• When David B. Feinberg got AIDS, he had to make changes to his diet. For example, he was advised to put on extra pounds while he still could because AIDS wastes away the body. Also, he had to avoid such foods as sushi and soft, runny cheeses — such as brie. This upset Mr. Feinberg. He complained to a friend named John Palmer Weir, Jr., “How can I be a card-carrying homo without brie?” Mr. Weir pointed out, “There’s still quiche. We’ll always have quiche.”
• Arturo Toscanini and Carla, his wife, once visited the home of Arthur O’Connell. Mrs. Toscanini, always a curious sort, went into the kitchen to investigate a huge pot of spaghetti. The Italian cook, always a sensitive sort, abandoned the kitchen to ask Mr. O’Connell who “that woman” was. Fortunately, the cook was pleased to learn that “that woman” was Mrs. Toscanini, and fortunately, the spaghetti was excellent and enjoyed by all.
• While in Paris, Robert Benchley told some friends that he had once had some memorable pressed duck in a restaurant in Montmartre, so they all set off for the restaurant. Unfortunately, after everyone had ordered and been served the pressed duck, Mr. Benchley recalled why the pressed duck was so memorable — it was the worst he had ever tried to eat.
• During Lent, many Christians give up something they like as a sign of penitence. One small boy gave up ice cream — “all except chocolate.”
Games and Contests
• Young people’s novelist William Sleator grew up in a family of oddballs. When William was a young boy, his father, his younger sister Vicky, and he used to play a game. His father would blindfold them, drive them to a part of the city that William and Vicky had never been before, then drop them off and let them find their way back home. Of course, William and Vicky did have enough money to call home in case they ran into trouble finding their way back. The only time they used the telephone money was when two of their friends came along to play the game and panicked. Then William and Vicky let their friends use the money to call their home. Unfortunately, since the two friends didn’t know where they were in the city, they also panicked their parents, who called Mr. Sleator. Mr. Sleator calmly finished his lunch, which he had just started eating, then drove off and found the children within 10 minutes. Meanwhile, the friends’ parents called the police, and both parents left the house to look for the children. Mr. Sleator did not know the police had been called, and he could not contact the friends’ parents, since they had both left home. (This was in the days before cell phones.) Perhaps understandably, the friends thereafter did not visit the Sleators.
• When Marvel Comics maven Stan Lee was fifteen years old, he started entering a news contest run by the New York Herald-Tribune. Contestants were supposed to write in 500 words or fewer their pick for the top news story of the week. Mr. Lee entered the contest three times in a row, he won three times in a row, and the editor of the Herald-Tribune wrote him, saying to stop entering the contest so someone else could win for a change.
Gifts
• When soprano Beverly Sills was a girl, she sang on Major Bowes’ radio broadcasts. During one broadcast, Major Bowes said that he had given young Beverly a gift for good luck: a small figurine of an elephant. In the days following, Beverly received through the mail gifts of hundreds of small figurines of elephants. Beverly was intelligent. She mentioned on the air that she was upset because her mother wouldn’t let her have long dresses. Sure enough, dozens of gifts of long dresses arrived in the mail for Beverly. She continued to con the audience by mentioning occasionally that she liked such items as Mickey Mouse watches and sleds.
• When children’s book author Sid Fleischman started going bald, his kids made him a hairpiece — they clipped hair from the family pet dog and glued it to fabric. Mr. Fleischman writes in his autobiography, The Abracadabra Kid, that he was very happy with the gift — “It gave me a punk pompadour decades before spiked hairdos became trendy.”
Written by Paul Simon and released in 1968, this song segues into "Bookends", on both the album and the B-side of the "Mrs. Robinson" single. What is the title of this song with the refrain "How terribly strange, To be seventy ..."?
Developed from a Phoenician colony, Carthage was the capital city of the ancient Carthaginian civilization. What is the name of the country in which Carthage would be found today?
Carthage was the capital city of the ancient Carthaginian civilization, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was the most important trading hub of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classical world.
The city developed from a Phoenician colony into the capital of a Punic empire which dominated large parts of the Southwest Mediterranean during the first millennium BC. The legendary Queen Alyssa or Dido is regarded as the founder of the city, though her historicity has been questioned. According to accounts by Timaeus of Tauromenium, she purchased from a local tribe the amount of land that could be covered by an oxhide.
The ancient city was destroyed by the Roman Republic in the Third Punic War in 146 BC and then re-developed as Roman Carthage, which became the major city of the Roman Empire in the province of Africa. The city was sacked and destroyed by Umayyad forces after the Battle of Carthage in 698 to prevent it from being reconquered by the Byzantine Empire. It remained occupied during the Muslim period and was used as a fort by the Muslims until the Hafsid period when it was taken by the Crusaders with its inhabitants massacred during the Eighth Crusade. The Hafsids decided to destroy its defenses so it could not be used as a base by a hostile power again. It also continued to function as an episcopal see.
Source
Billy in Cypress U.S.A. was first, and correct, with:
Tunisia
Alan J answered:
Tunisia.
Mark. said:
Tunisia.
Cal in Vermont wrote:
Tunisia. Quiet these days but in antiquity, it was said to be plowed under with salt so as to fix their chariot for them.
Randall replied:
Tunisia
Mac Mac responded:
Tunisia
Dave said:
Tunisia.
mj wrote:
The home of Hannibal
Who wasn't really that great a general, merely a really audacious one,
Carthage is located in the modern nation of Tunisia.
Deborah, the Master Gardener responded:
Carthage is located in what is now Tunisia. Did not know that.
Very seasonal — the orange trees are flowering and it’s a great little slice of heaven to walk past one or two and enjoy their lovely fragrance.
John I from Hawai`i says,
Tunisia
Jim from CA, retired to ID, replied:
Carthage was an ancient Phoenician city-state and civilization located in present-day Tunisia.
zorch responded:
Tunisia.
Barbara, of Peppy Tech fame wrote:
The answer is Tunisia.
Rosemary in Columbus said:
Tunisia
Jacqueline took the day off.
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BttbBob has returned to semi-retired status.
~~~~~
Info: “Surf-revival guitarist Mark Brodie -- previously of Mark Brodie & the Beaver Patrol -- formed the Metalunas upon his return to Vancouver from Japan, where he had lived from 1996-97 fronting another surf combo called the Saboteurs. Featuring a rhythm section of Mike Cinnamon (bass) and Rod Moore (drums), the Metalunas made their recording debut in 1999 with X-Minus-One.” — Steve Huey, AllMusic
Price: €1 (RURO) for track; €8 (EURO) for 14-track album.”
Happy Birthday to both Barbara (of Peppy Tech fame) and dearest Doug in Florida!
Tonight, Monday:
CBS fills the night with LIVE'2021 March Madness', then pads the left coast with local crap.
On a RERUNStephen Colbert (from 3/17/21) are Earvin "Magic" Johnson, and Eric Andre.
On a RERUNJames Corden, OBE, (from 1/13/21) are Paul Bettany and Lennie James.
NBC begins the night with a FRESH'The Voice', followed by a FRESH'Debris'.
On a RERUNJimmy Fallon (from 2/25/21) are Eddie Murphy, Eve Hewson, and the Kid Laroi.
On a RERUNSeth Meyers (from 2/10/21) are Allison Janney and Rep. Cori Bush.
On a RERUNLilly Singh (from 3/15/21) is M. Night Shyamalan.
ABC starts the night with a FRESH'American Idol', followed by a FRESH'The Good Doctor'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Kimmel are Lil Rel Howery, Wyatt Russell, and Jazmine Sullivan.
The CW offers a FRESH'Bulletproof', followed by a FRESH'All American Stories II'.
Faux has a RERUN'9-1-1', followed by a FRESH'America's Most Wanted'.
MY here fills the night with LIVE'MLB Spring Training', with a Freeway game - the Los Angeles California Angels Of Anaheim California visits Chavez Ravine.
A&E has 'Hoarders', followed by a 'Hoarders', then a FRESH'Intervention'.
AMC offers the movie 'Bad Boys', followed by the movie 'Law Abiding Citizen', then the movie 'Bad Boys II'.
BBC -
[6:00AM - 11:00AM] STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE
[12:00PM - 4:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION
[5:00PM - 11:00PM] LAW & ORDER
[12:00AM] CLIFFHANGER
[2:00AM] CLIFFHANGER
[4:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION
[5:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION (ALL TIMES ET)
Bravo has 'Below Deck Sailing Yacht', followed by a FRESH'Below Deck Sailing Yacht', then another FRESH'Below Deck Sailing Yacht', and 'Below Deck Sailing Yacht'.
Comedy Central has 3 hours of old 'The Office', followed by the FRESH'Hall Of Flame: Top 100 Comedy Central Roast Moments' (part 1).
The Daily Show is pre-empted.
FX has the movie 'Mission: Impossible - Fallout', followed by a FRESH'Breeders', and another 'Breeders'.
History has 'Pawn Stars', another 'Pawn Stars', followed by a FRESH'Pawn Stars'.
IFC -
[6:00pm] Three's Company
[6:30pm] Three's Company
[7:00pm - 12:30am] Two And A Half Men
[1:00am - 2:30am] Three's Company
[3:00am] Baroness Von Sketch Show - No One Steals The Kale
[3:30am - 5:30am] Community (ALL TIMES ET)
Sundance -
[6:00am - 1:00pm] hogan's heroes
[1:30pm] the bank job
[4:00pm] 48 hrs.
[6:00pm] another 48 hrs.
[8:00pm] a few good men
[11:00pm] a few good men
[2:00am] 48 hrs.
[4:00am] another 48 hrs. (ALL TIMES ET)
SyFy has the movie 'Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen', followed by the movie 'Gone In 60 Seconds'.
TBS:
On a RERUNConan (from 2/3/21) is Kyra Sedgwick.
A monthlong hiatus and the switch to daylight saving time took a toll on Saturday Night Live’s overnight ratings. The show’s March 27 telecast, with Maya Rudolph as host, Jack Harlow as musical guest and appearances by Martin Short, Tina Fey and Rachel Dratch, drew a 3.6 household Live+Same Day rating in the 44 metered local markets and a 1.5 adults 18-49 rating in the 25 markets with local people meters.
That was down from SNL‘s last original on Feb. 27, with Nick Jonas as host and musical guest (4.1 in HH, 1.9 in 18-49), setting new season lows in both categories. The previous season low L+SD marks were 4.1 in HH and 1.7 in 18-49, posted by another return-from-hiatus episode on Dec. 5, hosted by Jason Bateman. (The 4.1 rating was matched by two other shows, hosted by Jonas and Regina King.)
The return of popular SNL cast members as hosts typically fare well in ratings though Rudolph has already been a fixture on the show this season as Vice President Kamala Karris.
Next week, SNL will be hosted Daniel Kaluuya, who won a Golden Globe Award and is Oscar nominated for his lead role in Judas and the Black Messiah. St. Vincent will be the musical guest.
SNL remains #1 among all comedies on broadcast and cable in 18-49 and total viewers (L+7) this season for the first time in its history. In social interactions, this season’s SNL is up 23% through 13 episodes vs. the same period last season.
The Rosebud Motel, which appeared in every episode of comedy classic Schitt’s Creek, has hit the marketplace. It’s priced to sell at $1.6 million US.
The real building is actually named the Hockley Motel, located in Mono, Ontario, about 50 miles northwest of downtown Toronto. Before fame and the sitcom struck, the structure was used as housing for Canadian basketball recruits.
The motel found new life in 2014 with the advent of Schitt’s Creek, and fans still flock to the site for selfies, thanks to the show’s second life on Netflix.
The motel sits on 6.7 acres along the banks of the Nottawasaga River.
The motel has six units, each with a bedroom and bathroom on 4,300-square-feet. It also has a two-story manager’s suite that has three bedrooms and one bath. There is also a a 700-square-foot detached guest cottage and barn with space for three horses.
A book that’s a spin-off of author Dav Pilkey’s popular Captain Underpants series will no longer be published by Scholastic, which also asked that copies in circulation at libraries and other distributors be returned.
In a statement, Scholastic said that it will no longer publish or distribute Pilkey’s 2010 graphic novel, The Adventures of Ook and Gluk: Kung-Fu Cavemen from the Future. It claimed the author supported the move.
“Together, we recognize that this book perpetuates passive racism. We are deeply sorry for this serious mistake,” the company said, without citing specifics.
Pilkey also shared an apology letter on YouTube in which he claimed the deleted book was intended to “showcase diversity, equality, and non-violent conflict resolution.”
However, “But this week it was brought to my attention that this book also contains harmful racial stereotypes and passively racist imagery,” he wrote. “I wanted to take this opportunity to publicly apologize for this. It was and is wrong and harmful to my Asian readers, friends, and family, and to all Asian people.”
Universal’s action genre-defying feature Nobody starring Bob Odenkirk took the top box office spot with $6.7M in a theatrical marketplace which is in the throes of trying to come back.
Nobody played best on the West coast, where it did 26% of its business, and 34% of the total take came from the PLFs. Pic’s top markets were LA, NYC, Phoenix, Chicago, San Francisco, Denver, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Detroit, and Minnesota.
RelishMix points out that Odenkirk punches the campaign with 1.41m social media followers across Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, while co-star Christopher Lloyd has 2M. RelishMix says the social media chatter “pushes on repeated comparisons to the John Wick franchise, plus punctuations on the ‘give me the kitty cat bracelet’ as a new iconic catch-phrase. The volume of comments is strong, along with overall positive leaning toward Odenkirk and Better Call Saul mentions; a good level of intent with few Covid references in social threads.”
Weekend B.O. for March 19-21:
1.) Nobody (Uni) 2,460 theaters, 3-day: $6.7M/Wk 1
2.) Raya and the Last Dragon (Dis) 2,212 theaters (-49), 3-day: $3.5M (-32%), Total: $28.4M/Wk 4
3.) Tom & Jerry (WB) 2,464 theaters (-44), 3-day: $2.5M (-34%)/Total: $37.1M/Wk 5
4.) Chaos Walking (Lionsgate) 2,036 theaters (-96), 3-day: $1.185M (-38%)/Total: $11.4M/Wk 4
5.) The Courier (RSA) 1,641 theaters (+208), 3-day: $1.04M (-48%)/Total: $3.48M/Wk 2
6.) The Croods: A New Age (Uni) 1,319 theaters (-92), 3-day: $540K (-14%)/Total: $55.97M/Wk 18
7.) The Marksman (Open) 851 theaters (-151)/3-day: $375K (-20%)/Total: $14.8M/Wk 11
8.)Boogie (Focus) 1,028 theaters (-156), 3-day: $340K (-43%) /Total: $3.8M/Wk 4
9.) Minari (A24) 912 theaters (+126), 3-day: $275K (-10%), Total $1.8M/Wk 7
10.) Wonder Woman 1984 (WB) 1,128 theaters (-30)/3-day: $245K (-39%)/Total: $45.8M/Wk 14
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-Narnia) on Sunday dismissed Democrats' chances of passing legislation that would ban assault weapons in the United States, telling Fox News' Chris Wallace "it won't get 50 votes, much less 60."
He then told Wallace he owns an AR-15, explaining that if a natural disaster occurred in South Carolina and the police couldn't protect his neighborhood, his house would be "the last one the gang will come to" because he could defend himself with the weapon.
That prompted some quick online criticism. Talking Points Memo's Josh Marshall called Graham's comments "survivalist [fan fiction]" that "tells you a lot [about] the trouble this country is in." Rolling Stone's Tim Dickinson said the remarks were "straight NRA propaganda," while Bloomberg's Francis Wilkinson blasted Graham for imagining going into survival mode during a disaster rather than providing his constituents with "leadership, guidance, or assistance."
A bomb squad safely deactivated a live Civil War-era piece of ammunition after it was discovered in Maryland last week.
A homeowner contacted the state fire marshal after being given what seemed to be an unexploded cannonball that a family member found had near the Monocacy Battlefield in Frederick, about 50 miles west of Baltimore. Officials confirmed that the explosive was live.
Bomb technicians moved the cannonball to Beaver Creek Quarry in Hagerstown, where they conducted "an emergency disposal," according to the Maryland State Fire Marshal.
"As proven today, the finding of military ordnance from the Civil War is not uncommon in Maryland, and these devices pose the same threat as the day they were initially manufactured," the fire marshal's office said.
In 2008, a man who collected Civil War relics died after a cannonball he was trying to restore exploded. The next year, a Pennsylvania man was charged after he accidentally fired a 2-pound cannonball into his neighbor's home. No one was injured in that incident.
In 1983, two army officers stopped at a car rental office in Pasni, a small coastal town in south-west Pakistan.
One of them asked the owner: "Do you have a good car? We have to take an Arab sheikh to Panjgur."
The vehicle was for Prince Suroor bin Mohammed al-Nahyan, who belongs to one of the six royal families of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). He wanted to get to Panjgur, about 100km (65 miles) inland, to hunt houbara bustards, rare birds whose meat is considered by some to be an aphrodisiac.
The sheikh liked the car - and he took to Hanif, who was then 31. So started a long friendship, says Haji Hanif, as he's now known. Thirty-seven years on, he is one of the caretakers for the royals who come every year to Pakistan to hunt houbaras.
The shy birds, about the size of a turkey, are in decline, so killing them is controversial - but they are still hunted for sport.
Scientists have figured out a way to stop cannibalistic moths from selfishly eating their siblings. All that's required is the space to get to know one another.
The Indian meal moth, or the pantry moth (Plodia interpunctella), is usually a voracious vegetarian, chowing down on flours, cereals, rice, and other packaged foods as a young caterpillar. However, if there's not enough nutrition around, or if there are too many moths in the brood, these larvae can sometimes turn on one another, feasting on both strangers and relatives alike.
That's some brutal survival behavior, but new research suggests this moth-eat-moth mentality is not inherent to the species. Under friendlier conditions, these insects can be quite neighborly.
When researchers directly manipulated the spacing of five moth populations, they found more cramped conditions led to far less cannibalism in just ten generations.
The findings support a previously untested theory behind the evolution of social behavior. A team of researchers – including Rudolf and the moth study's first author, Mike Boots, a biologist at the University of California, Berkeley – suggested that when animals interact more, the rate of cannibalism decreases. That's because the chance of encountering and eating your kin is statistically more likely in a denser cluster, and in the end, that would be disadvantageous.
San Francisco is investing in its arts community. Starting in May, 130 local artists in the city will receive $1,000 per month in cash, with no strings attached.
The pilot program in universal basic income is scheduled to last for six months, according to The San Francisco Chronicle. The artists will be selected from those “whose artistic practice is rooted in a historically marginalized community.”
San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced the program on Thursday.
“This new program is an innovative effort to help our creative sector get through this challenging time, and come back even stronger and more resilient than before,” Breed said on the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts website. “The arts are critical to our local economy and are an essential part of our long-term recovery.”
The program is open to artists working in music, dance, creative writing, visual art, performance art, installation, photography, theater, and film. Art teachers and craft workers are also eligible as long as they meet an income qualification.
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