Marina Hyde: Pity our Conservative MPs, forced to go on strike to protect their way of life (The Guardian)
One month ago, members of Boris Johnson's government were lining up to tell teenagers that missing one day of school was unacceptable and wrong. Presumably we'll now hear from those same ministers how missing weeks of your six-figure-salary job running the country is right and heroic. What a time to be existing, when the best escape route feels like giving Xboxes to politicians, and waiting for the nation's children to grow up.
Topaz is a silicate mineral of aluminium and fluorine with the chemical formula Al2SiO4(F, OH)2. Topaz crystallizes in the orthorhombic system, and its crystals are mostly prismatic terminated by pyramidal and other faces. It is one of the hardest naturally occurring minerals (Mohs hardness of 8) and is the hardest of any silicate mineral. This hardness combined with its usual transparency and variety of colors means that it has acquired wide use in jewellery as a cut gemstone as well as for intaglios and other gemstone carvings.
Topaz in its natural state is a golden brown to yellow, a characteristic which means it is sometimes confused with the less valuable gemstone citrine. A variety of impurities and treatments may make topaz wine red, pale gray, reddish-orange, pale green, or pink (rare), and opaque to translucent/transparent. The pink and red varieties come from chromium replacing aluminium in its crystalline structure.
Orange topaz, also known as precious topaz, is the traditional November birthstone, the symbol of friendship, and the state gemstone of the US state of Utah.
An English superstition also held that topaz cured lunacy.
Source
Mark. was first, and correct, with:
Topaz.
mj wrote:
My brother never wore it
Didn't even get a high school ring with the stone. Topaz.
Dave said:
Topaz. Utah has a Topaz Mountain too.
I discovered there is a cartoon character named "Blue Topaz" on the TV show Steven Universe. The kids don't want to watch that show though.
Alan J answered:
Topaz.
Cal in Vermont replied:
Topaz.
zorch responded:
The November birthstone is the Topaz.
Mac Mac said:
Topaz
Deborah wrote:
That's easy - the topaz.
The wind went from 0-30+ yesterday evening, and is as bad as predicted. Damn.
Jim from CA, retired to ID, responded:
Orange topaz
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~~~~~
BANDCAMP MUSIC THAT YOU PROBABLY WON'T HEAR ON THE RADIO
Music: "The Future's Done"
Artist: The Lad Mags
Artist Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Info: "Four women and a garbageman drummer, transmitting spooky garage soul harmonies, somehow pulled from an invented history where Motown begat psychedelia."
• Most artists paint professional models, but Claude Monet used his wife, daughters, and friends as models. Why? His second wife, Alice, was jealous. When he announced that he wanted to paint a model, she told him, "The moment a model sets foot in this house, I leave."
Illnesses and Injuries
• In Japan, a popular folk art is paper-folding, aka origami, which originated in China. The crane is a popular origami figure, in part because it chooses its mate for life. A popular folk belief is that if you fold 1,000 cranes, you will receive your greatest wish. In 1943, a Japanese girl named Sadako Sasaki was born. When she was two years old, the United States dropped an atomic bomb at Hiroshima near her home. In 1955, she became ill with the atom bomb disease, aka leukemia. She folded over 1,000 cranes, but died on 25 October 1955. In 1955, a statue of Sadako holding a golden crane was erected at the Peace Park in Hiroshima. Japanese schoolchildren raised money for the statue, on the base of which this inscription appears: "This is our cry. This is our prayer. Peace on Earth." Japan values its artists, including its folk artists. The most revered folk artists in Japan are awarded the title "Living National Treasure" and given financial support each year.
• While attending his junior year of high school, artist Wayne Thiebaud broke his back. While recuperating, he practiced his drawing, and he says, "The more I drew, the more I improved." One thing he practiced was drawing the cartoon character Popeye, and for years afterward, he was able to draw two Popeyes at the same time by using both hands.
Language
• Following the Russian Revolution, Marc Chagall started the Free Academy for artists. Students at the school frequently stated this slogan: "God grant that everyone may chagalle like Marc Chagall." The Russian word chagalle is translated as "march forward.")
• One of the black characters in Morrie Turner's Wee Pals comic strip is Randy, who strongly believes in NAACP - Never Abandon an Adolescent Caucasian Pal.
Letters
• Children write entertaining letters to authors and illustrators. For example, Maurice Sendak has received positive letters ("Dear Mr. Sendak, I love your book. Marry me. Yours truly") and negative letters ("Dear Mr. Sendak, I hate your book. Die soon. Cordially"). He says, "How could you not love those responses?" He also says, "Children are the best living audience in the world because they are so thoroughly honest." Fellow author/illustrator for children Charlotte Zolotow also receives letters from kids. Some are funny, such as this one: "We had to write to an author, and I got you." Others are touching and give honest responses to books such as her The Hating Book, about which a little girl wrote to Ms. Zolotow, "How did you know about me and my friend?" Ms. Zolotow says, "Those are the letters that have touched me the most - the ones that say, 'How did you know about me?' - because that means I've really connected my experience with theirs."
• Authors and illustrators of children's books often receive funny letters from children. For example, Gail Gibbons, author/illustrator of such nonfiction books as Check It Out!: The Book About Libraries, once received a letter that read, "Dear Gail, I love your books. Right now I am - oh, there's a spider crawling across the page! SQUASH." Right in the middle of the letter was a dead squashed spider. Ms. Gibbons laughed, and she kept the letter - and the dead spider.
• An artist can send original thank-you notes. Cartoonist/author Posey Simmonds once had a Sunday lunch with British journalist Valerie Grove and her family. Ms. Simmonds sent a thank-you note on which she had drawn a cartoon of the Grove family's Dalmatian. It was wearing a striped apron and a chef's hat, and it was stirring a pot on a stove.
• MAD Magazine readers are very intelligent. Don Martin's very first cartoon for MAD contained instructions on how to tie a hangsman's knot - his answer to the question, What ought I to do? MAD readers wrote in to correct his instructions for making a noose.
CBS opens the night with a FRESH'The Neighborhood', followed by a FRESH'Bob Hearts Abishola', then a FRESH'All Rise', followed by a FRESH'Bull'.
Scheduled on a FRESHStephen Colbert are Queen Latifah, Radhika Jones, and Wu-Tang Clan.
Scheduled on a FRESHJames Corden, OBE, are John Lithgow, Louis Tomlinson, and Rebecca Ferguson.
NBC begins the night with a FRESH'The Voice', followed by FRESH'Bluff City Law'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Fallon are Emma Thompson, Joel Kinnaman, and Liam Gallagher.
Scheduled on a FRESHSeth Meyers are Sen. Kamala Harris, Gloria Steinem, and Omar Apollo.
On a RERUNLilly Singh (from 9/18/19) is Tracee Ellis Ross.
ABC starts the night with a FRESH'Dancing With The Stars', followed by a RERUN'The Good Doctor'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Kimmel are Arnold Schwarzenegger, Luenell, and Kesha.
The CW offers a FRESH'All American', followed by a FRESH'Black Lightning'.
Faux has a FRESH'9-1-1', followed by a FRESH'Prodigal Son'.
MY recycles an old 'L&O: SVU', followed by another old 'L&O: SVU'.
A&E has 'Live PD: Police Patrol', another 'Live PD: Police Patrol', followed by a FRESH'Live Rescue: Rewind', then a FRESH'Live Rescue'.
AMC offers the movie 'Friday the 13th', followed by the movie 'Friday the 13th, Part II'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 5 - EPISODE 20-Cost of Living
[7:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 5 - EPISODE 21-The Perfect Mate
[8:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 5 - EPISODE 22-Imaginary Friend
[9:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 5 - EPISODE 23-I, Borg
[10:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 5 - EPISODE 24-The Next Phase
[11:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 5 - EPISODE 26-Time's Arrow (Part 1)
[12:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 6 - EPISODE 1-Time's Arrow (Part 2)
[1:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 6 - EPISODE 2-Realm of Fear
[2:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 6 - EPISODE 3-Man of the People
[3:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 6 - EPISODE 4-Relics
[4:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 6 - EPISODE 5-Schisms
[5:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - SEASON 6 - EPISODE 6-True Q
[6:00PM] LEGION (2010)
[8:00PM] THE EXORCIST (1973)
[10:45PM] THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE (2005)
[1:15AM] THE EXORCIST (1973)
[4:00AM] LEGION (2010) (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has 'Below Deck', another 'Below Deck', followed by a FRESH'Below Deck', 'Temptation Island', then a FRESH'Watch What Happens Live'.
FX has the movie 'Guardians Of The Galaxy', followed by the movie 'Guardians Of The Galaxy', again.
History has 'American Pickers', another 'American Pickers', followed by a FRESH'American Pickers', then a FRESH'Pawn Stars'.
IFC -
[6:00A] The Skeleton Twins
[8:00A] Admission
[10:30A] Drillbit Taylor
[1:00P] Cheech & Chong Still Smokin'
[3:00P] That '70s Show - I Can't Quit You Baby
[3:30P] That '70s Show - What Is and What Never Should Be
[4:00P] That '70s Show - Heartbreaker
[4:30P] That '70s Show - Ramble On
[5:00P] That '70s Show - Over the Hills and Far Away
[5:30P] That '70s Show - Hot Dog
[6:00P] Two and a Half Men - No Sniffing, No Wowing
[6:30P] Two and a Half Men - My Doctor Has a Cow Puppet
[7:00P] Two and a Half Men - Just Like Buffalo
[7:30P] Two and a Half Men - Can You Feel My Finger?
[8:00P] Two and a Half Men - Back Off Mary Poppins
[8:30P] Two and a Half Men - Enjoy Those Garlic Balls
[9:00P] Two and a Half Men - A Bag Full of Jawea
[9:30P] Two and a Half Men - Go Get Mommy's Bra
[10:00P] Two and a Half Men - Bad News From the Clinic
[10:30P] Two and a Half Men - The Price of Healthy Gums Is Eternal Vigilance
[11:00P] Two and a Half Men - A Kosher Slaughterhouse Out in Fontana
[11:30P] Two and a Half Men - Frankenstein and the Horny Villagers
[12:00A] Two and a Half Men - Bazinga! That's From a TV Show
[12:30A] Two and a Half Men - Another Night With Neil Diamond
[1:00A] That '70s Show - I Can't Quit You Baby
[1:30A] That '70s Show - What Is and What Never Should Be
[2:00A] That '70s Show - Heartbreaker
[2:30A] That '70s Show - Ramble On
[3:00A] That '70s Show - Over the Hills and Far Away
[3:30A] That '70s Show - Hot Dog
[4:00A] Cheech & Chong Still Smokin' (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] The Shining
[3:30pm] Silver Bullet
[5:30pm] Misery
[8:00pm] The Green Mile
[12:00am] Christine
[2:00am] The Shining
[5:30am] M*A*S*H (ALL TIMES EDT)
SyFy has the movie 'Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows: Part 2', followed by the movie 'Banana Splits'.
New Jersey rock royalty was onstage Sunday night in the state's musical cradle as rocker Jon Bon Jovi brought soulful crooner Southside Johnny Lyon with him into the New Jersey Hall of Fame.
The two rockers played a duet at Asbury Park's Convention Hall, a place where both had performed many times on their way up from Jersey shore local bar bands to worldwide stars. Bon Jovi and Southside collaborated on "I Don't Wanna Go Home," backed by the band Kings of Suburbia.
Bon Jovi and Southside's performance came shortly after the induction of The Smithereens, the pop rock band with members from Carteret and Scotch Plains whose hits include "Blood And Roses," and "A Girl Like You."
In the performing arts category, Jason Alexander, who grew up in Livingston and played the iconic character George Costanza on "Seinfeld," was inducted. He called the award "a very unexpected honor."
"All the honors in my life have been pretty unexpected. Many would say 'undeserved,' but the hell with them," Alexander added.
A quarter century after grunge's enigmatic rhapsodist took his own life, Kurt Cobain's iconic cigarette-singed cardigan worn during Nirvana's 1993 "Unplugged" performance has sold for $334,000.
The tattered, olive-green, Manhattan-brand, button-up sweater, which has never been washed since Cobain wore it, came with dark stains and a burn hole.
The seller, Garrett Kletjian, owner of Forty7 Motorsports, bought it four years ago for $137,500.
The auction house had predicted it would fetch $200,000-300,000.
Cobain's left-handed Fender Mustang guitar, which he used during the band's "In Utero" tour, sold for $340,000.
An old painting found in the kitchen of an elderly French woman, who considered it an icon of little importance, has made her a multimillionaire.
The work, a masterpiece attributed to the 13th-century Italian painter Cimabue that was discovered earlier this year, sold for 24 million euros ($26.6 million) Sunday.
Dominique Le Coent of Acteon Auction House, who sold the masterpiece to an anonymous buyer near Chantilly, north of Paris, said the sale represented a "world record for a primitive, or a pre-1500 work."
An auctioneer spotted the painting in June while inspecting a woman's house in Compiegne in northern France and suggested she bring it to experts for an evaluation. It hung on a wall between the kitchen and dining room.
The expected sale price had been 4 million to 6 million euros ($4.4 million to $6.6 million).
A medieval tapestry that tells the story of the Norman conquest of England over 230 feet (70 meters) of wool yarn and linen has just divulged one of its secrets. Though the origins of this magnificent work of textile, called the Bayeux Tapestry, are murky, researchers now think they know why the tapestry was made: to be displayed in the nave of the Bayeux Cathedral.
The dimensions of the cloth mean it would have fit perfectly into the 11th-century nave of the Bayeux Cathedral in Normandy, France, the researchers reported Oct. 23 in the Journal of the British Archaeological Association. The narrative of the embroidery would have even fit around the spacings of the nave's columns and doorways.
The first written record of the tapestry is in the Bayeux Cathedral's inventory from 1476, so the idea that the tapestry had been commissioned for the cathedral in the 11th century was always the simplest explanation, according to study author Christopher Norton, an art historian at the University of York in England.
"This general proposition can now be corroborated by the specific evidence that the physical and narrative structure of the tapestry are perfectly adapted to fit the (liturgical) nave of the 11th-century cathedral," Norton said in a statement.
The Bayeux Tapestry is not technically a tapestry, as its design is embroidered onto the linen rather than woven. According to the Bayeux Museum, the tapestry was likely commissioned by Bishop Odo, the half-brother of William the Conqueror, the Norman leader who led the conquest of England and won the crown in 1066. William's exploits are depicted on the tapestry, which concludes with the decisive battle of the conflict, the Battle of Hastings. No one knows exactly who made the embroidery, but researchers have concluded that the work was probably done in England and that the stitching was likely the work of women, as embroidery was a largely female occupation in medieval England.
Don-Old Trump (R-Undignified) is disputing that former White House chief of staff John Kelly warned the President before he left the White House last year not to hire a replacement who wouldn't tell him the truth or that he would be impeached.
Kelly, a retired Marine Corps general, made the comments during an interview at the Sea Island Summit political conference hosted by the Washington Examiner this weekend.
"I said, whatever you do - and we were still in the process of trying to find someone to take my place - I said whatever you do, don't hire a 'yes man,' someone who won't tell you the truth - don't do that," Kelly said. "Because if you do, I believe you will be impeached."
Trump weighed in Saturday on Kelly's interview with the Washington Examiner, saying in a statement to CNN, "John Kelly never said that, he never said anything like that. If he would have said that I would have thrown him out of the office. He just wants to come back into the action like everybody else does."
White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham added, "I worked with John Kelly, and he was totally unequipped to handle the genius of our great President."
A Samsung pseudo satellite fell from the sky Saturday morning in a rural Michigan neighborhood, according to the Morning Sun.
Nancy Welke heard the crash around 8:45 a.m., just before she and her husband Dan were going to let their horses out, the Gratiot County Herald reported.
According to Gratiot Central Dispatch officials, the fire department closed the roadway where the "satellite" fell because of a large object caught in live power lines. The road reopened 30 minutes later.
"Unbelievable. Look what just fell out of the sky and 911 is baffled and it's caught up in our tree," Welke said in a post on Facebook.
According to an email statement from Samsung, the landing was planned, and no injuries occurred Saturday when the balloon landed.
Controversial Theory on Extinction Supported by New Evidence
Ice-Age Animals
A controversial theory that suggests an extraterrestrial body crashing to Earth almost 13,000 years ago caused the extinction of many large animals and a probable population decline in early humans is gaining traction from research sites around the world.
The Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis, controversial from the time it was presented in 2007, proposes that an asteroid or comet hit the Earth about 12,800 years ago causing a period of extreme cooling that contributed to extinctions of more than 35 species of megafauna including giant sloths, sabre-tooth cats, mastodons and mammoths. It also coincides with a serious decline in early human populations such as the Clovis culture and is believed to have caused massive wildfires that could have blocked sunlight, causing an "impact winter" near the end of the Pleistocene Epoch.
In a new study published this week in Scientific Reports, a publication of Nature, University of South Carolina archaeologist Christopher Moore and 16 colleagues present further evidence of a cosmic impact based on research done at White Pond near Elgin, South Carolina. The study builds on similar findings of platinum spikes - an element associated with cosmic objects like asteroids or comets - in North America, Europe, western Asia and recently in Chile and South Africa.
"We continue to find evidence and expand geographically. There have been numerous papers that have come out in the past couple of years with similar data from other sites that almost universally support the notion that there was an extraterrestrial impact or comet airburst that caused the Younger Dryas climate event," Moore says.
"First, we thought it was a North American event, and then there was evidence in Europe and elsewhere that it was a Northern Hemisphere event. And now with the research in Chile and South Africa, it looks like it was probably a global event," he says.
The first wildcat kittens in a new project to protect the species will be released in England for the first time in 150 years.
While the wildcat was once abundant across England and Wales, persecution by gamekeepers and interbreeding with feral domestic cats meant the animal has not been seen in the wild in more than a century.
A small population of a few dozen remains in Scotland, but the animal is at risk of extinction, and according to the UK's biggest conservation charities, it is one of the creatures most at risk.
Now, one conservationist has started his own breeding programme in Devon after obtaining some wildcats from a zoo.
Devon sheep farmer Derek Gow proudly showed his Twitter followers a picture of the kittens, seen for the first time at England's first dedicated wildcat breeding complex.
'Joker' is number one at the box office yet again this week, and has now become the most successful R-rated moved ever, not accounting for inflation, in worldwide release. The film has made $849 million globally, including $47.8 million internationally over the weekend. (Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" remains the R-rated domestic leader, with $370.8 million.)
Todd Phillip's R-rated comic-book hit regained the top spot at the weekend box office in its fourth week of release, narrowly besting "Maleficent: Mistress of Evil." The Warner Bros.' sensation, starring Joaquin Phoenix, took in $18.9 million in ticket sales over the weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.
That came in just above the $18.6 million haul for the Walt Disney Co.'s "Maleficent" sequel, which slid to second after a disappointing No. 1 debut last weekend of $36 million. "Mistress of Evil," starring Angelina Jolie, is performing better overseas, where it grossed $64.3 million over the weekend.
Holding especially well was "The Addams Family," United Artists and MGM's Halloween-timed animated reboot of the macabre family. It slid just 28% in its second weekend with $11.7 million, good for third place
Robert Eggers' "The Lighthouse," a black-and-white psychological drama starring Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson as 19th century lighthouse keepers, made $3 million on just 586 screens for A24.
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. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. "Joker," $18.9 million ($47.8 million international).
2. "Maleficent: Mistress of Evil," $18.6 million ($64.3 million international).
3. "The Addams Family," $11.7 million.
4. "Zombieland: Double Tap," $11.6 million.
5. "Countdown," $9 million.
6. "Black and Blue," $8.3 million.
7. "Gemini Man," $4 million.
8. "The Lighthouse," $3.1 million.
9. "The Current War," $2.7 million.
10. "Abominable," $2 million.
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