Lucy Mangan says we should all "think twice" before considering porn harmless (Stylist)
As the girls' questions about what I was nostalgically pleased to learn is still called 'doing it' went on, a light dawned. "You do realise," my friend said hesitantly, "that you're supposed to enjoy it?" A dozen suspicious and baffled faces stared back at her. This, it seemed, was new information to them all. She spent the next hour deconstructing various myths and painful practices they and their boyfriends had come to define, thanks to barely filtered access to all sorts of porn, as well within normal adolescent activity.
Daniel Politi: Workers Reportedly Told They Would Lose Pay if Didn't Attend Trump Speech (Slate)
Workers at a Shell petrochemical plant in Pennsylvania were told that if they chose not to attend a speech by President Donald Trump they had to use paid time off or forfeit pay for the day. Failing to attend the speech would have prevented workers from accumulating enough hours to get overtime. "Your attendance is not mandatory. This will be considered an excused absence. However, those who are NOT in attendance will not receive overtime pay on Friday," according to a memo obtained by CNN "from a congressional source."
Lapis lazuli, or lapis for short, is a deep blue metamorphic rock used as a semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense color.
Today, mines in northeast Afghanistan are still the major source of lapis lazuli. Important amounts are also produced from mines west of Lake Baikal in Russia, and in the Andes mountains in Chile. Smaller quantities are mined in Italy, Mongolia, the United States, and Canada.
Source
Mark. was first, and correct, with:
Afghanistan.
Randall wrote:
Afghanistan?
Alan J answered:
Afghanistan.
Dave said:
Afghanistan. Don't tell Trump about the Lapis Lazuli mines though, he might try and buy that country to corner the market. Why not, Don the Con already conceived the bone headed offer to buy Greenland?
Photos: Trump tries, and fails, to show he has enough empathy to not murder 10 million Islamic maybe-terrorist residents of a foreign 'shit hole' | Danes mock Trump's lunatic scheme to buy Greenland | Does Trump even know where Greenland is?
Micki replied:
Afghanistan.
Jim from CA, retired to ID, responded:
Afghanistan
Marilyn of TC said:
Afghanistan is where this stone is mined.
zorch wrote:
Afghanistan is still the major source.
Barbara, of Peppy Tech fame replied:
The answer is Afghanistan.
Michelle in AZ responded:
Afghanistan
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~~~~~
• Comic singer Anna Russell, who was born British, became a naturalized American citizen. She was very nervous about taking her citizenship test, despite having studied for months. (Studying history was rather odd. In English schools, she had studied the War of Independence and learned that the Americans were the bad guys and the English were the good guys, but now she had to learn it the other way around.) An American official made her even more nervous when he looked at her ominously and said that he hoped she had studied hard. The official asked her to write a sentence in English, and then he asked her who was the first President of the United States. Finally, he signed her citizenship papers. A shocked Ms. Russell asked, "Is that all?" The American official replied, "Yes, but I had you rattled there, didn't I?"
• Enrico Caruso was quite a practical joker off stage and on. Nellie Melba used to chew evergreen gum from Australia to keep her throat moist, chewing it before going on stage and then depositing it in a cup in the wings where she could use it to moisten her throat when she was once more off stage. Mr. Caruso once substituted chewing tobacco for the gum when Ms. Melba was on stage. On another occasion, in the last act of La Bohème, Ms. Melba, who was performing the role of the dying Mimi, was carefully lifted and placed on a bed. However, when the sheets of the bed were lifted so Mimi could be covered, the audience laughed - under the bed Mr. Caruso had ordered a stagehand to place a large object: a chamberpot.
• Gerald Hoffnung often arranged a musical joke at his Hoffnung Festivals in London. On one occasion, Mr. Hoffnung announced to the audience that Sir William Walton had agreed to conduct an excerpt from his opera Belshazzar's Feast. Sir William came out on stage, along with soloist Owen Brannigan. Sir William raised his baton, and the members of the chorus sang out one word from the opera - "Slain!" Sir William then lowered his baton, shook hands with the soloist, and they left the stage - to appreciative applause from an audience who had enjoyed the joke.
• Operatic bass singer Luigi Lablache was a huge man. One day, he was in Paris at the same time as the famous little person known as Tom Thumb. A lady wished to see the little person, but she mistakenly knocked at Mr. Lablache's door. Mr. Lablache opened the door, and the lady told him that she wished to see Tom Thumb. Mr. Lablache replied, "I am he." The lady expressed surprise, saying, "But I thought you were quite small!" Mr. Lablache replied, "So I am, madam, when I am on exhibition, but when I am at home, I always make myself comfortable."
• Tenor Lauritz Melchior did his best to make soprano Helen Traubel laugh on stage. Sometimes, as she was singing an industrial-strength tragic aria, he would mutter to her, "For God's sake, Helena, hurry it up! I'm hungry and I need a beer!" In addition, when Ms. Traubel was onstage singing a tragic aria, Mr. Melchior would sometimes be in the wings dancing a hula while wearing a grass skirt and paper flowers, trying to make her laugh. Or he would wear a derby and a bearskin while dancing a Highland fling.
• Heinrich Knote, a leading German tenor, once played a practical joke on Jean de Reszke. In Paris, Mr. Knote pretended to be a peddler and found an excuse to sing before Mr. de Reszke, who was very impressed and told him, "Sir, I engage you at once for the Opéra. You have gold in your throat." Mr. Knote later wrote a friend, "The incident was really most droll, and it cost me a terrific effort to play my role to the end without laughing."
• In a performance of Tosca, Maria Jeritza decided to play a practical joke in her final scene, in which she stabbed the villain of the opera with a knife. On this particular night, instead of using a stage knife, she used a very ripe banana.
Presidents, United States
• President Dwight David Eisenhower once attended a Metropolitan Opera production of La Bohème, at which the Secret Service did their duty, checking out anything that might possibly lead to an attempt on the President's life. One of the Secret Service men asked Met general manager Sir Rudolf Bing about the heroine of the opera, "We hear the girl dies. How is she killed?" Sir Rudolf replied, "She dies of consumption. It isn't contagious at a distance."
• American opera star Jan Peerce had a meeting with President Harry S. Truman, but first he stopped to say the traditional prayers for his deceased parents in a synagogue. Arriving late for the meeting, he explained why he was late. President Truman replied, "I don't mind. The Lord won."
New kind of swallowtail visiting the yard - the top side is mostly black, with some yellow dots, and the underside is mostly yellow and looks like a regular yellow swallowtail.
Tonight, Monday:
CBS opens the night with a RERUN'The Neighborhood', followed by a RERUN'Big Bang Theory', then another RERUN'Big Bang Theory', followed by a RERUN'Mom', then a RERUN'Carpool Karaoke: When Corden Met McCartney Live From Liverpool'.
On a RERUNStephen Colbert (from 6/26/19) are Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Incubus.
On a RERUNJames Corden, OBE, (from 6/17/19) Tom Hanks, Gillian Anderson, David Blaine, and Michelle Obama.
NBC begins the night with a FRESH'American Ninja Warrior', followed by 'Dateline'.
On a RERUNJimmy Fallon (from 7/31/19) are Dwayne Johnson, Issa Rae, and Eddy Grant.
On a RERUNSeth Meyers (from 7/16/19) are Dax Shepard, Nicolle Wallace, Weyes Blood, and Raghav Mehrotra.
On a RERUNCarson 'The Scab' Daly (from 10/2/18) Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Aquilo, and Sam Morril.
ABC starts the night with a FRESH'Bachelor In Paradise', followed by a FRESH'Grand Hotel'.
On a RERUNJimmy Kimmel (from 7/18/19) are Billy Eichner, Sean McVay, and Spoon.
The CW offers a FRESH'Penn & Teller: Fool Us', followed by a FRESH'Whose Line Is It Anyway?', then a FRESH'I Ship It'.
Faux has a FRESH'Beat Shazam', followed by a FRESH'So You Think You Can Dance'.
MY recycles an old 'L&O: CI', followed by another old 'L&O: CI'.
A&E has 'Live PD: Police Patrol', another 'Live PD: Police Patrol', followed by a FRESH'Live PD: Police Patrol', then another FRESH'Live PD: Police Patrol', followed by a FRESH'Live Rescue'.
AMC offers the movie 'American Sniper', followed by a FRESH'The Terror', then a FRESH'Lodge 49'.
BBC -
Website hasn't been updated.
(ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has 'Below Deck Mediterranean', another 'Below Deck Mediterranean', followed by a FRESH'Below Deck Mediterranean', another 'Below Deck Mediterranean', then a FRESH'Watch What Happens Live'.
FX has the movie 'Logan', followed by the movie 'Passengers', then the movie 'Passengers', again.
History has 'American Pickers', another 'American Pickers', followed by a FRESH'American Pickers', then a FRESH'Pawn Stars'.
IFC -
[6:00A] The Taking of Pelham 123
[8:30A] Rambo III
[10:45A] First Blood
[12:45P] Rambo: First Blood Part II
[3:00P] That '70s Show - Fun It
[3:30P] That '70s Show - Good Company
[4:00P] That '70s Show - Who Needs You
[4:30P] That '70s Show - Sweet Lady
[5:00P] That '70s Show - Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy
[5:30P] That '70s Show - Killer Queen
[6:00P] Two and a Half Men - Hello, I Am Alan Cousteau
[6:30P] Two and a Half Men - Above Exalted Cyclops
[7:00P] Two and a Half Men - Sir Lancelot's Litter Box
[7:30P] Two and a Half Men - Good Morning Mrs. Butterworth
[8:00P] Two and a Half Men - Baseball Was Better With Steroids
[8:30P] Two and a Half Men - 818-jklpuzo
[9:00P] Two and a Half Men - Whipped Unto the Third Generation
[9:30P] Two and a Half Men - Mmm, Fish. Yum
[10:00P] Two and a Half Men - Laxative Tester, Horse Inseminator
[10:30P] Two and a Half Men - For the Sake of the Child
[11:00P] Two and a Half Men - Give Me Your Thumb
[11:30P] Two and a Half Men - Untainted by Filth
[12:00A] Two and a Half Men - Nine Magic Fingers
[12:30A] Two and a Half Men - A Giant Cat Holding a Churro
[1:00A] That '70s Show - Fun It
[1:30A] That '70s Show - Good Company
[2:00A] That '70s Show - Who Needs You
[2:30A] That '70s Show - Sweet Lady
[3:00A] That '70s Show - Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy
[3:30A] Sherman's Showcase - Enemies
[4:00A] Diary of the Dead (ALL TIMES EDT)
Sundance -
[6:00am] M*A*S*H
[6:30am] M*A*S*H
[7:00am] M*A*S*H
[7:30am] M*A*S*H
[8:00am] M*A*S*H
[8:30am] M*A*S*H
[9:00am] M*A*S*H
[9:30am] M*A*S*H
[10:00am] M*A*S*H
[10:30am] M*A*S*H
[11:00am] M*A*S*H
[11:30am] M*A*S*H
[12:00pm] M*A*S*H
[12:30pm] M*A*S*H
[1:00pm] M*A*S*H
[1:30pm] M*A*S*H
[2:00pm] Batman
[5:00pm] Batman Returns
[8:00pm] Batman Forever
[10:30pm] Face/Off
[1:30am] Beneath the Planet of the Apes
[3:30am] Hap and Leonard: Mucho Mojo - Mucho Mojo
[4:30am] Hap and Leonard: Mucho Mojo - Ticking Mojo
[5:30am] The Andy Griffith Show (ALL TIMES EDT)
SyFy has the movie 'Underworld: Awakening', followed by the movie 'The Hunger Games'.
Pullitzer Prize-winning creator of Maus Art Spiegelman was slated to write the introduction to a new Marvel collection, Marvel The Golden Age 1939-1949, but pulled his work after Marvel wanted him to remove a disparaging reference to Don-Old Trump (R-Grifter).
As reported by Newsweek, Spiegelman, in an essay discussing the political background of Marvel's offerings during and right after World War II, referenced Trump in a comparison to Nazism, saying, "In today's all too real world, Captain America's most nefarious villain, the Red Skull, is alive on screen and an Orange Skull haunts America," a pretty transparent reference to Trump.
In response, the Folio Society, who was handling publishing on this particular collection, asked Spiegelman to remove the topical reference, claiming Marvel was trying to be "apolitical." So Spiegelman pulled it, and you can read the essay now in the Guardian.
A few things to note here, the first being that it's quite odd to suggest that Marvel is trying to remain apolitical in a book which explicitly covers the relationship between the publisher's output and the rise of early 20th century fascism. This is a book, after all, that prominently features Captain America punching Hitler in the face, in an era where, as Spiegelman points out, Jewish creators created heroes that were specifically anti-fascist in posture and action.
Another big consideration is that, as Spiegelman himself notes, there's an extant relationship between Marvel Entertainment and the Trump administration. As he writes in the final paragraph of the Guardian version of his essay, "Isaac 'Ike' Perlmutter, [chairman of Marvel,] is a longtime friend of Donald Trump's, an unofficial and influential adviser and a member of the president's elite Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. And Perlmutter and his wife have each recently donated $360,000 (the maximum allowed) to the Orange Skull's 'Trump Victory Joint Fundraising Committee' for 2020."
Fans of Duane Allman in Macon, Georgia, say they didn't expect the late musician's old guitar to sell for $1.25 million at a recent auction.
The gold-topped guitar is the one Allman played in the hit song "Layla," where he performed with Eric Clapton, The Telegraph reported .
Until recently, the guitar affectionately called "Layla" had been on display at the Allman Brothers Band museum at The Big House in Macon.
The buyer has agreed to share the instrument with the museum during certain times. That means it will be coming back to the museum in late November, Brent said.
Duane Allman played the guitar on the first two Allman Brothers records, and in "Loan Me a Dime" with Boz Scaggs, Brent said. The recording "Layla" with Derek and the Dominoes is among the last times Allman played that guitar.
Apparently Rick Ware Racing had no familiarity whatsoever with the metal band Slayer before it announced a potential sponsorship deal with the group.
RWR, a backmarker team in NASCAR's Cup Series, added a fourth car driven by J.J. Yeley for Saturday night's race at Bristol. The car was originally supposed to be sponsored by Slayer and its last world tour, but instead had decals for a storage company on the side of it on Friday.
What the heck happened? Well, the team says it realized that its "beliefs do not align" with Slayer's, a band with albums titled like "Hell Awaits," "God Hates Us All," and "Christ Illusion."
"Rick Ware Racing and Slayer announced a partnership for Bristol Motor Speedway several weeks ago," the team said. "There were no contracts or monetary transactions between either parties. Unfortunately, Slayer's brand image and beliefs, and Rick Ware Racing and our long-time partners' image and beliefs do not align. As a team owner, we thought it would be best to forgo the partnership. RWR wishes nothing but the best to Slayer and their fans and wishes the band a successful Final World Tour."
Yes, you read that statement correctly. Rick Ware Racing is admitting that it announced a sponsorship deal with the band without anything signed or finalized. And it's also admitting that it announced a sponsorship deal with the band without doing some cursory research that would have revealed this alleged belief conflict.
Starman and his Tesla Roadster are now regular denizens of space. According to data from Where is Roadster, the cosmic driver has completed his first orbit around the Sun, taking 557 days since the first Falcon Heavy launch to circle our home star. Its path has taken it over 762 million miles since then, or enough to exceed its original 36,000-mile warranty over 21,000 times.
You aren't about to see Starman drifting through the night sky, unfortunately. Earth is currently on the opposite side of the Sun, and the EV won't get vaguely close to Earth again until November 5th, 2020, when it'll be about 0.346AU (just under 32.2 million miles) away. It'll get much closer to Mars before then at 'just' 0.05AU (about 4.6 million miles) on October 7th of that year. After that, it could get quite lonely for Starman -- estimates suggest he might not get particularly close to home until 2047.
Of course, that's also assuming humanity doesn't come out to meet him sooner. SpaceX itself is edging closer to deep space flight, and the US hopes to send people to Mars in 2030 or later. There's a possibility that deep space travel will have become relatively routine by the time Starman pays a visit to his home planet.
Iceland on Sunday honoured the passing of Okjokull, its first glacier lost to climate change, as scientists warn that some 400 others on the subarctic island risk the same fate.
As the world recently marked the warmest July ever on record, a bronze plaque was mounted on a bare rock in a ceremony on the former glacier in western Iceland, attended by local researchers and their peers at Rice University in the United States who initiated the project.
Iceland's Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson also attended the event, as well as hundreds of scientists, journalists and members of the public who trekked to the site.
The plaque bears the inscription "A letter to the future", and is intended to raise awareness about the decline of glaciers and the effects of climate change.
It is also labelled "415 ppm CO2", referring to the record level of carbon dioxide measured in the atmosphere last May.
Food, fuel and medicine shortages will quickly follow a no-deal Brexit which will trigger three months of border chaos, leaked government documents admit.
The dossier also warns that new border checks would be needed in Ireland - contradicting repeated denials that the red line, risking the return of terrorism, would be crossed.
The cabinet office even warns of the risk of a "failure" in chemical supplies, undermining Boris Johnson's boast that "there will be clean drinking water, whatever the deal we do".
Significantly, the documents set out the most likely consequences of a crash-out Brexit on 31 October, rather than worst-case scenarios.
Border delays could "affect fuel distribution", with delays of up to two-and-a-half days for lorries and significant disruption lasting up to three months.
Thirty years ago on Monday Hungarian border guards for the first time allowed people from communist East Germany to cross freely into Austria and hundreds of them rejoiced. The Iron Curtain was passing into history.
This was a milestone in a year of momentous change in Europe, leading in a few short months to the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989.
But Hungary, the first country to dismantle the east-west frontier, was also the first to fortify its southern border against a big new influx of Asian and African immigrants.
In 2015, Hungary built a high-tech double razor wire fence, complete with heat sensors, night vision cameras and constant border patrols along its 300-kilometre (186-mile) border with Serbia and Croatia.
This was the physical manifestation of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's vision of a "fortress Europe".
A man discovered a 50-year-old letter in a bottle from the Russian Navy on the shores of western Alaska.
Tyler Ivanoff found the handwritten Russian letter early this month while gathering firewood near Shishmaref about 600 miles (966 kilometers) northwest of Anchorage, KNOM-AM reported Tuesday.
"I was just gathering firewood," Ivanoff said. "I just happened to stumble across the bottle, and I noticed it was a green bottle and had a cork top. Not really cork, it was a tight cap, and I could see inside the bottle there was a note."
Ivanoff shared his discovery on Facebook where Russian speakers translated the message to be a greeting from a Cold War Russian sailor dated 1969, officials said. The message included an address and a request for a response from the person who finds it.
Reporters from the state-owned Russian media network, Russia-1, tracked down the original writer, Capt. Anatoliy Botsanenko.
The R-rated comedy, left for dead by some Hollywood studios, again reached No.1 at the box office over the weekend thanks to the raunchy coming-of-age tale "Good Boys," about a trio of 12-year-olds on a crude misadventure.
"Good Boys" surpassed expectations to debut with $21 million, according to studio estimates Sunday, dethroning the "Fast & Furious" spinoff "Hobbs & Shaw," which slid to second with $14.1 million in its third weekend. Not since Melissa McCarthy's "The Boss" came in No. 1 all the way back in April 2016 has an R-rated comedy topped the North American box office.
Sony's "The Angry Birds Movie 2," on a budget of $65 million, opened with a paltry $10.5 million domestically, though it added $19.4 million internationally. Hoping to snarl kids before school starts, Sony released the film on Tuesday. But it didn't come close to the $38.2 million domestic debut of the first installment in 2016 despite notably better reviews (76% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes).
Sony's "Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood," however, grossed $53.7 million overseas after expanding to 46 markets - the largest foreign launch for any Quentin Tarantino film, and the best worldwide haul for any film this weekend.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included.
1. "Good Boys," $21 million ($2.1 million international).
2. "Hobbs & Shaw," $14.1 million ($45.7 million international).
3. "The Lion King," $11.9 million ($33.8 million international).
4. "The Angry Birds Movie 2," $10.5 million ($19.4 million international).
5. "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark," $10.1 million ($4.4 million international).
6. "47 Meters Down: Uncaged," $9 million.
7. "Dora and the Lost City of Gold," $8.5 million ($6.6 million international).
8. "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood," $7.6 million ($53.7 million international).
9. "Blinded by the Light," $4.5 million.
10. "Art of Racing in the Rain," $4.4 million.
Comedian Kip Addotta, who frequently appeared on The Tonight Show, has died. His family posted on Facebook but did not provide details on his death. He was 75.
One of Addotta's last Facebook posts this month showed his sometimes bizarre sense of humor.
Addotta wrote, "An elderly couple is walking along when a pigeon flys over and drops one right on the old lady's head. She says oh my god, get me some toilet paper. He says, what the hell for, he's a half mile away by now!"
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