteorite crater in Arizona. Tiny amounts of the substance have since been synthesised in labs by heating and compressing graphite, using either a high-pressure press or explosives.
Many plants and animals follow a pattern, known as a latitudinal gradient, where diversity increases toward the tropics and decreases toward the poles.
Bees are an exception to this rule, having more species concentrated away from the poles and fewer near the equator, a pattern known as a bimodal latitudinal gradient.
There are far fewer bee species in forests and jungles than in arid desert environments because trees tend to provide fewer sources of food for bees than low-lying plants and flowers.
“People think of bees as just honey bees, bumblebees, and maybe a few others, but there are more species of bees than of birds and mammals combined,” said co-lead author Dr. John Ascher, a researcher at the National University of Singapore.
“The United States has by far the most species of bees, but there are also vast areas of the African continent and the Middle East which have high levels of undiscovered diversity, more than in tropical areas.”
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said:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
